Overview |
Seriously, who can say "no" to a pinch of good old Deceit?!
Shadow Milk Cookie (Korean: 쉐도우밀크 쿠키, swedoumilku kuki) is one of the five Beast Cookies of Cookie Run: Kingdom. He was the third to be released, being made playable alongside 
Candy Apple Cookie in the Spire of Shadows update (v6.0) after first appearing as an NPC in the Secrets of the Silver Kingdom update (v5.0). He is of the 
Magic type and his position is prioritized to the 
Middle.
Heralded long ago as the benevolent Fount of Knowledge, Shadow Milk Cookie is the antithesis of what his Witch-given purpose once was: he is a malicious trickster who relishes in chaos, confusion, and inequity. This sly entertainer spends his immortality in the Spire of Deceit, gaily weaving untruths and scheming to release Earthbread from its shackles of virtue with his lackeys Candy Apple Cookie and 
Black Sapphire Cookie. Behind his mask of mirth, however, lies a lonely soul whose disillusionment wore him down to the cruel, manipulative individual he is today.
Shadow Milk Cookie wields the power of Deceit, a corrupted side of the Virtue of Knowledge he once held. He was the original owner of 
Pure Vanilla Cookie's Soul Jam, being stripped of it upon his descent into villainy.
Game Description
"Ahh, welcome, welcome! Why the surprised look? Oh, but we've met before, or have you forgotten? For I am the shadow living in your soul—a lie!" What could have happened to this Cookie, once heralded as the Fount of Knowledge, that made him become the Master of Deceit.(sic) Eons ago, when Earthbread was still young, the radiance of Knowledge was born to bless all that was with meaning. Yet, in the shadow cast by this light, dwelled its twin, Deceit. With time, all those disenchanted with the bitter Truth turned their eyes to the alluring tapestry of lies spun by the silver-tongued trickster. Masterfully juggling truths and falsehoods on the scene of a whimsical shadowplay, Shadow Milk Cookie has perfected his craft of shattering beliefs of the most stoic in a myriad of treacherous reflections. Applause, applause! It is time to raise the curtain, for the show to plunge the world into never-ending chaos is about to begin...
Soulstone Description
Skill
Act 1: Lies
 11 sec 2 sec | |
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Gameplay Notes | |
- Shadow Milk Cookie's initial Cooldown has a 0.6x multiplier.
- Regular attack deals DMG to the nearest target for 95.6% of ATK. This attack has no projectile.
- Has a 4 second cast time. Interrupting Shadow Milk Cookie does not interrupt the skill effect.
- Resists interrupting effects and ignores ATK SPD changes during the skill.
- Puppet Show
- While casting, a projection of marionettes surround the lowest Max HP target and deal periodic DMG for x15 hits, and x4 hits for area targets. At 5.95 seconds, the large eye explodes and deals Grand Finale DMG to the target and area enemies.
Puppet Show is inflicted onto the lowest Max HP target, ignoring resistance to interrupting effects, Immunity, and Shackle Immunity. It is undispellable, and its effect and duration is unaffected by Debuff Resist and Amplify Debuff. If the target with this debuff is defeated during the skill, they will turn into a Soul Phantom.- Certain targets vulnerable to Puppet Show can ignore the Shackles effect, but are still affected by the debuff itself. Certain effects can also dispel the Shackles effect without dispelling the debuff from the target.
- If the target has Curse Protection, only the Curse proponent of Puppet Show is blocked while the buff is consumed.
- The Soul Phantom is considered an enemy Summoned Creature with 100% of the defeated target's Max HP, ATK, and DEF, and its lifetime is 5 seconds. It cannot be defeated and is immune to Knockback. Shadow Milk Cookie's damage dealt to it is stored into the Grand Finale Extra DMG. His allies can also damage the Soul Phantom, but this damage will not be added to the storage.
- The Soul Phantom does not prevent the battle from ending if it is the only target left.
- Taint
- Inflicted onto the target after Puppet Show expires.
- Shadow Form
- Upon taking lethal damage, Shadow Milk Cookie purifies all of his debuffs, becomes intangible, and summons a Puppet in his place temporarily.
- While in the Shadow Form state, Shadow Milk Cookie maintains his current buffs and heals back to 100% Max HP over 4 seconds. He cannot use his skill until he exits Shadow Form. This effect counts as Immortality and will trigger Great Sage's Gem.
- This state ends early if all x50 hits of the Puppet's shield are depleted.
