#duke of soleanna

[12neonlit-stage]

Elise never cry

[yaminomefiresu]

[catgirlweed]

idk

[sonic-the-hedgehog-2006]

Chaos Emeralds are important holy items in the Soleannan religion.

Princess Elise wears the blue Chaos Emerald around her neck as a lucky charm.

The Duke of Soleanna is in possession of a Chaos Emerald during the Solaris Project, and a Chaos Emerald must be used in tandem with the Scepter of Darkness or a "royal soul" to seal away Mephiles or Iblis respectively.

A Chaos Emerald is "supposed" to be within the ancient ruins of Dusty Desert.

It is known that for Mephiles and Iblis to reform, a Chaos Emerald is required.

And lastly, Princess Elise has an apparent connection to the Chaos Emeralds, with Silver explaining that this connection is due to her having been the vessel used to seal away Iblis.

The Chaos Emeralds are central to several wholly distinct religions in the Sonic Universe, including but not limited to several Echidna clans, an unnamed ancient civilization on West Side Island (which had allegedly gone to war over the emeralds, causing "the gods" to intervene and disperse them), the Babylonians, the Black Arms, and followers of the Gaia Manuscripts.

As Sonic Frontiers demonstrated, the Chaos Emeralds are not of Earth, and were rather drawn to the planet ages ago due to the pull of the Master Emerald. The Chaos Emeralds are shown to appear wherever needed (and Blaze directly theorizes such in the Rush series) which could explain how so many distinct groups came to claim them as their own holy items.

[heartofsol]

Elise & the Duke

Elise's relationship with her father isn't discussed very much. I think it's actually one of the most interesting aspects about 06.

In a flashback, he's shown telling a young Elise "Don't cry" and "Become a strong queen who doesn't cry no matter what happens" in response to her grieving over her mother's death, which is...not great. A child should be allowed to grieve over their deceased parent. Although the Duke means well and says this because he genuinely believes strong leaders never cry (which is far from the truth), that doesn't make what he's doing okay. It doesn't matter that he's saying it in a soft and gentle tone, either. To a child, it's likely gonna seem like a dismissal of their feelings (which it is). This also shows that he was telling Elise to never cry before he used her as a vessel to seal Iblis.

Another thing I find interesting is that Elise says "I understand everything my parents said to me now." It could imply that Elise's mother held the same sentiment as the Duke, but we don't know for sure.

Now, onto the Solaris Project. Some time before the project began, the Duke told Elise that Solaris' power would allow them to travel through time and rectify past mistakes. The main reason the Duke began the project was so Elise could see her late mother again. Once again, good intentions, but the Duke experimenting with supernatural forces beyond his understanding cost him his life and hurt many people, perhaps his daughter most of all.

So long story short, the project goes wrong and the Duke is fatally wounded in an explosion but shortly before his death, he sealed the Flames of Disaster in Elise and pretty much left her clean up his mess. She was cursed to never shed a single tear, had to rule an entire kingdom at a young age, is relentlessly pursued and kidnapped by a madman who wants to harness her power, and when she makes a single friend, he gets murdered right before her eyes by the creature that her father experimented on all those years ago. Elise is suffering the consequences for her father's actions.

And how does Elise feel about her father after all this? She still loves him deeply. She doesn't express any anger towards him or angst about the way he treated her, or that he inadvertently caused her suffering, even though she has every right to do so. You get the sense that she doesn't even realize her father's "love" was actually quite abusive, which is just really tragic. She's been conditioned to accept this as her role in life and you can see it in her behavior. At the start of the game, Elise lacks confidence, is unsure of what she can do in her situation, and even blames herself for the things that are happening. Her attitude gradually changes when she meets Sonic, who encourages her to be more proactive and truly enjoy life instead of being restricted by her role as a princess.

Yet people get on Elise's case for breaking down once at the tail end of the game over the fact that she'd lose the memories of her only friend and would be separated from him?

