| “ | Do not touch me! I AM and shall remain, QUEEN of the SHADOWKHAN! | „ |
The Queen of the Shadowkhan is a one-time villain from Jackie Chan Adventures cartoon. Though she only appears in one episode and gets some mentions later, she leaves quite an impact.
She is a corrupted version of Jackie's niece, Jade Chan. She puts on herself a magical tattoo which gives her control over the Shadowkhan, but slowly turns her into a demonic creature.
History
Queen of the Shadowkhan
The Queen of the Shadowkhan makes her only appearance during the second season, in the episode named after her.
Jackie retrieves a Demon Archive, a magic book of Shendu, which might help the Chans in putting an end to the issue of the Demon Sorcerers, Shendu's siblings.
The Demon Archive
At the same time, Jade wants to have a tattoo to impress her school peers. Ignoring Jackie's prohibition on the affair, she takes a liking to the symbol on the Archive's cover and decides to make a fake tattoo. She uses a pen to trace the symbol onto a paper, then get it wet and place it onto her left ankle.
The Mark of Tarakudo on Jade's ankle
Jade's tattoo impresses her school peers, but it turns out that the fake tattoo isn't so fake after all. Jade is unable to wash it off with water. When her family finds out about this, Uncle reacts with horror, saying that the symbol is of great evil. He decides it must be removed magically before it causes unspeakable horrors.
As though on cue, the Enforcers and Hak Foo burst in the shop to retrieve the Demon Archive. During the ensuing fight, Jade runs away from the shop with Hak Foo on her trail. He eventually corners her in an alleyway. She yells someone to help her. The tattoo glows in orange color and the Shadowkhan appear. Thinking she's in trouble, Jade closes her eyes. Hak Foo attempts to attack Jade, but unexpectedly, the shadow ninjas attack him instead, driving him away as a result. They then disappear before Jade can comprehend what just happened, and the tattoo stops glowing.
The next morning, Jackie goes to do research with Uncle and Tohru about the tattoo removing spell. While Jade is brushing her teeth, she bitterly wishes that she'd have time for breakfast. The Shadowkhan appear behind her, scaring her. But to her confusion, they present her various food for breakfast. Jade puts two and two together and realizes what happened yesterday. She contently has the ninjas to serve her while deciding to keep this thing as a secret.
The Shadowkhan serving Jade
At school, when Jade tells again her stories, she gets laughed at. This angers her so much that her pupils literally turn crimson red. She almost has the Shadowkhan attack the mockers before the school bell brings her back to he senses. When she is returning home, she spots the Dark Hand thugs having managed to steal the Demon Archive without anyone in the shop noticing. When they spot Jade, she stares at them menacingly, her skin turned blue and her eyes having turned red without pupils. The tattoo glows again and the Shadowkhan appear behind her, scaring the Dark Hand. Jade gleefully orders them to be spanked. When the Archive's disappearance is noticed, Jackie follows the trail, finding the Shadowkhan spanking the Dark Hand thugs and Jade grinning madly. He approaches Jade and her appearance turns to normal. The ninjas turn their attention to Jackie and allow the Dark Hand to escape without the Demon Archive. Jade stops the Shadowkhan from attacking Jackie.
Later in the shop, Jade presents how the Shadowkhan are perfectly obedient and claims that she will order them to do only good, her skin having turned blue. She asks if she can keep them, only for being told no. Uncle has just produced a potion that will remove the tattoo. Jade protests to having it removed, only for her protests to fall on deaf ears. But before Uncle can pour the potion on the tattoo, a sudden wind blows towards him. Jade's transformation is now complete: her skin is blue, eyes completely red and voice eerie. She declares herself to be the Queen of the Shadowkhan and intends to remain so. She has the Shadowkhan to transport herself, the Demon Archive and an elaborate seat away.
The Queen of Shadowkhan is born
She takes over Section 13, locks up Captain Black and all the personnel in cells and has the Shadowkhan decorate the secret base as a palace. Later, she is trying to decipher the Demon Archive in order to increase her power with it. But she can't read text and orders the ninjas bring her someone who can. Before her is brought Shendu (who is in Valmont's body). Shendu, who has been unable to control the ninjas after Jade put the tattoo on herself, decides to play humble and offers to more than translate the Archive for the Queen: he offers to teach her dark powers. However, she doesn't think she can trust her that much. Right on clue, Shendu spots a ninja-disguised Jackie, who has the tattoo-removing potion with him. The Shadowkhan grab him and the Queen orders them to take the potion away. In the ensuing fight, the ninjas destroy the potion and recapture Jackie.
Shendu "advicing" the Queen
Shendu gives the Queen a suggestion: "always destroy your enemies". A Shadowkhan draws a sword, and Jackie begs his niece to listen to him and not Shendu, only for her to tell him that things have changed and that she has new friends. Jackie then directs her attention to something: Shendu is sneaking off with the Demon Archive. Enraged, she orders The Shadowkhan after the dragon. At the same time, a ninja-disguised Tohru sneaks next to her with more tattoo-removing potion.
