Shadow the Hedgehog

Shadow the Hedgehog
Sonic the Hedgehog character
File:Shadow rivals.png Shadow is known as the "Ultimate Life Form".
First game	Sonic Adventure 2 (2001)
Created by	Takashi Iizuka

This article is about the video game character. For the video game of the same name, see Shadow the Hedgehog (video game).

Shadow the Hedgehog (シャドウ・ザ・ヘッジホッグ, Shadō Za Hejjihoggu) is a character from the Sonic the Hedgehog series, created by Takashi Iizuka, designed by Yuji Uekawa and owned by Sega.

Shadow is an artificially created life form in the design of a male, anthropomorphic hedgehog. His trademark hover skates propel him at extreme speeds that rival those of Sonic. Shadow resembles Sonic in many ways. He is distinguished from Sonic by his fur, eye color, cuffs, shoes, and quill shape. He is one of Sonic's rivals and is considered to be an anti-hero.

Since his debut, Shadow has appeared in a multitude of games, television shows, and comic books. His past was almost a complete mystery until the game Shadow the Hedgehog revealed the events surrounding his creation. In contrast to Sonic, Shadow is typically portrayed as a tortured anti-hero with a cruel disposition, or a renegade who can just as easily serve the forces of evil as those of good. According to an official poll, he is the second most popular character in the series, second only to Sonic himself.

History

Shadow was created by Professor Gerald Robotnik aboard the Space Colony Ark. Gerald had been charged with the task of researching a path to immortality, and created "The Ultimate Life Form", an immortal creature named Shadow, as a first step towards achieving that goal. However, G.U.N. grew wary of his research and shut down the space station, killing Gerald's grandaughter Maria in the process. They also encapsulated the prototype of the ultimate life form, the Biolizard, within the ark. Before dying, Maria tricked Shadow into walking into an escape pod, and stayed behind to eject him towards Earth, making him promise to her that he would give everyone on Earth "a chance to be happy". Meanwhile, Gerald was arrested by G.U.N. and framed for the entire incident. Upon learning that Maria was dead, Gerald quickly turned insane, and designed a program that would cause the Space Colony Ark to crash into Earth once all seven Chaos Emeralds were placed inside it. He then modified Shadow's mind (Shadow had been captured by the military on Earth and imprisoned on Prison Island) so that he would carry out Gerald's plan if he was ever released.

Fifty years later, Shadow was released from suspended animation by Dr. Eggman, grandson of Gerald Robotnik. Eggman had read his grandfather's diary and had sought after Shadow after learning that he was the ultimate life form his grandfather had created, hoping to use him to conquer the world. Shadow, staying true to the insane goals Gerald had set for him, tricked Eggman into believing that by collecting all seven Chaos Emeralds he could power the Eclipse Cannon, a weapon aboard the Space Colony Ark capable of destroying a planet. Thinking he could use the Eclipse Cannon to conquer the world, Eggman joined forces with Shadow (and later Rouge the Bat), and together the three of them collected all seven Chaos Emeralds. However, once Eggman placed the seventh Chaos Emerald into its slot aboard the Ark, Gerald's program activated, and the ark began to hurtle towards Earth. After witnessing a video aboard the Ark, in which Gerald described his insane plan, Eggman and the other characters banded together to try and stop the program forcing the Ark to crash into and destroy the planet. Shadow, however, refused to help, claiming that "everything's going according to plan", by which he meant that his goal of activating Gerald's program had succeeded. However, Amy Rose pleaded with Shadow to help save everyone, which triggered his memory of Maria begging him to give everyone on Earth "a chance to be happy", which Gerald had previously suppressed in Shadow's mind. Shadow then went on to help defeat the released Biolizard, ande eventually the FinalHazard. Along with Sonic, he help to teleport the Colony back into orbit via Chaos Control, which used up the last of his energy and seemingly resulted in him falling to Earth and dying.

