Shadow the Hedgehog

Shadow the Hedgehog (シャドウ・ザ・ヘッジホッグ) is a character from the Sonic the Hedgehog series.

Profile

Note that the voice actors shown in the profile are only the ones for the games and not any other media.

Gender	Male
Age	Ageless (cold-slept for 50 years, physically 15)
Species	Hybrid
Height	100 cm (3' 3")
Weight	35 kg (77 lb.)
Alignment	Neutral
Likes	Nothing, Maria Robotnik
Dislikes	Humanity (in Sonic Adventure 2)
Abilities	Speed, Chaos Control
CV (JPN)	Kouji Yusa
CV (ENG)	David Humphrey (2001-2004) / Ryan Drummond (originally) / Jason Griffith (2005-2010) / Kirk Thornton (2010-present)

Overview

Shadow the Hedgehog (シャドウ・ザ・ヘッジホッグ Shadō za Hejjihoggu), also known as the Ultimate Life Form (究極生命体 Kyūkyoku Seimeitai), is a dark hero of the Sonic series, he first appeared in Sonic Adventure 2.

Background

Sonic Adventure 2

The ultimate life form created by Dr. Eggman's grandfather Professor Gerald Robotnik about 50 years before Sonic's time, with an immortal and indestructible body.

He was in a cold sleep for about 50 years in the back of a prison cell as G.U.N.'s top secret weapon, and was thawed out by Dr. Eggman, who came to search for his grandfather's legacy for his own desire.

Later, he (ostensibly) helps Dr. Eggman in his plan for world domination by suggesting the existence of the Eclipse Cannon. Because of his resemblance to Sonic, many of Shadow's actions at this time were recognized by the public as Sonic's, and the repercussions of his actions fell entirely on Sonic.

During the closing of the Space Colony ARK and the muzzling of the researchers, which was triggered by the outbreak of the experimental life form 50 years ago, Maria's words, "Do it for me... for all the people... on that planet..." as she was about to be shot and die, were interpreted as a desire for revenge against humanity.

However, after Amy's persuasion, Shadow realized that Maria had said at the end of her life, to give everyone a chance to be happy, and make their wishes come true. When Shadow realizes this he turns around and sets out to save humanity by preventing the ARK, which the late Gerald had programmed to collide with the Earth.

Sonic and Knuckles go to a facility that resembles the altar of the Master Emerald and fight off the ultimate life form prototype, Biolizard, that stands in their way, but the prototype is a Finalhazard parasitic on ARK and tries to bring itself and others down to Earth.

There, Shadow, along with Sonic, transformed into a platinum-colored Super Shadow and gold Super Sonic with seven Chaos Emeralds and eliminated the parasitic prototype. The ARK was returned to its original position by Chaos Control, but its physical body could not withstand the supernaturalization, and it ran out of power and disappeared as light as it fell into the atmosphere.....along with Shadow.

"Maria... this is what you wanted, right? This is my promise I made to you..."

Sonic Heroes

Rouge finds Shadow sleeping in a device that looks like a culture capsule at Dr. Eggman's secret base. She wakes him up, but he has amnesia, and he sees her as an enemy and does not cooperate with her. At that time, Omega, who was acting as a watchdog and protector, goes berserk and makes a statement betraying Dr. Eggman, leading to a temporary truce. The three of them form Team Dark because of a common enemy and a coincidence of interests.

The large number of Shadow androids that look exactly like him in the story raises the suspicion that they are fakes or robots made to look like the real Shadow, and Shadow himself is conflicted about whether he is the real Shadow or a mechanical fake due to his amnesia.

In the ending of the Team Dark story, Omega had meaningful line, "You know about cloning... The original must exist somewhere." , and Shadow also had a line to Rouge that seemed to be somewhat reminiscent.

Also before that, the mastermind of the incident, who showed up in the last story after the aforementioned sighting of the Shadow androids, clearly recognized Shadow as the original ultimate life form and actually obtained data including chaos control from him themself.

Shadow the Hedgehog

In Shadow the Hedgehog, depending on the route he takes, he can be a hero who stands on the side of humanity and defeats Black Arms, or he can call himself an android and take revenge on Dr. Eggman, or he calls himself "a messenger from heaven" and smiles broadly while at the same time being complicit in the domestication of the human race that Black Arms stands for.

......However, these are all haphazard endings, and the Last Story that is unlocked after all the endings are seen will continue to unfold in the subsequent series (the timeline seems to be from the middle of the normal route to the end of the hero route, judging from Dr. Eggman's confession described below).

According to what was revealed in the last story, the Shadow was originally the finished product created by trial and error from the Biolizard and other prototypes based on his cells, which Professor Gerald had offered to Black Doom 50 years ago in return for all the Chaos Emeralds.

The Eclipse Cannon is an optical weapon designed to penetrate the Black Comet, their stronghold, and it turns out that Shadow himself was born as hope for humanity.

It is only ironic that Professor Gerald, a mild-mannered man of character at that time, lost his granddaughter, his only emotional support, to a GUN soldier's gunfire, and turned into a maniac so mentally disintegrated that he could not think or judge normally, turning Shadow, the Biolizard, and the Eclipse Cannon, which were supposed to be humanity's hope to defeat the Black Arms, into tools of revenge.

When certain conditions are met in the final boss battle, it is revealed that Dr. Eggman sent his robot (probably Metal Sonic) to rescue Shadow from the atmosphere in Sonic Adventure 2, and he confesses the fact that he is the authentic original Shadow, although his memory has disappeared due to the aftereffects of that incident.

He also super-enables this time, but unlike in Sonic Adventure 2, he has changed to a golden form, just like Super Sonic. Perhaps his body has become accustomed to the energy of the Chaos Emeralds, but he no longer runs out of power after his super-formation.

Then, after defeating the last boss, destroying the Black Comet with the Eclipse Cannon, and finishing the battle with Black Arms, he threw away the photo of the two of them at the Ark and parted with the past, having fulfilled the wishes of Professor Gerald and Maria.

Appearance

He has a similar appearance to Sonic, with the following differences: his fur color is primary black with red lines and a white tuft of fur on his chest, a tanned muzzle, his six quills curve upwards (and two curve downwards), and his wears hover shoes are mainly white with some red, in contrast to Sonic's red shoes with some white.

However, the reason for their similar appearances is still unknown.

His hover shoes have black cuffs, red tongues and gold rings that can also be seen with his gloves.

Abilities

He is skilled with firearms and special vehicles, and has a basic fighting ability far superior to Sonic.

With his hover shoes he does not run like Sonic, he glides like an ice skater, and in addition to high-speed movement, he can also hover and, in some works, produce small jet streams as a weapon. The golden rings he wears on both wrists and ankles are Inhibitor Rings that control his powers, and were originally set up in the Sonic X anime, but were re-incorporated in Sonic '06 (as well as the Archie Sonic comics).

He can also use the Chaos Emeralds to perform various techniques, such as Chaos Control, which distorts space-time, and Chaos Spear, which transforms energy into a spear-like form to attack.

In the Super Smash Bros. series, the Chaos Emeralds appears as an assist trophy from Super Smash Bros. Brawl. He uses Chaos Control to slow down the movements of the fighters.

In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, he has the green Chaos Emerald that he first showed Chaos Control with in Sonic Adventure 2, and his motion has also changed to a pose where he holds up the Chaos Emerald. It is now held in the right hand just before the slow effect wears off, and the player stops moving for a few seconds.