Lasombra is the villain of Hey Arnold!: The Jungle Movie.
Personality
Lasombra was a ruthless treasure seeker fueled by greed, who stopped at nothing to get what he wanted. While the entire river pirate crew had no problem threatening a group of 10-year-olds with machetes, Lasombra himself was a step above the others, as he had no problem letting his own men be killed, was willing to let grade-school children die, even laughing at it. He openly enjoys being evil, even calling himself a villain.
Lasombra was quite intelligent, manipulative, and a quick thinker. He quickly gained Arnold's trust by convincingly posing as Eduardo, played off the real Eduardo's attempt to rescue the class as an attack by river pirates, and made the rest of the class turn on Arnold. He even predicted from the very beginning that Arnold would escape his lair, so he planted a tracker on the amulet he gave the boy. Lasombra also proved to be extremely resilient on his goals, even fighting off the effects of a deadly poison dart.
He's easily the most evil character in Hey Arnold! Lasombra's behavior could also classify him as a sociopath. Despite this, he also had a sense of humor.
Appearance
Lasombra was a Central American man with dark brownish-grey hair, and with facial features and body proportions very similar to Eduardo's, allowing him to impersonate him easily. However, he seems to be several years older than Eduardo, as his face shows signs of age, and he has a bald spot.
During his theft of the Corazón over a decade ago, and in a picture on a newspaper in Arnold's room, Lasombra wore a black cloak over his upper body, and covered his face with a red cloth and a yellow skull mask. Lasombra most likely used this outfit during his thefts to avoid his face being recognized. It's also quite likely that the name "Lasombra" is derived from his appearance in this disguise. ("Lasombra" comes from "La Sombra", which is Spanish for "The Shadow".)
His regular attire is an aquamarine guayabera, pointed boots, dark blue pants, a white hat, and a machete on his back.
Biography
Lasombra was a river pirate, poacher and treasure hunter in the jungles of San Lorenzo. As seen in the episode "The Journal", he stole a sacred relic from the Green-Eyed People called the Corazón. However, Miles and Stella recovered it to pay back the Green-Eyes for previously saving their lives. He vowed to get the Corazón back if it was the last thing he ever did.
In The Jungle Movie, Lasombra sets up a fake contest for a trip to San Lorenzo and kidnaps Eduardo to later impersonate him with a fake mustache, all as a ruse to lure Arnold into his hideout in the jungle. When Arnold escapes captivity, Lasombra follows him into the Green-Eyed People's city and attempts to take the Corazón for himself, only to be foiled by the treasure's poison dart and fall to his death.
Trivia
- Lasombra's voice actor in "The Journal" and the test animation for The Jungle Movie was never credited, causing some confusion as to who voiced him. A number of sources over the years claimed that Brian Doyle-Murray voiced him; however, this is extremely unlikely, considering that he sounds completely different and only has one line. A more likely presumption on who voiced Lasombra is Carlos Alazraqui, who also voiced Eduardo, due to some recognizable inflections.
- Lasombra received a redesign for the rebooted version of The Jungle Movie. In the original film's concept art, Lasombra was an old man with white hair. For the produced film, he was redesigned to look slightly younger (his hair is a dark brown/gray instead of white), to resemble Eduardo more closely so he could convincingly pass off as him, and to somewhat resemble his voice actor, Alfred Molina. Both designs of Lasombra wore the same outfit, with only very minor differences.
- In a leaked storyboard sequence from the original Jungle Movie, Lasombra was portrayed to be a character fluctuating between an approachable, yet volatile personality. He is seen trying to convince Arnold, unsuccessfully, to reveal the location of the Corazón. However, after saying he knows nothing of its whereabouts, Lasombra locks Arnold in a store cupboard and threatens to harm his friends.