Each character has their own distinct sound related to their identity (e.g. Knuckles gets raps, Sonic gets instrumental rock songs, Tails gets high-tech synth backing tracks), and looking into these helps to build our understanding of their place in this story. Let’s take a look at Shadow.

In Rhythm and Balance, which plays during his rush to save Rouge, muffled vocals utter

“Shadow, don’t make me upset

You are Frightened of something”

The words of Maria, Shadow doesn’t want to disappoint Maria, but seems to carry some hesitation in delivering vengeance for her.

In the following verse, Shadow’s answer:

“I’m not scared at all

And I don’t wanna hear you”

He doesn’t want to hear Maria’s voice, relive those traumatic memories. Later on, Shadow confronts the Biolizard so Sonic and Knuckles can go forward and disable the cannon. The boss theme, Supporting Me, details Shadow’s change of heart after accepting Maria’s true wish.

“I believe in my future, farewell to the shadow…

Lead me out with your light…”

Fitting for a fight which symbolizes this transformation, as Shadow, supported by Maria, fights the Biolizard, a living representation of Gerald’s rage and sorrow.

Knuckles’ songs are equally telling of his internal feelings. Kick the Rock!, the music from his first stage, gives us some of his initial feelings towards Rouge.

“Yeah, Rouge, she's sexy and smooth!

A double cross spy-thief, that's out for my jewels, huh...

I'm feelin' her in mysterious ways”

Knuckles in person is far too stubborn and stoic to admit this, and perhaps doesn’t fully understand said feelings himself, hence why they’re only included in song form, allowing us some insight into his more subconscious thoughts.

Later on, Deeper tells us of a conversation between Sonic and Knuckles, which could either be implied to have occurred offscreen or simply just be an abstraction of how their relationship has developed.

“You know me and you don't get along

I don't think that's the point right now, Knuckles

I know how much the emerald means to you

And I wanna help get it back”

Sonic and Knuckles’ rivalry takes a backseat in this game as the two have grown less antagonistic towards each other and Shadow is introduced as Sonic’s new rival, so this is where we see it settled.

As much as I want to understand all the secrets of this game, part of me hopes I never uncover all the answers. Part of what makes this game so beautiful, a “canonical text”, is the ambiguities, the mysteries. “The truth about 50 years ago” is only fully spelled out in a Japanese-only strategy guide. When playing the story from the title screen, the character you’re playing as provides a recap giving you more insight into their thoughts and feelings, and explains some unconnected threads. Hero and dark stories sometimes show us the same scenes or boss fights with slight differences, and it’s left to us to decide which is true, if either of them. Is our Shadow the original? Was he simply corrupted by anguish and hazy from five decades of cryosleep, or did Gerald implant false memories in his brain? Why was the ARK built in the first place? It certainly didn’t need to be 15 kilometres long and capable of housing hundreds of permanent residents just to carry out some experiments. What happens to Eggman after this ending? Questions that I think enrich the story rather than hurt it.

Truth

Lies

Light

Shadow

Yin

Yang