#I’m on the conquest route

[artidoesthings]

if I had a nickel for every time I accidentally set up a tragedy in a fire emblem game with a shipping mechanic, I would have two nickels.

I’ll take the two nickels but that’s not gonna compensate for the emotional damage

[communistkenobi]

Hi, genuine good faith question if you'd like! How is TOS racist? It was my understanding that the OG Series was like, huge for equality in media?

I’m speaking primarily about the content of TOS itself, not its historical impact - I understand it had various historic firsts in terms of having characters of colour in respectable roles, which I’m not dismissing. My experience with the discourse on here surrounding the show is that people front-load these character representations as emblematic of the show’s progressive politics. Which, if we want to go that route, TOS was contemporary to the US civil rights movement, which provides us with a handy measuring stick to see how TOS actually grapples with race, not just the presence of characters of colour themselves. I'm going to be kind of defensive in this explanation, not towards you specifically, but because I have had this conversation with people online many, many, many times, and so any defensiveness on my part is in anticipation of arguments I know will come up as a result of making the basic claim that a show made in America in the 1960s is racist. I'm also going to be copy + pasting from an older post I've made on the subject since it's been a while now since I've watched TOS so some of the details are fuzzy.

Like okay, the premise of TOS is that the Enterprise, as an ambassador of Starfleet/the Federation, is seeking out new alien life to study. The Prime Directive prohibits the Enterprise crew from interfering with the development of any alien culture or people while they do this, so the research they collect needs to be done in an unobtrusive way. I think this is the first point at which people balk at the argument that TOS is racist or has a colonial conception of the world - the Enterprise’s mission is premised on non-interference, and I think when people hear ‘colonial’ as a descriptor they (understandably, obviously) assume it is describing active conquest, genocide, and dispossession. Even setting aside all the times where Kirk does directly interfere with the “development” of a people or culture (usually because they’ve “stagnated” culturally, because a culture "without conflict" cannot evolve or “develop” beyond its current presumed capacity - he is pretty explicitly imposing his own values onto another culture in order to force them to change in a particular way), or the times when the Enterprise is actually looking to extract resources from a given planet or people, I’m not exactly making this claim, or rather, that’s not the only thing I’m describing when calling TOS racist/colonial.

The show's presentation of scientific discovery and inquiry is anthropological - the “object” of analysis is alien/foreign culture, meaning that when the Enterprise crew comes into contact with a new being or person, this person is always read first and foremost through the level of (the Enterprise’s understanding of) culture. Their behaviour, beliefs, dress, way of speaking, appearance, and so on are always reflective of their culture as a whole, and more importantly, that their racial or phenotypic characteristics define the boundaries of their culture. Put another way, culture is interpreted, navigated, and bound racially - the show presents aliens as a Species, but these species are racially homogeneous, flattening race to a natural, biological difference that is always physically apparent and presented through the lens of scientific objectivity, as "species" is a unit of biological taxonomy. Basically species is a shorthand for race. This is the standard of most sci-fi/fantasy genre work, so this is not a sin unique to Star Trek.

Because of this however, Kirk and Co are never really interacting with individuals, they are interacting with components of a (foreign, exotic, fundamentally different) culture, the same way we understand that a biologist can generalize about a species using the example of an individual 'specimen'. And when the Enterprise interacts with these cultures, they very frequently measure them using a universalized scale of development - they have a teleological (which is to say, evolutionary) view of culture, ie, that all cultures go from savage to rational, primitive to advanced, economically simple to economically complex (ie, to capitalist modes of production). And the metrics they are judging these cultures by are fundamentally Western ones, always emphasising to the audience that the final destination of all cultures (that are worthy of advancing beyond their current limited/“primitive” stages) is a culture identical to the Federation, a culture that can itself engage in this anthropological mission to catalogue all life as fitting within a universal set of practices and racial similarities they call “culture.”

This is a western, colonial understanding of culture - racially and spatially homogeneous people comprise the organs of a social totality, ie, a society, which can then be analysed as an “object,” as a “phenomenon,” by the scientists in order to extract information from them to produce and advance state (ie Federation) knowledge. The Enterprise crew are allowed to be individuals, are allowed to be subjects with a capacity for reason, contradiction, emotion, compassion, and even moments of savagery or violence, without those things being assigned to their “race” or “culture” as a whole, but the people they interact with are only components of a whole which are “discovered” by the Enterprise as opportunities to expand and refine the Federation’s body of knowledge.

Spock is actually a good example of what I'm talking about, because he is an exception to this rule - unlike the others in the crew, his behaviour is always read as a symptom of his innate Vulcan-ness, where his human and Vulcan halves war for dominance in his mind and character. Bones (the doctor, one of the main cast) constantly comments on Spock's inability to feel things, that he is callous and unsympathetic, ruled by Vulcan logic to such an extreme that his rationality is a form of irrationality, as his Vulcan blood prohibits him from tempering logic with human emotion and intuition. Now you can argue that Bones is a stand-in for the racists of the world, that Spock proves Bones wrong in that he is able to feel but merely keeps it under wraps, that Vulcans are not biologically incapable of emotion but merely live in a socially repressive culture, but this still engages in the racial logic of the show - Vulcans are a racially-bound species with a single monolithic culture, and Spock's ability to express and feel 'human emotions' is the metric by which he is granted human subjectivity and sympathy.

And on the flip side you have the Klingons - a “race” that is uniformly savage, backward, violent, and dangerous. In the episode Day of the Dove, where Klingons board the Enterprise along with an alien cloud that makes everyone suddenly aggressive and racist (this show is insane lol), the Enterprise crew begins acting violent and racist, but the Klingons don’t change. They aren’t more violent than before (because they already were fundamentally violent and racist), and they don’t become less violent when the cloud eventually leaves (because they are never able to emerge from their violence and savagery as a social condition or external imposition - they simply are that way). Klingons are racially, behaviourally, psychologically, and culturally homogeneous, universally violent and immune to reason, and their racial characteristics are both physical manifestations of this universal violence as well as the origin of it. The writers and creators of TOS are explicitly invoking the orientalist idea of the “Mongolian horde,” representing both the American fear of Soviet global takeover as well as blatantly racist fears about “Asiatics” (a word used in the show, particularly in The Omega Glory where a fear of racialised communist takeover is made explicit) dominating the world.

This is colonial thinking! Like, fundamentally, at its core, this is colonial white supremacist thinking. Now this is not because TOS invents these tropes or is the origin of them, it is not individually responsible for these racial and colonial logics - these conceptions are endemic to Western thought, and I am not expecting a television show to navigate its way outside of this current colonial paradigm of scientific knowledge. I’m also not expecting an average person watching this to pick out all the intricacies of this and link it to the colonial history of Europe or the colonial history of western philosophy/thought. But this base premise of Star Trek is why the show is fundamentally colonial - even if it was the case that the crew never intervened in any alien conflict, never extracted any material resources from other people, this would still be colonial logic and colonial thinking. The show has a fundamentally colonial imagination when it comes to exploration, discovery, and culture.

I think a good place to end is the opening sequence. The show's first line is always "Space! The final frontier." I do not think the word frontier is meant metaphorically or poetically - I think the show is being honest about its conception of space as an infinitely vast, infinitely exotic frontier from which a globally Western civilisation (which the Enterprise is an emblem of) can extract resources, be they material or epistemic

[coralinnii]

Is it okay to ask for riddle isekaid villainess part 2? You can ignore if you want^^

"If you are a villain, then let me be your accomplice"

feat: Riddle

genre: romance

note: sequel to “being reincarnated into a new world as the bad guy”, roughly 1.2k word count,

series masterlist

y'all really requested it, I'm here for it tho cuz yes to Riddle <3 There's a request for a fluffier Riddle fic so stay tune for that.

Since your imprisonment, Riddle has been trying to appeal for your release ever since, but his mother was adamant in her decision. So, Riddle instead made it his goal to convince his mother for him to inherit the throne as soon as possible so that he could revoke your sentence and you could return to the kingdom, and to him. 

Thus, he worked to prove himself to his mother. He led conquests of other lands to expand the Rosehearts reign. He busied himself in establishing trading routes with other kingdoms, increasing the flow of valuable materials and talented individuals coming into the kingdom. Through his efforts, the kingdom became bigger and richer.

He was an unbending force that yielded to no one, not even to his own mother as he kept pushing to create a utopia of a kingdom and prove himself a worthy ruler. He needed to be the perfect emperor and to an extent he succeeded as he was an amazing leader with keen senses and foresight but he can come across as somewhat tyrannical to others due to his lack of sympathy for others who delayed his plans.

He couldn’t afford incompetence and laziness. If others cannot perform to his expectations, how can he inherit the throne at this rate and have you waiting longer. 

The final push to his already short patience was when he received your last letter. You were planning to escape from your tower, and he may never see you again. He made you wait too long and you planned to disappear, likely lead a new life, meet new people... find someone to love and marry...

In desperation, Riddle marched to his mother in the throne room with his army and the nobility on his side, demanding that she step down. Without a reason against it, the royal power has switched and Riddle was the official king. His first order was for his men to bring you to the palace.  

“Well, that explained the lack of letters, I supposed” you murmur as you walked down the halls of the palace, your new home. You questioned the legitimacy of Chenya’s words when he mentioned how busy Riddle had been, but you realized he truly wasn’t exaggerating.

You thought about softening Riddle’s rule, but the situation was trickier than you expected as Riddle’s actions teeter between tyranny and necessary as his laws were for the greater good, if not a little strict. 

“No! It is unacceptable!” your train of thought was disrupted as you heard a familiar voice coming from one of the larger rooms, you recognized it as the kitchen. “Common etiquette dictates that tea is served after 2 minutes has passed after being steeped in water heated at 325 degrees, letting it cool. You have ruined this batch of tea with your incompetence!” 

Today, he happens to be in a tyrannical mood.

You cautiously walked in and saw a precarious situation. Riddle was the center of the commotion, angrily reprimanding a young woman you assumed was a new maid who was hysterically apologizing again and again to your husband.

“I’m sorry, your highness!” the maid cried, kneeling before Riddle with her hands on the floor and head down, her tears dripping endlessly.

“Do you intend to harm the royal family, serving my beloved with this disgusting, boiling mess? Leave this palace at once!” Riddle furiously yelled to which the maid further sobbed in apology. Working in the imperial palace is the highest honor but being fired from the royal family is akin to social annihilation as no other family would dare to hire such a worker. Your heart went out to the poor woman.

“Riddle?” your voice catches Riddle’s attention and he turned to see you by the door.

“Rosie” he whispered which made you shy at first, having others know that old nickname is a little embarrassing. Nonetheless, you continued to walk towards him.

“Isn’t this too harsh? It seems to be an honest mistake” you defended the woman, but Riddle was firm in his stance. 

“You cannot be serious” Riddle sighed. “Anyone associated with high society knows this basic practice. How can you be so forgiving?” 

“Because…I don’t know it” 

Silence filled the room as Riddle stared at you while you continued to confess your incompetence, as Riddle would put it. 

“I don’t know the right temperature to steep tea. I can't tell what's good tea or bad tea, hot or cold” you profess your ignorance, a little ashamed. You started your training as a future member of the royal family at a young age but when you were sent into your tower, you were cut off from social interaction and obligations. You restarted your etiquette training but with everyone comparing you to the prodigy that is your husband, you understand how disheartening criticisms can be. 

You reach out to clasp Riddle’s hands which seems to have a calming effect as his reddening face cooled down, although a faded blush was still present.

“People have their own pace to perfect something, Riddle. Us included” you said as you softly rubbed Riddle’s knuckles in a soothing manner. “I think we should give people the chance to learn and redeemed themselves. What do you say?”

Riddle let out a sigh before turning to the maid kneeling down before him. His stare was piercing, like a sharp sword cutting through one's soul.

“You have one more chance” he declares sternly. “If you fail to improve yourself, consider your time here over”

You felt relieved, grateful that your childhood friend is still willing to listen to others, a sign that he could change for the better, away from the original story. Seeing your smile brought out a subtle one on Riddle’s lips as he revels in your soft hold, in bliss to be in your warm presence after so long. He was in such a hurry to gain the throne that he would strike down those that stand between his goal, but with you finally standing beside him, his mad need for perfection seems less insistent.

The new servants, however, were astonished. Seeing their ruthless master known for his temper and unforgiving nature, rescind his order. The servants thought what an odd couple you two were but were grateful for your intervention regardless.

 — Bonus —

“How can you still not remember proper tea etiquette?” Riddle gently reprimands you, though he recalls how nonchalant you were with your lessons even during your younger years “You need to start taking your lessons more seriously and not just skim through the books”

“You know me too well, Riddy” You giggled despite his scolding, before looking at him teasingly “You could always teach me, you know? We can make it a special lesson, just the two of us”

Riddle’s face flushed red at the idea, imagining a whole session with just him and you without the intervention of his advisors or your guards, especially those two new rookie knights that has gotten close to you lately. It would be just him that holds your attention, only he would hold your gaze as you smile and laugh with him, perhaps even sharing treats with him along with your tea.

“Hmph, I suppose if you need someone who can show you proper technique, I could find the time for it”

You let out a laugh as you thanked him, not noticing the flabbergasted looks of your audience. The older servants who knew your relationship with Riddle are not the most surprised by Riddle's leniency with you but for others...

"Your highness...making tea..."

"Pinch me...I must be dreaming"

"That tyrannical maniac...is blushing?!"

You have your work cut out for you but nobody else has sway with Riddle as you do.

[currentfandomkick]

Fan concept to incorporate however you want:

In comics i’m pretty sure there’s a lazarus pit in the batcave, and others in gotham. A high concentration of lazarus water per square foot. Add to that gotham’s various contaminated waters from various toxins and gases on top of usual run offs, and there’s a high chance everyone in gotham is contaminated by all of this.

Add in the popular head cannons and partial fanon of lazarus water = (in some form) contaminated or corrupted watery ectoplasm.

And if we go ecto contaminated enough = liminal…

Then gotham city is full of liminals, the most notorious being a handful revenants with questionable cores (Solomon Grundy and Red Hood off the top of my head), with Damian’s Robin a liminal bordering on halfa if you go the ‘raised next to and put in the Pitts’ route.

Hell if you want, most of the Batfam can be partially ecto contaminated if not liminal (minus Duke, i feel like he’s the only starting to) but no one notices because its gradual and they assume its side effects from the 10,000 + polluntants in gotham.

You can have anyone from Amity Park enter Gotham and go ‘huh, edgy aesthetic Amity.’ Then go ‘oh, sick liminal… which dork back home knows how to fix this?’

If you want Tucker can be sending Sam updates on Gotham’s liminals (including Rogues) which Sam is helping the ecto terrorist (League of Assassins in a lot of older portrayals) and Danny vibing working for (DC bigshot or group of your choice) as an engineer who says he’s bad at coding when no one has broken his code yet as ‘its standard back home’ and baffles his employer

Dani can see Gotham and just. Vibe as a feral child who tries to help the other sick liminals with mixed results. I say let Harley snag her as her sidekick during her anti-villian days.

