Shadow Exposes Sonic's TRUE DESPAIR: The Story You Never Knew | Treesicle 

Q: "How would you describe Sonic and Shadow's relationship?" A: 'I hate you, but if the world needs saving, I will work with you.'

There's a whole 'nother side to this that you failed to see. First and foremost, Sonic the Hedgehog is a Chaotic Good character. He's not aligned with Law and Order. Far from it, actually. He's a rebellious teenager obsessed with his personal freedom (and of course, the freedom of others), and he hates being restrained or tied down. He's a nomad without a home, travelling the world in search of adventure. His only master is the wind that blows freely. He doesn't care about what others think or say is right, he doesn't care what the established written rules and laws are. He lives life by his own rules and does what he thinks is right. This is the focal point of his battles against Eggman. Doctor Eggman's goal is to take over the world with his machines. Under his rule, everyone would be enslaved and practically mindless robots following his every command. In a world where everything runs like a well-oiled machine, there is no freedom. Now onto Shadow. You mentioned that Shadow's loss and how he's forever scarred by that loss is the aspect of Sonic that he embodies and the blue blur is afraid of deep down. But that's one side of the bigger picture. Since Shadow and Sonic are two sides of the same coin, Shadow is innately chaotic just like Sonic. But ever since his creation, that chaos has always been restrained. Just look at his inhibitor rings, they are the literal representaion of it. But it goes deeper than that. When Maria died and Shadow was imprisoned, G.U.N had Professor Gerald finish his work and stuff, under their survellaince or something. But, Maria's death triggered something in the professor. He ended up brainwashing and manipulating Shadow's mind, so that if Shadow is ever released, he would carry out Gerald's act of revenge. Near the end of SA2, Amy Rose managed to break Shadow out of that mental reprogramming, and he remembered Maria's true wish of protecting humanity. Skipping ahead to his own game, Shadow's quest to figure out who he really is and get his memory back involves constant sidemissions and guidance from the other characters, from Sonic and crew to Eggman to Black Doom. Shadow was being pulled in many different directions and told various answers on who he is. After that, starting with Sonic '06, Shadow now works for the military. He is a G.U.N agent that carries out orders from the president. This is where things become very clear as to what I am talking about. Sonic is Chaos, and Shadow is Chaos... Controlled. "Chaos Control". He's been used as an agent for a higher power rather than his own free man. Whether it's from Gerald's mental reprogramming or the command of the government military force, Shadow is living a life that Sonic would never ever want. Working for the government is something Sonic would never ever do, it completely goes against who he is and what he stands for. Shadow the Hedgehog isn't just Sonic after sufferring a great loss... Shadow the Hedgehog is what Sonic is without his freedom, under someone else's control. Shadow's whole personality is both of those hypothetical happened to Sonic. If he suffered a great traumatic loss of a loved one, and had his freedom stripped from him, forced to live under the control of a higher power, carrying out missions by the will of that higher power. Speaking of love, Sonic's freedom is the true underlying reason why he does not pursue romance. It becomes clear in Sonic '06, during that CGI scene between him and Elise in the forest, the moment shows us clearly that Sonic and Elise's feelings for each other are mutual, but then Elise asks if Sonic's going to leave once he beats Eggman, and he confirms that he will. Elise realizes that Sonic is a free spirit and won't be chained down. He can't stay in one place for too long, he has to keep moving, to see new sights, to find more adventure. Yeah, maybe the fear of losing the ones closest to him could play a part in it deep deep down, but it's mostly because of his love of freedom and adventure.

If wether Shadow was in love with Maria or not is debatable. Their relationship was more of a brother and sister, to be honest.

Now I'm imagining how Sonic would react if Tails dies.

"The only character who could use Chaos Control at this point in the series was Sonic." "Chaos Control" was invented for Sonic Adventure 2, Shadow was the first one to ever use it. Sonic is flabbergasted by Shadow using it because it's something he's NEVER seen before (and hence why he initially thinks Shadow's just "fast.") That's why Sonic using Chaos Control later in the game (with a fake emerald, of all things) is such an important story beat. And also why Sonic specifically refers to it as "your" move when fighting Shadow.

