"To catch a shadow"- The Ultimate Life Form conspiracy

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"To catch a shadow"- The Ultimate Life Form conspiracy

Post by Ivogoji »

The search for the true Ultimate Life Form part 1: Will the real Shadow the Hedgehog please stand up?

In an older thread we discussed Rouge's theory about Shadow's identity:
Ivogoji wrote:
The page Rouge was holding had a picture of the Biolizard, which the text identifies by name as Shadow.
Image
She believed the Biolizard was the real Shadow (she knew there was 'a prototype', but not that this specifically was the prototype, or that it was still on the ARK at this point), and Edgehog was a fake created on Prison Island. Recall Eggman at the start of the game searching for a weapon he believed was created there.

In the following dialogue Shadow protests that he's the real deal because he remembers being created on the ARK. Rouge counters that his memories might be fake- and since he remembers Maria asking him to avenge her, which we know didn't happen, there's some truth to this. Gerald's diary said "I made his mind to be perfect... pure..."

Shadow later recovers his memory of promising Maria to give the world a chance to be happy and fights the Biolizard, revealed to only be the sealed prototype and not the completed Ultimate Lifeform.

We never actually find out if Rouge is wrong or not. Our only sources of information come from Shadow (memory tampered), Gerald (insane), and Black Doom (consummate liar), none of whom should be considered reliable. The Biolizard being a prototype doesn't prove that Shadow was born on the ARK; Shadow's "true" memories could have been implanted as well; consider his later amnesia.

From this ambiguity arose the common fan theory that the original Shadow is Sonic himself.
Now, media outside of the games leaves no doubt that Shadow is the real Shadow and not Sonic. That's pretty clearly what SEGA thinks about the character at present. In Sonic Next Gen they had Shadow moving beyond questions about his identity and his past, instead focusing on his future.

But taking Sonic Adventure 2 in isolation and ignoring later story developments, Shadow's original appearance seemed to keep things ambiguous up to the very end.

"Do you really think that the Professor created him, Shadow, to carry out his revenge...?"

Here Rouge continues to voice doubts about Shadow's memories of being created aboard the ARK. After all, if she was sure Shadow was the true Ultimate Life Form, designed to save Gerald's granddaughter from NIDS, she wouldn't have said he was created for revenge. Sonic doesn't help by answering to the effect that it didn't matter where Shadow came from. Then there's that little bit where Sonic talks to himself ("Could he have been... the Ultimate Life Form?") just before Amy asks if he's okay...

It's all very suggestive, isn't it?

What I'm driving at here is the possibility that -when SA2 was made- Sonic was intended to be the real Ultimate Life Form created on the Space Colony ARK, and Shadow was a copy of him made on Prison Island. The subplot about Shadow's memories being fake was meant to hint that Sonic himself had been subject to alterations that made him forget about his ties to the ARK. Their interactions throughout the game were subtly implying it was more than a mere coincidence that they looked so similar. It all takes on a very different meaning when you mull over Rouge's theory.
Image
Image
Image
The idea wasn't so much to provide Sonic with a definitive origin story, as to add a small *implication* about his past to Sonic lore, something later games could freely ignore without issue. Within the context of SA2 as a self-contained narrative, it would offer a plausible explanation for why Sonic can use Chaos Control, which (at the time) was a one off ability that might never have gotten used again. The real purpose of these details however was to emphasize the tragic nature of Shadow's character: not only was his whole life a lie, but even his promise to Maria was a lie. We were really supposed to conclude that Shadow WASN'T who he thought he was, but as Sonic said "He was who he was, a brave and heroic hedgehog, who gave his life to save this planet..."

It was the fact that Shadow knew on some level that his memory of Maria was fake, yet he still chose to hold on to their promise to the bitter end, that made his sacrifice one of the most heartbreaking and bittersweet moments in Sonic history.


..... until SEGA decided to throw most of that stuff out the window and bring back Shadow for more games, playing up his memory and identity issues in Sonic Heroes and Shadow the Hedgehog before revealing that he really was the Ultimate Life Form created on the Space Colony ARK.

That's my hypothesis anyway.

Of course, it's impossible for there to be any question about the Ultimate Life Form's true identity at this point.... right?

