Ok. So this is going to be a somewhat dense and long post. I would love to keep this “spoiler free,” but at the same time this is clearly a topic ONLY about spoiler stuff in the lore. What I am going to do here is attempt to summarize the KI lore and make sense of what Shadow Energy is (as I see it) in KI, how it works, and all things surrounding it.
I honestly don’t know where this will end up, but anyway, lets start from the beginning… (if you make it to the end…WOW!)
##Shadow Lords Vs. Light Lords.
(Again, Spoilers!!! But not all of them…)
In the Dossiers we learn that the Ichorians were the “Light Lords” of the Astral Plane, and that they lived in a Citadel where they created the Guardians as their servants. By contrast, the Shadow Lords are essentially the opposite of the Ichorians in every way. Both factions seemingly came out of the “Light” and the “Shadow” respectively, and presumably the Shadow Lords are equal to the Ichorians in power overall. Thing is though, the Shadow Lords seemingly existed scattered throughout the Astral Plane rather than in one central place like the Ichorians do/did. Thus the Shadow Lords were unorganized (?) throughout the AP at this time, where as the Ichorians exist as one in the Citadel where they ruled (?). The Ichorians could rule and keep order essentially because they worked together.
Anyway, throughout time the Ichorians have sent their Guardians throughout the universe (into other realms) to help others against various hardships (presumably against rouge Shadow Lords who would/could invade other realms and cause problems). The Ichorian’s Guardians could merge with humans (and other races throughout the cosmos) making them like demi-gods, or nephilim (think Hercules or Samson) and they could in turn do superhuman feats. The Guardians are essentially where the legends of great heroes came from within the KI Universe.
So anyway, eventually Gargos, one of the many Shadow Lords at the time, came up with a plan, and decided that to fulfill his ultimate destiny he would need to take down all the other Shadow Lords and absorb their power, thus becoming THE Shadow Lord. Once he realized that this was indeed a realistic possibility, he went on his way killing them all and taking their power, until he was powerful enough to take on the Ichorians himself and lay waste to their Citadel. A horrendous war ensued between the Gargos, and the Ichorians, but once the Ichorians were ultimately dispatched, their Guardians fled their home (the Astral Plane) and sealed the various gateways to the other realms after they left.
##Fast forward to the current millennium…
Gargos has found a way to breach the divide between worlds. For centuries Gargos’ corruption (his influence) had been seeping into the other realms, presumably through manipulating the latent Shadow Energy throughout the cosmos (?). Through this “potential corruption” he has been able to manipulate events through the unwitting cooperation of the denizens of those realms with his powerful telepathic abilities (?). Kan-Ra, for one, has helped to bring Gargos’ corruption of Earth to fruition by sowing disorder and malice all over the globe for years. But there have been those who have fought against Gargos’ corruption through the centuries as well (Tusk, Kim Wu and her ancestors, and presumably other un-named characters).
Most recently one of Gargos’ minions, a lone Omen, was able to enter in to the Earth…not through a portal…but by being invited into a human’s body by way of the ambient Shadow energy (?). Gargos was able to manipulate the human Jago into allowing his Omen to corrupt him, and through him, Omen was able to carry out Gargos’ will and weaken Earth’s defenses. This event along with Kan-ra’s unwitting cooperation in opening the Astral Portal, paved the way for Gargos imminent invasion.
…
##So I’ll stop the story summarization here I guess.
From the beginning we learned that Shadow energy is essentially a universal energy that existed BEFORE the first Shadow Lords. The Shadow Lords spawned from the darkness within the Astral Plane, and then presumably took hold of it, and harnessed it. Gargos was able to lay claim to “all” the Shadow Energy of the Universe by killing off all the competition in the Astral Plane, thus he became insanely powerful.
One big thing though is that ALL the KI fighters can also manipulate Shadow Energy, and they are all pretty proficient at it (this is what ultimately led me to the conclusion that Shadow Energy is everywhere). Of course none of the KI fighters can equal Gargos’ power out right, but they can manipulate it, and use it to their benefit no doubt.
Throughout the SLs mode, Mimics are constantly telling you that you were made by a “lesser god” suggesting 2 things: 1) that Gargos is a Greater God, and 2) that someone, or something, created life in the Universe.
Questions that popped into my head about this:
- Who created humanity? I would think it was the Ichorians, but could it be another being?
- Could all life could have come from the Shadow Lords in some way?
- Or is “life” what happens went Shadow Lords and Ichorians “come together” in some way?
Anyway, I think some things fall in to place with the facts as they are.
- Shadow Energy (essentially death), and Light Energy (essentially life), are an abundant, and ambient sources of power that have existed, and will exist as long as the universe is a thing.
- I doubt the Ichorians could manipulate Shadow Energy, but I’m sure that they could create and manipulate Light Energy (the Guardians for instance).
- I doubt a Shadow Lord could manipulate Light Energy, but they can manipulate and mold Shadow Energy (Omen for instance).
- The soul of a person is often referred to as the “spark” of life, their “light”, so it stands to reason that Ichorians created the spark of life throughout the universe.
- To live in the world means you live among the Shadow by default. While the Ichorians potentially could have created humanity per say, Shadow Energy could have “corrupted” their bodies by way of the Shadow Lords who the Ichorians presumably sent their Guardians to defend the universe from, or by just living.
- Humans can manipulate Shadow Energy because it is a part of them.
I type all this just to put those thoughts out there and get some feed back. Am I hitting on anything here?