Shadow the Hedgehog

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 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, 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. While preferring to work alone and not one of his closest friends, he has helped Sonic and his allies when needed.
== Personality ==
Being Sonic's polar opposite personality-wise, 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.
As the most violent and merciless character in the series at times, 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.
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. 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.
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.
Shadow possesses a strong sense of identity; after falsely being told by Rouge that he was not the Ultimate Lifeform due to a lab report, he stated to her that, even if his memories were fake, he was still Shadow the Hedgehog. These qualities make him rarely susceptible to being manipulated by others.
..In Shadow's own words, he is not interested in peace, nor does he care about what happens to others. In truth, he simply does not like it when foolish people do whatever they please. While this may make it seem like Shadow stands firmly in opposition to villainy, he is actually very indiscriminate about who he faces, as he chooses to stand against anyone who he condemns for being "foolish", be they villains like Dr. Eggman or heroes like Sonic. He similarly does not want thanks for the help he provides when he does something heroic, believing that showing gratitude is a waste of time. However, the grim and uncaring disposition he puts on is not entirely accurate considering the lengths he goes to save others including even sacrificing his own life. In contrast to his words, Shadow acts in a way that ultimately protects others. Deep down he cares about those around him, only hiding his more caring side to keep himself shielded and distant. Despite his apathetic nature, he does feel sympathy for others, and since reforming himself at the end of the Space Colony ARK incident, he has fought for the greater good, most noticeably to prevent letting other people experience past tragedies, specially the ones that he has been through. Due to being given a "soul" identical to Maria's, he is afraid of his power and has never used it recklessly or to cause suffering. Once, he also saw himself as a weapon since he was created as one, thus causing him to believe that he and other weapons would eventually have to be destroyed to achieve world peace.
Shadow is often depressed about the loss of Maria, which is why he keeps to himself, but his relationship with her is obvious as he goes to great lengths to protect the planet and keep her dream of peace and prosperity alive. He also maintains a strong bond with his teammates, Rouge and Omega, proving that while his attitude makes him seem like a careless person, he does have compassion, more than he otherwise lets on. Still, Shadow brushes off most kindness or sympathy that is sent his way; during the Neo Metal Sonic incident, when Rouge showed concern for Shadow when he saw a broken android of himself, suspecting Team Dark's Shadow might be an android too, Shadow curtly brushed her concern away. During the Black Arms incident, after Sonic suggested some "friendly competition", Shadow bluntly rejected his offer. At times, however, Shadow is shown to appreciate genuine care; at the climax of the Space Colony ARK incident, after Amy made him remember his promise to Maria, Shadow openly decided to keep his promise to protect the planet both to Maria and her. Another instance is during the aborted Solaris incident, when Rouge told him that she would always be by his side, he acknowledged her.
Despite the fact that Shadow often fights for the greater good, he is considered an anti-hero for the most part due to his morality and means to his desired end goals. He does whatever is necessary to get what he wants or feels is right, though this enthusiasm causes him to take risks and jump into situations without fully thinking them through. While not necessarily evil, Shadow's cold-hearted, determined personality has sometimes entailed the dangerous purity of turning himself into an enemy of Sonic. Alongside Rouge, he has also taken prize money and jewels upon winning in the second EX World Grand Prix, and the two disregarded the opening and closing ceremonies for the event, showing up late without a third teammate and, at the end of the Grand Prix, walking off right away with what turned out to be dummy versions of the prize money and gems. Regardless, Shadow does have his moments of selflessness and heroism; he nearly sacrificed his life at the end of the Space Colony ARK to save the earth, and helped Silver uncover the truth of the Solaris Project after saving Sonic from him in an aborted timeline.
In spite of Shadow's serious and no-nonsense attitude he is occasionally willing to spend time doing leisurely activities or social events like celebrating Amy's birthday at a murder mystery party on the Mirage Express. He even got Amy a present along with participating in the murder mystery event. Shadow has also competed in a variety of racing and sports competitions, having a strong competitive spirit.
== Powers and abilities ==
Said to be Sonic the Hedgehog's equal in almost every ability, Shadow can easily rival the blue hedgehog's various physical skills. His abilities and skills in combat are an extremely powerful force to be reckoned with, and he is a match for even the most powerful foes in the series. He similarly never willingly holds back his immense strength, making him a brutal fighter. On his own, Shadow has been able to take down GUN's various combat mechs, Dr. Eggman's battle robots, Black Doom and his empowered state, and even deities. To best put his skills into perspective, Shadow was capable of defeating even Sonic while he had Diablon for support, as seen in some of the scenarios during the Black Arms incident. He even managed to best Emerl in combat after the latter had acquired all seven Chaos Emeralds as a power source (although Emerl quickly surpassed him afterward).
