Okay, so I mainly cover cartoons made in America, but this time I will be talking about a supernatural, slice of life animated show made in Japan;
(Spoiler Warning, if you have not watched the show or the Comic, please do it now.)
Shadows House
More specifically Patrick's lack of soot powers. Some people guess on what Patrick's abilities might be, but the real question is "Why hasn't his powers been awaken yet?" And I'm hear to answer that.
Unlike the rest of the shadows, Patrick let's Ricky (his living doll) do all the decision making for him.
A prime example of this is in both the comic and the adaptation, when Rum and Shirley were nowhere to be found, Patrick turns to Ricky asking how he should feel about the situation. Indicating that not only does Ricky do everything for Patrick, but also influences his way of emotions as well.
In the rules of the Shadows family, living dolls meant to follow their master, not the other way around. There are 2 types of roles in this show that almost every character has.
1. Master and servant treat each other as equal and work as a team
Or
2. A Master treating their living doll has no more than just a face.
Both convey some form of individual and independent thinking, but since Patrick doesn't fall in either category, he has no real personality of his own. It wasn't until season 2 that we see Patrick develop his own mind thoughts and a feelings, and even then Patrick chose to keep his emotions limited even towards Ricky himself.
Going back to Rum and Shirley, also didn't fit under the 2 categories I mentioned before and during the debut. The difference with them is because neither of them relied on themselves or each other, whereas Patrick whole heartedly relies on Ricky on everything.
To summarize, a lack of personality will lower a Shadow's soot powers, and since Patrick suffers from low confidence, his power is constantly delayed.
If your skeptical, than watch episode 13 or read chapter 129 to see Shirley use soot powers as a morph. There you see Shirley as a morph, but gained her own personality. So that means if a morph can awaken their soot powers without the need of a human form, than the working of soot powers is solely based on one's true personality and embracing it.
Note: When I talk about soot powers, I'm talking about its quality powers a shadow possesses, not the quantity of soot the posses.
Well that's it for this theory. Little side note, I'm not intentionally trying to get people to watch the show or advertise. I only mentioned it so you could get a better understanding for yourselves.
Do you agree with my theory? Tell me what you think in the comments, and if you have any theories of your own, don't be afraid to tell me. See you guys next time! 😜
