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This Inconsistently Admirable was Headlined on November 2023. | ||
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This Article Contains Spoilers -
WARNING: This article contains major spoilers. If you do not wish to know vital information on plot / character elements in a story, you may not wish to read beyond this warning: We hold no responsibility for any negative effects these facts may have on your enjoyment of said media should you continue.
That is all. |
| NOTE: This page is only about Shadow's mainstream counterpart as his Sonic X and Sonic Boom counterparts were not voted Inconsistently Admirable. Thus only the mainstream counterpart of Shadow appears here. |
| “ | If the world chooses to become my enemy, I will fight like I always have! | „ |
| ~ Shadow's famous line before defeating Mephiles |
| “ | I'm Shadow the Hedgehog, and I made a promise that I intend to keep. With the power of these emeralds, Black Doom and his army are finished! This is WHO I AM!! | „ |
| ~ Shadow to Black Doom. |
Shadow the Hedgehog is a major character in the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise. He was created aboard a spaceship called the ARK by Gerald Robotnik and Black Doom, he befriended Gerald's granddaughter Maria. When the ARK was attacked, Maria sacrificed herself to send Shadow to Earth and asking him to protect humanity. Kept in suspended animation, Shadow was awoken by Gerald’s grandson Dr. Eggman. Suffering from amnesia, he has a hatred for humanity and initially strove to destroy the Earth but after remembering Maria's promise, he becomes a sworn protector of Earth.
He is the arch-rival to Sonic the Hedgehog, best friend to Maria Robotnik and close friends with Rouge the Bat and E-123 Omega.
From Sonic Adventure 2 to Sonic Heroes, he was voiced by David Humphrey while Ryan Drummond did a few recordings on the former. From Sonic X to Sonic and the Black Knight, he was voiced by Jason Griffith, who also voiced his rival, Sonic, and Jet the Hawk in the same era. He is currently voiced by Kirk Thornton. In Japanese, he is voiced by Kōji Yusa.
His Good Ranking[]
Debated Validation[]
- It could be said that he is an anti-hero who only helps Sonic to serve his own goals, however it is left vague in the recent games if he is truly helping for self-serving reasons like in Sonic Forces.
What Makes Him Admirable?[]
In General[]
- Despite his grim morality, like Sonic, he has little to no trouble forgiving others.
- Despite his dark, brooding, grim, serious and cynical attitude, his attitude never darkens the mood of the story.
- While he would often be affiliated with villains, these were because he was brainwashed or seeking self-identity. After discovering his true purpose to protect the world, he subverted this, refusing Mephiles' attempt to corrupt him; while he would occasionally work with Dr. Eggman (if it meant getting what he wanted, as pointed by Sonic), these collaborations are out of pragmatism to stop larger threats, as Sonic Forces, the IDW comics, Tailstube, and Shadow 101 depict/state him usually against the doctor, who regards Shadow as an enemy similar to how he does Sonic.
Sonic Adventure 2[]
- After truly remembering his promise to Maria, he helps Sonic and his allies defeat the Biolizard and save the world from being destroyed by Gerald Robotnik's doomsday plan, sacrificing himself in the process.
- His actions throughout the game were to fulfill what he thought he promised Maria as she died (his memories altered by Gerald to carry out his revenge), and helps save the planet when he realizes Maria wanted peace rather than vengeance.
- Even before Amy caused him to realize Maria's true wish, he doesn't use any physical force to get her off when she initially mistook him for Sonic.
Sonic Heroes[]
- Upon reawakening, he protects Rouge from Omega, even though he has forgotten about her.
- Initially somewhat hostile with Omega from their brief fight, Shadow gradually loses this with him, assuring the robot his revenge when confronting the Egg Albatross.
- Helps Team Rose and Team Chaotix fight off Metal Madness to buy time for Team Sonic to harness the power of the Chaos Emeralds.
Shadow the Hedgehog[]
- He declares that he made a promise to Maria that he intends to keep and promises to defeat Black Doom and his army.
- Although some of the possible endings have him cross the Moral Event Horizon and firmly set himself on the path of evil, none of them are canon.
- Defeats Black Doom and destroys the Black Comet, saving the world.
- Having decided to move forward with his life, he continues protecting the world as Gerald (prior to his descent into madness) and Maria had wanted.
Sonic the Hedgehog (2006)[]
- He attempts to rescue Rouge who's been captured by Eggman.
- Helps Sonic and his allies return to the past when they are sent to the future by Eggman.
- When Mephiles reveals humanity turned on and sealed him in the future, he firmly remains fighting on the side of good and refuses to join Mephiles.
