Are Shadow's Memories FAKE? 

What do you think? Are Shadow's memories on the ARK real or fake? Also, huge thank you to 1v1.LOL for making this video possible! Download 1v1.LOL, the hyper battle royale for FREE! onevone.onelink.me/B5hL/5t0x8urp

i think by “i have finally completed shadow,” he means that he completed altering shadow’s mission from protecting humanity to destroying it

There's only one hole in this theory: Shadow's final memory about Maria telling him to make everyone happy. If his memories of Maria are in fact fake, why would Gerald have Maria say that to Shadow?

Tbh, I thought the "I had finally finished Shadow" line was because he had finally finished all those tests he had Shadow doing. I thought Shadow did know and talk to Maria, but he still had to do tests after his creation. Just because Gerald finally finished him doesn't mean he couldn't had been in a state still able to converse with Maria.

I think his memories with Maria ARE real, just tampered with, and no one can convince me otherwise. As for "what more could GUN want Gerald to do", I'd wager they wanted him to either amplify Shadow's killer instincts to make him more of a weapon they could use, OR render Shadow a pacifist so he wouldn't be a threat (as they were likely still fuming after the Gizoid incident).

I feel like one thing that throws a bit of a wrench in things is the fact that Shadow being unfinished and Shadow being able to walk and talk to others around the ARK aren't mutually exclusive ideas. Shadow could've used a few more touches after he let out. It's kind of like how his big brother the Biolizard was most likely out and about before its mutation and rampage. All of these things could've happened to an unfinished Shadow that was finished and had certain memories locked away in his brain due to Gerald's insanity. Those are just my thoughts on the matter.

Doesn't the recording of Gerald and Maria in the last story of Shadow the Hedgehog shows that Maria knew Shadow ?

I believe that shadow was at a state of development where he could actually experience life. He could walk talk and more. But wasn’t finished, due to the requirements (such as immortality), he would be put back into the capsule to be further experimented on. His memories were probably true, due to some things that Gerald couldn’t have known without shadow telling him when he hung out with Maria (don’t remember off the top of my head).

The way I interpreted Shadow’s story was the memories and emotions he had in his time with Maria are genuinely real. That he was mostly ‘incomplete’ when they were together, as if he was, then Maria wouldn’t still be suffering from her illness. This idea that he was incomplete can echo throughout their escape, being less capable than the version he is now. How I personally always saw it that Gerald simply manipulated Shadow’s core existing memories to act upon his vengeful mission when he was tasked to weaponize him for GUN. That is just me though!

Imo this theory does make a lot of sense, but besides that wasn't probably Sega's intention, when Gerald meant "I have finally finished Shadow" maybe that meant he wasn't at a 100% capacity, but still could have met Maria when he had around 70 - 90% of his full capacity

Sonic x actually tackled this theory when rouge confronted Shadow about his memories not being real but he didn’t care

I like the idea that Gerald manipulated shadows memories, but creating shadows memories with Maria entirely. I’m still a bit iffy about.

I think I just means Shadow wasn’t finished, he was alive but not immune to all diseases like planned.

I feel like the original plot of SA2 has a large amount of plot holes that lead to this theory. My assumption is that when Gerald says that he’s completed Shadow, he’s referring to altering his memory so that he can carry out his revenge plot. I also believe that he could possibly be referring to his overall revenge plot on earth, considering that Shadow plays the biggest role in it. That’s just me though. It would seem kinda lame to me if it were to be officially revealed that Shadows memories were all manufactured

A hole within this theory is the fact that at the end of ShTH, with the canon ending, both gerald and maria recount maria’s wish to Shadow, and even maria had a talk one to one with shadow, recounting memories they shared with each other. So yeah, Shadow’s memories were only altered

I think, Shadows memory is correct as it is. Shadow actually met Maria and everything happened as it should have. After Gerald was captured and Shadow was sent to earth, Gerald did one last change to Shadow, with changing his memory to make him a weapon. I think, Shadow was on the ARK, but was manipulated later on...

