Shadow the Hedgehog

For the game, see Shadow the Hedgehog (game).

Shadow the Hedgehog (シャドウ・ザ・ヘッジホッグ) is an anti hero and the arch rival of Sonic the Hedgehog. Created as "The Ultimate Life Form" by Professor Gerald Robotnik, Shadow is an "ultimate immortal", in the sense that he won't physically age and will live forever, and in the sense that it is virtually impossible to kill him (though many characters still talk of trying and have even attempted to do so).

Since his debut, Shadow has appeared in a multitude of games, television shows, and comic books. His past was almost a complete mystery until the game Shadow the Hedgehog revealed the events surrounding his creation. In contrast to Sonic, Shadow is typically portrayed as a tortured anti-hero, or a renegade who can just as easily serve the forces of evil as those of good. According to an official poll, he is the second most popular character in the series, second only to Sonic himself.

Game Appearances
Shadow debuted in the game Sonic Adventure 2 as one of three main antagonists, alongside Rouge the Bat. Dr. Eggman set Shadow free from a G.U.N. base on Prison Island, where he had spent 50 years imprisoned. In exchange Shadow agreed to aid the doctor in his plans to take over the world; holding his true intentions as wishing to get revenge for the death of his friend, Maria Robotnik. To achieve this,Shadow revealed the eclipse cannon to Dr. Eggman, blowing up half of the moon in demonstration. In a twist of fate, Shadow ultimately aided Sonic when realizing Maria's true wish with the help of Amy Rose, which was to save humanity. In Last story, Eggman inserts the final emerald, only to initiate a destabilization program on the ARK. Gerald Robotnik then revealed that he had made this function to have revenge for Maria, and that the ARK would destroy the Earth. Meanwhile, Sonic and Knuckles had reached the Central Core, where they reactivated the Biolizard. Notably, a scene from Gerald Robotnik's diary appeared. After Shadow defeated it, Knuckles used the Master Emerald to stop the Chaos emeralds. But the Biolizard, being the prototype of Project Shadow, used Chaos Control to fuse with the ARK, continuing its fall. Then, as Super Sonic and Super Shadow, they destroyed the Biolizard (the Ultimate Life form prototype), having become a monster named Finalhazard, and using their pooled energies, created a Chaos Control which stopped the fall. Afterwards, Shadow fell to the earth and was presumed dead.

In Sonic Heroes, Rouge discovers Shadow in a stasis tube located in the deepest part of one of Dr. Eggman's bases. As she activates the capsule, E-123 Omega begins to attack the newly awakened Shadow, believing him to be an android. Shadow discovers that he has amnesia and cannot remember anything before his release (aside from his name and brief images of Maria Robotnik's death). He joins forces with Rouge and the robot E-123 Omega to form Team Dark and find Eggman. It is later revealed that Eggman had made robotic android versions of Shadow, and the question is raised as to whether or not Shadow himself is one of these androids. Ultimately, when Metal Sonic transformed into Metal Madness, Shadow worked with everyone else to help defeat it. Shadow is last seen with Omega and the defeated Metal Sonic. In Sonic Battle, Rouge saves Shadow while they are investigating Dr. Eggman's secret base and takes him back to her home (Shadow seems to now remember Maria and his fight against the Final Hazard so it is unknown when exactly this game takes place). Shadow talks about how the people of Earth must destroy him and Emerl if they ever want peace, still believing that he is a weapon. It is revealed, however, that he ultimately has the heart and soul of Maria Robotnik, implying he could not be the enemy of humanity. In one of Gerald Robotnik's journal entries, he mentions that "Project Shadow" was put on hold because of Project Gizoid.

In Shadow the Hedgehog, Shadow is revealed to be the dual creation of the alien overlord Black Doom and Professor Gerald Robotnik. Gerald could not finish the project on his own, so he contacted the Black Comet and used Black Doom's blood, and presumably his DNA to create Shadow. Shadow eventually gathers all the Chaos Emeralds and confronts Doom as Super Shadow. He then destroys the Black Comet with the Eclipse Cannon. In the end, he puts the past behind him and chooses to move forward. Also, in the last battle of the game, Eggman confesses to Shadow that one of his robots found and saved him after the incident in Sonic Adventure 2, meaning he is the real Shadow and not a Shadow Android as was previously believed.

