Shadaria

"You used to have so much fun here, remember?"

- Maria to Shadow, Shadow the Hedgehog

Shadaria is the het ship between Shadow and Maria from the Sonic the Hedgehog fandom.

Canon
Shadow is a creature that was created to help make a cure for Maria’s fatal illness. The two of them met each other on board the Space Colony ARK. And they formed a very close bond. Their relationship was written somewhat ambiguously by Shiro Maekawa. The feelings that Shadow had for Maria can be interpreted in many ways. She is, by far, the one person that made Shadow the happiest, and they shared the same dream: to visit Earth.

Unfortunately, Maria was shot and killed by G.U.N, who deemed Project Shadow to be too big a threat to the world. They eliminated everything they could in relation to the project, including the people aboard the Ark. Her last parting words were “Sayonara, Shadow the Hedgehog,” Shadow still stays strong to keep his promise to her no matter what and mourned her death.

This backstory is roughly the same in all canons where Shadow appears, excluding Sonic Boom.

In some canons, Shadow has felt some kind of fondness for girls who remind him of Maria. Examples include Molly from Sonic X and Hope Kintobor from the Pre-Super Genesis Wave Archie comics, the latter of whom was actually related to Maria. In addition, in Sonic Adventure 2, it was Amy’s words reminding him of Maria that convinced him to save the world.

Comics
Their relationship and backstory is somewhat the same with their game counterparts.

After Shadow took over the kingdom in the Light Mobius timeline, he made Maria as an object of worship by erecting a statue of her with wings.

Sonic X
In “Showdown in Space”, Maria’s spirit calls on Super Shadow to help the people on Earth, allowing him and Super Sonic to defeat the Biolizard.

Fanon


This ship is one of the most popular ships for Shadow, along with Shadamy and Shadouge. It is one of the most popular ships in the Japanese Sonic fandom, known as シャドマリ or Shadmari. Fans tend to ship both characters if they do not have other characters to pair Maria with. Otherwise, rival ships for Maria include with the Commander from the Shadow the Hedgehog game and with Christopher Thorndyke from Sonic X.

As of January 2022, over eighty fan-made works about their friendship (or as “siblings”) and forty as romance have been written on Archive of Our Own. More than forty have been written on Wattpad as well. A common fan-fiction storyline for this pairing is a story where Maria is either a human girl or is brought back to life as a hedgehog.

Shippers laud their long-lasting friendship and sacrifice, especially during Shadow’s self-titled game. Others want Maria to have an expanded role in the Sonic universe, with Shadow as her faithful companion or significant other.

Fandom
FAN FICTION
 * Shadow/Maria on FanFiction.net
 * Shadow/Maria on FanFiction.net
 * Shadow/Maria on FanFiction.net

FAN ART

INSTAGRAM

TUMBLR

TWITTER

Trivia

 * Shiro Maekawa, the co-creator of Shadow and writer of Sonic Adventure 2, has retweeted Shadaria fan-art on his Twitter.
 * Maekawa has also openly stated that he supports Shadaria/Shadmari as a ship on his Twitter account, encouraging fans to draw fanart of them.
 * Shadow and Maria's tragedy was inspired by the shojo manga “Please Save My Earth.” The protagonists of this manga, Shion and Mokuren, were both lovers.

Variations

 * Blazadaria — the polyship between Shadow, Maria, and Blaze the Cat
 * Mephadaria — the polyship between Shadow, Maria, and Mephiles the Dark
 * Rougadaria — the polyship between Shadow, Maria, and Rouge the Bat
 * Scourgadaria — the polyship between Shadow, Maria, and Scourge the Hedgehog
 * Shadamyria — the polyship between Shadow, Maria, and Amy Rose
 * Silvadaria — the polyship between Shadow, Maria, and Silver the Hedgehog
 * Sonadaria — the polyship between Shadow, Maria, and Sonic the Hedgehog
 * Sonadilvaria — the polyship between Shadow, Maria, Sonic, and Silver

Navigation
Shadaria