Shadow the Hedgehog

Shadow has been noted to physically resemble Sonic, sharing his facial features and most of his overall body shape. He is a black-furred anthropomorphic hedgehog with red eyes, fangs, a patch of white fur on his chest, a black nose, a tan muzzle and small and triangular ears with tan canals. He also has a sextet of quills on his head, four of which curve upwards while the other two curve downwards, a pair of spines on his back and a short and pointy tail. He has red stripes on each of his head quills, around the edges of his eyes and on his arms and legs.

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

Being, in many ways, Sonic's polar opposite, Shadow has a much more reserved and colder disposition. He usually acts with a cool indifference, rarely showing his vulnerable side. He is seldom seen with others for an extended period of time and usually distances himself from everyone whom he does not trust. He is usually blunt and rarely bluffs; if he makes a threat, he has every intention of carrying it out.

As one of the more violent characters in the series at times, Shadow's ruthlessness and aggression lead to his enemies never treating him lightly. Alongside his often dark demeanor, Shadow can be arrogant and stubborn. He usually treats others in a very callous manner, throwing in his opinion no matter how cold-hearted it is and caring little for the response. Shadow is also shown to have a sharp wit; during the Space Colony ARK incident, after being called a faker by Sonic, he replied that the latter was not worth being considered his fake.

Shadow is a rather conflicted character, often experiencing painful flashbacks and still deeply affected by his troubled past. On one occasion, during the Space Colony ARK incident, seeing police sirens triggered an intense flashback to Maria's death. Even prior to the events of the ARK raid, Shadow demonstrated some degree of self-doubt, most notably expressing frustration over how, despite being created as the Ultimate Lifeform as a means to cure various maladies, he is still unable to help his friend Maria, questioning whether he has a place on the planet. Similarly, largely because of his creation involving Black Doom, Shadow during this time showed signs of self-loathing, seeing himself as no better than any other Black Arm. Shadow was soon able to overcome this in the Black Arm and Emerl Incidents, during which he chose to move on from the past while continuing to keep Maria in his heart. Despite still being weighed by his past, Shadow has chosen to confront it, not forgetting what he has experienced, but refusing to let it hold him back or stop him from fulfilling Maria's final wish to help humanity.

Shadow originally had disdain for humanity, being a misanthrope, but rarely attacked them outright, merely looking at them as a distant observer. During the events of the Space Colony ARK incident, Shadow was planning to destroy the planet both ordered by Gerald Robotnik through brainwashing, and as revenge for the death of his only friend, Maria Robotnik. Shadow eventually moves past his hatred for humanity by remembering his promise to Maria. Later on, Shadow decided to protect humanity and those on earth to honor Maria's dying wish despite their original misgivings. Now, Shadow has moved on from the past and decided to protect humanity on his own accord. He does, however, have some lingering guilt over Maria's death, to the extent that he at least once came close to having intrusive visions of a scenario where Maria didn't die before reminding himself that chance ended a long time ago.