Jazz can be attending university and has to explain drinking filtered ecto to her dorm, only for a lot of them to start managing things better emotionally and combat wise, but now have the urge to Kick Ass as a way to Make Friends. Batfam investigate her a s a cult leader when really all she’s doing is using a clean ecto filter and teaching her classmates to do the same. Even teaches them how to make them thanks to Danny breaking down his rigs to her and leaving her repair instructions in case hers breaks early.

If you go baby Ghost King Danny, he can find out about Gotham and do a ‘oh, a fucked up version of Amity Park. Neat!’ see the Joker and go ‘Fuck this guy,’ and appear by pulling Joker into the ghost realm for his trial with a note that reads “sorry for missing another Liminal City. I’ll do better as king and handle those breaking Ghost Ettiquette myself. My bad. Still new to the ‘King of the Infinite Realms and all bonded to it. So liminals fall in, didn’t think there were more besides Amity. A branch of the Council of Observers will be sent to evaluate which liminals are sick, which are dealing with unsustainable or harmful obsessions, which liminals need relocation to handle their obsession in a better suited environment, and which ones are uneducated on liminal health.

Don’t worry, I stole some time to make sure i did all the paperwork before taking this guy. He’s the type of ecto entity who consumes attention, fear, and souls, which is Pretty Bad and that last one is an auto-execution. So i should manage the normal ‘visiting of the realms and introduction to’ spiel after we can make sure you won’t be in danger from ghosts that forget mortals dont shrug off being dropped off a few cliffs and having a two ton rock dropped on them. I may send some ambassadors from Amity to help you adjust since it was a pain for us too. Fyi if anyone tries summoning the Ghost King and expects Pariah, i win by conquest ten years ago and only JUST got to looking into liminal areas. With cheating by stealing time. If you have any questions, look up the Manson family, Amity Park, Ohio. Sam can explain better than me, and her parents somehow ended up on the mortal side counsel.

[radiance1]

to add on to the whole casino owner or whatever danny should have circus rings and trapezes around the casino so instead of flying around he swings around and there’s like a pole to goes to the ceiling where the disco or something turns into a nebula or solar system and it makes its surroundings splattered in stars and maybe he got to title beelzebub in a fight and got it by conquest or was given the title by the holder for some mortal action, or maybe he borrowed the title or something so he could be registered as demon or ghost idk

ok another idea that came to me is that maybe this was his “almost king” gift like a year/2/3 or decade before he had to take the crown and title as king of the realms, so here I’m guessing Danny is partying before his coronation so this could be 17 almost 18 or maybe 21 if you wanna go older or over a 100 year old so danny that’s making it so danny would be 90/80 years of age partying before he has responsibility

but with the angst route we can totally say that this is him manifesting his friends or something similar idk

I mean, idk about the title bit because Beelzebub is a name rather than a title iirc so-

Anywho.

Danny swinging around his casino instead of flying, maybe dropping things onto those below like uh. I genuinely don't know what could even get a ghost going like, ectoplasmic wine? SfSfkj, we'll work through that later. Maybe some food shaped like stars or something who knows.

That pole? He definitely swings on, like he jumps onto it, swings on it a lil, and then jumps onto something else. It's there along with the disco because bro is always moving!!!!

(Ya'll can do what cha'll want with the almost king and ghost king bit)

Angst route where he manifests his 'friends' but they're literally just illusions and not his actually friends because they've been long gone.

[jeannereames]

This question usually comes up framed as “did Alexander know about China?” - but what I really want to ask is: how aware was Alexander of what was to the East of his conquests?

He reached India, so he must have known that there were kingdoms / civilizations / countries that form what we presently call India as well. Was he aware of say, Tibet? Or Southeast Asia? I’m fairly certain Alexander and China didn’t know about each other, but if Alexander initially wanted to expand to the east, what did he know about it?

I suspect this changed as he moved east. The wall of the Himalayas is pretty steep. I'm not sure the route that would become the Silk Road was really open yet; it dates to the first century BCE. Alexander did encounter silk, but I believe it was in India. Silk starts popping up in the West after Alexander, although, again, some limited silk coming via Persia (via India) is older.

That said, when the army hit Marakanda/Samarkand, which was ON the later Silk Road, it's entirely possible that he'd have heard something. I doubt it would have been very clear, however.

It's really in India that he'd have heard more. After the Battle of the Hydaspes, the army hung out in Poros's lands for a bit. That's where he heard enough about the extremely warlike nations further into India--as did the army--that led to the indiscipline at the Hyphasis. In fact, some scholars have suggested Alexander actually *staged* the indiscipline, to give him an excuse to turn around. He knew he didn't have enough troops to take on the kingdoms in central India.

How much he heard about China beyond that, I don't know. It would depend on how much was known in the Punjab region.

But certainly, Alexander's army returned with a lot more information about Central Asia, and further east, than had been known before.

Strabo's Geography (Roller has the complete collection translated) is probably the best place to look. He used a number of the now-lost Alexander historians, when writing, and even evaluates the reliability of these.

[stirringwinds]

i'm curious if you have more yao headcanons?

I notice i've found it hard to pin down his character. there's either the hetalia canon version which is offensive to say the least, or there's like the fanon versions where he's sort of an accessory to the plot of other popular characters (most/all of whom are white characters, which imo is offensive for a whole other reason.)

i've been writing more induchu/indchu (whatever the indiaxchina pairing is called) lately and while hws india is almost an oc to me because of how little there is of him in canon, yao is a lot harder for me to write. also partly because i dont know as much as i should of chinese history (what i know is basically from an indian history context) and i havent yet had the opportunity to do some serious research. so i'm curious to hear your thoughts on him! thank you and have a great day <3

sorry for taking a while to get to your ask—but thank you for the great question! i'll cover some elements of both ancient/imperial and modern chinese history and certain themes/relationships with other nations that i think are really central to his character:

creator and destroyer: to me, Yao is akin to the Yellow River itself—a life-giving source whose waters and fertile silt birthed Chinese civilisation, but whose devastating floods have also drowned millions and destroyed dynasties. that’s exactly what he is to many of his neighbours—a cultural wellspring from whom they have learned much, but at other times, ruthless and terrible in his power—a conquering empire who has drowned other nations in his pitiless ambition. here, i’m integrating the long history of ancient and imperial China as an expansionist empire. it’s a crucial element of his character for me, because the Sinicisation of what were once independent, non-Chinese polities has moulded modern China and Asia. Yao’s cultural influence, technology, aesthetics and philosophies spread out across the world—but trade routes and diplomats walked hand-in-hand with power amassed through imperial conquest.

passions of the cut sleeve: so, this refers to a tale where a han dynasty emperor, who, rather than waking his male lover who had fallen asleep on the long sleeve of his hanfu, just cut through all that expensive silk so he wouldn’t be disturbed lol. sexuality-wise, it’s pretty much ironclad for me that Yao has had many romantic and physical relationships with other men too; there’s a long history of m/m relationships in pre-modern china. generally, i don’t see him being shy or flustered about sex—some fandom depictions of him as such feel uncomfortably orientalist. he’s very experienced after all those years.  

old—and proud: Yao’s pride is both a strength and one of his biggest flaws. in the Confucian hierarchy, seniority confers prestige and demands respect. it’s a strength because he ferociously clings to that sense of “I have lasted for millennia and seen more than many other nations have” during the most trying moments of Chinese history. that long history is fuel for him to spitefully and doggedly endure—such as during the Opium Wars, or World War II. it’s a belief in his dignity that roots him in place when the world turns upside down.

but it's also a major flaw, because Yao can be arrogant and disdainful towards other nations, especially from the sinocentric worldview of regarding China as the center of civilisation, with Korea and Japan at times being referred to as some variant of 'barbarian', much less other non-Han polities seen as an obstacle to Chinese expansionism. Lien (Vietnam) is someone he acknowledges somewhat as a peer in age, but boy, is it a fraught relationship, because of the huge number of wars they've had against each other. to Lien, Yao can be arrogant at times, but he's someone whose scheming and sharpness of mind aren't to be underestimated either.

“mandate of heaven” and political pragmatism: i see Yao being one of the most ruthlessly pragmatic nations when it comes to political ideology and economics—it’s a very Deng Xiaopeng “what does it matter if the cat is black or white, as long as it catches mice?” today, he is not particularly emotionally attached to a specific form of governance. in ancient Chinese politics, there is a concept called “mandate of heaven” which was used to legitimise a king or emperor’s rule—but this isn’t the same as the european notion of the divine right of kings. because a Chinese ruler could “lose” that heavenly mandate and thus be justly overthrown—and wars, natural disasters and other crises were treated as indications of that. 'mandate of heaven' could of course retrospectively be manipulated by a usurper to legitimise his rule when (re)writing the history of the old regime by exaggerating its misdeeds, but nonetheless I think it’s a good reminder of many rebellions and revolts there've been in Chinese history. Yao is jaded to some degree—he does give a shit about his people, but he isn’t as idealistic as someone like Alfred might be (in the good and bad ways). he looks at things very pragmatically, rather than always through principle. if this is a system he has to live with, he will—for now. that’s the attitude I think he has towards many of his politicians: “to me, you emperors come and go, like the cycle of the seasons.” 

the old master and his protégé(s)—pre-modern china, korea and japan: imo, yong-soo and kiku are amongst his oldest and most important relationships, from antiquity to present. as intertwined as their history is, it always tended towards an unequal dynamic because Yao never quite regards them as equals. on one hand, they somewhat respect him for what he's contributed to their culture—but on the other, they were never completely free of being reminded of the imperial hierarchy and hard edge of yao's power. here, I’m thinking of examples like how the Korean peninsula was turned into a Chinese protectorate by Tang China, and how China crushed Yamato Japan during the Battle of Baekgang.

the silk road—india, persia/iran and rome: for all his cultural exceptionalism, i do think Yao respects these nations as peers. Rome, for example, was called ‘da qin’ (great qin), which mirrored how China was called ‘qin’ (from the qin dynasty)—despite the distance, Roman glassware made its way to China, whilst Chinese silk made its way to Rome. compared to Rome, Persia/Iran and India had an even bigger influence on Chinese culture—Iran, such as during the Tang dynasty: polo and Persian styles/aesthetics reached China, aided by Tang expansion westwards bringing it closer to the Persian sphere of influence. another interesting element is astronomy: Chinese astronomers worked alongside Persian at the 13th century Maragheh observatory where many discoveries about astronomy and mathematics were made.

as to pre-modern India-China: Buddhism is one really big cultural import absorbed by China; and I personally think that’s a large part of why Yao regards India more as an equal—in contrast to how he sees Kiku, Yong-soo and Lien (Vietnam). I think there’s a very scholarly dynamic in their pre-modern rship: India, in Yao’s eyes, is a sophisticated philosopher and mathematician lol—i base this off the enormous cultural exchange from Indian monks and scholars travelling to China, as well as how Indian astronomical texts, such as Aryabhatta’s works, were translated into Chinese.

the empire is dead, long live the republic: inasmuch as Yao's deeply steeped in tradition—he won’t die on the sword of it either. the 1840s—1910s is him going from crisis to crisis—but it was also full of Chinese political debates. about monarchies vs. republics, labour movements, revolutions and counter-revolutions, as Chinese people reacted to Western and Japanese imperialism. some Chinese revolutionaries, like the Boxers, rejected everything Western. others sought to borrow from British, American and Soviet models of governance. yet others, Sun Yat Sen included—looked to Meiji Japan. significantly, 1900s Japan became a hub for Chinese reformers linking up with sympathetic Japanese intellectuals/politicians, but also other Asian thinkers/revolutionaries, from as far as India, Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam. so if you’re interested in Ind/Chu, you can explore how they exist in the transnational dynamic of Pan-Asianism too. there’s the paradox of Kiku becoming an empire at Yao’s expense, whilst that very prestige he wins is exactly why many other Asians (including Indians and Chinese reformers) saw Japan as an aspirational model for a modernised Asian society that was free of Western domination. 

the old and the new: to end off, i think yao is someone whose facets are always fluid and shifting. how do i characterise someone who has lived for so long, and has encompassed so much sweeping history? to bring it back to the yellow river; rivers change their courses throughout history, sometimes very drastically, but we’d say it’s the same river. just as we aren’t the exact same person we were as children—but there is a thread of continuity, so it is for nations—just on a much longer time-scale. and i think that even though old nations like him bear the weight of millennia in a way that can be a jarring contrast to his deceptively youthful face—they’re also composed of the souls of their young people. he can be traditional, but he’s always moving with the times. he'll do traditional calligraphy, but he's reading manga and watching the latest chinese and k-dramas (even if he won't always admit it).

nowadays, he’s that older man in an expensive, well-tailored suit, probably smoking way too many zhonghuas despite the disapproving glances from younger chinese people, wearing an expensive watch or sunglasses. he can be kind of flashy at times and does he enjoy his luxuries. he's discerning and opinionated about the kind of food he likes, but he's adventurous and will try new things. in the 90s, he was confused by the internet, but now he’s extremely net-savvy, always using VPNs to get around the Great Firewall—and also spends way too much time on his phone on WeChat or Weibo. he can sound very cynical sometimes—but there's also a calm reflectiveness where he'd smile slightly and say, 'who knows what tomorrow brings?'

[dhorrl]

Primal Hunt with the Wind Hashira

Sanemi Shinazugawa/Reader

Content/Trigger Warning: Fingering, rough sex, primal hunt (BDSM), cursing

Happy Birthday to my sweet baby Sanemi (I rushed this fic cause I was determined to get it posted today)

I will be writing a primal hunt with Feitan next, and I’m working on a follow up for Bakugo, the result of him surviving NNN :)

You stirred the pot of simmering rice with a wooden spoon, watching anxiously as it cooked, a shrill whistle and sputtering emanating from the tea kettle on the fire. Heavy footsteps echoed through the house, growing louder and nearer until you felt his presence behind you. He slowly ran his fingers up your spine, sending shivers down your body before he leaned in for a kiss on your neck and whispered, "How fast can you run, little demon?"

Your heart pounded in your chest as you took off towards the door, desperate to put as much distance between you and Sanemi before he gave chase. You couldn't believe you had agreed to this twisted game months ago, but it seemed Sanemi hadn't forgotten. His lavender eyes lit up with wicked excitement at the sight of your sudden movement. He flexed his fingers, eager for the hunt that was about to begin.

"Ten," he rasped out coldly, beginning the countdown. He stalked to the doorway and stood ready at the entrance, muscles tensed and ready to pounce after you. The air was thick with anticipation as he waited.

"Nine… Eight…" Your heart pounded faster and faster as you made your way toward the woods. Every rustle of leaves sounded like Sanemi closing in on you. You stumbled over rocks and roots, trying to put as much distance between you and him as possible.

