An explanation to the Chaos Emeralds?

[DarkOverord]

Baring in mind, it's basically fanon. And also more related to Archie.

I was wondering when someone was going to bring up the other color "emeralds." Let me quote the technical workup piece on Chaos emeralds I did for Ken as he was preparing for this story. Remember, this is written for use in the Sonic comic series, so it's a blend of scientific fact (such as the different colors of beryl) with the way we've seen the Chaos emeralds used in the Sonic universe, trying to meld the two together and give it a more scientific foundation.

The Creation of Chaos Emeralds

Emeralds are crystals of the mineral beryl, a silicate of beryllium, aluminum, silicon, and oxygen. On earth conditions have to be just right to form an emerald. Thanks to the Xorda's power source in their Gene Bomb, the earth was subjected to a massive energy wave that acted the same as a seed crystal to start the transformation of earth's beryl deposits into their crystalline form. But this crystal wasn't forming a natural emerald crystal matrix pattern. Instead its matrix formed in such a way that the crystal was able to tap into the zero-point energy that is available at every point in the universe. An unlimited source of power fed by the chaotic energies of the universe. A Chaos Emerald.

The power of a Chaos emerald has been described as being infinite. But the mistake being made by those familiar with the emeralds was that the emeralds themselves contained the power. They did not. They merely acted as a resonating chamber, tapping the virtually limitless power of zero-point energy. When an emerald has power drawn from it, the crystal structure taps this energy, acting as a conductor into the physical world. But, if too much power is drawn from the emerald, the crystal matrix begins to breakdown, and the power available from the crystal drops to nothing. It appears the crystal had been "drained", but more technically correct is that it had become de-crystallized.

While Chaos emeralds are usually green, it's not the only color they can appear as. Other crystals of beryl include aquamarine (blue) , heliodore (yellow to yellow-orange), morganite (pink), goshenite (transparent or white), and bixbite (red). The color of the crystal depends upon the "contamination" element mixed with the beryl. For normal green emeralds, that element is chromium or vanadium. Red beryl (bixbite) comes from a manganese contamination. Blue beryl or aquamarine contaminant is iron, and so forth. Thus it would be possible to have Chaos "emeralds" of colors other than green, as all use beryl as the base material. It also explains why the different color crystals would have differing effects. Each contamination element would "color" the energy transmitted by the crystal.

==========================

So you see, we already had the different color emeralds accounted for. Ken just never got the chance to use this in a story. Ken and I have the same outlook in that what appears as "magic" in the Sonic universe actually has a technological/scientific foundation. We're firm believers in Arthur C. Clarke's statement, "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."

BTW, if you'd like to read more about beryl, Wikipedia has a pretty good write-up at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beryl.

For tl;dr people

Chaos Emerald = http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7KbViyfOYg

Even though I'm not a fan of Archie, this, actually makes perfect sense! And explains a lot on how the emeralds have such vast power!

Edited April 15, 2010 by DarkOverord

[Flyboy Fox]

--

We're firm believers in Arthur C. Clarke's statement, "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."

--

THIS. I've always held the belief that even the 'magic' of the chaos emeralds is eventually purely scientific if you break it down.

Where is this wall-o-text taken from, by the way? Who penned it?

[DarkOverord]

--

We're firm believers in Arthur C. Clarke's statement, "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."

--

THIS. I've always held the belief that even the 'magic' of the chaos emeralds is eventually purely scientific if you break it down.

Where is this wall-o-text taken from, by the way? Who penned it?

After a google search (Someone else posted it, I just copy pasted XD) http://www.kenpenders.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=61&p=690&hilit=Zero+point#p690

Although drawing Zero Point Energy is still pretty magic, but Scifi magic XD

[Flyboy Fox]

After a google search (Someone else posted it, I just copy pasted XD) http://www.kenpenders.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=61&p=690&hilit=Zero+point#p690

Although drawing Zero Point Energy is still pretty magic, but Scifi magic XD

Thanks for the link!

Also, I'm not saying I subscribe to that particular theory, but just that I like to believe that the emeralds aren't supernatural... just that they appear that way because of how complex the science behind them is (and the pretty light show that they give off o3o)

But heck, Tails managed to practically create one, no? Sure, it was flawed, but it DID work (to an extent) in a very similar way to a real one. So what's behind it is highly likely to be scientific if the effects can be replicated so closely by scientific method.

[DarkOverord]

But heck, Tails managed to practically create one, no? Sure, it was flawed, but it DID work (to an extent) in a very similar way to a real one. So what's behind it is highly likely to be scientific if the effects can be replicated so closely by scientific method.

Very true, the fake Chaos Emerald was apparently the same frequency and everything =P But he did it scientifically, which means there is as you said, certainly something science there, even if it's technobabble. I said this on another forum "Sonic isn't about 'magic'" :V

[Indigo Rush]

The Chaos Emeralds probably originated in another dimension. My guess is, the Chao come from another dimension as well, and when the Chao that soon became Chaos made contact with them, there was some sort of rip in time and space that opened up the door between the "Special Zone" and "Mobius/Earth" bringing the Chao and the emeralds into another dimension. I mean, that's the only thing I can think of. The Chao even appear in the Sonic Heroes Bonus Stage, which is essentially a Special Stage to begin with.

