- “Those who harm slugs will perish!”
- ―Shadow Clan Leader[src]
The Shadow Clan are a group of creatures who live in SlugTerra.
Description[]
These terrifying monkey-like creatures are feared throughout the 99 caverns. Not much is known about them, since no one dares venture into the dark outskirts where they live.
Personality[]
The Shadow Clan have been displayed as territorial and are prone to aggressively defend their Territory by grabbing slugs on their back and throwing with their tails. Members of the Clan are rarely seen alone, tending to travel in groups and attack en masse. No one knows where the Shadow Clan came from, just that they were the first creatures in SlugTerra.
Although members of the Shadow Clan do not use blasters or Mecha Beasts and appear to have minimal infrastructure, they have been shown to have advanced technology, such as the Shadow Talker and the Shadow Walker. The Shadow Clan is a sort of universal persona non grata (the lack of being allowed by other groups in Slugterra), though this suits them just fine. In general, they avoid the affairs of other species—with the exception of slugs—and keep to themselves unless disturbed. While they can understand the common language of SlugTerra (I.E.: the language the show is dubbed in), they tend to ignore what outsiders say to them unless relevant to their interests.
When Eli asks what the Shadow Clan wants, their leader cryptically replied "We want the same thing that all Shanes want," but doesn't specify what exactly that is. It's implied that the objective is to protect slugs and keep all of Slugterra safe and flourishing. The matter of which that is reached, however, doesn't seem to be consistently agreed upon between both parties.
Information[]
The Shadow Clan are mysterious beings who have lived in SlugTerra for a long time (reportedly since the beginning) and seem to be misunderstood by most. At the same time they seem to worship the slugs and devote their lives to helping them, even if it means other species get harmed in the process. They also look to protect the slugs' home (SlugTerra) and have built defenses to insure the safety of the slugs.
The 99 Caverns[]
In the 99 caverns, where they were first introduced, the Shadow Clanners have made a reputation of terrifying the other inhabitants. To most inhabitants they are considered evil creatures who are later revealed to be allies of the Shanes, and may help out in battle if it matches their interests. Despite this relationship, the Shadow Clan also have strong ideals, which can tend to even irritate the Shanes and that can disrupt their relationship. They have built structures around Slugterra for their own purposes--a Guardian Gate and a transporter to other caverns, such as The Eastern Caverns.
The Eastern Caverns[]
Unlike in the 99 caverns, the Shadow Clanners of the Eastern Caverns are seen as the guardians that they truly are. They protected the caverns, going all the way back to when Yang defeated The Emperor, and built a Guardian Gate to seal him in The Deep Caverns. They even later took part in the "Battle of Peach Blossom Spring". However after losing that battle to the Emperor, the Shadow Clanners lost hope and all except for one (Shadow Claus) decided to leave the Eastern Caverns.
List of Shadow Clan[]
- Shadow Clan Leader voiced by Brian Drummond, and Andrew Francis
- Shadow Clan Chieftain voiced by Brian Drummond
- Shadow Clan Guardian voiced by Andrew Francis
The Giver[]
Known as the "Giver" and eventually Shadow Claus, this Shadow Clanner is the last remaining Shadow Clanner of the Eastern Caverns. According to the Clanner, it fought along side Junjie on the day the Emperor invaded and ultimately achieved victory. The Clanner also reveals that the others abandoned the caverns soon after the Emperor took over, but this clanner decided to stay behind and continued doing whatever it could to help the caverns, and that was by delivering slugs to maintain the balance of Slug Energy across the caverns every year, which the people come to call it "Slug Day" or "Slugmas".
Appearances[]
- The World Beneath Our Feet Part 2 (First appearance)
- The Slug Run
- Shadows and Light
- Inheritance
- What Lies Beneath
- The Return
- Lightwell
- It Comes by Night
- Light as Day
- Slugterra: Ghoul from Beyond (Appears in flashback(s))
- Slugterra: Return of the Elementals
- Slugterra: Slug Fu Showdown (Cameo)
- The Journey to the Eastern Caverns
- Slug Day
- The Fall of the Eastern Champion (Appears in flashback(s))
- The Return of the Eastern Champion
- Slugterra: Into the Shadows
Abilities[]
- Slinging: The Shadow Clan are able to sling Slugs without the aid of a blaster, meaning they can throw slugs with their tails at 100 mph. Their tails are prehensile and strong enough to give the slugs the proper speed, and to stop a moving Mecha-Beast and its rider.
- Shadow Walking/Teleportation: They are capable of near-instantaneous movement and are able to chose their target destination with a high degree of accuracy, allowing them to avoid dangerous obstacles and initiate surprise attacks.
