I was a little disappointed when I found out that Nightshade dyes her fur that color. Do melanistic jackals (and other animals for that matter) exist in the Londoners universe? Why does she dye? Is it her gothic nature or is there a body image thing, like expectations of society? Like Anubis and Duamutef as ideals of jackals. Sort of like how I tell people I am Irish and they say I am not because I don't have red hair.

Nightshade dyed her fur for multiple reasons: the gothic element, the Ancient Egyptian allusion to Anubis, and ultimately to create a different persona than the one she grew up with. It’s largely her creating an identity.