Like many of his associates, Shadow is able to move at super speed. Said to possess "ultimate speed," Shadow is able to match the speeds reached by Sonic, who is able to reach light speed. Although Shadow's Air Shoes have been credited as the source of his speed, his powerful body allows him to easily rival Sonic's world class speed as well. Due to such speed, he can scale vertical surfaces and ceilings, out-speed bullets, and attack faster than the eye can see. Even then, Shadow can take his speed further; by enveloping himself in an orange energy field, he can accelerate beyond the sound barrier on both the ground and in midair for a short time, allowing him to not only smash straight through enemies and obstacles like a living projectile, but also fly immense distances through midair. Using certain techniques, he can even achieve light-speed momentarily. While there are some inconsistencies about how fast Shadow is compared to Sonic, it is usually stated that they are complete equals. Shadow has demonstrated complete mastery of his speed in any environment. Not only can he run at maximum tilt in straight lines, but also in full tight circles and through sharp turns with full control over his momentum. As far as stamina goes, Shadow's is seemingly limitless as he is never winded from running. His speed also allows him to perform several impressive feats, like spinning in circles or rotating his extremities at super speed to create winds strong enough to attack or blow away/suck in opponents, similar to aerokinesis.
An experienced athlete that shares Sonic's agility,Shadow has outstanding acrobatic skills and nimbleness, along with incredible reflexes that let him avoid any incoming obstacles with precise and delicate movements within split-seconds, grind expertly on Grind Rails, dodge bullets, and perform various strafe movements. When launched into the air, he can also pull off several tricksbefore landing. Using the Light Speed Dash, he is able to dash across a trail of rings at super speed, further strengthening his maneuverability. Shadow also has superhuman strength, enough to match Sonic in power; with effort, he can overturn objects many times his weight and size such as trucks, buses and large slabs of concrete with one hand. In addition, Shadow possesses astounding kineticism, precision and has reaction time to match his speed. Shadow also has an incredible resilience to damage as he can take lots of major punishment before he goes down for the count. Notably, he is completely bulletproof and even withstood atmospheric entry at the end of the Space Colony ARK incident (the latter which only left him with amnesia). Even when he takes damage though, he is able to recover rather fast.
Owning to his "ultimate life form" physiology, Shadow possesses an immortal body, meaning he does not age and cannot be killed. Being created as a cure, Shadow has a natural resistance to disease and was able to maintain contact with the Zombot virus for an extended period of time before getting infected. Furthermore, as seen during the Black Arms incident, due to being partly Black Arms, Shadow has a connection to the Black Arms' hive-mind, allowing him to sense his kind's presence and be immune to the Black Arms' body-paralyzing nerve gas.
Shadow also possesses an indomitable will and determination. His absolute refusal to give up in any situation and resolve to see his goals through to the end allows him to keep on persevering even in seemingly impossible situations. His enormous will even let him psychologically resist mind control powers; notably, Shadow was able to regain control of his body from Black Doom despite him being part Black Arms and therefore susceptible to Black Doom's mind control.
Shadow is naturally able to tap into the arcane powers of nearby Chaos Emeralds, either through physical contact or from a distance, to empower himself and access different chaos powers. According to Shadow himself, he is the only one who knows how to use the Chaos Emeralds' true power. His trademark ability in the field of chaos powers is Chaos Control, a technique achieved with the Chaos Emeralds that lets him warp time and space for various effects. With this technique giving him control over time and space, Shadow is able to warp himself and those close by across space instantaneously over a range further than an island-annihilating explosion or between dimensions, slow down or freeze time entirely, and create areas of distorted space. Shadow is noticeably adept in using Chaos Control for anything between large-scale usages to small-scaled and delicate chaos powers inside and outside of combat. He can for example use it to either freeze or slow down opponents in time to give himself the speed advantage, launch surprise attacks by suddenly warping up in front or behind opponents, distort space around his fists for strikes that can blow opponents away, hide himself away in distorted space, attack foes with spots of distorted space, and even power his own healing abilities and guarding skills. However, Shadow cannot perform Chaos Control if he does not have any Chaos Emeralds to draw power from.
Beside Chaos Control, Shadow is able to use a number of additional chaos powers. One of these chaos powers include his Chaos Spear technique, in which he throws up to several bolts of Chaos Emerald energy at his opponent that can either paralyze or injure an opponent, depending on its power level. Shadow's most powerful technique, however, is the Chaos Blast, a chaos power where he releases a discharge of Chaos Emerald energy in a massive explosion that eliminates everything within a range of 10-20 yards.
One of Shadow's main offensive maneuvers is the Spin Attack, a technique where he curls into a concussive ball or cutting disk and directs himself at his targets. With it, Shadow can shred or burrow through just about any substance given enough speed. Highly adept in its usage, Shadow can utilize several variants of the Spin Attack for both grounded and aerial maneuvers, including the Spin Dash, Spin Jump, Homing Attack, and the Light Speed Attack, which attacks at the speed of light.
Even without his Spin Attack, Shadow is a powerful hand-to-hand combatant. In line with his nature and potent abilities, Shadow uses a fighting style where he utilizes strong blows, such as powerful chops, high spin kicks, reverse spin kicks, downward kicks, or just barrages of punches and kicks. In addition, many of Shadow's stronger hand-to-hand combat moves revolves heavily around his usage of Chaos Control for distortion effects to knock opponents away and his Air Shoes' exhaust for burning opponents.
