Shadmé

[WARNING! Spoilers for my story, Kid Icarus: Feathers of Light and Dark!]

~Backstory~

Shadmé was once a human named Umbra who lived in ancient times. She sacrificed her life to save Palutena during the Human and God War. Touched, Palutena decided to make her into an angel so as to honor her bravery.

However, after the Human and God War, the humans and gods came to an agreement- gods would stop using angels for war due to the connection humans felt with them. The sly gods twisted this treaty to ban angel creation outright. Therefore, Palutena had no control over Pit nor Shadmé’s souls when they were created, roughly around the same time. She was grateful that Pit, formerly a human named Icarus, revived close to her temple with the only problem being his wings. Shadmé was born without wings, and her soul was sent far away, in another time, where Palutena lost sight of it.

After growing up among humans, Shadmé’s instincts drove her to the town ruined by the Chaos Kin. She climbed a heavenly staircase and suddenly, as her connection to Skyworld solidified, her wings spontaneously grew, the pain great enough to cause her amnesia. She was found shortly after by Pit and Palutena, who enlisted her help in fighting off the rising Underworld led by an army of demons. Along the way, a mysterious voice named POD reached out to Shadmé, explaining that it could restore her past memories if she collected shards of glass for it.

Shadmé embarked on both of these quests at the same time. However, when she finally collected all the glass, POD helped her fly away. The timing could not have been worse- Palutena, Pit and Dark Pit discovered that Viridi had been infected by a Chaos Kin, and so, after fighting the Chaos Kin that had ahold of her, Pit and Dark Pit flew off to the realm of Chaos, disappearing for three years.

Shadmé was lured to the abandoned Labyrinth of Deceit and there, POD finally revealed that its plan all along had been to force Shadmé to rebuild the Mirror of Truth, and with it reconstructed, a doppelgänger named Lightmé was created. Lightmé escaped, leaving Shadmé trapped in a three-year nightmare created by the lead demon, Orcos. 

Viridi and Phosphora finally located and rescued Shadmé after all this time, and convinced her to help find Pit, Dark Pit and Palutena, though the angel had been burdened with a permanent sense of worthlessness and anxiety after her unintentional betrayal. She set off into the realm of Chaos, where its mistress- Eris- revealed she had been keeping her three captives safe from their true enemy, POD, who would’ve wound up destroying Pit, Palutena, Dark Pit, Shadmé and Eris herself if its plan had succeeded. Eris sacrificed herself for the good of the three angels and the goddess of light, and once they were back in Skyworld, they continued fighting against Orcos and the army of demons.

Tipped off by Eris, Shadmé found a mirror that would truly show her her memories, but despite this information, she decided to continue fighting alongside Pit and Palutena, leaving the question of her past behind her. Eventually, they managed to obtain a powerful weapon from Dyntos and succeed in their quest to finish off Orcos once and for all. However, it still haunts Shadmé that she has no clue what became of Lightmé and POD...

~Relationships~

Shadmé and Pit- After Shadmé woke up with amnesia, Pit was the first figure she ever met. Despite Pit expressing a slight bit of jealousy towards her after she was revealed as an angel, the two established a pact of friendship after being captured together and being forced to aid Arequa, goddess of the sand beaches. Ever since then, the two have been mostly inseparable. In Shadmé’s eyes, Pit is the shining example of perfection- a blend of kindness, good humor, loyalty and strength, everything she believes she does not have. She will defend him at any cost. Pit is mostly oblivious to this behavior and sees her as a good, albeit overly anxious partner. 

Shadmé and Palutena- Shadmé is greatly appreciative towards the goddess for granting her life, even if it resulted in her stunted wing growth and amnesia. Unlike Pit and Palutena, who share a mother and son relationship, Shadmé feels reverence towards the goddess and tries to be on her best behavior, despite Palutena’s encouragement to loosen up. Despite Shadmé’s mistakes, Palutena tries her hardest never to give up on her; it is her belief that all angels have pure hearts and will turn out right in the end. 

