I began working on this picture about two days ago. I was working on it without ever having seen the actual ending of Sonic Adventure 2.

You see, I'd been told nothing more about the ending of Sonic Adventure 2 other than Shadow dies saving the planet. Nobody told me exactly how he died saving the planet. In my fangirlishness, I had created in my mind, a scenario where Shadow places himself within the ARK's Chaos Cannon, using Chaos Control to feed it back into itself and thereby destroying it and, sadly, himself along with it.

Well.. while I was in the midst of working on this picture.. my husband, Kyle, went and finished the last few stages of Sonic Adventure 2. I have seen the real ending of the game.

I freaked.

Uttter dissappointment, saddness and frustration filled my entire being as I watched Shadow needlessly commit suicide now that he had fulfilled his promise to Maria. His 'death' was so full of holes it was pathetic and he died pretty much for nothing. There was no reason for him to die. His was not a heroes death. His was a moronic sacrifice meant to do nothing more than save Sonic Team from having to immediately decide on Shadow's new alignment. Good or Evil. Hero or Dark.

I'd been told about Shadow's sacrifice and in my fangirlish love for the enigmatic, bishounen black hedgie, I'd assumed it was a stunning demise, one that would never be forgotten. Hence the Chaos Control theory. And I was horribly dissappointed.

SO!!!
I took it upon myself to finish my picture and work on it to the limit of my abilities.
Here it is, for you to enjoy. Shadow.. how his sacrifice should have been. Heroic. Selfless. Complete.

A heroes death, with no regrets.

My husband and I also plan to rewrite the ending while preserving the game play. It will be in the form of a fanfiction, of course. It'll probably be a while before we get it done, but when we do, I will be posting it.

There will probably be more pictures to come and I might post the fan fiction in parts as I work on it.

Shadow deserved to have a proper death scene. One much more satisfactory.
That death I could accept and keep my fangirlish adoration alive with.
The death he was actually given wasn't a death.. it was crap. >.>

So here it is.. to inspire all the other Shadow fangirl imaginations.

Shadow... in his moment of sacrifice.



Done in OpenCanvas, Painter 7 and Photoshop.
Completed after an accumilated 16 hours of work. X.x;

Shadow (c) Sonic Team, 2003
Artwork (c) Carrie Riff, 2003