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Information in this article may not be canonical to the storyline of the games or any other Sonic continuity. |
- For the version of this object before the Super Genesis Wave, see Chaos Emerald (Pre-Super Genesis Wave). For other appearances of the object, see Chaos Emerald (disambiguation).
The Chaos Emeralds are objects that appear in the Sonic the Hedgehog comic series and its spin-offs published by Archie Comics. They are mysterious magical gemstone of nearly infinite power that come in seven distinct colored varieties: peridot (green), aquamarine (cyan), sapphire (blue), ruby (red), amethyst (purple), topaz (yellow) and diamond (grey). Due to their properties, the Chaos Emeralds have often been the center of conflict across space and time in several different realities.
Description[]
Powers and traits[]
Each emerald contains supposedly unlimited quantities of pure Chaos energy, a highly powerful form of energy able to warp space and time when properly utilized. Alone, an Emerald is able to act as an extremely effective energy resource for machines, empower an individual with magical powers, enhance innate talents, and cause supernatural phenomenon. When all seven Emeralds are gathered, they have unlimited energy potential and can imbue whoever wields them with a powerful, nigh-invulnerable state.
History[]
Past[]
The origin of the Chaos Emeralds remains unknown, though there have been numerous legends over the millennia that confirmed that ancient civilizations had made use of the Emeralds for their prosperity. Said legends would be centered around many islands on Sonic's World,[1][2] like South Island[3] and Westside Island.[4] It also appeared that said civilizations knew how to harness the Chaos Emeralds' incredible power for their purposes;[5][6][7] notably, thousands of years ago, an ancient culture would use the Emeralds to create Emerl, who ended up wiping out the entire civilization.[8]
Over four thousand years ago, a civilization of echidnas, known as the Knuckles Clan, planned to invade the shrine of the Master Emerald to get the Chaos Emeralds for their own selfish purposes. After ignoring Tikal's opposition to this plan, the clan began a rampage at the shrine, hurting the local Chao along the way. This enraged the shrine's guardian, Chaos, who used the seven Emeralds to turn into Perfect Chaos and wipe out almost the entirety of the Knuckles Clan in an instant.[2]
Around fifty years ago, the Chaos Emeralds were used once again by renowned scientist Gerald Robotnik, who used one to analyze Emerl.[8] At one point, he contacted the leader of the Black Arms, Black Doom, for help in developing the "Ultimate Lifeform". The two then made a deal: while Black Doom would give part of his DNA to help in Gerald's project, the professor in turn promised Black Doom that his future creation, which ended up being Shadow the Hedgehog, would give him the Chaos Emeralds when the Black Arms made their next invasion to Sonic's World. However, after learning of Black Doom's true intentions, Gerald built the Eclipse Cannon, a weapon of mass destruction that would harness the power of the seven Chaos Emeralds to destroy the Black Arms' comet.[9] Despite this though, following the Guardian Units of the Nation's raid of the ARK, Gerald re-programmed the cannon so that it could activate a doomsday program should the seven Chaos Emeralds be inserted into it.[10]
At some point, Tails stopped an attempt from the evil Battle Bird Armada to collect the Chaos Emeralds and conquer the planet with them.[1]
The Chaos Emeralds have become objects of interest to Dr. Ivo Robotnik, who sought to collect them in order to harness their massive power and conquer the world. To carry out this plan, however, he had to take control of the Kingdom of Acorn's natural resources, which he did after taking over the kingdom and gaining total control of its territories. After this, Robotnik, now giving himself the name "Eggman" began to look for the Chaos Emeralds in the islands across the Acorn Archipelago, but apparently had no success. Later on, Sonic the Hedgehog would wreck his plans by ending his rule of the Kingdom of Acorn and finding the Chaos Emeralds (twice) by going to the Special Zone.[3][4] Following these events, however, Sonic lost the Chaos Emeralds on his first adventure to Angel Island, where he was ambushed by Knuckles, who took the Emeralds from him. Despite this, Sonic and Tails would retrieve the Emeralds again; Sonic would also use them to turn into Super Sonic and defeat Eggman.[11][12] Some time after this, Sonic and Tails would get the Chaos Emeralds again on two different occasions.[13][14]