In the 2006 Sonic the Hedgehog game, Shadow is a playable character and has his own storyline which weaves with those of Sonic and new character Silver the Hedgehog. In this role, Shadow encounters the new villain Mephiles the Dark when the Scepter of Darkness falls and shatters. Shadow is sent to the future and is revealed to have become the enemy of mankind, due to their fear of his power. It is also been revealed that Shadow is sealed away by the reprogrammed Omega sometime during this event. Eventually, Mephiles gains hold of the seven Chaos Emeralds and merges with Iblis, becoming Solaris. Shadow turns into Super Shadow and joins with Super Silver and Super Sonic to defeat Solaris. The events of the game are then reset and do not occur, possibly leaving his future open.

Shadow appears in Sonic Rivals as a playable character alongside Sonic, Knuckles, Silver, and Metal Sonic. Summoned to a strange land by Dr. Eggman via a cryptic transmission asking for his aid, Shadow is able to successfully locate Dr. Eggman, but once he mentions the cryptic message, Dr. Eggman denies it. The mystery continues to unfold itself as Rouge warns him of an impending danger and upon stumbling across a secret about Dr. Eggman, her transmission is cut off short. Shadow continues his quest to uncover the truth about Dr. Eggman. Shadow also appears on four of the 150 collectible cards in the game.

Shadow is an unlockable character in the game Sonic Riders after beating the Hero Story Mode. He is a Speed type character, with his default Gear: Darkness, which he uses to skate like his default shoes. His Level 1 Attack is "Energy Ball", which temporally stuns a nearby opponent, the Level 2 attack is "Back Kick" which makes an opponent lose his/her balance temporally, and the Level 3 attack is "Chaos Control" which freezes a nearby opponent, so he can easily pass them. He now appears in the sequel Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity as a speed character, and his default gear is called Black Shot.

Shadow also appeared in the game Sonic and the Secret Rings, being the first unlockable character for the Party Mode (next ones being Cream, Silver and Blaze) by obtaining 30 Fire Souls.

Shadow also appears in Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games as a speed character along with Sonic, Yoshi and Princess Daisy.

Shadow appears in the sequel to Sonic Rivals, Sonic Rivals 2. He is confronted by Metal Sonic and Eggman (through a speaker in Metal Sonic) tells him that he needs help. Before he can ask questions he and Metal Sonic find Espio and Silver. Curious as to why Silver has returned to the present he begins to follow Silver while Metal Sonic follows Espio. Eventually Shadow forgets to ask the Doctor why he is helping him and just continues to work with Metal Sonic. Eventually Shadow discovers that Eggman Nega is trying to release the Ifrit with the seven Chaos Emeralds. He enters the Chaos Inferno Zone to press the switch to seal the Ifrit in its own dimension, but he and Metal Sonic are trapped in the process. Metal Sonic tears himself open to reveal a Chaos Emerald, and Shadow Chaos Control's them back to their own dimension.

Shadow is an assist trophy in Super Smash Bros Brawl, found after Sonic becomes a playable character. Shadow activates Chaos Control when he is used, slowing down the user's opponents. He can also do Chaos Blast, launching all the opponents off the stage.

Shadow is a playable character in Sega Superstars Tennis.

Shadow appears in Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood. He is searching for Omega, who disappeared looking for Eggman's robots. At first, he only joins Sonic's team to help find Omega, but when he finds out that Omega was attacked by the Nocturnus, he joins the party to help defeat them. In combat, Shadow deals medium attack power and has medium armor and is as quick as Sonic, allowing him three attacks per round.

Personality
Shadow's outer appearance is quite unique compared to the other characters. He prefers to work alone and distances himself from essentially everyone, with few exceptions. Though soft-spoken and reserved, he never bluffs; if he makes a threat, he has every intention of carrying it out. This is seen in Shadow the Hedgehog, when Shadow warns Sonic in one of the storylines that if he were to try to stop him, the hedgehog would inevitably destroy his blue counterpart. Shadow views Sonic as his rival and equal in all aspects of his life, but still sees him as annoying and foolish as he can be. Like Knuckles used to be with Sonic, Shadow has a rivalry with Sonic due to their animosity with each other in terms of how they view their own methods of justice and morality, but will work together despite certain problems they have with one another, and readily come to the other's aid. Shadow is known to treat others in a very callous manner, and in combat he displays a natural "killer instinct" that Sonic lacks or just doesn't show. As shown in Shadow the Hedgehog, Shadow sometimes displays an unusually rough manner of speech as opposed to the rest of the characters (though Sonic, Knuckles, and Espio are also heard swearing at times during the game). He will often use words such as "damn" and "hell" throughout the game in reference to his failure or anger. Gradually, however, Shadow is becoming less violent and even acts like a gentleman at times, he has also slowly started to acknowledge having friends, since he has openly stated to others that Omega is a friend. Alongside his dark demeanor, he can be smug, stubborn, and somewhat sarcastic. In the 2006 video game, he (at least as Super Shadow) is shown to be quite cocky, as he states that their battle against Solaris may actually be "a fair fight".