Well, -strickly speaking- there was no definitive *proof* given in Shadow the Hedgehog that Shadow was really born on the ARK or that someone else wasn't the original Shadow. There isn't even any real proof that this Shadow was the same one we saw in SA2. Sure, Eggman said Shadow was his grandfather's creation in the final boss fight, but why do you trust him? Eggman isn't a reliable source of information. He could have just said that to give Shadow encouragement.

And of course, as I pointed out above, everyone else who knows about Shadow's past is similarly unreliable. They all had motives to deceive him. Most of our exposition in Shadow the Hedgehog comes from Black Doom, the religious extremist, do you really trust anything he shows us?
Image
Shadow being immune to Doom's paralyzing toxin because of their shared DNA isn't absolute proof that Doom is telling the truth either, as that whole scene could have been orchestrated to further soften Shadow up for mind control. It doesn't matter to Doom's over all plan whether Shadow was the real Ultimate Life Form or not, only if he was useful to conquering the Earth. I have more to add about the implications of Doom's involvement in Project Shadow and how this revises what we learned in previous games, but I'm going to cover that in part 2.
Image
Of course, there was one other person in Shadow the Hedgehog who knew something about what happened 50 years ago: the GUN Commander. Now this is EXTREMELY important because the Commander's story ties in with information in Rouge's report:
Agent Rouge wrote: A voice of doubt soon arose, as they questioned their continuation on this project, as well as the safety of others aboard. The truth is uncertain, about who had leaked private information about the Project to GUN, however it was considered to have been one of the few who were concerned with the Prototype, as it became reckless.

Those who were among the top ranking of GUN, had a strong disliking of the research organization, and formulated a plan to shut down the ARK itself, taking advantage of its current situation. Their secret plan was code named, "ARK's Indestructible Seal"...

...The plan was carried out, on the premiss that GUN knew nothing, and within only seven days of the Plan's commencing, all the residents of the ARK were moved to the planet. All the research facilities aboard the ARK were frozen by GUN, and all persons involved in Project Shadow, except for Professor Gerald, were announced as victims of the disaster...
In Shadow the Hedgehog we learn exactly who it was that leaked information to GUN and facilitated the entire raid-
Image
- the young Commander.

Possessing this information sheds all kinds of light on the Commander's character and his actions in Shadow the Hedgehog. Secretly bearing responsibility for the horrible tragedy of the ARK cover up, the young boy projected his feelings of guilt onto Shadow, blaming the monster for all the deaths he'd unwittingly caused. Motivated by a need to atone for these things, the boy eventually joined the very organization that carried out the abominable deed, climbing to the highest position until he could weed out all of GUN's corruption from the inside. The Commander put the tragedy behind him and dedicated his life to ensuring that nothing like that would ever happen again.... And then the nightmare from his past returned, and all that hatred and guilt and fear bubbled to the surface. The Commander HAD to destroy Shadow, otherwise it meant confronting the fact that HE was the one responsible for the raid on the Space Colony.
Image
Which means that there is someone to corroborate Doom's story of Shadow being created on the ARK, and that boy's role in the narrative goes all the way back to SA2 itself.

Even the Commander's eyewitness testimony isn't totally infallible however. He's been nursing a grudge against Shadow for decades, and his animosity might have colored (hu hu hu) his memory of what the Ultimate Life Form really looked like. He can't be classified as an unbiased source of information anymore than the others and his details are suspect.

Consider this: our friend the Commander here was also the one in charge of GUN in SA2. He was the secret hand behind the faceless military organization hounding Sonic and his friends throughout the game. When Shadow was freed from Prison Island, it was the Commander that sent troops out to retrieve him. It was the Commander that chose to arrest Sonic the Hedgehog in Shadow's place. It was the Commander no doubt who had Sonic finally incarcerated... in. Gerald's. own. cell.
Image
The first time any of us played the game of course it all seemed like a silly joke. GUN sees two hedgehogs and can't tell them apart, arrests the wrong one. Hoho, haha. Then thinking about it, it seemed like an attempt to keep Shadow's existence a secret, eliminating him while passing off his crimes as being commited by Sonic. But looking at Rouge's report, all of the little coincidences piling up in the game, and knowing in hindsight (but what should have been obvious all along) that GUN's leadership possessed the one bit of information that cracked the whole puzzle, this whole situation looks very different...