The Chaos Emeralds have been at the center of many incidents in the near future. Notably, Eggman would seek the Emeralds to power up Chaos to destroy Station Square and build Eggman Land on its ruins. However, when Chaos betrayed him at the last moment, it used the Chaos Emeralds to transform into Perfect Chaos and flood all of Station Square. Realizing that Chaos had only used the Emeralds' negative power, Sonic used their positive energy to turn into Super Sonic and stop Chaos.[2] Shortly after, the Chaos Emeralds became involved once again in an incident in which Eggman attempted to use his grandfather's creation for his own purposes,[10] as well as in various threats later on,[15] such as when Sonic met Cream for the first time,[16] when Eggman tried to tamper with Emerl's power,[8] and during the first Genesis Wave;[17] among others. Later on, they were also used by Teams Sonic, Rose, Dark, and Chaotix to stop Neo Metal Sonic;[18] by Shadow to defeat Black Doom during the Black Arms' invasion of the planet;[9] and in an aborted timeline.[19]
More recently, the Chaos Emeralds were used by Sonic at the climax of a possible event of an incident involving the Wisps.[20] Shortly after that, he and a past version of himself would gather the Emeralds to turn into Super Sonic and defeat the Time Eater.[21][22] Following this, the blue Emerald was inexplicably transported to the Lanfront Ruins on Mega Man's World.[23]
Worlds Collide[]
The blue Chaos Emerald was discovered by Dr. Wily. Upon trying to analyze it, the Emerald brought him into contact with Dr. Eggman. As the two joined forces, Wily created the Skull Egg Zone with the blue Chaos Emerald for them to meet in.[24] There, Eggman and Wily devised their ultimate agenda: to collect all seven Chaos Emeralds to power up a "Super Genesis Wave" that would have the potential to let them rewrite both universes without any limitations, allowing the doctors to become- in their own minds at least- gods.[25]
Using the blue Chaos Emerald, Drs. Eggman and Wily reshaped their words with another Genesis Wave which scattered the other Emeralds across both worlds. Through the efforts of their Roboticized Masters, Eggman and Wily obtained the remaining gemstones, despite interference from Sonic, Mega Man and their allies.[24][26][27][28]
The seven Chaos Emeralds in the Genesis Chamber.
The seven Emeralds were subsequently plugged into the Genesis Reactor to power up the Super Genesis Wave, eventually finishing as the doctors had caught Sonic and Mega Man.[25][29][30][31] As the doctors gloated over their impending victory, however, Knuckles and Proto Man arrived to threaten their plans, forcing them to draw energy from the Emeralds to super charge their Egg-Wily Machine X. Then, as the Super Genesis Wave was unleashed, Sonic and Mega Man harnessed the Chaos Emeralds to transform into Super Sonic and Super Armor Mega Man and defeat the doctors' machine. Unaffected by the wave, the two heroes tried to employ Chaos Control in an effort to restore their worlds. Mega Man succeeded without interference, but Sonic's efforts were disrupted due to an attack by Dr. Eggman.[32]
Shattered World Crisis and Worlds Unite[]
- Note: From the readers point of view, this picks up from where the Chaos Emeralds' original timeline ended.
Tails retrieving the purple Chaos Emerald, from Sonic the Hedgehog #261.
When the Shattered World Crisis occurred, both Eggman and the Freedom Fighters learned from the Gaia Manuscripts that the seven Chaos Emeralds could reassemble their shattered planet if they were brought to the Gaia Temples.[33] As such, both the Freedom Fighters and the Egg Army began scouring the planet for them, with both Sally Acorn and Eggman hiring the Chaotix and Hooligans, respectively, to aid them.[34] The Freedom Fighters soon located the purple Emerald in Crystal Cave under guard by the Badnik Horde, but were able to retrieve it while ensuring that the cavern would not be damaged.[35][36][37] The red Emerald was found by Chip, who was briefly kidnapped by the Hooligans along with the Emerald, but both were rescued by Knuckles the Echidna and the Chaotix and brought to Angel Island for safekeeping.[38][38][39][40] The Hooligans were subsequently ordered to take part in the Chaos Emerald Championship in Casino Park in order to obtain the green Emerald which Breezie the Hedgehog's crew had found while overseeing some repairs.[40][41] Meanwhile, Egg Boss Thunderbolt obtained the white Emerald and was instructed by Eggman to use it as bait for the Freedom Fighters.[42]
Sonic, Amy, Sally, Mighty, and Ray find the grey Chaos Emerald, from Sonic the Hedgehog #264.