Oh man my head hurts. I remember for the longest time that Gerald altered Shadow’s memories and seen people mention it on RU-vid, but when I went back to playing SA2 (and finally beat the game after so many years lol) I didn’t notice anything that suggested that. Although I always found it strange how in Gerald’s diary how he said he finished Shadow after Maria’s death which seemed pretty bizarre to me. It’s like a painter taking their piece from a gallery to finish it. Also it confuses me how he could alter the eclipse canon and the biolizard to complete his vengeance if he was on Prison Island. I don’t think GUN is dumb enough to say sure we can take you to the space colony Ark to work on a super secret project even other Thursday. However I didn’t question it much since I knew I was not going to get a solid answer and just chalked it up as he was damaged during his pod’s landing and had to have the damages tended to or Gerald lied to GUN that Shadow was not done yet to make these alterations. But who could say. Honestly I like to believe that his memories about his time with Maria are true.

7:43 aint nothing but a heartache

Honestly shadow having implanted memories gives me the same vibes as KH Chain of memories in which Organization 13 specifically wanted to manipulate sora a keyblade wielder to their side through making him think namine was his childhood friend and he forgot. That's about the only similarity though honestly. Also in his game its pretty clear he is done with humanity and past ghosts once he is at the final story. Very good theory honestly and it lines up with his characterization in his game and 06 as well. I would have to guess writers left shadow's past ambiguous when it comes to his involvement with the ark and whether he knew maria and Gerald or not.

I mean, Gerald did mess with his memory after he lost Maria and made that revenge plan. I know that Shadow saw everything and remembers what Maria told him about saving humanity

My best guess, and what I would much rather believe, is that his memories of Maria are real. It's just that Gerald manipulated them to make Shadow forget her wish to protect Earth and humanity, and instead filling him with an urge for revenge in accordance with Gerald's grief. 'Completing' Shadow was likely these manipulations, as well as general finishing touches to go along with the new plan and ensure Shadow was operating at full capacity as a weapon. Back on the Ark, he was awake, but unfinished, and not yet intended to be weaponized. Back then, he was just a person.

It’s a neat thought but definitely falls apart with Shadow breaking through the memory modications at the end of Sa2 and how crude the modifications are with Gerald not even being able to change Maria’s wish and just having to supress it from his memory. And don’t see why Gerald would out in a memory that messes with his plan and if it was to give him a more positive view on Maria why would it he then suppress it after intentionally putting it in?

This makes Shadow an even more tragic character. Imagine. Your memories that you hold onto aren’t even yours.

I agree with this to some extent. I believe that his memories are tampered with, but are real. I believe that he was on the ark and was able to play with Maria when he wasn't getting researched and studied, considering he was able to look around and seemed to be conscious in his tube this makes me think he'll be able to walk around and play before getting completed on prison Island

This could either be two things: one sonic team slept on their desk and forgot to make cohesive writing, or two this was a plot point to be later developed but they forgot

If game theory doesn't want to do another sonic theory, chaomix will 😅

Really sucks that"bourne identity"came out one whole year after, adventure 2. Because could've given them guidelines handling their amnesiac CoProtagonist properly! Anyone else with me?

Damn man, you literally busted all of shadow's lore that has been outhere for over 20 years. That's pure dedication

It should be noted that Rouge even sees the discrepancy. She says Project Shadow was sent to earth in a capsule and was never recovered, then asks “who, or what, are you?”

7:18 The "have/had" distinction in "I have finally completed Shadow" is a red herring because in the actual Japanese sentence there is no equivalent. ついにシャドウを完成させた just means "Finally I completed Shadow." It's just in the past tense, with no indication as to how recently Shadow was completed. I think the fan translator just put the "have" in there so it would sound more natural when spoken.