But that's my fanfic-esque theory. XP

[Flyboy Fox]

My personal view is that 'magic' and 'the supernatural' are nothing more than science that we do not yet understand.

It scares me a little that Tails apparently 'understands' the science of the chaos emeralds enough that he could create one, though O.o It was good enough for Sonic to use chaos control with. Also, Tails understood the science behind it enough to give it the same properties and wavelength as a 'real' one, but also design it to reverse the effects of the genuine emeralds @_@ I thought he was a mechanic/computer whizz not some kind of crazy chemist/physicist or whatever... yeah. If he can do THAT...

In response to Indigo: But how does that actually EXPLAIN them? Where they are from is a non-issue in understanding how they work or how they came to be ^^; Saying they're from another dimension solves nothing.

[Diogenes]

Can't say much about how it applies to the Archie Sonic universe as I'm not too familiar with it, but it seems to make sense (at least, as much as needed to pass as sense in a comic book).

Not so much for the games, tho', which are more my area of expertise...I've never put together a full comprehensive theory, but I have come up with parts.

Their origin is the sketchiest part; despite showing up in many different civilizations, there's no real indication where they were first found, nor where they were before that. If I had to guess, I'd say they came from the special stages; the laws of nature seem pliable enough there that something of that sort could be created, and it's the one place they show up in fairly consistently (though, it's also one of the few places that's consistently used in the games, since it seems like each game takes place in a completely different location).

As far as showing up in so many different places...the backstories (specifically those of the Genesis games) will say that the emeralds are "on the island", but that's not exactly true; in the main games, they're often found in special stages. It's not that the emeralds are actually on the island, but that the island has a way to access where the emeralds are. It's possible the ancient cultures were somehow able to access the special stages (Sonic 2 says the emeralds were "sealed" on the island; the only thing close that you experience in the game is having to get into the special stages), or that the emeralds "fell out" and actually were found on the island (which would explain why they're around in games without special stages; the setting is an access point, but the emeralds have already passed into Sonic's world).

The special stages, and possibly the emeralds themselves, seem to have some connection to rings. Rings are often used to access (both in collecting 50, or passing through a giant one), used to complete, or are simply found in abundance within, the special stages. Also, at least one translation of the Japanese manual for Sonic 1 states that South Island moves in a circle, which warps space such that the emeralds gather there (or something...it's not exactly clear what it's all supposed to mean). There's also the 50 rings needed to transform, or granted when you transform, though this one may be falling out of use...

In use, the emeralds may have something like a symbiotic relationship with living creatures. The Japanese Sonic 1 manual says that they give energy to living things (supported by the game's good ending, where they cause flowers to grow). Sonic Adventure introduced the idea of the emeralds turning thoughts into power, which has carried over to later games. There's no hint as to what the emeralds could be getting back (though one could propose that they "feed" on emotions and produce energy as a byproduct), though there is some reason to believe they are able to "get something back", that is, they aren't merely inanimate objects. In Sonic Adventure, the Master Emerald shows Knuckles the Egg Carrier when he's wondering where the last shards are, and at the end of Rush Adventure it's proposed that the emeralds are "helping" the heroes. It's possible they may be alive, in some sense of the word...and based on their proposed actions, they're presumably good. Or, maybe only good when they've been "fed" positive emotions? Impossible to say, at this point.

The exact mechanics of the emeralds changing thoughts into power are presumably well into the realm of technobabble or new-agey babble (I assume "resonance" would come up often), but the initial cause and final effect are within reasonable explanation. When a living creature (or at least a creature capable of emotions) pours their thoughts into an emerald, they are able to get back power in proportion to, and of the same type as, what they put in. Positive emotions give positive Chaos energy, associated with light, creation, happiness, optimism, etc. Negative emotions give negative Chaos energy, associated with darkness, destruction, depression, anger, etc. Positive Chaos energy allows Chaos Control, Super forms, and presumably Chip's barrier and the Gaia Colossus. Negative energy allows Chaos Blast, the werehog (and Dark Gaia spawn), Perfect Chaos, and possibly (though very debatably) Darkspine form. There may be some amount of overlap, as Shadow was using Chaos Control throughout SA2, where his intentions were anything but good.

How the emeralds relate to other superpowered artifacts (if at all) is sketchy at best. The time stones are superficially similar, but as they've only been used once and were never given much explanation, it's impossible to say if there's any deeper connection. The Sol emeralds are stated to be their parallel-dimension counterparts, with similar powers and natures, but little has been said about the specifics. The Chaos Rings were said to have been created by Chaos energy filling the space left by a giant ring; presumably they are merely some small-scale (but still potent) side effect of chaos energy, but like the time stones, we have little to go on. They are interesting for the possible connection to the World Rings, tho'.