- After the duration, Shadow Milk Cookie returns to the battlefield, resets his skill, and gains the Power of Deceit buffs, permanently increasing his Max HP, DMG Resist, and Indirect DMG Resist.
- If Shadow Milk Cookie would be defeated while caught in a strong Airborne effect such as Music of the Wind's Mint Cyclone, he will purify himself but remain unable to escape the Airborne effect. This will leave him unable to enter Shadow Form, causing him to get immediately defeated instead.
- Eye of Truth
- Truth stacks are indicated by the number of smaller eyes above the Eye of Truth/Deceit.
- Changes into the Eye of Deceit for the rest of the battle upon Shadow Milk Cookie exiting Shadow Form or reviving for the first time, losing all Truth stacks upon transformation.
- Remains active for the entire battle, even if Shadow Milk Cookie is defeated.
- Eye of Deceit
- Retains the Eye of Truth's passive methods of gaining Truth stacks (receiving debuffs and using skill).
- Upon reaching x4 Truth stacks, a sphere of energy is shot toward the enemies, dealing DMG to all of them and inflicting DMG Dealt Down. The attack resets the duration of any Taint debuffs on enemies and heals Shadow Milk Cookie.
- Remains active for the entire battle, even if Shadow Milk Cookie is defeated.
Appearance
Shadow Milk Cookie is a spindly, average height Cookie with powder blue dough and two differently colored eyes: one cyan right eye with a black slit pupil and black eyelashes, and one cerulean left eye with a white slit pupil and white eyelashes. His mouth is sapphire blue and sly, having teeth which change between straight and sharp depending on his emotions. About his right eye is a pale blue, claw-shaped marking. He has white locks of hair near his face—two that fall against his forehead and one slicked back—azure curled sidelocks, and glossy, sharp, long hair in a dual-toned shadow and lapis style that resembles the extents of a jester's hat. Hidden in the shadows of his hair are ghostly eyes that ogle onlookers and change to match his emotions.
Shadow Milk Cookie wearing his jester hat
Shadow Milk Cookie wears an obsidian harlequin unitard with turquoise diamond appliques. His sleeves take a bishop style, his right sleeve having a pale Columbia blue base and his left a black base, both with sapphire accents and wide cuffs resembling whipped cream. The jester wears a ruff collar from which hang curling coattails with a ghostly blue lining and a black outside. Upon its lining are more gazing eyes. He wears his eye-like Soul Jam of Deceit as a brooch on his collar in the same place that Pure Vanilla Cookie wears his own Soul Jam. Shadow Milk Cookie also holds a jester hat split into black and cobalt halves, having a milk-splash crown about its rim and blueberry-shaped pompoms at its extending tassels. He holds a thin black staff with a blueberry eyeball handle and another milk design at its neck, its eye-like design being a direct reflection of Pure Vanilla Cookie's own orchid staff.
Personality
Shadow Milk Cookie was once a heralded champion of all Cookies, baked and empowered by the Witches themselves alongside the other Beasts. He was granted the divine Virtue of Knowledge, becoming known as the Fount of Knowledge. However, despite his nigh-omniscient perception of the world, he saw how Cookies often shied away from bitter Truths and chose to believe in sweet Deceits instead. Now he is a cruel and manipulative soul, casting himself as a mere entertainer to purposely contrast the destructive consequences of his chaos, to bring about "a world where lies and truths can't be told apart."
Shadow Milk Cookie's very generous depiction of himself
Shadow Milk Cookie is a theatrical villain, changing reality into an illusory counterfeit stage to host his performances. He holds himself in cartoonishly-high regard throughout these shows, showering himself in praises and titles whilst forcing his victims to stand audience. Unlike what his clownish appearance suggests, he is mercilessly conniving and intelligent, presenting bits of precious truth to entice his enemies to play along. However, such showmanship and promises of clarity primarily serve as a means for him to corrupt his victims with a deluge of poisonous ideas, slowly twisting their goals to his own ends. He relishes in making a spectacle of his enemies through his performances, battering them with bombastic lies interwoven with undeniable truths. Should opportunities to drive his hapless targets even further off the precipice of morality present themselves, Shadow Milk Cookie does not even hesitate to pursue them, even at the ultimate cost of his grand plans.
As the antagonistic counterpart to Pure Vanilla Cookie and the original owner of his Soul Jam, Shadow Milk Cookie embodies deception and chaos rather than truth and healing. He sees Pure Vanilla Cookie as both an unlawful thief of his power and a naive would-be savior doomed to also fall into despair, and thus torments him with truths and untruths alike. Similarly, he is more than eager to inflict anguish upon 
Elder Faerie Cookie and 
White Lily Cookie, two Cookies who also stand against his return to power.
