#sektor is armorer that took place after her father (who seems to be back once she is promoted to bi han's right hand)

[cienie-isengardu]

Interesting theory and one very possible. In general, Bi-Han seems to have a rocky relationship with traditions and laws that are forced on him (and his people), so I could picture him trying his hardest to avoid being trapped into loveless and/or out of obligation marriage. If I may add, this resentment could be related to his mother who, as far as I researched the sources, is never really referred as "Grandmaster's wife", only as mother/parent of Bi-Han, Kuai Liang and Tomas or just warrior. What in itself is not proof about them not being a married couple, but more how little she matters from the political standpoint. And considering how she died at some point before the main story - presumably on duty - while majority sources claim that Lin Kuei lived in relatively peaceful times before MK 1, brings a lot of questions about her role and social/political position within the clan. I like to think a lot of Bi-Han's current mindset was shaped by his relationship with mother - something I talked more about in one of my older posts.

(Bi-Han the mama’s boy FTW!)

If Lin Kuei is so traditional, Bi-Han as an eldest son and heir should already have a child on his own to secure the line of succession (the same way as Mileena is nagged to marry and get pregnant after Sindel's death). Especially considering the nature of Lin Kuei life when one can't be sure when duty will call and the mission ends in the worst way. The fact Bi-Han has younger brother* probably saved him from the worst of pressure, but if his mother was forced to bear another child as a "spare heir", he and his potential wife could be pressured into having more children as soon as possible too. With Sektor not being his official wife, her freedom is more secured which I think may be one the main reasons why Bi-Han and Sektor didn't marry each other yet.

You may be right about the not proper social status of Sektor when Bi-Han's father lived, but as the sources imply that all Lin Kuei support Bi-Han, even Cyrax's own family, we can assume he is free to make his relationship with Sektor an official engagement. But as both focus on securing their clan and fulfilling their great ambition, they don't strike me as people interested in having children, at least for now. So being in an unofficial relationship works the best as none of them is trapped by tradition and the expectations associated with it. I mean, Sub-Zero likes independence so it seems accurate to assume Sektor's own independence is important to him too.

In intro dialogues, no one has a doubt about Sektor and Bi-Han being close to each other. Liu Kang himself acknowledged Sektor will do everything to save Bi-Han during Khaos Reigns and even appoint her as the new Grandmaster and Sub-Zero/Noob is very protective of her, but they don’t need to be officially called wife and husband. Such titles and labels won't change what they are to each other or for clan's future. And I think this is an interesting contrast to Harumi and Kuai Liang - another happy couple - who officially married following the tradition and “social norms” that at least Kuai Liang is so dedicated to uphold.

*There is Kuai Liang and Tomas, but as Tomas is of no Lin Kuei blood, I don’t think he is even taken into consideration when it comes to line of succession.

Come to think of it, it's possible that one of the reasons Bi-Han holds such a grudge against his father and the tradition he represents is his relationship with Sektor. Personnally, I'm not sure that Bi-Han's father looked kindly on his romance with his armorer's daughter. After all, Longwei, Sektor's father, essential though his role was; and Madam Bo, although considered one of the most powerful warriors of her time (as Sektor's bio makes clear), are probably not of aristocratic birth like Bi-Han's family, in which case Longwei would be more than just an armorer. Thus, it was probably customary for the future grandmaster of the Lin Kuei to marry a woman from his clan, or from one of its sub-clans, or from another clan altogether, but who was also of noble descent. What's more, Bi-Han appears to be in his thirties. Having reached such a decade of life, it would be astonishing if his late father hadn't already tried to find him a wife among the clan aristocracy at large. Could Bi-Han have managed to avoid this for years until, finally backed into a corner, he seized the opportunity of his father's accident to let him die and thus escape an imminent forced marriage? After all, Sektor is just one of his employees; hierarchically speaking, he's her boss, so they're not on the same level at all, and it would therefore be inconsistent for the Lin Kuei's aristocratic tradition to allow its grandmasters to take any woman as a spouse. And, for my part, I don't believe that Bi-Han and Sektor are married; it may be disingenuous of me to assert this, but I don't get the impression of a husband-and-wife dynamic between them, but rather of diabolical lovers and concubines (1). That's why, once rid of his father, Bi-Han was able to throw off the tradition the old man materialized, and, in so doing, maybe decree that he'll marry whomever he likes, that is, Sektor, the armorer's commoner daughter.