The Super Emeralds are...interesting. The Japanese manual states that there was a set of emeralds on Angel Island, in such a way that it is extremely unlikely that they were the same emeralds Sonic had. These emeralds were seemingly destroyed when the Death Egg crashed into the island, seemingly restored (physically) when Sonic brought his emeralds into the Hidden Palace, and restored properly after completing 7 more special stages. The existence of another set of emeralds doesn't mesh well with current canon, and the last bit is kind of odd in the mechanics of it (the special stage is exactly the same whether you're retrieving a physical emerald or restoring power to a dead one? Right up to actually finding an emerald?). For this, I have an unorthodox theory: the emeralds we see in the Hidden Palace, and that are mentioned in the manual, are not real Chaos Emeralds. They're something artificial, and somehow connected to the emeralds. The power of the emeralds restores them, but not the connection; they act as teleporters, the same as big rings, and allow Sonic to retrieve the emerald again and restore the connection. What I'm not sure how to explain with this theory, though, is the power boost; why, then and only then, the emeralds are "Super" and allow for Hyper forms. If you're still reading after all this, give yourself a cookie, you've earned it. My previous theory explained this, but required them to be real emeralds; the chaos emeralds took the form of the destroyed Angel Island set, and allowed Sonic to obtain the destroyed set's power and combine it with his set. This allowed for more power than before, but for some reason it was only temporary, and the emeralds reverted to their original size and strength (though keeping the shape) after S3&K. The Master Emerald is less problematic, but no better explained; it's there, it's very powerful, and it can shut down the Chaos Emeralds temporarily, and that's about all we know.

The World Rings are an odd case, as it's just as plausible for them to be completely unrelated to the emeralds as it is for them to be the emeralds. There's no stated connection, unlike the Sol and Master Emeralds. But the similarities are hard to ignore; seven multicolored crystalline objects, possessing immense power, linked to emotions, that give Sonic a powered-up form. It's possible for them to be the storybook-equivalent to the emeralds, in the same way that Sinbad and Gawain are the storybook equivalents to Knuckles. There's also one scene where Sonic proposes that they come from outside of the storybook, like himself, because only he can touch them. This is never expanded on, but nor is it refuted; and given the similarity, if they are something from outside the books, it's quite plausible for them to be the emeralds, in a different form. Or, there's the slim chance that they may be Chaotix's Chaos Rings; certainly having two similar ring-shaped sets of artifacts would be quite a coincidence. On the other hand, nothing hints at this being true, and Chaotix may have been removed from canon as of Heroes.

Hm, do I want to keep babbling on, or...well, I suppose I can talk about characters that are in some way related to the emeralds.

Chaos is, as revealed in his Sonic Channel profile, a mutated/evolved chao. Presumably his mutation is due to the power of the emeralds (chao are at least able to make use of chaos energy, as demonstrated by SA2's Chaos Drives), though why he mutated so much is impossible to say. Considering that chao are rather squishy and the Chaos Chao being entirely natural (if obscure) evolutions, I'd guess that Chaos being a living water creature is an extension of his chao form, rather than a replacement of it; that is, all chao are squishy watery thingies. His mutation also seems to give him a strong connection with the emeralds, able to use them to change his form from man-sized humanoid to skyscraper-sized sea serpent. Presumably he uses exclusively negative energy throughout the game, as he's consumed with rage and hatred after seeing his family and friends (the chao at the shrine) slaughtered by the echidnas...it's an interesting question if he would have the same forms if he had used positive power...

Shadow is both extremely proficient with Chaos energy and also something of a living Chaos Emerald. The research of the team behind Project Shadow, combined with the Black Arms (or perhaps just Black Doom's?) natural inclination towards it, allowed for the creation of a creature with better control over this energy than almost anything before or since. He's also been shown, both in ShtH and Battle, to be able to use Chaos energy without possession of an emerald, presumably producing it in his own body. It's worth bringing up Chaos Drives at this point: though almost nothing has been said of them, my theory is that they're small artificial emeralds. Not powerful enough to rival a real emerald (or Tails' fake), but enough to power an ordinary robot and give chaos-sensitive creatures a small boost. And on the subject of the Black Arms; it's a bit odd for them to even know of the emeralds/chaos control, being from another planet. Did they learn all of this during earlier visits, or is it possible to access special stages even on other planets?

Emerl/the Gizoid almost seems designed for a symbiotic relationship with the emeralds. He has a capability for learning and thinking that matches or possibly exceeds modern robots, presumably being "human" enough for the emeralds to make use of his emotions. The more emeralds he gets, the more intelligent he becomes, the better he's able to express emotion, and thus the more power he gets from the emeralds. Is it reasonable to propose that his "overload" at the end of the game is a result of an infinite feedback loop in this system?

Mephiles...no freakin' clue. He can use them, and he seems to have some specific dominion over time...beyond that, I don't know.

Dark and Light Gaia seem to be living embodiments of negative and positive Chaos energy, respectively. The whole of Unleashed is tied up in connections between light/dark, day/night, positive/negative energy, and positive/negative emotions. Their power grows as they sleep, possibly fueled by the thoughts of the creatures living on the planet, until they awaken and destroy/remake the world. Both were reawakened with Eggman's use of a massive negative Chaos energy beam, with Dark Gaia presumably getting a head start, though not enough to be complete. It's possible that the purpose of restoring the emeralds was so they could create more positive energy and help Light Gaia catch up; with each restored emerald it becomes stronger, shown by the continents rejoining, until it is strong enough to contact its avatar, Chip, and become whole again.

