!FridgeBrilliance
* Mephiles' excessively complex plan can be read as him being attempted to be written as a dangerous evil mastermind, but ultimately failed because of how he consistently sabotages himself in the process. But another way to read it is that his true goal was to cause as much misery and pain towards the people in his plan out of misplaced rage and anger (since the people who caused this mess in the first place are all dead before he got the chance to do so himself). [[NiceJobFixingItVillain He's basically being such a sadist that he ends up screwing himself over because he can't help but hurt people.]] Given that he's the mind of Solaris, it's likely that his sanity hasn't entirely recovered either, and in his madness he basically viewed his actions as smart and justified. It also puts his time traveling into a different light as well, basically choosing the specific points in time that allows him to inflict as much confusion and pain as possible.
** The nonsensical nature of the time traveling mechanics in the game can also be justified when you consider that Solaris is the God of Time and Space. Of course the rules wouldn't matter, because he's basically the one deity who can fuck the space time continuum very easily. Plus, it's entirely possible that the Chaos Emeralds can draw upon this diffused power as well so long as any part of Solaris is around, [[NewPowersAsThePlotDemands hence why they inexplicably have the ability to create time portals.]]
* When you play through Kingdom Valley as Shadow, at one point you have to navigate around towers that are inexplicably toppling over. It was pointed out by an astute commenter on Retsupurae's playthrough that when you go through that same area as Silver, you're knocking over those towers yourself to get past them.
** Clever, though Silver travels through Kingdom Valley much later than Shadow.
* Can I make sense out of ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2006''? Yes, I can -- and very specifically, out of Elise's DamselInDistress gig. Let's first point out that RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething are ''very'' rare in modern-day Europe, with very little contribution to the ruling of a country or in its wars. Next, let's remember a certain son of Henry VIII who was so young when his father died and he was crowned king, that all of his power was used up by his advisors instead. Next, just like in England, all of that would be made obvious -- she's just a figurehead. Also, Elise wouldn't need to learn any combat abilities because she'd actually be surrounded by guards instead. And finally, this game was meant to be 'Sonic in real life' -- meaning that hypercompetence, which is not realistic, is a no. Add these together and you get this: Elise is captured so many times because 1) she's physically weak, 2) she has no power anyway, 3) she's been taken away from her guards by a single character, and 4) ''nobody expected her to be kidnapped anyway''. In that way, it's a lot more understandable. - Umiyuri Papaeyra
** This troper had a similar moment. At first, he was wondering why Silver trusted [[ObviouslyEvil Mephiles]]. Then I realized that he spent his life in a [[AfterTheEnd post-apocolyptic wasteland]], and as such did not have any predilections.- Derp Derp
** Mephiles' plan is [[ComplexityAddiction a complete mess]], but here's a lot of facts: he can time travel, he is also probably omnipotent, so, he's interested in a lot of characters, said characters are shown to be friendly or will be friendly toward Sonic, but he tries hard to scatter them all over the place, why? It's shown that he can be a bit of a coward, attacking you while you're not looking, among other things, the reason they were scattered all over the place: [[spoiler:He wanted Sonic and Elise to be ''alone'', to make sure he could kill Sonic without any interruptions]]. What was a plan riddled with problems is still riddled with problems, but this arguably was Mephiles' real plan all along.
** Silver went back in time because Mephiles told him about the "Iblis Trigger," the one who would release Iblis and turn the world into the one that Silver and Blaze are familiar with. Mephiles even showed him who the Iblis Trigger was: Sonic. Obviously, Sonic would never release Iblis, but Silver doesn't know that. Later, you find out that Iblis was sealed in Elise, and that he'd be released if Elise ever cried. By the end of the game, Elise has fallen in love with Sonic, and when Mephiles kills him, Elise starts to cry and ends up releasing Iblis. Mephiles had been telling Silver the truth about the Trigger all along; Sonic '''did''' release Iblis... ''by dying''.
