Living Shadow: Difference between revisions

no edit summary
m (revise quote template spacing)
No edit summary
 
(9 intermediate revisions by 4 users not shown)
Line 1:
{{trope}}
[[File:Facilier_shadowsFacilier 8260.jpg|link=The Princess and the Frog|frame|[[Villain Song|Are you ready?]]]]
 
{{quote|''"I have gone through the most terrible affair that could possibly happen; only imagine, my shadow has gone mad; I suppose such a poor, shallow brain, could not bear much; he fancies that he has become a real man, and that I am his shadow."''
 
{{quote|''"I have gone through the most terrible affair that could possibly happen; only imagine, my shadow has gone mad; I suppose such a poor, shallow brain, could not bear much; he fancies that he has become a real man, and that I am his shadow."''|'''[[Hans Christian Andersen]]''', |"[[The Shadow (novel)|The Shadow]]"}}
 
You're sitting by the fire one night, reading your book, when suddenly there's a gust of wind. The light flickers and you see your shadow move - except ''you're'' not moving. You get up and see that there's actually ''two'' shadows - one is yours and one, well, that one's moving independently of you. How (creepy) amazing!
Line 11:
Voluntarily separating yourself from your shadow is one of the more dangerous things you can do.
 
Not to be confused with a [[Shadow Archetype]], which isn't usually a [['''Living Shadow]]''', or with [[Fighting a Shadow]], or [[Loving a Shadow]] (which may happen with a [['''Living Shadow]]''', but is not necessary). Also not to be confused with [[Casting a Shadow]], though it's not uncommon for the two to overlap.
 
{{examples}}
 
== Anime and Manga ==
 
* Leliel, the 12th Angel in ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]],'' proved to be {{spoiler|a two-dimensional creature ''resembling'' a shadow that projected a three-dimensional, spherical shadow; everyone understandably assumed the sphere was the Angel. You attack the sphere, you get eaten by the "shadow".}}
* An episode of ''[[Ranma ½]]'' had Ranma train against his shadow (literal "shadow boxing"). Inevitably, the shadow became evil and had to be put back to normal.
* In the Thriller Bark arc of ''[[One Piece]]'', Gecko Moria's Shadow-Shadow Devil Fruit allows him to remove shadows from people as if they were living things. He can also stuff them into corpses, turning said corpses into zombies (which gain all the abilities and personality of the shadow's true owner). Shadows can also be stuffed into living people, with the same result, but after a certain period of time (depending on the willpower and concentration of the person), the shadows remove themselves forcibly.
** The Shadow-Shadow Fruit also gives Moria's own shadow the ability to move (and, of course, fight) independently, as a straighter example of this trope.
* In ''[[Soul Eater]]'', Tsubaki's {{spoiler|brother Masamune, the Uncanny Sword, has the ability to twist his shadow into a stick-figure shadow monster, an ability she inherits after defeating him.}} Crona also talked to [[Ambiguous Gender|his/her]] own shadow in their [[Mental World]], but that was more of a symbolic thing. Ragnorak, Chrona's [[Equippable Ally|partner]]/[[Body Horror|sapient blood]], also resembles a shadow somewhat.
* In the 5th arc of ''[[Jo JoJoJo's Bizarre Adventure|Jojo's Bizarre Adventure]]'' the Stand wielded by Polpo, Black Sabbath, has the ability to jump from shadow to shadow. This means any shadow big enough to fit him not attached to a human and he attacks by pulling your shadow up from the ground and stabbing it with an arrow that comes out of his mouth. Really. However it's only a 50% change you'll die from it because if you can handle it the strain on your soul you can get a superpower of varying use.
** Alessi from Part 3 also uses a shadowlike Stand, Sethan, who de-ages whomever it touches.
* {{spoiler|Pride/Selim Bradley}} from ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist (manga)|Fullmetal Alchemist]]'' has the ability to transform any shadow in his area into an [[Eldritch Abomination]] covered with eyes and teeth. Those shadows are also quite 'physical'; they can touch people and objects (and rip them apart or [[I Am a Humanitarian|consume them]]).
** In a flashback, Father's original form was shown to be a tiny, shadowy ball in a flask that was able to manifest a single eye and mouth. In chapter ninety-seven, {{spoiler|his [[One-Winged Angel|true form]] is shown to be a nothing more than an mass of shadows covered in teeth and eyes formed to resemble a human}}.
* Shadow type magic in ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]'' uses this as a fighting style, and can create tangible objects out of the stuff. Word of warning- as tempting as it might be, don't make clothing out of it. [[Clothing Damage|Like any magical construct, it will vanish if the person generating it is incapacitated]]. It took [[Magical Girl Warrior|Takane D. Goodman]] [[Naked People Are Funny|quite a... while to learn it.]]
* Some [[Pokémon]] (mostly ghost types) can turn into moving shadows to evade attack. In one of the movies, Darkrai did this ''a lot'', much to Ash's frustration.
* The Illegals in ''[[Dennou Coil]]'' resemble living shadows, especially the humanoid Nulls.
* The Nara Clan of [[Naruto]], which includes [[Brilliant but Lazy|Shikamaru]] [[Ensemble Darkhorse|Nara]], can utilize shadows as weapons for binding, [[People Puppets|controlling]], impaling, strangling, or other manipulations. Jiraiya, who is unrelated to that clan but is the main character's mentor, has a similar skill that can cause him to merge with someone's shadow, controlling them.
Line 32 ⟶ 31:
* ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]'' has the monster "Wall Shadow", which is pretty much [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin]]. A living creature hiding inside its shadow, only capable of moving along walls. In the actual card game, however, it is just a level 5 monster with 1600 ATK and 3000 DEF, capable of attacking just like any other monster.
* [[Right-Hand Hottie|Seiichirou Tatsumi]]'s power in ''[[Yami no Matsuei]]'' is manipulating shadows as a mean of transport ''and'' as a weapon.
 
