Shadow the Hedgehog is arguably one of the most popular characters in the Sonic franchise.
First created in 2001, he would appear as an antagonist in Sonic Adventure 2, and due
to popularity, return in not only in later Sonic Sega titles, but also in Sonic animated
shows, comics, you name it.
He's since become a staple of the franchise alongside Tails, Amy Rose and Knuckles.
But unlike the rest of the supporting cast, he has a bit of a dark past and a complex
history that goes beyond the squeaky clean image of some of the other Sonic characters.
So today, we're taking a closer look at the villain turned anti-hero with our list of
the top 10 scary shadow the hedgehog facts.
10.
He was created to cure a disease Let's start off our list with an obvious fact.
Shadow was literally created to cure diseases - or at least, as far as Gerald Robotnik is
concerned, to find a cure for the disease his granddaughter Maria Robotnik.
It's what his whole origin story revolves around, and it's something we'll get more
into detail on as we continue our list.
But essentially, Shadow was a byproduct of those experiments, and turned out, he wasn't
the answer Gerald Robotnik was hoping for.
Maria would eventually die, but not from her disease - it's something that at least Shadow
can't blame himself for.
Since there's arguably a whole lot of other details from his origin story that he can.
But more on that in a sec.
9 His Purpose Shadow was created as part of something called
Project Shadow - a series of experiments done by Gerald Robotnik when working with the DNA
of Black Doom, the oldest living member of an inset-like hive species.
Shadow was a product of those experiments, making him an accident, so to speak - he want
meant to be something to be used to cure illnesses, but instead is a fully sentient creation with
thoughts, ideas and very strong opinions of his own.
It's why he's always so conflicted about who he is - he was created for a purpose that,
past Sonic Adventure 2, no longer matters.
So what is he?
Theoretically, it's pretty tragic.
8 How is he a hedgehog?
One curious thing about Shadow is how exactly he is what he is - a mobian Hedgehog.
For starters, let's consider this - the ARK space station he was created on is filled
with humans.
The DNA of Black Doom is alien.
So how on Earth did he end up coming out hedgehog?
One theory suggests that hedgehog DNA was also used, since in the Sonic universe, it's
proven that hedgehogs are able to channel chaos energy - something humans can't do,
based on the fact that we've never seen humans like Robotnik use them - he only uses them
in his machines.
7 He's Morally Ambiguous Originally, Shadow the Hedgehog was only supposed
to be the antagonist in Sonic Adventure 2.
That changed, with the character getting a whole lot of positive feedback from fans - so
much so that Sega decided to bring him back, eventually leading to his very own spin off
video game, Shadow the Hedgehog.
While the game received a whole lot of criticism - a bit more on that later - it also did something
interesting with the anti-hero character.
It painted Shadow as morally ambiguous when he's approached by Black Doom and his army
of aliens, Black Arms, who want the hedgehog's help to take over the world and collect the
chaos emeralds.
Shadow thinks collecting the emeralds will help him better understand who he is.
So throughout the game, you can choose to help the villains invading, Doctor Eggman,
or just go for the emeralds yourself, making Shadow morally ambiguous, or at least, gives
the players the options to choose what kind of hedgehog he really is.
That leads into our next point-
6 He has Killed Sort of.
There's multiple different endings in the Shadow the Hedgehog video game.
One of which, when Shadow has collected all of the chaos emeralds, he ends up killing
Eggman.
While Eggman's death is off screen - Shadow says goodbye to the villain and the cut scene
cuts to black - the character has it in him to kill.
Which shouldn't be much of a surprise there.
Absolute power corrupts absolutely.
And in the Sonic universe, there's not many other things that are more powerful than the
Chaos Emeralds collected together.
5 Shadow's got a gun What's worse than a homicidal hedgehog geared
towards younger demographics of gamers?
How about one who wants to be super edgy and wields guns!
Shadows own solo video game title has been largely criticized - and mocked - for just
how hard it tried to make Shadow come across as gritty and dark.
This included having a series first - Shadow wielding guns.
And also swearing.
It's the only game in the Sonic franchise to feature both of those things.
Weird, right?
Naturally, this turned into a meme, and ever since, no one aside from committed Sonic fans
has taken Shadow seriously.
4 Shadow's Age Most of the Sonic characters are quite young
in age.
According to Sega, Sonic the Hedgehog is 15 years old.
Amy Rose is 12 (although when she first debuted, she was 8, which was changed when she later
appeared in Sonic Adventure.)
And Tails?
He's 8 himself.
If a 15 year old hanging out with an 8 year old wasn't slightly odd to you, perhaps Shadow's
age may weird you out more - he's 50.
While some believe it's canon that he's 15, the same age as Sonic, from the time in which
he was created to the present day timing in Sonic games, he's roughly 50 years old.
3 Shadow Shrek Ship Hey you know what's scary?
Shadow being in a relationship with Shrek.
Sounds like a horrible joke, right?
Nah, it's a meme.
It all started when in January of 2010, an image was uploaded to DeviantArt by a user
named Cmara that depicted Shrek and Shadow engaging in an emotional moment.
This spawned more fan art featuring the ship, including a video called SFM Buttlicker, in
which their relationship got a video treatment.
There's even a piece of fan art in which Shadow likes Shrek's moob.
So there you have it.
You're welcome.
2 Shadow Fan Art Some of the most prominent and popular Shadow
fan art features him as various parts of a men's washroom.
Like, I wish I was shitting you.
Pun surprisingly not intended there.
Here we have Shadow as a urinal.
And here, we have Shadow as the upper part of a toilet, with Sonic's face being the toilet
seat.
Don't ask how that's possible.
Suspend your disbelief.
Look into the void.
Face the dark truth of existence - that someone, somewhere, came up with the idea to do this,
took the time out of their day to draw it, and then uploaded it online.
Someone DID THAT.
1.
Maria Robotnik Perhaps the darkest fact about Shadow the
Hedgehog is his history with Maria Robotnik, the granddaughter of Gerald Robotnik.
Gerald created Shadow as the ultimate life form in an attempt to find a cure for fatal
illnesses, like the one his daughter had.
Shadow was incredibly close to Maria.
Shadow was put into stasis by the government who believed he was a threat to humanity.
But before this happened, Shadow's last moments with Maria were tragic, to say the least.
Maria, who could not leave the ARK space station due to her illness, tried to stop the Guardian
Units of Nations, who worked for the government, from taking Shadow away.
Because of her attempt to help Shadow get away, she ended up being killed by the GUN,
shot and murdered.
We never see it occur on screen though, and even in the Sonic X animated series, there
was a bit of confusion pertaining to how exactly Maria met her end.
Regardless, Maria's death is the reason why Shadow wants to take revenge on humanity.
There we have it friends!
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