* Here's a hypothetical example for you all. Let's say you have a teenager who wants to write a fanfic. The obvious traits of such a work become evident: he makes himself the lead character, and includes his friends as supporting characters. They all have a grand absurd adventure, complete with some absurd exaggerated powers, fighting robots and demons, travelling through time, and little thought is left to the dialogue, which takes a pretty big hit. The story ends, as typical, with the main character being uplifted as a sort of messiah, getting raised from a glorified death, getting the girl, and all that. So you have a very strange, twisted, plothole-ridden story that appeals mostly to this particular guy, nobody else. Simple enough. Now assume further that said fanfic writer has a best friend who's good with computers. He decides to make a fangame out of the fanfic. He's pretty good, he makes something really shiny out of the story ... however, it proves to be a poorly-designed glitchfest. It's riddled with bottomless pits, very problematic controls, and falling-through-walls-and-floors glitches. Coupled with a poor excuse for a story, you have a pitiful excuse for a game, largely because it was the work of a couple of inexperienced fans of the series. [[spoiler:You also now have a valid explanation of the phenomenon that is VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2006! If you view the story as something that SONIC HIMSELF imagined (and put Tails as a programmer - the kit's a genius, but most of his stuff has glitches), then it makes far more sense than if the absurd plot ACTUALLY HAPPENED. Could it be that one of the most ridiculed games in history was deliberately a parody of fanfics and fangames, and that the world [[MisaimedFandom misunderstood the point]]? Think about that.]] - LillyJade
** Well, [[spoiler:I would argue that most of Tails's gadgets work exceedingly well -- he built a working transforming mech/plane, after all, among other things. Admittedly, he may not be such a good videogame programmer, and it would be rather similar to the one programmer being commissioned to make the Atari E.T. game.]] Still, this AlternativeCharacterInterpretation is among the best [[WildKnight this troper]] has ever seen. Kudos.
*** Need I remind you that [[spoiler:said plane originally had NO LANDING GEAR]]? I rest my case.
*** [[spoiler:It did have landing gear. Tails just overlooked the fact that the landing gear was completely unusable in the Tornado's secondary form thanks to wings that projected well below the fuselage.]] He's an excellent inventor... but not so good a designer.
*** That, and Tails is sort of clumsy. ''[=SA2=]''? ''Who'' was it that [[YouJustToldMe accidentally told Eggman]] about the Fake Chaos Emerald? Case dismissed.
** Except that Sonic doesn't strike me as the kind of person who would spend his time writing stories and turning them into video games.
*** Well, no, but who's Sonic's biggest fan? Amy Rose. She strikes me as the kind of person who'd write terrible fanfic. Although it falls down when you wonder why she didn't write herself in as the princess. Unless Elise IS a Mary Sue for Amy and the Amy in-game is just their plausible deniability. Also, there's that bit towards the end [[spoiler:where you choose either Amy or Elise, I'd guess "canon" has him choosing Amy in this case]].
*** Also, if this is a parody of fanfics and fangames, Elise could very well be a parody of the RelationshipSue. Which still fits Amy's perspective; OF COURSE she'll write herself as Sonic's girlfriend. Still, did she have to imagine a human character for the role?
*** Here's something to make this even better: regardless of who wrote the fic, Elise could be seen as a parody of the fangirls who, well, fangirl obsessively over Sonic (and wouldn't be very "useful" in the universe proper). They have to exist in Mobius as well. [[note]]Why ''Shadow'' wasn't the, err, "victim" of that parody can be explained (apart from Amy's intentions) by Sonic probably having better publicity -- and thus more fans -- in Mobius proper.[[/note]]
*** Let's take this one step further; My personal theory is that Eggman took a look at the exceptionally poor ''Sonic'' fanfics, and decided to adapt it into a game and hype it up to high heaven as if it was going to be a Game of the Year contender, just to completely screw over Sonic, and the entire fanbase, ForTheEvulz. Needless to say, ''he did quite a good job on it.''
** Mephiles seems a better candidate for the OC stand-in -- just ''look'' at him! He's a recolor of a canon character, has almost godlike power (he's essentially half of a powerful, time-eating god), can overpower the hero, possesses a powerful, exotic "true form", and is literally darkness. [[note]]His name, if you didn't already know this, is Mephiles the ''Dark''.[[/note]]
*** Mephiles isn't ''that'' powerful. He can time travel, duplicate himself, shoot energy beams, etc., but isn't all-powerful, seeing how Shadow could defeat him without using his Super form. Yes, he killed Sonic, but he did it through cunning tricks (distracting Sonic with an Emerald, then materializing behind him and shooting him in the back), not by overpowering him in combat. Mephiles is mostly the mind of Solaris; Iblis is the embodiment of the raw power.