Sonic's the big one, so I've saved him for last. Sonic shows an amazing amount of control over the emeralds, comparable to Shadow, despite being entirely natural (as far as we know). A great part of this likely comes from his personality; as the emeralds are controlled largely with emotion, his unshakable optimism and confidence keep them stable, even in situations when they'd otherwise explode with power. Rush builds up the idea that having the two sets of emeralds together would produce enough power to tear worlds apart, however, the mere fact that Sonic has one set is enough to stop them from going nuclear. Unleashed, as well; despite being exposed to enough negative energy to physically change his form when it's at its height, his mind remains virtually untouched, whereas ordinary humans are thrown on an emotional rollercoaster due to just a few Dark Gaia spawn. The strength of his will is also, presumably, why he can reach such levels of power. His philosophy of always following his heart meshes perfectly with the way the emeralds function, letting him surpass Chaos' centuries-old rage, match Shadow's mental scars and genetic superiority, and even stand up to the physical embodiment of negative energy itself.

...I think that's it for me tonight...

[Agent York]

I will admit to complementing several things about the Sonic universe and also agree that everything in the Sonic world should be explained through science. Maybe not logical science, since apparently there's quite a few monsters sealed away someplace or another in the world of Sonic, and well for that matter, in the game where Tails replicated an Emerald there also was King Boom Boo, but none the less that is a very interesting theory that I can't help but apply in my head as correct since the reasoning is sensible for the most part. If you just remove a few Archie specific things (like the Xorda) it'd be a totally legit theory for the games canon. Still nice thing to think about none the less.

[Saint Nathan]

It scares me a little that Tails apparently 'understands' the science of the chaos emeralds enough that he could create one, though O.o It was good enough for Sonic to use chaos control with. Also, Tails understood the science behind it enough to give it the same properties and wavelength as a 'real' one, but also design it to reverse the effects of the genuine emeralds @_@ I thought he was a mechanic/computer whizz not some kind of crazy chemist/physicist or whatever... yeah. If he can do THAT...

Why would they even LOOK for the Emeralds? I mean goddamn, Tails can fucking MAKE them. Why even bother, Sonic could be all "Tails, we need emeralds" and Tails'll be all "Sonic these take at least five hou-" then Sonic backhands him and goes all "FUCKER YOU MAKE MY EMERALDS SO I CAN SAVE THE DAY."

And then Tails makes the emeralds.

[Iceman Etika]

*Insert excellent analysis here*

Bro, honestly, I'm about 3/4ths into reading your summary and the way you incorporate the happenings and functions of the games into laymen logic is empyreal.

[Saint Nathan]

Dio, I just finished your post. I... couldn't argue with any part of it.

HA. No. I can nitpick a little.

Chaos Control is controlled by both forms of emotion, as it simply warps time and space around the user as they please. The only time it's mattered was ShTH, and even then it was simply a gimmick. If you wanted to go with it, even Chaos Blast could be a form of Chaos Control, Shadow simply used it when he felt evil enough not to care what got caught in the blast. He might use Chaos Control because it harms next to nothing, thusly good. It's not as emotion based, just what you plan on doing with it.

Other than that you hit most of the nails on the heads.

[Chaos Rush]

Once after playing S3&K, I was under the impression that there is more than 1 set of Chaos Emeralds. But some things still confuse me. Here's why:

*In the beginning of S3&K, Sonic already has 7 Emeralds, and the manual describes that Angel Island has legendary gems called Chaos Emeralds. How the hell did Sonic get them prior to reaching Angel Island?

*During Sonic Adventure, it appears that there's only 1 set. If there is, then how the hell did they get from Angel Island to random places, even Casinopolis?

*At the end of Sonic Adventure, the Chaos Emeralds were supposedly in Sonic's possession. Yet, in Sonic Adventure 2, they mysteriously traveled to odd places, from Station Square's ruins to Prison Island to Central City to Eggman's theme park (speaking of Prison Island, didn't it blow up in SA2?).

*At the end of Sonic Adventure 2, the Chaos Emeralds were supposedly still inside of the Eclipse Cannon. Yet a few weeks/months later in Sonic Heroes, the Chaos Emeralds mysteriously transported themselves from the Eclipse Cannon to the Special Stages...?

*After the events of Sonic Heroes, the Chaos Emeralds supposedly scattered around random places in Central City/Station Square/Prison Island to collect in Shadow the Hedgehog, even though all 7 of them were in the possession of Sonic nearby Eggman's fleet after just defeating Metal Sonic in Sonic Heroes... (and how the hell does Shadow and Charmy get on Prison Island even though it blew up in Sonic Adventure 2?!?!?)

*So apparently, Shadow somehow got all the Chaos Emeralds, and then fought Black Doom. Did he just release them in random places around the world then?

*Okay, here's one big reason, IMO: In Sonic the Hedgehog, apparently Princess Elise has been in possession of the blue Chaos Emerald for the past 10 years. WHAT!?!? That can't be true, considering how Sonic was in possession of all 7 of them in S2, S3&K, SA, SA2, and SH. Didn't Shadow just have the blue one in ShTH?

So here's my theory: South Island has a set of 6 Chaos Emeralds, West Side Island has a set of 7 Chaos Emeralds, Angel Island also has a set of 7, Station Square/Mystic Ruins/Central City share a set of 7, and Soleanna has 7?