On occasion, Shadow appears to have some degree of mental instability. This can be seen when he would often hallucinate Maria's face or through his numerous threatening speeches. He appears to improve with amnesia but this tendency returns in the Shadow the Hedgehog game, where in the various possibilities he often pursues his foes with disturbing determination, chuckles to himself madly, believes himself to be an android, and destroys city blocks and even an entire city itself in his rage. Shadow could be suffering from a mild form of schizophrenia.

In Sonic X, Shadow's violent tendencies seem to have been toned down somewhat (at least for the 4Kids dub), but are still present: for example, he attempts to kill Cosmo after discovering that she was a Metarex spy (albeit an unwilling one); Tails attempts to stop him and, as a result, Shadow viciously beats him into near-submission.

Professor Gerald Robotnik
Shadow was created by the renowned scientist Prof. Gerald Robotnik, with the use of Black Doom's DNA. Gerald made many attempts to create the Ultimate Life Form before Black Doom and his children, the Black Arms came to Earth. Unfortunately, the closest he came was the Biolizard. But then Black Doom came and offered his help to Gerald, but only on one condition: If Black Doom helps Gerald, Gerald must promise to deliver the seven Chaos Emeralds. Gerald promised him this, and Black Doom gave some of his DNA to the DNA Gerald already had, and the result: Shadow the Hedgehog. Gerald seems to be one of few people who Shadow felt happy around.

Doctor Eggman/Doctor Ivo Robotnik
Shadow's approach to Eggman is different from most characters in the Sonic series. Shadow sees Eggman as the supergenius he has proven to be, instead of the megalomaniac that Sonic and the others see him as. This can be backed up by the fact that Shadow almost always calls Eggman by his title "the Doctor", as opposed to his alias Eggman. Eggman has shown similar respect by referring to Shadow's powers as "spectacular", and by how he sometimes applauds Shadow, as seen in Shadow the Hedgehog, when in a storyline he says "excellent job, Shadow." However, even though they have some manner of respect toward each other, they, in contrast, also have some manner of dislike toward each other. This can be backed up in Sonic the Hedgehog when Eggman refers to Rouge as "My dear Rouge", and refers to Shadow by flatly saying his name. In the same game, when Shadow busts through the ceiling of his base, Eggman says: "So....What do you want now?", although he probably said that in that disgusted manner because Shadow smashed through Eggman's ceiling. In Shadow the Hedgehog, Eggman tells Shadow: "You will obey me, or there will be dire consequences". In a possible storyline in Shadow the Hedgehog, he even kills Eggman (though this isn't explicitly shown). This evidence suggests that even though Shadow and Eggman have some respect for each other, they don't like each other much.

Maria Robotnik
Prof. Gerald's granddaughter Maria Robotnik by far is the one person that made Shadow the happiest. She was like a sister to him, and they shared the same dream: to visit Earth. Unfortunately, G.U.N. thought that Project Shadow deemed too big a threat to the world. As a result, they eliminated everything they could in relation to the project, including the people. Sadly, Maria was shot and killed by G.U.N. during the raid on the ARK. Her last parting words were "Bring hope to humanity." Shadow still stays strong to keep his promise to her and still mourns her death, although at the end of Shadow the Hedgehog he implies that he is putting his past behind him.

Black Doom
The relationship between Shadow and Black Doom may have been brief, but has played a significant role in Shadow's life. Shadow was made from Black Doom's blood, in a deal between the alien and Professor Gerald; this, technically, makes Black Doom Shadow's biological father. Black Doom, at first, tried to get Shadow on his side by playing on what remained of Shadow's painful memories of losing Maria. Regardless of the path taken during gameplay, Shadow in the end fights and defeats Black Doom (who transformed into Devil Doom) and then destroys the Black Comet with the Eclipse Cannon in the Last Story. Still, throughout the events of Shadow the Hedgehog Black Doom threatens Shadow and demands extreme loyalty and respect, even when choosing the Dark path; in gameplay, Doom acts with no compassion whatsoever. He also doesn't tolerate any kind of mistake or failure, no matter how difficult the task on Shadow's part may be. Black Doom was also Shadow's archenemy, similar to what Eggman is to Sonic.



Amy Rose
Shadow has a strong connection with Amy Rose. In Sonic Adventure 2, Amy begs Shadow to help Sonic and the others, but Shadow protests, saying this is the end of them all. Amy doesn't give up and finally manages to remind Shadow of what his only friend Maria truly wanted him to do. He then goes to help Sonic and company. In some ways it has been rumored that when Shadow looks at Amy he almost sees Maria. Also in Sonic Adventure 2 battle Amy mistakes Shadow for Sonic (Odd, because Shadow is mostly black and Sonic is mostly blue) and hugs him thinking she was hugging Sonic.

