Tarkatan Blades

All full-blooded Tarkatans are born with an organic weapon on their arms: these are the Tarkatan Blades. They span approximately four feet. Baraka uses them in all of his Mortal Kombat appearances to perform all his special moves, as well as quickly slicing through all who stand in his way. The signature weapon of the Tarkatan race first made its debut in Mortal Kombat II, and later was featured as a collectible Relic under the name "Baraka's Blade" within the Konquest mode of Mortal Kombat: Armageddon.

They are made into his weapon fighting style in Mortal Kombat: Deception, and remain that in Unchained and Armageddon. In those three games, every time Baraka starts a round after losing the previous one, if he's laying with his back to the ground, he will lift himself extracting the blades, causing them to be his first fighting style in the next round, instead of Silat.

Erron Black is able to use a detached Tarkatan blade in Mortal Kombat X, exclusively in his Outlaw variation, fashioned from a severed and skeletal Tarkartan arm, making him the first non-Tarkatan character in the series to use one. He makes use of the Tarkatan blade like a sword with the skeletal arm being the handle.

In addition, a guest character in Mortal Kombat X, The Xenomorph, has retractable blades in its arms. This is because Xenomorphs take on the DNA traits of whatever species they impregnate; this particular Xenomorph was born from a Tarkatan. Unlike typical Tarkatan Blades, however, the Alien's are segmented.

With his return as a playable character in Mortal Kombat 11, Baraka's arm-blades can be changed through the game's Kustomization. Additionally, the game establishes the trait that Baraka, more than likely other Tarkatans as well, can break off and regrow their arm-blades. This trait is carried over to the new version of Baraka in Mortal Kombat 1. Additionally in the game, a new version of Mileena is infected with Tarkat, partially transforming her into a Tarkatan and has arm-blades hidden under her arm guards.

The savage Tarkata later use their blades in the animated series Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm, and the second movie, Mortal Kombat: Annihilation.

Trivia

• It is unknown as to how the act of a Tarkatan sheathing their blades work, as the length of a fully-extended Tarkatan blade extends far beyond that of their actual arms, implying some level of compression is involved.
• Despite only appearing in a non-canon ending in Mortal Kombat (2011) and in concept art for the Refugee Kamp in Mortal Kombat X, female Tarkatans are consistently depicted with arm blades. But unlike their male counterparts, they don't have one long blade from each forearm, they have two smaller blades that come from their hands.
• Prior to Mortal Kombat 11, the Tarkatan Blades were originally depicted as looking metallic, while the design featured in MK11 has become more organic and bone looking. This, however, is not the case for Baraka in the Story Mode, which features a more metallic design.