Shadow, Shadow the Hedgehog.

Man, how I love this character.

What's not to like about him? He brought depth to a series that was already doing well. He was the next big thing, and they didn't ruin him. It really comes across to me that Sonic team was making the game with their heart. It's just they had way too short of deadlines and had to much stuff to do. That's why 06 sucks, and Shadow the Hedgehog has issues. (Still more fun that Heroes though to some people.)

But what about his first appearance in Sonic Adventure 2. Yeah, remember what Shadow was in that game? A new, mysterious anti hero, with a dark past that really. . . well, maybe not justifying his actions. . .but sure making them understandable.

People are so evil.


But anyways. At the end of the game. Shadow regains his memories after Amy begs him to do something about the falling space colony.

And we just accept the fact that Shadow had amnesia, but Amy gave him back his full memories.

And hey, I believed this too. And it still is fairly likely too. but what if. . . .



Shadow remembered all along?

What if Shadow the Hedgehog DID remember Maria's wish, but couldn't bring himself to do what Maria wanted, and so he blotted her pleadings out?

Don't believe me?

Check out some of the Lyrics from. "Rhythm and Balance."

http://sonic.wikia.com/wiki/Rhythm_And_Balance


Summary, in this song, Shadow is running through White Jungle, aka Prison Island. And he's gotta get to Rouge so that he can save her.

In the song, you might not know it at first, but there are lyrics. Some of them are quite interesting. . . .


. . .


Oh yeah, hurry through the island's calling

I'm not scared at all

Are you scared of something?

Oh yeah, hurry through, the island's calling

I don't mind these walls or any obstacles

Oh yeah, hurry through, the island's calling

I'm not scared at all

And I don't wanna hear you


Okay, starting off pretty normal here, but let's continue, here's where things get interesting. . .


I don't wanna hear you


Shadow, don't make me upset

I don't wanna hear you

Shadow, don't make me upset

You are hiding something



I don't wanna hear you? Who's he talking to? What's he talking about? One thing I would like to point out is the character of this song. It's dark, and very quite. The lyrics are difficult to make out and are partially distorted.

Could it be. . .


That this is some metal battle Shadow is having?


The song tells more. With verses like. "Shadow don't make me upset." And "Shadow don't make me sad." (I know the wiki says "don't make me upset" twice, but I swear the second time I hear "don't make me sad.")


Who would Shadow make upset?

Who does he not want to hear?

Eggman?

I don't think Eggman is significant enough to Shadow in order to place him in a blurry song that seems to tip off at some sort of mental conversation.

I would say that it's Maria. After all, she's the only person Shadow wouldn't want to make upset really. (He doesn't care about anyone else).

And the final line.

"You are hiding something."

Is where I really starts to come together.

Who is hiding something?

Is Shadow the person who's "hiding something?" Or is it someone else whom Shadow thinks is hiding something.

What if Shadow is hiding something from Maria? What if this is his conscious attacking him for not remembering Maria's wish? And even tells him that he's hiding something.

. . .

What if Shadow is hiding something from himself?

Shadow cannot believe that Maria would ask him to do this, and forgive the people of the United Federation. He has to have revenge and make them pay for the horrible things that they did to the only people whom he could call family.

However, unable to cope with the truth. To bear Maria's desire, his brain locks the information away, and subconsciously Shadow steeps it off.

It's like the song says. "I don't wanna hear ya."

Shadow will not believe or listen to the selfless prayer of forgiveness by his surrogate sister Maria Robotnik.

So he locks it away and doesn't truly remember it until Amy begs him on board the ARK and he finally let's go and his subconscious opens up.


And that's the end of this theory.

Well, go ahead and place feedback and stuff down below. Also, I'd like to open up a new fangroup on this site called WhyBytes. The fantheory group of Vizzed which wishes to look beyond where casual players will throw and keep moving. Discovering and discussing all the awesome theories about various video games!

Post below and tell me if you want to be a part of this group, and if you want summoned to new theories!


------- Summoning my friends.

Gamin'Gal:
paper luigi :
A user of this :
sonicthehedgehog57 :
Mecha Leo :
solidx123456 :
yoshirulez! :
Zlinqz:
bombchu link :

JOIN ME IN GAME THEORIES!!!

That...Is brilliant! Honestly I never read the lyrics to most songs in SA2. Maybe he was subconsciously trying to repress his memories, because destroying the humans was easier than to forgive them. But, ultimately, "Farewell to shadow, hello to light"....Only to go through that same character development in Shadow the Hedgehog.

I'd love to be summoned to more theories!

A user of this :

Great, I'll throw you on the list.

Listening to Shadow's theme right now. . .

Oh man. . . . it's so dark once you get to the lyrics.


