New Sonic games and movies will be released worldwide in the next few months. From Sonic X Shadow Generation to Sonic The Hedgehog 3 movie, and yet there is one element that ties them together: Shadow The Hedgehog.
For many Sonic fans, he is the Anti-hero character of the Sonic Universe whose speed, intelligence, and ruthless behavior with a dark past make him one of the most iconic gaming characters of all time. But who is he in the eyes of those who are new to the franchise? In this feature article, you will learn more about who Shadow is and how his popularity came to be.
Shadow’s First Appearance & Apparent Death
Shadow The Hedgehog first came to the scene in 2001 in a little-known game called Sonic Adventure 2. He first appeared in a storyline where Sonic was wrongfully accused of stealing the Chaos Emeralds. Because of this mishap, multiple government agencies ordered the capture of Sonic, dead or alive. To prove his innocence, Sonic and his allies team to stop whoever was posing him and retrieve the Chaos Emeralds back. During the retrieval, Shadow emerges and explains his objective to collect these emeralds and give them to Dr. Eggman to power up the Space Colony Ark and conquer the world.
Later on, it was revealed that Shadow was serving Doctor Eggman’s grandfather and vowed to get revenge against all of humanity for hurting his beloved Maria by blowing up the planet. But due to some unexpected events, Shadow was convinced by Amy to stop the destruction of the planet to fulfill the wish of Maria. So, Shadow teamed up with Sonic and took down the laser aiming at the planet but somehow mysteriously disappeared in the aftermath.
Shadow’s Return & Questionable Past
Shadow resurfaced later on in Sonic Heroes as he awakens from a long slumber in a hidden research facility by Rogue The Bat. He would team up with her and a rogue robot known as E-123 Omega to search for Doctor Eggman. This newly founded team would chase after him, destroy his army, and encounter other teams such as Team Chaotix, Team Sonic, and Team Rose.
During his adventures, he questions his identity as he discovers a damaged copy of him. Though he may think he is a fake, he still thinks that he is the ultimate lifeform and destroys Robotnik’s lab-filled Shadow copies. Afterward, he leaves with his team and starts on a new journey.
After Sonic Heroes, he reappeared in his own game, Shadow The Hedgehog, where he discovers that he has some connection to an alien race known as the Black Arms. Upon their invasion of Earth, he encounters the leader of the invading force known as Black Doom and asks him to collect all 7 Chaos emeralds and in return, he will restore Shadow’s original memories.
After completing his objective, he gives the emeralds to Black Doom and finds out he had died earlier during the events of Sonic Adventure 2, learned about who Gerald Robotnik is, and that Maria Robotnik died at the hands of humans, as well as Maria’s wish. After all that, he decides to betray Black Doom and save Earth using the power of Chaos Control and transform himself once more into Super Shadow. He, then, revisits the Space Colony ARK, taking one final visit to it, he looks at a picture of Maria Robotnik, and Gerald Robotnik, says goodbye to his past life, and throws away the picture, along with his past.
His last major appearance in the Sonic Franchise was in the 2006 Sonic The Hedgehog game. By the request of the federal government, Shadow infiltrates Dr. Eggman’s base and discovers the world in danger as Flames of Disaster will destroy the whole shortly.
To prevent such events, Shadow and Rogue team up with Team Sonic to find out what caused the incident. Unexpectedly, the team encounters another hedgehog from the future known as Silver the Hedgehog. He claims that Sonic will become the Iblis Trigger that will plunge the world into a blazing inferno and he must be eliminated. Luckily, Shadow interfered and allowed Sonic to save the princess. Afterward, Shadow reveals to Silver that he was tricked and proves to him that Mephiles is the real cause of the incident.
After stopping the first plot to trigger the blaze, Mephiles ambushes Sonic and laughs evilly as he succeeds in making Princess Elise release the Flames of Disaster. All of Sonic’s allies including Shadow and Silver appear in another dimension and finds lifeless Sonic in the arms of the princess. Noticing that there is no time left, they must collect all of the Chaos Emeralds to revive Sonic and stop the flames from exploding. With their wits and guts at full power, they manage to save everyone and return to their ordinary lives once more.
How Shadow The Hedgehog’s Design Came To Be
Shadow was originally part of the development of Sonic Adventure 2. The game’s director at that time wanted to diverge the paths of good and evil and wanted a character that would fight the heroes and side with Doctor Eggman. Thus the idea of Shadow being created was made.
His design was inspired by American comics that had the persona of anti-heroes such as Spawn, The Punisher, and the Ghost Rider. Based on the original plan of the art team, Shadow was envisioned to be a character who would match Sonic in his sense of coolness. Earlier designs show various concepts such as having long spines with tufts of fur in front of his eyes to sporting capes, shades, or even a missing eye. The final design came to the approval of Shiro Maekawa and thus, Shadow’s final design came to be.