The Freedom Fighters soon took the bait and fell into Thunderbolt's trap, but were able to recover the grey Emerald regardless thanks to Sonic's unexpected transformation into the Sonic the Werehog.[43][44] Unfortunately, a second trap involving the blue Chaos Emerald saw the Emerald being secured by Eggman's forces, with the Freedom Fighters barely escaping when they tried to steal it. They soon learned that the green Emerald had been put up as a prize for the Chaos Emerald Championship.[45][46] Meanwhile, Dr. Eggman, having learned of the sheer power of Dark Gaia released by the planet's shattering, determined to secure the Chaos Emeralds and Gaia Temples to prevent the planet's restoration so he could collect Dark Gaia's power.[45] The yellow Emerald was then discovered on Isolated Island, its power making the local Lake of Rings produce Red Star Rings, and became contested between a small squad of the Freedom Fighters and a force of Badniks under Phage, though the heroes managed to secure it.[47][48] The final Chaos Emerald, the cyan one, was found by G.U.N. forces at Crystal Desert Zone, only for Metal Sonic to snag it from the dig site.[49] Luckily, the Freedom Fighters arrived and Sonic managed to take the Emerald back with some help from Silver the Hedgehog after chasing the robot into the Burning Ruin Zone.[50]
The Freedom Fighters and Eggman later pooled all seven Emeralds during the conflict with Sigma, where they were used by Super Sonic and Super Armor Mega Man to defeat the maverick overlord. However, Xander Payne later reversed these events using one of the Genesis Portals, leaving the Chaos Emeralds divided between Eggman and his foes once again.[51][52][53]
As a result of these alterations to time, the blue Emerald previously secured by Eggman went off course on its way to the Death Egg.[54] It later ended up under the protection of Cassia the Pronghorn and her sister Clove the Pronghorn, which led to an engagement between them and several of the Freedom Fighters, with the Freedom Fighters getting away with the Emerald.[55][56][57]
Cream and Big presenting the Chaos Emeralds and Gaia Keys to the King, from Sonic the Hedgehog #283.
Having collected all the Emeralds at this point, the Freedom Fighters believed that they could finally fix the world. They hid the Emeralds and the Gaia Keys in Castle Acorn's vault, under the protection of King Nigel Acorn and Gemerl.[58] However, Eggman had found out the Freedom Fighters' plan to fix the world and the locale of the Chaos Emeralds and Gaia Keys. Due to this Eggman sent the Hooligans, the Witchcarters and Metal Sonic to attack Castle Acorn and steal the Emeralds for himself.[59] After forcing Gregorios to reveal the location of the Gaia Gate, Eggman had his Egg SWATs place them in each Gaia Temple to form the Gaia Colossus. He brought the Gaia Colossus to Eggman Land, trapping Chip inside it.[60] Eggman was soon defeated by Sonic once again and the hedgehog used the Chaos Emeralds to become Super Sonic and defeat Perfect Dark Gaia.[61][62]
Post-Shattered World Crisis[]
After the Shattered World Crisis was over, Sonic would visit the Special Zone in a possible event of an incident on Lost Hex, where he collected the Chaos Emeralds.[63]
Trivia[]
- "Emerald" is the name of a specific gem of the beryl variety, a family known for its wide array of possibly colors. "Emerald" is also used in Japan as a generic term for jewels.
- "Chaos" in the English language means disorder and an irregular, unpredictable action that was remarkably sensitive to regular changes in environment, similar to how the Chaos Emeralds in the series act. "Chaos" as used in Greek refers to a large emptiness, or space. "Space" in English came to be a general term meaning both everything outside of the Earth’s atmosphere and the placement of objects in relation to one another.
- The colors of the Chaos Emeralds were chosen based on the three primary colors of light (red, blue, and green), the three secondary colors which are mixtures of the primary colors (red + blue = purple, blue + green = cyan, and green + red = yellow), and finally gray, which is a mixture of all three primary colors (red + blue + green = gray).
