Shadow Archetype: Difference between revisions

* The incredibly freaky first appearance of dark Sonic in the ''[[Sonic X]]'', in response to the sight of his friends being injured and imprisoned (and exposure to the negative energy of Fake Chaos Emeralds, see: [[Green Rocks]]) Dark Sonic emerges from the normally far-calmer (by comparison, anyway) Sonic and proceeds to beat the living begeezus out of a couple of Metarex testing robots. Ironically enough, he was snapped out of it by Eggman.

* In ''Aquarian Age: Sign for Evolution'' the character Yoriko has two distinct personalities for two of the five different factions in the show, Aryashiki (the side she grew up believing she had to take command of) and Darklore. It turns out that her Darklore persona (which has been causing havoc for most of the series) was as much a part of her as her Aryashiki one and it just took a while for her to realize. She embraces her other half and takes her back.

It was a little scary there for a while. But it's going to be okay now. }}

* In ''[[Pokémon Special]]'', Lance is this to Yellow. Both {{spoiler|were born in Viridian Forest}}, and both have {{spoiler|the power to heal pokemon and listen to their thoughts}}. While Yellow is a pacifistic [[Friend to All Living Things]] who just wants everyone to live in peace as a result of this, Lance is a brutal [[Well-Intentioned Extremist]] who plans to wipe out all of humanity because he believes Pokémon and humanity to be completely incompatible with each other. (And when they clash? [[Beware the Nice Ones|Good]]. [[Superweapon Surprise|Lord]].)

** The difference being that Rachel Dawes was there to push Bruce back into believing there's good in the world worth fighting for, where as for poor Harvey there was just the Joker showing up to mess with his head some more.

** ''[[The Dark Knight]]'' Joker tries to draw parallels between himself and Batman:

* Darth Vader of ''[[Star Wars]]'' was this to Luke. Both expert Lightsaber duelists, both masters of [[The Force]], both reliant on prosthetics, and the [[Luke, I Am Your Father|family connection]] only added to their similarities. The prequel trilogy tried to emphasize them further by giving Anakin's backstory parallels to Luke's. Luke was even offered a chance to turn to [[The Dark Side]]; the difference between Vader and Luke was that Luke opted to remain in the light.

** In the first film, the nearest thing Luke has to a shadow is Han Solo. Luke is young and naive, empathic, believes in the Force, and is a great pilot; Solo is [[Older and Wiser]], self-centered, a [[Flat Earth Atheist]], and is also a great pilot. The second and third movies played up the shadow symbolism between Luke and Vader, both of them dressing in black, losing a hand in battle, etc., but Luke wasn't that great a duelist ''or'' much of a Force master. He did inherit his father's talent for flying, and his impulsive nature.

** About Sam and Gollum: in the first book, Sam is spying on Frodo and Gandalf when the latter surprises him. Later, Sam pretends to be sleeping when Frodo and Gildor are talking, then Sam is outed as a spy by Merry before they depart to Rivendell, and Sam is present without invitation at Elrond’s council. In the second book, after Gollum’s fight with himself, in his most vulnerable moment, what is the accusation Sam makes that truly sends Gollum over the edge? '''Snooping.'''

*** Also, remember all those conversations between Smeagol and Gollum that Sam '''spied and was utterly sick of hearing?''' Just when Sam and Frodo reach Mount Doom, What is Sam Gamyi doing? [[Talking to Themself]] about the futility of their quest!

** Similarly, [[Big Bad|Sauron]] is to an extent the shadow of both Gandalf and Galadriel, while [[Evil Sorcerer|Saruman]] is a more specific shadow of Gandalf.

* ''[[Discworld]]'' has quite a few shadow pairs: Esme and Lily Weatherwax (complete with lots and lots of mirror imagery), Angua and Wolfgang von Uberwald, Moist von Lipwig and Reacher Gilt (arguably), and Vimes has his [[Enemy Within|Beast]], which he sees in many of the worst criminals he faces. Carcer is another example of a shadow archetype for Vimes: Where Vimes spends all his time controlling his inner monster, Carcer indulges the Beast to the fullest extent.