"Seven… Six…" Though he wasn't lost in thought, an air of concentration shrouded him like smoke from a fire. His senses were heightened, every muscle in his body ready to spring into action.

"Five… Four…" Your steps beat against fresh soil and fell onto soft mosses and thick ferns growing up around granite boulders jutting out like grey thumbs from the forest floor. A branch snapped behind you, causing your heart to skip a beat.

"Three… Two…" He grinned, teeth glinting in the sunlight that dappled through the trees. His breaths were calm and even, a predator conserving energy for the inevitable pounce.

"One." Sanemi bolted from the door, his powerful legs carrying him swiftly across the ground. Leaves crunched underfoot as he gave chase, his every sense sharpened and focused on capturing his prey. The chase was on, and Sanemi was a ferocious beast unleashed in the wilderness.

You turned your head to catch a glimpse of him, holding up two fingers in the distance in case you hadn't heard him. You grinned and threw yourself into the wild run, knowing time was short before he'd be on your tail. The thrill of being chased raced through you like electricity, invigorating you from the tips of your toes to the ends of your hair. His powerful strides lead him ever closer as his senses sharpened with every step. His hearing had already picked up the pounding of your heart in his ears; it was music to him—intoxicating and sweet.

Giggles erupted from your mouth as you pushed harder against the terrain, willing your legs faster than ever. Your eyes frantically scanned for an escape route as you felt his gaze burning into you from behind. A hope ignited within you as a clearing came into sight beyond the trees. You took the chance, bursting out into the open without hesitation. With each step, your heels dug into the dirt, pulling you towards safety.

Sanemi roared with a bloodlust that shook the earth beneath his hunt, feet pounding against the forest floor as he raced after you. His eyes gleamed in the darkness, relentless and hungry for the thrill of the chase. "Run, little demon, run! But remember, there's no escape from me!" He began to laugh, each booming voice calling out into the forest with his promise of primal conquest rings in his ears.

Sanemi's predatory instincts came alive with every laugh that trailed behind you, the sound fueling his determination. As he followed, the undergrowth crunched beneath his boots, tracking the erratic path you took with a hunter's precision. Your scent was a beacon, leading him through the thick foliage and darkness of the woods. He thrived in the chase, the raw adrenaline of pursuit coursing through his veins. This was primal, carnal, a game that tapped into the very essence of his being. The Wind Hashira was swift and relentless, closing the distance with every powerful stride while his eyes remained fixated on the sight of your retreating form.

As Sanemi emerged from the trees, he spotted you darting across the clearing. Adrenaline surged through his veins as he picked up speed and lunged forward, snatching hold of you around your waist with a grip of steel. You let out a scream that was more like music to his ears as you thrashed against him, trying to break free, but it was useless; he held you fast in his powerful embrace.

A feral snarl escaped Sanemi's lips as he forced you both down onto the grassy ground of the open field. He placed himself atop you, his broad shoulders blocking out the sun creeping through the trees above. Your cries, made up of a mix of fear and desire, only invigorated him further. Drawing closer to your face, he growled softly into your ear. "You can keep screaming if you like, little demon. I have you now," Sanemi whispered with wicked promise in his voice.

He grabbed your wrists, his calloused hands gripping yours firmly as he pinned them above you. His touch sent sparks of electricity up and down your body, making your skin tingle with anticipation. Your attempts to break free only seemed to excite him further, and his grip tightened as he took control. With a warning nip on your neck, Sanemi felt the wild instinct within awaken at having finally subdued its prey. "You're mine," he growled, the words hot on your skin as he prepared to take what was his.

You growled back defiantly, struggling against his vice-like hold despite knowing it was futile. But Sanemi only laughed; he was drawn in by your fearless spirit, wholly captivated by the push and pull of wills between you two. Every twist and turn of your body seemed to stoke the flames of his desire higher and higher. Sanemi was an unstoppable force of nature and intended to take full advantage of your submission.

His grip tightened just a fraction, securing you further as his body pressed down, the defined muscles of his torso against the softness of your curves. His mouth hovered over your skin, teeth grazing lightly, promising more bites. And then he spoke, a command laced with dark intent.

Sanemi held your wrist firmly in one hand while his other hand slowly traced the curves of your body. His fingertips awakened the desire stirring since you first locked eyes with each other. His breath was hot against your ear as he spoke again, the sound both taunting and enticing. "Keep fighting, little demon," he rasped, his voice a devil's whisper. "It only makes it better when I finally break you." You let out a soft growl before yielding to his touch, embarrassed by your body's automatic response as a blush crept up your cheeks. Sanemi could feel your surrender as his hips pushed into yours, and when his teeth grazed your ear, he knew that you were his to take.

A moan escaped your lips as you lay beneath Sanemi, feeling his hot breath on your skin and trembling under the anticipation of him claiming you. "Don't toy with me," you said weakly, but Sanemi only grinned in response, relishing the blush that bloomed across your cheeks as a sign of surrender.

"You should know by now I never play with my food," he murmured, his voice low and throaty as he pressed firmly against you. "I savor it." His hardened cock was palpable against your body as his hand moved downwards. He could feel the heat radiating from between your legs, a sign that even though your mind may be in denial, your body still craved him. Parting the front of your kimono, he made way for his fingers to slide into your slick folds. "You're dripping for me," he rumbled an edge of dark satisfaction to his voice. "You can fight all you want, but it's clear who you really belong to."

Sanemi's fingers eagerly dove within you with barely contained intensity. His movements were deep and steady, coaxing a chorus of moans from your lips. His kiss was intense, claiming your mouth with ravishing ardor. The time had arrived; the hunter was about to devour his target. Your hips rocked against his hand as he continued to explore your pussy, sending shivers down your spine. This was the endgame of the hunt, the primitive ritual that ended with ultimate claiming. In a blazing surge of passion, Sanemi, the Wind Hashira, was about to consume you, his eagerly awaited prey.

The constant rhythm of Sanemi's fingers drove you to the edge and then over it. Your moans built in volume until you were screaming out his name in pleasure, your legs clamped tight around his hand as if desperate for something more. You felt yourself build towards the climax, becoming lost in sensation as your breathing became more and more ragged.

When the orgasm finally hit, it was like a white-hot shockwave radiating from your core outward. You shattered beneath him, nails digging into the scars on his back as wave after wave of pleasure coursed through your body. Sanemi watched you break apart in front of him with a primal satisfaction that bordered on reverence. Tears streamed freely down your cheeks, but instead of being concerned, he found them powerfully arousing, a sign of just how deeply you'd given yourself over to him. His own desire surged as he drank in every shuddering breath of pleasure you took, admiring the beauty of his work as you called out his name again and again.

Sanemi slowly dragged his fingers away from your quivering pussy, and the electric connection between you seemed to linger in the air. His gaze bored into yours with an unapologetic heat burning in his eyes. "You're so fucking beautiful when you fall apart for me," he whispered, his voice deep and thick with desire.

His free hand suddenly released your legs, which had been clamped around him like a vice grip moments before, and he pushed them apart gently to make room for himself between them. He pulled out his thick, eager cock, teasing it against your slick opening with a few shallow thrusts, coating himself in slippery arousal. A guttural groan escaped his lips as your tight heat enveloped the tip of him.

"You want me to claim you?" Sanemi growled, questioning but demanding all at once as he gripped your hips with both hands, holding you still for the imminent plunge. Without waiting for a verbal response, he thrust deep inside you in a powerful stroke, burying himself within you. You gasped at the sudden fullness, and Sanemi let out an animalistic groan as he began to move on top of you, claiming you with each deliberate thrust that was filled with primal intensity.

The sound of skin slapping against skin filled the clearing. Sanemi's breaths came in ragged gasps as he pounded into you with a savage need that sent sparks through your body. You felt his hard body pressing down on you with an intensity that burned like fire. His hands tangled in your hair as he yanked it back to expose your neck and shoulders, leaving them vulnerable to his kisses and bites. He leaned forward and growled in your ear, He growled in your ear, "You're mine, and I'll fuck you until you can't take anymore, until you're nothing but a whimpering, satisfied mess beneath me," then plowed into you with unfettered strength that lifted your body up from the ground.

"Sanemi! Yes, fuck, Sanemi!" Your whimpering cries rose up into the sky until they were lost in the chorus of animal howls and bird trills. Sanemi's entire being thrummed with savage pleasure as he felt you clinging to him, your nails carving a map of desire across his back. The way you said his name, the possessive grip on his body, it all sent a jolt of pure, animalistic satisfaction through his veins.

"Take it, love, take all of me," he panted, feeling the build-up of his own climax at the base of his spine. His movements became erratic, desperate, as he sought to quench the fires that raged within you both. With a final, raspy groan, his body stiffened, and he released himself inside you, filling you with endless hot ropes of cum.

Collapsing onto you, his body left yours spent and sated. His arms encircled your quivering body as if holding you gently in place against him. His forehead rested lightly against yours as his breath came in deep, labored gasps. With a low growl that vibrated from deep in his chest, he said one word, "Mine…" His lips brushed tenderly against yours before settling into a comfortable kiss that lingered long after the passion had burned away.

You responded to his touch by pressing yourself closer to him. Your fingers traced delicate patterns on the skin of his back and shoulders, soothing him even as the heat of your desire slowly returned. You murmured softly in between each gentle kiss, declaring your love over and over again until his body relaxed completely against yours. "I'm yours… missed you so much… so glad you're home, my love…"

Sanemi savored the sweetness of your kiss, feeling the warmth fill his chest with an unfamiliar contentment. His calloused hands cupped your face as you parted, tracing its features like a holy relic; every scar, bruise, and mark was precious to him. His gaze shifted to meet yours, intense yet filled with a gentle understanding. "I missed you too," he said quietly. "No matter what I face, I fight for you." The wind brushed over you like a blanket as you lay beneath the trees. Sanemi's heart ached with love, the only one who could bring him back down to earth after scaling great heights. He held on tightly to you, knowing that despite all odds, here was where he belonged.

[krafterwrites]

Analyzing Every Shadow The Hedgehog (2005) Sequence Name

If you don’t know, there’s 326 possible ways you can play through the story mode of Shadow the Hedgehog, and all of these ways have names. In this post, I’m going to look at the name of every single one of these and see why they’re named that by looking at what happens in that specific sequence. You might be asking, why on Earth would I do this? Well, I don’t really have a reason, I just want to because the idea popped into my head one day. Anyways, let’s get into this post, which is definitely going to be insanely long

001: Punishment, Thy Name Is Ruin

This is the first path on the list, and also the darkest one that Shadow can take. In this route, Shadow works with Black Doom on every stage (Except for Cryptic Castle, where he works with Eggman). After completing the mission for Black Doom on the final level and defeating Sonic along with Diablon, Shadow obtains the final Chaos Emerald and proclaims that he was created to bring order and justice to the humans, then proceeds to say that he is going to destroy the planet. This ending’s name is relatively simple to explain, Shadow’s line about being made in order to bring justice to humans implies that he believes that humans are worthy of punishment. As the name states, that punishment is ruin, as in him bringing the planet to ruin by destroying it with the Chaos Emeralds

002: Prologue To World Conquest

This one is very simple. It goes the same as the last route up until the final level, where Shadow betrays Black Doom at the last moment. He then says that he is the ultimate lifeform, born to rule over all, and that he will use the power of the Chaos Emeralds to conquer the universe. That’s all there is to this one

003: The March To A Darker World

This is another rather simple one. In this route, Shadow works solely for the dark side up until the penultimate level, where he does the neutral mission instead. This leads to him going to the Black Comet as the final level, which he does the dark mission for. This leads to him gathering all of the Chaos Emeralds and proclaiming that he was created to protect and serve Black Doom, and that the world will become a dark empire, so the reason why this ending has its name is pretty obvious

004: The Ultimate Ego

This path is the same as last time, except Shadow chooses the hero mission while aboard the Black Comet instead of the dark one. This leads to him saying that he and only he knows what is best for himself before (Presumably) killing Eggman

005: Purification Via Ruination

Okay I’m going to be completely honest here, I’m not 100% sure of the meaning behind this name. This route involves Shadow doing the dark mission for every single level except for Central City, where he does the hero mission. Before the level begins, Black Doom tells Shadow that his past is filled with hatred for humans. Since the hero mission involves Shadow saving a lot of humans (By disarming bombs the Black Arms have planted all around the city), and since the ending is the same as Punishment, Thy Name Is Ruin, it makes me think that in this path Shadow thinks that there are some good humans instead of hating all of them. By destroying the planet, he thinks he’s purifying it (Via ruining it, just as the name says). His plan, or my theory, might have a few holes in it though since the planet being destroyed would kill literally everyone, maybe it would leave behind one or two GUN Soldiers on the ARK, but that’s it. There is another way to think of it, though. Maybe the thing that’s being purified is the wider universe, and by destroying the planet, he’s cleansing it of humans and their actions

006: Apogee Of Darkness

It’s here that I’m starting to realize that these sequence names mostly seem to be based on which of the 10 possible endings they end in, which makes this whole analysis less interesting. I’m still going to try though, although all of the stuff that I say will probably be huge reaches because I’m looking for meaning that probably does not exist. So in this sequence Shadow does dark missions for the first three stages, does the hero mission in Central City, and then does the dark mission for Air Fleet before finally arriving at the GUN Fortress and doing the hero mission. This sequence ends with Shadow proclaiming that he’s going to conquer the universe, just like Prologue To World Conquest. Apogee means the highest point of something, so this means that this sequence is supposedly the height of darkness for Shadow. This seemingly only refers to him conquering the universe (Which is indeed a very evil thing), since he does actually do a hero mission twice in this route, which would make it not be the darkest possible sequence

007: True Soldier Of Destruction

The pattern I noticed on the last post seemed to be accurate, as this name seems to refer mostly to the ending of this path, where Shadow says that he will become the minion of Black Doom and help him conquer the planet. Nothing else in the sequence, which has Shadow doing the dark missions for the first three levels, doing the hero mission for Central City, and doing the normal mission for Air Fleet before finally doing the dark mission for the Black Comet, seems to tie into this name. I feel like a lot of the explanations are going to be this, and I’m sorry for that since it’s probably kind of a let down, but even if my explanation every time is just “Yeah this name is just because of the ending of the sequence”, that’s still a lot of effort on my end considering I’m tackling over 300 sequences

008: Believe In Yourself

This one is mostly based on the ending, where Shadow proclaims that only he knows what is best for himself, but I think I can find a few crumbs from other levels as well. In this route, Shadow does dark missions for the first three levels, does the hero mission of Central City, and then the neutral mission for Air Fleet before doing the hero mission of the Black Comet which results in the aforementioned ending. This could show that Shadow was at first influenced by Black Doom and Eggman, but then decided to turn back from them and help out Knuckles (Possibly due to regret, or maybe he realized that working with the heroes could be better for him), and then when he arrives at the next stage and he has to decide if he wants to continue being heroic or defect back to the Black Arms, he decides to do neither and trust in only himself. This is most definitely a big reach, but I’m also probably putting more thought into this than whoever made the sequence names (Sorry to whoever made the sequence names, I’m thankful for your work)

009: An Android’s Determination

This is another one that’s entirely based on the ending. In this sequence, the final level is Lava Shelter, which Shadow does the dark mission for. This results in an ending where Shadow, believing that he is an android replica of the original Shadow, says that he will use the Chaos Emeralds to become even stronger than the original. That’s all I really need to say for this one, the reason behind its name is obvious

010: For Machine, By Machine...

