Shadow the Hedgehog (Sonic Prime)

Shadow the Hedgehog is the tritagonist of the Netflix TV show, Sonic Prime, based on the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise. He is a black and red hedgehog, and a longtime rival of Sonic the Hedgehog. 
He is voiced by in the English version and by Kōji Yusa in the Japanese version. Hanlin also voices Big, Denizen 1998, Hangry and Catfish in the same show, as well as voicing Alberius in Dragalia Lost.
==Appearance==
Shadow is an anthropomorphic black hedgehog with a patch of white fur on his chest, a black nose, red eyes, a tan muzzle, and small triangular ears with tan channels. He has six spikes of curls on its head, four of which are curved upwards and the other two pointing upwards, two spines on his back, and a short, pointed tail. He has red stripes on each quill on his head, around the edges of his eyes, and on its arms and legs. He wears white gloves with black cuffs and red tongues, he has air shoes. On each of his wrists and ankles, he also wears gold rings.
==Personality==
A cold hedgehog, antisocial at first glance, arrogant and easily angered, Shadow is above all a pragmatic person but also capable of great brutality, which makes him incredibly dangerous. Unlike Sonic, Shadow rarely trusts anyone, preferring to keep to himself and settle things his way, and his way is not the kindest. Despite his high opinion of himself, Shadow is still able to recognize when he can't fix anything on his own, such as when he agreed to team up with Sonic to collect the Prism Fragments but vehemently asserts that it's Sonic who needs him. Overall, Shadow acts as the calm and cool-headed strategist as opposed to Sonic’s impulsive and often destructive behavior. But despite Shadow’s and Sonic’s brutal rivalry, they have shown to care about each other; such as when Shadow always backs Sonic up in a fight and never leaving him when Sonic needs it, and when Sonic started panicking in the few moments when he thought Shadow was dead. 
==Powers and Abilities==
Shadow can match Sonic in speed. When he runs, he leaves behind a trail of golden energy, similar to Sonic’s trail of blue energy. He also uses Chaos Emeralds that he can use to do Chaos Control and teleport, Shadow's strength is superhuman, allowing him to easily smash through rock with his fist and cause shock waves. Shadow's physical toughness is equally impressive, having survived being crushed by a massive shard with no apparent injuries. Shadow is also a formidable fighter, focusing on Spin Attack and melee combat. 
==History==
Shadow was created in a lab over 50 years ago as Shadow describes himself as the ultimate life form. When Shadow is introduced as Sonic's rival, the latter states that he is a roller-skater but Shadow stops to correct him as he used Air Shows, not roller-skates. After Sonic was tricked into opening up a cavern on the side of the Temple Mountain, Shadow realizes that this was bad news and intercepts Sonic while he was collecting Rings and fights with him in hopes of getting to listen to him and stop a potential crisis regarding the Paradox Prism within it. These attempts at stopping Sonic fail when Shadow gets covered in a pile of rocks.
After he breaks free, he follows Sonic into the cave where he finds himself too late to stop Sonic from striking the Paradox Prism and uses the Chaos Emerald he had in order to survive the erasure of his world, but gets caught in the Void as a result and losing the Emerald afterwards. Throughout the series, anytime Sonic gains enough Prism Energy when he picks up enough speed, Shadow can be seen calling out to Sonic about what happened to their world and demands that he keeps going. At the end of the first season, when Sonic leaves No Place, Shadow attacks him out of anger for the latter's actions getting their world erased.
Shadow continues to brutally go after Sonic who believes he is an alternate Shadow. Once the blue hedgehog is immobilized, Shadow scolds him for being the cause of his wandering there, only then does Sonic realize the black hedgehog is actually the Shadow he knows after Shadow calls him by his name. Unaffected by Sonic's relief, Shadow repeats what he told him earlier, that Green Hill no longer exists. Sonic remembering previous events following the shattered Prism, he asks Shadow how he ended up here, so Shadow tells him what he went through, including that he tracked Sonic down every time he entered a Shatterspace, but Shadow couldn't follow him. The two hedgehogs then arrive at a yellow Gateway that Shadow had discovered to be the only Shatterspace he could access.
Inside is a faded version of Green Hill. Shadow explains that the illusions of Sonic's friends are only there to make them suffer like the other Shatterspaces before taking him to the cave where the Prism was shattered. With the yellow Shard of the Paradox Prism matching the dimension and remaining in the exact location as well as the outline of the Prism, which outlined the locations of the other Shards, Shadow considers the best way to fix reality is to bring the Shards back here and connecting them to the yellow one, but when Sonic suggests talking to Nine, Shadow forbids him as he doesn't trust Nine whom he only sees as an unreal Tails, like the other versions of Sonic's friends. With Sonic rejecting Shadow's opinion and Shadow having no faith in Sonic's reliability, the two hedgehogs come to fight for the Regulators that Nine made for Sonic. Following a fierce fight, Shadow ends up obtaining the four Regulators and exits the Shatterspace.
Back in the Void, Shadow is caught up by Sonic until their confrontation is shattered by the Chaos Council's ship exiting New Yoke City. Shadow follows the ship entering the Boscage Maze, but even with the tech and all his resolve, he is still unable to enter and then ends up being violently pushed back, knocking him unconscious. As Shadow nearly falls into the abyss of the Void, Sonic saves him at the last minute. To be sure, Shadow is confused that he still hasn't managed to enter the Shatterspaces before realizing that only Sonic has this ability and not the Regulators due to the Prism Energy he had within him. Giving in to the unpleasant evidence, Shadow admits to having no choice but to team up with Sonic to fix reality. As Sonic returns to the Boscage Maze to stop the Chaos Council, Shadow gives him a nod of approval.