 
== Comic Books ==
 
* [[Sergio Aragones]] "The Shadow Knows" strips for ''[[Mad Magazine]]'' depict people's shadows acting out their secret fantasies.
* Shadow-powered [[The Golden Age of Comic Books|Golden Age]] [[The DCU|DC]] villain Ian Karkull; at one point, he was [[Mind Screw|messing]] with [[Anti-Hero]] [[Infinity, Inc.|Obsidian]], who can also become a [[Living Shadow]]. In ''[[Superman: The Animated Series]]'', he was reimagined as a [[Cosmic Horror]] simply known as Karkull.
** The [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|Shadow Demons]] from the ''[[Crisis on Infinite Earths]]'' crossover are two-dimensional silhouettes of the Monitor, and their merest touch can be deadly.
* ''[[The Sandman]]'' story "Season of Mists" makes a specific point of describing the odd behavior of each of the Endless' shadows as they are introduced. Desire has two of them, Despair's has its own odor, Delirium's is tangible and changes shape on its own, Destiny doesn't have one, and Dream only has one when he remembers. Death's is not mentioned (although she is consistently the most human-like of the Endless), and Destruction is not present at the time.
Line 64 ⟶ 61:
* In ''[[Freddy vs. Jason]]'' Freddy Krueger plays with this trope by projecting his shadow to attack a potential victim; however, because Freddy's still recovering from his time [[Gods Need Prayer Badly|deprived of Springwood's fear and belief]], the shadow passes clean through the teenager without harming him.
* ''[[The Nightmare Before Christmas]]'': one of the denizens of Halloweentown is a living shadow that likes to cross the moon. Although he looks like Oogie Boogie, there's no connection.
* In ''[[Nocturna]]'', the [[Big Bad]] is a practically-unstoppable [[Living Shadow]] that devours light, seemingly growing more solid/substantial the more it 'eats'. {{spoiler|It was also unintentionally created by Tim, but is destroyed when he [[I'm Not Afraid of You|faces up to it, overcoming his fear of the dark]].}}
* In ''[[A Christmas]] Carol (2009)'', the Ghost of Christmas Future is Scrooge's shadow.
 