** This troper thinks that this theory just solved Sonic Forces. It explains a lot of things... Mostly Infinite.
* Silver's team, being the only one not pre-established in ''Heroes'', is themed around psychic power. While Silver's telekinesis and Blaze's pyrokinesis are obvious examples, Amy's shown bits of psychic proficiency as well. Her key power is future-sight through her tarot readings, and due to her ability to turn invisible may also be able to enact a brief PerceptionFilter.
* Why does Silver trust [[ObviouslyEvil Mephiles]] [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast The Dark]] so easily? Well, Silver and Blaze live in a post-apocalyptic world, where there is no one left but them, presumably. They wouldn't be familiar with the ObviouslyEvil trope, and now that they see that they have a possibility to change their world, they take it.
** Moreover, what's the cause of all Silver's problems? Iblis -- a being of ''fire'' born from a ''sun god''. There's a good chance that by Silver's time, light and fire have become strongly associated with negative, destructive forces. So, when someone calling themselves "the Dark" who has black and dark grey fur shows up, and offers to help Silver and Blaze get rid of Iblis, he immediately looks like a good guy. (This does raise questions about the fire-controlling Blaze, but the point still holds.)
** Think about this: If you're going to survive in a world on fire, you'll want to have as many people on your side as possible, which would mean not doing something that would turn people against you. This is something that many characters in post-apocalyptic settings fail to internalize, but who's to say that nobody in Silver's future has? He never mentions having any enemies in his time other than Iblis and its minions, after all. As a result, it's likely that Silver and Blaze wouldn't see any reason to doubt someone who immediately seems like they want to help out the cause, especially since they're so young and so sick of fighting the same fight over and over again without any results that stick.
* While they don't share the same VA, [[spoiler:Mephiles and The Duke of Soleanna have similar voices]]. Why? [[spoiler:Because Mephiles based his voice off of the Duke's.]]
* Of all the things Mephiles is... A liar he is not. His choice of words had double meanings. Such as:
** "Unless you complete your task, your future will remain the same." - By this, he means that should Silver do nothing, nothing changes, but what he means is that it changes for the worse if Silver does choose to kill Sonic, which is what Mephiles wants.
** Leading Silver to believe Sonic is "The Iblis Trigger" - Sonic's death will trigger the events to release Iblis.
** "You need to find the individual who has awakened Iblis." - He never says who it is who does so. Silver latches to the idea of "Iblis Trigger", but doesn't directly ask who is the real culprit. They found him all along and didn't ask to confrm it.
** Telling Omega that he would turn against Shadow, and telling Shadow that the world would betray him -- Mephiles can travel through time and the timelines touching them. It's a possible outcome somewhere, I'm sure, supported by the events in [[VideoGame/ShadowTheHedgehog Shadow's game]]. He's merely stating a speculation that exists in a possible timeline.
** "The answer is yes. And no." - In response to Shadow asking if he ruined the world they were currently in. Yes, he caused that. No, not him directly. Considering a future iteration of Mephiles exists in that future world, but at the time is currently in the present, while the present iteration is in the future... Present Mephiles has not caused the actions which lead to that yet, but Future Mephiles has already indeed done so. Basically "No, not yet, anyway."
*** Another possibility is that he was pointing to Iblis, his other half, as the one who ruined the world.
* Why does Mephiles make a swift job of murdering Sonic in mere seconds?
** Considering Mephiles came into existence through an explosion that murdered the majority of scientists responsible for his "birth", many of whom were visibly dying slowly from their wounds, and Mephiles was quick to flee the scene in fear while being tracked by Shadow... Perhaps Mephiles is subconciously unnerved by dragged-out deaths? Sonic was dead before he hit the ground, after all.
** Considering Sonic is the only deliberate death he caused intentionally... And that at first he seemed like he'd rather someone else (Silver) do it for him, before taking over himself and ending it in less than a minute, with no visible wounds on Sonic at all... Perhaps Mephiles prefers not to have to take that option if he can help it?
** Additionally, Sonic is the world's fastest hedgehog. It's not as if anything less than a lightning-fast insta-kill attack would actually kill him. Especially considering [[VideoGame/SonicAdventure2 all the times he's broken out of]] [[MadeOfIron or otherwise shrugs off]] any attempts on his life.