This sequence is similar to the last one, as the ending of it still has Shadow believing that he is an android, although this time he does the hero mission, which results in him planning to use the Chaos Emeralds to take over the Eggman Empire and rule the world with machines. This is another obvious one, Shadow believes that he is a machine, and he wants to make a world for machines by conquering it with them (Sidenote: It feels like the neutral hero and neutral dark endings got swapped, it would have made way more since if you got the neutral dark ending by doing the hero mission at the end of a neutral route, and vice versa)

011: Revenge At Last

Like a few of the other sequences, Shadow claims that he will destroy the world with the power of the Chaos Emeralds to get revenge on humans. This one does have a bit more stuff to it, though, since Shadow does the dark mission for the level The Doom. The Doom is a flashback to the massacre on the ARK, and the dark mission involves Shadow killing all of the GUN forces in the level. This obviously shows that in this sequence, Shadow especially hates humans and badly wants revenge on them, which is obviously why this sequence has its name

012: Ego’s Awakening

This sequence is the same as the last one, except it ends with Shadow saying that he will conquer the universe instead of destroying the world. The Doom’s dark mission being present here ties into it a lot less than it does with Revenge At Last. In fact, I can’t really think of a way it ties in at all. The only meaning I can find behind this name is that Shadow’s ego is at its highest during the ending this sequence concludes with

013: Destruction And Scorn

Like a few others that have been mentioned so far, this one ends with Shadow saying that he will serve Black Doom and help him with his conquest. This sequence also has The Doom’s dark mission. The word scorn means belief that something is worthless or despicable, so this name makes a lot of sense, Shadow is helping Black Doom conquer/destroy the planet because of his hatred for humans

014: The Last Remaining Purpose

The name of this sequence is mostly based on the ending like all the others, but there is a bit of extra meaning that I can dig for. In this route, Shadow does the dark mission for the first two stages and works for Black Doom, and then chooses the neutral mission in the third level. The next level is The Doom, which he does the dark mission for, and then aboard the next level, The ARK, he does the neutral mission. Finally, he does the hero mission aboard the Black Comet which leads to the ending where he declares that only he knows what is best for himself. This specific path taken could be interpreted as Shadow starting off working for Black Doom, choosing to go through Cryptic Castle without helping anyone (Because the dark mission is Eggman in that level), and then reliving a version of the ARK massacre before heading to the current day ARK. The reason why Shadow chooses to take the neutral mission even though the dark mission is given by Black Doom could be because he doesn’t want to destroy what’s left of the ARK (Black Doom’s mission involves destroying the ARK’s defenses), and being requested to do this makes him realize that he doesn’t want to work for/Can’t trust Black Doom either. Since Black Doom was the only one he trusted initially, he decides that the last remaining thing for him to do is to simply trust in himself and nobody else. Or I could be looking way too far into this. Either one

015: The Nightmare’s Insulation

This sequence ends with Shadow saying that he is going to destroy the world with the Chaos Emeralds, although it also involves The Doom, specifically its neutral mission where Shadow and Maria simply try to escape as fast as possible. Because in this path, Shadow clearly hasn’t moved on from the incident aboard the ARK because of how willing he is to work with Black Doom, him destroying the planet could be seen as a flawed way of trying to make himself look better, since after that the only places he could live are alone on the ARK, or on the Black Comet with the Black Arms (I interpret him saying he’s going to destroy the planet as he’s going to literally break the entire planet, like it got shot by the Eclipse Cannon, not just destroying all the buildings on it and stuff). So, him destroying the planet is simply an insulation to the nightmare he’s going through, since it isn’t going to make things any better for him, especially in the long run

016: The Nightmare’s Sublimation

This sequence goes the same as the previous one, although it ends with Shadow saying that he’s going to conquer the universe instead of destroying the planet. The definition of sublimation (other than the chemistry meaning) is the act of expressing strong emotions or using energy by doing an activity or creating something. The name implies that Shadow is conquering the universe in an attempt to make himself feel better or occupy his mind, but like destroying the planet in the previous route, this isn’t actually going to help him

017: The Loner’s Choice

In this route, Shadow works with Black Doom for the first two missions, and then does neutral missions until the end where he chooses the dark mission, resulting in the ending where he decides to become Black Doom’s minion. That’s pretty much all there is for this one

018: Subjugation In Black

This route is the same as the previous one, except Shadow chooses to do the hero mission at the end instead, which leads to the ending where Shadow says that only he knows what is best for himself. Subjugation is the action of bringing someone or something under domination or control, so this name reflects that Shadow is bringing his own destiny under control through dark means (Like killing Eggman, which he does in this ending)

019: Replica’s Depression

In this route, Shadow goes through the level The Doom (A flashback to the ARK massacre) and then ends up at Lava Shelter, which he does the dark mission for. This leads to the ending where he believes he is an android and says he will use the emeralds to become even more powerful than the original. I’m going to stop saying “That’s pretty much all there is” whenever I’m done with my analysis for these sequences now, because I’ve already said that a lot and we’re only at 19 sequences out of 325, whenever I’ve said all that I have to say about the sequence I’ll just end the paragraph and move on

020: Machine, Machine

This is the same as the last one, except Shadow does the hero mission for Lava Shelter instead, causing him to declare that he will create an empire of androids. This is definitely one of the sequence names that’s only based on the ending, since I fail to see how it can fit into anything else that happens in the sequence

021: Disciple From The Darkness

This falls into the same category as the previous one, it’s solely based on the ending, where Shadow says that he was created to serve Black Doom

022: Beloved Clone

This is an interesting one, as it seems to not be based on the ending of the sequence at all. The one level and mission that seems to tie into this sequence’s name is the penultimate level of this sequence, Iron Jungle. In Iron Jungle, Shadow believes he is an android copy of the original, and does the dark mission where he works with Eggman. While he is doing this mission, Eggman acts affectionately towards Shadow, even saying “Those are more of my beloved androids, just like you!” when Shadow encounters Shadow Androids

023: Revenge Upon The Doctor

In this route, Shadow does the neutral route of Iron Jungle and then the dark mission of Lava Shelter, which results in an ending where he kills Eggman. Before he starts Lava Shelter, he also remarks “You’re going straight to the place you created me from!” and after starting Lava Shelter “You’re going straight to hell!”. This implies that Shadow believes he was created from hell, which would explain why he resents Eggman and wants to get revenge on him

024: The Ultimate Replica

This is another one with Iron Jungle and Lava Shelter, and you’d think that it would end with the neutral-dark ending (Where Shadow believes that he is an android and proclaims that he will use the power of the Chaos Emeralds to surpass the power of the original Shadow), but it’s actually the neutral-hero ending, where he says that he will create an empire of androids to rule over the planet. I think this name would have been far more fitting for the neutral-dark ending, but oh well. Also I’m going to stop explaining the endings now, it’s definitely already gotten repetitive, I’ll just use shorthand for the endings like the two names I used in this one

025: Sanction’s Demise

I’m like 90% sure that sanction means a safe place or something similar, but when I looked it up that definition did not appear. I’m going to stick with what I’m pretty sure the definition of it is though, since otherwise this name doesn’t really make sense. Also, I know I just said that I would use shorthand for all the endings, but the ending for this sequence is one that hasn’t showed up until this point, so I will explain it just once here. In this ending, where Shadow does the dark mission for Cosmic Fall, he decides to become the protector of the ARK (Which is actively falling apart, hence the name of the level) and spend the rest of his life there. Shadow’s chosen safe haven is dying around him, which is the reason behind the name of this sequence. Also, for future reference, the name of the ending for this sequence is semi-hero dark

026: Along With My Home

This sequence ends with Cosmic Fall like the last one, although Shadow does the hero mission for it instead of the dark mission. This results in a pretty grim ending (the semi-hero hero ending), where Shadow says that he should have never been created, and it’s implied by the names of several sequences that have this ending (including this one) that he takes his own life. Since this ending takes place on Cosmic Fall, which takes place on the collapsing ARK, this name implies that Shadow will die along with his home

027: The Cleansing Of Darkness

This is an ending that ends with Shadow saying that he will destroy the world (Which is the dark-dark ending). In this route, like all dark routes, Shadow expresses disgust and hate for humans. Obviously he would think that humans are a darkness in this route, so him destroying the planet and killing all the humans on it would be a cleansing of darkness

028: Birth Of A God

This sequence ends with the ending where Shadow betrays Black Doom at the last moment at the GUN Fortress, and then proclaims that he will conquer the universe with the power of the Chaos Emeralds (Which will be referred to as the dark-hero ending from this point on). Shadow probably does have something of a god complex in this ending, as it would take one to say you’re going to conquer the whole universe

029: The Last Soldier’s Grim Fate

This is a sequence that ends with Shadow saying that he was created to serve Black Doom (Which is the semi-dark dark ending). I don’t know what events in this ending or the other levels in the sequence would make Shadow the last soldier, or what his grim fate is. Maybe even with Shadow on their side, the Black Arms would fall and Shadow would be the only one who wasn’t killed by the heroes due to their past experiences with him and the belief that he could change. He wouldn’t go back to their side, though, and would spend the rest of his time just wandering the planet with the group he believes he was created to serve extinct. That’s all speculation, though

030: Isolation and Solitude

This sequence ends with the hero mission of the Black Comet, where Shadow says that only he knows what is best for himself (Which is the semi-dark hero ending). Since he does not join any sides in this ending, he will most likely spend all of his time by himself, since he is the sole person he trusts

031: Archimedes And The Tortoise

This is by far the most out there sequence name, but I think I actually have an explanation for it. This sequence ends with the neutral-dark ending, and there is a paradox called Achilles and the Tortoise (Archimedes is a famous Greek mathematician and engineer, which might tie into things since Shadow believes he is an android in this ending. The paradox of Achilles and the Tortoise states that if two beings (one fast runner and one slow moving tortoise) are each moving at a fixed speed and the tortoise has a 100 meter headstart, the fast runner will never overtake the slow tortoise. This is because in the time it will take for the runner to reach the position the tortoise is at, it will have moved forward in that time and will be ahead of that previous position. This means that the runner will never pass the tortoise. This rather darkly implies that no matter how hard he will try, Shadow will never surpass the original (Even though he is the original, but it would still be possibly for him to feel inferior to “the original” since he fully believes that he is an android)

032: Where Is My Happiness?

This sequence ends with the neutral-hero ending. Unlike the last one, there’s no ancient paradox for me to make wild assumptions about, instead it’s just a question to make wild assumptions about. I’m guessing that this is a similar situation to sequences 15 and 16, where building an empire of androids and conquering the planet with it will not make Shadow happy, and might even make him feel empty inside since he will have accomplished his ultimate goal yet still not be satisfied from it

033: Seduced By Taste Of Blood

In this sequence, Shadow does the dark mission for the first two levels, does the hero mission for the next level, and then does the neutral mission for Sky Troops (Which is to get to Eggman’s flagship). Next, he does the dark mission for Iron Jungle (Where he kills all of the GUN troops invading Eggman’s base) and then does the dark mission for the Black Comet which results in the semi-dark dark ending. This path and the name could be interpreted as Shadow starting off evil, becoming heroic, but then becoming bloodthirsty and lured back to the dark side after killing for Eggman to try and gain answers about his past. This bloodlust would ultimately lead to him wanting to work with Black Doom and help him take over the planet

034: A Machine Made For War

The penultimate level in this sequence is Iron Jungle (Where Shadow believes he is an android, which I’m going to also stop stating since I’ve said that several times already) and the final level is the Black Comet, which leads to the semi-dark hero ending. This ending doesn’t involve war as much as the semi-dark dark ending, so this name doesn’t make that much sense to me. Shadow is just going his own way and trusting himself, which I really doubt will involve war

035: Original Definition

This sequence ends with the neutral-dark ending, and while I was a bit confused by this name at first, I realized what it actually means. Shadow was originally created to be the ultimate lifeform, AKA the most powerful lifeform. Since Shadow believes he is a copy of the original and will try to surpass the power of said original, he’s fulfilling the purpose he was created for

036: Machine Paradise

This sequence ends with the neutral-hero ending, and that’s all there is to this one

037: Last Will And Testament

This sequence ends in the semi-hero dark ending. What Shadow says to Eggman in this ending is essentially his final will, since he intends to stay on the ARK for the rest of his life. A testament is a part of a will, specifically pertaining to personal property, which also ties into the ending, since he’s now the protector of the station

038: Enveloped in Solitude

This sequence ends with the semi-hero hero ending, but it also has Iron Jungle, so Shadow’s really going through it in this ending (hence the name)

039: Parricidal Savior

This is a very interesting name. Quick bit of context before this analysis starts, parricidal means involved in the murder of one’s immediate family. In this route, Shadow does the dark mission for Space Gadget (Where he destroys the defense systems of the ARK, his old home and birthplace) and then gets the neutral-dark ending where he kills Eggman, who he believes is his creator. I’m not exactly sure what makes him a savior in this sequence though, maybe it’s the fact that he does two hero missions in a row before the aforementioned missions

040: Copy of a Savior

This name has less to it then the last one. It has the neutral-hero ending, so Shadow believes he is a copy, and it has the two hero missions as well near the end like the previous sequence

041: Excess Of Intellect

This is one of the less clear sequence names, but I’m still able to piece something together from it. It ends with the semi-hero dark ending, so I suppose it could be interpreted as Shadow’s knowledge (Which would be a far more fitting word than intellect) being wasted since he’s isolating himself for the rest of his life. That still doesn’t fit super well with the name, but it’s the best I can think of

042: Crystallization Of Intellect

Figuratively, crystallization means the process of something becoming clear. This sequence ends with the semi-hero hero ending, which means that in this ending it becomes clear to Shadow that his creation caused a lot of death which leads to him believing that he never should have been created. Like in the last one, I think knowledge would be a far more fitting word than intellect, but maybe my interpretation is wrong and the actual meaning fits better with the name

043: The Ultimate Confrontation

This sequence has an ending that hasn’t showed up before, the hero dark ending. This ending happens when Shadow does the dark mission for Final Haunt (The most heroic final level), which takes place aboard the Black Comet. In this ending, Shadow sides with Black Doom at the last moment so he can fight against Sonic and prove that he is stronger than him. Shadow also does the hero mission for Space Gadget prior to Final Haunt, where he races against Sonic aboard the ARK to get to a Chaos Emerald, and actually gets there first

044: Miracle Of Love

This is a cute one! In this route, Shadow does the dark missions for the first two levels, working with Black Doom in both of them. Once he gets to Cryptic Castle, though, he does the hero mission where he helps out Amy, and proceeds to do only hero missions for the rest of the sequence. This even leads to the hero-hero ending, where Shadow defeats Black Doom and says that he will protect the planet like Maria wanted him to. Just like in SA2, in this sequence Amy made Shadow snap out of his villainous tendencies and realize Maria’s wish, and I think that’s really nice. (Just so it’s clear by the way, I don’t ship Sha/damy, I interpret the name as being about Amy’s love for the world and her friends rubbing off on Shadow, which causes him to begin working for the good guys instead of the Black Arms)

045: The World’s Demise

Another sequence that ends with the dark-dark ending

046: The Ultimate Power

Another sequence that ends with the dark-hero ending

047: Dyed In Lovely Darkness

This sequence ends with the semi-dark dark ending. The world will be dyed in darkness once the Black Arms take over it, but since Shadow’s working for them, he’ll find it nice

048: Vainglory Or Abandonment?

This sequence ends with the semi-dark hero ending. Vainglory means excessive pride in oneself, and since Shadow says that he’s the only one who knows what is best for himself in the end of this sequence, this sequence name is asking whether he is making this choice because he thinks he’s better than everyone else or if he’s just abandoning them because he doesn’t trust any of them

049: Messenger Of Ruination

This is yet another sequence that ends with the dark-dark ending, although it does also involve Shadow doing the dark mission for Air Fleet where he attempts to assassinate the president. Despite the fact you blow up his escape pod, he’s completely fine, but if he did actually die then that would be a good message of the imminent doom the planet would face from Shadow

050: Standing At The Summit

This is another sequence that ends with dark-hero ending

051: Controller From The Capsule

This name is a bit frustrating to me, because I know it has to mean something, but I can’t find a satisfactory answer. This sequence involves The Doom and its neutral mission (Which leads into Shadow being shot out of the ARK in a capsule) and the semi-dark dark ending, where Shadow helps Black Doom control the planet. The two pieces for the name are there, but I don’t know how they correlate

052: Beyond One’s Own Power

This sequence ends with the semi-dark hero ending. It doesn’t really fit that well, though, since Shadow isn’t going to try and become more powerful like in several other endings. Maybe what Shadow thinks is best for himself is using the seven Chaos Emeralds to become even more powerful, but that’s never really hinted at, so that’s just my best guess

053: A Clone’s Determination

This is another sequence that ends with the neutral-dark route

054: Machine Utopia

This sequence ends with the neutral-hero route

055: A Toast To The Ruler

This sequence ends with the semi-dark dark ending (Sidenote, the mental image of Shadow and Black Doom giving a toast is actually kind of funny to me)

056: Answer From The Black Comet

This sequence ends with the semi-dark hero ending. I’m not sure what specific event on the Black Comet lead to Shadow coming to the conclusion he does in this ending, maybe him doing the hero mission of The Doom and the dark mission of Iron Jungle made him not want to work for Black Doom anymore. He already didn’t want to work with the heroes since this is one of the darker routes, so he’s probably just working with Knuckles to take down Black Doom since he knows that he’ll be a threat to him. When Eggman shows up and tries to take the Chaos Emeralds he’s been gathering the whole time, it makes him realize that he doesn’t want to be allied with Eggman either, thus leading to him choosing to only trust himself

057: Transcendentalism

Another sequence that ends with the neutral-dark route

058: Imperialism

Another route that ends with the neutral-hero ending

059: The Weight of One’s Crimes

This sequence ends with the semi-hero dark ending. Before Cosmic Fall starts, the GUN Commander tells Shadow that he is the reason that everyone on the ARK was killed, which is most likely why Shadow decides to live on the ARK and be its guardian in this ending. He believes that he’s the reason why its empty and has been left crumbling and unguarded for such a long time, so he’s given himself the job of protecting it. Or, as the sequence’s name says, he’s choosing to live on the ARK because of how much his “crimes” are weighing on him

060: Imprisoned By The Past

This sequence ends with the semi-hero hero ending. Like I mentioned for the previous sequence name, in both semi-hero endings Shadow is dealing with a lot of guilt since he takes responsibility for the ARK massacre. Even if he doesn’t die (Which thankfully isn’t implied by this sequence’s name), he’s still going to feel trapped by his past

061: The Ultimate World Conquest

This sequence ends with the dark-dark ending. There is a bit of stuff that adds to this name, though, since Shadow does the dark missions for both Sky Troops and Air Fleet (Which means he destroys the Egg Fleet and tries to kill the president)

062: Black Angel

This seems to be one of the first names that barely has anything to do with the sequence at all, it ends with the dark-hero ending which kind of fits with the name, but it mostly seems like this name was chosen because it sounded cool. And to be fair, it does sound cool, especially with the context of the ending

063: Under Darkness’ Control

This sequence ends with the semi-dark dark ending

064: To Love Oneself

This sequence ends with the semi-dark hero ending

065: Revenge And Determination

This sequence ends with the neutral-dark ending, and also involves Shadow doing the dark mission for Sky Troops and the hero mission for Iron Jungle, which both involve shooting down Eggman’s aircrafts

066: Birth Of The Robot Emperor

This sequence ends with the neutral-hero ending

067: Shadow, The Black Android

This sequence involves Shadow going through Iron Jungle, and then ending up on the Black Comet and getting the semi-dark dark ending

068: A Solitary Android

This sequence involves Shadow going through Iron Jungle and then getting the semi-dark hero ending

069: Over The Original

This sequence ends with the neutral-dark ending

070: Machine Sunshine

This sequence ends with the neutral-hero ending. It doesn’t fit the ending quite as well as some of the other names sequences that end in it have, but it is a sick name

071: Life Is Guilty

This sequence ends with the semi-hero dark ending, and as its been mentioned before, Shadow feels guilty over his creation in both semi-hero endings since he believes it lead to all of the death that took place aboard the ARK

072: Fallen Angel of Despair

This sequence ends with the semi-hero hero ending

073: An Eternal Rival

This sequence involves Space Gadget, although Shadow does the dark mission for it and not the hero mission which involves racing Sonic. It ends with the neutral-dark ending, so it can be assumed that Shadow is trying to surpass Sonic as well as the original. The eternal part is probably because he believes that he’s an android, which means he would live forever as long as he isn’t killed

074: This is Just the Beginning

This sequence ends with the neutral-hero ending, and it also has Space Gadget like the previous sequence, but it doesn’t really tie into the name even if Shadow did the hero mission for it (Which he didn’t). I suppose the name just means Shadow has even bigger plans than conquering the planet with an empire of androids, maybe this specific sequence leads into the dark-hero ending except with an army of androids instead of just Shadow

075: Crystal Of Tragic Knowledge

This sequence ends with the semi-hero dark ending. At first, I thought this name made sense except for the crystal part, but then I realized that the crystal is supposed to be Shadow. Shadow is full of knowledge of the past, like a crystal formed in a cave ages ago that has recorded everything around it

076: Shadow’s Second Death

Some of these sequence names have had ellipses after them, which I’ve been cutting out since they’re not really needed and make the name look more cluttered. This ending has ellipses and a question mark after it, so it is ambiguous whether Shadow actually dies after this sequence. Since this sequence ends with the semi-hero hero ending, I really hope he doesn’t end up dying, because the implications of him dying after that ending are quite dark

077: The Legend of Shadow

This sequence involves Shadow beating Sonic in a race to the Chaos Emerald on Space Gadget, and then getting the hero-dark ending where he turns against him at the last moment to defeat him in a fight and become the ultimate hedgehog

078: Power Of Love

This is another nice one! In this sequence, Shadow does the dark mission for Westopolis, but after going into Digital Circuit and meeting with Rouge, he does the hero mission with her and then does hero missions for the rest of the levels (Except for Prison Island, poor Charmy). This leads to the hero-hero ending just like the last sequence that had a love themed name. Also just like the last time I talked about a sequence with a love themed name, here’s a quick disclaimer: I don’t ship Sha/douge, I think it’s gross. I think the love in the name is based on the fact that Rouge is the person who’s closest to Shadow and cares about him the most, since she interacted with him a lot in SA2 and got him out of his pod in Heroes

079: Deep Black

This sequence ends with the semi-dark dark ending

080: Walk My Way

This sequence ends with the semi-dark hero ending

081: This is Shadow’s Way Of Life

This sequence ends with the neutral-dark ending

082: A Monarch’s Style

This sequence ends with the neutral-hero ending

083: In the Gap Of Sadness

The ending of this sequence is the semi-hero dark ending. While Shadow’s life has had a lot of sadness in it overall, most of it occurred aboard the ARK. Since he’s living the rest of his life on it, he’s living in the one place that holds the most sadness for him

084: To Be Ignorant Of The Past

There’s two different ways that this name can be interpreted, since this sequence ends with the semi-hero hero ending. One, Shadow believes he was ignorant of his past before the GUN Commander and Black Doom told him about it. Two, he wishes he was ignorant of his past, because knowing the truth causes him to feel like he should’ve never been created

085: At Vengeance’s End

This sequence ends with the neutral-dark ending, although the only part of the ending that’s important to the name is the fact that he kills Eggman. The cutscene before Lava Shelter and one of his lines at the beginning of the level also tie into the name, but I already mentioned both of those earlier

086: Machine Boys

This sequence ends with the neutral-hero ending

087: Reborn Along With Sorrow

This sequence ends with the semi-hero dark ending, and since Shadow is essentially starting a new life of solitude aboard the ARK, it could be described as a rebirth. It’s already been mentioned a lot that Shadow is sad in the semi-hero endings, but something else that might add to it a bit is that he also does the neutral mission for Space Gadget, where he fails in a race against Sonic aboard the ARK

088: With A Fate Of Self-Denial

This sequence ends with the semi-hero hero ending, but the name is a little bit strange to me. Shadow doesn’t really deny anything about himself in this. He’s very sad about his belief that he caused the ARK incident, but he fully accepts it. Maybe this ending means that he’s denying the actual truth, that the events aboard the ARK were not his fault. It could also mean that he’s denying the fact that he was created to be the ultimate life form, since he also loses to Sonic in a race in this sequence, and he refers to himself as “A research experiment gone deadly wrong” in this ending instead

089: I Am Shadow

In this sequence, Shadow completes the hero mission for Space Gadget and then gets the hero-dark ending, so this route involves a lot of competing with Sonic. This is probably in order to prove that he is Shadow, the ultimate lifeform (Or the ultimate hedgehog, as he calls himself in the hero-dark ending)

090: Shining Within Memory

This sequence ends with the hero-hero ending where Shadow fulfills his promise he made to Maria 50 years ago, but that’s just one of the two meanings behind this name. In this route, Shadow also races Sonic for a Chaos Emerald aboard the ARK, which is reminiscent of the events of SA2. Sonic even remarks “This is just like old times!” at the start of the level

091: The Rise And Fall Of The ARK

The penultimate level in this sequence is Lost Impact, and the final level is Cosmic Fall, which leads to the semi-hero dark ending. Simply put, the last two levels of this sequence are the rise and the fall of the ARK

092: Requiem For A Fallen Angel

A requiem is a mass held for the souls of the dead, which has some dark implications, since this sequence ends with the semi-hero hero ending

093: Ultimate Shadow

This sequence ends with the hero-dark ending

094: For Love’s Sake

This sequence is the exact same as Power Of Love, except Shadow helps Charmy this time around instead of ignoring him, which is nice

095: A Heart Awoken from Darkness

This sequence ends with the dark-dark ending, and involves Shadow doing the dark missions for every single level except for Westopolis, which he does the neutral mission for

096: Destruction From Perfection

This sequence ends with the dark-hero ending. It would make more sense if the name of this sequence and the name of the last sequence had their names swapped, they fit each other better than they fit their own sequences

097: Darkness’ Strongest Soldier

This sequence ends with the semi-dark dark ending, and also involves Shadow doing a lot of dark missions

098: Severed Chains

This sequence ends with the semi-dark hero ending

099: Retribution Against Humanity

This sequence ends with the dark-dark ending

100: To Be Known As Ultimate

This sequence ends with the dark-hero ending

101: Dark Warrior’s Advent

This sequence ends with the semi-dark dark ending

102: Arriving At The Ego

This sequence ends with the semi-dark hero ending, although this name would definitely fit better with a few other endings

103: Determination Of A Fake

This sequence ends with the neutral-dark ending

104: Path To The Machine Empire

This sequence ends with the neutral-hero ending

105: Demise Wrought By Tragedy

This sequence has The Doom as part of it, and ends with the dark-dark ending

106: Turning Sorrow Into Strength

This sequence ends with the dark-hero ending, and has The Doom as its fourth level

107: The Liberated Soldier

This sequence ends with the semi-dark dark ending, and it does involve The Doom and The ARK as levels, but I can’t think of a good way that they tie into the name. Maybe Shadow destroying the GUN forces during his flashback and then deciding to not destroy the defenses for the ARK brought him some sort of peace about his past

108: Stupefaction’s End

To be stupefied means to be unable to think properly, which definitely happened to Shadow a lot in this game considering how much internal conflict he goes through. This sequence ends with the semi-dark hero ending, so him deciding to only trust himself is the end of this confusion

109: Humanity’s Folly

This sequence ends with the dark-dark route, and also involves The Doom

110: Surpassing All Else

This sequence ends with the dark-hero ending

111: Soldier Of Grief

This sequence ends with the semi-dark dark ending

112: Reclaimed Heart

This sequence ends with the semi-dark hero ending

113: Fighting Spirit Of Steel

This sequence ends with the neutral-dark ending

114: Machine Soldier Uprising

This sequence ends with the neutral-hero ending

115: The Devil Born From Betrayal

The betrayal that’s mentioned here is most likely Eggman’s betrayal of Shadow in this sequence. He does the dark mission for Iron Jungle, which helps out Eggman, but he still attacks him with the Egg Breaker anyways. This betrayal leads to Shadow deciding to work with Black Doom in the semi-dark dark ending

116: Beyond The Truth Of Impact

Going to be honest here, I don’t even have a guess at what this one means. It has The Doom, Iron Jungle, and the semi-dark hero ending, but none of those seem to tie into the name at all. Sorry for not giving a real answer for this one, but at least I managed to give answers for about 100 other so far

117: The Immortal Android

This sequence ends with the neutral-dark ending

118: The New, Coldhearted Empire

This sequence ends with the neutral-hero ending

119: A Singular Atonement

This sequence ends with the semi-hero dark ending, and also has Shadow doing The Doom’s hero mission

120: Spawn Of The Devil

In the semi-hero hero ending, which this sequence ends in, Shadow fights Black Doom. Before this fight begins, he tells Shadow that he created him

121: Black Doom's Scheme

This sequence ends with the dark-dark ending, and also has Shadow working with Black Doom in every mission where he can except Westopolis