== Literature ==
 
* [[Hans Christian Andersen]]'s story ''The Shadow'' is about a writer whose shadow comes to life and eventually overcomes its owner. It has a [[Downer Ending]], too. He wrote it in 1847, which makes this [[Older Than Radio]].
** Adapted into a play by the Russian playwright Eugeny Shwartz (and later into two movies). The concept of living shadow is deconstructed - when the Shadow becomes the king and orders its former master beheaded, {{spoiler|it loses its own head. Its henchmen are forced to resurrect the writer but the Shadow is nevertheless exposed and dethroned.}}
* [[Peter Pan]] had a living shadow that escaped and he had to have Wendy sew it back on.
* In [[Dean Koontz]]'s ''Odd Thomas'' series, the main character sees these shadows and calls them "bodachs." It's implied that {{spoiler|they might actually be visitors from the future}}.
Line 79 ⟶ 75:
** A shadow which is actually a Fallen Angel.
** It even paces round the walls of a room when bored, or as close as the avatar of an immortal, soulless fallen angel can get.
* The members (cousins) of ''[[Faction Paradox]]'' have independent shadows called ''sombras que corta'' (shadows that cut) that they graft weapons onto - a cousin's shadow could take a roomful of [[Mook|mooksmook]]s apart while they themselves wouldn't have to budge an inch. Of course, this is just part of their shtick of [[Magic From Technology]] ... or is it?
* ''[[Harry Potter|Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them]]'' describes Lethifolds, which look like shadows but are actually just very flat black creatures.
* A particularly frightening variant is introduced in the second book of ''[[A Song of Ice and Fire]]''.
* Garth Nix's ''[[The Seventh Tower]]'' series has the Shadowguard and Spiritshadow [[Bond Creatures|partners]] to the Chosen.
** In his ''[[Old Kingdom]]'' novels, there are particularly dangerous [[Mooks]] called Shadow Hands.
* The titular [[Cosmic Horror]] in [http://www.eldritchdark.com/writings/short-stories/53 "The Double Shadow"] by [[Clark Ashton Smith]].
* The titular ''Haunter in the Dark'' in a story by [[H.P. Lovecraft]] appears to be some type of a shadowy creature (with wings, tentacles and a three-lobed burning eye). It's weakness is light (little light hurts it, bright light will banish it).
* The Ghouls in ''Gil's All Fright Diner'' by A. Lee. Martinez are part-[[Living Shadow]] when in darkness. Also, Earl, being a vampire, has a shadow that is completely independent of him.
* In [[Graham McNeill]] 's [[Warhammer 4000040,000]] [[Ultramarines (novel)|Ultramarines]] novel ''Dead Sky Black Sun'', they are attacked by shadows and escape only by [[Kill It with Fire]]. They are told they are only pollutants with life.
* The sleeping humans on Dorma Island in ''[[Welkin Weasels]]'' are guarded by their now-independent shadows. {{spoiler|The weasels get past them by waiting till noon. Since it's near the equator and the shadows are still cast in the same way they would be if the humans were attached, the shadows are reduced to tiny blobs which the weasels can just step over.}}
* Shades from Karen Marie Moning's ''[[Fever Series]]'' are low-caste Unseelie which hunt at night and drain their victims until there's nothing left except clothing and the dehydrated remains of whatever they couldn't eat.
Line 95 ⟶ 91:
