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What's kinda bugged me recently is that the games never mention exactly how a Manakete is able to become a Shadow Dragon, or whether it's a transformation that's exclusive to the strongest of Earth Dragons or not. I mean, you got guys like Medeus and (later) Loptyr. Both of whom are Earth Dragons, and both are (or at least Medeus is) capable of assuming the form of a Shadow Dragon. So far the transformation seems exclusive to Earth Dragons, with the Shadow Dragon transformation itself seeming like a "super form" of sorts. (That is the best way I can describe it, to be honest.) Then comes Idun, a Divine Dragon, who is forced to assume a form that is arguably noticeably similar to Shadow Dragon. (Granted, her dragon form in Binding Blade is referred to as a DEMON Dragon, but her appearance and the fact that she has "Dark Breath" as a usable weapon, does bring the Shadow Dragon transformation to my mind at least. It might have also been on Firelizard's mind too when he translated Binding Blade, considering what name he gave her dragon form in said translation.) Then you've got Grima, who is implied in the "Artbook of God" to be a descendant of the Earth Dragons. Now I know I proposed the theory that Grima's supposed to be a mass fusion of the Earth Dragons at the Dragon's Table, but that doesn't mean I'm not confused as to why his dragon form looks like it takes Medeus's and Loptyr's Shadow Dragon forms one step further with his own Fell Dragon form. Then you've got games by Shouzou Kaga, the father of Fire Emblem. Like TearRing Saga, which while not technically Fire Emblem, does seem to suggest that the Shadow Dragon transformation is something ALL dragons can achieve. Earth Dragons, Divine Dragons, maybe even Fire Dragons for all I know. (I am admittedly kinda spoiled to the fact that TearRing Saga's final boss is technically a human who managed to transform into a dragon by ingesting some dragon blood, but work with me people.) If that's true for the FE series, then it would explain the aforementioned similarities between Idun's Demon Dragon form and Medeus's and Loptyr's Shadow Dragon form. But even so, there doesn't seem to be specific instance that involves an onscreen transformation to a Shadow Dragon and a Manakete that had a completely different dragon form beforehand. And the dragon blood ingestion triggering the transformation, to me seems like a one-time thing that involved a human. Not a Manakete or a similar race. Seeing as whether dragon blood ingestion (or infusion) is the trigger behind such an event or not. But yeah. Does the fact that the circumstances behind this particular Manakete transformation hasn't been really gone into detail in the FE games bug anyone on here?