That's mainly why I think there is more than one set of Chaos Emeralds, because Princess Elise was apparently holding on to the blue Chaos Emerald for the past 10 years. If there was only one set, then S2, S3&K, SA, SA2, SH, and ShTH couldn't have happened, unless if Sonic the Hedgehog takes places 10 years after Shadow the Hedgehog, which I seriously doubt.

Edited April 15, 2010 by Chaos Rush

[Diogenes]

Chaos Control is controlled by both forms of emotion, as it simply warps time and space around the user as they please.

I did actually mention this, briefly...it's one of those things I'm not quite sure on how it all fits together. It's set up as the "good" power in ShtH, but Shadow used it all throughout SA2, where he wouldn't be generating positive energy until the Last Story. It could be considered neutral, possible to do with either type of energy, but it does kind of bend the meaning of ShtH's hero/dark meters.

If you wanted to go with it, even Chaos Blast could be a form of Chaos Control, Shadow simply used it when he felt evil enough not to care what got caught in the blast.

On this, I'd disagree. Chaos Control isn't innately light or dark, constructive or destructive, so it could be considered neutral. But Chaos Blast is purely destructive energy; there's really nothing to push it back towards neutral. As for Shadow using it in '06 (and the final boss of ShtH, now that I think of it), after he had officially gone good, it's justified in that he's still something of an antihero, willing to do the dirty work most heroes won't.

(and how the hell does Shadow and Charmy get on Prison Island even though it blew up in Sonic Adventure 2?!?!?)

Well, obviously, it wasn't completely destroyed. It's not exactly in great shape when they come back...though I do admit it's odd how much of it is intact, and how much of it is overgrown...

*Okay, here's one big reason, IMO: In Sonic the Hedgehog, apparently Princess Elise has been in possession of the blue Chaos Emerald for the past 10 years. WHAT!?!? That can't be true, considering how Sonic was in possession of all 7 of them in S2, S3&K, SA, SA2, and SH. Didn't Shadow just have the blue one in ShTH?

That emerald is...strange. If' I'm following the game's story properly, here's what it's doing:

It's in Elise's possession at the start of the story, during the festival. Elise passes it to Sonic when she gets captured a few minutes later. Sonic gives it to Eggman, after which he flushes Team Sonic into the future. Next, Silver picks it up after his Egg Genesis fight. He uses it with Shadow to travel back in time 10 years. Before he returns to the present, he gives it to young Elise, who keeps it up until the events of '06 start.

It's more than just Elise having had the emerald for the last 10 years. The emerald's traveling in a loop, it is never anywhere else than where I have described it in the above paragraph. It doesn't even exist outside of that 10 year period; every time it gets up to the "present" of '06, it gets taken back in time and given to young Elise for another 10-year trip. I honestly don't have any rational explanation for this; as much as it pains me, the best I can do is shrug, point to '06 as a poorly written story involving all sorts of time travel issues (some of which are even contradictory), and decide to forget about it as it writes itself out of history anyway.

So here's my theory: South Island has a set of 6 Chaos Emeralds, West Side Island has a set of 7 Chaos Emeralds, Angel Island also has a set of 7, Station Square/Mystic Ruins/Central City share a set of 7, and Soleanna has 7?

This doesn't do anything to explain why characters no longer have emeralds when they had them in the previous game, tho'. If Sonic still had the emeralds at the end of SA, why not use them to solve all his problems in SA2? If he still had them after Heroes, why not repel the Black Arms as Super Sonic, rather than struggle against them in normal form?

Nevertheless, it's a good point, and one I failed to address forgot to hastily cobble together an answer for. My theory is that, just as the emeralds can "fall out" of the special stages, to be found in Sonic's world, they can also "fall in", and in fact tend to do so when brought together. In the games, the emeralds are rarely all together before the climax of the game, and it's sometime after that point that they slip back into the special stages. The two exceptions to this tendency seem to be when the emeralds are around some controlling force, such as Sonic or the Master Emerald, or when they're drained of power, as in Unleashed and after Chaos had used them in SA. In the former case, the controller keeps the emeralds' power in check (or channels it for other purposes, if it's a person using the emeralds), preventing their natural tendency to warp space to return to the special stages, and in the latter, the emeralds simply don't have the energy to do so.

A related theory is that the emeralds are in some way "attracted" to Sonic (and possibly others, but as he's the main character it's most often him). This would explain why, if there are only 7 emeralds, they all seem to show up near each other, in the same place and time that Sonic and the others are there. This is specifically for the games where the emeralds are already in Sonic's world, not when he has to go into the special stages to get them.

[Badnik Zero]

I'm making this up as I go along.

My fanon origin for the Emeralds is that they formed around the same time the Earth formed and are older than any civilization. They're also somehow connected to the catalyst of life on Earth, which is why they have transformative properties, translate thought into reality... My guess is that they exist on several planes or dimensions at once and snap back between them, like what Dio said. One of those is the spiritual plane, which is why they react to thought and emotion. Also giving reason for Echidna mystics to treat them as holy objects or whatever. There was talk of mood rings in the Dark Sonic topic. If the Emeralds can react to thoughts and feelings they're kind of mood stones themselves. Switch it around a bit and you understand what the World Rings are, physical incarnations of emotion. I wouldn't call them the source of life because that's kind of cheesy. Maybe they're only shards of something bigger, like some mystical (or even scientific) source.

