About the Shadow (spoilers)

[Peanuckle]

I've got some questions about the Shadow that is chasing you through the game. It apparently became aware of you the moment you nabbed the orb, and has hunted you down ever since. I'm pretty sure that the warding rituals were just shams to get David comfortable with torture and murder, so nothing was actually keeping the shadow from him besides distance.

My question is: how did Weyer, Agrippa and Alexander keep the Shadow(s?) from coming after them? If Weyer had a whole collection of orbs, then wouldn't a veritable army of Shadows hunt him down?

Finally, what makes the Shadow stop for doors anyways? Does it not know how to work a doorknob? We could just put it in a maze and be done with it.

[Redeemer]

The Shadow came after Daniel because he tapped the orb's power but was unable to control it. Alexander, Weyer, and Agrippa don't have any problem controlling the orbs, thus they don't have any problem with the shadow.

Also the shadow doesn't stop for doors, it's pretty obvious that it will follow you no matter what physical obstacles you place between you and it.

EDIT: By the way, there is only one shadow and as the game states, the shadow isn't a vengeful spirit; it's the universe simply catching up with itself.

[Solarn]

Actually, Alexander was as afraid of the Shadow as Daniel (see also: him using Daniel to distract the Shadow and growing angrier as the player heads for the Inner Sanctum, bringing it with him) and Agrippa didn't even try to work with an Orb himself after his encounter with its guardian. One of Agrippa's random chatters in the Nave however reveals that Weyer could control the Orbs and their guardian perfectly.

[Redeemer]

Alexander doesn't have control over the shadow, Daniel's the one who woke it up in the first place. Once it began following Daniel, it started killing everything in its path, regardless of who they were.

[mattwestwick]

It doesn't really matter that much. The point of fiction is that you get all the exciting stuff without having to justify it. The experience is more important than the evidence, in this case the shadow is a narrative device that provides the jeopardy in the plot.

Buuuut if you wanna role-play it by all means fill in all the gaps speculatively.

David just doesn't have the same ring to it; too common. Again, no offence to any Daves out there.

[Apjjm]

I always thought of the sequence of events played out in such a way that the shadow was no longer after you (until you got captured).
Alexander took your orb, so the shadow was not interested in going after you. The guardian was after Alexander to reclaim the orb and you just happened to be in the way. It never explicitly chases you until you collect 6 pieces of an orb. Only then do you draw the shadow's attention as you have an orb (I'm guessing it isn't particularly fussy which orb it posses). When you use the orb to destroy the barrier, the shadow goes after Alexander again to collect the remaining orb.
Each ending then fits, if you let Alexander get away, he leaves the orb behind and you get killed. If you keep Alexander there, the shadow kills him, as he is now the owner of the orb.

Not really answering the question there, but it's how I always saw it. I like it when things are left open to interpretation.

[gandalf91]

Each orb has its own guardian (aka, shadow). It's mentioned in the letter you find in the study from Agrippa to Weyer. I think the shadow is still after you throughout the game due to the fact that you are still connected to the orb.

[Fomzo]

"It seems like the Orb I found casts a long and dark shadow."

Daniel ~ Diary: Brennenburg(4th August 1839)

[Brandth]

Actually what stopped the shadow from Alexander and Daniel is the fact that it will withdraw from the castle every time Daniel killed someone. Alexander gathered torture victims for Daniel and lied about them being criminals so that Daniel could kill them and the Shadow would go away for a while. Alexander says this during the game.

[hollowleviathan]

He could have been lying.