** It's true, Mephiles ''did'' slaughter Sonic with ease. But there wouldn't have been any point in Silver killing him early on -- Elise would have been sad, but not enough to cry. Mephiles wanted Sonic and Elise to have a fun adventure together first... for Sonic to save her life a couple of times and teach her to run and smile. Then at the end, when everything seems like it's going to be okay, and Elise absolutely adores the guy... BAM! Mephy jumps in from nowhere and spikes Sonic. That was his intent all along.
*** Furthermore, sending Silver after Sonic has the side effect of giving Eggman constant opportunities to kidnap Elise, setting up more situations where Sonic rescues her. Maybe his entire plan was just to make sure she saw him as her KnightInShiningArmor and give them ample opportunity to start a RescueRomance?
* Why was Iblis not released when the Egg Carrier crashed, killing Dr. Eggman & Elise? Because according to how time travel works in this game, ''they never died in the first place.'' While Sonic, Silver, and Blaze (who came from nowhere) were mourning the loss of the Princess, the future Sonic had already traveled back in time, beaten the Egg-Wyvern, saved Elise, and is now guffawing out of shock with Elise on a grassy cliffside. After all, Shadow was meant to go back in time and seal up Mephiles despite him getting the motivation to do so only after these events happened in Mephiles' perspective.
** That can't be; future records stated that Elise ''did'' die during the Egg Carrier crash. So the most likely explanation is that Iblis ''was'' released during the crash in the original timeline, but Sonic and Silver didn't stick around long enough to see the consequences before sending Sonic to the past in order to save Elise.
** Alternatively, by the mere act of traveling back to the present, Sonic changed the future and guaranteed he would be saving Elise, because he was now fated to do so. And the future records were just a timeline where Sonic ''didn't'' come back, because he wasn't at the present.
* When Sonic dies, everyone is mourning him, including [[AntagonistInMourning Eggman]] and [[TheRival Shadow]]. We see Shadow shutting his eyes and looking away in guilt. Why? Because he realised that by leaving the captured Mephiles in the past, he had inadvertently killed his arch-rival. Sure, they are nearly always in a conflict about something, but Shadow would never want it to go that far.
** Shadow has always had a begrudging respect for Sonic, such as during the finale of ''Sonic Adventure 2'' where he says Sonic might be the Ultimate Lifeform after all. He always tries to hide it, but when faced with Sonic's death, he just can't.
* The three main Hedgehogs could be said to embody the past, present, and future respectively. (This is actually referenced in some unused Solaris battle dialogue).
** Silver - The future obviously. He comes from the future and his goals revolve around making sure his world is safe for future generations.
** Shadow - The past. Created 50 or so years ago. Both ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure2'' and [[VideoGame/ShadowtheHedgehog his own solo game]] dealt with past events in the ''Sonic'' universe and how they connected to the present. His motivations in both games were also about the past.
** Sonic - The present. Always about living in the moment and never regretting the past or worrying about the obstacles of the future.
*** I thought that was all but outright stated.
* The infamous [=SonicXElise=] kiss at the end; let's ignore the fact that she's [[InterspeciesRomance kissing a blue hedgehog]] who also happens to be [[ILoveTheDead near death]] and examine it from... another angle; specifically, the limitations on the Chaos Emeralds. The Emeralds might be able to do a lot of things, even allow time travel between two parties using Chaos Control, and can bring the dead back to life...but is that really as simple as we make it sound? Remember, the Chaos Emeralds are said to power all life, and all seven gives a being tremendous power, but there was no instance before or after the events of this game, canon or not, in which a character was brought back from the brink of death via the emeralds. Are they really powerful enough to bring back the dying or already deceased? Even if they could do it, it'd probably require a lot more power than they actually have. So, this begs the question: what if the kiss was somewhat necessary to revive him? What if the Chaos Emeralds' power had to be transferred from another being entirely, as a magical form of mouth-to-mouth? Or better yet, what if the emeralds merely transfer the giving party's life force into the receiver? The game actually kind of supports this theory; notice how Elise falls to her knees and nearly passes out after seeing that it worked. It's obvious that the kiss took a lot out of her; she even struggles a little with getting up, to which Sonic has to make sure she's still alright. Also, Elise is no stranger to holding an ancient power inside her; she was the vessel for Iblis for 10 years, so she had the least chance of dying in exchange for Sonic's life.
