| “ | You know, I hate people like you. You say I'm not listening. You don't even understand. This is a mess. I've been building something up all my life, and then you come, and now I'm set back! Everything is becoming RUINED! | „ |
| ~ Shadow Sabre yelling at Sabre for ruining their plans. |
| “ | There is no right, Sabre. Only a more righteous wrong. To gain any control past yourself is greed, and I will be greedy. Because I have chosen my more righteous wrong. | „ |
| ~ Shadow Sabre after Sabre's confrontation with Twisted Rainbow on the battlefield. |
| “ | I have fought in your name, Great One! I have conquered in your name! And now, now I MUST SAVE THIS WORLD FROM HIM IN YOUR NAME! PLEASE! HELP ME SAVE THIS LAND FROM THE MONSTER WHO STANDS SO BOLDLY IN FRONT OF ME! I will not disappoint! | „ |
| ~ Shadow Sabre gaining power from The Great One. |
Shadow Sabre, also known as an Elite Dark Guard is the deuteragonist/secondary antagonist of the 2021-22 web series Twisted Rainbow, the third installment of Steve Cinematic Universe. He is voiced by FavreMySabre, and is a being that resides within the universe of Twisted Rainbow created by an alternate universe variant of Sabre.
Personality[]
Shadow was an avid follower of The Great One, willing to do anything for his cause, even showing some care for The Great One due to being angry at him for pushing him away. He is also particularly determined, willing to break into Twisted's sanctuary on their own just to confront Sabre after he is rescued. The commander is also surprisingly sneaky, disappearing without a trace when Sabre escapes to warn Twisted of their intrusion. His hatred for Twisted Rainbow is immense, as he despises M at first for being associated with him, despite the fact that he had taken an attack from Twisted Rainbow to save Sabre.
Some aspects of his personality are the polar opposite of his original self. He did show care for Sabre and hesitance on having to fight him when he descended into power-hungry madness, along with caring for M after getting to know him better. He also has some form of amnesia, having forgotten who he was outside of being an elite guard and remaining unaware of his identity as Sabre's darkness.
History[]
Creation[]
After the events of Rainbow Quest, the original version of Sabre had inadvertently created a branching multiverse in the process of saving his reality from The First Curse's destruction. Every Sabre variant was cursed to suffer in every world. However, one Sabre resisted and somehow ended up floating between realities. The universe of Twisted Rainbow was created within him and was designed by the curse to be horrific and twisted. Shadow, as well as everyone else in the world, all live within Sabre's mind. Despite this, they remain self-aware and sentient. Unlike his original counterpart, he remains unaware of his true identity of being Sabre's darkness.
The Red Kingdom[]
After Twisted Rainbow took over the world, a large group of people formed the Dark Guard to oppose Twisted Rainbow. They used the power of the Darkness bestowed upon them by "The Great One." To prove himself to his leader, Shadow went to the Red Kingdom and ravaged it. He destroyed their buildings, took their resources and infected most of the citizens with Darkness. Pleased by the display, the Great One gave this guard the title of Elite, by bestowing him a miniature orb of power from The Core, a major energy source that the Red Steves had created.
Meeting Sabre[]
One day, he and the Dark Guards noticed Sabre, a new person in league with Twisted Rainbow. The Dark Guards ambushed and kidnapped him for interrogation. Sabre, remaining oblivious to Twisted Rainbow's true nature, didn't give any answers. One of the guards end up disobeying orders and beats Sabre up much to Shadow's dismay.
Twisted Rainbow finds the base and destroys it to rescue Sabre, wounding Shadow. Angered by his defeat, he follows Sabre, Twisted Rainbow and his apprentice M back home to their base of operations and sneaks in before the shield is put back up. He breaks into Sabre's house and confronts him again. He tries telling Sabre of Twisted Rainbow's lies, but when he ends up overhearing their arguing, Shadow escapes before Twisted Rainbow can see him.
Shadow remains inside the area and watches things from afar. He sees that Sabre is being attacked by Twisted Rainbow and steps in to save him. The two flee for a full day and night, fighting off the Twisted Steves. The two sleep for another night and prepare to hike back to the Dark Guard's main camp the next morning. Shadow assures the rest of the guards that Sabre is on their side and the army prepares for their push against Twisted Rainbow.