Elise doesn't mean what she said in this moment, and blows out Solaris' flame to save the world seconds later. She had to bottle up her emotions for a decade and now has to say goodbye to the person whom she grew to love over the course of their adventure. Her reaction here is more than justified.

Elise is such a good character 🤍

[bobauthorman]

I think Sonic The Hedgehog (2006) should count as the third Sonic Adventure

I know STH 2K6 suffered from technical problems due to a rushed development, but think about how it fits thematically with the two Sonic Adventure games...

The games following the original SA introduce another super Hedgehog that acts as an enemy to Sonic before becoming their ally near the end

Each of the games features a maiden who acts as the center of the plot (With some significant divergence in their involvement, natch)

We have horrific monsters to fight at the end

and those monsters were set into motion by those who craved to control the power for their own use (The image in the middle represents G.U.N as a whole)

And in the endgame, the transformation to Super, which involves successively more Hedgehogs.

So, yeah, Imma say 2006 is the unofficial SA3. And with the 20th anniversary of the 2006 game two years away, Sega has the optimal opportunity to produced an upgraded redo, with all of the bugs ironed out and maybe added stages and cutscenes to make the story a bit more clear. I'm not saying they should change 2006's story (As a guy who grew up on Who Framed Roger Rabbit, I have no issues with the Sonic-Elise subplot), but it could stand some expanding on.

Thoughts?

(Please table any hate at the door. Constructive criticism, I will accept. But not hate.)

[fyeahsonicthehedgehog]

[couriwaytown]

judging by its super hidden placement in the actual game, the fact that the Duke's design is different to the one in the released game, how he looks more like the concept art for 06 (and Elise's design is slightly different too! her hair is different) PLUS the clear similarities in style between this and Elise's portrait they use to show Elise's role in Soleanna's government i'm willing to bet a LOT that this is from one of the previous versions of the story from 06.

since we know that sth2006's story got changed a LOT through its creation and the game went through the deepest pits of developmental hell, and they were changing things in the story until the upteenth hour, i think it's pretty safe to say this is most likely an asset that was created for a different story and they just decided to reutilize it. since we never get to explore the castle/Elise's balcony in the game there was no chance of regular players encountering this one item and in the one cutscene it DOES show up we only see Elise's side. not only is it super tiny but it also doesn't show the entire painting so unless you were looking for it, digging in the files, you most likely wouldn't find it

this is SO interesting!!! i take from this that in a previous version, the Duke was alive with Elise and they must've ruled Soleanna together .... oohhhh this is such an awesome find omg

[sonicvillaindeathmatch]

[Masterpost]

[legitimatesatanspawn]

I love having friends who let me ramble.  I let them ramble too of course, but my rambles gets a bit... out there thanks to canon lore and how many things wind up being pulled in.

Friend: “Who is Mephiles the Dark?”

Me: “Are you ready for a summary of the plot of Sonic 2006, a quick reference to Sonic Rush for one character and the implications of non-Sonic CD Time Travel as applied to previous games, a nod to Dragon Ball Z’s Future Trunks with another, and then if you have time an explanation about who Shadow is and why copying his appearance just made things even more weird thanks to his game’s retcon?"

Me: “Good news: I’m completely skipping over Sonic Forces and most of Sonic Adventure 2, as well as whatever went on with the Ancient Echidna’s Gizoids thanks to Sonic Adventure 1, Sonic Battle, and Sonic Chronicles... and Sonic Advance but that’s a copy of the OG Gizoid with salvaged data installed.  And apparently Sonic Frontier.  I’m also not counting the one Chaos Energy bit from Sonic Unleashed since you do not need a full account of CHAOS 0 and why Dark Gaia’s monsters and the Werehog thing all pull from aquatic life and weird stretchy limbs.”

Friend: “Include pictures of who these characters are but sure.”

[numbugwritingblog]

Arceus vs Solaris: a Battle of the Deities of Light (narration)

Pre-narration note: this is a companion piece to a discussion over on my lore blog, which you can read here.

