Shadow The Hedgehog 2005
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Shadow the Hedgehog (シャドウザヘッジホッグ, Shadō za Hejjihoggu?) is a character that appears in the Sonic the Hedgehog series. He is an anthropomorphic hedgehog/Black Arms hybrid who resembles Sonic the Hedgehog in many ways[8] and serves as his arch-rival and occasional ally. Shadow was created as the "Ultimate Life Form" (究極生命体, Kyūkyoku Seimeitai?) by Gerald Robotnik by using the DNA of Black Doom and is the final result of Project Shadow. His purpose was to provide ways to develop a cure for incurable deadly illnesses, more specifically for Gerald's granddaughter Maria Robotnik, who he had a great bond with. However, he was eventually captured following his creation and put into stasis by G.U.N. when he was deemed as a threat to humanity.
Fifty years later, Shadow was released by Dr. Eggman in order to assist him in his plan to conquer the earth. Initially, Shadow worked with him but secretly sought to destroy the planet in order to avenge Maria, who had been killed by the military, but was persuaded to save it from Gerald's doomsday plans. In the process, Shadow lost his memories and as such, sought to uncover the truth of his past, during which he met Black Doom and the Black Arms; in the end, Shadow regained his memories, uncovered the truth, and thwarted Black Doom's agenda and saved the world. From there, he continued his mission to protect humanity for the sake of Maria.
Shadow is sharp-witted, always on edge, and has a strong sense of purpose, always willing to accomplish his goals by any means,[9] and always serious. Essentially a dark version of Sonic, Shadow can match him in both speed and skill, and can use Chaos Control with a Chaos Emerald to warp time and space.[10][8] While preferring to work alone and not one of his closest friends, he has helped Sonic and his allies when needed.
After the success of Sonic Adventure, it was hoped that its sequel would be for the Dreamcast what Sonic the Hedgehog 2 was for the Mega Drive. A portion of the team responsible for Sonic Adventure title was thus sent off to work at Sega of America. It was led by director Takashi Iizuka, while Yuji Naka remained back in Japan to work on other properties, including Phantasy Star Online. With the team in place, brainstorming soon began on what form Sonic Adventure 2 would take.
Early on, it was decided that one of the main themes of the game would be the dichotomy between good and evil. To help explore that, the creators came up with new characters that would both assist Dr. Eggman and challenge the established cast of heroes. Though Yuji Uekawa was tasked drawing the final design of the character, it was Takashi Iizuka who conceived the idea Shadow,[2] coming up with the idea to use a dark, anti-hero figure who was similar to Sonic in shape, but not in personality. While creating Shadow, there was a proposal to create a character that was as cool as or better than Sonic.[1] Several early designs of Shadow ranged from having long spines with tufts of fur in front of his eyes, to having capes, shades or even a missing eye. Shiro Maekawa was the one who came up with Shadow's final design and considers himself to be Shadow's creator. He states that there are times where he feels a stronger bond with Shadow than his real relatives.[1]
When being designed, the character's original name was "Terios"[11][note 1], an Old Greek word which roughly translates to "making dreams come true"[12], possibly chosen in reference to Gerald's reason for creating the Ultimate Lifeform. According to Kazuyuki Hoshino, Shadow's red stripes were inspired by Kabuki makeup.[13] Shadow appears to also have partially been inspired by the character Vegeta from the Dragon Ball franchise, as an early sheet of concept artwork presented in the Sonic the Hedgehog 25th Anniversary Art Book uses "Vegeta" as a keyword describing Shadow.
