Shadow the Hedgehog

"Hah! Back for more Sonic? I guess you never learn your lesson."

- Shadow

"Let me show you my real power."

- Shadow

"Just what was that all about? If he says he knows the truth about who I am...then like it or not, I have to believe him. The only way I'm going to get the secrets to my past is to get those Chaos Emeralds!"

- From the prologue of the game "Shadow the Hedgehog"

Shadow, Also known as Shadow the Hedgehog is a major character in the Sonic the Hedgehog video game series and other adaptations. He is also somewhat Sonic's sworn enemy in Sonic Adventure 2, but he ends up to befriend Sonic, though both the hedgehogs looked similar, and their animosity was toned down somewhat into a rivalry.

Sonic Adventure 2
Shadow made his first appearance in the video game Sonic Adventure 2" becoming Sonic's rival.

Dark Story
Shadow made his first appearance in the video game Sonic Adventure 2 for the Sega Dreamcast. After sneaking into the center of a highly fortified government base, Dr. Eggman discovers Shadow. At first he mistakes Shadow for Sonic, but them realizes that he is in fact another hedgehog all together. Shadow tells Eggman that for saving him, Shadow would grant one of Eggman's wishes. Eggman naturally chooses world domination, and so Shadow tells him that they need to start collecting Chaos Emeralds.

As the game progresses it is revealed that the Chaos Emeralds were needed to power a massive space colony Ark, which has a destructive laser on it. To demonstrate it's power (without even having all of the emeralds), Eggman fires a hole in the moon, and essentially holds the world for ransom. Meanwhile, Sonic and company are able to find a way to the colony, where Sonic and Shadow have their final battle of the game, while running on a track in the middle of space. Throughout the story, it becomes apparent that Shadow has his own ulterior motives for gaining the seven Chaos Emeralds: He intended to avenge Maria, his one and only friend, who was killed during a raid commenced by GUN on the Space Colony Ark by having the Ark collide into the planet Earth, as he believed that this was her final wish. It is also implied that his misconstruing Maria's wish was the result of Professor Gerald Robotnik reprogramming Shadow due to grief-induced insanity over Maria's death.

Final Story
The colony starts on a crash course to earth, so the heroes and villains call it a draw and work together to stop it. At the center of the station, Sonic and Shadow find a being called the Biolizard, together they are able to beat it, and they have Knuckles use the power of the Master Emerald to stop the Chaos Emeralds. Unfortunately, this doesn't stop the colony from falling, as they discover that the Biolizard fused with the colony to become the Final Hazard. Seeing no other option, Sonic and Shadow both use the chaos emeralds to become Super Sonic and Super Shadow. This enables them to breathe in space and fight. With their combined abilities they beat the Finalhazard down, and use Chaos Control to transport the colony back in to it's orbit. Shadow is unable to keep his Super Form, and falls to the Earth, saying that he had fulfilled the wish of his closest friend, Maria Robotnik, to protect the world.

Sonic Heroes

 * Although Team Dark, and by extension Shadow, are sometimes bosses depending on the story mode selection, Shadow himself is not a villain in this game

In Sonic Heroes, Shadow is revealed to have survived, but has amnesia and lost his memory. He, Rouge, and Omega form Team Dark and battle Metal Sonic, disguised as Eggman.

From here, the only evil role he truly plays is the ones the players choose to take in Shadow the Hedgehog, though the canon ending depicts him saving the world again. He is, however, Sonic's rival on some occasions.

Shadow the Hedgehog
After Metal Sonic's defeat, Shadow was left to wonder who he was, when Black Doom and his army of aliens, the Black Arms, invaded, and Black Doom told Shadow that he held the answers, and that he should help him take over the world and bring the seven Chaos Emeralds to him. Shadow was reluctant to obey Black Doom but realized the Chaos Emeralds might have the answers. This game was the only sonic game that had bad language.

Throughout the game, Shadow can choose to help Black Doom, the heroes, sometimes Eggman (mostly playing the role of villain but playing hero at Sky Troops), or else not help anyone and go straight for the Chaos Emeralds. Because of this, the game has ten normal endings, though the true ending is unlocked by viewing all of them.