---

… What?

This woman was standing alone in confusion. With long, curly platinum blonde hair, and an all black outfit comprised of a v-neck dress shirt and pants with a coat and scarf overneath and high heels at the bottom, she held a red and white ball in her left hand. One thing was very clear to Cynthia, she’s not in the Pokemon battle she thought she was going to be.

When she took in her surroundings she was even more confused. She was at a stone platform, broken marble pillars standing at both sides, resting on top of a mountain’s soil. She knew this place, it was Spear Pillar, resting on top of Mt. Coronet. But the surrounding sky didn’t suggest that, instead looking like a void, all sorts of colours mixing in and out without breaking through the endless purple that covered all of it.

And then she saw that she wasn’t alone. There were two people, one looked like some sort of child wearing old fashioned clothing - styled after the Hisui era, was the woman’s first guess - laying on the ground unconscious.

The other was an elderly man - white hair that connected to an equally white goatee and beard, wearing what looked a mix between a royal white robe with a suit, orange neckline and shoulder pads resting atop an electronic device attached to the front, with big, brown boots. He was on his knees, looking forlorn to the sun.

Wait, no… That’s not the sun.

“It’s too late…”

Something bad was happening, that’s for sure, and so she approached the old man and kneeled in front of him. “What’s going on?” Getting some answers was the most important thing to start off with.

The man looked over in surprise to Cynthia, before slowly looking back to the sky. “Solaris refused to listen to me. And now it is going to bring all to an end. This is my fault…”

“Solaris?” Cynthia matched his gaze to the sky, squinting until she could make out what looked like… An eagle? No, it can’t be that…

Then she heard something behind herself, looking back to see that the child had awoken. They took one look at what was going on and their eyes widened, before looking over to the surrounding region. Staring at Spear Pillar…

Then, without saying a word, they brought out their flute and put it to their lips, playing an ethereal tune.

[azure flute theme]

Cynthia didn’t see anything at first, until the child began walking forwards, their feet ascending into the air as if they were walking on air.

Then she blinked, and the stairway of glowing light was illuminated. Stunned at first, she quickly rushed after the child, matching their pace up the stairs.

She knew what she saw at the top, though she could not believe that it was real. A being of golden, shining light, standing on four legs in the vague resemblance of a deer, an X-shaped cross through its body - wait, no, it stopped at a ring placed right around its waist.

It was Arceus. A shiny Arceus.

[Team Arceus theme | Team Solaris theme]

THOU DARE HARM MY CREATION

She did not hear a voice speak out, and yet she knew exactly what words were said. She also knew that they weren’t directed at her. She looked back up to the sky.

THOU THREATEN TO TEAR IT ALL ASUNDER

Arceus then began flying right in front of Cynthia’s eyes - no, it would be more accurate to say it simply willed itself up, like the very concepts of gravity, weight, even space itself held no meaning.

THEN THOU SHALT FACE MY JUDGEMENT

Arceus used Judgement!

The X-shaped cross turned a light purple as a hail of beams from the sky rained down upon Solaris, completely consuming it in the purple light.

Only for it to fade, leaving Solaris’s unnerving white glow behind.

“It’s no use.” The old man was delayed in getting to the top, due to his old age and poor condition - whatever had happened prior to all of this had clearly worn him down. “Solaris is truly invincible.”

“Arceus created the world…” Cynthia was quiet, but that’s all that was needed for her to be heard. “If anything has what it takes to get past that, it’s Arceus.”

Arceus’s eyes flashed, one an everlasting blue and the other an ever present pink, and like that two more Pokemonexisted where they didn’t before.

A dark blue, four legged beast with what appeared to have silver armour pieces resembling a helmet, a chest piece, and a fan-shaped tail was on one side.

A pale pink two legged beast with thin purple stripes along its body, a long tail, and an elongated neck leading into a straight frill was on the other.

Cynthia stared upon them, mouth agape. “It’s Palkia and Dialga, masters over time and space!”