It's more than just Elise having had the emerald for the last 10 years...

Would it make sense to say that '06 Sonic is not the Sonic from the main series? Like let's say the entire history of '06 exists in a pocket, which is then erased. So Elise and '06 Sonic live their lives through all the games up until the end of this game, at which point the pocket and all its events are eliminated from time. Now go back to 1991 and Sonic continues his saga from there, with all Emeralds accounted for and canonical Super Sonic events. In a sense this would mean '06 Sonic lives in an alternate world himself, one that would have happened "before" the main series. The main problem with this is that both '06 Sonic and '06 Shadow could not have gone Super at any time. But then we don't know '06 Sonic's history. Come to think of it, this is a possible explanation for why Sonic doesn't know Blaze. '06 Sonic may not have encountered her, due to Elise's emerald. Unless Elise has the emerald at the end of '06. Does she? I never played the game. Is this dumb?

Edited April 16, 2010 by Pinche Pitochu

[BaronSFel001]

I have studied this extensively (up to the canon point of Sonic Battle, which covers Sonic Heroes and Shadow the Hedgehog). You picked up on some good points.

Once after playing S3&K, I was under the impression that there is more than 1 set of Chaos Emeralds.

Right on! Sonic 3 & Knuckles is not the only evidence of this, since the original Sonic the Hedgehog and several of the 8-bit games have a distinct set of 6 tied to South Island. There is also Flicky Island. A good pointer is to take note of how the Emerald colors can be consistent in some cases and different in others.

*In the beginning of S3&K, Sonic already has 7 Emeralds, and the manual describes that Angel Island has legendary gems called Chaos Emeralds. How the hell did Sonic get them prior to reaching Angel Island?

This is based on guesswork due to the lack of any sort of definitive evidence, but Sonic 2, Sonic 3, and Sonic Adventure have clues that suggest Angel Island's 7 Emeralds being a single set that was split into two, then reunited during the events of Sonic 3 & Knuckles.

*During Sonic Adventure, it appears that there's only 1 set. If there is, then how the hell did they get from Angel Island to random places, even Casinopolis?

*At the end of Sonic Adventure, the Chaos Emeralds were supposedly in Sonic's possession. Yet, in Sonic Adventure 2, they mysteriously traveled to odd places, from Station Square's ruins to Prison Island to Central City to Eggman's theme park (speaking of Prison Island, didn't it blow up in SA2?).

*At the end of Sonic Adventure 2, the Chaos Emeralds were supposedly still inside of the Eclipse Cannon. Yet a few weeks/months later in Sonic Heroes, the Chaos Emeralds mysteriously transported themselves from the Eclipse Cannon to the Special Stages...?

Whether or not one accepts the "multiple sets" thesis, it has certainly been shown time and again that the Chaos Emeralds do their own thing in order to become the goal of the next game. There could also be plenty else that happens offscreen.

*After the events of Sonic Heroes, the Chaos Emeralds supposedly scattered around random places in Central City/Station Square/Prison Island to collect in Shadow the Hedgehog, even though all 7 of them were in the possession of Sonic nearby Eggman's fleet after just defeating Metal Sonic in Sonic Heroes... (and how the hell does Shadow and Charmy get on Prison Island even though it blew up in Sonic Adventure 2?!?!?)

*So apparently, Shadow somehow got all the Chaos Emeralds, and then fought Black Doom. Did he just release them in random places around the world then?

Drawing on the Emeralds' power in order to assume a super form seems to result in the Emeralds themselves scattering afterwards. This was indirectly confirmed to be the case in Sonic X (make of that what you will), although it has not exactly been consistent. Still, it is forgivable enough, I guess. I personally think there are certain supernatural forces at work, since the Chaos Emeralds tend to show up in the right place at the right time.

*Okay, here's one big reason, IMO: In Sonic the Hedgehog, apparently Princess Elise has been in possession of the blue Chaos Emerald for the past 10 years. WHAT!?!?

The more I tried to decipher the Chaos Emeralds' role in the background of that story, the more confusing it got. Finally, I could come to only one conclusion: there is very good reason that whole game was retconned out of existence.

So here's my theory: South Island has a set of 6 Chaos Emeralds, West Side Island has a set of 7 Chaos Emeralds, Angel Island also has a set of 7, Station Square/Mystic Ruins/Central City share a set of 7, and Soleanna has 7?

Agreed 100% about South Island, and it seriously never crossed my mind that Soleanna has its own set, but I find that less likely, and you will understand why as I explain everything else.