There's always the chance that Shadow may have been 'awakened' before Gerald considered him 'completed' from his point of view

Thats a really good theory. I think the reason shadow’s memory of Maria was engineered by Gerald Robotnik into Shadows mind was because, like you explained, Gerald wanted Shadow to carry on Maria’s memory in which Robotnik couldn’t. I also think that in Sonic X when they showed Gerald tied up and getting shot, that wasn’t GUN executing Gerald, it was likely his suicide machine he created because he could no longer live with such grief, thus, passing on the same feelings of grief and revenge towards humans to Shadow to carry on Geralds memory of Maria. And its also possible that Gerald kind of “synced” his and Shadows memory together, because through the grief and revenge, he still had a faint longing to continue Marias legacy of bringing peace/hope to humanity Best lore arc EVER.

Another banger from Chaomix. Love your content always

I loved your project shadow lore video so much, I watched it together with my partner and best friend together when we were hyperfixated on the entirety of the sonic game series timeline

2 shadow videos in a row we’ve been blessed ‼️🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️

I’ve always imagined that the line of him finally completing shadow means that shadow was functional but incomplete. To add to this why would shadow not use any of his abilities when the ark was being destroyed and maria was getting shot unless maybe he didn’t have them at all as he was not finished

I think the memories were just tampered with. Even if he was complete, he could have been allowed to live freely aboard the Ark and interact with the others. Who knows, it might have even been necessary to develop his psyche.

Keep up the awesome work and videos chaomix love the video

Thank you for making this video! I've been waiting for someone to make something about this. There's an interesting line in Gerald's diary in the Japanese translation that Shadow's mind is based on "the original" which I doubt was meant to imply the biolizard, though I suppose in a weird way could be true. Either there was someone who got ejected out of the space colony that Shadow now has the memories of, or the Biolizard used to be maria's pet before it grew too large to control and Gerald based Shadow's mind off of the feelings it had towards her and made them think they were his. Either way, until they make an official statement on this strange element of his character I guess we'll never know what the original vision was

This is actually a pretty reasonable theory. But unfortunately, it's one of those things where Sega themselves clearly didn't intend for this to happen. To them, Shadow's memories are 100% real, but corrupted by Gerald. Because of this mindset, this theory will get increasingly harder to justify over the years... But it's still cool and would make an interesting plot point

I'm so glad you are going into this! When SA2 came out when I was a teen, I was under the impression that his memories of her were fake.

This makes a lot of sense and it's mind blowing to see how we could of have missed these clues from years ago honestly if anything this makes me love shadow even more he such a complicated an interesting character and this is why he soo well beloved also I love your videos the shadow video has just help clear a lot of things that the fanbase has misunderstood thank you 🙏 ❤

Always in a good mood when chao drops by

Always a sunny day when my boy chao drop

This completely recontextualizes everything that has made Shadow who he is up till now and this is unofficially canon to me now.

Shadow was not created after Maria's death. His completion is modification after the fact. His real memories with Maria were overwritten until he talked with Amy.