Shadmé and Dark Pit- The two share a mutual respect. Shadmé seems to be the only individual who does not refer to him as Pittoo. Shadmé respects him for his battle prowess and dedication to morality, and Dark Pit respects her for being calm, level-headed and much less annoying than most other divinities he deals with. However, the two have had plenty of squabbles with each other, proving their friendship is not completely solid. Upon learning about Shadmé’s fear of Reapers, Dark Pit took her out to face her fear, which ended horribly for both of them. Later, when Shadmé went missing, he was the first to accuse that she had been deceiving them, and the last one to believe her when she finally told her side of the story. 

Shadmé and Viridi- Viridi thinks that Shadmé is much too mopey. Granted, their first meeting was after Shadmé’s unintentional betrayal and mild depression afterward, so she may have a point. Though Viridi turned out to be good for Shadmé in the end, pushing her to fight on and save the day, despite her mistakes. Shadmé appreciates the goddess for pulling her out of a dark place. 

Shadmé and Lightmé- Shadmé and her doppelgänger have a completely unsalvageable hatred and rivalry. It may be because that Shadmé thinks of her own mistakes and fears that led to Lightmé’s creation every time she looks at her- Lightmé seems to feed of Shadmé’s negative emotions. But Lightmé felt no sympathy, instead deciding to mock the angel for trying to take pity on her. Lightmé enjoys messing with Shadmé for the thrill of it, while Shadmé is driven into a rage upon seeing Lightmé. Lightmé is the one individual that Shadmé swears she can never forgive.

~Quotes~

“And even though I have not flown as long as Pit,

I do believe that now I’ve got the hang of it!

Flying up among the clouds, or down below the sea,

I dare my enemies to take a swing at me!”

-Level 5, to the tune of Pit’s song

“Oh come on, Shadmé. Reapers don't spawn. This isn't Minecraft. Or the original Kid Icarus.”

-When Dark Pit tries to break Shadmé’s fear

”For Skyworld! For the light! For all that have good in their hearts! For all that are weak, for all that need saving!”

-Level 7

“You told me I was weak. Every day of every year, for three straight years. I didn't grow angry. I didn't anything, period. I just tucked those words away and prayed the next day wouldn't be as bad. That's enough to break a person, wouldn't you think? But it only occurred to me now that you're right. I was weak. And I couldn't grow strong, not without acknowledging my weakness and doing something to improve it. I can't fight back? Very well. I'll pick up a weapon and use it to the best of my ability. I feel all-encompassing guilt that haunts my every thought? Okay. Looks like it's time to stop feeling sorry for myself and do something to fix all the things I've hurt. I think that I'm alone, and I've done nothing right to earn friendship? Would you look at that. I do believe it is my friends that have saved me from myself.”

-To Orcos during her nightmare

“Slayer of angels, extinguisher of light? What does one as filthy as you want with me now?"

-To Eris during Level 14

”Let’s hope I don’t run into an Orne or I’ll plain-out evaporate.”

-Level 15

~Art Notes~

Shadmé stands at around 5'2" and has an average build. She has dark brown eyes with a ring of red around the pupil; the red becomes especially obvious if she's angry. She has black hair that points at the tips, and exactly five stripes of red in her hair- four down her back and one on her bangs that cover her right eye. Her feathers are black with red stems, and her wings are smaller than average. Her casual outfit is her red t-shirt and black pants. Accessories include fingerless gloves, sneakers, shoulder pads and a cape. She always has her phoenix medallion on her somewhere and always wears her silver laurel crown. She does not need to be drawn with her Asimi Bow.

~Trivia~

• Shadmé is left-handed.
• Her bow, the Asimi Bow, means "silver" in Greek.
• Shadmé knows her phoenix medallion is important to her, but amnesia prevents her from fully understanding why.
• (OoC) Her design used to be heavily inspired by Shadow the Hedgehog.
• (OoC) Each of my four major protagonists (Shadmé, Ember, Spiral and Stell) deal with themes that are personal to me. Shadmé's themes and story circle around dealing with anxiety and self worth as well as tinkering with the connotations of light, darkness and the gray area between.