The following contains spoilers for The Eminence in Shadow Episode 2, “Shadow Garden Is Born”, now streaming on HIDIVE.
With Episode 2 showing fans a clearer view of Cid’s journey after reincarnating into a fantasy world, The Eminence in Shadow continues to follow the adventures of Cid and the Shadow Garden against the Cult of Diablos. But with the threats they face seemingly being so real, Cid believes his story is completely made up.
With a lack of awareness regarding who his opponents are, Cid’s nonchalant ‘Shadow’ performance still manages to somehow thwart the Diablos Cult’s plans while piling on more and more misunderstandings within the Shadow Garden.
How Cid Created His Narrative About the Diablos Cult
While raiding a group of bandits who had attacked a traveling caravan, the 10-year-old Cid came across a grotesque figure trapped in a cage that the people of his new world called the ‘Possessed’. Realizing the figure was going through a magic overload, Cid decided to take it and conduct a series of experiments to bring its magic under control. After a month of these experiments, Cid was finally able to contain the overload and the rotting figure transformed into its original body — a beautiful blond elf girl whom Cid later named Alpha.
As Alpha awoke, Cid came up with the idea to hold his first performance as the Eminence in Shadow, telling her he had freed her from the curse that had overtaken her body. In the spur of the moment, Cid declared there was a curse that the demon Diablos cast on the descendants of the Heroes who defeated him, basing his story on the fairy tale recorded in the scriptures he had read growing up in this new fantasy world.
Convincing her the story was true — rather than just a fairy tale — Cid told Alpha that history had been rewritten to turn the cursed hero descendants into the scorned Possessed. Supposedly, the culprits of this misery were a group of demon fanatics aiming for the demon Diablos’ revival, calling themselves the Diablos Cult — though the name was taken from an alcohol bottle that was sitting behind the bewildered Alpha.
Why Did Cid Create a Narrative at All?
To become an Eminence in Shadow that hunts the evil within the shadows, Cid knew there had to be an enemy for him to face — even if he had to completely fabricate one. While trying to recruit the newly restored Alpha into his organization, ‘Shadow Garden’, Cid created a highly threatening opponent to give the elf girl a new life’s purpose — but also to highlight the significance of his role as ‘Shadow’ who defended the world from within the darkness and stop the Diablos Cult from continuing its terrible deeds.
With Alpha accepting Cid’s story as the truth behind why she was possessed, the only issue the pair faced was the fact that this fictional story he had devised was actually real. While warning Alpha of how deeply the Diablos Cult had infiltrated into powerful governments and the dangers that would come with following him, Cid himself was completely unaware of how his fabricated conspiracy would soon become the ‘simple bandits’ he encounters on his journey to become the Eminence in Shadow.
Alpha and the Shadow Garden Realize the Diablos Cult’s True Threat
Though Cid believed his tale was a narrative he had made up for his purpose as an Eminence in Shadow, Alpha and the other members of the Shadow Garden — which she recruited after saving them from the same Possessed curse she had been afflicted with — were all fully aware of just how serious a threat the Diablos Cult was to the world.
As each member of the Shadow Garden was the descendant of a Hero who had helped defeat Diablos, they all held a strong conviction for stopping the Diablos Cult that had forced them into becoming abused and rejected by their friends and families. After being freed from their curses, the members of the Shadow Garden are loyal to Cid — whom they knew as ‘Shadow’ — and quickly grew their organization into one of incredible influence under Cid’s nose.
With the mission to eliminate the Diablos Cult from within the shadows, the Shadow Garden members dedicated themselves to serving Cid and destroying the Cult’s plans — despite the leader thinking they’re only taking their performance roles seriously and not realizing the severity of the Cult’s threat.
Cid Kageno’s journey toward becoming an Eminence in Shadow required an ominous opponent for him to hunt from the shadows, leading to the creation of the Diablos Cult which turned out to be a very real threat. Still, with the help of Shadow Garden, Cid continues on his path to saving the world from within the darkness, regardless of his current ignorance.