Sonic the Hedgehog
Shadow's arch rival is none other than Sonic the Hedgehog. They become enemies when meeting in Sonic Adventure 2, but later become allies. Although their relationship goes back to rivalry, it seems to be more of a friendly rivalry, as shown in the first level of the Shadow the Hedgehog game, where Sonic meets up with Shadow and greets him in a friendly manner, making it more like Sonic and Knuckles' rivalry, though a bit more violent. Shadow even shows a little bit of sadness when he dies and says "Certainly. It might have been possible, if he was still alive" while talking about fighting Solaris; whether or not this comment meant that he was unwilling to do so without Sonic or that it was truly impossible to defeat Solaris without Sonic is unknown. in Sonic the Hedgehog (2006). He also, on one occasion, saved Sonic from Silver in order to allow the former Iblis Trigger to go save Princess Elise from Eggman.

Rouge the Bat
Shadow has a close relationship to Rouge the Bat. The two always look out for each other, as seen in Sonic Heroes, Sonic Battle, Shadow the Hedgehog, Sonic the Hedgehog (2006), and other game titles. In Sonic the Hedgehog, Rouge says that if the whole world were to turn against Shadow, Rouge would still fight by his side. This evidence shows that the two have some kind of relationship, but whether it is romantic or platonic is opinionated.

E-123 Omega
Shadow has a very close relationship with Omega who, other than Rouge, may be Shadow's only friend. This relationship is first shown when Shadow looks out for Omega in Sonic Heroes half way into the game. This was also shown in Shadow the Hedgehog when Shadow willingly helped Omega in Iron Jungle & Lava Shelter. In Sonic the Hedgehog, both Shadow and Omega were somewhat saddened by Omega reprogramming to hunt down Shadow in the future, due to Shadow becoming too strong of a lifeform.

In Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood, Shadow joins Sonic's team to find Omega, he clearly shows anger if you refuse to rescue him and states that if he doesn't find Omega, then he'll "be very unhappy". This is possible proof that he doesn't like his closest friends to be upset.

G.U.N. Commander
The Commander and Shadow didn't get along at first as the Commander blamed Shadow for the death of his family, but after the events of Shadow the Hedgehog the Commander invited Shadow over; this is presumably the time that Shadow became a G.U.N. agent.

Metal Sonic
Shadow and Metal Sonic are forced to work together when Doctor Eggman calls for Shadow's assistance in Sonic Rivals 2. Although they are together for a brief amount of time, Shadow does seem concerned about Metal Sonic multiple times, despite the fact that Metal Sonic is a robot with the inability to speak. Shadow constantly asks him if he's alright and at the end of the game when Metal Sonic tears himself open to retrieve the Chaos Emerald within his body, Shadow tells him to stop, for he fears Metal Sonic will destroy himself. Feeling a possible connection due to his friendship with Omega is the reasoning for his concern.

Team Chaotix
Shadow has had several altercations with the detective agency, the first being a confrontation in Sonic Heroes that escalated into a brawl, with their differences then seemingly set aside later when they joined forces against an evolved Metal Sonic. The Chaotix resumed their role as allies in Shadow the Hedgehog, with each member participating as a partner in the hero missions of various levels. Individually, Vector perceives Shadow as a friend as demonstrated in one of the endings of Shadow the Hedgehog when the crocodile attempted to console him when he concluded himself to being nothing more than a living weapon of mass destruction, though Shadow apparently didn't want to hear it. While Espio has shown his capacity of friendship for the black hedgehog, Charmy has exercised a more enthusiastic relationship with Shadow, demonstrating how much he respects and looks up to him while often stating how "cool" Shadow is. All the Chaotix voices are present in supporting Shadow during the Last Story as well as Expert Mode and the group have been shown assisting the black hedgehog during the third season of the anime series Sonic X by giving him a free ride to the battle against Dark Oak in outer space.

Other Characters
There are many characters, including Tails (except on Sonic X and Shadow the Hedgehog (video game)), Cream (except on Shadow the Hedgehog), and Knuckles (except on Sonic X and Shadow the Hedgehog (video game)), that Shadow has yet to interact with for very long, though their brief times together do not show signs of hostility on either characters' part. He also has characters that he has yet to meet such as Tikal the Echidna, Blaze the Cat, the Babylon Rogues, and other characters.