122: Subjugating Heaven And Earth

To subjugate means to conquer and bring under control, which fits perfectly with the dark-hero ending, the ending of this sequence

123: Road Of The Dark Soldier

This sequence ends with the semi-dark dark ending

124: Dark Finale

This name is kind of strange for a sequence that ends with the semi-dark hero ending, which this sequence ends with. The only dark thing about it is that he kills Eggman, this name would have fit better with the dark-dark or dark-hero endings

125: Realization While On Board

This name seems to be based on one small moment that happens before the final level of this sequence, where after doing the hero mission for Air Fleet (A level that takes place on a massive GUN aircraft), Shadow realizes that he is an android copy of the original that Eggman built

126: Birth Of A Champion

Strangely, this sequence ends with the neutral-hero ending, and not the neutral-dark ending. I guess being the ruler of an empire that rules the planet would kind of make him a champion, but this still isn’t a very good name for this sequence

127: With The Black Arms

This sequence ends with the semi-dark dark ending

128: The Road To Self-Assurance

This sequence ends with the semi-dark hero ending

129: The Pursuit Of Dr. Eggman

This sequence has Shadow doing the neutral missions for Sky Troops and Iron Jungle, both of which involve Shadow chasing after him to get answers

130: Surpassing His Creator

This sequence ends with the neutral-hero ending. If Shadow does manage to conquer the planet like he plans to in this ending, then he will have surpassed Eggman just like the name says

131: ARK, Colony Of Pathos

Pathos means a quality that evokes sadness, which is fitting since there are a lot of tragic events that happened on the ARK. This sequence ends with the semi-hero dark ending, meaning Shadow will spend the rest of his life on the colony of pathos that this name describes

132: Perfection Lost To Darkness

Shadow was created to be the ultimate lifeform, so the semi-hero hero ending being the end of this sequence means that the perfection of his existence is being lost, whether he ends up dying as some of the sequence names with this ending involve or if he just spends the rest of his life depressed and isolated

133: A New Challenge

This sequence ends with the neutral-dark ending, giving Shadow a new challenge to take on: Surpassing the original

134: The Machines' Coup d'Etat

This sequence ends with the neutral-hero ending

135: A Vow For The Victims

This sequence ends with the semi-hero dark ending, meaning Shadow is making up for causing the death of the ARK massacre’s victims by protecting the station and making sure it doesn’t fully collapse

136: The Truth Of Sadness

This sequence ends with the semi-hero hero ending

137: The Destined Sonic Showdown

This sequence has Shadow doing the hero mission of Space Gadget, and then getting the hero-dark ending

138: The Black Hero’s Rebirth

This sequence ends with the hero-hero mission, and has Shadow doing hero missions for most of the levels

139: Truth, Thy Name Is Vengeance

Shadow does the dark mission of The Doom in this sequence, and then ends up getting the dark-dark ending. In The Doom, some of Shadow’s idle dialogue asks if this is really part of his past. My interpretation of this name is that Shadow ends up believing that him killing all of the GUN soldiers aboard the ARK is the true way that things happened, which causes him to realize that his true purpose is to destroy the planet and get revenge like Gerald wanted him to

140: Searching For “Ultimate”

This sequence ends with the dark-hero ending. I guess this ending and the name means that Shadow is searching to be the ultimate being in the universe, and by conquering all of it, he’ll prove that he’s the strongest

141: Reborn Hatred For Humanity

In this sequence, Shadow does the dark mission of The Doom, and ends up getting the semi-dark dark ending

142: A Future Taken From The Past

Shadow does the dark mission of The Doom in this sequence, and then gets the semi-dark hero ending. I’m not sure exactly how the events of The Doom ties into the ending in this case, though. Maybe the crumbling ARK in the present day is still a part of this past, and Black Doom asking him to damage it and allow the Black Arms to invade it made him no longer want to work with him

143: The Devils’ Victory Song

This sequence ends with the dark-dark ending

144: One To Succeed A God

This sequence ends with the dark-hero ending

145: Disappointed In Humanity

Shadow does the neutral mission for The Doom in this sequence, and then gets the semi-dark dark ending

146: Faith Taken From Solitude

This sequence ends with the semi-dark hero ending

147: Planted Memories

In this sequence, Shadow goes through The Doom and then ends up getting the neutral-dark ending. Because he believes he is an android in this ending, this means he must believe that the memories of the ARK massacre that he’s recalling in The Doom were planted inside of him

148: To Unite Humanity

This sequence has The Doom as part of it, and it ends with the neutral-hero ending. The reasoning behind this name is that Shadow probably believes that having an android empire rule the planet will unite humanity, and prevent them from committing atrocities like they did aboard the ARK

149: Isolated Soldier Shadow

This sequence ends with the semi-dark dark ending. My best guess at the reason why he’s isolated is that he rarely works with Black Doom in this route, only doing it once. Right after he does a mission for him, he does the hero mission for The Doom, which shows that he doesn’t completely hate humanity. Because of this, he likely won’t agree with everything Black Doom says and will not have a close relationship with him, leaving him isolated from everyone since he’s working against the heroes and Eggman

150: Answer Derived From Truth

There’s two truths that this name could be talking about. It could be Shadow believing that the hero mission in The Doom is the true way that things happened, or it could be the supposed truth that he is an android. Since this sequence ends with the semi-dark hero ending, I’m leaning towards the latter, since Shadow believing that he’s an android would lead to him not wanting to affiliate with anyone. He has no prior association with the heroes, he doesn’t want to work with the Black Arms that much since he doesn’t have an especially strong hatred from humans due to his memories being planted, and he hates Eggman for creating him in the first place

151: A Fake’s Disposition

This sequence ends with the neutral-dark ending. Since disposition means a person's inherent qualities of mind and character, and Shadow does the hero mission of The Doom in this sequence, this could mean that the qualities he saw from his original grew on him and changed him a little bit

152: A New World Without Betrayal

This sequence ends with the neutral-hero ending, and also involves The Doom’s hero mission. I would explain further, but I basically stated everything that I would have said here a few sequences ago

153: Together With Maria

This sequence has The Doom as part of it, and ends with the semi-hero dark ending

154: The Tragedy’s Conclusion

This sequence ends with the semi-hero hero ending

155: The Day That Hope Died

This sequence ends with the dark-dark ending, and also has Shadow doing the dark mission Air Fleet

156: Dark Destroyer

This sequence ends with the dark-hero ending

157: Diabolical Power

This sequence ends with the semi-dark dark ending

158: For Freedom

This sequence ends with the semi-dark hero ending

159: At Least, Be Like Shadow

This sequence ends with the neutral-dark ending

160: Seeking A Silent Paradise

This sequence ends with the neutral-hero ending

161: The Lion’s Awakening

This sequence ends with the semi-dark dark ending

162: Identity

This sequence ends with the semi-dark hero ending, and also involves Iron Jungle as its penultimate level

163: An Android's Rebellion

This sequence ends with the neutral-dark ending

164: A New Empire's Beginning

This sequence ends with the neutral-hero route

165: Bullets From Tears

This is one of the more out there names, but I do have an explanation for it. This sequence ends with the semi-hero dark ending, and Shadow’s goal is to deter everyone else from the ARK, a mission that comes from his grief that he feels for causing the people aboard the ARK to die. He doesn’t kill Eggman, just tells him to leave and never return, but if somebody tries to attack the ARK or refuses to leave then he might end up killing them to protect the station

166: Journey To Nihility

This sequence ends with the semi-hero hero ending

167: Shadow Surpassing Shadow

This sequence ends with the neutral-dark ending

168: Dr. Eggman’s Miscalculation

This sequence ends with the neutral-hero ending

169: Along With The ARK

This sequence ends with the semi-hero dark ending

170: Requiem For The Heavens

This sequence ends with the semi-hero hero ending

171: Sonic Dethroned

This sequence ends with the hero-dark ending

172: Justice Reborn In Space

This sequence ends with the hero-hero ending

173: Steel Ruler

This sequence has Iron Jungle as its penultimate level, and ends with the semi-dark dark ending

174: For The Sake Of The Self

This sequence ends with the semi-dark hero ending

175: Farewell To The Past

This sequence ends with the neutral-dark ending, and also has Mad Matrix as a fourth level, where Eggman tells Shadow that he has no past

176: Steel Paradise

This sequence ends with the neutral-hero ending

177: The Guardian With No Past

This sequence ends with the semi-hero dark ending, and has Mad Matrix as its fourth level

178: The Ultimate Atonement

This sequence ends with the semi-hero hero ending

179: A Fake's Aspiration

This sequence ends with the neutral-dark ending

180: Machine World

This sequence ends with the neutral-hero ending

181: Twilight Ark

This sequence ends with the semi-hero dark ending

182: Compensation For A Miracle

I’m not 100% sure what this name means, but like I usually do, I have a guess at what it could mean. Shadow’s creation was probably considered a miracle by Gerald and Maria, but this same miracle lead to their deaths as well as the deaths of everyone else on the ARK as well (at least in Shadow’s mind). Since this sequence ends with the semi-hero hero ending, whatever Shadow does after this ending is him compensating for the “miracle” of his creation

183: The Strongest Hedgehog

This sequence has Shadow completing the hero mission for Space Gadget, and getting the hero-dark ending

184: The Ultimate Punisher

This sequence ends with the hero-hero ending

185: Voyage Of Reminiscence

This sequence ends with the semi-hero dark ending

186: Wandering's End

This sequence ends with the semi-hero hero ending

187: The Ultimate Proof

This sequence ends with the hero-dark ending

188: Punisher Of Love

This sequence ends with the hero-hero ending

189: Messenger From The Darkness

This sequence ends with the dark-dark ending

190: The New Ruler

This sequence ends with the dark-hero ending

191: Dark Soldier

This sequence ends with the semi-dark dark ending

192: The Road Of Light

This sequence ends with the semi-dark hero ending

193: The Machine-Laden Kingdom

This sequence surprisingly ends with the neutral-dark ending, not the neutral-hero ending

194: New Determination

Just as weirdly, this sequence ends with the neutral-hero ending, not the neutral-dark one. I’m almost 100% certain that this sequence name and the last one were meant to be the other way around, and something got switched at one point or another

195: Birth Of The Dark Soldier

This sequence ends with the semi-dark dark ending

196: A New Journey

This sequence ends with the semi-dark hero ending

197: The Android’s Opposition

This sequence ends with the neutral-dark ending

198: Founding Of The Robot Nation

This sequence ends with the neutral-hero ending

199: The Eternal Protector

This sequence ends with the semi-hero dark ending

200: The Sinner’s Repose

This sequence ends with the semi-hero hero ending

201: A Hero’s Resolution

This sequence ends with the neutral-dark ending, so it doesn’t fit super well, the hero part of the name seemingly just comes from the fact that Shadow does a few hero missions in this sequence

202: The Weapons’ Empire

This sequence ends with the neutral-hero ending

203: Perpetual Voyage

This sequence ends with the semi-hero dark ending

204: A Hero’s Atonement

This sequence ends with the semi-hero hero ending

205: Dark Hegemony

Hegemony can mean dominance, so this name could fit with several endings, but the ending of this specific sequence is the hero-dark ending. In this case, the dominance is Shadow proving that he is stronger than Sonic

206: And The Dream Continues

This sequence ends with the hero-hero ending, since Shadow is fulfilling Maria’s dream of the planet being safe

207: Fighter For Darkness

This sequence ends with the semi-dark dark ending

208: The Path I Believed In

This sequence ends with the semi-dark hero ending

209: Determination’s Daybreak

This sequence ends with the neutral-dark ending

210: Machine Kingdom at Dawn

This sequence ends with the neutral-hero ending

211: Sinful Protector

This sequence ends with the semi-hero dark ending

212: At The End Of The Journey

This sequence ends with the semi-hero hero ending

213: Surmounting The Nightmare

This sequence ends with the neutral-dark ending, and while it isn’t as fitting as some of the other names, it still goes with the ending pretty well. The prospect of being an inferior copy of who you thought you were would be a nightmare to most people, and by surpassing the original, Shadow is getting rid of that problem

214: Dawn Of The Machines

This sequence ends with the neutral-hero ending

215: Wandering For Eternity

This sequence ends with the semi-hero dark ending

216: At Vagrancy’s End

This sequence ends with the semi-hero hero ending

217: The Summit of Power

This sequence ends with the hero-dark ending, and has Shadow completing the hero mission for Space Gadget

218: Under The Name Of Love

This sequence isn’t really structured like the other sequences that have love themed names, and since it ends with the hero-hero ending, I’d say that it’s probably based on Shadow’s loving the planet just like Maria did (Although in this sequence after doing two neutral missions in a row, Shadow does hero missions with Sonic for the last two levels, so do with that what you will)

219: Eternally Drifting

This sequence ends with the semi-hero dark ending

220: The Importance Of Truth

This sequence ends with the semi-hero hero ending

221: The Beginning Of Judgment

This sequence ends with the hero-dark ending, although it’s not a very fitting name in my opinion, since I can’t find a great meaning for the name with the context of the ending. I guess maybe it’s the judgement of Sonic, and his position as the strongest hedgehog?

222: This World’s Guardian

This sequence ends with the hero-hero ending

223: Light Born From Darkness

This sequence ends with the neutral-dark ending. Eggman is a pretty evil guy and created the Shadow Androids (And lied to Shadow about being an android in this path) for his own goals, and I guess wanting to surpass the original in power is a noble enough goal, so this name fits decently

224: The Order Of Steel

This sequence ends with the neutral-hero ending

225: Solitary Journey

This sequence ends with the semi-hero dark ending

226: The Fall Home

This sequence ends with the semi-hero hero ending

227: Sovereign Of All Creation

This is definitely one of the weirder names, but it still makes sense. Sovereign as an adjective means possessing supreme or ultimate power, so this name is implying that shadow is the most powerful thing to have ever been created, which makes sense because this sequence ends with the hero-dark ending

228: I Shall Be The One To Judge

This sequence ends with the hero-hero ending

229: Gone With The Darkness

This sequence ends with the semi-dark hero ending

230: The Ultimate Choice

This sequence ends with the semi-hero hero ending

231: I Am The Strongest!

This sequence ends with the hero-dark ending

232: Justice’s Awakening

This sequence ends with the hero-hero ending

233: Prelude to Ruination

This sequence ends with the dark-dark ending

234: A World United By Darkness

This sequence ends with the dark-hero ending

235: The Pulse Of Darkness

This sequence ends with the semi-dark dark ending

236: To Just Be Myself

This sequence ends with the semi-dark hero ending

237: Punishment In Jet Black

This sequence ends with the dark-dark ending

238: The Ruler’s First Cry

This sequence ends with the dark-hero ending

239: Darkness’ Conspiracy

This sequence ends with the semi-dark dark ending

240: The Faint Light Of Tomorrow

This sequence ends with the semi-dark hero ending. While I haven’t been providing explanations for a lot of the names, that’s mainly because they’re easy enough to figure out and as such it’s kind of pointless to do it. I will explain this one though, since it’s a little less straightforward than the others. Shadow’s probably not 100% confident in his decision to only trust himself, in his mind he knows it’s the right thing to do, but it’s going to be a rough road ahead since he doesn’t have anyone else to work with. Since he’s sure this is the right way though, he’s also sure that he’ll make it to tomorrow. It could be thought of in a different way, since he doesn’t know what tomorrow holds, so the light of it is faint to him

241: Time Of Departure

I really don’t know what this one means. I guess since Shadow’s only goal is to become the strongest, he’ll likely depart from Eggman’s base soon after the ending and begin just roaming around. This sequence also has the neutral mission for The Doom as one of its levels, meaning its a flashback to when Shadow departed from the ARK and his old life.

