Shadow

From Glen Cook Wiki

Shadows are supernatural entities inhabiting the Plateau of Glittering Stone. They come in a variety of sizes and strengths. They can be controlled by a wizard with adequate knowledge and preparation; although they seem to have no physical substance for weapons to bite, they can be trapped in closed spaces such as prepared jars or boxes. They resemble normal shadows, slips of darkness with a mind of their own; they are repelled by bright light. They don't seem to be that intelligent.

Shadows are supernatural, but they originate with human wizardry and cruelty. Each shadow was created through the torture and death of a human being in a past age; there are literally millions of shadows. Sorcerers in the Land of Unknown Shadows created them with the souls of prisoners of war from invaders who arrived in countless waves from a world where an insane sorcerer king had elevated himself to near godhood, then had set out to take full mastery of all the sixteen worlds. The Shadows were intended to close off the Glittering Plain as a means of traveling between worlds.

Small shadows can be trained to spy and report back to their master; larger ones can kill, feeding off peoples' life force and leaving them dessicated husks wearing characteristic expressions of horror. Shadows will feed on virtually any life force they find, including insects and animals, but will by preference always seek out humans to kill. Shadows are vulnerable to sorcery, and particularly to the Bamboo fireball throwers designed to seek out and kill them.

The controlled release of Shadows from the Plain is the font of power exploited by the Shadowmasters. Aside from the Shadowmasters themselves, only a special tribe of minor wizards can control them.

The Land of Unknown Shadows has Shadows which are slightly more evolved, being much more intelligent and taking actual shapes reminiscent of various creatures. However, they share the same origins with regular Shadows.