** Then by that logic, Shadow or Silver could have used Chaos Control or something like that. Or some bullshit PowerOfFriendship thing, not a kiss. (I mean, there's reaching, and there's ''reaching'' with the romance thing)
*** Kissing a dead animal is just gross! What the hell was SEGA thinking!?
* Why doesn't Amy react jealously when [[spoiler:Elise has to kiss Sonic to resurrect him? Because she realises his life is more important than her own ClingyJealousGirl tendencies]].
** And, you know, [[spoiler:all of reality as she knew if was being torn apart at the time]].
* The Chaos Emeralds having the ability to resurrect Sonic seems like an asspull on the writers' part at first, but then if you look at the Japanese Sonic 1 storyline, it was established that they provide energy to all living things. The GoldenEnding in that game also shows them causing flowers to grow in a flash in Green Hill. It was probably this property of theirs, coupled with the fact that Sonic's spirit was still lingering around (going by Elise's words) that was used to give restore Sonic's life.
* Similarly, the ability to use two Emeralds to open time portals isn't that farfetched when you remember that Chaos Control was previously shown to be able to freeze time. The Emeralds have had the ability to manipulate the space-time continuum since Sonic Adventure 2 at the very least.
* Okay, so Mephiles has just lost at the end of Shadow's story, but he breaks free from the Scepter of Darkness, and with the power of two Chaos Emeralds, he summons a [[MesACrowd whole army of himself]] and says, quote: "Surely you must realize now that you cannot hope to stop me with your...[[ExactWords limited power]]." How does Shadow respond to this? By ''[[IAmNotLeftHanded removing]] his PowerLimiter!''
* Why does Iblis jump towards the purple glowing orbs during the Iblis Phase 2 battle? Not because he gets distracted by anything shiny like a magpie. Because they give off the same kind of energy as Mephiles (the purple mist is the same, and the orbs are found in dark areas, except the fight, where it's slightly lit in there; the purple mist resembles Mephiles' ooze form). He's drawn to anything that resembles Mephiles.
* Silver and Amy's are both searching for Sonic (although neither is aware of that fact) but it actually goes much deeper than that: Amy is searching for an "old flame" in Sonic, who she wants to get together with, while Silver is searching for the Iblis Trigger who will release an "old flame" - the fire god Iblis.
* Honestly, Elise's entire personality (or lack thereof) makes a ''lot'' of sense, if one thinks about it. Iblis has been sealed inside her since her childhood, with a seal so weak that it'll break if she cries... and she knows it. Consider the implications of this: She can't do anything that could cause her pain or injury, because it might make her cry. She can't have any real friends, because anything that hurts your friends hurts you too. She can't even grow attached to anyone, because anything happening to them could cause her pain, could cause her to cry. She can't do ''anything'', because anything she does has a very real chance of destroying all of reality. She can't show emotions, she can't even ''have'' emotions. '''Elise does not know how to be a person.''' She's just a shell with a small child bottled up so very deep inside, essentially a walking corpse or statue. And then Sonic comes in. He saves her when she's kidnapped, and further, it's his carefree attitude that teaches her to actually ''live'' again. It seems like he isn't actually doing anything important, and his story is just Sonic & Elise faffing around (which, admittedly, it kinda is). But underneath that, Sonic helped her to open up and enjoy life for the first time since her father died, and how to feel & have emotions.
** Furthermore, this actually explains why Elise had to be the one to revive Sonic, instead of Amy. All {{Squick}} aside, Sonic brought Elise back to life, so it's only fitting that Elise bring Sonic back to life.
** ...And, amusingly, this also helps explain why some of Elise's lines & emoting are so awkward, and why she has a breakdown in the Last Episode: She has the emotional maturity of a small child. She's forced herself to suppress her emotions for so long, that she never learned how to actually ''deal'' with them. She doesn't know how to act when she's hurt, or when she's scared, or when anything happens to her.
* Silver and Blaze's relationship is a reflection of Mephiles and Iblis. Both duos include a hedgehog that can warp reality and a pyrokinetic. The hedgehog relies on his fiery ally to complete himself, to achieve stability. Mephiles attacks Silver's mind via manipulation, while Iblis attacks Blaze's body when she seals it away. Mephiles cheats the system to reunite with Iblis and become Solaris, while Silver learns to stand on his own and defeats Solaris without Blaze.
