Sophia Hess
| Character | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Sophia Hess (Shadow Stalker) |
| Occupation: | Vigilante, Hero |
| Relationships: | Friendship with Emma Barnes, adversarial relationship with Taylor Hebert; Brockton Bay Wards, Brian Laborn (one-sided superhero nemesis) |
| Fandom: | Worm |
| Other: | |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Sophia Hess is a secondary character in the superhero web serial Worm. She is a black teenage girl who has the ability to phase through solid objects. In canon, she is first introduced as the leader of a trio of vicious bullies who target Taylor Hebert, Worm's protagonist. Later, she develops a very reluctant alliance with Taylor.
Canon
Sophia works together with Emma Barnes and Madison Clements to bully Taylor in increasingly brutal ways, including locking her in a locker of rotting garbage and destroying an instrument from her dead mother. Early in canon, Taylor finds out that Sophia is Shadow Stalker, a member of the junior superhero team in Brockton Bay, the Wards. This leads to Taylor settling in her identity as a supervillain. Sophia tries to slit Taylor's throat (when Taylor is in costume as Skitter). One of Taylor's villainous teammates commits an elaborate act of revenge on Taylor's behalf, resulting in Sophia's imprisonment for most of the serial.
She is a member of the Brocton Bay Wards for most of Worm. In this capacity, she seems to see Grue as a particular nemesis and seeks him out in confrontations between the teams.
Sophia has an unique view on morality, viewing the world as a competition between hunters (or predators) and victims (or prey), which is implied to be a side-effect of her superpowers and triggering.
After the apocalypse, Taylor reaches out to Sophia and secures her release from prison in exchange for fighting Scion. In the final chapters of the serial, it is revealed that she hasn't largely changed her view of the world or Taylor.
Fandom
This article or section needs expansion. |
Fandom critism of racist portrayal
I'm thinking of posts like this: ex1 by ewingstan, ex 2 by majokkomaimun (actually says the racist portrayals are mostly a problem in the fandom), ex3 by yugonostalgia2019 (mostly focussed on criticising other characters, but mentions Sophia)
OTOH I think some fans also defend Wildbow's portrayal of Sophia (I don't have links though).
Example Fanworks
| Examples Wanted: Editors are encouraged to add more examples or a wider variety of examples. |
Fanfiction
- Vindex Reborn: The Whole World Blind by AwesomeJon - a Taylor/Sophia AU fic with alternating viewpoints of both characters
- The Wonderful Adventures of Sophia Hess, Babysitter Extraordinaire by YseultNott, canon divergence where Sophia isn't psychologically altered by her shard.
Fanart
- Shadow Stalker, Archived version by Ionsheep, Sophia in costume (2016)
- sophia hess, Archived version by somnolentSlumber (2017)
- Sophia Hess, Archived version by MonsterLover12 (2018)
- https://ewingstan.tumblr.com/post/738337782157688832 I drew shadow stalker a day or so ago. What even is time right? I think I'm getting motivation back. Gonna do the trio.] by latvis (before 2024)
- Shadow Stalker (Worm) by LinaLeeZ (alt link
Archives & Fannish Links
Archives
- Shadow Stalker character filter on fanfiction.net
- Works tagged Sophia Hess | Shadow Stalker on AO3
Other
References