- Saves Sonic from Silver's second attempt to kill him, and reveals to the latter that Mephiles was manipulating him, showing him the truth about the origin of Iblis and Mephiles, which ultimately helped Silver develop a method to save his future.
- Seals Mephiles in the Scepter of Darkness.
- When asked by Mephiles why he would protect humanity, even though they might betray him, Shadow declares that even if they do, he will keep fighting, no matter what (possibly meaning he will fight against the world while also protecting it).
- Helps locate the Chaos Emeralds to revive Sonic after Mephiles killed him, showing some vulnerability at his rival's death.
- Defeats Solaris with Sonic and Silver, saving the multiverse in the process.
Sonic Rivals duology[]
- Initially deciding stay uninvolved with Dr. Eggman's strange activity, Shadow continues pursuing him and contending with Silver, Knuckles, and Sonic out of concern for Rouge, who was turned into a card while investigating Eggman.
- He discovers Eggman was being impersonated by Eggman Nega, and contributes to stopping him from turning the world into a card.
- He works with Eggman when the doctor cryptically warns him of the world being threatened by Eggman Nega's machinations with the Ifrit.
- After defeating the Ifrit, he is concerned for Metal Sonic when the robot tears himself open to extract the Chaos Emerald hidden in his body, taking the robot with him when warping out of the Ifrit's dimension.
Sonic Colors (DS)[]
- While indifferent to Sonic and Tails and denying it, he tests the former to ensure they are capable of saving the Wisps.
Sonic Generations[]
- Supports the two Sonics when they fight the Time Eater and then joins in the fun at Sonic's party despite not wanting to at first.
Sonic Forces[]
- He shows concern for Sonic when Infinite mentions using the power of the Phantom Ruby against him, even attempting to back him up.
- Saves Sonic from his Phantom Ruby replica.
- Aids in the final battle in the War To Take Back The Planet.
Team Sonic Racing[]
- He joins Dodon Pa's Grand Prix with Team Dark to determine his motives and allegiance.
- He helps the others in rescuing Dodon Pa when Eggman kidnaps him.
The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog[]
- Attended Amy's birthday and tried to get her tickets to her favorite band since he forgot to get her a present.
- Helped Sonic and everyone else to stop the Mirage Express from sending them to Eggman.
Shadow Generations[]
- While he wasn't at Sonic's birthday party like he promised Rouge, this was because he was busy with the start of Black Doom's invasion on the Ark. Additionally, after the Time Eater was stopped, he appears at the party fulfilling his promise to Rouge, albeit indirectly.
- He shows respect for the genius Tails is as he admits he had a hard time telling the difference between the real Chaos Emerald and the fake emerald the fox created.
- He saved Maria from the Black Arms.
- After reuniting with Maria and Gerald, he considered that he might be able to save them from their fates upon defeating Black Doom.
- He defeated the Biolizard (while releasing it from its suffering), Metal Overlord (potentially preventing him from getting to Sonic if he planned to) and Mephiles (who he doesn't remember).
- While he made Sonic take the fake Chaos Emerald, he allows Rouge to switch them without him noticing before he took on the Time Eater.
- While he does get angry after Black Doom said he learned from their last encounter, he quickly calms down once Maria was terrified.
- He defeated Black Doom for good.
- While he understandably didn't want Maria and Gerald to disappear, he accepted their fate and rushed to help Sonic after Maria told him they would meet again, even letting out a tear as he rushes off.
Comics[]
- After the Eggman War, he looks for Eggman to ensure he wasn't planning a retaliation following his defeat.
- While he tried to kill Eggman while he was amnesiac as Mr. Tinker, he relents when Sonic points out Shadow got a second chance to atone for his crimes and assessing Eggman was not an immediate threat.
- He helps in defeating Neo Metal Sonic when the robot takes over Angel Island, saving Knuckles and Sonic when the robot went super.
- He aids in the evacuation of Sunset City during the Metal Virus outbreak, getting transport for the survivors.
- In the aftermath of the Metal Virus, he pursues Eggman when he tries to get away, his pursuit stopped by Metal Sonic.
- After being hostile to Sonic and unsympathetic about his infection after his concerns of an amnesiac Eggman were proven, Shadow's respect for him is restored after being humbled from ignoring his advice about fighting the Metal Virus and continued searching for him when he went missing.
- Initially focusing on finding Eggman's whereabouts to seeking revenge on Doctor Starline, Shadow halts these objectives to take care of Clutch the Opossum out of disgust towards his treatment of Chao and, after persuasion from Rouge, help Sonic save White Park Chateau from Starline's avalanche, and makes amends with him.
