any advice to write Silver or Shadow?? Shadow it's the most difficult for me to write D:
Disclaimer: I am not a professional writer, but I wrote this with the few fanfiction experiences that I have as well that all of this is based off MY interpretation of Shadowâs character.
I am not going to lie Shadow the Hedgehog is hard to write. Mostly because you wonât have much canon content to work with. Or at least, thereâs not canon content that portrays the REAL Shadow the Hedgehog (Besides Sonic 06 and SA2). If you are going to write Shadow then you are going to write it solely based on character interpretation mostly. Thereâs something I most say, there is a CONNECTION between Shadow and Silver (Thereâs a connection with Sonic as well, but we wonât talk about that right now). If you think these two hedgehogs are nothing alike ⊠then let me tell you, they are actually very similarly written. Â
Before we go into writing tips, itâs important to analyze the character at hand.
Letâs shortly analyze the character.
Alright, letâs talk about Shadow the Hedgehog
      Shadowâs character has constantly been mis-written throughout the years. Even in the recent IDW Sonic comics, the current writer didnât do his character justice. The best interpretation that we have of his character is in Sonic 06. (SEGA may have failed to write a coherent plot story but they did great in Shadowâs character and portraying Silverâs character, but will talk about later) Thereâs a lot into Shadowâs character but to make things simple, Iâll say that there are 3 main traits that make up Shadowâs character (And a few other sub-traits that donât show up often as well but they are there). First off, Letâs get rid of the idea that Shadow is an âedgyâ character. He is not.
So, if Shadow is not edgy? Who is Shadow the Hedgehog? Shadow is this âŠ
1.   Determined. This may seem as a simple asset, but it really it is not. The Shadow that we see in Sonic 06 is not the same Shadow from SA2 or Shadow the Hedgehogâs game. After all the turmoil he went through, Shadow still wants to save the world and play an anti-hero character ⊠But, why? After his tragic and complicated past ⊠Wouldnât he want to disappear and live a peaceful life? Why doesnât he want to? Simple ⊠He cares for others. (We will talk about this into more detail later) He cares for the world and the friends he made. He cares for Team Dark. He wants to keep saving the world because HE WANTS TO. Not because of a promise, not because of Maria, not because he was created to protect earth. In Shadowâs game, it was shown clearly that Shadow let go of his past and was born a new. If thereâs something we all can agree on is that Shadow is the depiction of âDeterminationâ because even when the whole world is against him, he will still fight. Â
If you are going to write his character, then this is an asset you for sure need to include and keep in mind when writing him. Â He is determined and he cares.
2. Â Insecure. Â Although I really dislike how Sonic brought up Shadowâs past and even dared to compared Shadow to Eggman, the author did something good. He portrayed Shadowâs insecurities. Shadow has made ALOT of mistakes in the past. He had messed up again and again till the point in which he is insecure about the decisions his takes. We can see 2 things in these panels. Â
1. Â Â Shadow regrets and recognizes his past mistakes.
2. Â Â Â Shadow is extremely insecure. (Which is really ironic because of his determination but we will speak about that later)
Alright, so what is there to insecurity? There is a lot actually, Sonic knows that Shadow is determined and he would do anything in order to accomplish his goals. Nothing will stop him, so the blue blur used Shadowâs insecurity against him to get what he wants. Shadow lets Sonic get into his head leaving the faith of the world on Sonicâs hands. Because unlike him, Sonic is a hero, Sonic has never done anything bad. Sonic always makes the right choices ⊠unlike Shadow, Sonic was never evil.
He came to the realization that no matter what he chooses, he is going to be wrong. Â If he âkillsâ Eggman and it turns out that he was good, then that would be another mistake. If he lets Eggman go around freely and it turns out that he was evil, then that would be another mistake. In reality, no matter what he choses he would blame himself for whatever the outcome is. The only difference is that he can blame Sonic along with himself as well.
So, we see that Shadowâs insecurities can easily be manipulated by others. Thus, making him do whatever other people pleases.
This is character flaw that plays extremely well with determination, only if written correctly. It is hard to do but it is possible. Iâll talk about that in a few.
3. Caring. One of the best things to came out of Sonic 06 was Shadowâs interaction with Team Dark. Can you see how betrayed Shadow looks when Omega tells him that he would be the one to persecute him? How he says he will remember Rouge will stay by his side no matter what? Like I mentioned before, Shadow the Hedgehog cares for them and he is loyal to them to death. As you can see, he didnât say anything to Omega nor plans anything against him even if in the future they become enemies. He may not show it often but the bond that he has with Team Dark is the main reason why he wakes up and saves the world from disaster. As well as that he cares for everyone living on it.
So, now that we know his main traits ⊠Determination, insecure and caring ⊠What do we get? Shadow the Hedgehog. These are traits that are hard to write and thatâs what is so appealing to this character. One single mistake and you can mess up the whole character. So, here is the question. How can we be determined and be insecure at the same time? Donât you need to be confident about yourself in order to be determined? Not really and here is why.
      If you are insecure but you really care for others, then you are determined to protect them no matter the cost. It doesnât matter if you will regret your decisions later, as long as the people you care about are safe.
Shadowâs blind loyalty is double edge sword. We can see in SA2 that Shadow is completely determined to blow up a planet because that was what âsupposedlyâ Maria wanted.