Normal Endings

 * 1) Shadow defeats Sonic and Diablon (piloted by GUN Commander) at GUN Fortress, collects the Chaos Emeralds and decides to use them to destroy the earth, and by doing so bring justice to humans.
 * 2) Shadow defeats Black Doom at GUN Fortress, collects the Chaos Emeralds and decides that as the ultimate life form he will conquer the universe.
 * 3) Shadow defeats Sonic and Diablon at the Black Comet, collects the Chaos Emeralds and decides that as the ultimate life form he is a servant to Black Doom, and that the earth will become part of their empire.
 * 4) Shadow defeats Eggman at the Black Comet, collects the Chaos Emeralds and decides that he is Shadow the Hedgehog, and that only he knows what's best. He then kills Eggman.
 * 5) Shadow defeats Eggman at Lava Shelter, collects the Chaos Emeralds and decides that he is a Shadow Android, and that with the power of the Chaos Emeralds he will become even stronger then the original. He then kills Eggman.
 * 6) Shadow defeats Eggman at Lava Shelter, collects the Chaos Emeralds and decides that as a Shadow Android he will take over, and rule Eggman's empire. He then kills Eggman.
 * 7) Shadow defeats Eggman at Cosmic Fall, collects the Chaos Emeralds and decides that he, as the Ultimate lifeform, will guard the Space Colony Ark, and tells Eggman to leave it, and never come back.
 * 8) Shadow defeats Black Doom at Cosmic Fall, collects the Chaos Emeralds and decides that he was an experiment gone wrong, that he had destroyed much and that he should never have been created. He then walks away, despite Vector's attempts to comfort him.
 * 9) Shadow defeats Sonic and Diablon on Final Haunt, collects the Chaos Emeralds and decides to use them to become invincible, and so he will be the strongest hedgehog in the world.
 * 10) Shadow defeats Black Doom on Final Haunt, collects the Chaos Emeralds and decides to keep his promise to protect the earth, the promise he had made to Maria over 50 years ago.

Final/True Ending
Shadow collects all the Chaos Emeralds, and plans to use them to figure out what he truly is. Black Doom arrives, and tells him to hand over the chaos emeralds. Before he can, Sonic and Company arrive and tell him not to. Black Doom tells Shadow that humanities' actions will lead to the extinction of their species, and that they are here to save them from themselves with their "perfect order", and that they will allow them to live trough their "desperate" lives in peace. Finally, Black Doom reveals that humans are a source of energy for them, so they will be kept. Black Doom then uses the chaos emeralds to Chaos Controls the Black Comet into Earth, fusing the two together. Black Doom explains to Shadow that Gerald Robotnik was creating the ultimate lifeform, and that he needed their help, in return Black Doom demanded the seven Chaos Emeralds. So Shadow was created from Black Doom's blood. Because of this, Black Doom can control him.

Meanwhile, Team Chaotix try to get the discs they found to play, and a recording of Gerald Robotnik stars. He tells Shadow that the government planned to shut down the Ark, and throw all who knew about Shadow into prison. He then explain to him the purpose of the Eclipse Cannon on the Ark, it was so, when Black Doom arrived Shadow could destroy them. Gerald then tells Shadow that the future is in his hands. Maria then jumps in on the recording and says that she and Shadow will protect Earth together.

After hearing this Shadow is able to break free of the mind control, Shadow decides to put the past behind him and uses the emeralds to become Super Shadow, and he fights Black Doom. After defeating the leader, he uses Chaos Control to separate the Black Comet from earth, and teleports himself into the Ark and uses the Eclipse Cannon to blow destroy it. After the battle, Shadow is seen holding a picture of Gerald and Maria Robotnik, and throws it behind him, saying "Goodbye forever, Shadow the Hedgehog."

In some paths Shadow can take in the game, Eggman will imply or say outright that Shadow is an android version of the original created by him. If Eggman specifically says it, Shadow will suspect that this is why he has no memory and that the original Shadow fell to his death. However, if the battle with Devil Doom lasts more than eight minutes, Eggman will confess that this is a lie and he had one of his robots rescue Shadow from the fall.

Sonic Free Riders
Shadow appears alongside Rouge and E-1000B as a member of Team Dark in the Grand Prix.

Sonic the Hedgehog (2006)

 * Although he is fought as a boss in Silver's story, Shadow is not an actual villain in this game.

After defeating Black Doom, Shadow has become an agent of G.U.N. He would often fight Mephiles the Dark, who took a form similar to him through his shadow, and was sealed inside the Scepter of Darkness by Shadow when he traveled back in time to show Silver that Mephiles was lying to him. Alongside Sonic and Silver, he defeated Mephiles and Iblis's combined form, Solaris.

It is shown in the future that he has become the enemy of the humans and they had Omega seal him away out of fear of his power. These events may have been linked to Mephiles and/or Iblis, however, and his future is left open when the events of the game are erased.

Sonic Rivals

 * Shadow is not a villain in this game

Shadow competes with Sonic, Knuckles, and Silver to go after Eggman Nega, disguised as Eggman. Shadow rescued Rouge and Eggman whom Eggman Nega imprisoned in a card.