Friends/Allies

 * Rouge the Bat
 * Sonic the Hedgehog
 * Dr. Eggman
 * Amy Rose
 * E-123 Omega
 * Miles "Tails" Prower
 * Knuckles the Echidna
 * Charmy Bee
 * Vector the Crocodile
 * Espio the Chameleon
 * Cream the Rabbit
 * Big the Cat
 * Silver the Hedgehog
 * Blaze the Cat
 * Emerl
 * Shade
 * Tikal
 * Metal Sonic

Rivals

 * Sonic the Hedgehog
 * Knuckles the Echidna (in comic)
 * Scourge the Hedgehog
 * Blaze the Cat
 * Mario
 * luigi
 * The Goo

Enemies

 * Biolizard
 * Mephiles the Dark
 * Black Doom
 * Dr. Eggman
 * Eggman Nega
 * Ix
 * Scourge the Hedgehog

Abilities
Basic traits between Shadow and Sonic are virtually identical. Like Sonic, Shadow is highly acrobatic, capable of gracefully leaping over many obstacles in his way. He can also perform Sonic's trademark 'Spin Attack', which is a variation on the tendency for hedgehogs to roll into tight balls for protection. Also, with his Air Shoes, Shadow can skate at speeds fast enough to rival the speeds Sonic can run, although games have differed on who is faster (most games put them as equals while Sonic Battle's battle cards claimed Shadow is faster and the character profiles of Sonic the Hedgehog 2006 and Sonic Rivals cited Sonic as faster). Shadow's strength is also one of his greatest assets. He has been seen effortlessly punching through a solid steel door in Sonic X episode 73 where he pursues Cosmo and Tails.

Additionally, Shadow is ageless and immortal. Also, although he is not nearly as strong as power characters like Knuckles, with effort he can overturn objects too large for him to lift, such as trucks or peeled away asphalt.

He can also use different "Chaos powers," that have varying effects and names. Shadow's trademark move is Chaos Control, which allows him to warp time and space. Shadow uses it mainly to transport matter and/or to slow or stop time. The move actually allows the user to manipulate time and space to warp across "space" or move through or across "time". Sonic, Black Doom, Metal Sonic (as seen as Metal Overlord during Sonic Heroes), Biolizard, and Silver can also use Chaos Control, though the move originally appeared with Shadow and he makes the most extensive use of it. Although nearly all cutscenes and bios in manuals and websites often claim Shadow needs a Chaos Emerald to perform the technique, he has used it a few times during gameplay as well as a cutscene without a known Emerald in his possession. Shadow is also able to shape Chaos Control into a variety of offensive and defensive attacks, such as "Chaos Spear". As described in Shadow's game, all of his Chaos powers increase in correlation to the addition of a greater number of Chaos Emeralds, until reaching full power with all 7 Emeralds. It is currently unknown as to what extent Chaos Control can be used, as Shadow has never been seen using it on another object without warping himself along with it, but it has been shown that he can take objects and people into the warp with him, and all examples of this suggest he must be touching an object to bring it with him (such as transporting the Black Comet off Earth). When saving Rouge from Prison Island, he was seen touching her. Aside from it's final usage in Sonic Adventure 2, Shadow has used Chaos Control with 3 Emeralds at most, using Chaos Control to save Rouge from Prison Island, and they ended up on the ARK afterwards. It is assumed that 3 Emeralds is enough to warp Shadow (and anything on his person) into space. It is seen that in the series of Sonic X he is holding four Chaos Emeralds and is not touching or holding Chris or Rouge to teleport them to the Space colony ARK.

Another form of attack that first appeared in the Shadow the Hedgehog game is an attack called "Chaos Blast" that is induced when Shadow commits acts of evil, filling his red gauge. While the Chaos Spear can attack single or multiple targets, the Chaos Blast is literally a shockwave of energy that eliminates anything and everything in a circular radius range. When this attack can be formed, his eyes and the streaks on his body begin to glow red.

As shown in Sonic the Hedgehog (2006), and Sonic X, Shadow is able to unleash more of his power if he takes off the rings on his wrists. Sonic X was the first to present this idea, which at first made it seem to be exclusive to the anime, as during the Sonic Adventure 2 adaption, Shadow loses his rings when trying to stop the ARK from crashing to earth. In the game, Sonic enters the ARK with one of Shadow's rings, but he is never shown actually losing them. In the anime, this increase in power comes at the expense of reducing his stamina, causing Shadow to become exhausted after a relatively short time engaged in combat as seen in episodes 60, 61, and 63 of the series. However in the video game series, he shows no sign of fatigue. The increase in his power from taking off his rings shows a drastic change in the final cutscene of his story in Sonic the Hedgehog 2006, after he plows through what appears to be hundreds of copies of Mephiles. This ability was also demonstrated in recent issues of the Archie comic as mentioned below, wherein Shadow removed the rings in order to call up his full power when he engaged the newly-reborn Enerjak in combat.