SEGA certainly made up its mind a long, long time ago that Shadow was "the one and only Ultimate Life Form", but I strongly suspect that this was not initially the case, and there are plot threads running through the entire Shadow saga that point back to an alternative SEGA seemed to have once had on the table. By itself, the theory I've outlined above based on SA2 might not sound that convincing... but there's one more piece of evidence to consider, a connection that if true busts the whole history of the Sonic mythos wide open. This evidence I'll examine in part 2.

To summarize my interpretation of the Truth of 50 Years Ago- let's call it the Adjusted Rouge Theory- in a few points:
- All of Shadow's memories are fake.
- Gerald created Shadow as a weapon for GUN on Prison Island
- The original Ultimate Life Form that Maria jettisoned to Earth is Sonic the Hedgehog
- SEGA switched gears on Shadow's identity from Sonic Heroes onward, but the substance of the theory is still compatible with what happens in-game
Last edited by Ivogoji on Sat Mar 31, 2018 2:28 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: "To catch a shadow"- The Ultimate Life Form conspiracy

Post by Goodbye-m8 »

Ayy bruh this theory is really convincing, great job.
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Re: "To catch a shadow"- The Ultimate Life Form conspiracy

Post by Ivogoji »

You're not supposed to accept things that easily!
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Re: "To catch a shadow"- The Ultimate Life Form conspiracy

Post by YuYuChaosho »

More than likely SEGA (within the era) was probably shooting for this type of canon story-arc.
It would explain why the prototype styles for Shadow (other-wise known as Terios) look so similar to Sonic.
I’d buy this theory. :cool:
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Re: "To catch a shadow"- The Ultimate Life Form conspiracy

Post by Goodbye-m8 »

Ivogoji wrote: Fri Mar 30, 2018 1:29 am You're not supposed to accept things that easily!
I didn’t fully accept the theory, im just saying that it was really well put together
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Re: "To catch a shadow"- The Ultimate Life Form conspiracy

Post by YuYuChaosho »

^I think what Ivogoji meant was:

“Don’t accept the assumed facts that the official (Shadow surrounded) story has stated, you’ve gotta look into it.”
————————-///—-
Of course I could be wrong.
And if so ignore this comment.
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Re: "To catch a shadow"- The Ultimate Life Form conspiracy

Post by Triert »

Ivogoj wrote:
You posted your master theory way too close to when CI is about to get sent to the void.

Get this in an image form and upload it on imgur or something!
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Re: "To catch a shadow"- The Ultimate Life Form conspiracy

Post by Ivogoji »

Sonic boards are staying open though?

I'll probably repost some of this stuff on my personal blog anyway.
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Re: "To catch a shadow"- The Ultimate Life Form conspiracy

Post by Sable »

In case it is of use to you, The Truth of 50 Years Ago was recently retranslated by Windii and revised by me.

Also of note, there's a partial warning outside of Shadow's chamber in SA2 that mentions the Black Arms.

Image
"Astronomers have concluded that monstrous blacks"
Additionally, Shiro Maekawa was recently asked on Twitter whether or not Sonic was intended to be the Ultimate Lifeform and he stated that it was deliberately left ambiguous.

And finally, here's all three stories' cutscenes retranslated from scratch for more accurate reference material, as the original localization is rather shoddy;

Hero | Dark | Last

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Re: "To catch a shadow"- The Ultimate Life Form conspiracy

Post by Ivogoji »

^Now I feel sloppy for not having these resources before I started.
Sable wrote: Sat Mar 31, 2018 1:11 am Additionally, Shiro Maekawa was recently asked on Twitter whether or not Sonic was intended to be the Ultimate Lifeform and he stated that it was deliberately left ambiguous.
That accords with the impression I've gotten going over the evidence: in SA2, we're supposed to think either of them could be the Ultimate Life Form, with the question staying open ended, but once they brought back Shadow for later games they had to commit to the answer that kept Sonic's backstory simple and uncomplicated.
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Re: "To catch a shadow"- The Ultimate Life Form conspiracy