Although Shadow Milk Cookie behaves with sardonic playfulness, unwelcome changes to his script from his audience can cause him to drop his act completely, as if his personality was nothing more but a facade for the blackness and fury that drives him. Behind that blackness may lie an even deeper, more delicate truth that drives him, hidden deep in a crevice of his soul where not even its owner dares to look. Ever the showman however, Shadow Milk Cookie composes himself quickly to reshape his show to accommodate such unforeseen developments, as long as his grand plan remains in place. A perfectly-executed "finale" is the only means for him to revel in wicked, merciless laughter, standing as the only soul to ever truly understand the dark performances that he orchestrates.
Age Notes
Shadow Milk Cookie is confirmed to be adult-aged. The following evidence confirms or otherwise supports this fact.
- Shadow Milk Cookie's quote, "Shh! The adults are talking!" from Beacon of Truth—though said in a derisive manner—asserts that he and Pure Vanilla Cookie are adults.
- All Beast Cookies were some of the very first Cookies created and exist now in largely the same forms as they did upon their creation. They are impervious to the effects of aging.
Character Inspiration
Jesters
Shadow Milk Cookie is primarily based on the court jester, contrasting Pure Vanilla Cookie's role as a just king; jesters are directly tied to kings, as they were designated by decree to be the official entertainers of a royal court. They had the freedom to throw insults at anyone in the court without possibility of reprisal, even the king himself, and could even be the means of sharing bad news that no other messenger would risk delivering in person. Shadow Milk Cookie's seemingly-untouchable nature can be seen as a reflection of the court jester's immunity to reprisal, while his endless mocking of others serves as a clear extension of the jester's duties. But whereas jesters were subservient to kings, Shadow Milk Cookie subverts his role by wielding a cruel amount of power over his counterpart Pure Vanilla Cookie.
The archetype of the jester and fool would be further reinvented in the plays of William Shakespeare, who often used them to be the orators of truths that other characters in the play failed to see. Later in history, traveling bands mimicking the court jester tradition would evolve into pantomime actors, who would occupy the stage and entertain crowds with comedic tales and enacted fables. The most relevant of these roles to Shadow Milk Cookie is the Harlequin, a role that took its name from Alichino, a devil named in Dante's Inferno. The Harlequin was a light-hearted, clever servant that wore a checkered costume and was capable of feats of acrobatics and magic, often undermining the master he served with his antics. Another relevant role is Harlequin's complement, the Clown: a buffoonish lower class idiot whose actions always resulted in chaos.
Eyes & Christianity
One of Shadow Milk Cookie's most common motifs is the eye, which is present in any space warped by his influence. Eyes can often symbolizes sight and recognition of one's material reality; conversely, a closed eye symbolizes blindness to reality.[1] Even prior to his fall, Shadow Milk Cookie's Soul Jam featured an eye slit, suggesting a power able to perceive the world around it, unlike its other fellow Soul Jams. However, Shadow Milk Cookie's eyes all feature a vertical slit which is a common feature of predatory ambush animals, alluding to their dangerous nature. Their colors often being dark-blue against a black background also give the impressions of unknowable beings that wait in the darkness, which are a common element of the cosmic horror genre, where terrible truths overwhelm hapless scholars who would seek them out. Shadow Milk Cookie's corruption drastically multiplies the eyes on his design and his surroundings, suggesting not a single entity but multiple ones, much like how multiple lies can each pretend to be the actual truth.
Relating to Christian theology, the closest relevant example of the eye is the Eye of Providence, the all-seeing eye of God that sees and knows all things. Providence itself, however, is signified by the triangle that surrounds the eye; without it, the eye alone can only symbolize knowledge without divinity. This idea is especially represented in the Eye that appears behind Shadow Milk Cookie as he gains star promotions; the Eye first in only dark-blue colors, but adopts elements and colors symbolizing light and purity, such as a stylized rays of light colored tarnished gold. Thus does the eye represent the idea of a false Providence pretending to be the true one, which exemplifies Shadow Milk Cookie taking on the role of Lucifer—the Devil himself, a deceitful demagogue, to contrast Pure Vanilla Cookie's role as a savior figure.