It was stated that an escape pod was found after the ARK was raided. If Shadow was made or "finished" after the raid, who the hell was in that escape pod? I think Shadow did meet Maria and everything, but Gerald didn't consider Shadow finished/complete until after the madness kicked in, and he started messing with Shadow's brain. That'd why it takes Shadow a while for him to remember what Maria actually said to him. The real memories were always there, but due to trauma and Gerald's manipulation, everything got warped. Also, we don't know what actually made Shadow "finished" in the first place. Sure, Shadow could walk and talk, but considering that he was supposed to be the ultimate lifeform, I think he would have gone through a bunch of tests. That's probably why he wasn't finished by the raid. Everything was cut short, so Shadow was at most maybe 30-40% complete. I doubt he was more than 50% along in his development since he was still wondering about his own existence and was very naïve. Shadow was like a toddler, which is what I'm trying to say. Fresh out of the pod, figuring his way around this new existence. When Gerald was sent to Prison Island and Shadow was recovered by G.U.N. That would have been when Gerald was forced to finish making Shadow. Shadow was supposed to be a weapon, after all. That's why the military was involved in the first place. The Sonic Channel artwork depicts how, at first, Shadow was just learning about the world and things around him. Maria taught him about the things she knew, and they were both given a basic education by Gerald. Also, did we all forget that G.U.N. raided the ARK because they found out about the Biolizard? They wanted to kill everyone on board because of that thing, but when they found out Gerald made Shadow, they spared him. That's the reason why Gerald wasn't immediately executed and sent to Prison Island. They still had a use for him. So, to conclude my rant(?) I think that Shadow's memory situation is a lot easier to explain than it seems. It's like a video timeline in an editing software. You have the full video uncut in its original format, and then you do some audio splicing and cut a few moments out of the video and present this new video like it's the original. However, the original video file is still stored on the harddrive it's just in a locked folder that you forgot the password for. Honestly, though, the theory makes much more sense if Shadow The Hedgehog (2005) didn't exist became that game retconned a lot of stuff SA2 did. I just remembered that the original narrative was that the capsule was never recovered, and that's why Rouge was so confused by Shadow. Then Sonic Team said, "Fuck it, lets throw all that out the window."

Shadow wasn't started after Ark was shut down, he was (as those clips you provided yourself say) _completed_ - Shadow was in incomplete during his time on the Ark, he met Maria and she tried to help him escape when it was being shut down. Gerald then goes insane from Maria's death and finishes Shadow as ordered to, but goes a step further and tries to twist Shadow's memories in the process so he would eventually wipe out humanity. Amy helped Shadow move past his brainwashing, as her earnest plea with him to make people happy reminded him of Maria, and unlocked the sealed memory. This better explains why Shadow had a memory of Maria's actual wish for humanity inside him, Gerald wouldn't put that there if he was already mad and wanting humanity to die. Why include it and then suppress it? Nah his memories were still tampered with, but by removing any that would hinder his plan for revenge rather than inserting fake ones to motivate him.

Your theory falls apart will you take into consideration gun Commander's memories of Shadow and Maria on the ark And gun Commander was on the ark with as a child with Shadow and Maria, and he remembers being friends with Maria and seems to act like the Shadows memories of being friends with Maria on the ark are real

Shadow physically existed before he was completed. I think the ‘I have finally completed Shadow’ line means that he has made Shadow the cure to all illnesses and made him the true ultimate life-form. Gerald would never tell anyone though because he wanted humans to suffer, not prosper. Edit: If the fake memories were overwritten, how could Shadow be there.

I had someone try to argue this theory to me a little while ago and at the time it seemed a bit more farfetched. The way you've explained it in this video makes it seem a lot more plausible. The way it went in the first version I heard however was that this WAS meant to be the case in SA2 but later games retconned it. As he was shown to be onboard the ARK in Shadow 05 so it seems to make sense that he definitely could have known Maria in actuality. If Gerald had not only completed Shadow but had only started working on him while on Earth it would be cut and dry but even an "incomplete" Shadow could still have lived out some of his ARK memories. I took it that Shadow's memories were tampered with by Gerald but his friendship with Maria was a real memory. It makes emotional sense to me that him remembering Maria's real wish for humanity was due to Gerald's feelings about her, but it makes more logical sense that that's just actually something he witnessed. Then again, SA2 has a lot of plot points that don't make a lot of sense logically.

Wow, never thought about this!

This is a wild theory that seems like it could actually be what they were aiming for originally in SA2, but it seems they retconned it. Who knows though? Maybe SonicXShadow Generations is more important than we might realize...

When Eggman enters Prison Island, the password to release Shadow is “Maria”, meaning there really was someone significant named Maria in the Robotnik family. I’d say it checks out

Gerald definitely tampered with Shadow's memories, but it was only Maria's last wish that was altered. When Gerald says Shadow is now complete, he's likely referring to the altered memories. Shadow was definitely friends with Maria.