Post by Goodbye-m8 »

Ivogoji wrote: Sat Mar 31, 2018 1:45 am ^Now I feel sloppy for not having these resources before I started.
Sable wrote: Sat Mar 31, 2018 1:11 am Additionally, Shiro Maekawa was recently asked on Twitter whether or not Sonic was intended to be the Ultimate Lifeform and he stated that it was deliberately left ambiguous.
That accords with the impression I've gotten going over the evidence: in SA2, we're supposed to think either of them could be the Ultimate Life Form, with the question staying open ended, but once they brought back Shadow for later games they had to commit to the answer that kept Sonic's backstory simple and uncomplicated.
Why would they leave the question open ended in the first place?
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Re: "To catch a shadow"- The Ultimate Life Form conspiracy

Post by Ivogoji »

Goodbye-m8 wrote: Sat Mar 31, 2018 2:06 am
Ivogoji wrote: Sat Mar 31, 2018 1:45 am ^Now I feel sloppy for not having these resources before I started.
Sable wrote: Sat Mar 31, 2018 1:11 am Additionally, Shiro Maekawa was recently asked on Twitter whether or not Sonic was intended to be the Ultimate Lifeform and he stated that it was deliberately left ambiguous.
That accords with the impression I've gotten going over the evidence: in SA2, we're supposed to think either of them could be the Ultimate Life Form, with the question staying open ended, but once they brought back Shadow for later games they had to commit to the answer that kept Sonic's backstory simple and uncomplicated.
Why would they leave the question open ended in the first place?
Like I explained above
"The idea wasn't so much to provide Sonic with a definitive origin story, as to add a small *implication* about his past to Sonic lore, something later games could freely ignore without issue. Within the context of SA2 as a self-contained narrative, it would offer a plausible explanation for why Sonic can use Chaos Control, which (at the time) was a one off ability that might never have gotten used again. The real purpose of these details however was to emphasize the tragic nature of Shadow's character: not only was his whole life a lie, but even his promise to Maria was a lie. We were really supposed to conclude that Shadow WASN'T who he thought he was, but as Sonic said "He was who he was, a brave and heroic hedgehog, who gave his life to save this planet..." "
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Re: "To catch a shadow"- The Ultimate Life Form conspiracy

Post by Goodbye-m8 »

^oh, that makes sense.
tbh idk how I feel about Sega bringing back shadow in later games I mean he was a cool character but like you said in the theory, his sacrifice did make his backstory even more sad and the fact that Sega did bring him back made it feel less emotional.
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Re: "To catch a shadow"- The Ultimate Life Form conspiracy

Post by YuYuChaosho »

Wait. So I just thought of something.

So does this mean the Adventure Era isn’t canon? Or is it it’s own little alternative universe?
And more than likely (if it is canon) , the Shadow they keep bring back is an android.
Wasn’t there a part in Heroes where it was revealed the current Shadow was an android?? Or am I wrong...?
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Re: "To catch a shadow"- The Ultimate Life Form conspiracy

Post by Sable »

The Adventure era is 100% canon. It's just that what they were implying in SA2 was vague enough to go back on without explicit contradictions.

The Shadow that is playable in Heroes and Shadow is the same Shadow from Adventure 2 - in the fight against Devil Doom, Eggman says that he was recovered from the site of impact after falling from space.
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Re: "To catch a shadow"- The Ultimate Life Form conspiracy

Post by Ivogoji »

The search for the true Ultimate Life Form part 2: The secret history of the Sonic universe

Sonic Battle was released about 26 days ahead of Sonic Heroes, and was thus Shadow's true return to the Sonic series following SA2. Chronologically it was meant to take place after Sonic Heroes, which featured Shadow's proper reintroduction to the cast after his apparent death (as well as the proper introduction of Omega, who is mentioned briefly in Sonic Battle). However, there was a major discrepancy between the two games' depictions of Shadow: namely, in Sonic Heroes, Shadow has amnesia, but in Sonic Battle he does not.

In Shadow the Hedgehog he went on to regain his memories, and finally learned everything about his past. But that game came out years after Sonic Battle- did the older game anticipate the whole plot of Shadow the Hedgehog?