In Sonic Heroes, Rouge discovered Shadow in a stasis tube in Eggman's secret base. Suffering from amnesia, Shadow joined forces with Rouge and Omega in order to track down Eggman. Throughout the game, whenever Shadow questioned Eggman (later revealed to be Metal Sonic)about his past, Eggman always hinted that Shadow had "no past to remember", foreshadowing a shocking discovery by Rouge. After defeating the final Eggman robot, Rouge stumbled into a room full of what appeared to be Shadow clones. Deducing that the Shadow she was with was also a clone, she then went on to fight Metal Sonic with the others.

In Shadow the Hedgehog, Shadow, still with no memory of his past, meets the Black Arms and Black Doom, who seems to know Shadow. Throughout the game, Shadow has constant flashbacks of his past. Black Doom also baits Shadow with the knowledge of his past, while Eggman tells him that he is simply an android created by Eggman to mimic the real Shadow. In the final story, Black Doom reveals to him that while working on his immortality project, Gerald Robotnik contacted Black Doom and made a deal with him, if Black Doom helped him with his research, Gerald would deliver the seven chaos emeralds to him in fifty years' time. And so using his own blood, Black Doom helped Gerald create Shadow, and immortal life form that would both help with Gerald's research, and who would collect the chaos emeralds for Black Doom in the future. However, once Gerald learned of Black Doom's plot to take over the world, he created the Eclipse Cannon as a means to destroy the Black Comet, and left it up to Shadow to stop the Black Arms. While fighting Black Doom, Shadow also learned from Eggman that he in fact was not and android, but the original Shadow, whom Eggman had rescued with one of his robots after Shadow fell from space in Sonic Adventure 2. After destroying both Black Doom and the Black Arms, Shadow decided to put his past behind him, and live his (immortal) life as he saw fit. He later became a G.U.N. agent.

Game appearances

Shadow debuted in the game Sonic Adventure 2 as one of three main antagonists, alongside Rouge the Bat. Dr. Eggman set Shadow free from a G.U.N. base on Prison Island, where he had spent 50 years imprisoned. In exchange, Shadow agreed to aid the doctor in his plans to take over the world; holding in secret his true intentions as wishing to get revenge for the death of his friend, Maria Robotnik. To achieve this, Shadow revealed the primary weapon of the Space Colony ARK - the Eclipse Cannon - to Dr. Eggman, blowing up half of the Moon in demonstration. In a twist of fate, Shadow ultimately aided Sonic when realizing Maria's true wish with the help of Amy Rose, which was to save humanity. In the Last Story, Eggman inserts the final Chaos Emerald into the Eclipse Cannon's power core, only to initiate a destabilization program on the ARK. Gerald Robotnik then revealed that he had made this function to have revenge for Maria, and that the ARK would destroy the Earth. Meanwhile, Sonic and Knuckles had reached the Central Core, where they ran afoul of the Biolizard, the Prototype of the Ultimate Life Form (and technically Shadow's older brother). After Shadow arrives to distract (and ultimately defeat) the Biolizard so Sonic and Knuckles can deactivate the Emeralds, Knuckles uses the Master Emerald to stop the Chaos Emeralds. But the Biolizard uses Chaos Control to fuse with the ARK and create The FinalHazard, continuing the station's plummet toward Earth. Then, as Super Sonic and Super Shadow, they destroy the FinalHazard, and using their pooled energies, use Chaos Control to move the ARK safely back into Earth's orbit. Afterwards, Shadow fell to the earth and was presumed dead.

In Sonic Heroes, Rouge discovers Shadow in a stasis tube located in the deepest part of one of Dr. Eggman's bases. As she activates the capsule, E-123 Omega begins to attack the newly awakened Shadow, believing him to be an android. Shadow discovers that he has amnesia and cannot remember anything before his release. He joins forces with Rouge and the robot E-123 Omega to form Team Dark and find Eggman, who mockingly announces that he has no past to remember. At one stage Shadow even finds a robot version of himself in pieces. Rouge later discovers an hangar filled with hundreds of Shadows in capsules similar to the one in which she found him. Omega implies that cloning is involved, and that the original must exist for the clones to have been made. It is later revealed that Eggman had made robotic android versions of Shadow, and the question is raised as to whether or not Shadow himself is one of these androids. Ultimately, when Metal Sonic transforms into Metal Madness, Shadow works with everyone else to help defeat it. Shadow is last seen with Omega and the defeated Metal Sonic.