The Queen's demise
He splashes it on the tattoo, the Queen noticing it too late. Her skin turns to normal. Shendu regains control over the Shadowkhan and orders them to attack the Chans. But Jade's eyes are still red and she retains some of her control over the ninjas. Before it vanishes, she orders them to destroy the Archive, and they are successful in doing so before Shendu can stop them. The episode ends with Jade's tattoo problem solved and the Demon Archive out of the picture.
Legacy
The Queen's origin is given some depth in the fourth season, which involves the Shadowkhan and Tarakudo, their king. It's revealed that the tattoo Jade put on herself depicts Tarakudo's face. When the king first encounters Jade, he immediately recognizes her as the former Queen of the Shadowkhan. He asks Jade if she's interested in returning to the Forces of Darkness. Jackie grabs her and claims that will never happen. Jade agrees with her uncle. Tarakudo simply says: "In time, you are young."
Throughout the fourth season, Tarakudo makes some suggestions if Jade will take up his offer. He once even joked if her Oni halloween costume was for "rehearsing" her return to the dark side.
The last mention of the Queen is in the season's finale, when J-team has to enter the Shadow Realm where the mask that should seal Tarakudo is being kept. Jade comes up with the idea to tattoo herself again and use the Shadowkhan to enter there. But instead of her, Tohru is chosen for the task. He manages to retrieve the mask, but is turned similar to the Queen of the Shadowkhan. Finally, Tarakudo is sealed inside the mask along with his generals and the Shadowkhan and Tohru is returned to normal.
Appearance
The Queen is a corrupted version of Jade and has her appearance, although with some differences. The changes slowly came, one after another. Eventually, she ended up with a blue skin and fully crimson red eyes, similar to those that the Shadowkhan have. Her voice became distorted, and in some scenes her teeth look like they have become sharper.
When Jade became aware of the Shadowkhan serving her, she changed her normal outfit to a black variety. After invading and taking over Section 13, she clothed herself in a royal black and purple dress (which is thought to be a bit revealing, especially for a preteen Jade’s age).
Personality
The Queen's personality is basically a darker version of Jade. It's hinted that these darker traits are those hidden underneath normal Jade's psyche and the tattoo is bringing them more to the surface. For one thing, the Queen tells Jackie that he won't give her orders anymore. This is a reference to Jade's habitually rebellious attitude towards Jackie and other authority figures. Jade probably harbors some resentment towards Jackie for always trying to “hold her back”.
While Jade aspires to become a secret agent one day and cares for other people, the Queen is more selfish and ambitious and declares herself the title Queen. She is also interested in increasing her powers greatly and offers Shendu to keep his Talismans, considering the Demon Archive's power to be far greater.
The Queen has Jade's drive, but seems to be even more impatient than her and is not as clear-minded. She has to be informed by Jackie of Shendu's betrayal and doesn't notice the massive Tohru sneaking right next to her until it's too late. The power seems to have risen to her head, as Shendu managed to briefly gain her trust through flattery.
The Queen is also even more aggressive than Jade and even contemplated on killing Jackie. Also, her transformation became complete, when she rejected the idea of turned back to normal. Many of her actions were born of the intention of remaining in her powered form.
While Jade is an active tomboy with a keen interest in martial arts, the Queen tends to stay back and let the Shadowkhan to do her dirty work and even wears a dress, something normal Jade isn't that keen on wearing. And as noted before, the dress looks like something a femme fatale might wear. This implies that Jade's already high pride has increased to the point of arrogance.
The Queen still has Jade's cocky mischief, as she had the Shadowkhan to spank the Dark Hand thugs, although she could have ordered them to do something worse.
Powers and abilities
The Queen doesn't get to show her full potential before her demise, so the full extent of her abilities is unknown. Assumably she has all of normal Jade's skills and knowledge, including martial arts, but she never participates in action herself. She doesn't seem to know spells any more than normal Jade, as she attempts to study the Demon Archive.
Her most known ability is to summon and control the Shadowkhan. She has summoned them in an amount so numerous that it is only rivaled by a wielder of one of the Oni Masks or the Oni Generals themselves. Shendu couldn't control the Ninja Tribe during the Queen's brief reign. This refers to Jade's abundant, though mostly undiscovered potential in magical power.
The only other power the Queen has demonstrated is the ability to levitate. She has risen some feet from the ground, but it's never shown how far up she can levitate. Also, a magical wind seems to blow around her several times.
Trivia
Though the Queen of the Shadowkhan is just an one-time villain, her popularity among the show's fans is incredible. Out of all the show's minor characters, she's arguably the most popular. Many have expressed disappointment about the fact that the Queen's potential was never explored more.
Many stories have been written of Jade becoming the Queen again. There is even a fan collaboration project on Fanfiction.net about the subject. It's called Project Dark Jade. For more information about the subject, click on the following links:
Explanation about Project Dark Jade in fanfiction.net
It's never stated if the Queen is an Oni herself; whether or not the Shadowkhan are Oni themselves can be considered a mystery as well.
Another interesting detail is the fact that Tohru becomes barely anything but a mindless brute when his transformation by Tarakudo's mark is complete, whereas Jade retains her mind (even if it is driven by her impulses).
See also
Gallery