Or, as I theorized in part 1, did SEGA have a change of plans about Shadow's identity between the release of SA2 and Sonic Heroes? Does Sonic Battle hold the key to determining when this change took place?

I believe it does.

The theory is, the Ultimate Life Form that was created for Gerald's medical research on the ARK was lost after Maria ejected it to Earth; our Shadow is a weapon created for the military on Prison Island, a copy of the original "Shadow". If our Shadow were the original, we would expect characters to acknowledge his real purpose, rather than mistakenly think he was created for revenge and destruction. Yet in Sonic Battle, Shadow considers himself a weapon, and is motivated to destroy the fighting robot Emerl because he views it as a weapon like him.

Sonic: But what about you?! You say he's the ultimate weapon, but weren't you supposed to be the military's ultimate secret weapon?! Maybe you've forgotten, but I seem to recall you saving humanity at some point.
Shadow: [grunt] ... That was for Maria.
Sonic: Exactly! If you have a heart, there's no way you'd use your power for the forces of evil! Weapons aren't supposed to have "hearts", but both you and Emerl do. You guys... you aren't just weapons!
Shadow: Hmph! No, you are wrong, we were created as weapons. If the people of this world ever want peace, they must destroy us.


This dialogue echoes the final scene of SA2, where Rouge wonders if Shadow was only created to fulfill Gerald's mission of revenge, and Sonic assures her it that it was Shadow's heroic choices that made him who he really was.

But the whole debate turns on Shadow being created after GUN seized control of the Ultimate Life Form project, which agrees with Rouge's theory but contradicts what would later be established in Shadow the Hedgehog.

Shadow's character arc in Sonic Battle doesn't mesh with how things were resolved in the Gamecube titles. At the end of Shadow the Hedgehog, Shadow comes to terms with his identity and puts his past behind him for good; in Sonic Battle he is borderline suicidal, believing he is a weapon whose only purpose is destruction. His story in Battle concerns his search for a "soul", for proof that he really is more than an artificial being.

Remember, if Shadow really was created on Prison Island, then all of his memories of Maria are fake. Sonic Battle seems to confirm this, as Shadow's story opens with him seeing visions of the ARK once again, and dismissing them as "another illusion". Shadow can't make peace with himself knowing that he's a creature programmed to destroy humanity. It's only after he discovers that Gerald gave him and Emerl "hearts", free-will, emotions-based AIs, modeled on Maria's own compassionate heart that Shadow realizes that he's more than just a weapon.

This effectively answers the problem of his false memories, as even if Shadow never met the real Maria, she's still a real part of him. "Maria will always be with me" he says.

But if Sonic Battle confirms that SA2's Shadow is the second one, who is the first "Shadow" Gerald created?

In fact, Rouge calls Emerl the Ultimate Life Form, and the Professor indeed worked on him before he created Shadow, but obviously he can't be the Ultimate Life Form we're looking for because he was created by the Echidnas three or four thousand years ago.
Sonic Battle wrote:
Prof. Gerald's Journal 1

I found a most interesting specimen
from the warehouse. I believe it is
some sort of puppet or robot made by
an ancient people. At first, I didn't
think anything of it, but when I was
experimenting on "Chaos Emeralds," it
began to move. This suggests the
possibility that even the ancient
civilizations could harness the power
of the "Chaos Emeralds."
When I was researching various papers
related to the "Chaos Emeralds" and
this robot, I discovered that there
was a possibility that this robot was
something incredible. I don't want
to get ahead of myself, but this robot
may be the cause of the destruction of
the Fourth Great Civilization. I'm not
sure I believe it just yet, though.
Prof. Gerald's Journal 2


I am no longer able ignore the
possibility that this robot did in fact
destroy the Fourth Great Civilization.
I have discovered a stone tablet that
explains as much. According to the
tablet, "When the figure falls from
the heavens, and the Stone of the Gods
is joined, all that exists will become
one again."
Wait, stone tablet?

Like the one Eggman discovered that described Chaos, the God of Destruction? It is fair to consider Sonic Battle a sequel to Sonic Adventure as much as it is to SA2; Chaos even makes a return appearance. It is very likely the same tablet mentioned in both games.