In Sonic Battle, Rouge saves Shadow while they are investigating Dr. Eggman's secret base and takes him back to her home. Shadow talks about how the people of Earth must destroy him and Emerl if they ever want peace, still believing that he is a weapon. It is revealed, however, that he ultimately has the heart and soul of Maria Robotnik, implying he could not be the enemy of humanity. In one of Gerald Robotnik's journal entries, he mentions that "Project Shadow" was put on hold because of Project Gizoid.

File:SuperShadowCG.png

Super Shadow as seen in Shadow the Hedgehog.

In Shadow the Hedgehog, Shadow is revealed to be the dual creation of the alien overlord Black Doom and Professor Gerald. Gerald could not finish the project on his own, so he contacted the Black Comet and used Black Doom's blood, and presumably his DNA to create Shadow. Shadow eventually gathers all the Chaos Emeralds and confronts Doom as Super Shadow. He then destroys the Black Comet with the Eclipse Cannon. In the end, he puts the past behind him. Also in the last battle of the game, Eggman confesses to Shadow that he saved him in Sonic Adventure 2 before he fell to Earth, meaning he is the real Shadow and not a Shadow Android as was previously believed.

In the 2006 Sonic the Hedgehog game, Shadow is a playable character and has his own storyline which weaves with those of Sonic and new character Silver the Hedgehog. In this role, Shadow encounters the new villain Mephiles the Dark when the Scepter of Darkness falls and shatters. Shadow is sent to the future and is revealed to have become the enemy of mankind, due to their fear of his power. It is also been revealed that Shadow is sealed away by the reprogrammed Omega sometime during this event. Eventually, Mephiles gains hold of the seven Chaos Emeralds and merges with Iblis, becoming Solaris. Shadow turns into Super Shadow and joins with Super Silver and Super Sonic to defeat Solaris. The events of the game are then reset and do not occur, possibly leaving his future open.

Shadow appears in Sonic Rivals as a playable character alongside Sonic, Knuckles, Silver, and Metal Sonic. Summoned to a strange land by Dr. Eggman via a cryptic transmission asking for his aid, Shadow is able to successfully locate Dr. Eggman, but once he mentions the cryptic message, Dr. Eggman denies it. The mystery continues to unfold itself as Rouge warns him of an impending danger and upon stumbling across a secret about Dr. Eggman, her transmission is cut off short. Shadow continues his quest to uncover the truth about Dr. Eggman. Shadow also appears on four of the 150 collectible cards in the game.

Shadow is an unlockable character in the game Sonic Riders after beating the Hero Story Mode. He is a Speed type character, with his default Gear: Darkness, which he uses to skate like his default shoes. He now appears in the sequel Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity as a speed character, and his default gear is called Black Shot.

Shadow also appeared in the game Sonic and the Secret Rings, being the first unlockable character for the Party Mode (next ones being Cream, Silver and Blaze) by obtaining 30 Fire Souls.

Shadow also appears in Mario and Sonic at the Olympic games as a speed character along with Sonic, Yoshi and Princess Daisy.

Shadow appears in the sequel to Sonic Rivals, Sonic Rivals 2. He is confronted by Metal Sonic and Eggman (through a speaker in Metal Sonic) tells him that he needs help. Before he can ask questions he and Metal Sonic find Espio and Silver. Curious as to why Silver has returned to the present he begins to follow Silver while Metal Sonic follows Espio. Eventually Shadow forgets to ask the Doctor why he is helping him and just continues to work with Metal Sonic. Eventually Shadow discovers that Eggman Nega is trying to release the Ifrit with the seven Chaos Emeralds. He enters the Chaos Inferno Zone to press the switch to seal the Ifrit in its own dimension, but he and Metal Sonic are trapped in the process. Metal Sonic tears himself open to reveal a Chaos Emerald, and Shadow Chaos Controls them back to their own dimension.

Shadow will be in the RPG game, Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood.

