Fighting a Shadow: Difference between revisions

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So you think you're hot stuff, eh? You actually did it, you [[Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu|punched out Cthulhu.]] You drove the [[Hit Points]] of that [[Physical God]] or [[Eldritch Abomination]] down to zero, and it [[No Body Left Behind|vanished]].

So you think you're hot stuff, eh? You actually did it, you [[Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?|punched out Cthulhu.]] You drove the [[Hit Points]] of that [[Physical God]] or [[Eldritch Abomination]] down to zero, and it [[No Body Left Behind|vanished]].

Unfortunately -- he's coming back. You see, what you killed was just ''part'' of him. [[God in Human Form|The physical part that was inhabiting our universe at the time]]. His reappearance isn't coming [[Back From the Dead]]. It's regrowing a fingernail. This is how [[The Powers That Be]] can occasionally take things into their own hands without breaking Da Rules.

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This isn't to say there wasn't some accomplishment here. At the very least, he's gone for now. In some cases this can mean peace for years. And in some...days. Better spend that time researching a way to make him [[Deader Than Dead]] or at least find a way to [[Sealed Evil in A Can|seal him in a can]] so that he can't rise again to threaten the land.

Sometimes, especially in [[Video Games]], you aren't even that lucky, however. This can be used as a variation of [[Hopeless Boss Fight]] so that [[The Battle Didn't Count]], or [[Heads I Win Tails You Lose]]. A very difficult boss that you aren't expected to defeat is presented to you. If you lose, the plot goes on with your loss, but if you win? "HAHAHA! That was only my shadow!", and then the ''real'' boss waves his hand, and you lose, anyway.

Sometimes, especially in [[Video Games]], you aren't even that lucky, however. This can be used as a variation of [[Hopeless Boss Fight]] so that [[The Battle Didn't Count]], or [[Heads I Win, Tails You Lose]]. A very difficult boss that you aren't expected to defeat is presented to you. If you lose, the plot goes on with your loss, but if you win? "HAHAHA! That was only my shadow!", and then the ''real'' boss waves his hand, and you lose, anyway.

There are four main types:

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''This is partially a '''death trope'''; examples may be spoiler-y.''

== Anime and Manga ==

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* In the [[Cthulhu Mythos]], all of Nyarlathotep's physical forms are merely avatars (or "masks" as they are sometimes called). He is the personification of the soul of the Outer Gods, so whether he actually has a real body at all is never quite clear. Yog-Sothoth (who is one of the aforementioned Outer Gods) is also an example of Type 1 of this trope, as the form in which he manifests is merely the portion of him that intersects that particular point of space and time (Yog-Sothoth exists simultaneously in all points of space and time, or rather, everything exists simultaneously WITHIN HIM. Yog-Sothoth is the PERSONIFICATION of this Trope.)

* In [[Magnus]], the title character ends up battling one of these.

* Driving the HP to 0 of the Demonlord Tagazin, in the 10th Book of the ''[[Lone Wolf]]'' series "The Dungeons of Torgar" does not kill him; it just sends him home. In fact, the Remake of the series feels obliged to point out that even if you roll a [[One Hit Kill]] with the [[Infinity ~~Plus One~~ Sword]]; no, he's not dead. You later fight him on his home turf in a later book; where he can be destroyed permanently.

* Driving the HP to 0 of the Demonlord Tagazin, in the 10th Book of the ''[[Lone Wolf]]'' series "The Dungeons of Torgar" does not kill him; it just sends him home. In fact, the Remake of the series feels obliged to point out that even if you roll a [[One-Hit Kill]] with the [[Infinity+1 Sword]]; no, he's not dead. You later fight him on his home turf in a later book; where he can be destroyed permanently.

* Many supernatural beings (such as demons) are like this in [[The Dresden Files]]; ordinarily when summoned, their spirit arrives in the mortal world and creates a construct body, and if that body is killed, the spirit is simply sent back to the Nevernever (essentially, the supernatural dimension that exists alongside the mortal world). They can be killed permanently in the Nevernever itself, if they enter directly into the mortal world in their true form (as opposed to a construct body), or with certain powerful spells and weapons.

