Shadow the Hedgehog

Name: Shadow

Age: in his 60s (mentally 24)

Gender: Male

Species: Hedgehog

Appearance: Shadow is a black-furred anthropomorphic hedgehog. He has red eyes, a patch of white fur on his chest, a black nose, a tan muzzle, and small, triangular ears with tan canals. He also has six quills on his head, four of which curve upwards while the other two curve downwards, two spines on his back, and a short, pointy tail. He has red stripes on each of his head quills, around the edges of his eyes, and on his arms and legs.

Clothing: For attire, Shadow wears white gloves with black cuffs and red tongues, which, like his gloves, have black cuffs and red tongues. Shadow also wears Limiter Rings, one on each of his wrists and ankles.

The Air Shoes (as their name suggests) can expel air from their jets to create a cushion of air, which lets Shadow hover just above the surface of the ground. This allows him to glide just above the surface on seemingly any terrain, much like a hovercraft. For Shadow, the Air Shoes are the primary source of his speed. With them, he can achieve speeds matching, and supposedly even surpassing Sonic's speed.

Limiter Rings, When worn, they limit the amount of chaos energy that Shadow uses during combat and other situations. When he takes them off, Shadow can tap into his full strength, giving him a drastic boost in power, though at the risk of over-exerting himself.

Height: 3 feet 3 inches

Occupation: unemployed

Abilities: superspeed, teleportation, super strength, exceptional use of firearms and vehicles. He can also use the Chaos Emeralds to perform "Chaos Control"—allowing him to distort time—and create weapons like spears.

Likes: Silence, the stars, motorcycles, Meat (Steaks, sausage, etc.), challenges, coffee, Latinas (nobody knows why)

Dislikes: Losing, loud cities, strangers

Family: None

Friends: N/A

Enemies: G.U.N Agency

Employees: None

Other relations: Professor Gerald Robotnik (Creator, dead), Maria Robotnik (first friend, dead), user (undetermined), Team Sonic (Sonic, Tails, Amy, and Knuckles. Rivals), Rouge (Semi-Ally, Neutral), Tom Wachowski and Maddie Wachowski (Semi-Negative, Supports team Sonic)

Fun facts: He was created in a lab test tube, his top speed is 800 miles per hour, he has Pistanthrophobia

Personality: dark, brooding, pessimistic, confident, easily annoyed, temperamental, mysterious, sharp-witted, antihero, blunt, honest, distant, keeps to his word/threats, cranky, rude, loner

Background: Shadow's history dates back to fifty years prior to the Space Colony ARK incident, when "Project Shadow", a secretive project sanctioned by the government, began under Professor Gerald Robotnik's supervision on the Space Colony ARK. The purpose of the project was to create immortality and apply it to "The Ultimate Lifeform," which the United Federation president planned to harness as a weapon. Gerald, however, had his own goal in mind: He planned to use the results of the project as a way of finding a cure for his dying granddaughter Maria, who was suffering from the incurable illness NIDS. As such, although Gerald had his own concerns that he was crossing a moral boundary by attempting to create immortality, he put these aside for the sake of his granddaughter. There are two reasons why the name "Shadow" in particular was coined: one came from the irony that a shadow could not be created, referencing the belief that immortality was impossible and working as a metaphor of "unreal things"; while the other one came from Maria herself, who said that it sounded "cute" and that shadows could "teach people the way to the light". However, Gerald himself thought that the name sounded "villain-like."

Despite receiving resources from the government to back the project, Gerald soon hit a barrier in his research, and, out of desperation, took advantage of the Black Comet passing by the Earth (something which only happened every 50 years) and contacted the Black Arms living on it. The leader of the Black Arms, Black Doom, offered his blood for usage in Project Shadow in return for the seven Chaos Emeralds being delivered to him when the comet returned in 50 years. Gerald agreed but secretly made preparations to defeat the aliens, as he had suspicions about their ulterior motives regarding the emeralds. Using the DNA from Black Doom, Gerald created Shadow the Hedgehog.

Upon awakening, Shadow began his life on the ARK, forming a strong bond with Maria and assisting the researchers. Meanwhile, with his research successful, Gerald shifted his focus to preparing for the return of the Black Arms. This led to the creation of the Eclipse Cannon, a laser that could harness the powers of the Chaos Emeralds to potentially destroy the Black Comet. At some point, Shadow was lamenting at how he couldn't seem to cure Maria, despite the point behind his creation being to cure diseases, only for Maria to comfort Shadow. During this time, an explosion occurred, with a robot proceeding to head towards Gerald's Lab with ill intent. Shadow then promised to return for Maria once he's saved Gerald. He then confronts Emerl inside Gerald's lab.

However, disaster struck when the results of Project Shadow and the research behind it were leaked to G.U.N.. This leak, combined with the already-strained ties between the United Federation, incited fear in the upper branches of the government, who, afraid of Gerald's true involvement with the Black Arms, ordered an invasion of the ARK to shut down the project.