Shadow is an assist trophy in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. He uses Chaos Control to manipulate the battlefield, slowing down time for every combatant but the one that summoned him. His Assist trophy appearance is unlocked as soon as the player unlocks Sonic. Shadow also appears as a trophy and a sticker.

Shadow is a playable character in Sega Superstars Tennis alongside Sonic, Tails, Amy, and Dr. Eggman.

Personality

Created long ago by Prof. Gerald Robotnik to be the Ultimate Life Form, Shadow is the dark incarnation of Sonic the Hedgehog. Sharp witted and seemingly always on the edge, Shadow is among the darkest and most violent characters in the series. Once he has set himself to a goal, he will do whatever it takes to accomplish it, regardless of any danger. After the trauma of the death of his first closest friend, Maria Robotnik, Shadow strives to fulfill his purpose and keep the promise he made to her, despite his general loathing of mankind.

In Sonic X, Shadow is not as aggressive, but is still very violent. For example, Shadow attempts to kill Cosmo because he thought she was a Metarex spy. Tails then tried to protect Cosmo, which resulted in Shadow giving him a severe beating. The dubbed and edited American version of the show tones down Shadow's dark and aggressive attitude to make the show more acceptable for younger viewers.

Interaction with other characters

Professor Gerald Robotnik

50 years ago, the head scientist on Space Colony ARK, Professor Gerald Robotnik, Dr. Eggman's grandfather, created Shadow with the use of Black Doom's DNA. Shadow has a great deal of respect for the professor and is known to be quite loyal to the original purpose Gerald established for him before going insane. After discovering Gerald's insanity, Shadow disavowed Gerald's new insane goals at the end of Sonic Adventure 2. Instead Shadow more often remembers the professor for what he was before his final days of derangement.

Maria Robotnik

Soon after being created, Shadow became close friends with the Professor's granddaughter, Maria Robotnik, whom he seems to have treated like a sister. In Sonic Adventure 2, Shadow the Hedgehog and the Japanese version of Sonic X, it was revealed that Maria had been shot and killed by a G.U.N soldier, while in the English version of Sonic X, she was merely captured and never seen again. After her death, Maria's sacrifice to save Shadow both continuously haunted and motivated him, until he finally decided to let go of his past at the end of Shadow the Hedgehog and lead his own life.

Black Doom

The relationship between Shadow and Black Doom may have been brief, but has played a significant role in Shadow's life. Shadow was made from Black Doom's blood, in a deal between the alien and Professor Gerald; this, technically, makes Black Doom Shadow's biological father. Black Doom, at first, tried to get Shadow on his side by playing on what remained of Shadow's painful memories of losing Maria. Regardless of the path taken during gameplay, Shadow in the end fights and defeats Black Doom (who transformed into Devil Doom) and then destroys the Black Comet with the Eclipse Cannon in the Last Story. Still, throughout the events of Shadow the Hedgehog Black Doom threatens Shadow and demands extreme loyalty and respect, even when choosing the Dark path in gameplay Doom acts with no compassion whatsoever. He also doesn't tolerate any kind of mistake or failure, no matter how difficult the task on Shadow's part may be.

Doctor Eggman

Shadow's approach to Dr. Eggman is quite different from that of other characters, apart from Rouge the Bat. His relation to the Doctor is neither that of a staunch enemy nor an ally, choosing instead to form alliances with or against him depending on the circumstances. While Eggman has helped Shadow on multiple occasions, each time was just a means to use the black hedgehog in his own plans. Although Shadow appears to show little regard for whether Dr. Eggman's schemes succeed or not, clashes do occur when they get in each other's way. Despite this, they display a certain amount of respect for each other's abilities, one notable aspect being that Shadow always refers to Eggman by his title of "Doctor" (even "the good doctor" in Sonic Battle and Shadow the Hedgehog, though it may be sarcastic), regardless of the deceptions Eggman implies in order to trick or lure Shadow to his cause; which hardly-to-never succeed.