Later, when the Chaos Council retreats from Boscage Maze, Shadow stealthily attacks their ship throwing debris at their engines, incapacitating them for a moment. After Sonic and Nine retrieve the three Shards that were in the Council's possession and then escape into the Void, Shadow joins them. Nine deduces that Shadow is not an alternate counterpart to Sonic, despite assuming they are twins, but Shadow contradicts him, identifying himself as "The Ultimate Life Form". Returning to Ghost Hill, the trio bring the Shards in the makeshift Shard case to the Ghost Prism when suddenly the Chaos Council surges into the dimension, so Sonic and Shadow engage them in combat while Nine finishes reassembling the Paradox Prism.
Unfortunately, although the Chaos Council is defeated, Nine betrays Sonic and takes the the four Shards, so he can create the home he wants instead of restoring Green Hill, a home in The Grim. Shadow returns to the cave only to see Nine flee through a portal, much to the anger of the black hedgehog who was right all along not to trust Nine.
The usage of the almost fully restored Paradox Prism by Nine causes Ghost Hill to disintegrate, and as Sonic laments that any chance of Green Hill being restored was lost, Shadow quickly chastises the blue hedgehog for trusting Nine before urging him to get his act together before they too be destroyed with the mountain. They manage to escape but Sonic stops in front of the ghost versions of his friends that he wants to try to save, only for Shadow to tell him that he can't and that his real friends can still be saved if they manage to escape Ghost Hill. Eventually, the two hedgehogs manage to get out before the Gateway explodes.
Once again in the Shatterverse's Void, Shadow swears revenge on Nine for leaving them for dead. After some time, the hedgehogs reach The Grim Gateway, the Shatterspace serving as Nine's HQ and home.Shadow is able to enter through a tear in the Gateway, as he couldn't enter Shatterspaces naturally. Confronted with Shadow and Sonic, Nine reveals that he harnessed the energy of the semi-reconstructed Prism for their mechanical counterpart: a super-powerful robot called Alpha Grim Sonic, and then, other Alpha Grim robots bearing the likeness of Sonic's friends. Numerically outnumbered, the hedgehogs end up cornered as Nine comes to boast of the power he possesses thanks to the Prism, before revealing that he needs the Prismatic Energy inside Sonic to complete the Paradox Prism. Refusing to let Nine have what he wants, Shadow runs around Sonic so fast that he creates a tornado to keep the Alpha Grim robots at bay, and then after telling Sonic that he is doing it for his own good, Shadow throws Sonic out of The Grim. Now alone, a weary Shadow finds himself submerged and pushed back to the bottom of a gorge.
Later, as the inhabitants of the Shatterspaces have gathered at The Grim to confront Nine, Shadow is revealed to still be alive, having been held underground by hordes of robots sent by Nine. He thus takes part in the final battle and mainly faces Alpha Grim Sonic, who easily rivals the power of the black hedgehog. Following their repeated clashes, Shadow first seems defeated by Alpha Grim Sonic who immediately joins his master to finish off Sonic and Renegade Knucks, but Shadow comes back and destroys him in a single powerful attack, erasing all of Alpha Grim Sonic's clones simultaneously. Nine doesn't understand how this was possible, and Shadow tells him to never forget that he is the Ultimate Life Form.
Shadow leads the rest of the fighters to Nine's lab to finish off the fox, but the final confrontation does not succeed, with Sonic managing to make Nine realize that he was endangering all of reality, leading Nine to abandon his quest for power. With the Shatterverse nearly wiped out, Sonic willingly gives up all of his Prismatic Energy and allows the Shatterverse to stabilize. The Chaos Council unsurprisingly betrays their temporary allies in order to seize the reconstructed Paradox Prism, but the incessant arguing between each member allows the heroes to push them through a portal that led to the outer reached of the Void, with Shadow pushing Doctor Babble. They then happily discover that the Shatterspaces are reforming, with Ghost Hill transforming into Green Hill. While Thorn Rose and Birdie bring back a very weakened Sonic who is fading from his previous sacrifice to his home world to save his life, a bored Shadow points out to Rusty Rose and Black Rose that he too needs a way to get home.
Aboard the Yolkomotive, Shadow, Black and Rusty catch up with them following an injury to Birdie's wing, preventing her from bringing Sonic to Green Hill. Debris from the Shatterverse's Void ends up damaging the Yolkomotive, with them almost arriving at the Gateway, but Shadow assures Black that she has gotten close enough to Green Hill and that he will take over. Holding Sonic in his arms closer and closer to total obliteration, Shadow redoubles his effort, determination and pushes his air shoes to the extreme limits to reach Green Hill, telling Sonic to hold on even though the situation becomes critical.
The black hedgehog is finally able to reach the Gateway and when Sonic and Shadow enter, they go back in time to the exact moment when Sonic was going to break the Paradox Prism. This time, Sonic, with the help of his friends, repels Eggman and Shadow takes the opportunity to use his Chaos Emerald to take the Prism to safety, preventing history from repeating itself.
==Quotes==
==Trivia== 
*He, alongside Sonic, are the only characters who survived the destruction of the Prime Universe, making them both the only ones with no dimensional counterparts. Unlike Sonic, Shadow was not altered by the Paradox Prism's energy.
*This is the first and only time in the franchise, that Shadow makes a "Fourth wall breaking" moment.
*This is the first incarnation of Shadow to receive a hug, in this case from Sonic.
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