** [[Word of God|The author explained]] that this is an allegory of the Jungian concept of the Shadow.
* The first of Walter B. Gibson's hundreds of novels of [[The Shadow]] was titled, ''The Living Shadow.''
* Played straight in [[Terry Pratchett]]'s ''[[Discworld/Carpe Jugulum|Carpe Jugulum]]'', when {{spoiler|King Verence's (second) shadow has to be removed and "killed" by the Nac Mac Feegle (with a well-aimed crossbow bolt) because its presence allows the vampires to control him}}.
* [[George MacDonald]] was apparently fond of this trope. In ''Phantastes'', a dark shadow attaches itself to the protagonist, causing him to suffer a severe depression. They play a more benevolent role in a short story entitled "The Shadows," in which they cast themselves on walls to comfort the bereaved, amuse children, inspire musicians, and confront guilty parties with their misdeeds.
* In ''[[Jonathan Strange and& Mr. Norrell]]'' it's revealed that {{spoiler|Childermass can transform himself into a shadow, having learned something during his years of service to the magician Norrell.}}
* In [[Robert E. Howard]]'s [[Conan the Barbarian]] story "[[Iron Shadows in the Moon|Shadows in The Moonlight]]" this is ''one'' of the problems.
{{quote|''Far below her something moved. It was as if a black shadow detached itself from the gulf of shadows below her. It moved slowly up the sheer face of the cliff--a vague bulk, shapeless in the semi-darkness. ''}}
** And the title -- thingtitle—thing in "[[Xuthal of the Dusk|The Slithering Shadow]]"
* In L. Jagi Lamplighter's ''[[Prospero's Daughter|Prospero Lost]]'', the barghests combine this trope with [[Hell Hound]].
* In ''[[Shadows of the Apt]]'', Scyla is haunted by a shadow from the [[Artifact of Doom|box]].
* In Susan Dexter's ''The Wizard's Shadow'', a murdered wizard turns himself into this; he then attaches himself to a passing peddler and more-or-less drags him off to finish the wizard's unfinished business.
* In ''[[The Bartimaeus Trilogy|The Ring of Solomon]]'' Khaba the Cruel has one of these. He avoids going out at noon to make it less obvious, but it's always behind him wherever the sun is, tends to be rather longer than it should be, and its limbs are sometimes threateningly outstretched when his are crossed. {{spoiler|It's actually a marid called Ammet, who is [[Happiness in Slavery|extremely devoted]] to his master.}}
* In [[Nnedi Okorafor]]'s ''[[The Shadow Speaker]]'', the main character Ejii has the ability to talk to shadows like they are alive. However the ability is not common.
* In ''[[Septimus Heap]]'', in ''Flyte'', Marcia Overstrand is haunted by her own shadow, {{spoiler|1=who turns out to be the [[Body Snatcher|Suspended]] Ellis Crackle that DomDaniel set upon her so that she would build a Shadow-fang that he corrupted for his own purposes.}}
* [[Matthew Swift]] has to deal with {{spoiler|his old teacher, Mr. Bakkir's}} [[Enemy Without|shadow]], a shadow-creature that is the projection of {{spoiler|Mr. Bakkir's}} will to live that will do anything to ensure its survival. Including tearing Matthew open to get at the [[Our Angels Are Different|Electric]] [[Willing Channeler|blue]] [[Energy Beings|angels]].
* In [[The Lost Years of Merlin]] series, Merlin eventually gets his shadow to come alive. His shadow ends up being headstrong and mischievous, and leaves after an disagreement with Merlin. {{spoiler|Luckily, he comes back just in time for the final battle, having gone to recruit the swamp ghosts to aid their cause}}.
 
