Shadow Lords Lore: Shadow Energy, Light Energy, and how the KI Universe works

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.

  1. 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.
  2. I doubt the Ichorians could manipulate Shadow Energy, but I’m sure that they could create and manipulate Light Energy (the Guardians for instance).
  3. I doubt a Shadow Lord could manipulate Light Energy, but they can manipulate and mold Shadow Energy (Omen for instance).
  4. 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.
  5. 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.
  6. 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?

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##Other pretty random thoughts about KI’s lore:

(I’ll keep on expanding his post as I think of things)

Ichorians (beings of the light) exist in concert and work together with other beings of light. This is exemplified in the fact that the Ichorians existed as one, and the fact that Guardians merge with humans and other beings to create a more powerful whole.

Shadow Lords seek to consume and control, exemplified in the fact that Gargos killed and consumed all the other Shadow Lords. They can create new beings, but a real argument can be made to say wheather or not Mimics or Omens are actually alive.

Gargos’ minions (the 2 guys that he summons) are seeming alive as they are not spawns of Gargos himself.

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“You were created by a lesser god in a lesser realm!”

I always thought that was the mimics bathing in gargos’ arrogance since he’s the all powerful shadow lord and the unstoppable might and all that.

Then again basically whatever happened in SL through the playthroughs (not so much the cutscenes) I just don’t count.

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From what I can tell, Astral energy is blue and Shadow energy is purple. The two are similare in a lot of ways, and both seem to be generated by fighting. (That’s why Shadow Jago was searching for powerful enemies to fight and help Omen build up power in season 1, also why Omen is blue)

Shadow energy became much more abundant on Earth due to Gargos’s invasion so every one is using it now. (Shadow energy may simply be corrupt Astral energy)
Green is a colour associated directly with Gargos while purple is the Shadow energy he has acquired from the other Shadow lords.

In Eyedol’s back story; Eyedol was human and defeated Gargos once before, pushing him back through his own portal then closing it. Eyedol took some of Gargos’s Shadow energy, (sounds like half), and it slowly turned him into a monster, (though this may also be result of him abusing his new found power in selfish ways). This makes me worry what happens to the KI cast after they defeat Gargos and take shares of his energy (at least that appears to be what’s happening in the ending cinematic)

Mimic: "You were created by a lesser god in a lesser realm!"
I would not take the fanatical beliefs of the mimics too seriously. Gargos does like to tell lies that play on others beliefs, and also make himself sound great.

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That’s why I said I think it’s just the mimics bathing in his arrogance.

sorry I meant to direct that at the OP, I just thoughtlessly quoted you instead.

So you think Omen is made up of corrupted Astral Energy? And that Shago was actually trying to absorbing ambient Astral Energy rather than Shadow Energy?

Do you think they are doing a sly retcon or sorts? Meaning that though in S1 they were calling the Energy that Omen was amassing “Shadow Energy”, that was actually Astral Energy?

Purple is also the color of the Shadow Energy that emits from regular KI characters using Shadow Energy.

But, so I guess you are saying that Shadow Energy may not be prevalent around the Universe, but Astral Energy is, and thus Gargos is amassing that and corrupting it to increase his power?

Are Eyedol’s dossiers accessible? Or is that a tidbit from another characters backstory.

Someone put up eyedol’s backstory in his forum.

IMO:
Gargos invades Earth. Either he didn’t consumed enough SL, or the Ichoriens and their guardians were to powerful, but he fails. Eyedol and Tusk emerges victorious.
Banished to the Astral plane, Gargos kills and absorbs more shadow lords.
Eyedol is banished into the astral plane by tusk, locked by the Ichoriens in the citadel.
Gargos is powered up enough to attack the Ichoriens. He success. Eyedol is free, and is killed by Gargos.
The guardians seals the Astral plane.
Gargos start ploting his invasion

Just a hunch here: My current guess is just that Omen is made of Astral energy, that’s why Gargos does not have 100% control over him. I don’t think Shadow energy can create or sustain life, it only destroys; However this is very speculatory. It could just turn out that IG wanted to update Omen’s default coulor but didn’t have time >.>[quote=“UncappedWheel82, post:7, topic:15425”]
Do you think they are doing a sly retcon or sorts? Meaning that though in S1 they were calling the Energy that Omen was amassing “Shadow Energy”, that was actually Astral Energy?
[/quote]

Yes, also there are numerous points where the general cast does not know the proper names of things; which I personally like, it’s not like the narrator just told the cast what things are called. It’s like how they call all the MK3 battle units, “Fulgores”, when in fact there is only 1 Fulgore. Orchid simply discovered Fulgore first and said: “Those things are called Fulgores”.
Same goes for the Stalkers being called “Riptors”, where only the pack leader is called Riptor.
The cast seems to have sorted that one out by the time of the last novela.