* In the works of Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child, Aloysius Pendergast has a shadow in the form of his brother Diogenes. Both are utterly brilliant, masters of disguise, and experts in numerous fields; Diogenes, however, suffered a childhood trauma which drove him quite mad.

* Charles DeLint has the formation of actual Jungian Shadow Archetypes be an actual thing that happens in his Newford setting. One story revolves around the young woman who is the shadow of a recurring skeptic character; he cast her off at some point in childhood and no longer is aware of her, and she has identity issues. Eventually concludes she ''can'' be her own person, having been independent ever since she was cast; honorable mention to a conversation she has with a mentor figure:

'''Mentor:''' Yeah, me too. }}

== Theatre ==

* [[Cyrano De Bergerac]]: One strange manifestation of a Shadow Archetype that [[Light Is Not Good|includes only positive things that nonetheless inflict mayor damages to the protagonists of the play]]. In Act II Scene X, Cyrano proposes Christian to lend him his eloquence if Christian lends Cyrano his handsome victor charms. [[The Ace|Without the defects of both of them (lack of wit and lack of beauty) this eloquent and fair]] Shadow Archetype will woo Roxanne… and ‘’it’’ will succeed, of course, but at the price of [[Loving a Shadow|Roxanne being infatuated with someone who never existed for fifteen years]] and never noticing Cyrano’s (or Christian’s) true, imperfect love.

== Video Games ==

*** To elaborate: Seal Clubbers face a seal stronger and fiercer that any before. Turtle Tamers fight a Turtle Poacher. Pastamancers, who control Pasta Spirits, fight a pasta spirit who no one can control. Saucerors, who allow The Sauce to flow through them, fight a blob that was rejected by the sauce. Accordion Thieves fight an angry mariachi, and Disco Bandits fight the Spirit of New Wave, the genre which killed Disco.

* [[Devil May Cry]] has one, in its 3rd game. One of the final bosses in the game (in fact the last you face before the Boss Rush) is literally a shadow version of Dante. When it first confronts him, Dante demonstrates an oddly adroit knowledge of literature and culture (pointing out that the Shadow typically represents aspects of themselves the hero must overcome) before defaulting to his typical persona.

* [[Word of God]] has it that ''[[NiGHTS Into Dreams|NiGHTS]]'' is supposed to represent the Shadow Archetype. However, the character is, in fact, an aversion of the "Always Negative in Fiction": [[Ni GHTS]], while somewhat mischievous, is definitely not evil...{{spoiler|at least, not during the events of the game. It's said that [[Ni GHTS]] was created by the [[Big Bad]], Wizeman, as a helper.}} He/she/it instead embodies positive traits that are buried in the protagonists due to their problems -- freedom, courage, self-confidence, etc.

** Interestingly, [[Ni GHTS]], a shadow archetype, has ''his/her own shadow archetype'': Reala, a servant to Wizeman. (Damn, it's hard to write anything involving [[Ni GHTS]]. The guy...er, girl...whatever is the Patron Saint of [[No Biological Sex]].)

* In ''[[Tales of Symphonia]]'', {{spoiler|Mithos}} seems to fit this trope with {{spoiler|Lloyd}}, both having much the same origins, but the latter not becoming the former by willing to accept one's own mistakes.

* Shirou from ''[[Fate/stay night]]'' has two main examples. Firstly, there is {{spoiler|Kotomine}}, a man who has exactly as much a sense of self but can only find meaning in hurting others where Shirou can only find meaning in helping them. Secondly, there is {{spoiler|Archer}}, the embodiment of Shirou's [[Wide-Eyed Idealist]] ideals of becoming an 'ally of justice' who'll always try to save everyone; said person hates what he's become {{spoiler|and wants to kill Shirou from keeping him from going down the same path.}}.

* [[Silent Hill]] - From the second game on, the hero and antagonist are more or less shadow archetypes of each other: