#shadow wielders

I was curious about what triggered the characters to regain their Shadows in Disc 3. Separated into general statements about Shadows and character specific Heart Lights.

General

“A Light Shines in (Character’s) heart.”

Quoted, Blue Dragon, Disc 3, Noluta Village, text displayed when Party members find their reasons to regain their Shadows.

“The light of your heart cast a Shadow.”

Quoted, Blue Dragon, Disc 3, text displayed when Party members reach full Tension fighting their Shadow.

“Our magic lies in our hearts! Our hearts are creating the magic for us…”

Quote from Shu, Blue Dragon, Disc 3, Noluta Village.

“It’s the power of our hearts.”

Quote from Shu, Blue Dragon, Disc 3, Noluta Village.

“Well, you see, we felt that we couldn’t let Nene get away with everything. While we were separated, we went to other villages. In all these places, Nene did terrible things to the people. We had to stop him. We had to save everybody! We wanted strength. And all that made me feel so… eeeaaggaahh!” - Shu...

“We couldn’t hold our anger back. And then, everyone’s magic returned.”- Kluke...

“I heard from King Jibral that the Ancients referred to magic as ‘the light that lies within oneself.’” -Zola

Quote from Cutscene , Blue Dragon, Disc 3, Glass Spires.

Important Dialogue from when Party Members actually regain their Shadows, Kluke, Jiro, Marumaro and Shu.

Shu

Shu confronts Sahlia as she attempts suicide. She tells him that when people say don’t give up that it is nothing but words and he’s just like everyone else.

“I don’t care if you want to throw it all away. I could never give up like that. But hey, that’s just me, I guess… I’ll never give up. I’m not gonna sit around here, waiting to be eaten by some tree! I won’t!” 

“It sucks to give up and die. It’s easy to say: ‘Don’t give up.’ But unless you turn those words into strength, you won’t get strong. You can’t even live.  But now, after all we’ve been through, I know what it takes to say: ‘I won’t give up!’”

Quote from Shu, Blue Dragon, Disc 3, Devour Village.

Jiro

Jiro finds a family of three separated from each other and desperate to be reunited.

“Families do what they can to save each other. My parents were the same way. When I was dragged underground by a Land Shark, my parents kept digging until their hands were bloody. This isn’t just my battle. But I have to be strong to make things happen!”

Quote from Jiro, Blue Dragon, Disc 3, Noluta Village.

Kluke

A Light Shines in Kluke’s heart while talking with a Young Girl Waiting in Noluta Village. The girl is waiting for her parents to return; they left for Devour Village and the Freezing stops anyone from leaving their homes in Noluta Village, so the girl is still waiting.

“I can’t watch the same sadness as mine spread in the world. I have to fix things, not just for myself, but for people like this child as well!” 

Quote from Kluke, Blue Dragon, Disc 3, Noluta Village.

Marumaro

Marumao finds the village children trapped and miserable in the ice.

“If we don’t do anything about Nene, Maro’s brothers and sisters will end up the same way! Gonna get him. No matter what it takes, we’re gonna get him. So, Maro’s gotta get Shadow back. Maro’s true Shadow!”

Quote from Marumaro, Blue Dragon, Disc 3, Noluta Village.

Kluke, Jiro and Marumaro

“It’s the same thing! Nene goes from village to village, doing whatever he can to stir up fear, and then he enjoys it as people get more and more afraid!” - Jiro

“It’s awful! Nene’s so mean!” - Marumaro

“I can’t take this anymore. There’s no way this can go on. I won’t let this happen!” - Kluke declares and her Shadow starts appearing.

Jiro is looking at Kluke and his Shadow starts to appear.

“Everyone! We’re going to help you!” Kluke promises, haloed in blue light.

“I need to get my power back!” Jiro says as blue light started to gather around him.

“Magic! Come back to us!” Marumaro calls as he gains a blue-light outline, lifting his face to the sky, his Shadow beginning to appear.

Quoted from Cutscene, Blue Dragon, Disc 3, Noluta Village.

Conclusions

It seems regaining your Shadow requires you to find your resolve, to feel it and fight for it.

I think the resolves that they express reaffirm or build upon the reasons that led to Nene giving them their Light Spheres in the first place. Marumaro’s desire to save and protect his family and village. Jiro’s desire to support his friends and protect the people he loves. Kluke’s desire to keep those she cares about safe and avenge her parents’ deaths. Shu’s stubborn determination to try even in the face of death and refusal to believe that he will not succeed if he doesn’t just try harder.

