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Canon Shadow: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
A [[Optional Party Member|character]] or item that is to be in the [[Player Party]] or inventory, but other than being able to hit enemies and have stats, it has no effect on the plot. It looks like it's there, but for most effects and purposes, it isn't. Especially odd when its very existence should be a big deal. A form of [[Gameplay and Story Segregation]], this is a cross between [[Player Mooks]] and [[
Canon Shadows are often the result of [[New Game+]], [[Downloadable Content|DLC]] [[Promoted to Unlockable|and]] [[Game Shark|other]] [[
Even (and especially) when it should be huge.
See [[Purely Aesthetic Gender]] for a similar phenomenon specific to gender.
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Examples of Types of '''Canon Shadow''':
# That member of the [[Player Party]] who should at least have knowledge of the plot or a very strong reaction with the plot; and yet nothing happens, either from them personally or from people who [[Unusually Uninteresting Sight|see them.]] (This does not count if they're intentionally being unhelpful.)
# That [[Sword of Plot Advancement]] gotten early through Shenanigans but doesn't advance the plot until you go through the motions of getting it in a cutscene.
# That character who died a [[Plotline Death]] on whom you used Shenanigans to get them [[Back
# You can also gain certain party members sooner than the plot dictates, and if they're gained in the plot via [[Defeat Means Friendship]], use them to fight themselves.
# It is the ''enemy's'' singular [[Artifact of Doom]] or [[Evil Weapon]] that you have acquired through Shenanigans; it doesn't corrupt you and the enemy also has his own version.
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** [[Word of God]] even refers to her as a "Refraction of the [[The Multiverse|Kaleidoscope]]."
* In the [[New Game+|second playthrough]] of [[Xbox]] ''[[Ninja Gaiden]]'', one can find the [[Artifact of Doom|Dark Dragon Blade]] if you know where to look. The villains still have their version; nobody thinks of trying to steal yours.
* [[Lampshaded]] in ''[[Nie R]]''. As part of a story event, a smith gives you a broken sword and promises to fix it. He does this again on a New Game Plus, which carries your inventory over. Nier asks if he doesn't have it already. Weiss just tells him this is how things happen the second time through.
* In the ''[[Soul Series|Soulcalibur]]'' series, one can unlock the [[Artifact of Doom|Soul Edge]] as a weapon for any character. It may have a negative effect like random stats or depletes your HP, but it does not drive you crazy unless your character actually uses it in a cutscene. In some endgame cutscenes, it's possible to watch your character use their Soul Edge that you unlocked to destroy the Soul Edge dropped by the final enemy; or throw their Soul Edge away and pick up the other; and get corrupted.
* Common in [[Nippon Ichi]] games; many of the [[Downloadable Content|DLC]] or [[Cameo]] characters who join the party have no effect on the plot; no matter what their previous experience is.
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* In the PSP [[Updated Rerelease]] of ''[[Tactics Ogre]]'', there is a function called "The World System", similar to [[New Game+]]; it lets you take your characters back in time to any decision made and let's you pick a different choice and follow a different path. This allows for situations where you can have characters who joined your party in one timeline help you kill their alternate selves who opposed you in another in gameplay. Plotwise, though, you'll grieve the death of a character even with them still in your party.
* In ''[[The World Ends With You]]'', after you play the whole game, you can play with any Partner in whatever week you like. Even against themselves, or when you're fighting to save them.
* One can regain the literal ghost of a character who sacrifices herself in ''[[Jeanne D'Arc]]'', and the special cutscene where you get her makes it ''seem'' she can talk and such; but cutscenes have the characters indicate that this person is completely gone. Of course; you can't do this until you beat the game.
* In ''[[Mass Effect 1]]'', any new game Commander Shepard can learn any skill that you have an achievement unlocked for from previous games. It is possible to have a Assault Gun Wielding Biotic Shepard with Engineering skills, despite not being that class.
* In ''[[Mass Effect 2]]'', during Tali's loyalty mission, part of the space fleet that is Tali's home is quarantined to seal off an uprising of Geth, which are the mortal enemies of Tali's people, and charges are brought against Tali for bringing active Geth aboard the fleet. It's possible to unlock the Geth character Legion beforehand and bring him along for the trial. They react appropriately, but all it takes is some short bluster (apparently, the perrogative of captains to bring whichever of their crew along they like goes a ''long'' way in Quarian culture) before they stand down. Apart from a few strange looks and one snide comment during the trial, nobody else has a problem with it. This also happens if you bring Legion aboard the Citadel; his presence is acknowledged, but the security guard seems to think he's just a consumer-model robot assistant. Most players never encounter these incidents, though, as Legion is typically obtained right before the chain of events leading to the endgame begins - you actively have to go out of your way from the plot (and risk the circumstances) to take him anywhere.
