- "Your body."
- ―Shade, devouring an abandoned MOBIUS agent
Shade, also known as the Light Woman, is the tertiary antagonist of The Assignment and The Consequence extra storylines for The Evil Within. It acts as the counterpart to The Keeper in The Evil Within, relentlessly pursuing Juli Kidman throughout the story. It seems the creature is also searching for Leslie, as she constantly mutters "Leslie" when she is in the area.
Appearance[]
The Shade is a tall figure with long, slender female legs and red high heels. she has a spotlight for a head which it uses to search for potential victims and Leslie. It also has two white blood-stained sheets covering her body and a large gaping mouth where its abdomen should be which it uses to kill its victims.
When the Shade is searching for someone or something, its light is white. Whenever it hears a noise or suspects something is nearby, the light turns yellow. When the Shade sees Kidman or any victim, the lamp light turns bright red, signalling it's aggressive behaviour.
Symbolism[]
The Shade appears to be a physical manifestation of Juli herself, more specifically a nightmarish replica of her found within the STEM. It displays feminine qualities given her legs and prada, wearing white much like Juli, armed with nothing but a light and mindlessly searching for Leslie when doing so is Juli's mission. Shade's spotlight could also be seen as a symbol of Juli's past when looking at the statue that you must shine spotlights at.
It is the first creature shown in the game, standing there apathetically when Juli is first found in the STEM. This implies that it entered there at the same time as Juli, implying that it comes from Juli herself, or is simply the STEM's reaction to Juli's presence.
While the creature is very hostile towards Juli, it is possible that it is simply acting out of instinct as it also occasionally assists Juli from killing Haunted and giving clues on how to navigate the STEM, such as shining light on the MOBIUS symbols to reveal secrets. This could represent Juli's unruly unconscious mind, acting on its own interests and thinking of nothing else but what it wants (i.e. the search for Leslie).
The Shade could also be a representation of Ruvik's desire for a new body. Ruvik has been shown to say that his physical appearance isn't the "real him" and that he wants a new body. It explains why Shade mutters "your body" when it devours a victim. It also explains why the Shade is looking for Leslie as Ruvik wants to use Leslie to escape STEM.
Alternatively, it could be a combination of both things. Thus far a boss enemy that is a symbolic mixture of two peoples feelings and actions had not been encountered before. This could imply that the Shade is a physical representation of Juli, created by Ruvik during his mission to find a new body/find Leslie. A possible answer is that the Shade represents Ruvik's feelings towards Juli and how he wants her to take Leslie out of STEM so Ruvik can leave through him, ruining Mobius's plans.
Gameplay[]
Shade pursues Juli relentlessly, killing anything that gets in her way while using her spotlight to search for her and Leslie. Shade's behavior is erratic and hard to predict; she may walk around her immediate surroundings with slow, deliberate steps, occasionally bursting into short jogs before resuming her usual speed, or suddenly turning around with no warning. The spotlight on her head changes color depending on the situation and her awareness of Juli's whereabouts, showing different moods:
- When idle, the light will be a faint white and Shade will occasionally flap the shutters as if blinking.
- When catching a glimpse of Juli, who then hides, the light will turn yellow as Shade investigates the player's last known location. If she doesn't spot them again, Shade will turn back to her white phase and resume patrol.
- When she catches Juli in the open, the light turns red and Shade lets out a high-pitched screech before beginning pursuit. The red spotlight will stun Juli constantly as long as it's trained on her, which will disable her ability to sprint and slow her down considerably, allowing Shade to catch up.
Shade only has one attack, which is a large body bite via a massive maw hidden beneath her cloak, but this will instantly kill Juli if it connects. Short of scripted gameplay sections, or until the very end of Chapter 3, Juli doesn't have any weapon with which she can use to defend herself against Shade. As such, she is to be avoided at all times, until the game allows Juli to fight back.
If playing on KURAYAMI, Shade's spotlight will still be visible.
Plot[]
The Assignment[]
The creature first appears shortly after Juli awakes from receiving the injection to protect her while she's in the STEM. It simply watches her in the shadows before quickly leaving the area, startling Juli. The creature appears again soon after to kill a man hiding within an office.
