Shadow (Final Fantasy)

Shadow (Japanese: シャドウ) is a character introduced in the 1994 role-playing video game Final Fantasy VI by Square Enix. He was conceived by Tetsuya Nomura, based on a character class idea he had wanted to utilize in Final Fantasy V. A ninja mercenary, he travels with a canine companion, Interceptor (インターセプター, Intāseputā), and is available during certain sections of the game as a party member. Elements of his past may also be revealed to the player, in which they discover he was originally a robber named Clyde, who after the death of his partner in crime eventually abandoned his past and took on the name Shadow. He has since appeared in other games related to the Final Fantasy franchise, including Dissidia Final Fantasy Opera Omnia, where he is voiced by Yoshito Yasuhara.

Shadow was well received upon debut, praised for his character depth compared to the other party members but also the illustration of his past within the game itself and how it relates to particular characters. His moment of self sacrifice in the game, and the fact players are able to choose whether or not he permanently dies at that particular moment has been seen as one of the most impactful moments of such within the Final Fantasy series as a whole. His musical theme has also been heavily examined, and how it conveys the image as a character that has cast away much of himself through the use of melodies similar to that of Clint Eastwood's A Fistful of Dollars.

Shadow is a ninja and mercenary in the 1994 Square Enix video game Final Fantasy VI. He travels with a dog, Interceptor, and has a gameplay ability called "Throw", in which he can fling weapons from the player's inventory at enemies to damage them. A distant and standoffish person, in the first half of the story he is an optional party member that can be asked to help during certain key moments in the game. He later accompanies the protagonists as they arrive to the in-game village of Thamasa, where they meet the young girl Relm and her grandfather, Strago, the former of which the normally unfriendly Interceptor takes an immediate liking to. Shortly after the party rests at an inn, they wake up and discover a neighboring house is on fire with Relm trapped inside. The party and Interceptor work to rescue her, and at the last moment Shadow saves all of those involved, stating that he wanted to save his dog.

At the end of the game's first half upon its Floating Continent location, the party will encounter Kefka, the game's antagonist, who attacks the party. Shadow will jump in to hold him back, allowing them to escape before the landform plummets. The escape is timed, and if the timer reaches zero will result in a game over for the player and require reloading from a previous save. Once the protagonists reach their means of escape, they are presented with an option to "leave" or "wait". If leave is chosen, they escape but Shadow permanently dies. If they choose to wait, Shadow will arrive just before the timer runs out, and the party as a whole will escape. Regardless of the decision, Kefka devastates the world, and the party becomes separated from each other.

If Shadow survives the Floating Continent, he can be found in the game's Colosseum area, where he can be recruited as a permanent party member, though during the game's conclusion will choose to remain in Kefka's tower and die as it crumbles. In between these moments upon sleeping at inn locations with Shadow in the party, the player has a chance to see dream sequences detailing Shadow's past. Originally a man named Clyde, he was partnered with a man named Baram as a group called Shadow. However Baram is mortally wounded at one point and begs Clyde to kill him, who instead flees. Clyde arrives in Thamasa badly wounded, where a young woman and the village stray discover him. A later sequence shows him walking away from the village, telling his dog to stay with his family. The dog persists, and Clyde, now adopting the name Shadow, takes the dog with him. His death in the tower as a result is intended as penance for Baram's death, saying that he will soon join him. If he instead dies on the Floating Continent, the dream is instead replaced with one from Relm showing the same scene but now from her perspective, seeing Interceptor chasing after Clyde and begging her father to come back.

In other games, he appears as a playable character in Final Fantasy Brave Exvius and Dissidia Final Fantasy Opera Omnia, where in the latter of which he is voiced by Yoshito Yasuhara. Shadow was also one of three characters from the game featured in a tech demo for the August 1995 SIGGRAPH event showing a 3D example of Final Fantasy gameplay. Intended to promote the concept of a 3D Final Fantasy game, a video of the gameplay was included in demo discs of Final Fantasy VII at the 1996 Tokyo Game Show. Outside of video games, cards representing Shadow have been produced for the Final Fantasy Trading Card Game and Magic: The Gathering. A keychain figure based on his chibi artwork was also produced by Bandai, as part of a series to promote the release of Final Fantasy VI.

Final Fantasy VI was developed with the mindset that none of the playable cast was the protagonist, and that each of them were equally the "main character". The cast of characters were selected from submissions from across the development team, with artist Tetsuya Nomura contributing the characters Setzer and Shadow, the latter of which was based on an unused concept he had proposed for Final Fantasy V where that game's ninja character class could use a dog to attack. Once the characters were selected, each individual would write their character's story, with Yoshinori Kitase balancing the plot as things developed.

Standing 178 cm (5 ft 10 in) tall, an early draft of the character's appearance was drawn by Nomura, while Yoshitaka Amano was commissioned to design the characters from the brief outlines provided. Given full creative freedom, Amano wanted to make "real" and "alive" characters, though with consideration for their representation in-game as small computer sprites. Amano's concepts for Shadow were converted into sprite form by Kazuko Shibuya who had been acting as an intermediary between Amano and the development team, as the character's artwork was completed early in the game's development process. Shadow's finalized design depicted him as a ninja in a black bodysuit that covered most of his face. Select pieces of dark blue and gold armor adorn it, including across his brow where a blue horn protrudes from the left hand side, and a sash surrounds his waist. Meanwhile, Interceptor is depicted as a doberman with black and brown fur. An alternate design depicting Shadow with a blue and yellow color scheme while Interceptor had a red and white striped pattern was also conceived by Amano, but went unused.