I think so. That said: it seems that all astral beings (anything from the astral plane) can simply eat astral energy, non-astral beings can be poisoned by it; In SL mode Omen can feed astral energy to wolves and it kills them while making their hearts become odorous wolf hearts). I believe non-astral beings are able to benefit from astral energy in small doses, but they are simply not accustomed to using it.
As for Shadow energy the Ichoriens, bent on creating things avoid Shadow energy like the plague, so it must not be useful for creating life.

What I’m getting at is Astral energy is a neutral force that can be used for good or evil; while Shadow energy can do similar things, is solely a destructive force.

It’s in the KI Definitive Edition: Eyedols backstory - #28 by FengShuiEnergy

This is just a hunch (and sort of a pipe dream I have), but the thing about “Ichorians (beings of the light) exist in concert and work together with other beings of light”… reallllly reminds me of Glacius’ species. After all, they display their own lights very prominently (Glacius’ intro, outro, and taunt all display motes of light) and these lights seem to directly reflect their natural energies, which in turn enable their abilities. Given this and the other metaphysical capabilities that Glacius and his species possess, I think it is absolutely within the realm of possibility that they are aware of the Guardians, maybe even the Ichoriens and the Astral Plane itself.

Seeing a connection there would be really neat; it would expand upon and connect some of the lore they’re weaving together, and it would make a hell of a lot of sense. On top of all of this, it’s been said that Guardians seek out virtuous fighters and Glacius, as a galactic marshal, works as a peacekeeper in the galaxy greater–a noble cause if you ask me. I can definitely see him playing a greater role in upcoming story!

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I think you are 100% right…

I think the Omen (Omens…?) and the Guardians are the same but on different sides of the spectrum. The Guardians and the Omen are most likely both made up of Astral Energy, and they both consume it to get stronger / stay strong, but I think the Omen who merged and separated from Jago is now different from them all.

I’m going to start a new play through with Gargos as my captain. There are probably some tidbits of info regarding Shadow Energy in there. The coming Eyedol storyline probably will have some info too.

So I think it’s safe to say then retro Gargos is his normal form and the current Gargos costume is his max shadow lord look, which would also show that consuming more shadow energy corrupts your look.

I wonder what Omen’s final form is…

LOL!

But yeah, we see that Eyedol was corrupted and transformed by presumably consuming Astral Energy.

Gargos didn’t start using Shadow Energy until after he lost to Eyedol, and after he consumed/defeated all of the necessary astral inhabitants.

  1. I would love to see omen evolve
  2. Shadow jago would really be the first person that we see what a truly
    Corrupted human by shadow energy looks like.

Jago’s corruption is kind of weird, but with the new knowledge of how Eyedol was corrupted and transformed, I guess it makes more sense…in a sense.

Jago, similarly to Eyedol, was transformed due to a, Astral corruption of his body. Neither character encountered Shadow Energy at all, as Jago was corrupted by Astral energy in the form of Omen, and Eyedol was corrupted by Astral Energy after seizing it from Gargos when he defeated him. But yeah, Shago is what you see right after a human is corrupted by Astral Energy, before they completely transform into a monster.

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So basically shadow energy brings out your inner demon form I would say which sounds even cooler

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Goes in line with one of gargos quotes “I’ll bring out your inner demon”

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I really wish we could get all these quotes in a single place.

Alright, so Astral Energy…

Astral Energy literally would be “energy from the stars”…so beings like Gargos, Omen, and all the other astral beings are literally consuming and being powered by star power. This is further shown in the Eyedol backstory where Gargos and Eyedol’s battle is described as “exploding stars”.

Anyway, is this the energy that powers / enhances the KI fighters special moves?

Through Season 1 and Season 2 we all called the “meter” that the fighters used, their “Shadow Meter”, but now in Season 3 we learn that “Shadow Energy” is a specific energy that Gargos began amassing/using after his defeat by Eyedol… But then again, in the opening cut scenes of SLs, where Jago faces off with Gargos, the narrator says that Jago summoned all this remaining “Shadow Energy” to try and defeat Gargos.

So yeah, I keep forgetting that in KI there has been no real mention of Chi, or Chakra, or any natural force like that that people can harness and use. Each character brings with them a different power, and source of the power, that they can use in distinct ways when they fight. The character’s “instinct mode” has pretty much is just short hand for each individual characters abilities to go into overdrive, sort of like an adrenaline rush. Jago and Orchid take their DNA enhanced abilities to the next level, TJ Combo’s UT nano-machines seemingly consciously go into overdrive, Glacius just summons more ice armor onto himself, etc. and so on.

So are these characters using some sort of (if you are a Naruto fan) Senjutsu technique that allows them to harness the ambient astral energies around them, and enhance their already extraordinary abilities? They (meaning the characters themselves) may not even know that they are doing this, but then again, a character like Jago probably did know even prior to Omen’s possession, but I wouldn’t think a character like Kim Wu would know this, at least prior to Yeo choosing her and further training her.

So what are you guys thoughts on this?

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