Within the Sonic franchise's fictional universe, Shadow is an artificial, anthropomorphic black hedgehog created from titular character Sonic the Hedgehog's DNA by Professor Gerald Robotnik, the grandfather of series antagonist Doctor Eggman. After witnessing the murder of his best friend Maria, Shadow vows to keep his promise to her that he would protect the world from danger. As an antihero, Shadow has good intentions but will do whatever it takes to accomplish his goals, putting him at odds with series protagonist Sonic the Hedgehog. Shadow shares many attributes with Sonic and controls similarly in games, but is distinguished by his use of vehicles and firearms.
Shadow is an anthropomorphic black hedgehog appearing in Sega's Sonic the Hedgehog series of platform games and its various spin-offs. He first appeared in the 2001 installment Sonic Adventure 2,[5] the final Sonic game released for a Sega Dreamcast.[6] His roles in the games vary. Some, such as the main series games Sonic Adventure 2,[6] Sonic Heroes (2003),[7] and Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) feature him as a major playable character,[8] and he is the protagonist of the spin-off Shadow the Hedgehog (2005) and a downloadable content (DLC) package for Sonic Forces (2017).[9][10] Others, such as the anniversary game Sonic Generations (2011), limit him to a non-playable role.[11]
The Shadow The Hedgehog
Sonic Team tasked Maekawa with developing Shadow, whom they wanted to look just as "cool" as Sonic. Maekawa settled on the design of a black hedgehog, but struggled coming up with his personality. One night, while he brainstormed lines for a scene in which Sonic confronts Shadow for impersonating him, Maekawa came up with Shadow's first line: "Hmph, aren't you the fake one here?" As part of shaping his subtle character, Maekawa envisioned Shadow would refer to himself using the more humble Japanese pronoun boku (僕).[24] Iizuka made sure that Shadow's introduction also brought new events to the game, as he wanted players to care about the character.[27]
Shadow the Hedgehog (シャドウザヘッジホッグ, Shadō za Hejjihoggu?) is a character that appears in the Sonic the Hedgehog series. He is an anthropomorphic hedgehog/Black Arms hybrid who resembles Sonic the Hedgehog in many ways[9] and serves as his arch-rival and occasional ally. Shadow was created as the "Ultimate Life Form" (究極生命体, Kyūkyoku Seimeitai?) by Gerald Robotnik by using the DNA of Black Doom, and is the end result of Project Shadow. His purpose was to provide ways to develop a cure for incurable deadly illnesses, more specifically for Gerald's granddaughter Maria Robotnik, who he had a great bond with. However, he was eventually captured following his birth and put into stasis by G.U.N. when he was deemed as a threat to humanity.
Shadow is a black-furred anthropomorphic hedgehog. He has red eyes, a patch of white fur on his chest, a black nose, a tan muzzle, and small, triangular ears with tan canals. He also has six quills on his head, four of which curve upwards while the other two curve downwards, two spines on his back, and a short, pointy tail. He has red stripes on each of his head quills, around the edges of his eyes, and on his arms and legs.
In Shadow's own words, he is not interested in peace, nor does he care about what happens to others. In truth, he simply does not like it when foolish people do whatever they please. While this may make it seem like Shadow stands firmly in opposition to villainy, he is actually very indiscriminate about who he faces, as he chooses to stand against anyone who he condemns for being foolish, be they villains like Dr. Eggman or heroes like Sonic. He similarly does not want thanks for the help he provides when he does something heroic, believing that showing gratitude is a waste of time.[19] Despite his apathetic nature, however, Shadow does feel sympathy for others, and since reforming himself at the end of the Space Colony ARK incident, he has ultimately fought for the greater good, most noticeably to prevent letting other people experience past tragedies, specially the ones that he has been through.[21] Seeing himself as a weapon since he was created as one, the hedgehog also believes that he and other weapons will eventually have to be destroyed to achieve world peace.[22] Despite that, due to being given a "soul" identical to Maria's, he is afraid of his power and has never used it recklessly or to cause suffering.[23]
Shadow was created by the renowned scientist Gerald Robotnik, using Black Doom's DNA. Gerald had made many attempts to create the Ultimate Lifeform before Black Doom and his children, the Black Arms, came to earth. Unfortunately, the closest he came was the Biolizard. Black Doom, however, approached Gerald and offered his help, but only on one condition; if Black Doom helped Gerald, the professor must promise to deliver the seven Chaos Emeralds to him. Gerald agreed to these terms and Black Doom gave some of his DNA, which was added to the samples that Gerald had already obtained. The outcome of this experiment was Shadow the Hedgehog. Gerald seems to be one of few people whom Shadow felt happy around, and the professor might have acted as a surrogate father to him. This is further proven when Gerald refers to the hedgehog as his "son," having given Shadow genuine emotions to prevent him from becoming a weapon as the government intended. However, despite these predisposed emotions, after defeating the Finalhazard, Shadow stated that he promised to "destroy all evil that the professor had created," implying that, while he might still respect Gerald Robotnik, he nonetheless feels that any bad things that Gerald Robotnik had done after going insane must be stopped.
