History Characters / TheEminenceInShadowCidKagenou

* WorldsStrongestMan: He doesn't have a large mana pool, but thanks to a lifetime of practicing martial arts and magic, he is certainly the most powerful Spellsword of the story. Iris Midgar considers him to be the strongest man alive.

** During his fight with Beatrix and Iris at the climax of Season 1, Cid displays the ability to cleanly imitate Aurora's BloodMagic attack with water, the same abilities which vampires use, though he notes it is less effective due to mundane water being a poor magic conduit. While it is is ''conceivable'' Cid can also do it in other versions, it is never explicitly shown he could.
** In the battle with Elizabeth early in Season 2, it is shown Cid's "I Am Recovery Atomic" can at least [[spoiler:interfere with the magical wavelength which strengthens vampires coming from the ''Blood Moon'', turning the abnormal moon in the sky at least temporarily back to normal in the wake of his casting. In the novels and manga, it did not manage to affect the Blood Moon, and in the former it was explicitly described the sky remained crimson after his duel with Elizabeth]].

* AntiHero: Cid is a selfish, delusional {{Chuunibyou}} [[UnsympatheticComedyProtagonist asshole]] who has himself admitted that he discards everything that could hinder him from becoming what he wants and he does not understand well the family ties and friendship of others, and of those who surround them. That said, Cid is still BigGood (Arguably) and the LesserOfTwoEvils when compared to the Cult Of Diabolos and every other villainous character in the series as his actions unintentionally saved the lives of many and gradually rescued the world from the clutches of said evil forces.

* EatingTheEyeCandy: As the hot springs show, Cid hides his muscular and well-built body underneath his plain clothing which Epsilon gladly savours while Alexia can't handle all that Excalibur.

** '''Equality:''' Doesn't care whom he slaughters, screws over, steals, or manipulates in order to further his goals which include his childhood friends and loyal subordinates The Seven Shadows, mob friends, his own sister and close associates. The Cult of Diabolos, Knights of Rounds and other plot-significant villains get the same treatment of being physically overwhelmed and psychologically broken by Shadow's eclipsing might since to him, they are all just run-of-the-mill bandits and criminals. This is especially true for the former two since Cid doesn't know the cult ''actually exists'' which does not help when they claim to be the strongest and very important, only for Shadow to [[CurbStompBattle easily trample and kill them]] without finding their "fights" memorable or distinct.

** '''Gettan:''' They have the desire to be stronger and would take extreme measures to achieve that goal but are heavily contrasted by their reasons for doing so[[note]]Gettan wanted to protect his loved ones and everything he cherishes from being taken away by evil forces while Cid just does it for the self-fulfilling interest of becoming "The Eminence in Shadow"[[/note]] and the resulting outcomes[[note]]Gettan would soon succumb to his insecurities, seek the Cult of Diabolos and raid Yukime's village when they refused to join, thus [[HisOwnWorstEnemy turning into the very evil that destroyed everything he had sworn to protect]] [[AllForNothing without coming any closer to his goal]]. Meanwhile, Cid doesn't need any help or shortcuts and not only eventually becomes the WorldsStrongestMan all by himself but also unintentionally saves the lives of many during his quest who would later dedicate themselves as their savior's closest allies and devotees even though he [[ThinkNothingOfIt Thinks Nothing Of It]].[[/note]] The two are also poor bosses to their subordinates in their respective organizations although Gettan is outwardly abusive BadBoss who even murders for perceived slights and finds the Major Corporate Alliance as nothing but disposable while Cid does see the Seven Shadows as his friends, he is still rather apathetic to his followers and mostly leaves them to their own devices yet Shadow Garden never catches on and sees him as {{Benevolent|Boss}} instead. Both are no strangers to multiple accounts of manslaughter but Cid, at the very least, spares innocents and would not kill his friends whereas Gettan cuts down anyone in his way left, right, and center including his beloved fiance Yukime. Speaking of Yukime, Gettan and Cid (as John Smith)'s dynamic with her reflects their characters[[note]]Gettan has a more proactive approach and immediately goes on the offense as he firmly believes "If you don't want anything robbed from you, you have to rob from others" but all his actions and life choices based on said philosophy only made him [[SelfFulfillingProphecy lose everything he holds dear and led straight towards his demise]]. Cid completely ignores the bigger picture and does his own thing unless others have provoked him with everything just falling into place for him as a result of his thoughtless actions.[[/note]] and stance on relationships[[note]]Gettan had a long history with Yukime initially betrothed to her as a loving fiance before going down his StartOfDarkness in his pursuit of strength and becoming her mortal enemy from giving her physical and mental scars of slaying her mother and everyone in her village then striking her down. In the end, Gettan dies in regret having as he still and always loved Yukime but can't do anything about it when he was killed by her new "lover". In contrast, Yukime is completely head over heels for Cid after misinterpreting his actions in gaining more money as doing everything for her such as helping out her vengeance against Gettan and killing him. Alas, this is unfortunately one-sided for her as Cid is [[CelibateHero completely disinterested in love]] and on a StrictlyProfessionalRelationship with her as one-time business partner, meaning she's devoting her life to him without Cid ever knowing or bothering to contact her afterwards[[/note]].