And also ways that they have grown. Shu is learning that he can’t solve everything by fling himself at something to fight, that sometimes you have to retreat and reposition yourself before trying again. Kluke turning her grief from something that distances her from others and is focused on her pain, from vengeance into an empathy that reaches out and connects her with others, that drives her to save them. Jiro that if he wants to plan battles and work alongside his friends he can’t just rely on their power, he needs his own power too. Marumaro learning that you can’t just treat the symptoms you have to seek out the root cause, that which harms other people will likely harm your own too.

I saw a post about how the Darkside is cold which led me to think about Shadow-Wielders' Corporeal Attacks. Corporeal Attacks are one of the few things about the Party's Shadows that are absolutely canon barring debate on if they happen the way they appear or if they are just a game mechanic. So what if you sorted the Party's Force-Alignment by how cold their Corporeal Attack is?

The Corporeal Attack of Kluke's Phoenix is burning hot. She's got flames and magma and raw, pure heat. If you judging the Darkside by the presence of cold, then Kluke's the furthest from it.

The Corporeal Attack of Shu's Dragon is more forceful but still hot. A little bit of clouds and dust but the outright attacking part is heat and kinetic force, resulting in some lava.

The Corporeal Attack of Marumaro's Saber-Tooth is the most physical. Claw swipes, the wind and the earth ending with minor golden coloured lightning calling.

The Corporeal Attack of Jiro's Minotaur is electric. Some smashing the ground into spikes but mostly he calls on lightning, bright, blue-white strikes.

The Corporeal Attack of Zola's Killer-Bat is chilling and electric. She's got the icy landscape and lonely wind and balls of white lightning to rain down. So if cold is the Darkside, then Zola is touching it but she's not immersed in it.

If Darksiders are cold then Kluke is untouchable by the Darkside and Shu's pretty far away from it too. Marumaro and Jiro don't really have temperature as part of their Corporeal Attacks, yes they have lightning which is hot but lightning is also associated with the Darkside, so I'm going to go with their force alignment being fairly neutral. Meanwhile Zola is brushing against the Darkside but hasn't given into it which makes sense because she's the most morally ambiguous member of the party but still on their side at the end of the day.

Blue Dragon Party Members Light to Dark Force Alignment as determined by their Corporeal Attacks on a temperature scale of Hot to Cold. Ridiculous idea, but some times you get ridiculous ideas and decide to just run with them.

I believe it is canon to to the Blue Dragon Game that Warping - the action of teleporting to a Warp Device, either remotely from the Menu or by interacting with a Warp Device - can only be done by a Shadow-Wielder, although Shadow-Wielders may bring a limited number of non-Shadow-Wielders with them.

Canon Supporting Evidence

The Party Warps a Sheep Tribesman from the Wilderness Sheep Tribe Camp to the Forest Sheep Tribe Camp. (Source, Blue Dragon, Disc 1, Heaving Herb Quest.) This proves that the Party - consisting of 3 to 5 Shadow-Wielders depending on timing - can Warp a 1 non-Shadow-Wielder with them.

The Party cannot Warp with 1 Shadow-Wielder and 3 non-Shadow-Wielders. (Source, Blue Dragon, Disc Three, Devour Village to Noluta Village.) This proves that 1 Shadow-Wielder does not possess sufficient Magic Power to Warp 3 non-Shadow-Wielders.

A non-Shadow-Wielder is never seen using nor stated to use a Warp Device, so by implication - supported by the established fact that some Ancient Machines can only be used by Shadow-Wielders - Warping can only be initiated by a Shadow-Wielder.

This establishes some canonical limits on Warping.

A person who is not a Shadow-Wielder cannot trigger a Warp.

3 Shadow-Wielders are capable of Warping with 1 non-Shadow-Wielder.

1 Shadow-Wielder does not have the Magical Power to Warp themself and 3 non-Shadow-Wielding people.

This does not establish an exact ratio of Shadow-Wielders to Non-Shadow-Wielders for a successful Warp but it does establish general canon limits that can then be turned into canon supported head-canons. Canon ratios are between 3:1 and 1:2 Shadow-Wielders to Non-Shadow-Wielders for Warp.

Personally, my normal headcanon is that a Shadow-Wielder can Warp themself and 1 accompanying non-Shadow-Wielder.

Another headcanon I consider is that Shadow-Wielders cannot use Remote Warping - aka Warping from the menu - to bring a non-Shadow-Wielder with them. That they can only preform ‘accompanying Warps’ directly from Warp Devices. This is based the on fact that the only time a non-Shadow-Wielder Warps with the Party they are in the physical presence of a Warp Device.

Extrapolating from what we see in canon I think there is very strong evidence for this.

1. Nene can use his magic to float and he glows purple while doing so.

2. When Nene uses his magic against you in Lago Village his eyes flash red. Later his eyes flash red when he throws Hineto and Shu with magic.

3. Nene’s Shadow Chimera is shiny purplish-red with red eyes.

4. Shu glows blue when activating the Mechat to escape the Flying Fortress. He is surrounded by blue light when when physically resisting being crushed.

