Talk:Zed/Background/@comment-80.233.13.94-20121105193656/@comment-3067750-20121105215929

Or, more befitting of the context:

Zed, in his desire to defeat Shen, sought something that would give him an edge in the challenge he would give afterwards (which ended up being a box containing forbidden knowledge).

Zed's master knew what Zed had done and expelled (or as the lore says, banished) from the temple.

In retaliation, and a continuing desire for power, taught those forbidden ways to those who would follow him. After gaining an army of followers he assaulted the temple.

Accepting defeat and knowing himself to be the cause by banishing Zed, his master led him to the box and gave him his sword and an opportunity to destroy the box and return to the ways of balance. Instead, Zed killed his former master and took the box and the power it contained for himself.

The Zed you see is Zed, the shadow is the direct result of the forbidden power (the "knowledge, or style, of the shadows" as mentioned in the lore).

There is no 'fake' Zed or some dark power released from the box that has taken the form of Zed after killing the real Zed or anything like that.