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* Hausen and Saizou from ''[[Treasure of the Rudras]]'', you do get to kill them later in their true forms.

* An interesting variation occurs in ''[[Chrono Cross (Video Game)|Chrono Cross]]'' where the Dragon God is just the part of a bigger entity that exists outside time. When you kill the physical manifestation, it gloats that all it has to do is reform with its main self; however it's then revealed that its main self was killed by the Time Devourer long ago.

** This is also the reason you can't just destroy the [[Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu|Time Devourer]]. It will simply switch to/from a different timeline/dimension where you didn't kill it and try again.

** This is also the reason you can't just destroy the [[Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?|Time Devourer]]. It will simply switch to/from a different timeline/dimension where you didn't kill it and try again.

*** Now you know how frustrated the computer feels when you [[Save Scumming|Save Scum]].

** There is also the battle in Vipor Manor, where you seem to fight Lynx and are mocked by the original right after.

* As part of a particularly long quest chain in ''[[World of Warcraft]]'', you summon the Avatar of Hakkar in the [[Scrappy Level|Sunken Temple]] and trap his essence into some egg thingy as requested by some troll. You can do this as much as you like as he gives you a scroll to keep summoning Hakkar, saying it weakens his true form. A nearby dwarf continues the chain and you learn that actually, [[Nice Job Breaking It Hero|you've been making Hakkar stronger by summoning his avatar repeatedly.]] [[Oh Crap|Woops!]] Eventually, you ''do'' kill the true form of Hakkar, but that happened later than this quest line was introduced. And it's really not settled yet if he's actually dead or was basically just banished again.

* As part of a particularly long quest chain in ''[[World of Warcraft]]'', you summon the Avatar of Hakkar in the [[Scrappy Level|Sunken Temple]] and trap his essence into some egg thingy as requested by some troll. You can do this as much as you like as he gives you a scroll to keep summoning Hakkar, saying it weakens his true form. A nearby dwarf continues the chain and you learn that actually, [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero|you've been making Hakkar stronger by summoning his avatar repeatedly.]] [[Oh Crap|Woops!]] Eventually, you ''do'' kill the true form of Hakkar, but that happened later than this quest line was introduced. And it's really not settled yet if he's actually dead or was basically just banished again.

** According to some quests, demons in warcraft universe work like this too. If this i true, presumably the reason Archimonde and pals haven't come back is because it takes quite a while for a powerful demon to regenerate.

** According to the ''[[War of the Ancients]]'' book trilogy, Sargeras was already disembodied at the end of the War of the Ancients, when the portal he was using to enter Azeroth imploded while we was inside (as opposed to him getting disembodies only after he posessed Mediev, the last Guardian, and got killed before he could transfer his spirit back to his body). In that case him appearring on Azeroth as an avatar would fit this trope.

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* The Shadowlords in ''[[Ultima V]]''. Each attack a different town each day; [[The Fisher King|corrupting the minds of those who live there and killing the plant life.]] Even if one manages to "kill" one in normal battle (which in itself is very, very hard) they reform immediately; as they're really aspects of the Shards of Hatred, Cowardice, and Falsehood. Only a specialized ritual involving their [[True Name]]; the Shard they correspond to, and the Flame of the Opposite alignment can destroy them permanently.

* In ''[[Persona 2]]: Innocent Sin'', the last battle is against {{spoiler|an avatar of Nyarlatothep, the Crawling Chaos, who laughs at your efforts and kills a beloved character to prove a point.}} The semi-sequel, ''Eternal Punishment'', makes things a little more permanent.

* ''[[Persona 3]]'' [[Exactly What It Says On the Tin|explicitly names its foe thus]]: ''{{spoiler|Nyx Avatar}}''. The battle is [[Marathon Boss|long]], [[Barrier Change Boss|gruesome]], and [[Nintendo Hard|difficult]], and yet {{spoiler|the [[Heads I Win Tails You Lose|enemy shrugs off all damage]]}} and calls forth the undefeatable [[Cosmic Horror]] it is a mere fragment of: {{spoiler|Nyx, Death itself}}.

