Shadow Dragon (class)

Shadow Dragon Medeus as a Shadow Dragon in New Mystery of the Emblem.

Unit type(s) Earth Dragon Weapon(s) Dark Breath Skill(s) Immunity to magic (Mystery of the Emblem)

The Shadow Dragon (Japanese: 暗黒竜 Dark Dragon) is one of the dragon subspecies of Archanea. It is a form achieved by Medeus, with some sources also claiming Loptous to have also taken this form.

History

Ever since his original reign of terror in the War of Liberation, Medeus had been widely known by the epithet "Shadow Dragon", reflecting both his tyranny as the Emperor of Dolhr and the sinister powers he commanded as an earth dragon. While he remained a proper earth dragon in his first resurrection in the War of Shadows in 597 AC, which was suggested by Malledus to be incomplete, when Gharnef hastened his second re-awakening eight years later with the life force of four pure-hearted maidens, Medeus was able to achieve the form of a true Shadow Dragon. As a Shadow Dragon, Medeus boasted power far beyond that of his original earth dragon form, but when Marth slew him in this form, Gotoh claimed his death was permanent.

Class data

As a class, Shadow Dragons were introduced in Part Two of Mystery of the Emblem and are present only in it and its remake, New Mystery of the Emblem. The class is exclusive to Medeus. Like all other enemy dragons in these two games, the Shadow Dragon form is permanent and is not tied to a base Manakete form or a Dragonstone. In both games, its sole weapon is Dark Breath. In Mystery of the Emblem, Shadow Dragons are entirely immune to magical attacks, and halve attack power of any attacker.

In New Mystery of the Emblem, the Shadow Dragon is classified as a special class, and accordingly has a higher level cap of 30.

Base stats

Game	HP	Strength	Magic	Skill	Speed	Luck	Defense	Resistance	Movement	Constitution	Weapon level
Mystery of the Emblem	52	20	--	0	0	0	15	15	5	--	Breath: 16
New Mystery of the Emblem	18	10	0	8	5	0	16	12	6	--	--

Max stats

Game	HP	Strength	Magic	Skill	Speed	Luck	Defense	Resistance	Movement	Constitution	Weapon level
Mystery of the Emblem	52	20	--	20	20	20	20	20	12	--	Breath: 20
New Mystery of the Emblem	99	40	30	40	30	30	40	30	8	--	--

Miscellaneous data

Game	Tier	Movement type	Weakness	Experience	CRP	Gold	Vision	Weight mod.	Capacity	Size	Unit type
Mystery of the Emblem	--	--	--	0	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
New Mystery of the Emblem	--	--	--	--	--	--	2	--	--	--	--

Class growth rates

Game	HP	Strength	Magic	Skill	Speed	Luck	Defense	Resistance	Charm	Constitution*	Movement*	Weapon level
Mystery of the Emblem	50%	10%	--	10%	10%	0%	10%	10%	--	--	--	--
New Mystery of the Emblem	100%	75%	0%	75%	25%	0%	50%	20%	--	--	--	--

See class growth rate for more details on the mechanics of class growths in each game.

Class skills

In Mystery of the Emblem, the sole member of the Shadow Dragon class, Medeus, cannot be attacked with magical attacks. A unit who attempts this will do nothing at all, with the text claiming "their attack was sealed", and leave themselves open to be counterattacked by Medeus. This skill is not technically tied to the class.

Class change

Mystery of the Emblem

Base class
Shadow Dragon

New Mystery of the Emblem

Special class
Shadow Dragon

Notable enemy Shadow Dragons

Enemy units
Name	Game
Medeus	Mystery of the Emblem (Part Two), New Mystery of the Emblem, Tokyo Mirage Sessions ♯FE
M-DEUS	Tokyo Mirage Sessions ♯FE
Enemy Shadow Dragon units in the Fire Emblem series.

Trivia

• In Mystery of the Emblem, the Shadow Dragon's moving map sprite, which can be seen briefly on the enemy phase if Medeus attacks or if the cursor is clicked over him, is much larger than its normal map sprite.
• In the Fire Emblem Trading Card Game, the Shadow Dragon is depicted as a serpent with pure red eyes despite having wings and yellow sclera in-game.
• Official artwork for the New Mystery of the Emblem website depicts Anri fighting Medeus as a Shadow Dragon, suggesting his second confrontation with Marth was not the first time he took the form of a Shadow Dragon.
• An unused item called the Shadowstone exists in Mystery of the Emblem's data, which transforms a manakete into a Shadow Dragon. Presumably, it would have been used by Medeus.
• Loptous's appearance in Genealogy of the Holy War greatly resembles a Shadow Dragon. Additionally, in the description of the Loptous tome on the Fire Emblem Museum official website, Loptous is referred to as a Shadow Dragon.

Etymology and other languages

Names, etymology, and in other regions
Language	Name	Definition, etymology, and notes
English	Shadow Dragon	--
Japanese	暗黒竜	Officially romanized as Dark Dragon. Spelled in hiragana as あんこくりゅう in Mystery of the Emblem and partially in hiragana as あんこく竜 in Mystery of the Emblem's battle GUI.
Spanish	Dragón de las Sombras	Dragon of Shadows
French	Dragon d'ombre	Dragon of shadow
German	Schattendrache	Shadow Dragon
Italian	Drago Ombra	Shadow Dragon
Portuguese	Shadow Dragon	Used in the "White Rose and Sable Knight" Lost Lore event in Fire Emblem Heroes.
Traditional Chinese	暗黑之龍	Dragon of darkness; used in the "White Rose and Sable Knight" Lost Lore event in Fire Emblem Heroes.

Gallery

• 
  Artwork of the Shadow Dragon from The Super Famicom Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem Super Guide.
• 
  Artwork of the Shadow Dragon from the Trading Card Game.
• 
  Medeus as a Shadow Dragon in Mystery of the Emblem.
• 
  Medeus as a Shadow Dragon in Mystery of the Emblem.
• 
  Medeus as a Shadow Dragon in New Mystery of the Emblem.

See also

• Earth Dragon

This article is part of Project Classes, a project focused in writing articles for every class present in the Fire Emblem series.