There is ONE incorrect fact that I'd like to point out toward the beginning of the video. Shadow was actually the first character to use Chaos Control, Sonic actually learned it (excessively easily) by watching Shadow use it. In fact, the last time they fight in Sonic Adventure (when you play as Shadow) Sonic actually says "I'll use your Chaos Control!", because he's literally copying Shadow's abilities. ASIDE FROM THAT, this is really solid!

shadow fights to protect what he failed to as sonic is working hard to never let it happen

Not only is his name "Shadow", but his original name actually meant "reflection of" in Latin. Just throwing that in the ring!

Actually, Sonic never did chaos control prior to meeting Shadow. In fact, he somehow learned to do it from Shadow

Shadow and Sonic’s relationship is a frenemies ordeal in my eyes....

how about a Story you never knew about Silver The Hedgehog? I'd totally watch that :3

"If he falls in love, Sonic has someone to lose." Uh, what about his friends? You mean to tell me he won't be upset if Tails dies?

It was shown in the comic series that during the initial experiments, Dr. Gerald couldn't sustain the formula without some form of host body to act as a carrier. He had a few samples of hedgehog DNA, but was still running into problems. That's when Black Doom showed up. He gave Gerald some samples of his own DNA and Gerald was able to create Shadow from that. During Shadow's formative years, Gerald hoped he would become a savior and encouraged his sibling-like relationship with Maria, until the GUN raid.

Hey Treesicle, just so you know there was a point where Sonic was just like Shadow. There's something called Dark Sonic that appeared in Sonic X. In this form, Sonic turns all black and his eyes turn white. But this is not just a physical change, it happened when Sonic had thought that the secondary protagonist, Chris, had died and this form appears. In other words, Sonic does know the pain and has gone through it before. Your theory is completely true. Like this comment so everyone can see.

He's... he's an anti hero

OMG! You definitely open my eyes more than i ever did, i mean, my favorite character is Shadow because he knows what reality is, it's not only about happiness and love, as you Say, Sonic don't know exactly the meaning of losing something important, (that's why i don't like him too much), but seriously, I like your video, you talk about very deep points about Shadow, new subscriber ;)

It still bothers me that a character that is actually an in-depth being - Shadow - was squandered in such a clumsy way. Wasted potential...

Tressicle: Sonic, Shadow are rivals ME: I could've solve that one myself, next you'll be saying "Are apples RED"

Doesn't everyone know already that they are rivals?

I just realized something......eggman doesn't even show up at all in Sonic and the black knight. Guess eggman can't always be the villain!

Sonic is not lawful in any way. Sonic's moral alignment is chaotic good. He's not aligned with any orderly governed system, he's completely free and detached. Sonic lives life freely, by his own rules. He doesn't listen to what others thinks is right, and he hates authority.

shadow wasn’t in love with maria, she was like a sister to him

DEAR GOD I'M SO EARLY. THINK OF SOMETHING FUNNY. FUCK.

this actually reminds me to something said on the Archie Comics: Scourge, an evil version of Sonic (don't worry about it, isn't the weirdest thing), explains how they are different even though both of them are "Sonics", Scourge says "the only difference between me and you is a bad day", and the same can be applied to this.

Also, Shadow became a hero in Sonic 06 as he fought to keep Maria's promise to protect humanity even when the world would be against him

0:23 Um excuse me, but I'll have you know my Sonadow fanfiction says otherwise >:(

I never thought of their relationship like that. Good video.

Amazing. The true story of this really defines real life. The people who feel if they know love, it will scar them when the love is gone...shadowing the people who are so happy and beaming...the reason why they sometimes get along and sometimes don't. It is the deepest thing you will ever get in a sonic game. One like is one deep thought...it you need one right now.

7:21 Chaotic neutral, Lawful good....Sonic twitter much?

I still ship Sonadow, no matter what people say

Shadow the edge hog

Since when did Sonic use Chaos Control before SA2? Like, at all? Chaos Control wasn't even a thing until SA2.

WHERE YOU AT NOTIFICATION SQUAD!?! Any ideas for other relationship vids we should do? Let me know! Purty plz

Damn, I did not expect this to be so freaking deep.

shadow the *edge* hog

"There is no romantic relationship between the 2" DeviantArt would beg to differ. ? abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz - alphebet

Since when could Sonic use Chaos Control before Shadow came in? Sure he can turn super but that's kind of different from being able to teleport/slow down time. I mean, both actions would require the use of Chaos emeralds but in Sonic's case he would need all 7 (or 6 in the first game), he couldn't do anything with just one. I get that he can harness the power of Chaos but still, that's with all 7, he didn't even know what "Chaos Control" was until Shadow came in.

