Her story line begins 10,000 years prior, when her kingdom loses ten consecutive Mortal Kombat tournaments and is invaded by the evil Outworld emperor Shao Kahn, resulting in a forceful merging of the two realms.

Sindel was forced to witness her people's enslavement, her husband King Jerrod murdered, and their then-infant daughter Kitana adopted by the Kahn and raised as his own.

However, one of Sindel's subjects, Tanya, betrayed her homeland and allowed the fallen Elder God Shinnok's Netherrealm forces to invade her palace.

Enraged at this latest invasion of her kingdom, Sindel sends Kitana to form an alliance with the Shokan armies and lead them into battle against a weakened Shao Kahn while she continues to help restore Edenia to its former beauty.

Sindel was once again confined to her own prisons, guarded by her own daughter until she was freed by Jade, allowing her to scour Edenia for more information on Onaga so she could free Kitana from his control.

In Mortal Kombat X, Sindel's revenant returned as a non-playable character, serving as one of Quan Chi and the fallen Elder God Shinnok's enforcers in the Netherrealm.

In the DLC story expansion, Aftermath, Shang Tsung captured Sindel's revenant and revived her to help him secure Kronika's Crown of Souls.

During production of Mortal Kombat 3, Sindel was nicknamed "The Bride" and "Muchacha" by the developers before her official name was determined; John Tobias described her as "probably one of the coolest characters.

Montelongo filmed game footage in a single fourteen-hour session, and in a 2001 interview with fan site Dave's Mortal Kombat, she revealed that after MK3's release, she would visit arcades to watch people play as Sindel.

[14] She had another brief role in a special-edition tie-in comic book that was included with the 1998 PC home release of Mortal Kombat 4, in which Quan Chi cons his way into Edenia by posing as a refugee from an annexed realm, and he offers Sindel a mysterious orb that she accepts, but it opens a portal through which Shinnok and his Netherealm denizens (including Reiko and Scorpion) emerge, and they capture Edenia.

[15] Sindel was featured character in the 1996 theatrical show Mortal Kombat: Live Tour, in which she was played by martial artist and stuntwoman Eileen Weisinger.

She uses all her MK3 special moves in the film, in separate attempts to defeat Raiden; for her "Hair Whip" maneuver, Vander's wig transformed into computer-generated razor-tipped braids that were rotoscoped onto her head.

[18] In the movie novelization by Jerome Preisler, Sindel pledges her Edenian kingdom to Liu Kang as a reward for his defeat of Kahn, but he respectfully refuses.

[19] Although Sindel was never seen nor mentioned by name in the 1998 television series Mortal Kombat: Conquest, her canon biography was acknowledged when Kitana declared that her mother had killed herself following the execution of King Jerrod, rather than be subservient to Kahn.

[20] Sindel's backstory at the time of Kahn's invasion of Edenia was again highlighted in the fourth episode of the 2011 first season of the Mortal Kombat: Legacy web series, at the beginning of a two-parter featuring Kitana and Mileena.

[28] Ryan Aston of Topless Robot placed her third on their list of characters "that are goofy even by Mortal Kombat standards," where he comments of her movelist (such as her floating ability), and describes her storyline as "one of tragedy and incoherence.

"[33] However, Sindel has gained infamy for her appearance in Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, specifically for her first spoken line of dialogue at the beginning of the film during Shao Kahn's invasion of Earth, when she says, "Too bad you...will die" in response to Kitana's shock at her unexpected resurrection ("Mother...you're alive").

[38][39] Mitchell Slatzman, writing for IGN, expresses disappointment in the retcon, stating "It removes any sort of gray area to her personality and essentially just makes her pure evil, flattening a three-dimensional character into a two-dimensional villain.