Rouge the Bat

Shadow also has a very close relationship with Rouge the Bat, Shadow's ally and possibly the closest friend he has since the death of Maria. Rouge also shows a lot of respect for the black hedgehog and is often seen worrying about his safety throughout the series. Shadow can be very protective of her and has grown to trust her to a certain degree. A few times she also becomes a "damsel-in-distress", usually causing Shadow to end up saving her. Rouge has also returned the favor a couple times, such as when she takes Shadow to her place to rest when he is weakened. At one point, Rouge declared that she will never abandon Shadow even if the world turns against him. However, Shadow remains sarcastic around her and tends to sometimes be indifferent toward Rouge's goals.

E-123 Omega

E-123 Omega is a robot created by Eggman that was left behind in the same base Shadow was encased in. After starting off as adversaries in Sonic Heroes, Shadow and Omega become allies and helped each other in battle. Initially they don't get along well, even sparking small rivalries as to who is strongest such as in the Shadow the Hedgehog game. In Sonic the Hedgehog Omega acts on Rouge's request to aid Shadow, who was trapped in the future without a means to return. Omega appears disheartened by the revelation that he will be the one to imprison Shadow in the future. Though, this outcome may have been erased since the events that transpired in the game were reset with the destruction of Solaris, the game's main antagonist, leaving Omega's future open.

Sonic the Hedgehog

Shadow's biggest rival is none other than Sonic the Hedgehog, the main protagonist of the game series. When the two first meet in Sonic Adventure 2, they immediately became enemies, but over time their relationship developed into a friendly rivalry. They still frequently fight for different reasons. Shadow finds Sonic to be very irritating for his carefree attitude, but they usually end up working together. Shadow also helped defeat Metal Madness, the larger form of Neo Metal Sonic in the game, Sonic Heroes. Shadow even saves Sonic from Silver during the Sonic the Hedgehog game. Each mourn the other's supposed death, Shadow's at the end of Sonic Adventure 2 and Sonic's during the final story of Sonic the Hedgehog (2006).

Amy Rose

Shadow has a short but significant encounter with Amy Rose in the Last Story of Sonic Adventure 2. When the Space Colony ARK is nearing its collision course with Earth, Amy pleads to Shadow to help save the world. At first he refuses, but Amy's persistent words and positive outlook eventually triggered the once dormant memory of Maria's real wish: to give people a chance to be happy.

GUN Commander

The Commander and Shadow didn't get along at first as the Commander blamed Shadow for the death of his family, but after the events of Shadow the Hedgehog, (as revealed in expert mode) the Commander invited Shadow to join GUN as part of his apology to the hedgehog.

Metal Sonic

Shadow and Metal Sonic are forced to work together when Doctor Eggman calls for Shadow's assistance in Sonic Rivals 2. Although they are together for a brief amount of time Shadow does seem concerned about Metal Sonic multiple times, despite the fact that Metal Sonic is a robot with the inability to speak. Shadow constantly asks him if he's alright and at the end of the game when Metal Sonic tears himself open to retrieve the Chaos Emerald, Shadow tells him to stop, for he fears Metal Sonic will destroy himself.

Silver the Hedgehog

Silver came from the distant future to destroy the Iblis Trigger. Shadow stepped in when he tried to kill Sonic for the second time and fought him. They created a space-time rift using intersecting Chaos Control and traveled ten years back, where they learned the truth about Solaris. The three Hedgehogs, using Super Transformation defeat him in the end, but time is relapsed. In Sonic Rivals, Shadow is distrustful of Silver's speculation about Eggman, but they work together when they learn he was right.

Abilities

Basic traits between Shadow and Sonic are virtually identical. Like Sonic, Shadow is highly acrobatic, capable of gracefully leaping over many obstacles in his way. He can also perform Sonic's trademark 'Spin Attack', which is a variation on the tendency for hedgehogs to roll into tight balls for protection. Also, Shadow can skate at speeds fast enough to rival the speeds Sonic can run. Shadow is also ageless.