* MistakenForRomance: Most girls he interacts with would completely misconstrue his actions as romantic when a relationship is [[CelibateHero the last thing Cid wants]] but remains none the wiser to their feelings as his one and only true love is becoming "The Eminence in Shadow".

** Gettan was under the presumption John Smith was romancing his ex-fiance Yukime and battled him to the death thinking he isn't worthy, knowing deep inside he still deeply loved Yukime but was too stubborn to admit it. However, John [[StrictlyProfessionalRelationship couldn't care less for Yukime in that regard]] and cares more about Gettan stealing all his hard-earn money for his "Eminence in Shadow" roleplay (The actual culprit being Shadow Garden) in which Gettan's insistent denial of his feelings was misinterpreted as unwilling to give up the location of his precious funds. This angered John to the point where [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness Cid emerges out of persona]] and gave Gettan an [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown even worse beatdown]] than his usual bad-guy fare.

* PetTheDog: Despite being a complete nut with severe signs of psychopathy, Cid, in some moments, is actually capable of empathy, or at the very least, he is able to perform selfless deeds without any ulterior motives.

** In Volume 2, even though Aurora manipulated him, Cid is not bothered by this and he still helps in freeing her, of his own volition.

*** he personally uses his magic to heal two of the Three Towers' lords. In the past, he healed Yukime's wounds following the attack on her village. In the present, he uses his "I Am The Recovery Atomic" on Elizabeth and cures her of her vampirism.
*** Following their fight, Cid is genuinely proud of Alpha and compliments her to be strong which is no easy feat, considering how many times Cid has left his opponents with {{The Reason You Suck Speech}}es.

* PsychologicalProjection: Cid frequently believes all other kids had the same chuunibyo desires growing up. This has caused him to mistake the rest of Shadow Garden for his LARP group and ignore Claire's very real worries and issues, mistaking her for just another chuuni doing the same stuff he did when he was younger.

* PurpleIsPowerful: Shadow's magic is violet in colour (Described as bluish-purple in the light novel), wears dark purple as one of his predominant colours next to black and gold, and is known to be the most powerful being alive in multiple worlds, only rivaling Aurora the Witch of Calamity herself at her peak form as Diabolos. He can also [[SuperEmpowering give a fraction of his powers]] to others which gradually turns their magic into a bright blue.

* {{Tsundere}}: Of the double rare non-romantic male variety to his older sister.

* WorldHealingWave: He can make his ability that mimics a Nuclear Explosion into a large healing spell instead.

* OddNameOut: Minoru Kagenou, his original identity and later amnesiac persona, and Jack the Ripper are the only names not to follow the "S" LetterMotif like the rest of his other identities do (Not counting the English translation of Jimina Seinen to Mundane Mann).

** His name on Earth was [[spoiler:影野実 (Kagenou Minoru). 野 could be just ateji to substitute の, so his name is the beginning of the series' title "'''陰の実'''力者になりたくて" (Kage no Jitsuryokusha ni naritakute) with 実 being read as "Minoru"; alternatively 影野 read together means "shadow field", as in ''Shadow Garden'']].

** As Stylish Bandit Slayer, he exploits all the bandits in the surrounding Kagenou terrority as his main form of revenue by systematically slaughtering them, pillaging everything worth value and taking their corpses in for the bounty without a shred of mercy since the bandits stole the goods and lives of well-earned merchants so it’s only fair SBS returns the favour. SBS, true to his name, racked up such a high body count this way that he singlehanded culled the entire population of bandits, criminals and cultists caught in the crossfire.

** He even killed Dark Spider, a high-rank First Named Child whom he mistook for a "stylish thief", for his elusive Black Spider silk cloak even though Mitsugoshi later proved they could tailor garments for him of the same yet higher quality material. Cid proudly displays his newly acquired robe in his room without caring [[ImpaledWithextremePrejudice the former owner got impaled on a statue’s sword]] because he was [[SkeweredPriorities too busy saving the robe]] when Dark Spider's corpse had fallen off the roof.