What's also interesting, on closer inspection, is this dialogue between Mileena and Kitana at the festival, where Mileena, after openly flirting with Tanya while the crowd's eyes were on them, is rebuked by Kitana about the risks of publicly flaunting such an affair:

Kitana: Careful, sister. Entanglements with Umgadi are forbidden. You know their vows. Mileena: Who told you? Kitana: No one. I have eyes. As do the snakes at court who would cheer your downfall. Mileena: The Umgadi's rules are ridiculous. Kitana: And you can change them when you are Empress. For now, you cannot jeopardize our ascension.

For the conflict between free impossible love and the tyrannic binds of tradition in which Mileena finds herself mirrors that in which Bi-Han may have found himself prior to his father's death.

(1) Which is a common trope and archetype in fiction. Also, for that matter, it's worth noting that General Shao refers to Sektor as Bi-Han's "woman", but not as his wife:

General Shao: Sub-Zero sends his woman after me? Sektor: He sends his most skilled warrior.

Admittedly, this choice of vocabulary could simply be part of Shao's crude and contemptuous way of speaking, especially as the word woman, in this context, could very well mean wife:

But this overlooks the fact that the word "wife" is used by other characters a total of 9 times in all the intro dialogues, so Shao could well have used it too (well, I'm not going to get into an analysis of MK1's lexicon, but I think you get my point…).

On the other hand, in MK1's story mode, Kuai Liang reminds a forgetful Tomáš that he won't be able to replace Bi-Han as grandmaster, because Cyrax and Sektor's "loyalty to Bi-Han is absolute", and for this reason, "they['d] sooner abet his corruption than follow [Kuai Liang]". Thus, if Sektor was officially married to Bi-Han, how could Tomáš not have remembered that, as the grandmaster's wife, she would have been perfectly legitimate to act as regent (provided the clan's rules allow it...), or simply oppose her brother-in-law's accession to the throne due to serious ideological differences, but also because it would be expected that she remains faithful to her husband and his vision? Therefore, the fact that Tom didn't even think of it in the first place would seem to indicate that Bi-Han and Sektor's relationship, while likely an open secret within the clan, was nevertheless neither really official; and even less sanctified by the bonds of marriage.

[frstbiitten]

@paindealt​ ha dicho: while makin icons i was reminded of Dat Intro and liiiiiiiike if Frost was dead to Kuai "long ago" then how come he seems visibly upset (and surprised) that she went alongside Sektor??? lmao 

ANALYZING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SUB-ZERO AND FROST: A POST by someone who doesn’t write Kuai Liang but still

Okay, taking first the Story Mode in consideration since I’m looking at the chapter right now and analyzing every single second of it and expression (Hanzo... sweetie... the muscles of your face, use them), let’s just start with the moment they see Cyrax and this Mysterious Woman entering the laboratory. Kuai just had his first bit of sad momentTM when seeing people of his clan killed and there are guts everywhere... he has to live ALL OF THIS ALL OVER AGAIN, and obviously, his expression while holding that medallion is the one of someone who loved his clan and I dare to say, that he was like a father to them. Now, let’s go back to that moment I mentioned. They see this mysterious woman... AND THEY SEE CYRAX!! He is there, and that surprises Kuai Liang in a bittersweet manner since you can see it on his face. When it comes the moment to jump into action, Kuai, JUST IN CASE, he freezes the Mysterious Woman in case she’s a threat to them and go straight for Cyrax, well, Hanzo does it and is a great distraction, when suddenly...