Shadow's trademark move is Chaos Control, which allows him to warp time and space. Shadow uses it mainly to transport matter and/or to slow or stop time. The move actually allows the user to manipulate time and space to warp across "space" or move through or across "time". Sonic, Black Doom, Metal Sonic (as seen as Metal Overlord during Sonic Heroes), Biolizard, and Silver can also use Chaos Control, though the move originally appeared with Shadow and he makes the most extensive use of it. Although most cutscenes and bios in manuals and websites often claim Shadow needs a Chaos Emerald to perform the technique, he has used it several times during gameplay as well as some cutscenes without a known Emerald in his possession such as in Sonic Rivals, Sonic Battle, and Sonic the Hedgehog. In contrast, the Archie version of Shadow can directly access the "Chaos Force" and does not require a Chaos Emerald. Shadow is also able to shape Chaos Control into a variety of offensive and defensive attacks, such as "Chaos Spear". As described in Shadow's game, all of his Chaos powers increase in correlation to the addition of a greater number of Chaos Emeralds, until reaching full power with all 7 Emeralds. It is currently unknown as to what extent Chaos Control can be used, as Shadow has never been seen using it on another object without warping himself along with it (aside from when Super Shadow and Super Sonic together teleported ARK, and he didn't warp along with it, but this might only have been because he did not have enough energy to warp himself as well as the ARK), but it has been shown that he can take objects and people into the warp with him, and all examples of this suggest he must be touching to object to bring it with him (such as transporting the Black Comet off Earth). When saving Rouge from Prison Island, he was seen touching her. Aside from it's final usage in Sonic Adventure 2, Shadow has used Chaos Control to transport other objects with 3 emeralds at most, using Chaos Control to save Rouge from Prison Island, and they ended up on the ARK afterwards, suggesting that he may be able to transport other objects with even less Chaos Emeralds.

Another form of attack that first appeared in the Shadow the Hedgehog game is an attack called "Chaos Blast" that is induced when Shadow commits acts of evil, filling his red gauge. While the Chaos Spear can attack single or multiple targets, the Chaos Blast is literally a shockwave of energy that eliminates anything and everything in a circular radius range. When this attack can be formed, his eyes and the streaks on his body begin to glow red. The effect on Shadow is similar to the "Dark Super Sonic" form shown in Sonic X, where Sonic is consumed by his anger and hate, and uses this to power his Chaos abilities.

As shown in Sonic the Hedgehog (2006), and Sonic X, Shadow is able to unleash more of his power if he takes off the rings on his wrists. Sonic X was the first to present this idea, which at first made it seem to be exclusive to the anime, as during the Sonic Adventure 2 adaptation, Shadow loses his rings when trying to stop the ARK from crashing to earth (which is why Shadow died and not Sonic). In the game, Sonic enters the ARK with one of Shadow's rings, but he is never shown actually losing them. In the anime, this increase in power comes at the expense of reducing his stamina, causing Shadow to become exhausted after a relatively short time engaged in combat as seen in episodes 60, 61, and 63 of the series. However, in the video game series, he shows no sign of fatigue. The increase in his power from taking off his rings shows a drastic change in the final cutscene of his story in Sonic the Hedgehog 2006, after he plows through what appears to be hundreds of copies of Mephiles. This ability was also demonstrated in recent issues of the Archie comic as mentioned below, wherein Shadow removed the rings in order to call up his full power when he engaged the newly-reborn Enerjak in combat.

In Shadow the Hedgehog, Shadow has shown that he can also use a wide range of firearms, semi-automatics, heavy assault, and close-combat weapons. He can also improvise with debris, and drive a wide range of vehicles, (similar to that of the T-101) as shown in Shadow the Hedgehog, Sonic Riders, and Sonic the Hedgehog (2006). This proves a great distinction between him and Sonic because, in the same game, Sonic says he'd never get caught using a gun, and prefers running over using a vehicle.

By harnessing the power of the seven Chaos Emeralds, Shadow is able to use super transformation to transform into Super Shadow. He is bestowed with the new abilities of flight and near invulnerability, like Super Sonic, and his normal abilities of speed and his Chaos powers are greatly enhanced.

Other appearances

Sonic X

File:Shadow-SonicX38.jpg

Shadow, as seen in an episode of the anime, Sonic X.

