Shadows

Shadows (影) are in direct service to the monarchs of the nation and they are not a monolithic organisation, as they are employed by other groups, like the Church of the Three Heroes.

General
Shadows aren't supposed to be able to be told apart, so they have no individual names and wear uniforms which conceal their individual genders. They are essentially a kind of "secret service" mostly under direct service of monarchy, acting as assassins, intelligence, bodyguards, messengers and spies.

Abilities
They are good at gathering lintel and can conceal themselves from anyone. This is shown in Episode 5, when they accurately describe the affinity of magic for both Raphtalia and Naofumi - which they themselves had learned only recently.

They are capable of disguising themselves into someone else, as seen during the times of Melty's kidnapping incident. They can assassinate someone with a poison dart.

Chronology
Once a Shadow told Naofumi that they have their origin from the east, possibly Q'ten Lo.

Known Members

 * Melris (Faubley): Naofumi suspected her to be a Shadow of Faubley and to be also the royal follower or harem of Tact.
 * Shadow~degojaru (Melromarc): Melty has a particular fondness of the one who finishes each of each of his/her sentences with "Degozaru", finding that one's manner of speech funny, so she uses him/her as a personal shadow. She may have been entrusted with the protection of Melty and also to aid Naofumi in most of the case and to keep an eye on him. In the English translation, they replace their S's with Z's.

Trivia

 * Naofumi referred to them as "Ninja" (which holds true to a certain extent, given their modus operandi full of deadly movements, obscure secrets and stealth).
 * Naofumi asked for the gender of the Shadow, which they decline to reveal. However, he mostly refers to them as females.