We know of course that Prof. Robotnik studied the ancient Echidna civilizations to create much of his technology aboard the ARK. The first journal entry quoted above probably represents the "eureka!" moment when Gerald initially realized the scientific potential of the ancients. That would mean he was studying the Gizoid before he began work on virtually any of his other inventions.

We might ponder whether the entirety of Project Shadow was in fact inspired by Gerald's research on the Gizoid, his attempt to replicate the ancient Ultimate Being with a modern, organic Ultimate Life Form.

Now what is the Gizoid exactly? An artificial being that gains power from the Chaos Emeralds, growing stronger after absorbing each one into its body, unleashing devastation when it absorbs all seven.

In essence, the Gizoid is an artificial Chaos, the original Artificial Chaos. There's even something of a resemblance to Chaos 0 in the Gizoid's face.
Image
Image
It can't be a coincidence that the same ancient people who were almost wiped out by Perfect Chaos before Tikal sealed him in the Master Emerald were finally destroyed when the Gizoid first went berzerk. Did they create the Ultimate Being to imitate this other "Ultimate Life Form's" godly power?

Which raises another intriguing question: was Chaos himself the product of ancient science seeking to unlock the power of the Chaos Emeralds? I've discussed the possibility before, that Chaos might be the Original Ultimate Life Form created by the previous Echidna civilization before Pachacamac's time, and that Chaos served as a blue print for Project Shadow.

This only supports evidence that was already present in SA2, as we see Gerald created the Artificial Chaos as stepping stones to creating the Ultimate Life Form- they even bear the Project Shadow insignia. Even the Biolizard appears to be an attempt to imitate Perfect Chaos' reptilian features.

What does that tell us about the possible identity of the first "Shadow" Prof. Robotnik completed?

Well... look at Chaos. Who else do we know that's green-eyed and blue all over?

Image
As mentioned at the beginning, if this hypothesis is correct, then Shadow's history was revamped after the release of Sonic Heroes in order to make him the one and only Shadow the Hedgehog. This means things like the Black Comet and the actual purpose of the Eclipse Cannon were only conceived after the change took place. It also explains why Sonic Battle's characterization was discarded; the new-old Shadow had authentic memories of knowing Maria Robotnik in person, and had no need for an artificial soul that allowed Maria to live on within him (hence this idea never being referenced again). Black Doom's status as Shadow's biological "father" rests on Gerald needing the alien's immortal blood to complete the Ultimate Life Form; although, if we are sticking to the two-Shadows theory, there's nothing preventing Gerald from having used Doom's DNA to create the second Shadow during his confinement on Prison Island, since GUN had given him enough leeway to allow Gerald to edit Shadow's memories without them knowing. That means it's still possible the Ultimate Life Form created on the Space Colony ARK was the final stage of the Artificial Chaos line, born without Black Arms genes.

SEGA's decision to rewrite Shadow's origin is understandable, since if he became a permanent member of the supporting cast, the ambiguity of SA2's backstory would always make the sequence of events confusing for new fans- that, and the change was carried out so subtly that almost no one noticed it had taken place. Freeing up Sonic's own backstory so future games would never need to worry about these details was also a bonus. SEGA always preferred to keep Sonic simple. But damn if they didn't pull the wool over our eyes.

-Addendum-
Spoiler:
Once upon a time there was a blue and red superhero named Spider-Man, who married his sweetheart Mary Jane. But superheroes getting married was a big deal- it could hurt comic book sales if fans likes their heroes single. So they came up with a back door out of the marriage, called the Clone Saga. A hero called the Scarlet Spider appeared one day, who appeared to be a clone of Spider-Man. In truth, the real Spider-Man had been replaced by a clone a little while before the marriage had taken place, and while the clone lived Spider-Man's life the real Spider-Man became the Scarlet Spider. The plan was to have the clone and Mary Jane quietly go away and have the still single Scarlet Spider resume his role as the main character. But the writers realized this was a bad idea, and after the biggest train wreck of writing in comic book history they 'revealed' that Spider-Man was Spider-Man and the Scarlet Spider was a clone. The Scarlet Spider quietly went away and the still married Spider-Man retained his role as the main character. A thus a great cautionary tale was born.