5. The Party’s Shadow are blue with red eyes.

I figure that anything Nene is able to do it is likely the Party is able to do too, if not right now then at some point in the future. I am also pretty sure that the Party would get red-flashing eyes like Nene because their Shadow’s eyes are also red however they would have a blue body glow because blue is their Shadow color not purplish-red.

Why is Jiro the White Mage and Kluke the Black Mage when Kluke is the doctor-trainee daughter of Doctors? My theory, for the in-universe reason not the game-maker’s reason, is thus:

Kluke might look calm on the surface but underneath that she’s a ball of rage, and fear, of grief, (of vengeance). She will not helpless again, and she’d fight to her last breath, burn down the world, before she let anyone take her friends.

Jiro might plan the attacks but beyond that he cares oh so much. He loves Kluke, he worries about dumb-ass, stubborn Shu and he wants to be able to help, (to heal) to put them back together when the world rips gaping holes in them.

By the time that your party arrives at the Drill Machine, they know Nene is named Nene, but how do they find this out?

I can’t remember hearing Nene’s name while on the Flying Fortress; Nene doesn’t introduce himself and Szabo just calls him sir. This could just be me missing someone using Nene’s name or a translation thing, but, what if it’s not?

What if Nene really was never named.

I’m making the assumption that the names floating over people’s heads are just normal game convention for player convenience, not an in-universe phenomenon. (It seems like a pretty safe assumption given the sheer prevalence of names-floating-over-characters across all types of video games.) Plus there are instances of characters introducing themselves, which presumably, they wouldn’t if everyone could see your name floating above you.

Theoretically the party does have the Creature Compendium when they fight Nene; so they could have learnt his name from using the Creature Compendium on him, but that would assume that it works the same in-universe as it does for the Player, and that they used it in their very short battle, which seems unlikely.

This leaves another change that happened between them being on the Flying Fortress and discovering the Drill Machine; they swallowed the Light Spheres and gained their Shadows.

So what if they learnt Nene’s name from the Light Spheres?

Honestly? I think that even if they had, they might not have noticed. Just assumed that they heard/learnt his name amidst the mess of other information discovered and the whole ‘we almost died so many times’ thing.

But, it could lend itself to horror...

After they swallowed the Light Spheres they know things, instinctively, unconsciously, that they hadn’t known before. They contain wisps of Nene’s knowledge, small fragments. Do they ever realize? If so how?

Maybe it’s something like: they instinctively know what Magical Medicine is, and how to be use it. But then afterwards, coming off the battle high, they remember using it, reaching for it on instinct and knowing exactly what it is used for and how to apply it, and then they realize...that they have never learnt this. Not like they’d learnt what Mega Medicine is, or how to use an Antidote, or about any of the other Items they use.

And so they wonder how they Knew what Magical Medicine is. How they hadn’t noticed straightaway that they’d just KNOWN. Because this is information they had no way of knowing, no-one has had Magic for thousands of years, and somethings the Ancients left behind are simply complete mysteries.

And this Knowing is uncanny and unnatural (worst of all it feels natural, is almost unnoticeable) and they wonder: what other things can they Know like this? (Have they Known things before and not noticed?) And most pressingly, how do they Know? Where did this knowledge come from?

I believe that Blue Dragon and Voltron: Legendary Defender would be an interesting combination for a crossover which has the potential to work well together, as they are both High-Tech/Magic verses.

My preferred explanation for Blue Dragon’s Shadows in the Voltron universe is that they are nicer, more cooperative Rift Creatures.

A lone Rift Creature looks like a small orb of blackish-purple light.

A Light Sphere is a small orb of blue-white light whose consumption grants a Shadow.

Also while the Party’s Shadows are blue, Nene’s Shadow purplish-red.

Bonus, when the Party first swallows the Light Spheres they hurt and glow yellow before gaining their Shadow. Yellow is also one of the colours of Quintessence.

One could have Shadows be a unique power of the Blue Dragon planet but Rift Creature Shadows joins the Blue Dragon world more neatly into the Voltron universe.

Making Shadows Rift Creatures also has interesting implications for how Shadow-Wielders would interact with the Voltron cast.

Particularly interesting would be if a Shadow-Wielder encounters someone possessed by a Rift Creature. Bonus points if the Shadow-Wielders have figured out how to create Collars of Light (which forcibly remove a person’s Light Sphere) like Nene could.

How Shadow-Wielders react to Quintessence would also be interesting. I am thinking that the Blue Dragon world is Quintessence rich, potentially a completely artificial construct and maybe containing natural weakness in reality or very small artificial rifts. This would help explain the ridiculous amount of monsters, perpetual motion machines, and all the very weird stuff the Ancients could do.