Shadow is an effective combat strategist, able to make split second calculations or adjustments to succeed in battle. His strategies can range from creative uses of his environment, manipulating his opponent's shortcomings, and outmaneuvering enemies.
As shown during the second EX Grand Prix, Shadow is talented with an Extreme Gear. During the tournament, he was able to put up quite a fight and even defeat some of the world's best Extreme Gear riders. When riding on an Extreme Gear, Shadow is skillful enough to ride on Grind Rails, execute complex tricks while in midair, and perform chaos powers and combat moves with ease.
Shadow also has extraordinary skill when it comes to driving or piloting all forms of vehicles. Not only is he one of the best racecar drivers in the universe with the Dark Reaper, but he is also able to perfectly operate weaponized buggies, armed motorcycles, modified gliders, hover crafts with machine guns, bipedal mechs and alien devices. Shadow is as well an expert gunner, capable of using weaponry like the Gun Lifts and GUN turrets with perfect accuracy. Also, whereas Sonic dismisses firearms, Shadow is not above using such weaponry, and has demonstrates proficient skills in a very wide range of weapons during the Black Arms incident, such as close combat weapons, guns, cannons, lock-on weapons and lasers. Shadow may also have some knowledge about machinery, having once been able to fiddle with a deactivated Omega and deduce he was in standby mode. A miscellaneous ability Shadow has demonstrated as well is telekinesis, which is potent enough to let him move an Extreme Gear around with his mind with ease.
As powerful as he is, Shadow is able to make himself stronger up tapping into an even greater power within himself. This power is so potent that should he remove his Inhibitor Rings, he becomes a walking dynamo of raw power. When unleashing this power, he releases such tremendous amounts of energy that it forms an impenetrable barrier around himself. While in this state, Shadow gains increased strength and speed, enough to overpower hundreds of clones of Mephiles the Dark at once. However, using his full power tires him out more quickly.
=== Equipment ===
Shadow wears a pair of specialized shoes called Air Shoes. These footwear are the primary source of Shadow's speed, producing small jet streams that let him hover-skate at speeds supposedly even surpassing Sonic's speed. Alternatively, Shadow can use his Air Shoes' exhausts to attack opponents with fire, empower his jumps, or achieve midair hovering.
Shadow wears four Inhibitor Rings, one on each of his wrists and ankles, that limit the amount of power he uses during combat and other situations. By removing them, Shadow is able to utilize his full power.
During the Black Arms incident, Shadow made use of a vast selection of weaponry. This included anything from close combat weapons like Survival Knives and Black Swords; guns like Pistols and Sub-Machine Guns; cannons like Bazookas and Grenade Launchers; lock-ons like 8-Shot RPGsand Worm Shooters; to lasers like Laser Rifles and Refractors.
=== Transformations ===
==== Super Shadow ====
By harnessing the power of the seven Chaos Emeralds, Shadow can enter a Super State, transforming him into Super Shadow. In this state, all of Shadow's abilities far surpass his normal ones and his chaos powers are increased to their full limit. He is also able to fly and is nearly invulnerable. Initially, Shadow found it difficult to stay in this state due to inexperience, but he has since mastered it. In addition, this transformation consumes a lot of energy, meaning it cannot be maintained for long.
==== Hero Shadow ====
When his mind is fueled by thoughts of justice, Shadow is able to attain an enhanced state known as Hero Shadow. In this state, Shadow is temporarily invincible and can perform a large-scale use of Chaos Control. However, this state only lasts for a short period of time.
==== Dark Shadow ====
When his mind is fueled by thoughts of evil, Shadow is able to attain an enhanced state known as Dark Shadow.In this state, Shadow is temporarily invincible and can perform a large scale-use of Chaos Blast. However, this state only lasts for a short period of time.
==== Chaos Boost ====
On his own, Shadow can access an enhanced state known as the Chaos Boost. In this state, Shadow's powers are boosted significantly, granting him warp-like speeds, near invulnerability, and bolstered chaos powers.
==== Color Powers ====
By harnessing different variants of Hyper-go-on from Wisps, Shadow can use specific Color Powers to transform into a certain form, such as a drill, a laser or even a planet, each one possessing its own unique abilities. So far, Shadow has been able to transform into the Cyan Laser, Yellow Drill and Indigo Asteroid. However, these transformations require a steady supply of Hyper-go-on to be maintained.
== Weaknesses ==
Shadow was initially a somewhat easy target for manipulation during the time he had amnesia due to his confusion about who he was and his eagerness to learn anything more about his past. Dr. Eggman could deceive him with lies about his past and Black Doom could subtly manipulate him using visions. However, after learning of his true purpose, Shadow is no longer as easily deceived.
Being part of the Black Arms, Shadow is partially an extension of Black Doom, making him vulnerable to mind control exerted by Black Doom himself. However, Shadow can fight this influence through sheer resolve and willpower.
Despite his immortality, Shadow can be knocked down if taken off-guard. Most noticeably, this will leave him unable to walk and speak immediately after the attack. Though he can still fight later on, this will risk his life if he pushes himself too far, and it takes him several days to fully recover.