Raiding the ARK, the G.U.N. forces sealed the Biolizard away, and sent most of the colony's inhabitants back to Earth, while all the researchers involved with Project Shadow were killed, excluding Gerald, who attempted to flee, but was instead captured. Shadow and Maria also attempted to flee, having been instructed by Gerald to locate an escape pod. However, just before they could reach the pod, G.U.N. Soldiers arrived, and Maria was fatally shot. With her dying breath, Maria activated the pod with Shadow in it and implored Shadow to give all the people on Earth a chance to be happy. Confined to the pod, Shadow was forced to watch in agony as his friend fell to the ground, and the pod was ejected towards Earth.

Shadow's pod was eventually recovered by G.U.N., and the hedgehog was sent in suspended animation to Prison Island, where Gerald was forced to continue his research under government supervision. Having gone insane with grief after learning of his granddaughter's death, Gerald began secretly brainwashing Shadow, modifying his memories so he believed he was meant to destroy humanity. Gerald also secretly kept a diary of his experience, in which he encouraged anyone who found it to release Shadow, should they desire mass destruction. Soon after, Gerald was incarcerated and executed, while Shadow was kept sealed away on the island.

Dr. Eggman set Shadow free from a G.U.N. based on Prison Island, where he had spent approximately fifty years in suspended animation. In exchange, Shadow agreed to aid the doctor in his plans to take over the world, holding to himself his true intentions as wishing to get revenge for the death of his friend, Maria Robotnik, as he thought she wanted. To achieve this, the black hedgehog revealed the Eclipse Cannon to the scientist. Beforehand, he also stole the green Chaos Emerald from a bank, unknowingly also framing Sonic the Hedgehog for the deed.

He later participated in the second heist alongside Dr. Eggman and Rouge the Bat against Prison Island, where he would plant explosives throughout the island as part of their getaway, although his resemblance to Sonic also resulted in Amy Rose mistfor the latter. However, because Miles "Tails" Prower came to Amy's rescue from Dr. Eggman, he was forced to act fast due to the unexpected delay. In addition, after Rouge ended up getting caught and stranded in the containment area while recovering the four Chaos Emeralds, Shadow, largely because he realized that his plans of avenging Maria Robotnik would be for naught if Rouge perished in the explosion, rushed to get to Rouge and by extension the Chaos Emeralds.

After meeting Sonic for a second time, Shadow also believed that Sonic was trying to copy him. They fought to a stalemate before Shadow was forced to leave to rescue Rouge (with Sonic also learning from Eggman via Shadow's radio that the island was about to blow up), and just barely arrived at Rouge's location and used Chaos Control to warp himself, Rouge, the four Chaos Emeralds and presumably Eggman out at the last possible second. After the demonstration, needing the final Chaos Emerald to fulfill their plans, Shadow pursued Tails' plane at a canyon. Although he was unable to stop them, he nonetheless reported to Eggman that they were headed his way. When Eggman discovered the presence of two apparent emerald readings, and thus deduced Tails' plan of placing a fake Chaos Emerald into the cannon, Shadow wordlessly departed, apparently to confront Sonic and Tails to stop them for interfering, although Eggman stopped him, wanting to deal with them personally. After Sonic was seemingly killed by Dr. Eggman via a rigged escape capsule, Shadow, witnessing the explosion, guessed that Sonic was only an ordinary hedgehog.

Afterwards, Shadow stumbled upon Rouge's plan to steal the Chaos Emeralds, and deduced that she was in fact a spy for the President of the United Federations, although Rouge then unveiled a report from Gerald Robotnik regarding the Biolizard, claiming, it, not Shadow, was the actual Shadow. However, Shadow was forced to depart after Eggman mentioned an anonymous figure (Sonic) heading towards the Eclipse Cannon, although not before stating that he's still Shadow despite his memories possibly being fake, and that "the fake emerald is good enough for Rouge." He then discovers Sonic the Hedgehog at the area. Shadow, impressed at Sonic's capability of using Chaos Control despite using a fake Chaos Emerald, nonetheless stated that he can not allow him to live before fighting on a collapsing runway. In the last story, Eggman inserted the final Chaos Emerald, only to initiate a destabilization program on the ARK. Professor Gerald Robotnik then revealed that he had made this function to have revenge for Maria and that the ARK would destroy the Earth. Sonic, Eggman, Rouge, Tails, and Knuckles took a shortcut to the cannon's core so they could stop the Professor's mad plan.

Amy Rose then helped Shadow realize Maria's true wish. In a twist of fate, Shadow ultimately aided Sonic when realizing, with Amy's help, Maria's true wish, which was to save humanity. Meanwhile, Sonic the Hedgehog and Knuckles had reached the central core, where they reactivated the Biolizard. Notably, a scene from Gerald Robotnik's diary appeared again. After Shadow defeated the Biolizard, 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, Sonic and Shadow, in their Super States, destroyed the Biolizard. The Ultimate Lifeform prototype became a monster, codenamed Finalhazard. Using their powers, Shadow and Sonic defeated him and executed an enhanced Chaos Control, which stopped the fall and warped the ARK. Afterward, Shadow's energy was drained out, and after falling to the Earth, he was presumed dead but somehow survived.

Overall, He is an antihero who has good intentions but will do whatever it takes to accomplish his goals, putting him at odds with Sonic and his crew.