Gerald Robotnik's grandson, Dr. Eggman is one of Shadow's worst enemies, and the two have opposed each other at several points. Their relationship mainly comes from the fact that the black hedgehog was created by the doctor's grandfather. Their first meeting was during the Space Colony ARK incident, where the scientist liberated Shadow from his stasis capsule on Prison Island, thus making the latter grant him one wish in gratitude. The hedgehog would stick with his creator's grandson for the remainder of that incident, until his supposed death after defeating the Finalhazard with Super Sonic. In the aftermath, the one who rescued Shadow turned out to be none other than Eggman himself, who later put him in a stasis capsule in one of his bases, gaslighting him into believing him that he was just a copy of himself and that the real Shadow was dead.
In later incidents, Shadow became another thorn in Eggman's side, despite not being in Sonic's group. It is proven that the black hedgehog cares very little about the doctor's safety if it has nothing to do with him or his teammates,[70] but will nevertheless team up with him if a greater threat arises. In truth though, he just does not like it when anyone, the scientist included, does something he sees as foolish, causing him to go against him if needed.[19]
Shadow and Sonic's conflicts tend to occur due to the fact that though their goals tend to align, their views on justice, morality, and how to act on them can sometimes differ. Their disagreements sometimes turn to bitter fights. In a sense, the two hedgehogs are polar opposites in every way except their appearance and goals.[71]
Despite their differences, Shadow and Sonic have helped each other on several occasions. Shadow helped Sonic defeat Metal Sonic in Sonic Heroes, allied himself and Rouge with Team Sonic to return both teams to their proper time period, and saved the blue hedgehog from Silver's second attempt on his life in Sonic the Hedgehog (2006). He showed grief in the face of Sonic's death and stated to Silver that they cannot defeat Solaris without his help.[72] In the Nintendo DS version of Sonic Colors he clearly shows some concern for Sonic's safety. Additionally, he helped motivate Sonic to defeat the Time Eater in Sonic Generations and attended his birthday party. He seemed concerned for Sonic when Infinite mentioned he would use his newfound power against him and raced to save him in Sonic Forces at the beginning of the game, but was unfortunately too late. Shadow later succeeded in saving Sonic from a Phantom Copy of himself in Sunset Heights despite the blue hedgehog's initial suspicions about the situation. Nonetheless, Shadow did participate in fighting alongside the hedgehog for the rest of the war.
Shadow and Silver the Hedgehog were enemies at first due to Silver being tricked by Mephiles and Shadow intervening in his second attempt to kill Sonic, but became partners later on in Sonic the Hedgehog (2006). They became allies when they worked together after their fight. After attempting Chaos Control on each other, which Shadow was impressed by, the black hedgehog told the misguided Silver that Mephiles was using him for his own ends. To get their answers, the two traveled back ten years to witness the Solaris Project accident. They later split up to go after their own targets; Silver watching the King of Soleanna sealing Iblis inside Elise and Shadow sealing Mephiles inside the Scepter of Darkness. After they finished, Shadow and Silver meet up outside the Aquatic Base, where they then use Chaos Control to return to the present. They meet up once more during Solaris' resurrection. Seeing Sonic's death, Shadow silently stares at Silver when he realizes Mephiles had tricked him into nearly releasing Iblis on the world, recognizing the villain outwitted both of them, and tells him his plan to defeat Solaris could have worked if Sonic was alive. After they and the others revive Sonic, they and the blue hedgehog battle Solaris, which results in the events becoming retconned.
During Shadow the Hedgehog, Shadow can choose to assist Amy in helping find Cream the Rabbit and have her fight alongside the player during the stage and in the boss battle, but this time, there is no reward in return. Also, at the end of Shadow the Hedgehog, Amy shows an odd amount of faith and admiration for Shadow, regardless of him being Sonic's rival. When Rouge expresses concern for Shadow following the destruction of the Black Comet, Amy reassures her with her hands clasped and a cheerful smile on her face, "I'm sure he's fine, Rouge! After all, he is Shadow!" which further displays her positive outlook on the black hedgehog and her general optimism. 2ff7e9595c
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