== Live -Action TV ==
 
== Live Action TV ==
 
* There's an episode of ''[[The Twilight Zone]]'' called "The Shadow Man," about a living shadow that lives under a boy's bed and will harm anybody ''except'' the person whose bed he lives under. At the end of the episode, {{spoiler|the Shadow Man starts choking the boy, saying that he is a Shadow Man from a different bed}}. Brrr.
* ''[[Doctor Who]]'' has had plenty of [[Paranoia Fuel]] over the years, but they ramped it up to eleven with the Vashta Nerada from "Silence in the Library." They are piranhas of the air, things that live in shadow that can literally ''melt flesh''. They exist on billions of worlds, including Earth, where, though they mainly feed on roadkill, they still kill humans, and are the reason why every intelligent form of life is afraid of the dark. Plus, if they get inside {{spoiler|a suit meant to keep them out, they can control your skeleton and use it to chase down your friends, all whilst your last words repeat endlessly and remind the Nerada's new victims just whose corpse is chasing them down}}.
** {{spoiler|Technically the last words part was a side effect of the communicators and happens for non-Nerada deaths too, but we all know it's really there to make the Nerada victims even more creepy.}}
** [[Expanded Universe]] rivals [[Faction Paradox]] combine this with [[Nightmare Fuel]] and [[Hyperspace Arsenal]]. How? They use their [[Magitek|weird technology]] to transform their shadows into living arsenals capable of directly manifesting in 3-D, allowing their priests to calmly sit down for a spot of tea as their shadows tear all enemies around to pieces.
** Another episode, [[Doctor Who/NS/Recap/S2 S28/E10 Love and Monsters|Love And Monsters]], revealed that Elton's mother was killed by an "Elemental Shade". It's not clear or not if it was a {{spoiler|Vashta Nerada}}.
* An episode of ''[[Supernatural]]'' dealt with creatures who were invisible except for their shadows.
* One [[Monster of the Week]] in ''[[Lois and Clark]]'' was a man like this. He was an invincible killer who could enter any place as a shadow and kill his target without being seen or leaving any trace of his presence... but unfortunately, he was facing a guy with laser eyeballs and light means to him [[Weaksauce Weakness|just what it means to actual shadows.]]
* Not precisely "living," but on one episode of ''[[The X-Files]]'', an experiment involving antimatter [[Gone Horribly Wrong|goes horribly wrong]], causing the shadow of the scientist to consume the body of anyone it fell upon, leaving only a scorch mark on the wall/floor. [[Nightmare Fuel|Guaranteed to cause nightmares for days]].
* In ''[[Charmed]]'', the Woogyman appeared like this when giving instructions to the people it had possessed.
** Apparently, Cole/Balthazar used his [[Living Shadow]] for [[Mundane Utility|surveillance]].
* In an episode of ''[[Smallville]]'', "Prey," one freak-of-the-week was a meteor freak partly based on Shadow Thief.
* In ''[[Bear in the Big Blue House]]'' there's a living shadow character. She falls under the friendly/mischievous category.
* The trope is flirted with in an episode of ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation|Star Trek The Next Generation]]'', [http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Identity_Crisis_%28episode%29 Identity Crisis], in which an alien parasite is discovered by its shadow {{spoiler|since the magic camouflage it inflicts its hosts with doesn't work against spotlights.}}
* The ''[[Friday the 13th: The Series]]'' episode "Shadow Boxer" revolves around a pair of cursed boxing gloves that allowed a washed up boxer to bring his shadow to life. While the boxer was in the ring, the shadow would murder someone while the gloves granted the boxer a surge of strength, allowing him to win any fight he entered.
* An extraterrestrial [[Monster of the Week]] from ''[[Fringe]]'' resembles a three-dimensional shadow.
Line 131 ⟶ 125:
 
== Music ==
 
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGCsyshUU-A&feature=relmfu This video] by hip-hop violinist Lindsey Stirling, "Shadows", has Lindsey playing and dancing alongside her own shadow, similar to Fred Astaire's "Bojangles of Harlem" number listed above.
 
== Oral Tradition, Myths and Legends ==
== Mythology ==
 
* There's the [[wikipedia:Shadow people|shadow people]], whom various people have "witnessed" and speculated about.
* [[wikipedia:Wraith|Wraiths]] and [[wikipedia:Shade (mythology)|Shades]] sometimes.
* In Nigeria, the Yoruba people believe that a person has at least three spiritual beings. One of them, the Ojiji, is a shadow that follows its owner and awaits his return in heaven when he dies.
* In Roman mythology ghosts were usually jet-black, and resembled living shadows.
** The souls in Hades are called umbrae, umbra means shadow in Latin. So everyone becomes a [[Living Shadow]] upon their death (unless you are deified).
 
== Radio ==
 
* There was an episode of ''[[Hall Of Fantasy]]'', an old time radio program in 1953, called "The Shadow People."
 
== Tabletop Games ==
 
* A practitioner of Ebon Shadow Style, from ''[[Exalted]]'', can temporarily transform into this.
** Another example is Five Days Darkness, the shadow of the Unconquered Sun. He's a pretty nice guy, but he has a hard time helping people since he disappears in sunlight.
** Ebon Dragon, the Shadow of All Things, used to be this before the Primordial War, but the wounds he suffered forced him to become an actual three-dimensional dragon instead of just the shadow of a dragon.
* The shadowdancer Prestige Class from 3rd Edition ''[[Dungeons and& Dragons]]'' allows the character to summon a shadow as an obedient servant. There's also the shadowcaster base class that can do a whole series of interesting things with shadows, including summoning them. Most of these shadow creatures come from the plane of shadows or the Shadowfell (depending on which edition of D&D you're playing).
** There's an undead creature called a shadow in ''[[Dungeons and& Dragons|D&D]]'' which drains the strength of whatever it encounters, if the creature it attacks dies, the creature will become a new shadow under the control of its creator.
** Additionally, in 4th Edition, one of the Epic Tier Arcane Familiars is the Shadow Incarnate. It is implied to actually be the caster's shadow separated from them, and once per encounter it can be used to determine line of sight, effect, etc. for your arcane spells.
* The Lasombra of the ''[[Old World of Darkness]]'' had the Discipline of Obtenebration (shadow manipulation). Their Antediluvian [Lasombra] {{spoiler|becomes a creature of pure shadow living in the Abyss, and comes to the world during Gehenna}}.
Line 158 ⟶ 148:
 