* The themes of all three stories intersect:
** Amy's line about choosing Sonic over the world reflects Rouge's promise to remain by Shadow's side even if everyone else turns against him. Then Silver ''literally'' chooses Blaze over the world by refusing to seal away her and Iblis (though Blaze does it herself anyway).
** The advice Sonic gives to Elise ("Nothing starts until you take action") is basically the same thing that Blaze tells Silver when he's feeling downtrodden too ("If we don't take this chance, the future will remain exactly as it is"). Shadow repeats this sentiment, saying "If the world chooses to become my enemy, then I will fight like I always have!" rather than buckling under the pressure.
* After realizing Silver was manipulated by Mephiles, Shadow is so willing to help him because he too remembers being a [[VideoGame/SonicAdventure2 misguided force of destruction, fueled by angst and desperation]].
* One of the infamous annoying glitches is how Sonic will go flying off towards the horizon when he runs into something going at top speeds. Except... being sent flying off is exactly what would happen if he glanced off something going at hundreds of miles an hour. It actually makes more sense for him to go flying off uncontrollably than coming to a full stop if he's only glancing against something, because at those speeds every obstacle is dangerous.
** ...Which is exactly why most Sonic games ''don't'' use his true speed. Yeah it makes sense for him to fly off but it also makes the game annoyingly unplayable. Plus for him, because he has super invulnerability, bumping into obstacles wouldn't effect him much.
* Why is Blaze mysteriously absent during Silver's Radical Train, despite being with him in Soleanna to speak to Mephiles moments prior? They got separated by the security lockdown - remember that silly stealth minigame Silver needs to complete to reach the train station? That's when they were separated.
** The same thing happens to Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles too. Sonic is forced to break into a secret entrance just outside the station, leaving Tails and Knuckles behind while he goes through Radical Train.
* Ironically, Mephiles' advice to Silver to go back in time and stop Iblis from ever existing is exactly how the heroes overcome Solaris in the end: Elise blows out the flame of Solaris before the Solaris Project could begin and set this game's chaotic events in motion. In fact, it's Silver who first proposes the plan to defeat Solaris at the convergence of all timelines - maybe he had recalled what Mephiles said about birds and eggs.

!FridgeHorror
* Shadow has a complicated past with clones/androids, and was willing to do everything to find out if he is the original one. Eventually, he let go of his past and finally moved on. Imagine how shocked Shadow was when he met Mephiles for the first time in Kingdom Valley, seeing a clone of himself yet again.
* The Guards and civilians don't care for their princess' well-being if they are trolling the only one who could save her instead of downright ''helping'' them.
** You know what makes this worse? When Elise gets kidnapped for the last time, both Sonic and Silver, in the middle of their quest to save Elise, must partake in a lengthy test to prove themselves worthy to save her. These tests, however, are pretty pointless and even redundant considering how many times they saved Elise. Well, by the time they finally get to Elise... the ship crashes and kills Elise, releasing Iblis. So not only are the guards and civilians apathetic for the Princess, they outright ''caused the end of the world'' because they'd rather have the heroes jump through arbitrary hoops than save Elise. They're pretty much Sonic's version of [[TheScrappy Jar]] [[UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom Jar Binks]].
** What makes this [[TruthInTelevision realistic]] is that in real life, there are civilians that don't care for their monarchies either. Usually because either said royalties don't do anything or they're exceedingly big assholes. However, considering that they [[RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething do stuff]], perhaps they just have a bad reputation.
* Shadow is shown in a CrucifiedHeroShot by Mephiles. While the game's events reset, this future likely doesn't, meaning Shadow may very well end up betrayed by humanity in the future. And even worse, Shadow fully acknowledges that if the world turns against him, he [[BewareTheSuperman is not afraid to kill them.]] And considering his attitude has been drifting back to his [[BigBad original incarnation]] recently, Shadow could very well end up becoming a villain by the time of a newer ''Sonic'' game.
** Or at the very least, he could be ''easily'' be framed by an imposter, as ends up happening in ''VideoGame/SonicForces''.
* Notice how when [[ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice Mephiles spears Sonic through the back]], no blood is spilled. This is obviously because the target demographic is meant to include children, but it could be guessed that the dark energy vanished through Sonic's skin and only impaled his heart... causing him to ''[[CruelAndUnusualDeath die from internal bleeding]]''.