I was watching a pic of Shadow and Maria and my friend said “oh it’s that black sonic with the little lady” and I be like 😑(curse you for that) 😂

How did an immortality formula turn into a hedgehog? Perhaps the giant mural in Hidden Palace Zone depicting an angelic glowing hedgehog fighting a giant mustachioed mech in outer space was discovered when Prof. Gerald was studying the Chaos Emeralds (which we know that he did in Emerl's backstory). It could easily have been construed as Shadow and the ARK rather than the Doomsday Zone fight at the end of Sonic & Knuckles.

To be honest I'm starting to turn in to a Shadow of my cousin, back in elementary school we were the same and over time closer to High school he has made many friends and I practically lost all of mine

alohaola

I appreciate you not completely shitting on Shadow like so many other videos do.

Sometimes he's a good guy, sometimes he's a bad guy, sometimes... HE'S THE GUY.

* cough * naruto and sasuke

this one was amazing, not gonna lie

When you realize SEGA needs to make this cannon

the idea of shadow literally being a shadow of sonic, literally blew my mind but Im amazed that i never thought of it that way.

Sonic and Shadow do become friendly rivals so there is SOME affection between them.

Deep video. I loved it, and I feel as if it was educational yet entertaining to watch... It's a shame that comments that aren't funny don't get any attention.

This also strangely and accurately portrays the relationship with Sora and Riku... Coincidence?! *I think not!*

This was interesting and it reminded me of the relationship between Sonic and Scourge on the comics... to an extent. Especially since for a while Sonic was haunted by something Scourge said to him: " All it takes is one bad day to become just like me." I think that's a cool little thing in the comics.

Talk about the relationship between Shadow and Mephiles.

welp time to write some eDGY FANFICTION!

I view this as classic anime relationships.... We have seen this tale told time and time again, best example is Dragon Ball, where rivals become friends. Goku and Yamcha, Picolo, Vegeta, Beirus...they all still hold some kind of grudge, but put their feelings aside recognizing he is necessary for the greater good.

I'd love to see a shadow the hedgehog 2 game. And I really like shadows back story he's the only one to have a interesting and tragic one. Yeah he was normal and happy and full of wounded and curiosity before Maria died

“There is no relationship between these two” Tell that to the Sonadow part of the Sonic the Hedgehog fandom my dude

Silver The Story you never knew

"Shadow exposes sonic's true despair" talks about how shadow is in despair

So Shadow is basically Vegeta?

"There is no love between sonic and shadow" *Dark side of the internet:* Hold my beer

I saw this video, then i saw an comic Dub where Shadow helps Sonic finally date Amy, and its just impressive how this video is right and i love it

5:36 *"Only character at this point in the series that could use Chaos Control was Sonic"* Knuckles:Well f**k you too.

Following this, I really want a game where Sonic loses someone -- like an actual character, like tails or knuckles, just DIES. I really want to see how it would turn out -- him trying to keep on his brave face, trying to act like it doesn't matter and he just keeps moving on, keeps going forward, running around at the speed of sound... But just shatters and breaks down and ends up being unable to do anything.

"How would you describe Sonic and Shadow's relationship?" Me: *immediately starts thinking about Goku and Vegeta, and Naruto and Sasuke* Also me: Hmm...idk

I love the way you explain all of those things! You give me reasons to stop and think about it for a minute.

This was great, really enjoyed this one. I never thought to often about how Sonic would be more like Shadow if he lost his comrades. However, there's a bit of misinformation i'd like to point out. In the vid it was said that Sonic knew how to use chaos control before Shadow, which is false. Shadow existed 50 years before Sonic, and involuntarily showed Sonic how to utilize chaos control. Also, Sonic and the others don't use chaos control to go super.