In Shadow the Hedgehog, Shadow has shown that he can also use a wide range of firearms, semi-automatics, heavy assault, and close-combat weapons. He can also improvise with debris, and drive a wide range of vehicles, as shown in Shadow the Hedgehog, Sonic Riders, and Sonic the Hedgehog (2006). This proves a great distinction between him and Sonic because, in the same game, Sonic says that he would never be caught dead using a gun and that he prefers running over using a vehicle.

By harnessing the power of the seven Chaos Emeralds, Shadow is able to use super transformation to transform into Super Shadow. He is bestowed with the new abilities of flight and near invulnerability, like Super Sonic, and his normal abilities of speed and power are greatly enhanced.

Sonic X
Shadow, as seen in an episode of the anime, has white rings as a mistake instead of his gold ones in the games. Shadow also appears on the anime Sonic X. Episodes 33 through 38 are based on Sonic Adventure 2, with quite a few differences from the game. For one, it was Chris Thorndyke who reminded Shadow of his true promise from Maria, not Amy Rose. Afterwards, he makes short appearances in flashbacks, but he makes his true return in episode 60, “The Return of Shadow”. In Japan he is voiced by his game voice actor, but in the dub he is voiced by Jason Griffith, who also does the voice of Sonic.

In Season 2, Shadow had no clear memory of his mysterious past, although in one episode, he seems to have an image of Maria in his mind. However, he cannot seem to work out who she really was. In that same episode, Dr. Eggman visits people of a planet the Metarex are warring with, including one orange-haired female teenager by the name of Molly. Shadow and Rouge meet her, and at the end of the French/Japanese version of the episode, Molly was killed by the Metarex. Shadow erects a makeshift grave for her, and Rouge notes that she was similar to Maria. In the English dub Molly is seen flying off into the sky and instead of a grave, Shadow says that he will miss her and he is worried about her being all alone out in space.



In Sonic X as in other games, Shadow is portayed as being very powerful. In an attempt to kill Cosmo, he used very little effort in plowing through Sonic, Knuckles, Chris and beats tails to near death. His strengthy is also severly increased when he takes off his limiter rings as seen in one episode where he takes them off, subsequently single-handedly destroying an entire Meterx fleet.

Sonic the Hedgehog (comic)
Shadow, as seen on the cover of issue #146.Shadow also appears in the Sonic the Hedgehog comic series, and his origin is identical to that in the games in that he was created by Gerald Robotnik to stand against the threat of Black Doom and the Black Arms. He debuted in an adaptation of the game Sonic Adventure 2, with a few changes to accommodate the Archie version of Mobius/Earth. The comic skips over the events of Sonic Heroes, and Shadow reappears with an explanation of how he survived his apparent death: an alien race, the Bem, rescued him so he could combat their enemy, the alien Xorda, buying the Bem time to escape. However, Shadow could not defeat the Xorda (even in his super form) and plummeted toward Mobius. He survived the fall and was found by Sonic, who brought him before Maximillian Acorn so that he could warn him of the impending threat of the Xorda, allowing the House of Acorn to amass an army of allies to stand against the Quantum Dial weapon.

Shadow often works alone to achieve his goal, which is to discover the truth about his mysterious history. He has at times allied with Sonic and the Freedom Fighters to fight greater evils, like the Xorda, and he has been known to work either for or against Dr. Robotnik depending on the circumstances (once even threatening to kill him). Often, he will side with whomever he believes will bring him closer to the truth. This search has led him to interact with various other characters, including the robot Isaac, Brotherhood of Guardians member Locke, and various versions of Metal Sonic. Shadow also has some connection with the being or beings responsible for the creation of Croctobot, the robot created from a fusion of Crocbot and Octobot. In addition to Sonic, Shadow has also established a rivalry with Scourge the Hedgehog, an evil version of Sonic from another dimension and former leader of the Anti-Freedom Fighters. He has also sworn to protect Hope Kintobor at all costs, viewing it as atoning for Maria's death since Hope is one of the few living beings to show compassion towards him besides Maria, and also bears a striking resemblance to her (enough so that he nearly mistook Hope for Maria at one point).