Mysterious Woman is Frost no less and she is a cyborg... no less.

And this is like a bucket of cold water on his face, he is notoriously surprised and upset as you say, after all these years he gets to see his greatest pupil and all the memories come to him, perhaps he thought that her destiny took another turn (going back to California, death, anything but clearly NOT THIS), but another thing...

Kuai tries to knock some sense into her head. I mean, if someone was ‘dead for you long ago’, would you try to bring out these facts to them? Try to knock some sense into their heads even if they are long gone to be back to how they were before? Kuai has all the reasons to be upset, you can listen to his anger and sadness when he mentions about all he did for her (to me, I think this is also a sign about how well they knew each other, how else he would know she had no home before joining the Lin Kuei? Of course, Frost TRUSTED Kuai enough to reveal this piece of her past). ALSO I want to remark Kuai’s facial expressions when saying that there is no future in which she leads the Lin Kuei: sadness, anger, and inquisitory finger, and perhaps holding back his tears? Whatever, you can see how terrible he is feeling now.

Now let’s talk about the worst part: Frost’s death.

I don’t know why, but this little piece of her dialogue before going for Raiden is an attempt from the writers to foreshadow her death... I mean, Raiden ‘ignored her through her entire life’ and how funny that is Raiden who puts an end to her life. Also, I think they tried to make you feel a little tiny bit of sympathy for the devil here. Like this is a reminder right here that Frost went from ‘Nothing to Everything’, got so intoxicated with the desires of power that hell, there’s no stopping from this point.

Okay, now the bad part...

This the expression of a man who’s just so disappointed and having a really bad time, and the worst part is when he realizes that Frost was controlling the Cyber Initiative all this time, not Sektor. Even if he hasn’t realized about it yet, you can notice that he’s truly hurting by how everything turned out, remarks about her wasted potential (Kuai KNOWS that Frost is so capable of being more, that she could have been Grandmistress if she was more patient, and even named her is heir to the title of Sub-Zero). 

So, let’s go for the last part of this long-ass post about me trying to prove something obvious and looking deeper into it because I have no self-control and I’m screaming as I type this:

The Dialogues 

Frost - Sub-Zero

Frost: Here to criticize me again? Sub-Zero: I held you to a higher standard. Frost: You held me back!

Frost: The circle is complete, Sub-Zero. Sub-Zero: You were a talented student once. Frost: And now, I'm the master.

Frost: I'm done with your pretentious lectures. Sub-Zero: No power is worth trading your soul. Frost: That's a perfect example.

Frost: I was your heir apparent. Sub-Zero: If only you'd been more patient, Frost. Frost: Like I'm patiently waiting to kill you?

Sub-Zero - Frost

Sub-Zero: Here to face the Grandmaster? Frost: I'm here to take your place. Sub-Zero: You are not ready, Frost.

Sub-Zero: I have no wish to strike you. Frost: You can't hurt me, Grand-bastard. Sub-Zero: Even iron rods can be ground to needles.

Sub-Zero: Was I such a poor mentor? Frost: Mentor? You were an obstacle! Sub-Zero: All tests are hard before they are easy.

Sub-Zero: The Lin Kuei are done with you. Frost: They will follow me in the New Era. Sub-Zero: That era will never come.

On one side we have Frost simply spitting out poison, making remarks about how terrible mentor he was, that he didn’t help her to explore her entire potential, that his lectures are pretentious. And on the other side, we have Sub-Zero who’s just... he’s just tired, he’s having a bad time having to see his best pupil becoming everything he has feared before, Kuai was FORCED to be a Cyber Lin Kuei, that whole experience traumatized him and has done his very best to overcome that trauma by restoring the clan in his own way. These lines of dialogue still don’t reveal enough about how it was their relationship in the past... but there is one which is pretty interesting, and it can be considered as Kuai’s last attempt to let Frost know that he cares for her still:

Sub-Zero: I have no wish to strike you. Frost: You can't hurt me, Grand-bastard. Sub-Zero: Even iron rods can be ground to needles.