== Video Games ==
* Five [[Living Shadow]]-[[Eldritch Abominations]] serve as the bosses for the five Nightmare Worlds in ''[[Nightmare Ned (video game)|Nightmare Ned]]''.
 
* Five [[Living Shadow]]-[[Eldritch Abominations]] serve as the bosses for the five Nightmare Worlds in ''[[Nightmare Ned (video game)|Nightmare Ned]]''.
* In ''[[Blue Dragon]]'', each character has a magical blue living shadow.
* Also in ''[[Mega Man Battle Network]]'', there are shades that are incorporeal and can only be hurt by swords.
* Some versions of Dark Link in ''[[The Legend of Zelda]]''.
** While Fanon has more or less refuted this, turning the character into a [[Shadow Archetype]], in ''[[Ocarina of Time]]'' the Water Temple's sub-boss is Link's [[Living Shadow]].
** Midna takes the form of Link's shadow whenever he's in his real form (not the wolf) in ''[[Twilight Princess]]''.
*** During early wolf-outside-twilight sections of the game, you can see her shadow riding Link's shadow...but there's no physical Midna on Link's back to match.
** The Hyrulean fascination with Link's shadow originated in ''[[Zelda II: The Adventure of Link]]'', in which Link's shadow was the surprise [[Final Boss]].
* While none of the heartless in ''[[Kingdom Hearts]]'' are anybody's shadows, they are clearly designed with this in mind, being the darkness from people's hearts. Many of the pureblood heartless (Naturally forming heartless, like Shadows, Darkballs, and Invisibles) have the ability to temporarily become shadows to dodge attacks and move faster.
** Sora also has to fight his own shadow in the [[Peter Pan|Neverland]] level in the original Kingdom Hearts. This is based on the scene from the original story(and Disney movie) where Peter Pan has to chase his own shadow.
Line 179 ⟶ 168:
* In the Pokemon games, Gengar are described as being able to take this form.
* Dante of ''[[Devil May Cry]]'' once had to fight one of these. It later became an ability of his.
* Being the Arcana of Shadow in ''[[Arcana Heart]]'', Gier naturally takes this form, swimming around in the floor of the stage and jumping out when the Maiden commands him to attack.
* Bogmire in ''[[Luigi's Mansion|Luigis Mansion]]'' is a living shadow type creature apparently made by negative emotions. Then there's the fact that its own shadows are not only sentient, and attack in swarms of about five or ten at once, but are half transparent and created by lightning.
* ''[[Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia]]'' had Blackmore, a boss near the end of the game. His shadow is host to a powerful demon, which manifests as a wolf-monster, and he apparently feeds on the shadows of others if his introduction is any indication ("I will take your shadow!"). Appropriately, his area is lit with hundreds of floor-mounted candles.
Line 191 ⟶ 180:
* ''[[Lost in Shadow]]'' : You play as a boy's shadow which has been ripped from its owner and thrown off a tower. The aim of the game is to get back to him.
* The [[Fairly Oddparents]] video game ''Shadow Showdown'' has as its main villian the Chamberlain's Shadow.
* [[Mortal Kombat|Noob Saibot]] in ''[[Mortal Kombat 9]]''. There, he gains a shadow clone that appears to be made of an ink-like substance [[Doppelganger Attack|that Noob can send out to attack enemies from afar or to bolster his close-range combos.]] If you look closely, Noob's ''real'' shadow doesn't return until his clone disappears. This might overlap with [[Literal Split Personality]], as developer notes and drawings designate this entity as "Saibot", with "Noob" as the playable character (previous games gave his full name [[Came Back Wrong|in this form]] as Noob Saibot--usuallySaibot—usually just Noob for the sake of brevity; there was no implication of a second person beforehand).
* Kind of turns up in Heaven's Feel route of [[Fate/stay night]]. The shadow {{spoiler|[[Super-Powered Evil Side|Dark Sakura]]}} kills people and {{spoiler|can [[Fate Worse Than Death|corrupt]] all Servants other than Gilgamesh. Including your love interest from the previous two routes (well, certainly from Fate, and possibly from UBW).}}
* In [[Diablo]] 2 the Assasin can summon a shadowy clone to fight on her side.
 