- He aids in the attack on Eggperial City, teleporting the city away before it can detonate after Silver lifts his spirits.
Sonic Prime[]
- When seeing a premonition of Sonic shattering the Paradox Prism, he tried to prevent it from happening.
- At first refusing to let Sonic get the Prism Shards, he ultimately decides to trust him to go to the other Shatterverses when he can't enter them himself.
- While he constantly told Sonic to not trust Nine, this is understandable as Shadow likely saw through Nine's true intensions.
- He did his best to distract and hinder the Chaos Council.
- When realizing Nine was after the Prism Energy inside Sonic, he flings him out of the Grim to keep him out of the fox's reach.
- He helps the army of Shatterverse variants against Nine's army, grudgingly realizing that most of them were trustworthy.
- He saves Sonic just before he fades away after sacrificing his energy to the Paradox Prism.
- Once Green Hill is restored, he uses Chaos Control to warp the Paradox Prism out of Eggman's reach, preventing another catastrophe with the crystal.
What Makes Him Inconsistent?[]
- He is extremely arrogant, declaring himself the ‘Ultimate Lifeform’ and underestimating his opponents. This especially costed him in the IDW comics, where he fights the Zombots recklessly under the false belief his physiology made him immune to the Metal Virus and stubbornly refuses to withdraw to run off his infection as Sonic demonstrated.
- His enigmatic and confrontational tendencies have lead him to clash with others, notably Sonic, Knuckles, and Silver in Sonic Rivals 2, where he refused to explain his intentions and deemed them liabilities. In Dark Beginnings, he and Team Dark raided a GUN facility to acquire a space shuttle for him to get the ARK and investigate his suspicions of the Black Arms’ possible return, destroying millions of their assets; Commander Tower even stated he would have given Shadow aid if the latter just asked. In Sonic Prime, he attacks Sonic when suspecting him of endangering reality instead of talking the matter out.
- He can be a jerk very often; he hypocritically downgrades Knuckles for his failure to catch the disguised Eggman Nega, treated E-10000B and the other racers poorly during the Grand Prix as well as stealing the prizes with Rouge, acted very harsh towards Sonic for his indirect role in the Metal Virus (stopping Shadow from killing Eggman when he had amnesia), outright saying he deserves his infection, and after his fight with Mephiles in Shadow Generations, he straight up tells him that there will never be a future for him. While Mephiles, a Pure Evil, undoubtably cannot be allowed to exist anymore, Shadow on his part doesn't remember him, so this cannot be justified.
- He kills many members of the Jackal Squad, making a proud quip about it, and harshly humiliates their leader who ends up becoming Infinite. Even if Infinite had it coming since he had them throw their lot in with Eggman, this infamous moment makes him too lethal and ruthless.
- Additionally, he was more open to killing enemies in the comics, attempting to do so with Eggman, Starline, and Clutch. While Eggman's case is understandable given he caused many tragedies, with Espio even agreeing doing so in the first place would have prevented the Metal Virus outbreak, it's still too lethal; his reasons for Starline and Clutch were respectively vengeance for defeating him and unfounded suspicion of being affiliated with Eggman.
- He's arguably in the grey zone, as it's often hard to judge what his morality truly is; whether he is doing things with truly altruistic intent or if he is simply doing it to keep his promise to Maria (or a bit of both), making him too enigmatic. He also remarks that he has no interest in peace, merely disliking “fools” who think they can do whatever they want, be it Eggman or even Sonic. This is prominently shown in Sonic the Hedgehog’s 900th Adventure, where he selfishly deems the unstable Warp Topaz too dangerous to leave in Sonic’s hands and demands him to hand it over lest he take it by force rather than aid him.
Trivia[]
- Shadow is one of two mainline Sonic characters to be Inconsistently Admirable, the other character being Sage.
- Coincidentally, both him and Sage are also the only Sonic IAs to be Magnificent Baddies.
- He has had notable interactions with three Pure Evil villains: Black Doom, Mephiles, and Infinite, who play an influential role in his endeavors and vice versa.
- Sonic Adventure 2 was initially intended to be his only appearance but was brought back due to how popular he was. Had this been his only appearance, it's possible he would have recived a higher status.
External Links[]
- Shadow the Hedgehog on the Sonic Wiki
- Shadow the Hedgehog on the Heroes Wiki
- Shadow the Hedgehog on the Villains Wiki
- Shadow the Hedgehog on the Guile Heroes Wiki
- Shadow the Hedgehog on the Magnificent Baddie Wiki
- Shadow the Hedgehog on the Villainous Benchmark Wiki
- Shadow the Hedgehog on the Shonen Rivals Wiki
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