242: Rise Of The Machine Kingdom

This sequence ends with the neutral-hero ending

243: Despair’s Quickening

This sequence ends with the semi-dark dark ending, and has The Doom as one of its levels. Once again, I can’t figure out the exact meaning of this name, and I can’t tell if that’s because I’m kind of tired right now or because at this point in the sequences the developers started to run out of names that made a lot of sense

244: The Beginning

This sequence ends with the semi-dark hero ending

245: Setting Out In The Morning

Another sequence that has the neutral-dark ending with a leaving related name, am I missing something? It also involves The Doom, but once again, I really don’t know what this name is supposed to mean in relation to the events of the sequence

246: The Weapons’ Dawn

This sequence ends with the neutral-hero ending

247: Pure Ark

This sequence ends with the semi-hero dark ending

248: Making Up For It In The End

This sequence ends with the semi-hero hero ending

249: The Coming Of The Dark Time

This sequence ends with the dark-dark ending

250: The Throne Of God

This sequence ends with the dark-hero ending

251: God Of War

This sequence ends with the semi-dark dark ending

252: Howl Of Solitude

This sequence ends with the semi-dark hero ending

253: Proof Of Existence

This sequence ends with the neutral-dark ending. This one is decently clear, but I’ll explain it anyways. It’s already been stated a lot that Shadow was made to be the ultimate life form, so by surpassing the “original” version, then he will prove that the ultimate life form does exist (Since he thinks the original died), and that he is it

254: Ardent Vow

Ardent means passionate, so that means that in this sequence, Shadow is making a passionate vow. This sequence ends with the neutral-hero ending, so it does kind of fit, since Shadow promises to create an empire of androids that will rule the planet (A goal that he will have to be extremely dedicated to in order to actually achieve)

255: A Deal With The Devil

This sequence ends with the semi-dark dark ending

256: A Reason To Live

This sequence ends with the semi-dark hero ending

257: Induplicable Thoughts

This sequence ends with the neutral-dark ending, although strangely it doesn’t have The Doom as part of it. Maybe that’s why it has this name, the memories aboard the ARK that the original had couldn’t be duplicated and given to any of the androids. Or perhaps whatever thoughts couldn’t be duplicated are the reason why Shadow wants to become stronger than the original

258: Steel Struck With Flame

This sequence ends with the neutral-hero ending

259: A Heart Bound To The ARK

This sequence ends with the semi-hero dark ending

260: Tears Shed By The Stars

This sequence ends with the semi-hero hero ending

261: Imitation Complex

This sequence ends with the neutral-dark ending

262: Steel Combat Boots

This is probably the silliest (affectionate) name in this entire list. This sequence ends with the neutral-hero ending, so it’s actually a pretty clever play on words

263: Protector Of The Ashen Moon

This sequence ends with the semi-hero dark ending

264: A Demon Drifting

This sequence ends with the semi-hero hero ending

265: The Ultimate Pride

This sequence ends with the hero-dark ending, and also has Shadow completing the hero mission of Space Gadget

266: I Know The Will Of Heaven

This sequence ends with the hero-hero ending (Sidenote, this is an extremely cool name)

267: Ego Dyed In Black

This sequence ends with the semi-dark dark ending

268: Isolation By Choice

This sequence ends with the semi-dark hero ending

269: Faith Without Falsehood

This sequence ends with the neutral-dark ending. The falsehood could be two opposite things, it could either be Shadow thinking that him being the original was a falsehood, or Eggman telling him that he has no past in Mad Matrix (A level in this sequence) is the falsehood

270: Machine Empire

This sequence ends with the neutral-hero ending

271: The Eternally-Closed Door

This sequence ends with the semi-hero dark ending. Shadow and the ARK are both eternally closed doors, since the ARK itself is sealed off from everyone except him, and he’s never going to leave it

272: The Sealed-Away Ark of Sin

This sequence ends with the semi-hero hero ending

273: Silver Emergence

When I first saw this name on the list, for a split second I internally went “:O Silver!”, but this game came out in 2005, so Silver didn’t even exist yet. Anyways, this sequence ends with the neutral-dark ending, so I suppose this name is a cool way of saying that Shadow is emerging as an even stronger being than the original him

274: Pulsating Supercurrent

This sequence ends with the neutral-hero ending, so I’m guessing this name was chosen because it sounds cool and like something that would be part of a giant computer system, which is what Shadow is like in this ending since he’ll be controlling a whole empire (And possibly the planet)

275: The Reason I Was Born

This sequence ends with the semi-hero dark ending

276: The Dark Part Of The Galaxy

This sequence ends with the semi-hero hero ending

277: The View From Atop The World

This sequence ends with the hero-dark ending

278: Maria’s Testament

This sequence ends with the hero-hero ending

279: A Genius Scientist’s Lineage

This sequence has Lost Impact as a level, and also ends with the semi-hero dark ending. Since Shadow does the normal mission of Lost Impact, which involves him going to Gerald’s laboratory to check on him, the meaning of this name is obviously that he’s carrying on Gerald’s legacy by guarding the place where most of his inventions were created

280: Distorted Truth

This sequence has Lost Impact as a level, and ends with the semi-hero hero ending. Because of this, the meaning might be that Shadow doesn’t believe that the events of Lost Impact happened as he remembers them. Or, the name could only be based on the ending, and that the truth he believes in the ending is distorted

281: A Counterfeit Existence

This sequence has Mad Matrix as a level, and ends with the hero-dark ending. My interpretation of this name and the events of the sequence in the context of it is that Shadow is worried about the implications of him apparently having no past, so he fights Sonic to prove that he is still the ultimate lifeform, and not just a counterfeit

282: Beloved Memories

This sequence ends with the hero-hero ending, and has Shadow doing the hero mission of Lost Impact

283: Birth Of A Devil

This sequence ends with the dark-dark ending

284: A Dark Myth’s Beginnings

This sequence ends with the dark-hero ending

285: Black Thunder

This sequence ends with the semi-dark dark ending

286: The Torn Away Necklace

I really don’t know what this one is supposed to mean. Since this sequence ends with the semi-dark hero ending, I guess the necklace is supposed to represent Shadow’s destiny and his control over it? It was originally torn away from him by everyone trying to get him to work for them, but then he finally takes it back from them at the end. I don’t know, that’s just my best guess

287: A Soul Sheltered By Iron

This sequence ends with the neutral-dark ending

288: Steel Nation’s Decree

This sequence ends with the neutral-hero ending

289: Coronation Of Darkness

This sequence ends with the semi-dark dark ending

290: Opened Eyes

This sequence ends with the semi-dark hero ending. Since Shadow works with the heroes at first before doing missions for Eggman, and Eggman betrays him by trying to steal the Chaos Emeralds (and attacking him with the Egg Breaker after Iron Jungle, the final boss fight is probably the specific thing that leads to Shadow opening his eyes and deciding to only trust himself

291: The Doctor’s Lie

This sequence has Iron Jungle as a level, and ends with the neutral-dark ending

292: The Uninvited Successor

This sequence ends with the neutral-hero ending

293: The Closed Pandora’s Box

This sequence ends with the semi-hero dark ending

294: A Heart Bound By Sin

This sequence ends with the semi-hero hero ending

295: Courage From Turning Gears

This sequence ends with the neutral-dark ending

296: Fullmetal Prince

This sequence ends with the neutral-hero ending

297: Time’s Watchman

This sequence ends with the semi-hero dark ending

298: Galaxy’s Requiem

This sequence ends with the semi-hero hero ending

299: Charm Of The Chaos Emeralds

Since this sequence ends with the hero-dark ending, the meaning behind this name is that Shadow was tempted by the power that the Chaos Emeralds he was collecting could give him, and decided to give into those temptations by using them to become even more powerful than Sonic

300: Promise Of A Far-Off Day

This sequence ends with the hero-hero ending, I think that the meaning behind this name is that Maria wished to one day live on the Earth, which is probably part of the reason why she said that she wanted to protect it along with Shadow (She says this in the final story). By protecting the planet from Black Doom, Shadow is being reminded of that far off day that Maria wished for

301: The Grim Reaper’s Horn

This sequence ends with the semi-dark dark ending

302: A Flame Extinguished By Fate

Since this sequence ends with the semi-dark hero ending, I guess this name means that Shadow’s potential to be a great force for good or evil has been extinguished by the events that lead to him deciding to only do what he wants to, since he’s probably not going to do much that affects anyone except himself after making that decision

303: Shouting At The Morning Sun

Another morning related name that goes with a sequence that ends with the neutral-dark ending. I think I might have figured out what this means, although I’m not completely sure of it. I remembered that another one of the neutral-dark endings was called Determination’s Daybreak, so the sun rising is symbolic of Shadow’s past and what his goal is becoming clear to him. As for why he’s shouting at it, well, I don’t really know. It just made me think of characters in DBZ and how they scream when they power up since Shadow is trying to surpass the “original him” in power in this ending, so that’s my answer because I can’t think of anything better

304: Iron Ambition

This sequence ends with the neutral-hero ending

305: Sleeping On Hallowed Ground

This sequence ends with the semi-hero dark ending

306: Explanation Of The Truth

This sequence ends with the semi-hero hero ending

307: An Android’s Dream

This sequence ends with the neutral-dark ending

308: Metallic Quickening

Quickening means to stimulate (One meaning of which is development of or increased activity in), which is fitting since this sequence ends with the neutral-hero ending

309: Funeral Procession In Space

This may seem like the name of a sequence that ends with the semi-hero hero ending, but it actually ends with the semi-hero dark ending, and it is a fitting name for it. This is because Shadow is guarding the ARK because of his grief over the victims of it, so he’s essentially living through a funeral procession for them by spending all of his time on the station and thinking about their deaths

310: Lost To The Universe’s Abyss

This sequence ends with the semi-hero hero ending

311: Destiny For Two

This sequence has Shadow doing the hero missions of Westopolis and Lethal Highway (Both of which he works with Sonic in) as well as Space Gadget, and then gets the hero-dark ending

312: The Spun Threads Of Fate

This sequence is the same as the last one, except it has Shadow doing the hero mission of Final Haunt instead, meaning he does the hero mission with Sonic in all 4 missions that he appears in (And also does the neutral missions for the levels that Sonic isn’t the hero mission partner for). This name, as well as the last one, implies that Shadow and Sonic are fated to interact with each other

313: Ark Of The Heavens

This sequence ends with the semi-hero dark ending

314: Ghost Of The ARK

This sequence ends with the semi-hero hero ending

315: A Pair Of Shooting Stars

This sequence has Shadow working with Sonic twice in Westopolis and Lethal Highway, and ends with the hero-dark ending

316: The One Who Maria Entrusted

This sequence ends with the hero-hero ending, and has Shadow doing the hero mission of Lost Impact with Maria

317: A.I.’s Enlightenment

This sequence ends with the neutral-dark ending

318: A Dying Empire’s Cry

This sequence ends with the neutral-hero ending

319: Moon Of Atonement

This sequence ends with the semi-hero dark ending

320: Tear-Soaked Hometown

This sequence ends with the semi-hero hero ending

321: Sparks On The Horizon

Since this sequence ends with the hero-dark ending, I guess the sparks represent Shadow’s true power (Or the Chaos Emeralds that give it to him) being visible on the horizon ahead of him

322: A Use For A Saved Life

Shadow’s life was saved by Eggman after he presumably died, and this sequence ends with the hero-hero ending, so the use for Shadow’s saved life was saving the planet

323: Coffin Of Memories

This sequence ends with the semi-hero dark ending

324: The Self-Imposed Seal

This sequence ends with the semi-hero hero ending. It could just fit with Shadow sealing himself away from everyone else because of his depression, but I figured I would mention an idea that I saw somebody on Youtube mention as well. Their idea of what could possibly happen after this ending is that Shadow would willingly go into GUN custody, which would also fit well with this name

325: Pretense In The Mirror

The word pretense can mean two things. It can be an attempt to make something that is not the case appear true, or it can be a claim, especially a false or ambitious one. This sequence ends with the hero-dark ending, so that means that Shadow is telling himself that he is the ultimate lifeform and stronger than Sonic, but he doesn’t fully believe it. This is why he sided with Black Doom to fight Sonic, to prove that it was true and it wasn’t just a lie he was telling himself

326: A Missive From 50 Years Ago

Here it is, the final sequence in Shadow the Hedgehog, and the most heroic one you can take. A missive is a message, so Shadow’s heroic actions in this sequence are him following the message Maria gave him 50 years ago: To protect the planet and the people on it

And with that, I have officially analyzed the name of every single sequence in Shadow the Hedgehog. If you read this through all the way to the end, thank you so much, I appreciate it! Sorry that I wasn’t able to give a satisfactory answer for every single name, but considering there’s more than 300, I think I did a pretty good job overall. Let me know if you have any solutions to the names I couldn’t figure out, I’ll add them to the post if I think they’re better than the explanations I gave

[hojiteaversion]

Mehmed/MC - Fic Recommendations

An asterisk (*) before the title indicates the fic is in Russian! (I read with a browser translator and it's fine! Sometimes some things sound funny and/or pronouns are translated wrong, but it's all understandable!)

All the fics are completed!

Collision by BorgiaBarbie

Laia struggles when the return of Mehmed complicates her already messy love life with Noe. Oh, and she has one week to restore a priceless painting. Can Laia somehow figure out who she is and what she wants before the sand in the hourglass runs out? Laia/Mehmed and Laia/Noe. Mess. Chaos. Jealousy. Angst. Set after the events of Dracula a Love Story Season 4 Episode 3. Chapters 9 & 10 are set 6 months later.

Hilarious? Check ✅ Great writing? Check ✅ Fluff, angst, humor, and smut?! Check ✅

Also, chapter 4 is what most people would call a religious experience. Please, please do yourself a favor and read it.

The Sultan’s request by nesrinslittleworld

Lale Hatun has a conversation with her Uncle when she visits him with the second portrait.

Really well-written short fic. Mehmed/MC is just implied, but I really enjoyed this look into Lale's conflicted feelings about him.