That was deep as FRICK

"There is no love between sonic and shadow"...unless you ship sonadow... 😑😒*cough cough* me *cough cough*

;D

So basically Sonic is Goku and Shadow is Vegeta and if you wanted to get really technical Amy is chi chi and silver is trunks but we don't got time for that

2:45 I don't mean to be a grammar troll, but I'd like to point this out before the true grammar trolls have a chance. The terms protagonist and antagonist don't actually have any light/dark/good/evil affiliations. Protagonist refers to any character that is the main character of the story, and antagonist refers to whatever person/thing/group is apposing the protagonist.

"SHADOW THE HEDGELORD"

2:01 That’s my Sonic vs Shadow video I posted 3 years ago Lol

I'm still confused on how the military got there for some reason it's just a robbery just send the police How did the military not see shadow before him before he left They look nothin alike Um..lets see who else can use chaos control Cough,silver,cough And "sonic wasn't ready for someone who could meet his power" Well there's knuckles,tails,silver they can turn super as well Not trying to be rude

"So let's hedge some hog" I laughed way harder at that than I should've xD

so basicly shadow is a confused memory wraped hedgehog version of vegeta ( is what im seeing )

"LET'S HEDGE SOME HOG"

Naruto and Sasuke in hedgehog form xD

9:00 and she die XD i know that this should be sad but his voice just made me laugh so hard for some reason XD he fell in love lmfao XD and she dies ahahahahah 😂😂😂😂man good times

Hey treesicle i love your vids even though you ruin my childhood

i watched this until 2:12 and all I heard was the same 3 things over and over -understanding shadow's relationship to sonic is CRUCIAL -shadow is not entirely dependent on sonic -i'm going to tear this apart 2 minutes and 12 seconds pass and you didn't "tear this apart" yet dislike

He has a point with this video. Remember when Chris got hurt in Sonic X? Sonic went dark and straight murdered those two alien robots and eggman says "calm yourself sonic... you remind me of a certain black hedgehog." Right there is a perfect example of this. Sonic had felt loss in that moment and went berserk!

I love how you take apart relationships on this channel. Could you try to analyze Otacon and Solid Snakes's relationship in the Metal Gear Solid franchise? It's very interesting and I am not sure where it exactly falls under.

Me:where's shadow? Sonic:last I heard he was still looking for the fourth chaos emerald Me:and thust the meme begins but plz look it up it's so funny 😂

Good video! Maybe a relationship between knuckles and sonic or rouge next?

I love Shadow the Hedgehog so much! I'm glad you keep doing videos on him :) I wish Sega made more games for Shadow!

That was way better than I expected it to be. It actually gave me goosbumps. Great video!

What's with all these Shadow videos? I'm not arguing! Wonderful once again and I really enjoy the contrast you made. Never really thought of Shadow as someone who acts like does cause of loss. Keep it up Treesicle!

Well.. Shadow is more intelligent than Sonic though, so the "Shadow" concept isnt entirely accurate.

Issa SONADOW, they do love each other Secretly... .3.

Tails or Knuckles the story you never knew.

3:56 My first guess is his Inhibitor Rings!

Wow, so deep.

Shadow is the shadow of silver

So Shadow The Hedgehog is a Shadow of Sonic The Hedgehog all because of loosing someone that he loved? Okay I get it now, Good video Grant, seriously awesome job, bro!

Could you do a video theorizing why Shadow may be a villain in the new Sonic Forces trailer?

This probably one of my favorite Treesicle videos. Good job!

*angrily referencing Naruto and sasuke while watching entire video*

This is a very nice concept! You can even back this theory when you look into Sonic X (yes I know it's cringe worthy, but nonetheless true). Take a look at Dark Sonic during the Metarex arch when Sonic thought he had failed Cosmo and Chris. That loss was so strong that his aura changed to a dark blue and his hair resembled Shadows. Even in the Sonic the Hedgehog comics, Sonic's "evil twin" Scourge shows what Sonic could possibly be due to, and I quote from the book and this video, "one unlucky day". Thank you for your research, it's fun to see others dive into the lore of Sonic the Hedgehog.

the part of the video that shows shadow turning into super shadow look at his ankles and wrists, he still has the rings on! he's is supposed to be the ultimate being right, so what if he took off the rings and turn into super shadow! he can beat sonic easily with his strength without taking off the rings right, so just imagine the strength and speed he would have compared to Sonic's if he took off the rings then turned into super Shadow! 🤔 💥