Now, you will recall that Knuckles steals West Side Island's Emeralds after Eggman took advantage of the fact that the Emeralds in Hidden Palace had mysteriously disappeared. I could give the theory or the explanation first...I think I will state the theory: the West Side Island 7 and the earlier Angel Island 7 are both from the same set. It has been speculated upon seeing clues that are only shown in the original version of Sonic Adventure that somehow in the aftermath of Chaos drawing on the Emeralds' dark power that the 7 were split into 14, 7 thrown into the sky (with Angel Island) and 7 sent down to the Earth (on West Side Island). There is another reason for believing in their very close relationship: the Angel Island 7 and the West Side Island 7 are the only sets of 7 Chaos Emeralds shown to transform Sonic into Super Sonic. So, not only are the sets split off from each other, but they are meant to be reunited. If it is thought of that way, this can also explain why Hyper Sonic/Super Tails/Hyper Knuckles is a one-time thing: it is a side effect of the 7 primary Chaos Emeralds coming together again (in the form of the Super Emeralds). Also take note of the fact that in Sonic Adventure 2 when the Chaos Emeralds were placed in a facsimile shrine in Cannon's Core, their size expanded, a hearkening back to their original forms from ancient times which were manifested again in the Super Emeralds (this means that the Super Emeralds are merely the Chaos Emeralds, but giving out more power that one time).

With the reunification, the Angel Island 7 not only gained full power (and complete independence from the Master Emerald), but in doing so resumed their role as the primary, most-powerful set of Chaos Emeralds known to exist. This is why, except for his ventures at South Island and Flicky Island, Dr. Eggman has always pursued the Angel Island 7, and Sonic often ends up drawing on their powers again in order to win the day. This is implicitly confirmed by the consistent coloring of the 7 Chaos Emeralds in every game since Sonic R (barring Sonic Battle, but the Emeralds in Sonic Battle were recycled from the Sonic Advance opening, we can ignore that they were all green). Now, I have not played all the way through Sonic 2006, but I am pretty sure that the coloring is the same, which is a strong indicator of them being the Angel Island 7.

As for the original question of what the deal is with the power of the Chaos Emeralds, I find it possible that whatever deity or power set things in motion left Sonic's Earth these gems of power for some arbitrary reason. I cannot find that idea likely, since there is too little information to conjecture anything; for all we know the Chaos Emeralds are the leftover tools of some ancient power which sought to gain Jedi-like abilities (I am concentrating on the game canon - any comic storylines are their own). Keep in mind that the Sonic games (and storylines) were produced by Japanese people, so we would have to take into account Japanese thought.

Edited April 16, 2010 by BaronSFel001

[Diogenes]

Would it make sense to say that '06 Sonic is not the Sonic from the main series?

The main problem with this is that, even though the pre-'06 games couldn't have happened (at least not as we know them) in this "pocket", all the character relationships and personalities are exactly the same as in the proper timeline. Sonic still meets and befriends Tails and Knuckles, Amy crushes on Sonic and he runs from her, Shadow was awakened, he befriended Rouge and Omega, and dealt with his past. It's a little hard to believe all these things still turn out the same in a timeline where Perfect Chaos never destroys Station Square, where the ARK never falls, where they can't go Super to fight Metal Overlord, where Black Doom never gets all the emeralds to bring the Black Comet to Earth...

Aside from that line of thinking, if Elise had an emerald while these events were going on, wouldn't someone have tried to take it from her? SA, SA2, and ShtH all involve characters specifically searching for the emeralds. If those games occurred in any capacity, it's not likely that she and her emerald would be completely ignored, which wouldn't mesh with '06 being the first time Elise meets them.

[Chaos Rush]

After reading the above posts, I noticed at least 2 people said that Sonic 06 never happened.

Well, even though it never happened, that doesn't mean the game doesn't exist. Maybe Elise and Sonic never met, but that doesn't mean Elise doesn't exist. During S2, S3&K, SA, SA2, SH, and ShTH, somewhere in the world there's Princess Elise holding onto the blue Chaos Emerald. Since she never met Sonic, that means she holds onto the Chaos Emerald for the rest of her life, despite Sonic obtaining them later in Sonic Unleashed. In fact, Sonic once again has all 7 of them prior to the events of the game, since he turns Super in the opening cutscene.

So I've come to the conclusion that there is no explanation, and the only way to make it make sense is to pretend that Sonic 06 doesn't exist. Even though it never happened, somewhere in the Sonic's version of Earth, there is still a city called Soleanna and a Princess named Elise. The game still happens, though according to the final cutscene, the festival still occurs, but Eggman never invades. Sonic attends the festival, but doesn't make any contact with Elise. I haven't actually played Sonic 06, since I don't have a 360/PS3, but I've watched somebody play through all 4 storylines (Sonic, Shadow, Silver, Final) on Youtube.

And thus, Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) has fucked up all Chaos Emerald theories.

[Diogenes]

A good pointer is to take note of how the Emerald colors can be consistent in some cases and different in others.

I don't think there's any meaning to be drawn from the color, shape, or size of the emeralds. They change color and shape between Sonics 2 and 3...and not just the emeralds you collect, in the latter case, but the ones you drop, when Knuckles knocks them out of you at the start, as well. A yellow emerald is switched for an orange one, and a purple is switched for a blue (or possibly a pink switched for a blue, depending on how you interpret the colors). The shape is hard to tell on the small sprites, but I believe the same sprites are used on the file select to represent the emeralds you've recollected, which are clearly octagonal on the special stage results screen, whereas they're hexagonal on Sonic 2's result screen.

[Phos]

The existence of another set of emeralds doesn't mesh well with current canon

Sure it does: The emeralds from Sonic 2 and Sonic 3 fused within Hidden Palace Zone.

