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Age: Unknown - from Final Fantasy VI Online
Shadow is a paid assassin and mercenary. Although drawn by Yoshitaka Amano, this character's concept was designed by Tetsuya Nomura. He is accompanied by his faithful dog, Interceptor. In the Japanese and GBA versions of the game, his job class is given as "Assassin." In Final Fantasy VI Original Sound Version, Shadow's theme is called "Shadow", and it consists of an acoustic guitar, jew's harp and a whistle in a spaghetti western-influenced melody. It also appears in "Ending Theme [Character Medley]." Shadow appears several times throughout the first half of the game, occasionally offering his services to the Returners, and occasionally to the Empire (but always for a price). While there are points at which he will briefly join the party, he comes and goes as he pleases. On the Floating Continent, after the Empire tries to get rid of him after he outlives his usefulness to them, he stays behind to buy time for the party's escape, and if the player chooses to wait for him before fleeing the crashing continent, Shadow will eventually rendezvous with the party and flee with them. In the World of Ruin, Shadow can permanently join the party. ! ! ! SPOILER ALERT ! ! ! By sleeping at inns with him in the party, the player can learn more about Shadow's past through his dreams. Shadow was a thief named Clyde, who had a loyal friend named Baram, and they committed grand larcenies together. After they had heisted a million gil from a Doma train, they escaped down Barren Falls, where Baram was badly injured. Believing that he would never survive if Doma authorities found him, Baram asked Clyde to help him kill himself, but Clyde refused and abandoned Baram to an uncertain fate. Clyde crossed the Veldt and found himself in Thamasa, where a woman invited him to stay. Clyde settled down and begot his daughter Relm. But at an uncertain time later (later enough for Relm to be old enough to speak), Clyde abandoned Thamasa, and their dog followed him. Clyde started wearing a mask and became the Shadow known in the game. As these dreams are at times very abstract and English translations of the game differed more significantly in the past, fans have traditionally been divided in the interpretation of Shadow's dreams, including whether Baram may be alive, or died of his wounds or died at the hands of Doma, and whether the woman was Clyde's wife and Relm's mother, and whether the dog that chased after Clyde was Interceptor. No longer a question is Clyde's association to Relm, which was settled unambiguously in the GBA translation. Shadow has four possible dreams in the World of Balance, and one possible dream in the World of Ruin. In combination with Relm's possible dream in the World of Ruin (if Shadow was not saved from the Floating Continent), much of Shadow's past becomes clear. Although the player may choose to wait for Shadow at the Floating Continent, he chooses to split off from the rest of the party in the game's ending, speaking of deciding to "stop running", and wishes for Baram to come search for him. What this means is left uncertain—whether Shadow ended his own life to reunite with a deceased Baram, or whether Shadow wishes to settle down and wait to reunite with a living Baram, or whether Shadow left the party and Interceptor behind to start tying up the loose ends of his life (including Baram) on his own. (In the Japanese text, Clyde says what translates into English as, "Billy [Baram]! I don't need to flee anymore. Embrace me warmly.") There used to be a small controversy as to the gender of Shadow due to a misplaced pronoun and his use of the Memento Ring. The Memento Ring's protective nature, however, comes from "the memory of a departed mother's love", and Shadow is still alive. (In addition, he and Relm are the two able to equip this ring, which is further evidence that he may be Relm's father, and that the "departed mother" the ring's description refers to is Shadow's deceased significant other). In the Cave on the Veldt, the party refers to Shadow as a 'her'. This is a small oversight in programming, as Relm will be in the cave if the player did not wait for Shadow on the Floating Continent. Shadow is referred to as a "He" several other times in the game, and is a "he" in his dreams about his past, where he is known by his real name, Clyde. This confusion was avoided in the GBA version of the game by deliberately leaving ambiguous the gender of the character being saved in the party's dialogue so that it could apply equally to Shadow and Relm. Shadow's special skill, Throw, allows him to throw any weapon in the inventory, such as swords, spears, shuriken, and skeans/edges/scrolls (which affect multiple foes). This attack ignores physical defense and often hits for high damage. In addition, Shadow possesses a secret status effect that causes his dog, Interceptor, to randomly negate damage from a physical attack aimed at Shadow. Occasionally, Interceptor will counterattack the enemy using techniques, Takedown or Wild Fang, the latter inflicting about twice as much damage. The Interceptor effect is limited only in that it cannot hit flying enemies. Also of note, there is a glitch associated with the Interceptor battle mechanics, wherein if Shadow is hit by the spell "Rippler", Interceptor will be shifted to the enemy which casted it, and if the enemy is killed before "Rippler" occurring again, Interceptor is gone for good. Shadow possesses the critical skill called Shadow Fang, where he will dash past an enemy, slicing them for massive damage. Unlike other critical moves, Shadow will actually use his move once during a story segment: when saving Relm and the others from the evil flames in Thamasa. - from Wikipedia |