The Middle Ages
According to Cookie Run: Kingdom developers, Shadow Milk Cookie derives many of his themes from Western medieval art[2]—such as illuminated manuscripts—tying into his similarities with Pure Vanilla Cookie as a representation of medieval monarchies. Such art was most often seen used to depict either Christian religious narratives or fictional recountations, again connecting Shadow Milk Cookie to the themes of religion and storytelling in his rivalry with his Ancient counterpart. One of these recurring elements is the serpent, a creature often tied to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and seen as an aspect of the Devil himself, who promised godhood to those who would follow it but instead only caused them to be thrown out of paradise. Another such element is the wolf dressed as a sheep, referencing cautionary fables such as Aesop's The Boy Who Cried Wolf and the biblical wolf in sheep's clothing. Aside from directly correlating to Shadow Milk Cookie's theme of Deceit, the wolf directly makes light of Pure Vanilla Cookie's role as a shepherd, both literally and figuratively.
Milk
In the Cookie Run franchise, milk is often used to represent 
purity or 
innocence; similarly, Shadow Milk Cookie's original role as the Fount of Knowledge can be seen as not only a "pure"-colored ingredient to represent purity of soul, but a source of sustenance for the growing Cookie populations of Earthbread. Subverted, milk can be seen as an opaque substance, obfuscating of what would otherwise be clear as water. Milk is also often associated with being a compliment to consuming cookies, a liquid where cookies are often immersed in to make them easier to consume. Much like how milk can render a cookie soggy beyond saving, Shadow Milk Cookie seeks to drown his victims in deception until they too reflect his twisted world, unable to see or perceive anything else.
Other Motifs
Other common motifs include the milk crown, which combines many of Shadow Milk Cookie's inspirations on top of referencing the Blueberry Yogurt Academy. Not only does it resemble a crown resembling a splash of milk, but it also mimics a jester's cap with bells on its ends, suggesting that Shadow Milk Cookie is constantly inauthentically declaring himself to be a king. Yet another one is the symbol of keys and keyholes, which are only present in Shadow Milk Cookie's pre-corruption appearance and the Spire of All Knowledge as it was originally known. While keys can be seen as a means of unlocking knowledge kept hidden away, they can also be seen as an object of privilege that guards the locked path to Knowledge, either to protect the Truth from those who would misuse it or from keeping the lies of the world from escaping.
Trivia
- According to his loading screen trivia, "One droplet of Truth into the shimmering ocean of Deceit, completes the crown of chaos and lies... A crown worn by the Master of Deceit, Shadow Milk Cookie!"
- Shadow Milk Cookie shares many visual similarities with the Blueberry Yogurt Academy, especially through his blue eye motif.
- Shadow Milk Cookie was the first Beast Cookie to be given a Costume, that being Sage of Truth.
- Like Pure Vanilla Cookie, Shadow Milk Cookie has heterochromia iridis, in which his two eyes do not share a color.
- Shadow Milk Cookie is the first Beast Cookie to have two playable underling Cookies—in his case, Candy Apple Cookie and Black Sapphire Cookie. Both Cloud Haetae Cookie and Nutmeg Tiger Cookie are the only playable followers of Mystic Flour Cookie and Burning Spice Cookie respectively, while Peach Blossom Cookie and Smoked Cheese Cookie, who were released in the respective mid-updates, are not affiliated with the Beasts.
- The Recruit Adventurers subpage of the 3rd Anniversary of Cookie Run: Kingdom website, being published on January 5th, 2024 at around 2:00 pm GMT +9, accidentally included far more information on Beast-Yeast and the Faerie Kingdom than was intended. Here, Shadow Milk Cookie, alongside Silverbell Cookie, Mercurial Knight Cookie, Elder Faerie Cookie, and the other Beast Cookies, was revealed. This content was swiftly removed and reinstated on the site's main page about 4 days later with slight changes.
- Shadow Milk Cookie's Thai voice actor, Aphichit Likitlimpreecha, also provides the voices of Clover Cookie.
References
- ↑ FINGESTEN, PETER. "Sight and Insight: A Contribution Toward An Iconography of the Eye." Criticism, vol. 1, no. 1, 1959, pp. 19–31. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/23091098.
- ↑ CookieRun: Kingdom 4th Anniversary Update🤡 Developers' Commentary 💬: "The Beast Cookies themselves are like the first Cookies to be made and as [such] we've incorporated many mythological motifs. In the case of Shadow Milk Cookie, [he's] inspired from the Western medieval period, when there were numerous witch hunts, using images from medieval illustrations."