Once Sonic Adventure 2 was announced, the identity and nature of Shadow was a heavily guarded secret. The character was first shown to the public in the first game trailer for Sonic Adventure 2; however, his name was not revealed. GameSpot described what little was shown as Anti-Sonic - similar in appearance, but with darker skin, more angled eyes, and a fearsome scowl instead of Sonic's trademark grin.[14]
When Shadow seemingly died in Sonic Adventure 2, there rose a huge fanbase for Shadow to appear in more games, after being disappointed by his "death." This let Takashi Iizuka input Shadow as a playable character in Sonic Heroes and even star in his own game, Shadow the Hedgehog.[15] In fact, Takashi Iizuka said that they maintained the mystery around the character of Shadow the Hedgehog and had wanted to feature him in his own game since he was introduced.[16] For the Shadow the Hedgehog game, after feeling that it would be inappropriate to give Sonic's character a gun as fans had requested in mailings,[17] Yuji Naka believed that by focusing on Shadow for his own game, they could use his different identity from Sonic to build upon the Sonic brand.[18]
Shadow is a black-furred anthropomorphic hedgehog. He has red eyes, a patch of white fur on his chest, a black nose, a tan muzzle, and small, triangular ears with tan canals. He also has six quills on his head, four of which curve upwards while the other two curve downwards, two spines on his back, and a short, pointy tail. He has red stripes on each of his head quills, around the edges of his eyes, and on his arms and legs.
For attire, Shadow wears white gloves with black cuffs and red tongues, and Air Shoes which, like his gloves, have black cuffs and red tongues. Shadow also wears Inhibitor Rings, one on each of his wrists and ankles.
In the Sonic Riders series, Shadow wears gray sunglasses with green-fused lenses on his head, white gloves with visible lining, and high-top tennis shoes with white shoelaces and gray soles similar to his Air Shoes. He also wears his usual cuffs and Inhibitor Rings.
Being Sonic's polar opposite personality-wise,[5] Shadow is, bluntly put, a brooding loner. He usually acts with a cool and businesslike indifference, only occasionally showing his vulnerable side. He is rarely seen with others for an extended period of time and usually distances himself from essentially everyone. He is usually blunt and does not speak much, but he always knows exactly what to say in combat. However, Shadow never bluffs; if he makes a threat, he has every intention of carrying it out. Tying into this attitude, the Japanese script has his self-pronoun be the more humble "boku", with his pronoun for others switching between either "kimi" or "omae" depending on his mood.
As the most violent and merciless character in the series at times,[5] Shadow's ruthlessness and aggression leads to enemies never treating him lightly. Alongside his dark and violent demeanor, Shadow can be smug and stubborn. He usually 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. Shadow is also shown to have a sharp wit; during the Space Colony ARK incident, after being called a faker by Sonic, he replied that the latter was not worth being considered his fake.[19]
Just like how Shadow's motivations are never simple to understand, he spends as much time grappling with his own inner demons as he does with his rival, Sonic.[5] In the past, Shadow has had a degree of mental instability, in particular post-traumatic stress disorder. This was demonstrated by his instances of post-traumatic flashbacks to Maria's face prior to and during the events of the Black Arms incident, though it could be argued that the instances of the latter game were simply an effect of his amnesia. On one occasion, at the time of the Space Colony ARK incident, seeing police sirens flashing caused him to intensely flash back to the massacre aboard ARK and in particular Maria's death. Shadow was soon able to overcome this in the Black Arms and the Emerl incidents, during which he chose to move on from the past yet keep Maria in his heart. In fact, his personal journey since being awoken by Eggman has had him confront the shackles of his past, such as ties, fate, and memories. Since then, it appears as though he is reaching a point where he can "do as his heart desires" in his own way.[20]
Shadow originally had disdain for humanity, being a misanthrope, but rarely attacked them outright, merely looking at them as a distant observer. During the events of the Ark incident, Shadow was planning to destroy the planet both ordered by Gerald Robotnik through brainwashing, and as revenge for the death of his only friend, Maria Robotnik. Shadow eventually moves past his hatred for humanity by remembering his promise to Maria. Now Shadow seeks to protect humanity and those on earth to honor Maria's dying wish despite their original misgivings.
During the many incidents that Shadow takes part in, he pursues his foes with a relentless, unwavering determination. He will usually go to any length to accomplish something he desires or feels should be a certain way, no matter what the cost. Before the War to Take Back the Planet, it is heavily implied that Shadow ruthlessly massacred an entire mercenary band known as the Jackal Squad not only in an extremely dismissive, nonchalant manner (as he did not even remember the incident a few months later), but also seemed slightly proud, mocking the mercenary defense squad by saying they themselves needed a defense squad. He also demonstrated rather coarse language during the Black Arms incident.
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