Shadow (Final Fantasy)

Shadow (Clyde)
Final Fantasy series
First appearance	Final Fantasy VI (1994)
Designed by	Tetsuya Nomura and Yoshitaka Amano
Class/Job	Assassin
Weapon	Throwing blades (starting with a kunai)

Shadow (シャドウ, Shadō), also known as Clyde (クライド, Kuraido), is a player character in the role-playing video game Final Fantasy VI released by Square in 1994. Shadow is a mysterious and cynical assassin and mercenary, always accompanied by his faithful attack dog, Interceptor (インターセプター, Intāseputā); during the course of the game, he joins the player's party. Both Shadow and his dog were very well received, and he has been often regarded as one of the best ninja characters in video games.

Appearances

Shadow with his dog Interceptor in an art by Yoshitaka Amano

During the first half of the game Shadow operates only on a freelance basis, at times available to the player for a fee and at times appearing in the employ of the Gestahlian Empire. In two instances within the World of Balance, Shadow is forced into the player's party – Crescent Island and the Floating Continent. Shadow's fate is determined entirely by player action on the latter area; should the player have too little time remaining attempting to escape the Continent's destruction, Shadow is presumed to have perished during the collapse of the world. However, if the player has enough time to wait before leaping to the airship, Shadow will eventually accompany the party aboard the Blackjack and be available for permanent recruitment in the World of Ruin.

In the second half of the game, Shadow is found injured within the Cave on the Veldt and is returned to Strago's home in Thamasa to heal. Later on, he may be acquired by betting an item he seeks at the Dragon's Neck Coliseum and winning the ensuing match. Whenever Shadow is placed in the party, his backstory is revealed through dreams and nightmare sequences by using a Tent or resting at an Inn. Shadow's actual name is Clyde (クライド, Kuraido) and he once lived a life of crime with his partner, Baram ("Billy" in the Japanese version). The pair are infamous in the pre-war period before the game begins as a duo train robbers known as Shadow Bandits, but Baram eventually suffers mortal wounds during a failed railway heist. Baram tasks Clyde to finish him off, but Clyde instead panics, fleeing his friend. An indeterminate span of time passes, seeing Clyde collapse from exhaustion upon reaching Thamasa, found by a young woman and her dog. It is heavily implied (and was actually confirmed in a 1995 interview with the game’s developers) that Clyde fathers Relm with this woman, eventually departing Thamasa under the guise of Shadow to escape his guilt over abandoning Baram.

At the game's conclusion, Shadow remains within the crumbling ruin of Kefka's tower, quietly separating from the party and encouraging Interceptor to flee with the others. His final words are directed to Baram: "It looks like I can finally stop running... Come and find me all right?" (Japanese version: "I don't need to flee anymore. Embrace me warmly.") Interceptor is later seen with Relm in Strago's section of the ending. In Final Fantasy VI Advance it is implied that Shadow killed himself.

Shadow also appears in the 1995 Nintendo 64-based technical demo Final Fantasy VI: The Interactive CG Game as one of the three featured FFVI characters and makes a cameo appearance in the 2008 action RPG fighting game Dissidia Final Fantasy as a tutor from the in-game manuals, alongside Interceptor.

Character design

Although drawn by Yoshitaka Amano, this character's concept was designed by Tetsuya Nomura.

Gameplay

Shadow avoids engaging in close combat, instead opting to throw ninja weapons at distance. His special ability "Throw" enables him to throw unequipped weapons that may inflict extremely heavy damage on an enemy. As a Ninja, Shadow has high speed and strength but low defense and average magic statistics. His weapons are various daggers and he can also use specialized throwing weapons to attack multiple enemies.

If an enemy hits him with a physical attack, there is a chance that Interceptor will block it, absorbing all or most damage. Interceptor's counterattacks ("Wild Fang" and "Takedown") can inflict powerful non-elemental damage at a non-floating enemy.

Reception

Despite appearing in only one major role, the character was well received and has not been forgotten even many years later. As such, Shadow was featured in numerous top lists of the best ninja characters in video gaming, including by The Armchair Empire in 2006, Japanator.com in 2007, and Wild Gunmen in 2010. He was ranked as the fourth greatest video game ninja by Devin Coldewey of CrunchGear in 2008, and as sixth on a similar list by Machinima.com in 2011, while Mikel Reparaz of GamesRadar has mentioned him as one of "few standout examples" of ninja characters in video games in 2008. He was also included among the "manliest men" of the Final Fantasy series by Christina Winterburn of Destructoid in 2007, and was ranked as the tenth swiftest ninja in video games by Rich Knight of Complex in 2012, as well as the eight best assassin in video games by Britanny Vincent from the same magazine in 2013.

In addition, his dog, Interceptor, won the Nintendo Power Awards '94 at first place in the category Best Goodie ("the most popular good guy that isn't quite the main hero of the games"). In 2013, Complex ranked Interceptor as the sixth top canine in video games.

See also

• Characters of Final Fantasy VI
• Yuffie Kisaragi (Final Fantasy VII)

External links

• Perfect Disguise (a fansite)
• Shadow - Final Fantasy Wiki

Template:Final Fantasy series