"Sure, Shadow was awake and conscious in the GUN commander's flashback, but that doesn't mean he was actually finished." Previously... "How could Shadow be spending time (awake and conscious) with Maria if he wasn't finished!? Must be fake."

this actually blew my mind with the way that it flips almost everything i knew about project shadow on its head, it's genuinely eye opening thinking about all of this

Shadow could’ve still been alive but incomplete. Which makes sense as to why the ultimate life form couldn’t save Maria from a few humans with guns, he was incomplete and weak. Why would shadow a character arguably in the top 3 most powerful people in the sonic franchise be too weak to stop a few gun soldiers? Why were the flashbacks in Shadow2005 game show shadow just running away with maria instead of using chaos powers against them? Cuz he was incomplete.

I don’t really like this theory. I think Shadow was actually friends with Maria and everything happened but later had his memories altered by Gerald. That’s what makes most sense.

Shadow the Hedgehog be goin' through the Castle of Oblivion Arc right now. lol.

This all hinges on what Gerald meant by "completing" Shadow

I used to have that theory, where shadow's memories r actually Gerald's. He installed his consciousness in shadow, but then shadow only remembered those vague memories

Last Story of his game proves otherwise and he's not made by Eggman thanks to Eggman's confession so. Edit:The LS reveals a recording with Gerald and Maria together which not just Shadow sees so if it was just fake memories, that wouldn't be there.

Chaomix..you are a genius i would've not notice forever...thank you for covering this theory

Sonic X Shadow Genrations better have more things abt this man

Um... If Shadow never met Maria then what actually killed her? The same marine just... Killing a little girl that had nothing to do with the project?

the way i look at it is that shadow interacted with Maria before Gerald had finished him. shadow could very well have been like, conscious and alive before his completion. so i think maria's final wish to him is an actual memory, but Gerald suppressed it upon recovering Shadow.

I think Gerald saying he’s completed shadow he means that he changed his goal from protecting humanity to destroying it for revenge, the same thing could be said about the line where he claims to control shadow’s memories. He could have just altered the last one in order to get shadow to destroy humanity like he would have done before his execution.

Just finished watching the last Shadow's story video and saw this.

I WONDER IF WE GET SOMETHING RELATED TO THIS IN SXSG ITD BE SO MESSED UP BUT SO COOL

Another shadow vid, now we need a video about shadows creation

We know at least in Sonic X that his memories are real . In one of the episodes, the reporter Scarlett Garcia interviews the gun soldier who tracked Maria and Shadow down and shot her, and he broke down while Scarlett Garcia was interviewing him so we know at least in Sonic X continuity, Shadows memories are real

I personally think Shadow was complete enough to roam around the ark but not fully completed which explains the "I have completed shadow" but Dr Gerald definitely did mess with his memories not like completely making new ones or removing old ones just editing his memories

I personally think that some memories may be false, but the one at the end of SA2 where he finally remembers Maria's dying wish IS real. I want this because it's inspiring to see a character not only remember his traumatic experience, but to also do something that will heal him as a character! That's powerful stuff!

i always thought gerald changed shadow's memories **after** the ark raid at the same time he was changing the programming of the ark to plunge into the planet. In the dark routes of shadow the hedgehog, there's a moment where Gerald says to him "Shadow I'm counting on you" in the context of getting revenge on humanity. A parallel of Maria's wish and suggesting that there are traces of Gerald's tampering of his memories even after the amnesia.

Shadow After Seeing This Video: *MY LIFE IS A LIEEEEEEE !!!!!* Rouge: *Not Again >:V !!!!!!*

If we're taking dialogue into consideration, then Sonic is the ultimate lifeform. In the Finalhazard fight around the end, there is a chance for Shadow to say he figured out what the ultimate lifeform is, and he says it's Sonic. He does say it might be Sonic, but further evidence to back this up would be that Sonic handles the super form much better than Shadow. Although it is Shadow's first time with super (yet knowing exactly how to handle it), Sonic being the ultimate lifeform could be backed up and be a reason for why Sonic in his super form seems for powerful like in Sonic 3 and Knuckles for example, Knuckles and Tails in their super form glow a brighter color than their standard color, but Sonic turns from his ordinary blue to a bright yellow and has an entireley different spritesheet.

