Important Shadow moment #873 - In Sonic 06 when Shadow is confronting Mephiles and says "I determine my own destiny." I was honestly screaming because I was so proud of his character development. After being used so much, he is finally free to do what he thinks is right and refuses to be taken advantage of
DUDE YES.
Like Sonic ‘06 was the first Sonic game I played, so a lot of that stuff didn’t really gain significance for me until later. But now that I have the context it’s like?? my S ON
Bc that is the first game he’s really had a choice about what he wants to do. And he’s doing well for himself, working for GUN, working with Rouge, he seems to have found his place in the world and has somewhat made his peace with humanity, and then along comes Mephiles, trying to tap back into his fears of being controlled. Like when he shows him the stasis pod containing future Shadow - that was meant to be a serious blow, because Shadow has been used so often that he’s determined to never be used again, and then he sees himself, once again locked away in a situation he never chose:
And he is clearly very disturbed by this. This is something he thought he broke away from, only to find out that in the uncomfortably near future, his life is going to be out of his own control once more. You can see how shocked and upset he is by this.
Mephiles knows what he’s doing. He thinks he’s got Shadow right where he wants him, and offers him something that we know Shadow has been chasing for a good portion of his storyline through the games thus far:
Shadow’s response?
He’s gotten very good, by this point, at realizing whensomeone is trying to manipulate him. And he recognizes that same smugness inMephiles. So no matter how scared he is of his fate in that stasis pod, he’snot going to work with Mephiles. Because working with Mephiles means workingfor Mephiles, becoming his pawn.
But just because he’s refused Mephiles doesn’t mean he’sokay. During the rest of his story you can see him start brushing off help fromRouge, running out to fight alone while leaving her to do the research back inrelative safety. He’s starting to retreat again. He doesn’t want to trust. And itonly furthers this feeling of isolation when he discovers that in the future,Omega is the one to defeat him and seal him away - someone he thought he couldtrust.
So then Rouge chimes in with a quote that legit makes mewant to cry:
What does Shadow hear?
“I care about you. I careabout your freedom. I don’t care what everyone else thinks - I will fight the entire world before I let them control you again. You can trust me.”
And guess who he has with him from then on, until the very end of the game?
Shadow’s story in this game is honestly about learning totrust again. About what it means to gain your freedom only to have it threatenedagain, and about learning that in a situation like that you don’t have to go italone. He has friends he can rely on, and rely on them he does.
And all of this leads to his defining quote from that game:
Shadow. Will not. Be controlled. Again.
It honestly makes me sad that ’06 was erased from thetimeline in the end, because it contains such important character development forShadow, and relationship development for him and Rouge.
‘06′s portrayal of Shadow is one of the very, very few things I will honestly give this game.
