- "No more than this place is. It's just... different."
- —Hoji, answering to Lo Wang's question, "is Shadow Realm hell?".
Shadow Realm is the home realm of all demons in Shadow Warrior (2013) and Shadow Warrior 2.
Overview[]
Shadow Realm looks a lot like Feudal Era Japan, from it's buildings to environments and culture. Multiple Japanese architecture inspired temples are standing in the Shadow Realm. Hoji mentions to Lo Wang, that Shadow Realm is no different from Earth, except for demons living there. The realm is ruled by the Ancients, the immortal and most powerful demons of the Shadow Realm. In the Shadow Realm the rain is fueled by the weeping of Ameonna, the sister of Hoji and the other Ancients. Because of this, the realm is solely dependent on Ameonna's weeping. If the weeping stops, the realm starts to quickly wither and die. It's hinted, that this would cause all the demons, except for the Ancients, to die.
History[]
Early History[]
The Ancients fought chaos, a malevolent force that wanted to consume Shadow Realm. Xing with the army of demons managed to keep them at bay for some time, until Enra decides to seal chaos away. For this purpose, Hoji creates a pair of gates called Outer Gates that would sealed off the force and save the realm. In order to seal the gates, they had to use Ancient's soul.
For this purpose, Hoji created Nobitsura Kage, the only weapon in existence that could hurt the Ancients. Using Ameonna, Mezu, Hoji and Enra seal the gates, but let a stream of energy run through their sister in the form of tears. Hoji, using Xing, poisons Ameonna making her to forever sleep and in turn stopping the flow of water to Shadow Realm. Because of this, the realm starts to wither and die.
Shadow Warrior (2013)[]
After Lo Wang kills Whisperers holding the parts to Nobitsura Kage, he's transported to Shadow Realm where he needs to face Gozu and later Mezu. When Enra teleports Hoji back to the Shadow Realm, Lo Wang uses the last Whisperer on earth to travel to the Shadow Realm and learns that Hoji, who originally created the Whisperers, regrets his role in plunging the Shadow Realm into misery and seeks to undo his wrong by creating another Whisperer, taking away his memory of Lo Wang. Lo Wang convinces him that Enra needs to be stopped, and so the two join forces once more, with Hoji seeking to redeem himself by killing Enra and using his blood to revive Ameonna.
With the full Nobitsura Kage in his hands, Lo Wang returns to the Shadow Realm with Hoji to confront Enra. Lo Wang is captured by Enra and stripped of the sword. Enra tries to sacrifice Hoji to revive Ameonna by means of using the original Whisperer that Hoji made, which like the others before, can handle the Nobitsura Kage without harm, but Hoji disarms the Whisperer and hands the sword back to Lo Wang, forcing Enra to retreat. But by touching the Nobitsura Kage, Hoji dooms himself. Lo Wang corners Enra after a tense battle with Xing's headless body, Enra allows Lo Wang to slay him, since he is the only sacrificial candidate left. Ameonna awakens, and upon seeing the dead body of Hoji, she weeps, bringing rain back to the Shadow Realm.
The Calamity[]
Because of the Lo Wang opens the Outer Gates during the battle with Mezu, this causes the parts of Shadow Realm to emerge on Earth, an event called by human populace as the Collision. This causes an all out war between humans and demons. Although at first demons were winning, the scales are flipped, when Zilla and Yakuza, join forces. Together they manage to push deep into demon occupied territory and hit the key supply points. Out of retaliation, the demons attack the town of Bushuggi and slaughter every denizen living there.
After both sides mass huge forces, humans and demons collide at Bushuggi for the final battle. During the battle, Ameonna appears and walks through the battlefield completely unscathed. Her presence alone is enough to stop both demons and humans from fighting each other. With the help of Ameonna, the demons make an alliance with humans with some even living side by side.
Shadow Warrior 2[]
Because of the Collision, only small parts of Shadow Realm, mainly the Outer Gates, Shadow Hills and Devil Mountain are ever seen on Earth. In order to heal both worlds, Kamiko decides to seal the Outer Gates open using her living soul and rectify the two worlds. She accomplishes this task and shatters the gates as the result.
Trivia[]
- Shadow Realm seems to be inspired by the "Dark Side" from Shadow Warrior Classic.
Gallery[]
Shadow Warrior (2013)[]
Shadow Warrior 2[]