Arceus backed up as the other two Pokemon fought, focusing itself as the glows in its eyes vanished, replaced by a black void in each.

Palkia used Spacial Rend!

Palkia lifted its arms up and slammed them together, before sliding one arm up and the other down - all of space in front of it distorting to mirror its movements, right over Solaris. Then it spread its arms apart, the affected space splitting in half to match.

And yet Solaris was fine, an orange orb - with an ethereal eye that stared at whoever looked upon it - opening up and firing out a purple spiky ball. Palkia evaded the attack effortlessly - but yet when it reached where Palkia used to be the being still flinched back as if it were hit, stumbling back.

“The eyes of Solaris,” the old man said. “As it exists throughout all of time… So do its eyes perceive all of it.

Dialga used Roar of Time!

Dialga roared out immediately afterwards -  to Cynthia it lasted only a moment, to the old man it lasted for an hour, and to the child it didn’t last any time at all, causality ripping apart as the roar spread out to Solaris, pushing it back.

Immediately the one orange orb became many orbs, countless orbs, firing off more purple spikes at the two Pokemon.

Palkia began dodging once more, this time distorting space itself to redirect the spikes away from where they once were.

Dialga joined in, distorting time so that the spikes just skip past Dialga without traversing the time in-between.

Then Solaris fired a laser directly at Arceus, launching the Pokemon back, so far back that it can no longer be seen.

Palkia briefly turned to Dialga, and was met with the other Pokemon turning back to it - the two briefly nodding.

Palkia used Spacial Rend!

Dialga used Roar of Time!

Palkia drew its arms in together, folding space down into one singular point ahead of the two Pokemon, while Dialga let out another roar, reaching directly into the impossibly small space, tearing all of time contained within asunder.

Still Solaris was unharmed, ready to launch more at the two of them.

Only for something to grab it from behind.

Giratina used Shadow Force!

It was a shadow from the void, no distinct features besides the glowing red, devilish eyes it possessed and four black tendrils wrapping around Solaris.

“What’s that?” the old man exclaimed in shock, eyes wide. For the first time, hope returned in his frail old body.

“Giratina,” Cynthia said softly, her eyes still locked at the battle for reality. “Even the Renegade Pokemon was summoned to help…”

Arceus used Calm Mind!

The summoner, Arceus, returned with a fierce glare. Its mind and spirit focused solely on this battle as its allies fought for it.

It fired out another Judgement, piercing even harder than it had before.

Solaris flinched from the hit, a piece of its armour breaking off, pale blue fragments floating off into the void.

Just as it looked like victory was night, a new type of orb formed alongside the orange ones.

Blue orbs, which formed right on top of Arceus, Dialga, Palkia, and Giratina.

Palkia instinctively bent space until it was no longer near the orb, watching as the remaining three were instantly crushed away into nothing - only for a barrage of purple orbs to bring down Palkia moments later.

“No!” Cynthia yelled out, reaching an arm out to the sky. Then she dropped to her knees, arm still held up high. “No…”

So that was it. This thing was going to destroy everything…

It was over…

… No. It’s not over yet. Whatever this thing was, she wasn’t going to let it have its way as long as she drew breath. Cynthia grabbed one of her Pokeballs, ready to fight.

THOU SHALT NOT DESTROY MY CREATION

She stopped in place. That was… This peaceful, golden light… Cynthia looked back up to see the source of the light. She couldn’t make out any details behind it, but she knew. This was Arceus, still. But how?

As if to answer her question, the sky suddenly became filled. More Arceus than the eye could see. More Arceus than she could count. Not even the purple void of a sky could be seen, as everywhere she looked was just more Arceus.

Each and every single one of them focused their power together.

Arceus used Judgement!

Together, an endless barrage of light, flashing and glittering in all 18 colours, rained down upon Solaris’s body, the being yelling out in pain and agony. The combined power was too much for it, as more armour broke off from it…

And then it expanded its light, destroying every single one of the Pokemon in a single flash of light, turning up to the golden light that was their source.

