Living Shadow: Difference between revisions

* 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.

** 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 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.]]

* 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.

* [[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]].

* [[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}}.

* 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.

* 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).

* 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 ''[[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.}}

* 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}}.

* 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.

** {{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.

* 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.

* 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.

* 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.

** 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).

** 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).

** 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}}.

** 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.

* 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.

* 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.

* 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.

* 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.

* 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 2nd). 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]]''.

* 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.

== Western Animation ==

* 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?]]

* 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 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").

* ''[[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.