Annah-of-the-Shadows

Annah-of-the-Shadows
Planescape: Torment character
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Publication information
Created by	Chris Avellone and Eric Campenella
Information
Gender	Female

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Annah-of-the-Shadows, also known just as Annah, is a player character in the 1999 role-playing video game Planescape: Torment, where she is one of companions of The Nameless One.

In the game

A brash, young tiefling (a person with fiendish heritage; one of Annah's grandparents was a fiend), Annah is chaotic neutral. She appears mostly human except for her tail. A fighter and a thief, Annah was raised by Pharod to be a capable rogue, useful for tasks that his more ordinary underlings could not complete. Annah utilises push daggers and attacks her enemies when they least expect it. She has no tolerance for fools or the clueless, and is quite skilled at heaping verbal abuse, heavily laden with Hive slang, on those who annoy her. She is somewhat superstitious, especially where the Lady of Pain is concerned. Although she can be found on the streets of Sigil very early in the game, The Nameless One only gets her in the party during the mid-portion of the game, where she will automatically join the party after completing a task for Pharod.

Conception and design

According to Chris Avellone, she was inspired by the character Betty Cooper: "Annah and Fall-From-Grace were inspired by Betty and Veronica from Archie comics, embarrassingly enough." The character was voiced by and modeled upon the singer and actress Sheena Easton.

Annah was described by the Planescape: Torment concept artist Eric Campenella as "very acrobatic and dexterous so her outfit is light and made of leather. She has light arm and leg armor on one side which, combined with her agility, affords her better protection than full plate since this would hamper her movement. The armor is also somewhat mismatched since she is not particularly wealthy and probably acquired the pieces at different places and times in her life. The spiked shoulderpad is probably more for ornamentation and gives off an intimidating air. I would be dishonest if I didn't say the outfit is somewhat revealing partially to show that she is a free spirit and partially because it is appealing to me as an artist. Hey, at least I'm honest! Her weapons are punch daggers, which are basically brass knuckles with blades attached to them. So she has wild-west style holsters on her legs for quick-draw action."

"In celebration of St. Patrick's Day and an excuse to thank all of you for buying and playing Torment," the developers released the "Power Action Leprechaun Annah" version (also created by Eric "Mr. Spells Madman" Campanella) as a free DLC.

Gameplay

Annah is a very useful ally as she is able to scout ahead of the party for any potential threats and traps, and she is able to deal an amazing amount of damage if she performs a backstab, which is extremely useful before fighting a boss or some very powerful creature. Annah is a potential love interest for The Nameless One. If the player manages to win her affections (which "just ends in a smooch"), they are rewarded with "a slight boost to her ability scores".

In the novel

In the loose novelization of the game by Rhyss Hess, Annah is similar in personality, but in many other aspects very different to her game incarnation. In the game, Annah's sole deformity is her tail. In the book, Annah is described as having beige skin, six functional fingers on each hand, thin black lips that barely frame her wide mouth, which is filled with a chaotic jumble of squared-off teeth and pointed fangs, white hair that covers her head like lamb's fleece in inch-thick curls, and slits of skin instead of ears. She also wears a tightly laced dark-purple bodysuit instead of the mis-matching scraps she wears in the game. She also differs by being a multi-classed thief/wizard instead of a fighter/thief and by going by the name of just Annah rather than Annah-of-the-Shadows.

Reception

The character of Annah-of-the-Shadows was received very positively by the media and general public. Eurogamer gave this "streetwise young tiefling woman with a twitching tail and a sharp tongue" the Gaming Globes 2000 award in the category Female Supporting Character. GameSpot included her on the 2000 lists of the ten best female characters in the PC gaming according to the staff and readers alike. Tom's Hardware included this "savvy and independent thief" on the 2007 list of the 50 greatest female characters in video game history ("Annah is a true standout"), applauding her for her "witty, sexy personality," and adding that she could be played Kelly Macdonald in a live-action film.