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Tails Adventure
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Sonic Adventure
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Sonic the Hedgehog (16-bit)
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (16-bit)
- ↑ Sonic Riders
- ↑ Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity
- ↑ Sonic Free Riders
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Sonic Battle
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Shadow the Hedgehog
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Sonic Adventure 2
- ↑ Sonic the Hedgehog 3
- ↑ Sonic & Knuckles
- ↑ Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode I
- ↑ Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode II
- ↑ Sonic Advance
- ↑ Sonic Advance 2
- ↑ Sonic Advance 3
- ↑ Sonic Heroes
- ↑ Sonic the Hedgehog (2006)
- ↑ Sonic Colors (Nintendo DS)
- ↑ Sonic Generations (console/PC)
- ↑ Sonic Generations (Nintendo 3DS)
- ↑ Sonic Boom #8, "Worlds Unite Part Two: Broken Heroes"
- ↑ 24.0 24.1 Mega Man #24, "When Worlds Collide Part One: Kindred Sprits"
- ↑ 25.0 25.1 Sonic Universe #54, "When Worlds Collide Part Eleven: Worst of the Worst"
- ↑ Sonic the Hedgehog #248, "When Worlds Collide Part Three: No Holds Barred"
- ↑ Mega Man #25, "When Worlds Collide Part Four: Through the Looking Glass"
- ↑ Sonic Universe #52, "When Worlds Collide Part Five: The Advance Guard"
- ↑ Sonic Universe #53, "When Worlds Collide Part Eight: Liberation"
- ↑ Sonic the Hedgehog #250, "When Worlds Collide Part Nine: All-Out War!"
- ↑ Mega Man #27, "When Worlds Collide Part Ten: No Holds Barred"
- ↑ Sonic the Hedgehog #251, "When Worlds Collide Finale: Best of the Best"
- ↑ Sonic the Hedgehog #259, "The Chase Part Two"
- ↑ Sonic Universe #63, "The Great Chaos Caper Part One: On The Hunt"
- ↑ Sonic the Hedgehog #260, "The Light in the Dark Part One"
- ↑ Sonic the Hedgehog #261, "The Light in the Dark Part Two"
- ↑ Sonic the Hedgehog #262, "The Light in the Dark Part Three"
- ↑ 38.0 38.1 Sonic Universe #64, "The Great Chaos Caper Part Two: The Usual Suspects"
- ↑ Sonic Universe #65, "The Great Chaos Caper Part Three: Chip Off The Ol' Emerald!"
- ↑ 40.0 40.1 Sonic Universe #66, "The Great Chaos Caper Finale: Water Way ToGo!"
- ↑ Sonic the Hedgehog #271, "Champions Finale: The One Left Standing"
- ↑ Sonic the Hedgehog #263, "Consequences"
- ↑ Sonic the Hedgehog #264, "Control Part One: Breaking Point"
- ↑ Sonic the Hedgehog #265, "Control Part Two: Unleashed"
- ↑ 45.0 45.1 Sonic the Hedgehog #266, "Ambushed! Part One"
- ↑ Sonic the Hedgehog #267, "Ambushed! Part Two"
- ↑ Sonic Universe #73, "Spark of Life Part Three"
- ↑ Sonic Universe #74, "Spark of Life Part Four"
- ↑ Sonic the Hedgehog #272, "A Ray of Hope"
- ↑ Sonic Universe #75, "Fury"
- ↑ Mega Man #51, "Worlds Unite! Part Eight: Holes in Reality"
- ↑ Sonic the Hedgehog #275, "Worlds Unite Part Eleven: Killing the Giant"
- ↑ Mega Man #52, "Worlds Unite Part Twelve: Last Rights"
- ↑ Sonic the Hedgehog #276, "Back in Business"
- ↑ Sonic the Hedgehog #277, "Hidden Costs Part One"
- ↑ Sonic the Hedgehog #278, "Hidden Costs Part Two"
- ↑ Sonic the Hedgehog #279, "Hidden Costs Part Three"
- ↑ Sonic the Hedgehog #283, "The Mission"
- ↑ Sonic the Hedgehog #284, "Panic in the Sky Part One: The Best Laid Plans"
- ↑ Sonic the Hedgehog #285, "Panic in the Sky Part Two: Falling Into Place"
- ↑ Sonic the Hedgehog #286, "Panic in the Sky Part Three: Colossal Crash"
- ↑ Sonic the Hedgehog #287, "Panic In The Sky Part Four: As Was Foretold"
- ↑ Sonic Lost World (Nintendo 3DS)
