#everytime I see things abt shadow being an unabashed loner who doesnt care for anybody but himself and revels in his trauma im just like.

[carnation-damnation]

in sa2 shadow learns to give humanity a second chance, that there are people on earth that don't deserve to suffer the same pain he did. In heroes he gains a posse of others like him that stand by him even if he may not even be the original of him. In shth he has allies that help him during an ALIEN INVASION and in sonic 06 he is defended by rouge after learning that even after all shadow's given and changed, humanity still wants to punish shadow for some yet unknown reason, and this angers rouge so much so that she argues against the truth even though she knows it could be true. And Omega isn't exactly happy to tell Shadow that he'd be the one imprisoning him. Shadow isn't happy seeing his offline team member surrounded by rubble and fire in a far off future where everything's gone wrong.

Shadow was created to live FOREVER. He was created to help somebody who couldn't help herself and he was loved. Shadow sacrificed himself for the fate of the future of Earth after learning that its worth protecting. He died so others could live. He then took his unexpected second chance at life to fight against the same evils as he did before, even if he can't remember them. If Shadow's writing was treated with the same care and love for the character that I know his original incarnation in Sa2 had, we'd be seeing a kid who was a very hurt and traumatized hedgehog heal and tear down the walls he's built. It doesn't mean that he becomes a completely kind and perfect person who never does anything wrong, absolutely nobody in the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise is like that, but he grows. We've seen evidence that he is not difficult to get along with, he is, at his core, somebody who wants to do good things for the better of others, someone who wants to protect others (even people he doesn't even know), and that he cares.

It may be very silly to be so passionate about a set of characters who's writing changes every game/comic run/show, but it is also frustrating that the arc of a character can be so badly burned and shredded up that it's treated like it never existed in the first place.

#everytime I see things abt shadow being an unabashed loner who doesnt care for anybody but himself and revels in his trauma im just like. #he died 4 this? fr? #IN THIS ESSAY I WILL. #shadow is sooo nuanced and i know that word is so overused but like. dude I am tired #long post #negative #broooo it is 8:30. gud nite #Pls no one misinterprit this post. Manifesting perfect reading of my brain and intentions. signed nathan #Thank you