*The trap of excitement by Akulova Anastasia

After her joint incognito outing with Shehzade, Lale continued to avoid Mehmed, fearing her own feelings, and he, having chosen the path of her methodical conquest, found another safe way to get closer, which could not help but seduce the gambling nature of the Sultana: he promised to teach the game of chess, bypassing the prohibitions. The tactics turn out to be correct, but soon Mehmed sets off on a new campaign. On what note will they say goodbye to Lale, and will she agree to one small bet?

This fic has excellent Mehmed characterization, excellent chemistry and development between him and Lale, an amazing dance scene, and a top-notch epilogue. No spoilers, but there's a moment between the two in the smut scene that I find beautifully done and quite touching!

*Obsession by Akulova Anastasia

“Sorry… God, I don’t know what came over me,” I muttered in confusion and embarrassment, for some reason backing away and awkwardly knocking over the paints. Damn it, in this life we ​​have known each other for only a few days and we are not connected by anything except the memories of the reckless passion of young Lale, who probably did not end in anything good, another me, who has long fallen asleep. So why am I now torn by such unbearable thirst and longing? Why did I… kiss him?

Some beautiful and memorable moments between Laia and Mehmed in this one, especially in chapters 2 and 3. To further entice you, I will say one of these excellent moments involves a knife 🙏‍🙌

*Swallow and flame by linalisavv

“I need to run away from you like fire, but I’m flying towards you like a stupid, naive moth, hoping not to scorch my wings,” Lale said almost in a whisper. Her lips collided with the Shehzade’s, and the air around sparked.

This fic (set after 3x11) imagines how Lale and Mehmed could get together in the Ottoman Empire. I think it's very well-written! And while Vlad plays a minimal role here, I think it's fun that this fic is technically set in a Mehmed and Vlad route. Kudos for the sweet epilogue too!

*A fragile tulip in his hands by Seagull with cookies.

Her mind told her: “Get out, run. He is a cruel tyrant. Madman. He will destroy you." And my heart screamed: “It won’t hurt. Can not. His feelings are too strong."

Friends... This one made me insane. It had a lot of things that fit their canon dynamic so well! I want to let you experience it for yourselves, so I'll just say: drawings, teasing, understanding, breathplay (!!!), and falling in love. Please read it.

*On the edge of the abyss by Little_romantic

"I'm scared. I'm afraid it will hurt again…" "I will never hurt you." His whisper sounded so convincing, so soulful that goosebumps ran across my skin. She knew he believed it, but…

I have recommended this one before, and I will do it again! Each chapter is independent from the others, but guys, the sheer longing in these glimpses of them as Mehmed and Lale want, more than anything, to make them work even as they're scared because, you know, it's them... I think it's a beautiful work and it makes my heart just go out to them.

[promptcorner]

Will you ever write that dp x tfrb fic? The one with the cody/danny? Cause the idea is genius...the pairing is so cute, two disaster teens lol

When would Danny get to GR? The dude is so damn overpowered that its hilarious, even if he holds back, so imagine the Burns faces when they watch him lift the boys ship with a single hand and the brat says "oh, this? This weighs like a bunch of grapes lol". And when he tells them all his adventures and that he defeated the ghost version of Unicron on steroids and several minor deities.

What do you think of the "kid is next in the line for the throne by right of conquest because he made old peepaw Dark go to sleep once again"?

Some hc of the cody/danny ship? As in, actual couple hc. Who does what and all that stuff...

Good question!

I’m writing the second chapter actually! The first chapter is being edited, I hope to post it on AO3 with my other fics by the end of the week! Hopefully that comes into fruition, if not, then within this month.

I can’t say much on when or how Danny gets to GR. All I can say though, is that it happens in the first chapter. Danny and Cody meet in the first chapter too and mysteries are put in place.

Pttt! Peepaw Dark is a great name! Gold stars! 🌟🌟🌟

I am going to go the Ghost King route, but I won’t go into detail on how. ;3

Danny is an overpowered boy with great humor. But man, he can be such a dork with cringe fail action. Cody is definitely the most mature out of the two, but not by much. He tends to create trouble by his wants and actions when he doesn’t think things through. The Trash-compacter episode comes to mind. Danny does similar stuff.

They’re both nerds, have older red headed siblings, work as heroes, have some sort of relevant connections to royalty and pirates, fight machines, fight ghosts or ghost adjacent stuff, and both have friend(s) who are knowledgeable in things they’re not. The list can go on.

With that dynamic into perspective, here are my cute romantic hcs:

Danny, as Phantom, would often call Cody, “Boy Scout.” But as Danny, he would call Cody, “Codes.” Even before they get together, he calls Cody these names as a way to separate his ghost side from his living side. It doesn’t work, however. Because Cody would be like, “Hang on, how do you know I was as a scout? I don’t wear my sash everywhere I go… Wait, I recognize that hair cut!” Cody would notice that Danny is Phantom almost immediately. But he wouldn’t say anything and just roll with it. He’s seen some weird stuff, this wouldn’t be any different. Danny would also call Cody his Guardian Angel or Psychopomp due to how they met as a little inside joke. But the joke becomes real. The irony of the protecter spirit actually having a protector is funny to me. But this would go both ways.

Cody would a hundred and ten percent believe that Danny is an alien before finding out he’s a ghost. The entire Burns Family and the Docs would believe that as well. Even The Bots would think he’s some strange shifter species from space like them. Danny just happens to either be half alien, or an alien who grew up with human culture, those types of theories. So they brush off obvious signs of ghostly activity for a while. But Cody would be the first to know via Danny telling him. The angst would be obvious.

And just like Cody being the first to know, he would also be the first to gain feelings for Danny before Danny catches feelings for him. It’s a slow build, but he notices them and develops his first crush. He would act all shy, stutter occasionally, and doze off with a dreamy expression.

He would constantly think Danny’s eyes are brighter then Energon, would want to comb through his hair, and go on hikes to the top of GR and watch the stars with him. Heck, he would find a way to the stars with Frankie’s help.

His siblings would notice this immediately, since their love lives have been active since the dawn of time, especially Kade’s. And they would both get nervous and excited. The Bots would look on in confusion, but realize Cody is having feelings, and also get excited.

But hey! Cody’s the baby, so there will be plenty of, “Gah! No! Not the baby! He’s going through puberty! He’s gaining a crush! Oh the humanity! They grow up to fast! What do we do?” \TAT/

The Docs, Frankie, and Mr. Burns would be the only few to handle this with any form of maturity.

Danny would be slower in catching on. But he develops feeling not too long after Cody.

He would stutter too, doze off, but would still give Cody various pet names. However, where in the beginning he said certain names more sparingly, now he’s saying them ever time they hang out. Names like Angel, My Guardian, Soul Mate (I explained why in my last ask, but it’s because they have similar shoes but inverted), Sunlight, Capella, Aviator, the list goes on.

Danny would ask for hugs more often, and help around whenever he sees Cody doing something like cooking and junk. At first, he would ask if Cody needs help, but eventually he just does stuff with Cody without asking first. They get into a grove, chat, and be done with cleaning or fixing something very quickly.

Danny would start to make fudge, to, and give it to Cody as a gift. He would even tinker around and make machines to gift to Cody, like a mini telescope, a compass that looks old but is too advanced for any government to use, and various other items.

I want to say more, but I’m going to cap it off here. The want to speak is dwarfed by my want to show it all in the story.

Thanks for the ask! <3

Update there is now a fic!

[edgy-ella]

Hey guys! I wanna try and learn how to stream on YouTube or Twitch, but I don’t know which game to start with. It’s gonna be rough no matter what, but I’m gonna put my feelers out and let you guys decide

[emblemxeno]

You brought up something that frankly bugs me, and that’s how Hoshido is treated as the best thing ever in Fates when the whole point of the game is no side is right. The legendaries now that we have both routes further this issue, Hoshidan noble is confident, happy life couldn’t be better doesn’t even mention Nohr but mentions his Hoshidan family and mother while Nohr noble speaks of sacrifice mentions Hoshido and Nohr and talks of the rough path toward peace like yes it follows the game exactly but you could talk about Nohr a little. Even the intro lines “I’m Corrin and you must be-“ vs “I chose a path sacrifices were made move on toward the future” But Hoshido is Japan and Japan can’t make Hoshido look anything less than perfect is the vibe I get and its a pet peeve of mine

That is a dynamic that, while made extremely worse by Birthright's localized script, still had a rusty foundation in the JP script as well yeah.

Corrin in Conquest is notable for constantly second guessing himself and wondering if what he's doing is right, on the basis of moral grounds. Birthrigh Corrin gets that to a certain extent, but it's mostly limited to his family. It might also have to do with that Corrin in Birthright never actually has to confront Nohr's main force outside of chapter 14 and the lategame maps, so there's no point where they let him wangst about taking innocent lives. Plus he's never put in a situation where he discusses or comes to a disagreement with his Hoshido siblings besides being criticzed for being too trusting, whereas in Conquest, Corrin gets many opportunities having to ask his siblings to explain why they're doing what they're doing.

In all honesty, a simple fix that would slip easily into the script as it is, especially since Hoshido's very deep flaws are things that you have to work to understand. Hell, having Corrin be the one to exposit about Nohr's situation instead of Silas would itself be a huge improvement, along with more moments scattered earlier.

[historia-vitae-magistras]

Oh I’m so curious about number 10! Whats it abt?I’m guessing its has to do with either NedCan or NedPan? (Both??)

Also is the title a lyric from Lord Huron’s “The Night We Met”, because I dearly love that song 🥹

YES IT IS. It's the break up! Lord Huron’s “The Night We Met” and “I Lied” is the distillation of the end of nedcan. I can’t take it. I wasn’t in fandom when songfics were around, and I think they’re universally decried as cringe now, but god, that song. That whole fic is going to be about how Matt, unable to open all the way up to Jan creates his own problems. He closes himself off and stuck outside in the cold, Jan slowly turns away and returns to Kiku. Kiku, who in many ways only opened up to Jan. Matt’s yearning to go back to this time when he was special, to when he was a golden boy promising a new world and Jan was a reforming empire without a hope of ever having the power to leverage over him. Matt forgot that leverage could be in the form of the grip Jan had on his heart during those shining years. By going his own way, by cutting himself off from what emotional support Jan wanted to give him, he created a reality where Jan mourned their relationship as it died, and Matt only knew it was in danger when he got the death certificate. This tragedy— it's not that Jan wasn’t willing to stay but that Matt refused to ask it of him.

I am not the only traveler Who has not repaid his debt I've been searching for a trail to follow again Take me back to the night we met

Jan washed up on Kiku’s beaches scurvy-ridden and war-torn. He never resolved that relationship. And this motif of return, return, return. Trade routes gave him the love of his life, and tank treads gave him another cherished love, a boy so marvelously moldable. Everything Jan wanted in a partner was formed by Kiku and in some ways, Matt's ability to slink between roles, to make himself what is wanted is what made them last as long as they did, punctuated by moments so fiercely himself Jan falls in love again.

When the night was full of terrors And your eyes were filled with tears When you had not touched me yet Oh, take me back to the night we met

Liberation was a golden moment, the restoration of freedom after fierce misery. But it's an end to a horrific time nonetheless. The liberation cost Canadian lives, but it was fought for the Dutch themselves on their soil and in their ditches and dykes. Matt may have represented dawn, but the night was full of terror. And I always wonder how long it takes them to fuck. Sometimes, I think it was a moment of almost delirious joy, tipping a steel helmet off a young face, unbuttoning khaki to reveal a pliable body, and fucking Matt was a counter conquest to answer to the problems that having a military of young men in a fragile country. Or maybe it is another time, when delirium gave way to exhaustion, a slow push and pull of bodies. But either way, that part of the song is just. ah. The way two people who are on the same page can deviate in this core way, on that core memory. A bittersweet moment for Jan, a crowning moment for Matt to quietly crow about in his own peculiar way for the rest of his days, Jan owes Matt his life, not his heart but he tries to pay the debt regardless, forgetting that immortality does not give them the mortal ability to make good on that debt. And the rift, the rift of rifts, is in Matt's absolute refusal to acknowledge that debt.

[gwagwagwagoogoo]

What do you think about nayuta? Any headcanons or opinions?

Oh I adore Nayuta so much and I want to see her so badly

I REALLY REALLY REALLY HOPE WE SEE HER SOON SHES ONE OF MY FAVORITE LITTLE GUYS

I like in general the fact Nayuta represents, currently, a few different things. Nature Vs. Nurture and How to break the cycle of Abuse (at least the latter is more of a personal interpretation)

When I first finished Part 1 I literally started bawling my eyes out when it ended on Denji and Nayuta cuddling aoaugghh

I definitely think Nayuta and Denji have a sibling dynamic to be going on! And I am excited for it.

I think I’ve mentioned how I think Meowy lives with Denji, Nayuta and their 10 thousand dogs but I actually think she’s gonna be living with Kishibe instead but I’m not too sure. That’s unrelated I just care about the position of Meowy in a dog eat dog world

Honestly I don’t have much HCs yet for Nayuta bc we haven’t really gotten to see her much yet! But I have a lot of questions

I’m mainly curious about how her development will progress, in relation to being the Control Devil’s reincarnation. Since Makima apparently, due to her status of control Devil, was never able to really make connections or have meaningful and equal relationships with others. And I wonder if that is also the inevitable for Nayuta? Or will Denji be able to influence her in a better way? Will she have similar powers to Makima? Will she even know how to use her powers or is it completely different now?

And what of the four horsemen? Is Nayuta technically apart of them bc she is Conquest Devil’s weird baby? Will Yoru or Fami recognize her? And what I hope might happen is that Fami tries to recruit all four horsemen and makes Nayuta a target for recruitment which brings Denji into a position where he must prevent that

SLIGHT EDIT: since Nayuta is the control devil’s weird baby reincarnation thing and Makima previously basically wanted to take COMPLETE CONTROL OVER EVERYTHIJT maybe the horsemen want to just kill Nayuta before it gets worse again or something. But I think the route will be ultimately an attempt in recruitment, as a means to put a measure to control the control Devil

In general the four horsemen and their dynamics interest me… and did they even know Makima previously or did they just disown her ass bc she was TOO much (especially since Makima basically wanted to erase the concepts the horsemen of the apoc actually stand for. So I’m just curious in general to have that expanded on)

I think Nayuta doesn’t really stirr much trouble or conflict in the Hayakawa 2.0 household really. Which might be jarring to Denji because he is used to the antics of power and is kinda in a similar position to Aki now with a completely different circumstance. I’m pretty sure Denji has tried to tease Nayuta to get a Power-like response to no avail and ultimately gave up trying to emulate that. I’m curious to see the two in action bc it’ll be interesting/cute regardless.

I know Nayuta will love all of those dogs to death and I am excited to learn the rest of the dogs’ names bc we have only gotten Cream Puff and Tiramisu and haven’t gotten the other five’s names and I really hope Nayuta just names one (bc Denji probably doesn’t know the rest of their names) something really really silly and unrelated to the dessert theme whatsoever

[artidoesthings]

so I’m playing fates

which route do I do first?