Like Tails, Shadow was kidnapped by the nanite villain A.D.A.M. and used to gather all the Chaos Emeralds in the unvierse, but later used his Super form and Chaos powers to send them to the Zone of Silence. He eventually gained possession of a copy of Professor Gerald's diary, and learned from it that he had been created to protect Mobius from the return of the Black Arms. Resolving to fulfill his creator's wish, Shadow joined the Guardian Units of Nations, or G.U.N. He later arrived in New Mobotropolis in response to a distress call from Sally Acorn, and engaged Enerjak, a brainwashed and superpowered version of Knuckles the Echidna. By removing his power inhibitors, Shadow was able to match him for a time, but failed to maintain his power long enough to defeat him before Enerjak was captured by the Egg Fleet.

All of Shadow's Chaos powers in the comic book series come from the greatest power in the universe, the Chaos Force (also referred to as "The Power of Chaos"), a mystical energy field that serves as a wellspring for all Chaos powers (and a likely Star Wars reference). Knuckles states at one point that Shadow must have direct access to this energy, even without an Emerald, as displayed when Shadow sub-consciously halted a squadron of 'Metal Sonic Troopers' and teleported himself, Sonic, and a wounded Hope to Castle Acorn using Chaos Control in the absence of an Emerald.

Possible Future
In the second version of the comic's Mobius: 25 Years Later "possible future" storyline, Shadow becomes King of Mobius and the husband of Sally Acorn. Because of this, Sonic and Sally's children Sonia and Manik, from another possible future, never exist. In this future, Shadow rules the planet with an iron fist, with a futuristic Knuckles serving as his chief enforcer. In addition, he has an alliance with Lien-Da, Grand Master of the Dark Legion, despite the disapproval of her ancestor Dimitri, who considers her pact with Shadow to be as bad as his own previous alliance with Dr. Finitevus. After King Sonic (from another possible future) and Lara-Su return from their excursions to the past and join forces, Shadow orders their imprisonment, along with a number of other enemies such as Rotor the Walrus and Tails. Due to his Chaos-derived reality warping abilities, Shadow was fully aware that history had been altered, and so was determined to keep anyone from acting on it. However, his reign came to an end when he was defeated by none other than Lara-Su, who used Chaos Control to freeze him in time, an attack so powerful that she joked that she didn't think her great-great-great-great-great grandchildren would have to worry about him.

The battle: Sonic versus Shadow
Ever since Shadow's introduction, nearly every Sonic continuity featuring him has had the most cliché scene in Sonic history: the recurring and unfinished battle between Sonic and Shadow. Because of their differences and morals, the two are constantly getting into a crossroads, which then devolve into outright fisticuffs. And sometimes it's a test of pure speed between the two hedgehogs. However, they finish the battle tied, one victorious, or something serves to interrupt the battle before its end, thus putting the fans in suspense as to who is the more powerful of the two.

The battle has appeared in the games, comics, and TV series. It occurs in practically every game featuring Shadow up until Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood. It appeared in Archie's Sonic comics and Sonic X, the latter even featuring a battle between Sonic and Shadow's powered-up selves, Super Sonic and Super Shadow.

The rivalry has all but disappeared in some continuities, and in others it is a sort of game between the two, actually serving as a plot device for the game Sonic Rivals.

Shadow Androids
Shadow Androids are robots based on Shadow that first appeared in Sonic Heroes, though it was never actually stated to be such. Instead, one Team Dark cutscene showed a broken Shadow robot, and another one showed an entire room of Androids in stasis, which affected the story in a way, making several characters believe Shadow was a robot. The Shadow Androids reappeared in Shadow the Hedgehog as somewhat strong enemy robots on the single-player mode's "Iron Jungle" and "Lava Shelter" stages, along with the "Iron Jungle" boss. These androids can counter Shadow's Homing Attacks, or lock-on to Shadow and toss rockets at him, which they seem to use more often than the Homing Attack. At the last Team Dark cutscene of Sonic Heroes, when Rouge finds the multiple Shadow androids, she suspects that Shadow is an android, but Omega says that the real Shadow exists, as there is no way anyone could make Shadow androids without the real Shadow. While Shadow is facing Black Doom in his Devil Doom form, Eggman says that he used a robot to rescue Shadow as or after he fell from the Space Colony ARK in Sonic Adventure 2, meaning that while Shadow was in a stasis tube, Eggman was making Shadow androids.

In the multi-player mode of Shadow the Hedgehog, there are six special Shadow Androids. Four of these robots are silver with green, pink, orange, or blue stripes, each wielding either an alien-like machine gun or a bazooka. They also resemble Metal Sonic. The other two look more like Shadow, but on one of them, the stripes are yellowish-orange instead of red. These two, like the real Shadow, start off without weapons but can carry any other weapon they collect and have limited ammo while the other four androids can only use their built-in weapons which have unlimited ammo. The androids can activate Dark Shadow and all of its normal effects and attacks, just like the real Shadow. Hero Shadow does not seem to be available as there are no good deeds for the player to do to fill the Hero gauge and Chaos Control (the in-level version) would be useless in multi-player mode. All of these androids claim to be the "real Shadow", and claim that the others are fakes.