== WebcomicsWeb Comics ==
 
* Shadow2 and the other "glass-eyed men" from ''[[Gunnerkrigg Court]]''.
* The Shadowchild from Ursula Vernon's ''[[Digger]]'', who was supposedly 'hatched' from a dead bird and has absolutely no idea what he is. In addition to being a shadow, he can also eat the shadows of other things, which apparently kills them on the spot.
** And Sweetgrass Voice, who is far more malevolent than the innocent but powerful Shadowchild.
* ''[[Misfile]]'' has the [[Big Bad]] of Book 8, a shadowy entity dubbed the Wraith by fans. {{spoiler|Apparently, it was the manifestation of [[Enemy Within|Bronwyn's confused inner desires towards her boyfriend]]. Finaly stopped when [[Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass|Rumisiel]] [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|stuffed it back where it came from]]}}.
* For a long while in ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'', Bun-Bun's shadow was replaced with a living one (the same one that tries to scare the groundhog every February 2nd2). For a while all it could do was talk and shift its shape, but after Bun-Bun started acquiring the powers of various holiday figures, it was able to take on a physical form as well.
* Jack and the Denizens from ''[[Sequential Art (webcomic)|Sequential Art]]''.
* Lord Greed from [[Parallel Dementia]].
Line 209 ⟶ 197:
 
== Web Original ==
* The Auditor from the ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20110723174118/http://krinkels.net/index_animations.html Madness Combat]'' animation series is a living shadow who can become intangible at will, among other things.
 
* The Auditor from the ''[http://krinkels.net/index_animations.html Madness Combat]'' animation series is a living shadow who can become intangible at will, among other things.
* Of [[The Tale of the Exile|The Shadows of Miir]], only Despair really fits this trope. The other Shadows are more like [[The Fair Folk]].
* An Easter Egg in a [[Homestar Runner|SBEmail]] features Homestar being [[Mirror Match|pitted against his shadow self]], fighting game style. He begins to mock to old "dip the main character in ink and make him fight himself" trope when he gets his bwathom whomped almost before the fight even really starts.
* A good variety of these in ''[[Neopets]]''; Perhaps the oldest example is the mysterious Shadow Usul.
* From ''[[The Fear Mythos]]: the Nightlanders''. The Choir also sometimes manifest within people's shadows.
* In ''[[Dragon Cave]]'', the 2011 Halloween dragon were the Shadow Walkers, dragons which can move among the shadow realm.
 