I wouldn't put much stock in any of Iizuka's games, they all have pretty poorly told stories clearly based off of rushed translations of scrips that seem to be missing large parts of the story (Why is there a flooded mine connected to a city's sewer system?), but he's also been known to essentially lie about a game's place in a series, and significantly alter major rules of a world on a whim. There weren't special stages in Sonic Adventure 1,2 and Shadow because they weren't convenient to the genre fiction plot they wanted to tell, and Journey of Dreams is pretty obviously meant to supplant rather than follow NiGHTS into Dreams... .

Oh, and Sonic 06 was meant to be a reboot, it didn't work and now new games ignore it.

Edited April 17, 2010 by Phos

[BaronSFel001]

I don't think there's any meaning to be drawn from the color, shape, or size of the emeralds.

I was actually thinking about everything since Sonic R, since inconsistences before that can be attributed to the limited pallete of the Genesis and the experimentation of differing creative ideas. As far as the big picture is concerned, drawing any meaning from anything at all is probably a lost cause, since Sonic Team does not place that much influence on storyline. Therefore, instead of going with the original creative intent (because the creators were/are not interested in such details), theories like this are just logical derivations to the point that things actually make sense (and has the side effect of making the whole Sonic story that much more interesting).

[Chaos Rush]

Oh, and Sonic 06 was meant to be a reboot

Doesn't a reboot mean like, re-inventing the whole canon and everything? Because Sonic 06's character personality relies on games like Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic Heroes, and Shadow the Hedgehog. For instance, according to Diogenes:

The main problem with this is that, even though the pre-'06 games couldn't have happened (at least not as we know them) in this "pocket", all the character relationships and personalities are exactly the same as in the proper timeline. Sonic still meets and befriends Tails and Knuckles, Amy crushes on Sonic and he runs from her, Shadow was awakened, he befriended Rouge and Omega, and dealt with his past. It's a little hard to believe all these things still turn out the same in a timeline where Perfect Chaos never destroys Station Square, where the ARK never falls, where they can't go Super to fight Metal Overlord, where Black Doom never gets all the emeralds to bring the Black Comet to Earth...

The main thing is that Sonic 06 couldn't have happened without (most importantly) Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic Heroes, and Shadow the Hedgehog.

[Phos]

Doesn't a reboot mean like, re-inventing the whole canon and everything? Because Sonic 06's character personality relies on games like Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic Heroes, and Shadow the Hedgehog.

It usually does, but this is a special case. It's apparent from early interviews that they wanted this game to have a very different world for this game compared to previous games. I believe Naka was quoted as saying that the concept was basically "What if Sonic was in the real world". Sonic 06 clearly had events take place in its past similar to those that took place during previous games, but these two sets of events don't really seem to be one and the same. They essentially took the set up that had already been done in previous games, but isn't actually a continuation of it. This wouldn't be the first time Sega did something like this. Sonic X uses a lot of the backstory from the games, but it isn't actually canon to them, nor was it meant to follow directly after anything else. In fact, I'd go as far as to say that this also happens at least once between Sonic 3 and SA2.

[Saint Nathan]

Chaos Control isn't innately light or dark, constructive or destructive, so it could be considered neutral. But Chaos Blast is purely destructive energy; there's really nothing to push it back towards neutral. As for Shadow using it in '06 (and the final boss of ShtH, now that I think of it), after he had officially gone good, it's justified in that he's still something of an antihero, willing to do the dirty work most heroes won't.

Ah, but destruction does not mean evil. In fact, evil itself is a word we use to simply describe our moral boundaries, so how could it be evil, when evil itself is relative?

Anyway,

Chaos Blast could be a variant of Chaos Control. Chaos Control warps the very fabric of reality, so I could see it being altered to create an explosive and destructive blast. This would also mean that it's not inherently evil or good either, but Shadow uses it in ShtH with evil intent. Just like he uses Chaos Control with good intent in that game, but he's also used it for evil purposes.

[Badnik Zero]

The main problem with this is that, even though the pre-'06 games couldn't have happened (at least not as we know them) in this "pocket", all the character relationships and personalities are exactly the same as in the proper timeline...

Aside from that line of thinking, if Elise had an emerald while these events were going on, wouldn't someone have tried to take it from her?

Yeah, it's a bit of a problem. But since the main timeline would be a replacement for the one in '06, you can expect the outcomes of certain events to be the same. I think the biggest obstacle is Shadow's story. While he might still be released without the Emeralds due to Eggman's curiosity in Gerald's work, Omega is created specifically to contain Shadow after the ARK incident. Not that Shadow was very agreeable when he came out of cold storage, maybe he needed to be contained for other reasons. Since we can't speculate at the history of this timeline aside from the similar outcomes, it works in a shaky way. I don't think it's more absurd than some of the awkward character histories they put forth in '06. One thing it doesn't solve is why Blaze knows Silver. Unless she's originally from the future and enters the Sol dimension after her encounter with Iblis, taking on a new identity as the fire cat from Rush. About the similar outcomes - you'd also expect Silver to be deleted from history after the timeline resets, but as a new character he isn't. It could be certain (convenient) events on the timeline are constants. And about Elise's emerald, she's gonna have the gem either way. At least this way doesn't interfere with other games in the storyline. I kinda like this whole theory, actually.

Edited April 17, 2010 by Pinche Pitochu