Yeah, I'll keep you on that list. ^^ try to at least get one thread out a month. (It's about time we got more threads like this on Vizzed)

You know how you just said, "Farewell to the shadow, hello to the light?"

Well, the song "Supporting me." Has a fairly similar line to that. (As does "Throw it all away".)


Thanks for your support.

And yeah, I do think that he was subconsciously putting those memories away. The song I posted above sure says it. And hey, did you know that the song. "Rhythm and Balance" Was used in the Shadow battle for Sonic Generations?

That certainly says a lot. . .

I'm all for a shadow the hedgehog 2, personally. Bring it on. The world is ready.

Wow. Wow. That really does make a lot of sense, and I realized where you were going to go the moment I read 'I don't want to hear you.' I never really thought about reading into song lyrics like that, though you'd think I would.
It fits into his whole motive of revenge very well. He's so angry and unstable after Maria's death that he doesn't WANT to heed her wishes about forgiveness. He wants to hurt the people who killed her so badly that he blocks out Maria's true wish.
Brilliant.

Sword legion : I was referencing "Supporting Me" there. I also didn't know that one. I really should start Generations again. Anyways, I love it when developers put in subtle things like this into their games.

Wow this is awesome! While I personally cannot stand the game Shadow The Hedgehog mostly just because of how boring it is to me, I never hated the character himself. While Shadow himself is incredibly unoriginal, for what he his I do think he is good. I like the Shadow in Adventure 2 the most, in STH I couldn't take it very seriously just because the animation and voice acting were just atrocious. But Sonic Adventure 1 and 2 did the more darker tones in Sonic games almost perfectly while still keeping the Sonic charm unlike Shadow and Sonic 06 which I found try way to hard to be dark. But yeah Shadow is the anti-hero and I don't see why he gets so much hate. Like I said he is unoriginal but every video game has some type of anti-hero so I don't see why they don't get hate and Shadow does. Plus this theory that I am pretty sure is 98% correct, just proves that Shadow does have depth and isn't just some copy and paste character that Sega made up and he does have a reason for being in the Sonic games. Also I'll totally be part of the group and yes would like to be summoned for more theories.

solidx123456 :

Thank you my compliant friend!

The fact that this thread has gotten as many responses as it has is most uplifting! I shall continue down this road as much as I may, so long as it get's the proper feed from other members of the fanbase.

I thought that Shadow was different enough. (And a lot better really) from other anti heroes to be considered worthy, even if he has a few things that are similar to others. I hope that Shadow comes back in the the series. (Which he already has in Sonic Runners. . . with a repossessed form. . . )


A user of this :

Ah, so you were referencing it, very good. Generations is an amazing game with an amazing mod community. (I will admit to enjoying boosting through City Escape as Mephiles and screaming out "DROWN IN DARKNESS!!!!" thanks to those mods.)

(Sorry, I think Mephiles. . . was really cool.)

I love it too when developers do this. I strive for it all in my own work as well. It's so great when your favorite franchise does everything perfectly.

Certainly gives us something awesome to talk about!


Gamin'Gal :

Thank you. Always appreciated. ^^' I hope you enjoy more theories as they are posted.


Ziliqx:

YOU MUST REAADDDD!!!

Sword legion : Yeah, Sonic the Hedgehog had an amazing lore, very in-depth whether in the comics or TV-shows (well other than the very first one, you know what I'm talking about), and the games around that time had a great way of connecting, like Sonic Battle connecting to the Sonic Advance series and then to Dark Brotherhood (an RPG based on Sonic which was pretty awesome).

And then we have Lost World and Boom

Well lyrics of songs usually do mean some significance in their games, so it's good to go over them a lot. Maybe like the Metal Gear series for instance.

Your theory =

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3ALwKeSEYs

You told me like a month ago, but it's still nice to see it on paper finally.

E: video embedding is ev1l 2 m3

I think this theory is very well thought out. I never thought that Shadow could've been ignoring Maria's wish that whole time, but after reading this thread, I think you may actually be right. I think you did a really good job with this thread.

OBJECTION!

Using a WIKI for a source? Not always 100% right, but if you're sure it's true, I really can't knock it. Not that I really remember SA2 at all anyways.

The other things, it's pretty well thought out for a theory.
I have something to add though. After being awaken or what ever by Eggman, he's already a bit confused. But, he tells Eggman that he'll grant him one wish for a chaos emerald. What if he did that so he wouldn't be conflicted about what's already going on in his mind?

Or..... in a funnier twist, he's arguing with a Sega employee about him being a anti-hero instead of a full on villain. Unlikely, but be pretty funny.


Also, you got such a kewl group name, that I'll join even if these topics weren't interesting.