Zola
Zola was originally a mercenary until she was almost killed. In that experience, she was asked to swallow a light sphere, receiving her shadow as a result of being saved from certain death. She then joined the Jibral Blademasters, becoming a powerful warrior and earning the respect of King Jibral and his kingdom. She first appears on the road to Jabral as she saves the traveling Talta Village from Steel-Eating Tigers. Her shadow uses assassin attacks. At the end of the game, it is revealed that Zola was actually working for Nene, and was the mysterious voice that told the main characters to "swallow the spheres". Her purpose was to bring them to Nene so that he could take the shadows from them. Nene, defeated, tells Zola to give her energy to him, but she decides not to and kills Nene instead.
In the anime, Zola had an unlucky childhood, joining the Grand Kingdom army after her dad was killed during an excavation with Nene in order to commit sabotage. She is considered a Knight Master and was looking for descendants of the Seven Soldiers. She serves as the leader of the group, being the most mature and intelligent. Zola and the others tried to defeat Nene but it didn't work out as well as planned as the truth behind her is. It was only after Nene's death that Zola's true intentions for gathering the Shadow Wielders were revealed. The evil within Killer Bat corrupts Zola, causing her to unleash the darkness that plagued the world. After being fused with her Shadow to assume a demonic version of herself, she battles Shu until he defeats her with the help of Jiro, Kluke, Marumaro, Bouquet, General Logi, Delphinium, and Deathroy. With this form defeated by a sacrifice of the shadows present, Zola's body crashes to the ground, motionless. However, it would be later revealed in the second season that only the darkness within Zola died. The good within her, driven off by Killer Bat, was found by Dr. Tarkovsky who used it to create Primella. Zola was seen smiling when the darkness was sealed; speculation implies that although she released it, she was glad that Shu defeated her and helped seal the darkness.
Her shadow, the gargoyle like Killer Bat, is quite silent and is unusual from his game version in that he is the only Shadow of the party who is armed with a weapon (specifically a sword). Killer Bat possesses the power to purge the host of the goodness in their hearts. It is implied that he was the leader of all of the darkness, and that even he with all of his power was also afraid of Blue Dragon's power and thus saw him as his biggest threat. It's possible he was defeated before the darkness was sealed, as he was sealed in a different location. He is blue like the other shadows in the game but in the anime he is purple and he also wields a sword like his partner.