Shadow also appears on the anime Sonic X. Episodes 33 through 38 are based on Sonic Adventure 2, with quite a few differences from the game. For one, it was Chris Thorndyke who reminded Shadow of his true promise from Maria, not Amy Rose. Afterwards, he makes short appearances in flashbacks, but he makes his true return in episode 60, “The Return of Shadow”. In Japan he is voiced by his game voice actor, but in the dub he is voiced by Jason Griffith, who also does the voice of Sonic. In one moment in episode 38 after Chris told Shadow what Maria's true promise was Chris passed out and Shadow caught Chris before he fell to the floor, after that Shadow had a small tear come from his eye. This proved that despite Shadow's behavior and attitude, he can have sad emotions.

In Season 2, Shadow had no clear memory of his mysterious past, although in one episode, he seems to have an image of Maria in his mind. However, he cannot seem to work out who she really was. In that same episode, Dr. Eggman visits people of a planet the Metarex are warring with, including one orange-haired female teenager by the name of Molly. Shadow and Rouge meet her, and at the end of the French/Japanese version of the episode, Molly was killed by the Metarex. Shadow erects a makeshift grave for her, and Rouge notes that she was similar to Maria. In the English dub Molly is seen flying off into the sky and instead of a grave, Shadow says that he will miss her and he is worried about her being all alone out in space.

Sonic the Hedgehog (comic)

File:Sonic146.jpg

Shadow, as seen on the cover of issue #146.

Shadow also appears in the Sonic the Hedgehog comic series, and his origin is identical to that in the games in that he was created by Gerald Robotnik to stand against the threat of Black Doom and the Black Arms. He debuted in an adaptation of the game Sonic Adventure 2, with a few changes to accommodate the Archie version of Mobius/Earth. The comic skips over the events of Sonic Heroes, and Shadow reappears with an explanation of how he survived his apparent death: an alien race, the Bem, rescued him so he could combat their enemy, the alien Xorda, buying the Bem time to escape. However, Shadow could not defeat the Xorda (even in his super form) and plummeted toward Mobius. He survived the fall and was found by Sonic, who brought him before Maximillian Acorn so that he could warn him of the impending threat of the Xorda, allowing the House of Acorn to amass an army of allies to stand against the Quantum Dial weapon.

Shadow often works alone to achieve his goal, which is to discover the truth about his mysterious history. He has at times allied with Sonic and the Freedom Fighters to fight greater evils, like the Xorda, and he has been known to work either for or against Dr. Robotnik depending on the circumstances (once even threatening to kill him). Often, he will side with whomever he believes will bring him closer to the truth. This search has led him to interact with various other characters, including the robot Isaac, Brotherhood of Guardians member Locke, and various versions of Metal Sonic. In addition to Sonic, Shadow has also established a rivalry with Scourge the Hedgehog, an evil version of Sonic from another dimension and former leader of the Anti-Freedom Fighters. He has also sworn to protect Hope Kintobor at all costs, viewing it as atoning for Maria's death since Hope is one of the few living beings to show compassion towards him besides Maria, and also bears a striking resemblance to her (enough so that he nearly mistook Hope for Maria at one point).

Like Tails, Shadow was kidnapped by the nanite villain A.D.A.M. and used to gather all the Chaos Emeralds in the universe, but later used his Super form and Chaos powers to send them to the Zone of Silence. He eventually gained possession of a copy of Professor Gerald's diary, and learned from it that he had been created to protect Mobius from the return of the Black Arms. Resolving to fulfill his creator's wish, Shadow joined the Guardian Units of Nations, or G.U.N. He later arrived in New Mobotropolis in response to a distress call from Sally Acorn, and engaged Enerjak, a brainwashed and superpowered version of Knuckles the Echidna. By removing his power inhibitors, Shadow was able to match him for a time, but failed to maintain his power long enough to defeat him before Enerjak was captured by the Egg Fleet.

All of Shadow's Chaos powers in the comic book series come from the greatest power in the universe, the Chaos Force (also referred to as "The Power of Chaos"), a mystical energy field that serves as a wellspring for all Chaos powers. Knuckles states at one point that Shadow must have direct access to this energy, even without an Emerald, as displayed when Shadow sub-consciously halted a squadron of 'Metal Sonic Troopers' and teleported himself, Sonic, and a wounded Hope to Castle Acorn using Chaos Control in the absence of an Emerald.

