alright, I'm gonna talk about shadow the hedgehog in SEGA's current timeline and that's the shadow that doesn't have friends (yeah, not even rouge and omega) and doesn't want them. he's cold-hearted and acts in his own self-interest.

we're gonna try to make it make sense.

to make it make sense, we'll eventually have to willingly leave behind SA2 for good. I know many HATE doing that bc shadow's arc in that game has perfect character introduction, progression, and conclusion out of any character in this series...

but we gotta.

that said, replay SA2 in your head. I want us to remember one detail from SA2 before we continue bc it's important:

shadow is an artificial life form whose mind is independent, but it can be influenced. in this case, it was influenced by gerald and maria robotnik.

we've now beaten the game so we're going to leave behind the events of SA2 for now and jump to Heroes.

Heroes starts with getting the ball rolling on what will come to be the shadow we see today... and that ball is the amnesia.

shadow's memories of SA2 are kept vague in Heroes and we won't learn the full state of his memories until ShtH, but we do learn a couple new things:

> shadow was found by dr. eggman
> shadow has some of his memory
> he can coordinate with rouge and omega
> these scenes:

I'll bring those points up later, but bc Heroes isn't a complex story or a deep dive into any lone character, we can just move onto ShtH... the game changer lol

so Heroes ended with the idea of shadow potentially being an android, but ShtH immediately throws a twist: aliens

ShtH also throws us 326 paths we can play through which means the shadow you think is the right one might not be the right one. what giving shadow dark, neutral, and hero paths even means is up to interpretation but for the sake of explaining SEGA's current portrayal of shadow,

we're going to decide a couple things:

1. these paths are designed to show that you, the player, are acting in your own self-interest and that reflects shadow's own self-interest. he's doing what he wants as long as it benefits him in the end. it's what drives his character.

2. there's metaphorical angels and devils on his shoulders.

we're gonna focus on the second point tho bc it all ties back to those scenes in Heroes and that one detail I wanted us to remember from SA2—"shadow's mind can be influenced."

what's important to note is that at this point, we're about to leave SA2 behind entirely.

in ShtH, shadow is spoon-fed the memories of his creation and the ARK from 50 yrs ago. any potential relationships he developed DURING the events of SA2 aren't mentioned. that could mean

what he remembers of SA2 never returned.

the memories of 50 yrs ago that were spoon-fed to him by black doom and video footage could mean how he FELT about gerald and maria also never returned. all of what he saw of his past in ShtH was like watching his life from a film stock,

but not emotionally connecting with any of it. maria was hyped a lot bc her words held influence over shadow in SA2, but what his relationship with maria actually was surprisingly doesn't matter that much in SEGA's current timeline.

what matters is that she was just one out of the many angels and devils posting on his shoulders. basically, SA2's events are irrelevant to present-day shadow and the takeaway should just be "shadow is an artificial life form created 50 yrs ago."

it sucks.

but we're moving on.

from Heroes up until the end of ShtH, shadow's been chasing the bait on multiple hooks. unfortunately, the bait he began chasing first in his amnesiac state was dr. eggman's...

that brings us to those previously mentioned scenes from Heroes.

why they're important is bc during Heroes, he doesn't have the self-assurance he had in SA2. shadow is in a vulnerable position at this point, meaning he can easily be mentally swayed.

we learn eggman had found the original shadow and planned to use him for his personal gain.

metal sonic (posing as eggman throughout most of Heroes) also proceeded to use shadow for his personal gain. alongside shadow during all this is rouge and omega who have their own agendas. he's forced into a team bc all their motives would reach the same goal: finding eggman.

then that same sense of manipulation and peer pressure is littered all throughout ShtH. everyone in that game is trying to get him to do what they want and given shadow's constant aggravation and confusion, he's not having ANY of it anymore by the end.

so what does he do? he 'Throw(s) It All Away' and 'Never Turn(s) Back'. (that was corny and terrible, I'm sorry haha)

"but dmo, the next game that would explore shadow's character is 06. he appears to be friends with rouge and omega so it doesn't make sense for SEGA to say he currently isn't friends with them. he's self-assured in 06, too, so it doesn't make sense for him to be careless now."

06 is a complicated bag to sift through. it introduces actual time travel in the series and once you start adding time travel elements to stories? it'll rarely makes total sense.

so what of 06? well, it did and didn't happen.

what did happen? blaze crossing dimensions and basically being reborn into a new one. that took place before the events of 06 reset so that moment didn't change. her body and spirit was gone from sonic's dimension and it couldn't reset her.

what didn't happen? rouge's mission and shadow being called onto that mission, meaning that newfound growth in his relationships didn't happen; meaning his knowledge of a timeline where humanity seals him away and he gains a newfound self-assurance didn't happen.

so where does that leave him? well, we're back to where he left off in ShtH: aggravated. he withdrew and continued to move on his own self-interest. it left him disconnected from rouge and omega. on good days, they're allies. on bad days, they're nobodies.

this is under the assumption they don't communicate outside of crucial missions. he never got those rare moments with them so are they his friends as of right now? no. can they reach that point again in the future? yeah. will SEGA write a game that redevelops their friendship?

so bc he doesn't have those connections anymore, he's been simmering in resentment. his entire life thus far since "reviving" is that people want to use him. the events of SA2 and his feelings about 50 yrs ago are gone, so all he's carrying with him is knowing that he was used.

that's why shadow be acting like he does. he's sick of the distrust he's experienced and the way words were used to move him around like a chess piece on a board. not everyone INTENDED that but bc nothing positive came from being "revived", all he could rely on was himself.

and that's my ridiculously long thread on a shadow that doesn't have close bonds and acts recklessly bc of it, presumably SEGA's current shadow.

thanks for reading.

just wanna add one more food for thought regarding shadow’s memories since people are confused.

how emotionally connected are YOU to SA2?

now how emotionally connected do you think SHADOW is to his past? bc in this timeline, I would say, “not that much.” https://twitter.com/swishbuzzroar/status/1276391993023889408?s=21 https://twitter.com/swishbuzzroar/status/1276391993023889408

https://twitter.com/swishbuzzroar/status/1276556172368248832?s=21 https://twitter.com/swishbuzzroar/status/1276556172368248832

https://twitter.com/swishbuzzroar/status/1276559522434289672?s=21 https://twitter.com/swishbuzzroar/status/1276559522434289672

btw, not saying shadow doesn't work with rouge and omega from time to time. please read between the lines, learn the meaning of nuance, and understand twitter has a character limit. I'm just laying a foundation with this thread, not trying to go into excruciating detail!!

develop the shadow YOU want. the ~beauty~ of sonic games is their ambiguity lol I'm simply developing the shadow SEGA brought back post-SA2. it's fun for me to bring method to their madness, but I'm aware they could do better. they're not free from criticism.

lastly, I said "his memories of SA2 and 50 yrs ago never returned/are gone" and I feel I should clarify that I know they haven't disappeared. I know he knows what happened. my point is to emphasize his emotional connection to those memories is debatable.

okay, done haha