Once upon a time there was a blue and red superhero named Superman, who married his sweetheart Lois Lane. But superheroes getting married was a big deal- it could hurt comic book sales if fans likes their heroes single. So they came up with a back door out of the marriage, called the Sandman Saga (Post-Crisis iteration). A weird entity called the Sand Superman appeared one day before Superman's projected marriage, and fought Superman to the death, seemingly being destroyed. In truth, Sand Superman had killed and replaced the real Superman, and there was now a dead Superman body beneath the Fortress of Solitude. The plan was to have the Sand Superman marry Lois, then dispose of him if the marriage didn't work out, bringing the real Superman back from the dead later. But the writers saw the Clone Saga in progress and realized this was a bad idea, so they came up with a dumb explanation for the Superman corpse while quietly acting as if the Sand Superman was the real Superman all along, and he eventually married Lois.

Why am I telling these stories? Because this sort of thing happens in long running fiction from time to time. Doppelgangers of well known heroes are introduced, and the storytellers play with our perception of who the characters really are, sometimes tricking us. SA2 is a similar situation. Sonic was the Ultimate Life Form, but SEGA had a back door, a way to rewrite SA2 without rewriting anything. Yet the clues are still there, right where they've always been. Arguably it comes down to personal preference: which version of the story do you want to believe?
Last edited by Ivogoji on Tue Aug 28, 2018 1:53 am, edited 5 times in total.
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Re: "To catch a shadow"- The Ultimate Life Form conspiracy

Post by Jeffery Mewtamer »

I always enjoy your analysis threads, Ivo, and would love a linke to this blog of yours.

Also, is there anywhere I can download a complete text version of the recent fan translation of the Adventure games?

And while I consider Battle the most well written game in the series and think it a shame just about everything that isn't Chronicles completely disregards battle's plot and character development, I now find myself wondering if Battle's English script suffers translation issues similar to the Adventure games.
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Re: "To catch a shadow"- The Ultimate Life Form conspiracy

Post by Ivogoji »

The translation Sable provided makes it sound even more like Sonic was talking about himself in the final scene.

I do wonder if there's anything in the Japanese version of Sonic Battle that could shed further light on this theory.
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Re: "To catch a shadow"- The Ultimate Life Form conspiracy

Post by Triert »

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Re: "To catch a shadow"- The Ultimate Life Form conspiracy

Post by Sable »

Fun thing I noticed: (Forces spoilers)
Spoiler:
Infinite's theme is essentially one huge diss track towards Shadow, right? So, how about that lyric - "You live a lie and that's the difference in you and me."
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Re: "To catch a shadow"- The Ultimate Life Form conspiracy

Post by Ivogoji »

I wonder how Infinite learned that. From Eggman?
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Re: "To catch a shadow"- The Ultimate Life Form conspiracy

Post by Toasty_Tyrant »

I agree with Shadow.

Even if his memories are fake, it is still him, Shadow.


When I read this a week or two ago, I thought it would change what I think of Eggman's uncle.


At first, it did.

Then I realized: Shadow is still Shadow. He is still an artificial being. Even if he wasn't finished/created on the ARK, he is still The Ultimate.. besides the part when he called Sonic that during the FinalHazard... and besides how awesome Cheese is... and besides Knuckles punching out Super Sonic that one time...

I'm rambling.

Regardless of where he was completed, I still believe he gots alien DNA, and that the Shadow from Adventure 2 is the same Shadow in the following games.
Umm... Hiya?

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Re: "To catch a shadow"- The Ultimate Life Form conspiracy

Post by Ivogoji »

Toasty_Tyrant wrote: Mon Jun 04, 2018 10:15 pm Eggman's uncle.
Who?
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Re: "To catch a shadow"- The Ultimate Life Form conspiracy

Post by Toasty_Tyrant »

The "child" of your grandfather that isn't your own parent is you aunt or uncle.


Shadow is Eggman's uncle, basically.
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Re: "To catch a shadow"- The Ultimate Life Form conspiracy

Post by chaoadventures »

Image

Wouldn't that mean,

Image
Shadow, being the kind, yet grumpy uncle he is, decided to grant his nephew one wish.
Image


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