== Western Animation ==
 
* Ebon from ''[[Static Shock]]'' could turn into a living shadow and teleport people.
* In the ''[[Men in Black (animation)|Men in Black]]'' cartoon series, there were some shadow aliens.
* There's an episode of ''[[DuckTales (1987)]]'' called "Magica's Shadow War," where Magica deSpell harasses Scrooge McDuck with lots of living shadows.
* One of the villains in ''[[Justice League Unlimited]]'' was a living shadow named the Shadow Thief.
** Who has traditionally been an enemy of Hawkman, and also appeared in ''[[The Batman]]''.
Line 228 ⟶ 214:
* Johnny 13's Shadow in ''[[Danny Phantom]]''.
** Interesting in that this is not an additional thing: it is the actual lack of light caused by his presence in said light's path, and while it's moving around being alive, he doesn't cast a shadow. [[Fridge Logic|Doesn't that mean that Johnny should be invisible while it's doing its thing?]]
** No, Shadow seems to be a separate entity from Johnny. He gives it orders, the shadow follows them. Likely, Shadow just acts like Johnny's real shadow until called upon, since few other ghosts in the show cast shadows either. It's been theorized that Shadow is the embodiment of bad luck that followed Johnny 13 around in life, and now does so in death...
* In one "U.S. Acres" segment of ''[[Garfield and Friends]]'', Wade's shadow, brought to life briefly through the [[Rule of Funny]] by way of [[Tempting Fate]], gives him good reason to reassess his realization that shadows cannot hurt him.
* Piglet of ''[[Winnie the Pooh]]'' befriends his shadow when his friends are too busy to play with him in an episode. The shadow feels neglected and leaves when Piglet returns to his normal friends. Piglet's friends try to fill up his lack of a shadow by offering to give him their own shadows, but he's happily reunited with his shadow at the end.
* In ''[[Jackie Chan Adventures]]'', the Shadow Khan were [[Ninja|ninjasninja]]s that could turn into shadow and move around in that fashion, perfect for ambushing.
* In one Aesop and Son segment from ''[[Rocky and Bullwinkle]]'' the story of the dog who dropped his bone because he was trying to steal the one his reflection had was changed to the story of a dog who attacked his shadow for the same reason. He ends up knocking himself out and his shadow simply steals both bones and walks off. When he realizes that he no longer has a shadow he has to buy one off the black market. His new shadow once belonged to a man named Charlie who, it's implied, met a rather sticky end. Charlie's shadow refuses to mimic his new owners actions and the two of them don't get along very well. After they both learn to work together, it's reveled that {{spoiler|"Charlie's shadow" was really the dog's old shadow all along.}}
** Bullwinkle also had to deal with fighting his own shadow(and losing) while reading "My Shadow" (from Robert Lewis Stevenson's "A Child's Garden of Verse").
* ''[[Courage the Cowardly Dog]]'' once encountered a sentient shadow that gained consciousness after it former master - a meager, callous and grumbling old man - died. Still retaining some of his master's cruelty, the shadow spent some time terrorizing Courage but eventually {{spoiler|they reconciled and Courage even devised a plan for a shadow to find its happiness - it becomes a shadow of a star.}}
* ''[[Divine Comedy|Dante's Inferno]]: An Animated Epic''. In Limbo, the first circle of Hell, great men such as Plato, Caesar, Aristotle, Socrates, and King Latinus, are depicted as whispering shadows, unaware of their fate. Unlike the other circles of hell, their torment is the least hellish.
* In ''[[The Mask (animation)|The Mask]]'', one recurring villain was Skillet, an [[Really 700 Years Old|immortal]] [[Enfant Terrible]] intended as an evil [[Expy]] of Peter Pan. One of his powers was to release his shadow to consume those of others, causing them to rapidly age while keeping him immortal.
* In an episode of the German/Italian cartoon School For Vampires, the vampire kids learn how to control their shadows, causing them to do everything from backflips, to picking up and holding physical objects. But the main character Oskar's shadow goes wild and becomes fairly menacing until he learns to control it.
* The main cast of ''[[Re BootReBoot]]'' and [[And Zoidberg|Mike the T.V.]] once fought a shadow monster towards the end of a Dungeons and Dragons inspired game.
* Judging from her appearance and [[Word of God]] on her origins [[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic|Nightmare Moon]] may very well be one of these.
* In ''[[The Smurfs (animation)|The Smurfs]]'', Jokey's shadow comes to life when he accidentally sprinkles Mother Nature's magic powder for bringing trees to life onto it.
 
 
== Real Life ==
 
* A phenomenon known as [[wikipedia:Shadow People|Shadow People]] entails humanoid shadows appearing in the periphery of some peoples' vision, only to disappear when confronted. There are many explanations, both scientific and pseudoscientific, for this phenomenon, but little agreement over the true causes.
** More recent studies have suggested that this and similar/related phenomenon such as dopplegangers and out of body experiences are a result of, more or less, a part of the brain misfiring. Essentially, the part of the brain that's responsible for spacial self-awareness (ie how the brain knows where your hands are and how you're positioned so it can do basic things like walk and put your finger on your nose) can, if stimulated, result in the brain being fooled that you are, in effect, somewhere else such as three feet behind and to your left. Consequentially, the rest of the brain tries to reconcile the fact [[Voodoo Shark|by freaking out even more]].
Line 251 ⟶ 235:
 
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Living Shadow{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:Otherness Tropes]]
[[Category:Older Than Radio]]
Line 258 ⟶ 243:
[[Category:Villains]]
[[Category:Horror Tropes]]
[[Category:Living Shadow]]