War[]
The Dark Guard visit camps and villages of normal Steves that have stayed out of the conflict. They infect the citizens to turn them into Darkness and leave their homes to burn. While Sabre is horrified, Shadow does these terrible acts as if it was second nature. Twisted Rainbow scouts out the camp to see that Sabre has fully joined them. Sabre standing up to Twisted Rainbow's mockery is proof enough to Shadow that he is loyal to the cause, despite his open disagreement towards their methods. He also keeps Sabre as he is rather than infect him with Darkness, as his own Darkness appears to be hiding somewhere else. Eventually, the Dark Guard amasses enough people to create an army of Darkness.
The next day, the two forces meet on the battlefield and battle begins. After Twisted Rainbow taunts Sabre questions Elite on his beliefs. Shadow explains that their way is a more righteous wrong and that there is no true good solution in this conflict. Sabre runs off and sees a Green Steve that had ran away from him the day prior. Desperate for connection, Sabre tries to get the Green Steve to listen to him, and he reluctantly does. Shadow suddenly arrives and nonchalantly infects the Green Steve to add to the army, much to Sabre's horror.
This act was the breaking point for Sabre, as he accepts power from an unknown voice, who communicates to him in his head. Shadow is thrown out of the battlefield by Sabre, as he summons giant clocks over the Twisted, the Darkness and some of the Dark Guards. Shadow is able to make his way back and is genuinely worried for Sabre's well-being. He tries to reach out and tell him that he isn't acting as himself, only for Sabre to call out his and Twisted acts of evil. He throws Shadow again, even farther away from the conflict.
A New Perspective[]
Shadow, weak and hurt, tries to make his way back but falls unconscious. He is taken by a Yellow Steve to be nursed back to health in a Yellow Steve village. Sabre had thrown Shadow so far away that he had ended up in a area untouched by Darkness or Twisted, where Steves were thriving. Shadow fears Sabre's power and sees him as a far worse threat than himself. He wakes up to find two Yellow Steves holding him down, and he pleads to be let go, warning them that something worse was coming.
But, the Yellow Steves didn't want to hurt him, which Shadow assumed. One of the Steves gave him an apple and the group left him alone. He had been show kindness, despite his reputation, which surprised him. He went outside, and one of the Yellow Steves was curious about the red orb on his armor. Shadow explained the events of the Red Kingdom to him (along with every other Steve in the village which gathered into a crowd and listened in), and was surprised to see that rather than fearing him, they pitied him. Shadow was appalled to the point where he considered the Steves more twisted than the actual Twisted. Weakened by Sabre's attack and needing to regain power, Shadow decides to return to the Red Kingdom where it all began for him. Despite his mixed feelings towards the Yellow Steves, he thanked them for their hospitality and left.
As he makes his way to the kingdom, he runs into Twisted Rainbow, who is also shaken up by Sabre's sudden power. The two argue for who's to blame for what happened, but Shadow scoffs him off and continues on his path. Shadow makes his way down to the Core, only to see that Sabre was already there. He tries to stop Sabre from stealing the core due to the potential danger, but Sabre refuses to listen. Shadow calls out to The Great One, who hears his call and gives Shadow a boost in power. The two duel, with Shadow continuing to try talking Sabre down and telling him of being controlled and corrupted. Sabre, still refusing to listen due to his resentment, prepares the final blow.
Identity[]
The attacks collide, but Sabre wins out and Shadow is flung out of the Core and back outside the Red Kingdom's ruins. His armor breaks and he powers down. Sabre prepares to finish him off, only to be shocked that the "Elite" he knew was a dark version of himself. He runs off, confusing Shadow. He heads back down to see that Sabre had stolen the Core. A malfunctioning Assistant Steve comes out of a chamber in the walls, declaring Shadow an intruder and preparing to fire at him with a laser. When Shadow mentions Twisted Rainbow, Assistant Steve deactivates his kill mode at the last second. He now considers Shadow "friendly" after he elaborates on his rivalry with Twisted. Assistant Steve suddenly shuts down to reserve power. Shadow finds use in the robot and decides to take him with him. He drags Assistant Steve out of the Red Kingdom in case Sabre returns, only to find M sitting in the ruins instead.
