Solaris Project

This article deals with the research program. For details about the entity, see Solaris.

The Solaris Project (ソラリス・プロジェクト, Sorarisu Purojekuto^?) is an event that occurred in the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise. It was a research program conducted on Solaris by the principality of Soleanna, led by the Duke of Soleanna. It is the key event that leads to the storyline of Sonic the Hedgehog (2006).

The project was significant for ending in disaster, splitting Solaris into Mephiles the Dark and Iblis, which had massive repercussions up to two centuries later. However, thanks to the intervention of Sonic the Hedgehog and Princess Elise, the timeline was altered and the Solaris Project was undone before it could go wrong.

Overview

In Soleanna, the public face of the Solaris Project held it to be an energy research program.^[1] However, its true scope was more ambitious: to achieve control of time itself. With the Solaris Project, the Duke of Soleanna hoped to give people a chance to right the wrongs of the past, implying that this included saving his wife from an untimely demise as well.^[2] The Duke was presumably the driving force behind the project, and Lord Regis states that he worked with the Duke on the program as well. The primary facility was in the Aquatic Base, a complex hidden beneath the waters of Kingdom Valley and Soleanna Castle Town.

The exact methods of the Solaris Project are unknown. The Duke had to wait for the flame of hope to grow before beginning the process. The only experiment seen had Solaris contained in a machine, with the Duke and other scientists watching as electricity coursed through him. The Duke lamented that Solaris would not cooperate, showing that Solaris' defiance frustrated the experiment. This ended when an electromagnetic pulse caused a spatial meltdown, destroying the room and splitting Solaris into Mephiles and Iblis.

History

Past

Ten years before Sonic the Hedgehog (2006), the Duke of Soleanna initiated the Solaris Project. While waiting for the flame of hope to grow larger before starting the experiment, the Duke showed it to Princess Elise and told her they could soon see her mother again. After they left the room, the time-traveling Elise and Sonic from ten years in the future arrived to extinguish the flame, stopping the Solaris Project from ever occurring.

Sonic the Hedgehog (2006)

Before Sonic and Elise extinguished the flame of hope, the Solaris Project continued. During an experiment on Solaris, he created an electromagnetic pulse that caused a spatial meltdown.^[3] The explosion gravely wounded the Duke, knocked Princess Elise unconscious, and split Solaris into two separate entities: a flame called Iblis and a darkness called Mephiles. Fortunately, the time-traveling Shadow and Silver witnessed the incident, and Shadow sealed Mephiles in the Scepter of Darkness while Silver helped the Duke seal Iblis inside of Elise. However, the Duke passed away directly thereafter, and the laboratory in Aquatic Base and the old castle in Kingdom Valley were abandoned, with the royals relocating to Soleanna Castle Town instead.^[1][4] Ten years later, Dr. Eggman learned of the Solaris Project and was enticed by the idea of controlling time, plotting to ensure his own victories and rule across all time.^[5] He first occupied the abandoned lab in Aquatic Base, then obtained the Scepter of Darkness and created the Solaris prototype, a prototype time machine. Finally, he sought to extract Iblis from Princess Elise, and to gather the seven Chaos Emeralds to complete the prototype. With this, he plotted to recreate Solaris, though he never succeeded thanks to Sonic the Hedgehog.^[6]

Ultimately, the Solaris Project led to more dangerous threats than Eggman. Mephiles escaped from the Scepter of Darkness, planning to recreate Solaris and consume all of time. Meanwhile, Eggman's tampering led to Elise's death and unleashed Iblis as an immortal monster that ravaged the world for two centuries, destroying the future where Silver the Hedgehog lived. Eventually, Mephiles and Iblis reunited in the past as Solaris and nearly destroyed all time, though he was defeated by Sonic, Shadow, and Silver. Afterwards, Sonic and Elise traveled back in time to blow out the flame of hope before the Solaris Project could end in disaster. Therefore, the Solaris Project never progressed to the same point in this timeline, being cut short by the erasure of Solaris.^[7]

Aftermath

Despite the disaster of the Solaris Project being undone, its consequences laid in limbo between time streams. In Shadow Generations, Shadow was able to encounter Mephiles due to the damage to the time streams caused by the Time Eater, which stirred up echoes of the alterations to time that occurred in Sonic the Hedgehog (2006).^[8] Mephiles remembered Shadow and even displayed awareness of his own temporal displacement, plotting to restore himself to the timeline. Conversely, Shadow did not remember him at all, but quickly defeated him and sealed him back in the Scepter of Darkness to stop his escape. By the end of the game, reality was restored to its state before White Space appeared, presumably leaving Mephiles lost to time once more.

References