* ''[[Persona 3]]'' [[Exactly What It Says On the Tin|explicitly names its foe thus]]: ''{{spoiler|Nyx Avatar}}''. The battle is [[Marathon Boss|long]], [[Barrier Change Boss|gruesome]], and [[Nintendo Hard|difficult]], and yet {{spoiler|the [[Heads I Win, Tails You Lose|enemy shrugs off all damage]]}} and calls forth the undefeatable [[Cosmic Horror]] it is a mere fragment of: {{spoiler|Nyx, Death itself}}.

* In ''[[Persona 4]]'' {{spoiler|Ameno-sagiri}} is something like this for {{spoiler|Izanami}}.

* Explicitly stated what The Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man is to Gozer in ''[[Ghostbusters]]'', hence it being banished in the first movie, "killed" in the game, then {{spoiler|implied to be killed again by Ivo at the end.}}

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** Kefka was a fan of this technique, using it to taunt and ultimately defeat General Leo

* [[Mega Man X|Sigma]] becomes this, after he becomes [[The Virus]]; eradicate his current body, his viral self is still intact. Erase it, and a backup copy will pop up later in a new body. It takes killing him ''on the moon'' to finally destroy him, supposedly because his viral form will just fade away to nothing with no other robots to infect there. Unfortunately, by that time, an entire army of New Age Reploids were made, all supposedly programmed with a chip containing the DNA of every Old Age Reploids, ''including'' Sigma...

* In ''[[Final Fantasy VII]]'', Sephiroth manages to do this in a number of ways, though he doesn't have any inherent quality of always surviving death. The first times you see him in the game (when you can't fight him, and the characters wouldn't be up to it anyway), it's actually his real body but Jenova's stuff, so killing it almost certainly would not kill him. When you finally get to him for the [[Final Boss]] fights, you have to kill two physical [[One Winged Angel]] forms in a row. After that, he was still hanging out in [[The Lifestream]] or something and pulled Cloud in to a mental battle. Even after being defeated, he still refuses to be dispersed in the Lifestream like a normal dead person, but instead eventually (in ''Advent Children'') sends out three avatars (who are separate persons from him) to look for what's left of Jenova. When they find it, one of them uses it to transform into Sephiroth, whom Cloud kills again. After ''that'', he's presumably gone for good.

* In ''[[Final Fantasy VII]]'', Sephiroth manages to do this in a number of ways, though he doesn't have any inherent quality of always surviving death. The first times you see him in the game (when you can't fight him, and the characters wouldn't be up to it anyway), it's actually his real body but Jenova's stuff, so killing it almost certainly would not kill him. When you finally get to him for the [[Final Boss]] fights, you have to kill two physical [[One-Winged Angel]] forms in a row. After that, he was still hanging out in [[The Lifestream]] or something and pulled Cloud in to a mental battle. Even after being defeated, he still refuses to be dispersed in the Lifestream like a normal dead person, but instead eventually (in ''Advent Children'') sends out three avatars (who are separate persons from him) to look for what's left of Jenova. When they find it, one of them uses it to transform into Sephiroth, whom Cloud kills again. After ''that'', he's presumably gone for good.

** The Sephiroth in ''[[Kingdom Hearts]]'' is apparently a more straightforward example, an embodiment of Cloud's inner darkness who will always return after being defeated by him. Cloud's fighting his own shadow, in a way. Okay, maybe it's not that straightforward.

* In the ''[[Legacy of Kain]]'' series, ''you'' get to be this guy when you play as Raziel. Raziel is a creature of the Spectral Realm, so when he appears in the Material Realm (where most of the story and gameplay takes place), that is just a new body he creates every time he reaches full power. Every time you die in the Material Realm you simply show up in that same spot in the Spectral Realm, and either suck souls to regenerate your health or simply wait for it to happen on its own; once you reach full health you just need to find a portal and you can return to the physical world (and since time in the spectral realm effectively stands still, whatever killed you may as well have thought you just teleported). Die in the Spectral Realm and you will return to the Abyss, and can continue on from there.

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[[Category:Immortality]]

[[Category:Fighting A Shadow]]

[[Category:Trope]]

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