âBesides, thereâs no way to save anyone.â
      This can imply a lot of things. I may be overthinking it but to me, this sentence revealed something about Shadowâs character. Before Amy arrived to ask for help, we find Shadow looking at the Earth, really REFLECTING for a long time. There was a part of Shadow who DID NOT WANT TO DESTROY EARTH.  The boy probably actually NEVER wanted to destroy Earth.
âThat is the only thing that matters to me now.â
      Shadow really didnât care if he was the real Shadow or not. Shadow is so loyal and he CARED so much for Maria that he puts his insecurities a side (Yes, he has insecurities even here. He is about to blow up a planet, of course he is insecure the boy doesnât even remember fully who he is and he actually doesnât want to destroy earth.) His determined side takes over and we can see that he would do ANYTHING, overcome his insecurities (even if it will haunt him later on) and destroy planets just because he really does CARES for others.
With this said, I think you will understand now why writing Shadow the Hedgehog is difficult. He is a complicated character and it is supposed to be so. How can you show that a quiet character cares without it being âout of character?â How can you write a determined character without it being prepotent? How can you show that a character is insecure without making him look weak?
There is clearly a balance and itâs your job as a writer to create such balance.
So, I will pint point SEGA current and past âmistakesâ while writing Shadow the Hedgehog.
They want to highlight Shadowâs determination SO MUCH that he comes out as prepotent, arrogant, cocky, egocentric, etc. It just seems that they canât get the balance right in this one. Letâs take for example this:Â
      So, Sonic IDW. Everyone hated this, calling Shadow a clown and such. Letâs take it into context. Shadow is stopping an army of Zombots to give time for a truck full of Mobians to escape. If you think about it Shadow sacrificed himself so the others could run away safely. Thatâs actually not bad, itâs a very Shadow thing to do. This panel had so much POTENTIAL to highlight Shadowâs personality but the writer failed to compliment one important element and that is to add Shadowâs caring side.
      The writer preferred to highlight Shadow and Sonicâs rivalry (which honestly is non-existent at this point). He wanted to show just how âdeterminedâ Shadow was to prove that he is better than Sonic. However, it just came out as plain clownery. It made it seem that Shadow only cared to prove how ultimate he was instead of caring for the situation at hand.  The whole story could have been saved if Shadow had said something along the lines of: âIf I donât stop the Zombots everyone is going to get infected ⊠Rouge and Omega, everyone ⊠I canât let that happen I am going to stop them no matter what!â
      That short dialogue alone showed two things, Shadowâs determination and that he cares for others. The author did show Shadowâs insecurity as to how surprised he was when he found out that he was infected. However, it came out short because once again his âoverly determinedâ side showed up.
Like I said before, this panel had potential to show Shadowâs personality. The writer really wanted to highlight Shadowâs three main traits but it wasnât well balanced and it came out as another bad written Shadow the Hedgehog.
Before we continue, I want to say that I am not writing this to talk bad about Ian Flynn. He has written the other Sonic characters pretty decently, and it bothers me more how he wrote Sonic recently (but thatâs another talk for another time) I understand why Shadow is hard to write and thatâs why I donât get as upset when people sometimes wrongly write him. Â It honestly just shows how complex this character is.
So, now that we know that SEGAâS main problem is the unbalanced systematic writing of Shadow the Hedgehog, letâs jump into trying to keep on âcharacter.â
Now, here are some basic tips.
1. Â Â Remember Shadow top three traits. He is determined, he cares and he is insecure.
When writing him, always try to think of these traits. Shadow is composed of so much more but including more traits would be complicated to write about and many of your readers may not follow along as well. Especially if you starting to write. Even professional writers have problems writing him, so donât put too much pressure on you. Ask yourself the following questions: âWhy is Shadow doing this? Does this correctly highlight one of his main traits? Am I adding this to put more meaning to the story or the character?
2.   One of the main reasons why SEGA has such a hard time writing Shadow is because there has been so many writers throughout the years who wrote character. Everyone has different character interpretations. Although this is not wrong, having different character interpretations in writing is wrong when there is a CONTINUITY. Which is why most of the times Sonic gameâs stories arenât that great. Letâs talk for instance ⊠Sonic has always being a good character throughout the whole games and then suddenly he is bad. Weird, right? It just doesnât seem right. This is what happens to Shadow in every single game, his character has been interpreted in so many ways that at this point it Shadow is a really messed up character. So, my tip for this is to be consistent. You are going to be the only one writing your story, so donât be influenced by other writers and suddenly writer Shadow in another way.
3. Â Â The game Shadow the Hedgehog really tried to incorporate something about Shadow. That depending on the circumstances, Shadow would react differently. He is a very dynamic character and you never really know how he will react. Allow Shadow to experience many things. For him to experience unknown things and feelings because only that way the REAL Shadow the Hedgehog would come into light. Write stances that are unknown to him. He is at G.U.N. and others are trying to make friends with him? If he likes someone how would he react? What kind of activities would he do for fun? I cannot stress enough how important it is for your character to interact with other characters and for them to experience new things. Explore all of these!
This turned out longer than I expected, and I am actually missing so much more information I want to add but I donât want to make this too long. Sorry for any writing mistakes, I wrote this on the go lol. Iâll write some tips on how to write Silver tomorrow. For now, I hope this helps you understand a little bit more of Shadowâs character and why he is hard to write but donât worry! The more your write, the better you get. Â Iâll give you some Silver tips soon, and explain how he is connected with Shadowâs character.