Still resenting M for being aligned with Twisted Rainbow, he yells at him to stay away and expresses his anger towards him. But, seeing that he is all alone makes him realize that he too is not siding with Twisted or Sabre. He reluctantly lets M go along with him. As the two sit by a fire, Shadow has a one-sided conversation with M, pondering how Assistant Steve ended up in the Core and M silently confirming that Twisted Rainbow had put him in there. The talk turns to the destruction of the Red Kingdom, as M puts his sword towards Shadow's neck, having seen him destroy it with his own eyes. Shadow doesn't blame M for his resentment, willing to let M kill him, but he backs down. The two eventually go to sleep for the night.
After a nightmare of remembering his attack on the Red Kingdom, Shadow wakes up to see M and Assistant missing. He eventually finds M who ran after Assistant after noticing that he was gone. Shadow wants to ditch Assistant first and continue moving, but M is insistent on going after. Shadow reluctantly agrees. As the two continues walking, Shadow feels weak and in pain. He collapses to the ground confused on what was happening to him. M stays by his side as he falls unconscious.
The Great One[]
Shadow awakens in an unknown chamber and comes face to face with his leader, The Great One. He is disappointed in Shadow's lacking performance, even when he begged him for more power. The Great One considers him a failure, and has revoked him of his status as an elite. Despite Shadow trying to warn him of greater threats like Sabre, he does not care. He even revokes his ability to wield the powers of the Darkness. However, he decides to let him live and even plans on launching an all-out assault on Sabre using his entire army of Darkness. He claims that he will handle everything and rule all.
Shadow wakes up, horrified of his former leader and worried if he could even survive without Darkness. He decides that he needs to find another way of gaining power in order to stand up against the other looming threats. He asks M to teleport them back to the Yellow Steve village to seek shelter. The group decides to use Yellow Steve's power of energy as an alternative to the Darkness. The Yellow Steves build a machine to create golden energized armor for Shadow Sabre to wear, planning on using it when he confronts Sabre again.
The Crossroads[]
Shadow and M head to the Rainbow Hub together, with M going ahead of him to ensure Assistant Steve is okay. When Shadow arrives, Assistant Steve is about to self-destruct. Shadow gets in the way of Sabre to ensure he doesn't absorb the Core's power, giving M time to activate a protocol that gives Assistant Steve sentience and stops the explosion. Shadow is thrown against a wall as Sabre absorbs the Core's power anyway, with The Great One taking his turn to attack him.
Shadow urges M to take Assistant Steve and run. While M and Assistant Steve leave, Shadow prepares to take on Sabre and The Great One. The two punch Shadow into a wall together before continuing to fight each other. Shadow gets back up and tosses Sabre into a wall while he fights The Great One, angry that he refused to let him help. The Great One reveals that Shadow would never be strong enough to fight Sabre and that he would only be a distraction. Ironically, this causes Sabre to impale The Great One from behind, absorbing him as well.
With the Core and all the Darkness inside him, Sabre unlocks his full power and strips Shadow of his golden energy armor. Wanting to toy with one of the people who tormented him, Sabre teleports himself and Shadow to a lake and asks him to look at himself in the reflection. Unaware that he was Sabre's darkness up until this point, Shadow is horrified of the revelation. Shadow tries to convince Sabre not to destroy the universe and all the innocent people within it, but Sabre calls out Shadow's hypocrisy due to him turning Steves into Darkness. Sabre doesn't care that Shadow has changed and goes through with the destruction of the universe. Shadow, M, Assistant Steve, Twisted Rainbow, Hypno Steve and every other remaining Steve civilization are all engulfed in white light as the universe fades away.
Appearances[]
Season 1[]
- Your soul, cannot lie. (debut)
- It's only a matter of- (hiding)
- It... Is your Destiny.
- As Darkness sets
- In-Between
- Fine, what do I do?
- This is Twisted, Rainbow.
- Elite is just a Title.
- Regret Requires Reflection
- The Greater Good.
- Identity.
- Embrace.
- Connection.
- File Name
- At the Crossroads
- A Twisted End.