That’s it i give up on Sonic lore

I think Shadow's memories are definitely tampered with. I prefer to think some of his memories are real and that Gerald just changed what was already there. Shadow could've been alive and walking around the ark, going in for examinations and testing periodically. Gerald could have Shadow sleep in his pod and make alterations then. Maria could've told shadow her wish to make everyone happy, then have Gerald change that wish into his own while experimenting on Shadow on prison island. This way his life on the ark is real, but Shadow can still be changed after being "born"

So this is what is was about... I can only imagine how shadow would react if he found out his memories were fake

The only theory I have that's this crazy is the potential kinship between Shadow and Sonic... I blame RubyofBlue for that.

I think for ur next video u should explain stuff abt the sonic world, like in some games they’re at green hills/ like the fantasy zones and some places they’re in like more real life places like sonic adventure

I think it could honestly be a mix of both ideas. Maybe while Gerald was testing if shadow could walk and talk, Shadow got to see Maria a little bit and maybe have a small conversation. They could still have some sort of bond but not be as close as the game tells us. I still do believe that Maria did launch shadow to earth though.

12:01 epic guitar Q

I actually heard this theory from a Sonic Adventure 2 iceberg, and ever since then, it's been my favorite headcanon regarding Shadow.

This is an interesting cideo. I never thought about his memories being false

I'm not convinced that Shadow wasn't alive and conscious on the Ark. Not being complete doesn't mean not given any freedoms, there's a good chance Gerald was, in the process of creating Shadow on Ark, letting him out and allowing him to get to know Maria exactly to design his mind as "perfect" and "pure." So when he was completing the project on Prison Island, it's possible that he just overwritten the old version of his memories with the new one.

Honestly I had no idea that this was even a theory, i'm 100% certain Gerald tampered with Shadow's real memories in order to make him a pawn in his scheme, it's so heavily implied I thought it was canon

Y'know, I didn't really think of this possibility before. What an intriguing fan theory, indeed. I do still think his memories with Maria may have been real, though...

I just watched your last one and I was prepared

One point in favor of this is at the end of shadow the hedgehog shadow says: "sayonara shadow" and than throws a picture of him, gerald and maria away! So perhaps in that moment he realizes he souldnt believe in his fake memories but instead be with his real friends (team dark and the others!)

You're wrong shadow. That image playing over and over in your head like a gif, it's not the truth! -Jett

I think Shadow has genuine memories, and his incomplete state was just down to a few more tests that verified Shadow was a successful end product (Feels weird to call him a product, but you know why), since it seems GUN decided to nip the project before any real answers could be given. Gerald then altered Shadow's memories post-Maria, while also doing some likely finalizations to guarantee Shadow was ready, but then his insanity got the better of him, and thus Shadow was deemed incomplete, but likely Shadow is fully complete as the Ultimate Lifeform

i think the "Finally completed" thing was that he finished the "destroy this world and move onto the next" Shadow, cause that would complete him at that point

So that's basically Sonic's version of Dream Theory.

Asking the real questions here

My understanding is that Shadow was allowed to walk freely around the ARK while still in development. After being ejected by Maria and falling to Earth, he was recovered and THEN finally completed under GUN supervision. There are GUN reports that match the events in Shadow's memories, and Black Doom also remembers the events in the same way when he shows them to Shadow (how would this be possible?). HOWEVER! Now that I think about it... When the GUN Commander tells Shadow about the past as he remembers it, he describes Maria as being like family to him. If they were that close, how come the Commander doesn't mention spending time with Shadow, or Shadow remembers the Commander at all? Shadow only remembers Maria...

Doesn’t Maria refer to Shadow in the cutscene before his fight with Devil Doom?

DAMN, I never though about it like that

Stash phase go BRRRR