The Four Shades of Awesome are villains in Elena of Avalor. They are legendary and incredibly powerful dark spirits who attacked Maru in ancient times.
Appearances[]
Cahu appears as a young woman with lavender skin, long purple hair, and purple tattoos on her arms. She wears a purple dress, along with a gold tiara, a gold necklace, and gold bracelets. It is revealed that when the source of her power (a magical hourglass) is removed, she returns to her true age, a young girl.
Vuli is green with a blocky, stone-like body. He has a stone fan on his head and stone shoulder pads.
Yolo is a small blue monkey-like creature. He has a long prehensile tail, large eyebrows, and feathers growing from the back of his head.
Hetz is a large, bulky, rotund man with orange skin. He wears a large feathery headdress and a pair of stone earrings. He also has a unibrow.
Personalities[]
Cahu is a calm and collected. She is known to talk slowly.
Vuli is a wild and erratic character who is prone to mood swings. He is very outspoken.
Yolo is a smug, but jovial individual.
Hetz is the strong silent type. He is a no nonsense type.
Background[]
Centuries ago, the Four Shades of Awesome, then known as the Shadows of the Night, broke through from their world and into the Ever Realm. The Maruvians used the Jewel of Maru to defeat the Shadows, but the pulse of magic was so powerful it also sent all the Maruvians to the Spirit World, which in turn brought an end to the civilisation of Maru as well.
Ever since then, the Shadows remained imprisoned in the Shadow Gateway leading to the Ever Realm, which is located under the ocean near Nueva Vista. Their actions in nearly destroying Maru became extremely well-known.
Powers and Abilities[]
Cahu is the Time Shade. She has the power to slow down the flow of time itself, including slowing people down to put them in a helpless state, and slowing attacks down to evade them. Using a single grain of sand from her hourglass, she can turn people and objects into stone murals. She can also levitate. Her hourglass is the source of her power.
Vuli is the Chaos Shade. By touching people, he can influence their behavior, making them act chaotic and turning allies against each other. His face changes according to his emotions; yellow for happiness, blue for sadness, and red for anger.
Yolo is the Animal Shade. He can turn any living creature, including himself and other people, into any other kind of living creature he desires. He does so be striking his victim with a ball of blue flames.
Hetz is the Weather Shade. His abilities include changing the weather and summoning lightning bolts. His ability can be turned against him as he is vulnerable to lighting himself, as demonstrated when Isabel used a lighting rod to make him electrocute himself.
Role in the series[]
In "The Jewel of Maru", Amaláy, the last Royal Wizard of Maru, explains to Elena about the Shadows of the Night, and that she is now a spirit guarding the Jewel of Maru.
In "Coronation Day", Ash and her group set their sights on finding the Shadow Gateway, the barrier keeping the Shadows of the Night out of the Ever Realm. Esteban is apprehensive, as the Shadows of the Night nearly destroyed the Kingdom of Maru, to which Ash tells him that that is exactly why she wants to recruit them. When Esteban question how she can be sure the Shadows will help them, she states to him that they will do so out of gratitude for freeing them.
When they arrive at the Shadow Gateway thanks to Chatana, Ash is given enough time to open the Gateway through which she and Elena fall in with Flo jumping in after them. Following the defeat of Chatana, Pili, and Tziloco, the Shadows of the Night come through and ask Esteban if he freed them. Esteban lies and says he did. He also tells them Elena's group is attacking him. The Shadows overwhelm Elena's group, forcing them to retreat. The Shadows, disapproving of their old name, rename themselves the Four Shades of Awesome. The Shades introduce themselves through song as Vuli, Yolo, Hetz, and Cahu. They pledge themselves to Esteban and vow to make him King of Avalor and the five of them set off to conquer Avalor.
When Esteban introduces them to Avalor, the Four Shades of Awesome launch their attack. Isabel's leadership enables them to send Hetz back to the Spirit World by getting him to blast himself with his own lightning attack. Unfortunately, the other Shades prove to be way too powerful and they are quickly beaten back.
Esteban and Cahu enter Avalor Palace, much to the shock of Francisco and Luisa. After Esteban and Luisa have an argument, Cahu turns her and Francisco to stone. Furious at this turn of events, Esteban demands that she change them back, only for Cahu to tell him he keeps making the same mistake: trusting those who pretend to listen. Cahu reveals that the Shades were just using Esteban.
Elena's group takes down Vuli and Yolo by having Mateo enchant Gabe's sword, which he uses to paralyze them in place, after which Mateo blasts them with a powerful spell, strong enough to send them back to the Spirit World. However, Cahu arrives on the scene proves to be way too powerful. Before she can turn Elena to stone, Esteban takes the hit for her, causing Elena to finally forgive Esteban. Her forgiveness activates her emotion magic which changes Esteban and everyone else in Avalor back. Furious at this turn of events, Cahu tries one final attempt to turn Elena into stone, only for Esteban to destroy her hourglass using the Scepter of Light. Just as she tries to retrieve her power, Esteban and Elena stop her and combine their magic to send Cahu back to the Spirit World.
Trivia[]
- They appear to have an affinity for music.
- They possess powerful dark magic.
- Despite being the final antagonists in the series, they are not Elena's biggest test.
Gallery[]