Voice actors

 * Japanese Games - Kōji Yusa (2001 - present)
 * Japanese Sonic X - Kōji Yusa (2001 - present)
 * American Games - David Humphrey (2001 - 2005)|Jason Griffith (2005 - present)
 * American Sonic X - Jason Griffith (2001 - present)

Associated songs
The video games have featured several theme songs for the character. Shadow's themes consisted primarily of the techno and industrial genres in Sonic Adventure 2 and Sonic Heroes, but have shown an increasing preference towards the hard rock genre in more recent games.


 * Sonic Adventure 2: "Throw it All Away" - Everett Bradley.
 * Sonic Heroes: "This Machine" - Julien-K. (This was a team theme shared with Rouge and Omega.)
 * Shadow the Hedgehog featured multiple themes:
 * "I Am... All of Me" - Crush 40
 * "Almost Dead" - Powerman 5000
 * "Waking Up" - Julien-K
 * "Chosen One" - A2
 * "All Hail Shadow" - Magna-Fi
 * "Never Turn Back" - Crush 40
 * Sonic the Hedgehog: "All Hail Shadow" (Remix) - Crush 40


 * In addition, there are several vocal level themes associated with Shadow's character in Sonic Adventure 2:
 * White Jungle: "Rhythm and Balance" - Everett Bradley
 * Final Chase: "The Supernatural" - Everett Bradley
 * Biolizard: "Supporting Me" - Everett Bradley
 * Radical Highway: "Vengeance is Mine" Jun Senoue; in Shadow the Hedgehog(game) there is a similar song that plays in 2 player mode.
 * Also, a special remix of "TRIPOD BABY" performed by m-flo was released as a promotional song for Shadow the Hedgehog.

Trivia

 * The scene before Circus Park in Shadow the Hedgehog shows Shadow saying the line, "Where's that DAMN fourth Chaos Emerald?" The line is used often in YouTube Poops.
 * A common misconception is that Shadow was based on Sonic. However, Shadow had been created at least 50 years before Sonic Adventure 2. Shadow was, in fact, based on the 'legend' of Super Sonic, the same mural that is seen in Sonic 3 and Knuckles, where the Master Emerald is held. Hence why Shadow's hair is put up in a way as Super Sonic's is(Shadow and Sonic themselves believe in this misconception,each calling the other "Faker" as an insult for that reason).
 * Ironically, despite being possibly being the most well explained character in the series (in terms of backstory and motives), Shadow is often seen as a "mysterious" character, though this is probably due to his secluded persona.
 * Shadow and Fang the Sniper are so far the only Sonic Characters to have used Guns. (Unless you count Sonic, who could freely use the Super Scope and Ray Gun in Super Smash Bros Brawl, or Rouge, who aimed a gun at Eggman's head in Sonic X but never fired it.) Although Shadow is the first character to use a gun that shot actual bullets, instead of corks like Fang does.
 * In March 2007 there were rumors of a "Shadow the Hedgehog 2 : Dark Earth" but it turns out it was false & there was no record of SEGA ever making a game with that title.
 * Shadow's super form is Super Shadow. He was commonly labeled as Hyper Shadow due to a misprint in a guide.
 * Shadow at some point commented Sonic at being stronger than him on the Final Hazard level on Sonic Adventure 2.
 * During the final boss fight against Final Hazard in Sonic Adventure 2, Shadow says "Sonic! I've figured out who the ultimate life form is, it's you!" Leading to much confusion from fans. It could of just meant that Sonic is stronger the Shadow, who is the ultimate lifeform.
 * Eggman says in Shadow the Hedgehog, when you fight Devil Doom for around eight to ten minutes, that Shadow is in fact the real Shadow and not an android as he was believed to be since Sonic Heroes.
 * In the Sonic the Hedgehog 2006 storyline, following the release of the Flames of Disaster in Silver's time, Shadow was blamed (possible due to Mephiles taking on his form at the time) and imprisoned in stasis again. However, with Solaris gone, this fate is possibly non-existent now. This is also somewhat ironic because Shadow impersonated Sonic at one point.
 * In Shadow the Hedgehog (game), the president has a picture of Sonic and Shadow standing near the White House on his desk, however, Shadow has only appeared in Sonic Adventure 2 and Sonic Heroes, and they have never gone near the White House for a picture.