Juli is crawling through the vents when "Shade" bursts into the office and attacks the man, bisecting him, before leaving with a trail of blood behind it. The creature can be heard while Juli roams the nearby areas before appearing a third time to inadvertently help her. While Juli hides in a locker from a Haunted the monster enters the room, Shade kills the Haunted and looks into the locker using the Spotlight before fleeing after hearing a noise in the hallway which distracts it.
The creature again appears in a reception room where Juli must hide behind the desk to avoid it from killing her. The monster again stops Juli in her tracks when it appears while she is waiting for the elevator, and she must hide and evade it to survive before escaping in the elevator as the creature looks on. The monster stalks Juli, spotting her at one point, before appearing a final time in The Assignment when Juli falls through the ground and ends up stuck underneath rubble.
The creature uses its Spotlight to turn dead Haunted into Cadavers which Juli must shoot to survive. After Juli has dealt with the Cadavers and Haunted the creature will attack her itself and after being shot several times it flees, and is not seen again for the rest of the DLC.
The Consequence[]
She later returns in The Consequence. She is first seen when Juli goes to the locker area of Safe Haven. There is a table with the black cat sitting on it with a record player playing classical violin music, right next to it Shade, she is turned away from Juli, she is on her knees and shivering. When Juli gets close to her you hear her laugh and she turns around shining her light at Juli. When the screen turns white you hear her say "Kidman" as opposed to Leslie.
Shade reappears in Chapter 3 in the dark as Juli searches for the generator to power the lights. It is encountered sitting at the back of a room at the end of the hall, motionless, its light flickering at the wall. Its light reveals a hidden door on the wall. But as soon as Juli opens it, Shade comes to life, chasing Juli through a few rooms before being lost when Juli enters a vent. From behind the wall next to the vent, Shade can still be heard calling Leslie's name. Almost immediately after Juli exits the vent, Shade returns, pursuing her through one last room before being left behind by the elevator. As Juli escapes, Shade punches through the elevator's roof with a high-heeled shoe.
At the end of the chapter, Juli is transported to a dark hall after making her way through the rubble of the city. At the end of the hall, Shade appears, swinging her light around wildly and screaming. With her handgun, Juli shoots Shade's light, shattering it and rendering the creature temporarily blind. After a while, the light turns back on, and Juli must shoot the light one more time, which kills Shade and sends her light rolling away. Juli approaches the now defeated Shade and says "Did Ruvik send you? Well I hope he gets the message." She then smashes the light by stomping on it, finishing Shade off.
Death Animations[]
- If the Shade manages to catch up to Juli, it will lift up its cloak to reveal a fang-lined maw that bites off her upper torso in one swift motion.
Trivia[]
- An Easter egg can be found in Chapter 3 of The Consequence. After coming across Sebastian Castellanos in the city, Juli will enter into a ruined office building with a working vending machine next to the safe containing Letter Scrap #6. Interact with the machine fifteen times, then go over towards a painting with the words Happy New Year! on it. The painting will fall down, revealing a peephole through which Shade can be seen dancing to a crowd of Haunted. After several seconds, Shade will stop, seemingly noticing the player spying on her, and will screech, ending the sequence.
- The cover art of The Assignment depicts Juli blocking her face from a red beam of Shade's light.
- Shade's spotlight constantly applies a stunning effect on the player, however it is scripted differently from her actual attack. As such, encountering her with godmode on will not protect Juli from it, though Shade will just follow the player with her light on and will not use her bite attack.
- According to The Art of The Evil Within, Shade was originally intended to be a male monster known as the Light Man. In this iteration, the Light Man would be a monster serving under Ruvik with his headlight being linked to the Beacon Mental Hospital's lighthouse, while using a chained hook as a weapon. The Light Man was also drawn with several other different weapons, such as a weaponised boat propeller, a lawn mower and a wheelchair festooned with additional lights.
- Later redesigns changed the Light Man to a female monster with an emaciated body and sharp claws, before the arms were removed in favor of a chest maw and a cloak.