FACE MY JUDGEMENT

The two beings focused their raw power, the inhuman white light clashing against the life filled golden light.

Cynthia, the old man, and the child all shielded their eyes. This light… it was too much… They… can’t… even…

…

Cynthia blinked, looking around. What was-

“Hey, your Pokemon?”

That’s right, she was about to fight a trainer who had challenged her for the position of Champion. Still, something lingered in the back of her mind even as she threw out Spiritomb against her opponent, shouting commands for it to follow.

It was almost like she had forgotten something.

---

Post narration note: for those of you who didn’t realise it, the child is meant to be the Hisuian protagonist (and were left nondescript on purpose for you to apply whatever appearance you personally imagine for them), and the old man is meant to be the Duke of Soleanna, who lacks a personal name unlike his daughter Elise

[sonicroyalrumble]

Round 1, Wave 2, Match 3

Sonia Acorn (Pre-SGW Archie) vs. Duke of Soleanna (Sonic 06)

Why should Sonia win?

Royal status: Princess of the Kingdom of Acorn

No propaganda submitted

Why should the Duke win?

Royal status: As his name suggests, the Duke of Soleanna

No propaganda submitted (preliminary winner)

[adokle]

Those two.

[crusherthedoctor]

Sonic humans ranked?

(Also counting characters that are not exactly human but still human in appearance like Shara ab

There's a lot of them, so I'll only do the ones that immediately spring to mind.

Eggman: Duh. (Again.)

Helen: Should have been the central human in Sonic X.

Agent Stone: He has a degree in simpology.

Erazor: You requested that I include characters who look human, so I guess Majin Ganondorf counts.

Tom Wachowski: I think James Marsden's performance goes a long way to making him endearing.

Chuck Thorndyke: I really liked his bond with Tails.

Topaz: Ditto with her and Rouge.

Shahra: Maybe a little bland outside of her relationship with Qui-Gon Djinn, but still likable. She has a pretty design. :>

Gerald: Interesting as a character in his own right, but not so keen on how he's affected the public perception of Eggman.

Elise: They could have done a lot more with her, but she's not this awful character that everyone builds her up to be.

Nelson and Lindsey Thorndyke: One of the reasons why Chris is hard to like is because of how ungrateful he was towards his parents who, while certainly busy, did everything they could to give him the whole world.

Maria: Due to her status as a posthumous character, and one of whom the majority of time spent on her is primarily about how her death affected another character, I don't find her that interesting on her own merits (disclaimer: NOT saying "the only thing she did was die and give Shadow angst"), and while fanfics and other works have expanded on her, they've been very hit or miss with how they've decided to portray her. Like Sonic Omens. Still, she's nice enough.

Merlina: As said before, her concept was unique, but the execution was mediocre.

G.U.N. Commander: He's there.

The President: He's also there.

The Duke of Soleanna: Probably the true villain of '06 TBH. But at least he gave us "WITH THE MONEY :D".

Chris Thorndyke: Go back to Square Enix, kid.

Snively: He was already annoying, but now he's even moreso because his ghost possessed Starline.

Eggman Nega: "THERE. IS. ONLY. ONE. ROBOTNIK-NIK-NIK-NIK." *drowns in lava*

Sage: Eggman's character has been possibly forever tainted in the fandom's eyes thanks to this character, and she's not even interesting on her own beyond that. Hell, she's not even justified in being Eggman's most special creation of all time, because she fucked up and failed him more times in this one game than Metal Sonic has throughout his entire lifespan. Infinite is written off as a terrible character, but this one is a masterstroke? I fail to see what everyone else is seeing.

[rubywolf0201]

The Duke of soleanna should be called the dick of soleanna instead.

Pfft lmao XD

[aquillis-main]

Who's the worse dad

King of Acorns or Duke of Soleanna?

Answer: Both.

Both are shit dads.