Shadow Androids

Shadow Androids are robots based on Shadow that first appeared in Sonic Heroes, though it was never actually stated to be such. Instead, one Team Dark cutscene showed a broken Shadow robot, and another one showed an entire room of Androids in stasis, which affected the story in a way, making several characters believe Shadow was a robot. The Shadow Androids reappeared in Shadow the Hedgehog as somewhat strong enemy robots on the single-player mode's "Iron Jungle" and "Lava Shelter" stages, along with the "Iron Jungle" boss. These androids can counter Shadow's Homing Attacks, or lock-on to Shadow and toss rockets at him, which they seem to use more often than the Homing Attack. At the last Team Dark cutscene of Sonic Heroes, when Rouge finds the multiple Shadow androids, she suspects that Shadow is an android, but Omega says that the real Shadow exists, as there is no way anyone could make Shadow androids without the real Shadow. While Shadow is facing Black Doom in his Devil Doom form, Eggman says that he used a robot to rescue Shadow as or after he fell from the Space Colony ARK in Sonic Adventure 2, meaning that while Shadow was in a stasis tube, Eggman was making Shadow androids.

In the multi-player mode of Shadow the Hedgehog, there are six special Shadow Androids. Four of these robots are silver with green, pink, orange, or blue stripes, each wielding either an alien-like machine gun or a bazooka. The other two look more like Shadow, but on one of them, the stripes are goldenrod instead of red. These two, like the real Shadow, start off without weapons but can carry any other weapon they collect and have limited ammo while the other four androids can only use their built-in weapons which have unlimited ammo. The androids can activate Dark Shadow and all of its normal effects and attacks, just like the real Shadow. Hero Shadow is only available via use of Action Replay as there aren't sufficient Hero targets to destroy. Even then, Chaos Control is disabled (the player will hear a buzzer). All of these androids claim to be the "real Shadow", and claim that the others are fakes.

Voice actors

• In Japan, he is voiced by Kōji Yusa.
• Before Shadow the Hedgehog, he was voiced by David Humphrey.
• In Sonic X and games starting with Shadow the Hedgehog, Shadow's voice actor is Jason Anthony Griffith, who also voices Sonic and Jet the Hawk.

Associated songs

The video games have featured several theme songs for the character. Shadow's themes consisted primarily of the techno and industrial genres in Sonic Adventure 2 and Sonic Heroes, but have shown an increasing preference towards the hard rock genre in more recent games.

• Sonic Adventure 2: "Throw it All Away" - Everett Bradley.
• Sonic Heroes: "This Machine" - Julien-K. This was a team theme shared with Rouge and Omega. Many consider this as his theme, as the lyrics are from his point of view and mostly refer to him.
• Shadow the Hedgehog featured multiple themes: "I Am... All of Me" - Crush 40 "Almost Dead" - Powerman 5000, "Waking Up" - Julien-K, "Chosen One" - A2, "All Hail Shadow" - Magna-Fi, "Never Turn Back" - Crush 40
• Sonic the Hedgehog: "All Hail Shadow" (Remix) - Crush 40

In addition, there are several vocal level themes associated with Shadow's character in Sonic Adventure 2.

• Radical Highway: "Vengeance is Mine" - Everett Bradley
• White Jungle: "Rhythm and Balance" - Everett Bradley
• Final Chase: "The Supernatural" - Everett Bradley
• Biolizard: "Supporting Me" - Everett Bradley

Also, a special remix of "TRIPOD BABY" performed by m-flo was released as a promotional song for Shadow the Hedgehog.

References

• ^ AbsoluteAnime.com. "Information on Shadow's personality". {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |accessmonthday= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
• ^ Sonic HQ.com. "Rouge's report on Shadow". {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |accessmonthday= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
• ^ Sega.com. "Shadow's Age". {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |accessmonthday= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)

External links

• Sonic Central official character profiles
• Shadow at Sonic Channel
• Shadow's official Sonic-City profile