In Sonic Rivals 2, Shadow was hired by Eggman to stop Eggman Nega's plan to release the Ifrit, and was paired up with Metal Sonic. They competed with Sonic and Tails, Knuckles and Rouge, and Silver and Espio. In the end Shadow and Metal Sonic closed the portal to the Ifrit's dimension from the inside. It's presumed they were the ones who finished the Ifrit, as they were the only ones who didn't make it through the portal. However they used Chaos Control to teleport out, leaving Eggman Nega trapped inside presumably to die.

Sonic Generations
In the 2011 game Sonic Generations, Shadow is the second rival battle in the game (after Metal Sonic), wielding the fourth Chaos Emerald. He races Sonic again on the ARK, with the opening cutscene to the fight being a homage to the intro of Sonic Adventure 2. This time, he does not use his homing attack or spin dash, but he does use the Boost feature (which he can fill up by collecting rings) and can use his Chaos Spear to attack Sonic if the Ultimate Life Form is winning. If he collects two Power Orbs, he litters the track with Chaos Spear and finishes his special move with a charged up Chaos Spear (All Hail Shadow plays during this attack instead of For True Story). Instead of a health bar like the fight with Shadow in SA2, Shadow can only be defeated if you hit him after he loses all his rings. He can collect rings during the fight just like Sonic can. He can be challenged again after beating him. He appears to cheer Sonic on during the final boss fight, and appears during Sonic's birthday party during the game's ending.

Theme songs
The video games have featured several theme songs for the character. Shadow's themes consisted primarily of the techno and industrial genres often with synthed vocals that are barely audible in Sonic Adventure 2 and Sonic Heroes, but have shown an increasing preference towards the hard rock genre in more recent games, Especially in his own game, Shadow The Hedgehog, which mostly consists heavy metal songs.


 * Sonic Adventure 2: Throw It All Away - Everett Bradley. (A short instrumental version appeared in Sonic and the Black Knight in the event called "Sir Lancelot Appears.")
 * Also, the song Live and Learn seems to also be his theme, but shared with Sonic, since it is the final boss theme when Super Sonic and Super Shadow are used. An instrumental also played in the game, Shadow The Hedgehog when Shadow was turning into Super Shadow in the final story. A short version of this song also appears when standing in front of Shadow in the Sonic Generations hub world.
 * Sonic Heroes: This Machine - Julien-K. (This was a team theme shared with Rouge and Omega.)
 * 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

Personality
Shadow is a loner, to put it bluntly. He is rarely seen with others for an extended period of time, and distances himself from essentially everyone. He is usually soft-spoken, and only says what he needs to before a fight. If Shadow makes a threat, he has every intention of carrying it out. Shadow constantly refers to himself as the Ultimate Lifeform, and is extremely arrogant and self-absorbed, belittling his opponents and insulting their lack of strength. Shadow also has a ruthless edge in combat that all other characters in the series lack, and displays a natural "killer instinct". At times, Shadow is the most violent and merciless character in the series.

Shadow's infamous ruthlessness and aggression leads to fear and a nervousness that inhibits characters from his unshakable intent or sheer power in combat. Numerous characters from the Sonic series have shown absolute dread from encountering Shadow. Shadow's enemies never treat him lightly; he is one of the very few people Sonic takes seriously and acts hostile towards.

Alongside his dark and violent demeanor, Shadow can be smug and stubborn. He treats others in a very callous manner, throwing in his opinion no matter how cold-hearted it is and not caring for whatever the response is. He is also consistently serious, even when not on a mission and he has no regard for silliness. On occasion, Shadow appears to have some degree of mental instability. This is proven by his frequent hallucinations about Maria's face and his numerous threatening speeches. In most games Shadow is featured in, he pursues his foes with disturbing determination. The canon ending of Shadow the Hedgehog showed Shadow willing to destroy anything in his way to get to Black Doom.

In his own game, Shadow is also shown to be somewhat coarse in his language, frequently using the word "Damn."

Shadow also possesses a strong sense of identity, as evidenced when after falsely being told that he isn't the Ultimate Lifeform due to a lab report. He states to Rouge that even if his memories were fake, he is still Shadow the Hedgehog. Similarly in Sonic Heroes, during the Egg Fleet level, he mentions that even without his memories, he is still the Ultimate Lifeform, Shadow the Hedgehog. These qualities make him rarely susceptible to being manipulated by other forces.

Shadow is not without sentimental emotions and has shown a small sense of compassion from time to time. When Omega begins his attack in Sonic Heroes, Shadow could have easily forgotten about Rouge and engaged Omega without defending her. Instead, Shadow saves her from Omega, despite having absolutely no memory of her. He was also shown to be legitimately shocked when he learned that his goal of gaining the Chaos Emeralds to restore his memories was actually manipulated by Black Doom in order to wipe out humanity. Likewise, when the GUN Commander finally confronts him with his own memories of Shadow's nightmarish creation, Shadow agrees to face judgement if he was indeed responsible for the ARK massacre 50 years ago.

Shadow brushes off any kindness or sympathy that is sent his way. This is shown in Sonic Heroes, when Rouge showed concern for Shadow when he saw a broken android, Shadow curtly brushed her concern away. Also in Shadow the Hedgehog after Sonic suggested some "friendly competition," Shadow turned his back to Sonic and said, "Don't waste my time".

Despite Shadow being considered neutral in terms of alignment, he is considered an anti-hero by the most part with his overall motivation, which is dedicating his life to protecting mankind. He has also been selfless, such as nearly giving his life at the end of Sonic Adventure 2 to save Earth. Regardless, Shadow is still neutral, because he does whatever is necessary to get what he wants.

Quotes

 * "Shadow the Hedgehog...why does that name haunt me...? It's the only thing I can remember...and that...gruesome image..."
 * "Hmm. Look how pathetic they are! I don't have time for these Humans."
 * "The blue sky...staring at it from afar...am I seen it before?"
 * "Anybody who gets in my way is my enemy."
 * "Disgusting black creatures, get out of my sight."
 * "Where's that damn fourth Chaos Emerald?!"
 * "If the world chooses to become my enemy...I will fight like I always have."
 * "Witness the true speed!"
 * "No doubt!"
 * "I gotta go now! I have to keep my promise to Maria...and you."
 * "Maria, this is what you wanted, right? This is my promise I made to you..."
 * "I promise you...revenge!"
 * "Just what that all about? If he says he knows the truth about who I am...then like it or not, I have to believe him. The only way I'm going to get the secrets to my past is to get those Chaos Emeralds!"
 * "I've heard enough. You're boring me to death, Black Doom! You're going down!"
 * "This is the end of you, and the end of my cursed past."
 * "Goodbye forever, Shadow the Hedgehog."
 * "You have no right to call me fake."
 * "You might look like me, but you know you're just a fake."
 * "If you want to stay clear from trouble, better stay away from the doctor."
 * "CHAOS...BLAST!!!"
 * "CHAOS...CONTROL!!!"
 * "CHAOS...SPEAR!!!"
 * "Ultimate victory!"
 * "Hmph, too easy for me!"
 * "This wasn't so hard!"
 * "Maybe I didn't try hard enough."
 * "I guess I'm not at full power here."
 * "Before this is over...I'll show you the true power of CHAOS CONTROL!!!"
 * "How pathetic."
 * "You're going straight to hell!"
 * "Ha! There's no strength in numbers!"
 * "Ok. This is it. Sonic, here I come!"
 * "I will release you from the chains of your past."
 * "Time to unleash the ultimate power!"
 * It's do or die, Sonic the Hedgehog."
 * "Is that so? Well then...I'll be a date to DIE for!!"
 * "You're finally here, Sonic. I don't know where we are, nor do I care. This is where I finish you, Sonic."
 * "Back again, Sonic? Guess you never learn your lesson."

Trivia

 * Shadow's actions and motives, as well as his being an artificial lifeform created to be the strongest being alive, was similar to that of Mewtwo. Coincidentally, one of Shadow's archnemeses, Mephiles the Dark, was voiced by Dan Green, who had previously done the voice of Mewtwo in Mewtwo Returns.


 * Shadow's Dragonball Z counterpart is Vegeta. Both were intended to help an evil villain take over the universe, started out as an enemy of the main hero but later became an ally and more of a rival than an enemy. Vegeta uses Ki while Shadow uses Chaos energy with the emerald. As well as being brash and arrogant with others and both have the super form (except Shadow uses the 7 emeralds to become Super Shadow and he kept the color from his eyes and marks being red still).


 * Shadow claims that Sonic was a faker since they both look a like (despite Sonic's quills being blue and Shadow's black quills with crimson markings), even for speed types since Sonic Adventure 2 and other games.


 * Shadow does share similarities with Prototype's Alex Mercer and Tekken's Jin Kazama. All have strange yet very strong powers, and transition from heroes to villians to anti-heroes.
 * The look and feel of Shadow's character was based on movie franchises such as Underworld, Constantine, and The Terminator.