* [[TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon End of the World]] plays music that reflects the mental state of each of the characters. While all are major [[TearJerker/SonicTheHedgehog2006 tear jerkers]] in at least some way, some have... pretty unnerving implications all-round in the pace and instrumentation. They in particular are, [[OurHeroIsDead fittingly]], very reminiscent of the FiveStagesOfGrief, especially for those closest to Sonic:
** Tails' version[[note]]Denial[[/note]] is [[https://youtu.be/Q2DaIZBRP5w extremely bleak and empty,]] lacking anything in the background other than [[HellIsThatNoise a low, harsh buzzing hum.]] This, what he says (and ''how'' he does so) when starting the level[[note]]''"Sonic... we have to find the Chaos Emeralds soon!"''[[/note]] and obtaining the Emerald[[note]]''"Sonic, I'm coming!"''[[/note]], and the fact that his stage is '''Crisis City''' shows that [[HeroicBSOD Sonic dying has unhinged his long-time best friend massively.]] Even while trying to save him, it's [[BreakTheCutie left Tails feeling hopeless, frightened, and just completely ]] ''[[BreakTheCutie lost]]'' without [[HeterosexualLifePartners Sonic's usual kindness, support and encouragement]] even at the lowest of times.
** Although not as creepy as Tails', Silver's theme[[note]]Anger[[/note]] [[https://youtu.be/kCAeRQbefS8 just feels... dead inside.]] Considering Solaris just, in one fell swoop, [[DiabolusExMachina took away his ultimate victory over Iblis]], killed his new friend who helped him successfully do it -- and whom Solaris' previous form also [[CheatedDeathDiedAnyway nearly succeeded at tricking Silver into murdering]] -- and [[AllForNothing rendered Blaze's sacrifice ultimately for nothing,]] it can be assumed that Silver's [[TranquilFury pretty furious to say the least]] about all this. The emptiness of his theme implies [[DespairEventHorizon it may have gone even further.]]
** Knuckles' theme[[note]]Bargaining[[/note]] [[https://youtu.be/kb9TKKhUKwg has the least amount of revisions,]] though [[OminousPipeOrgan an eerie, funereal organ]] plays constantly alongside many, many drums. Knuckles has more at-stake here than everyone else. Not only are the Chaos Emeralds he's been charged with protecting in danger of being lost ''permanently to time itself'', but [[VitriolicBestBuds one of the people Knuckles values most]] has [[ItsPersonal been murdered.]] This is his last chance to right the wrongs that have been done. If he can't, then reality itself will end; and it will end because he couldn't live up to his duty as Guardian of the Emeralds. He's angry, sad and confused; the three worst traits to be approaching a problem with. But it's all he's got. And he'll dig to the depths of the Earth itself to save all of existence.... [[LastStand or die fighting back.]]
** Amy's theme[[note]]Depression[[/note]] is [[https://youtu.be/01Abi1xZN7Q especially strained and downbeat]], mostly consisting of slow, hollow techno and [[OneWomanWail heartbroken female singing in the background.]] Seeing her long-time crush's dead body and [[MyGreatestFailure living with the knowledge that she couldn't protect him when she most needed to]] clearly hasn't helped her at all; especially not going by her searching for the '''blue''' Chaos Emerald in [[SnowMeansDeath the cold, lonely wastes of White Acropolis.]]
** Also more sad than outright scary, Shadow's Theme[[note]]Acceptance, but still with ''highly'' evident undertones of Anger[[/note]] is [[https://youtu.be/c0zvUwhzH8U a chaotic mis-match of continuous, yet repetitive choir-backed beats]] that overlap. Shadow has spent the entire game fighting off Mephiles' machinations, while managing to survive the identity issues and angst that the creature's been tormenting him with. Now the world's greatest hero -- someone whom [[WorthyOpponent Shadow still respects deep down despite their bitter rivalry]] -- is dead, and time itself has reached the fringe of total collapse. The black hedgehog is running on a mixture of desperation and rage, especially since Sonic's death is [[VideoGame/SonicAdventure2 not the first time Shadow has tried and failed to protect someone he cares about]]. His Chaos Emerald being the often anger-associated '''red''' doesn't help.

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