Sonic 2 Theory Reveals Knuckles' Dark Origin Was A Lie

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Sonic the Hedgehog 2 introduced Knuckles to the live-action film series and explained his backstory, but one theory claims that Knuckles’ knowledge of his tribe’s history might not be correct. In the Sonic video games, Knuckles was an anthropomorphic echidna with super strength. He came from a clan of warriors who protected the Master Emerald, a powerful mystic relic. However, after a period of violence, the number of echidnas began declining until Knuckles was the last survivor and sole guardian of the Master Emerald.

While Sonic the Hedgehog 2 kept many of the major elements of Knuckles’ origin, the Sonic sequel did make some changes. Knuckles was still the last remaining member of the echidnas, a fierce warrior tribe. However, the echidnas made the Master Emerald as a powerful weapon, which a group of owl warriors had to steal to prevent it from being used for evil. In addition, rather than slowly dying off over many years, Knuckles explained that the echidna tribe was wiped out in a single final battle. When Knuckles was a child, the other echidnas – who were all old enough to fight – died attacking Longclaw, an owl who knew the location of the hidden Master Emerald and Sonic’s guardian. Due to this battle, both Knuckles and Sonic lost their guardians at a young age.

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However, some viewers have raised questions about Knuckles’ account of events. Since Longclaw was the last owl warrior, Knuckles’ story implies that she killed the entire echidna tribe on her own. If she had been able to defeat all of the echidnas though, then she probably would not have felt the need to hide from them for so long. To explain this, one theory (via Gamefaqs)