#im not gonna tag this as anything sonic related I dont wish to subject those poor ppl looking at shadow art to this

[artificialchaoscola]

CW for mentions of inc*st/implied inc*st + (hopefully unintentional) misogyny in the fandom space in discussions regarding Maria and Shadow's relationship. Serious yap session, please be wary and please read everything if you choose to do so:

I made the horrid mistake of opening Twitter, and I'm shoved headfirst into the horrible world of... Shadow/Maria discourse... Fucking ew.

Typically, when I see something I don't like, I'm a firm believer of the "block and move on" mentality. However, as I'm very passionate about Sonic as a series, I felt the need to weigh in on something I feel a strong distaste for. Another disclaimer: this isn't about anyone in particular but rather a collection of stances about this topic I've seen over the years in this fandom. It's much easier to write out my thoughts here than on Twitter, so sorry to subject you guys over here to the drama happening on the other side! Hopefully, it's coherent. I'm running on NO coffee today////

First and foremost, it goes without saying that misogyny is a huge problem. The hatred of women/non-men manifests itself in all aspects of life, unfortunately, with media being no exception. The perception of women/girls/female presenting characters is undeniably corrupted by the sexualization of female presenting concepts. Be it the way women love, the way they dress, the way they walk, talk, behave. The age, the type of relationship they have with the men around them, etc. does not shield women from sexualization. A lot of media will intentionally lean into perversion regarding ANY relationship between a man and a woman as a result. This is all worth criticizing and analyzing, and it's a topic I've written a ton on in my life.

Regarding Shadow and Maria's relationship specifically, I'll be straightforward: I find it disgusting to depict them in ANY romantic manner, and the defenses I've been seeing of it remind me of the sexualization I mentioned above.

There are so many claims that it is "obvious Shadow loves her more than platonically" because they believe "romantic love is more powerful"... in the same series where Sonic the Hedgehog himself represents a love for life, the planet, and its people. Hell, talking about the same relationship in which Maria held that pure idealistic love for the entire world she never got to return to. This love pecking order always bothers me, as though people haven't moved mountains for family, friends, strangers. It's just aggravating. Even if romance was intended here it's just a stupid thing to say regardless.

Maria and Shadow's interactions on the ARK over the years have been intentionally kept a mystery for the most part. I hope they keep it this way, as I feel it adds to The Point™ that is Shadow's life, but the tidbits we've seen in Dark Beginnings have been showing us what we've known: Shadow was made to cure Maria. Shadow feels insecure about his origins and his inability to cure Maria. Maria is a source of comfort and morality in his formative years, but he was made for her. I'm seeing people claim his devotion is an indicator of romantic love which is just... it's illogical. Romantic love isn't "better" than platonic love as I've stated. Shadow is distraught that he couldn't do the one thing beaten into his head at "birth". He saw her life end right in front of him, helpless to do anything. He's traumatized. Longing for a life in which an innocent girl got to live is not implying anything, I feel most normal people would feel that way.

"Shipping Shadow and Maria makes sense, especially since Sonic is a reincarnation of Maria--" idk wtf I'm reading. If you believe that Sonic can be a reincarnation of Maria, that's fine ig, but you can do this without making it weird. I don't buy into this theory personally, as I Sonic and his friends moreso represent the love Maria hoped Shadow would find on Earth one day, but like... you can make this not weird. Plz ffs--

I have a hard time understanding why anyone would see romantic implications when their interactions have no subtext implying that? I know shipping is for fun and doesn't have to rely on canon, but the entire reason this current discourse is even happening is that people think Shadow daydreaming about Maria being alive and leaning against him is inherently romantic??? tf LMFAO I'm a subtext girly, and I've read SO many things where I wish the romantic subtext didn't exist so it's not like I intentionally ignore it, but it just doesn't exist here. I'm not an end-all-be-all of knowledge of course, and I'm always open to being wrong about analysis in general, but the only thing they have to offer is things that aren't romantic by nature. Things people do with their siblings.

Some people bring up that Shadow's creator and devs at SEGA ship it... and to that, I say who gives a fuck what a writer says if it doesn't exist in the text? Shadow and Maria have never had romantic implications unless you think devotion to someone/their beliefs = romance, which we KNOW is not the case. I don't know where this is coming from exactly either, but I have seen people mention Shadow and Maria were apparently inspired by a couple from Please Save My Earth. I haven't read this so I can't comment on that story, but I have to once again mention the specific context of Shadow and Maria's actual story? If that was the OG intent back when SA2 was released, it's long lost to the direction SEGA ultimately went with. If the current status of their relationship is meant to be interpretable, they failed miserably.

People, rightfully, look at you weird if you ship Sonic with Tails because they're found family (and the age gap but that's obvious lol). Although not related by blood, they've grown together, fought together, and laughed together, forging a bond where they'd literally die for one another. They're brothers without a doubt. So why, then, are Shadow and Maria up for debate? Part of the implications of Shadow's tragedy in SA2, the reason you can compare him and Sonic so easily, is you get to imagine a world where Tails was robbed from Sonic so brutally. Sonic and Shadow are different people, but the reason Shadow is so snarky and cool in SA2 is that he and Sonic may not have been so different if life had been kinder to him. Hidden behind the angst are a ton of qualities Sonic also possesses. And the way I've always read it is that a huge part of why they are the way they are is due to the influence of their siblings to varying degrees. I have to ask: If everything was the same except Sonic or Tails was a girl and the other still a boy, would people suddenly debate if their love is romantic despite all their interactions being the same? If Shadow was a girl, and Maria was still a girl, would everyone suddenly agree they're siblings? I think the answer to both is obvious.

To wrap this all up, I'm just extremely grossed out by this interpretation of their relationship. I personally feel Shadow/Maria is just another case of people not knowing what platonic love is, as well as viewing ALL relationships between men/women in this specific way. I just needed my thoughts thrown out into the universe. Thank you for reading <3