- Slug Communication: The ability to understand the language Slugs use. They are also able to re-direct a Slug's abilities over a larger area. So far, this has only been seen while a Slug is in its protoform. During this process, the affected Slugs glow green. The Shadow Clan can also make all Slugs in the area glow green. In "Shadows And Light", this ability allowed them to find the Fandangos the Shane Gang was moving through their territory, though that may have been an unintended consequence of syncing Slugs. Humans, Trolls and Molenoids usually do not understand their language, with few exceptions (such as Junjie)
- Climbing: A gecko-like ability that allows the Clan to climb without needing to seek out handholds. They are also capable of moving while parallel to the ground on walls or while suspended from ceilings.
- Thermal Vision: In addition to acute night vision, the Clan are able to see heat signatures, with slugs appearing particularly bright in their vision, as seen in the episode "Shadows And Light".
- Melee combat: Although this is not a skill often used in SlugTerra, Clan members were able to defeat several of Dr. Blakk's underlings without the need for slinging.
- Speed: Clan members are fast enough to keep up with running Mecha Beasts, including Vance Bolt's horse mecha when it isn't using its turbo boost mod.
- Doublast Vision: Though it's not official, it's hinted that Shadow Clan can see Slug Auras.
Technology[]
- Shadow Walker: A device that allows non-Shadow Clanners to travel through the shadows (teleport) just like the Shadow Clan. It is currently unknown if a Clan member needs to be in possession of one of these devices in order to teleport—seeing as Clan members in both "What Lies Beneath" and "The Return" were shown to be carrying them around—or if it is an ability innate to their species. In "Lightwell", the leader of the Clan used his Shadow Walker to open a physical path to the Well. This may mean that the orb has multiple purposes or there may be additional features unique to the leader's version of the orb.
- Shadow Talker: A crown-like device which allows the wearer (a non-Shadow Clanner) to converse with the Shadow Clan. When Eli uses the Shadow Talker to talk to the leader of the Shadow Clan, he is told that he is the only human to be able to tolerate the effects of the device and that not even his father could use it. So far, only one of these has been seen. Since Eli is the only one capable of using it, the Shadow Talker may be a unique device, much like the blaster Eli receives from Red Hook.
Known Weaknesses[]
While early in the show the Shadow Clan was presented as a dangerous force that no one wanted to encounter, multiple weaknesses have been introduced as the show progresses.
- The energies of the Deep Caverns: While no member of the Clan has yet to be seen beyond the barrier to the Darkbane's territory, it is known that the Shadow Walker does not work there, allowing only for one-way teleportation into the cavern. It is unknown if all Shadow Clan technology, and possibly their innate abilities as well, do not work within the Deep Caverns or if this weakness is because of the existence of the portal barrier, purposely making Shadow Walkers useless to the Dark Bane as a means of escape.
- A Photomo's Dark Light ability: This appears to remove the Clan's ability to teleport and also either weakens or temporarily blinds them, given the manner in which they fled from it. They do not appear to have a similar weakness to the natural light within the caverns, since they were able to successfully attack Blakk's henchmen and kidnap Eli in a well-lit cavern.
- The energy of the Lightwell is able to heal Slugs, but close proximity to the Well limits the Clans' ability to teleport, making them unable to choose their exit location.
- Negashades: While unconfirmed in the show, Shadow Clan members are weak against this kind of Slug in Battle For Slugterra.
Trivia[]
- As seen in "Shadows And Light", the Shadow Clan are able to produce a scream capable of stunning their foes.
- In "The New Kid Part 1", it is revealed that even Ghouls are afraid of them.
- In "Battle For Slugterra" they use Pyringos, contrary to the disapproval of Ghouls they display in the show.
- An image in a book seen in "Back to Blakk" appears to depict a Shadow Clan member attacking a fleeing Dark Bane, implying past conflicts between the two species and the possibility that the Shadow Clan were the ones to seal the Dark Bane in the Deep Caverns. In the narration of this scene, Blakk says that the records he found spoke of "good and evil", opening the possibility that the Shadow Clan were not always perceived as monsters.
- In "The Slug Run", Burpy shows fear when the Clan appears, even though he should be familiar with them due to Will Shane's meetings with them from years prior.
- Unlike the High Plains Monster, the Clan does not have a notable weakness to fire, although they're are not impervious to it either. In Inheritance, the presence of lava failed to deter the Clan and barely seemed to slow them down.
- The Shadow Clan only have 3 fingers.
- The Shadow Clan may be inspired from The character "The Nightcrawler" from Marvel Comics Nightcrawler, as both have similar characteristics.