Kuai doesn’t want to hurt Frost, if she was ‘dead for him so long ago’ as he says in that intro with the Joker, why even try? Wouldn’t you just go and kill your own student if they were like Frost to let them know how dead they are for you? If you can find this intro with them maskless, is pretty interesting because they’re both hurting here, even Frost looks sad in this intro without the mask when she says that he can’t hurt her, and Kuai’s voice is the one of someone who’s so sad and upset.

Also, it’s so obvious that Kuai refuses to kill her or even fight against her, like, these are the intros between Frost - Kitana and Liu Kang:

Kitana: I must take you to Sub-Zero, Frost. Frost: Since when do you do his bidding? Kitana: Since we chose cooperation over kombat.

Frost: We have no quarrel, Liu Kang. Liu Kang: I'm bringing you back to Sub-Zero. Frost: Attempt it and you die.

The Kahn of Outworld and The Chosen One are out there working together for a common cause: bring Frost back to Sub-Zero, a petition made by him no less. They don’t suggest anything about ‘Sub-Zero wants to kill you’ or anything referring to him ending with her life, no no, they just want to bring her to him, and this gives me memories of... the OG timeline...

Frost’s ending in Deadly Alliance:

As they traveled back to the portal that would return them to Earthrealm, Sub-Zero revealed to Frost that she had been an integral part in the destruction of the Deadly Alliance, and that he was proud to have her as a member of the Lin Kuei clan. But unknown to Sub-Zero, Frost's true intention for joining the Lin Kuei was to become Grand Master herself. She used her ice blast to temporarily immobilize him and ripped the Dragon Medallion from his chest. As she held the medallion, she felt power surge through her body. Lacking the strength and discipline required to control the medallion's immense power, she was consumed by her own freezing ability. 

Sub-Zero’s Bio in Deception / Unchained:

"My fellow Lin Kuei, Frost, had betrayed me and stolen my Dragon Medallion. Unable to control the medallion' s power, she was consumed by her own freezing ability. I searched Outworld for a suitable place to bury her remains when I happened upon ancient ruins carved into a mountainside. I learned that the ruins were a holy structure belonging to a lost race of people who had attained mastery over the cold. After thorough study of this culture, I now believe both Frost and myself to be their descendants. I laid Frost's body in a sarcophagus and left the catacombs, donning the armor of my newly discovered heritage."

Frost’s ending in Deception / Unchained:

Sub-Zero returned to Earthrealm only to find many of his clan slain by Frost. She had come back to the Lin Kuei temple with the intention of killing only him, but she was now delirious and saw Sub-Zero everywhere. Sub-Zero blasted her with intense cold, freezing her until she could be revived and cured of her dementia. He laid her on an altar in the chamber of fallen Lin Kuei and sealed the room with a wall of ice. Frost will one day recover. When that day comes, she will have to answer for her crimes against the Lin Kuei.

Kuai also cared for Frost in the Original Timeline, besides of not expressing this so much because of how DA/D were written and displayed, there’re these bits in their bio cards and endings that show that Kuai Liang cared and even was proud of her. Most important here: he wants to give her a proper burial after her betrayal, he carries her to these mountains in Outworld to put her in this ice sarcophagus once, he does it twice then believing that she will answer for her crimes against the clan. All of this is because he respects Frost enough to not let her decaying like the corpse of an enemy (is interesting how is mentioned in his MKDA ending that he took Frost back to the Lin Kuei, but in his MKD bio card he says that he left her in this place in Outworld that was casually a vestige of who they are). Anyway, this got longer than expected so now you have to read this word vomit.

PS: I had to watch Frost dying again, I just want you to know that I hate that scene so much that I always skip it. I watched it only bc of this...