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'''Kal'Reegar:''' You know, ordinarily that wouldn't fly with me, but I can't afford to be picky right now! }}
** Another example is the DLC characters, Zaeed and Kasumi. Occasionally they will throw in a comment about something, but they never make any major plot difference, unless you have them do something notable during the Suicide Mission.
** Like the first game, any newly created Shepard can have one of a set of skills from characters he gained the achievements of their loyalty in previous games. This can include oddities like [[Mind Control|Dominate]] which only vampire mutant Asari can do.
*** And then there's the [[Downloadable Content|DLC]] which gives Shepard....a Collector outfit. You'd think THAT would get at least a funny look.
*** [[Justified Trope|Justified,]] since a lot of people don't even think the Collectors actually exist, much less know what one looks like.
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** And of course, bringing [[Deadpool]] into the boss fight with Deadpool results in an argument between the two of them.
* The dialogue rich game ''[[Scarface the World Is Yours]]'' has Tony Montana talk about how he wants the Big Bad dead. He does this even after the Big Bad is dead.
* In ''[[Mortal Kombat]]: [[Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks|Shaolin Monks]]'', Scorpion and Sub-Zero are unlockable as player characters in the Story Mode. Unfortunately, neither of them actually has a storyline and the game jsut acts as if you're playing as default protagonists Liu Kang and Kung Lao, even when you're fighting Boss Battles against [[Mirror Boss|Sub-Zero and Scorpion]].
** The DLC characters in ''[[Mortal Kombat 9]]'' play a similar role. While they all have Arcade Ladder endings, none of them contribute to the canonical story (Skarlet cameos in crowds a few times, [[Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance|Kenshi]] is called to fight at the end of one of the chapters but never directly seen, [[Mortal Kombat 3|Rain]] is given a background cameo in The Cathedral stage, [[Guest Fighter]]s [[God of War (series)|Kratos]] and [[A Nightmare On Elm Street 2010|Freddy Kreuger]] add nothing ''at all'' to the plot).
* A minor example occurs in ''[[Persona 3]] [[Updated Rerelease|Portable]]''. The female protagonist's route includes an opportunity to prevent the [[Plotline Death]] of {{spoiler|Shinjiro Aragaki}}, instead putting him into a coma to justify his absence from the rest of the game up until the ending. While the direct references to the character being dead are edited out, the dialogue isn't altered enough to change the fact that everyone is still ''acting'' like he died, particularly when his best friend asserts that "he was a hell of a guy."
** Of course, as the [[Convenient Coma]] page will tell you, it's never asserted that he ''will'' wake up from his coma, so for all intents and purposes he might as well be dead {{spoiler|(at least until the end of the game, but the characters don't know that)}}.
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** ''[[Metal Gear Solid]] Integral'' had a Very Easy mode in which the player starts the game with an [[Cool Guns/Submachine Guns|MP5]] (which is not found in the game world or owned by any other game characters under normal circumstances), a powerful, silenced submachine gun with a ludicrous amount of ammunition which makes the game a breeze. Your comrades will still remind you at every opportunity that due to the mission being a black op, it was critically important they sent you in with no weapons that could be traced back to you.
* ''[[Star Ocean]]'' has plenty of these, given that the first two games revolve around the small set of compulsory characters. (Four in the first, two in the second) While they all do have their own subplots and do contribute to canon events, they mostly are just there to make commentary and have fun in the private events. Despite this, some characters are more "Shadow"-like than others. Thankfully, the remakes fix these, making them [[Ascended Extra]]s.
** T'Nique in the first [[Star Ocean]] game was pretty much a [[Secret Character]] and had no private events. The PSP Version remedies this; although he's still pretty much a secret character overall.
** Dias in ''The Second Story''. Remedied in the PSP version.
** Welch Vineyard. However, potentially justified given that she really is an optional character. She holds a ''bit'' more significance in the first game than the second, where she doesn't even speak up for plot events. Granted, she's ''intentionally'' supposed to be a secret character, she holds much more weight in the third and fourth games
* In ''[[Cosmic Fantasy|Cosmic Fantasy 2]]'', you encounter a mother who tells you she is looking for her son, Milan. Milan later joins your party. Three guesses as to what she says if you go back to her with Milan in your party (the answer of course is "exactly the same thing".)
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[[Category:Gameplay and Story Segregation]]
[[Category:This Index Is Expendable]]
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