Shadow the Hedgehog

"I am Shadow the Hedgehog, the Ultimate Lifeform!"

- Shadow the Hedgehog.

Shadow, also known as Shadow the Hedgehog is a major character in the Sonic the Hedgehog videogame 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.

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.

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.

Biography
Shadow the Hedgehog (シャドウ・ザ・ヘッジホッグ, Shadō za Hejjihoggu?) is a fictional character from the Sonic the Hedgehog series. He is an anthropomorphic black hedgehog/Black Arm hybrid and the arch-rival of Sonic the Hedgehog.

Shadow was created as the Ultimate Life Form (究極生命体, Kyūkyoku Seimeitai) by Gerald Robotnik, using the DNA of Black Doom, and is the final result of Project Shadow. His purpose was to provide ways of developing cures for deadly illnesses that had no cures, namely for Gerald's granddaughter Maria Robotnik, whom Shadow was very close to, but he was captured and put into stasis by the military when he was deemed a threat to humanity. Shadow's last moments with Maria are of her saying "sayonara, Shadow the Hedgehog", and then being shot and killed immediately after.

Fifty years later, Shadow was released by Dr. Eggman to help him conquer the world. Initially, Shadow sought to destroy Earth to avenge Maria, who had been killed by the military, but was persuaded to help save it from Gerald's doomsday plans. In the process, Shadow lost his memories and he sought to uncover his past, which brought him into contact with the Black Arms. Ultimately, Shadow thwarted Black Doom and saved the world. From there, Shadow continued his mission to protect humanity by becoming a special agent of GUN.

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

Dark Story
Shadow made his first appearance in the videogame 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 the 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 known as the Eclipse Cannon 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 7 Chaos Emeralds: He intended to avenge Dr. Eggman's cousin Maria, his one and only friend, who was killed during a raid commenced by G.U.N. 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 his grief-induced insanity over his beloved granddaughter 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 monstrous creature 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 does not 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 Neo Metal Sonic (formerly known as Metal Sonic), disguised as Doctor 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.

Sonic X
Shadow also appears on the anime Sonic X, debuting in the Sonic Adventure 2 adaptation from episodes 33 to 38. His appearance was very faithful to that of the games, with a few differences; for example, it was Chris Thorndyke who convinced Shadow of his true promise from Maria, not Amy.

At the end of season 3, Shadow had become Super Shadow and teamed up with Super Sonic to defeat the Final Nova, who intended to destroy the universe. After Cosmo had fused with the Final Nova, Shadow knocking Sonic, making him unconscious. Shadow then used Chaos Control to send the detonating planet far away. It then burst into millions of Planet Eggs and Shadow was never seen in the series again. In the Japanese version, his shadow is seen over Molly's grave. He also places a pink flower on the grave.

Shadow also attempted to kill Cosmo in episode 73, but kept failing due to Knuckles, Sonic & Tails attempting to stop him, but are hurt by Shadow.

Shadow the Hedgehog
After Neo 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 10 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 humanity's actions will lead to the extinction of their own 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 true form, the immortal sun god 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 3.0. They competed with Sonic and Tails, Knuckles and Rouge, and Silver and Espio. In the end, Shadow and Metal Sonic 3.0 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 did not 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.

Powers and Abilites
The basic physical traits and abilities between Shadow and Sonic are virtually identical. As such, Shadow possesses many of the same skills and abilities as Sonic has, along with greater raw power than Sonic, making Shadow one of the most powerful characters in the Sonic the Hedgehog series.

Superhuman Strength: Although he is not nearly as strong as Power characters like Knuckles the Echidna, Shadow is quite physically strong. With effort, he is capable of overturning large objects, such as trucks, buses and large slabs of concrete.

Superhuman Speed: Like most other characters in the Sonic the Hedgehog series, Shadow is able to run at super speeds. With his Hover Shoes, Shadow can hover-skate at supersonic speeds, even nearing that of hypersonic speeds, and is fast enough to nearly equal the speeds that Sonic can run at, making him one of the fastest characters in the Sonic the Hedgehog series. While most games places Sonic and Shadow as equals in speed, character profiles in Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) and Sonic Rivals claim that Sonic is faster. Also, in Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood, Shadow personally admitted that he was not faster than Sonic. While it is unknown how fast Shadow actually is without using his Hover Shoes, it has been hinted that Shadow can still move at speeds rivaling that of Sonic's, but he simply prefers not to.

Superhuman Agility: Shadow is highly acrobatic, agile and an experienced athlete, capable of gracefully leaping over many obstacles that comes in his way and performing various forms of nimble movements. He has as well radical reaction time to match his movements, being able to react to danger within a split second.

Superhuman Durability: Shadow possesses incredibly high physical durability and is capable of surviving things that would normally be fatal to others, even by the standards of other superhuman creatures, making him nearly indestructible. As seen in Shadow the Hedgehog, Shadow is completely bulletproof while becoming Dark Shadow, as he brushed off all the gun shots from G.U.N. soldiers as if they were not even there. He can also take a lot of major punishment in battle before he starts to wear down. The most prominent testament to Shadow's durability was during Sonic Adventure 2, where Shadow fell down to Earth and through re-entry in the atmosphere and still survived long enough for one of Dr. Eggman's robots to rescue him. However, he did still receive some injury, as evidenced by the amnesia he got from his fall towards the Earth. Even after receiving major damage, Shadow displays a remarkably fast recovery rate, allowing him to quickly re-enter a battle after just a few moments.

Inhibitor Rings: As shown in Sonic the Hedgehog (2006), Shadow is able to release tremendous amounts of energy if he takes off the rings that are on his wrists. This gives Shadow a drastic increase in overall power, reaching the point where he can plow through what appears to be hundreds of perfect copies of Mephiles the Dark, who can be regarded as one of the more powerful foes in the series. While most of the media state that Shadow's increase in power through this method comes at the expense of reducing his stamina, causing him to become exhausted after its use, Shadow has shown no sign of fatigue in the video game series when restoring to this method.

Immortality: Being the end-product of Project Shadow, which was meant to create an immortal life-form, Shadow is immortal and does not physically age. Also, given that Project Shadow was partially to develop cures for various kinds of illnesses, Shadow may be completely immune to disease. Because he also possesses Black Doom's blood, Shadow is also immune to the paralysis nerve gas that was being leaked upon the Black Comet's descent onto Earth.

Chaos Powers
Shadow is naturally able to tap into the arcane powers of any nearby Chaos Emeralds and utilize their Chaos Energy to empower himself and use a wide variety of Chaos Powers, such as Chaos Control, Chaos Spear, and Chaos Blast. Shadow can specifically harness both positive and negative Chaos Energy, depending on his state of mind. Shadow's trademark move and most frequently used Chaos Power is Chaos Control: this technique can warp space and time around him to his will - such as slowing down time or teleporting various distances. Shadow is perhaps the most adept user of Chaos Control in the series, since he makes the most extensive use of it and can be considered a master of this technique; he can shape Chaos Control into a variety of offensive and defensive attacks, and can even use it delicately enough to distort space in small centralized areas, such as around his fists, or use it to heal himself. It is currently unknown as to what extent Shadow can specifically use Chaos Control, as he has never been seen using it on another object without warping himself along with it, but it has been shown that he can warp objects and people with him, such as transporting the Black Comet off of Earth. Aside from its final usage in Sonic Adventure 2 and Shadow the Hedgehog, Shadow has used Chaos Control with three Emeralds at most, using Chaos Control to save Rouge from Prison Island. As described in Shadow the Hedgehog, all of Shadow's Chaos powers increase in power with the number of Chaos Emeralds he possesses.

Weaponry and Vehicle Skills
In Shadow the Hedgehog, Shadow has shown that he can also skillfully 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, as shown in Shadow the Hedgehog, Sonic Riders and Sonic the Hedgehog (2006).

Combat Skills
In combat, Shadow is a fierce, dangerous, and extremely powerful force that few can defeat directly. He also never holds back on his immense strength, making him a powerful, brutal and deadly fighter with a distinct killer instinct. Shadow's skills are more than a match for even the strongest characters in the series, and has been able to take down some of the most fearsome foes seen in the Sonic the Hedgehog series on his own, such as Black Doom. To best put his skills in perspective, as seen in some of the scenarios in Shadow the Hedgehog, Shadow is the only person so far who has been able to utterly defeat Sonic in combat.

Fighting Style
Shadow's fighting style focuses on direct, brutal, unrestrained and powerful hand-to-hand combat. In line with his nature and potent abilities, Shadow has adopted a fighting style where he fights his opponents using powerful blows, such as karate chops swift punches and roundhouse kicks, to which of his attacks have a significant amount of force behind them. With the speeds Shadow can move at, he can disable the opponent through the force of his blows alone, while leaving them at the mercy at his incoming attacks.

Shadow's fighting style revolves around making heavy use of his Chaos Powers, especially Chaos Control and Chaos Spear. Using Chaos Control, Shadow can teleport up in front or behind his opponents in battle to launch surprise attacks. Also, Shadow can use Chaos Control to increase the damage he deals to his opponent when striking them, often resulting in significant forces being released and blowing the opponent a certain distance away. To give himself the advantage over his opponents, Shadow will use powerful Chaos attacks involving Chaos Energy, such as energy bolts or even intense explosions.

Transformation
Like Sonic and Silver, by harnessing the power of the seven Chaos Emeralds, Shadow is able to use super transformation to enter a Super State that transform him into Super Shadow. In this form, he is bestowed with the new abilities of flight and near invulnerability. Additionally, his innate talents such as strength, and power are greatly enhanced as well and his skills with Chaos Powers are increased to their full limit. During his first use of this transformation, Shadow found it difficult to stay in this state due to his inexperience with it, but he has since mastered it in Shadow The Hedgehog.

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 arch-nemeses, Mephiles the Dark, was voiced by Dan Green, who had previously done the voice of Mewtwo in Mewtwo Returns.
 * Shadow's Dragon Ball 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 Chaos 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.