Princess Elise the Third

"I wish to save the world. I wish to cleanse my father's sin. And I wish to talk to Sonic... once again!"

Princess Elise III of Soleanna is a main character in the 15th anniversary game Sonic the Hedgehog (2006). She is voiced by Lacey Chabert in the English dub and by Maaya Sakamoto in the Japanese dub.

Character history
Princess Elise is the only daughter of the Duke of Soleanna. She is a very nice, beautiful, and kind girl. Her mother died shortly after her birth, and experiments on the Flames of Hope, conducted by the Duke, were intended to allow time travel to see her again, as well as allow humanity to correct its past sins. Unfortunately, the project became unstable, the machine they were using exploded, and the Flames split into two villainous forms; Iblis, the raw power, and Mephiles, the conscious mind. Elise, then only seven years old, was present when the machine exploded, and her father was mortally wounded when he used himself as a human shield to protect her from the worst of it, though she was knocked unconscious. Shadow and Silver, who had time-traveled with a Chaos Control back to this time to find out what had happened, split up to pursue the two evil beings. Shadow succeeds in sealing Mephiles within the Scepter of Darkness (which the Duke had given him), while Silver corners Iblis and paralyzes him with his psychokinesis. The Duke, with no other option, uses this opportunity to use the silver Chaos Emerald in a ritual to seal Iblis within Elise's soul, and entrusts Silver to take her to a safe place while telling Elise to be brave and not to cry no matter what happens (as her tears and despair are the key to Iblis's freedom) in his dying words. Silver takes Elise out of the laboratory and, before he and Shadow return to the present day, gives Elise his blue Chaos Emerald as a good luck charm, while Shadow leaves the Scepter of Darkness with her, knowing what becomes of it in the present day.

The game opens up with Elise, now seventeen years old, and the denizens of Soleanna celebrating the Festival of the Sun. While lighting the torch which appears to be the main focus of the festival, Elise has what appears to be a hallucination or flash back of Soleanna in flames, along with Iblis. Suddenly, the festival is attacked by Dr. Eggman. Fortunately, Sonic arrives, whom Elise mistakes for Silver at first. Sonic destroys a few of Eggman's robots and escapes with her. Elise is confused and asks Sonic why he is helping her, but he merely says that he has "no special reason" for doing so. Eggman sends a few more robots after them and successfully captures Elise while Sonic is distracted fighting them, though Elise manages to give Sonic the Chaos Emerald that Silver had given her before Eggman takes off, and Sonic assures her that he will rescue her.

True to his word, Sonic arrives with Tails in Eggman's Base in Dusty Desert and assures Elise that he always keeps his word shortly before Eggman arrives and unleashes his Egg Cerberus robot on them, which Sonic defeats. Sonic, Tails, and Elise are then chased by a massive army of robots, and Tails creates a diversion in order to allow Sonic and Elise to escape unnoticed. When they get some distance away, they stop, and Elise thanks Sonic for his help, but then notices a wound on his arm. Sonic tells her that it's nothing serious, but Elise isn't convinced and uses a handkerchief to bandage Sonic's arm. She apologizes for his injury, blaming herself for it, but Sonic merely tells her to smile, as her smile is all he really needs. Elise tells Sonic more about the Flames of Disaster and Solaris, the deity that Soleanna worships, which is the primary reason that Eggman is after her. After the two run through the field together, Sonic gives her some more advice: "Nothing starts until you take action. If you have time to worry, then run."

Upon their return to the city, they are attacked by Silver. Elise is captured by Eggman again in the confusion, and Sonic pursues them again after narrowly escaping a hardfought battle with Silver. When Sonic, accompanied by Tails and Knuckles, who had now decided to join the fun, reaches Eggman's base, Eggman and Sonic negotiate a deal; if Sonic gives Eggman the Chaos Emerald that Elise had given him earlier, then Eggman will let Elise go. Sonic willingly (and somewhat reluctantly) does so, but, unsurprisingly, Eggman does not live up to his end of the bargain. He traps Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles in a powerful force field, activates his prototype time machine, and propels the trio into the distant future, much to Elise's dismay. Eggman assures her that Sonic and the gang are still alive (for the time being); they have merely been transported to another time period, though he has no idea where or when they ended up. Later, Elise takes Sonic's earlier advice to heart, attempts to escape from Eggman's snowy mountain base and, with help from Amy, succeeds. When they return to the city, Amy gives Elise some advice on love, but Elise is captured by Eggman again when she returns to the castle.

Fortunately, Sonic, Knuckles, and Tails return to the present via Chaos Control, and Sonic chases Eggman down again and saves Elise from an exploding train.

Soon afterwards, Silver attacks them again, and Eggman AGAIN captures Elise while Sonic is preoccupied. Sonic manages to escape due to the timely arrival of Shadow, and catches up to them. Elise, stating that she would rather die than be Eggman's prisoner again, jumps off of Eggman's airship in a desperate attempt to get away from him, but Sonic catches her just before she hits the ground, runs off into the jungle in order to escape Eggman, and tells Elise to return to the castle, where she will be safe. When Elise shows visible depression at being told this, Sonic takes a shortcut to a lake in the middle of the jungle, where Elise is fascinated by the area's beauty. Elise asks Sonic if he plans on leaving Soleanna once he defeats Eggman; he tells her he does, but assures her that he will remember the city. Desperately fighting back tears in remembrance of her late father's warnings, Elise hugs Sonic in an emotional scene, and he tells her to smile once more as words of comfort while returning the hug.

Soon afterwards, however, Eggman returns, threatening to destroy the city unless Elise agrees to negotiate with him by four o'clock. Elise willingly surrenders to his demands in order to protect the city, and Eggman reveals his plans for the Flames of Disaster; he plans on using them to control time itself.

She is killed when the Egg Carrier explodes due to an unstable engine, as well as Eggman, but Sonic and Silver use Chaos Control to go back in time and save them both. Sonic and Elise jump across the exploding pieces of the Egg Carrier, but fall short of solid ground and begin to fall back towards the ocean; fortunately, the remains of the Egg Carrier then explode and propel them upwards. Elise and Sonic make it out unharmed, and then suddenly crack up laughing. Sonic then congratulates her for her smile.

In the "Last Story", as Sonic and Elise return to the city, Mephiles emerges from the ground, blinds them with a flash of light, and impales Sonic through the back with a beam of energy, killing him instantly. Elise frantically attempts to revive him, but, upon realizing that he is dead, is unable to control her grief and cries, inadvertently breaking the seal on Iblis and allowing Mephiles to merge with him. After the game's cast is transported to a bizarre dimension, they discover Elise, cradling Sonic's head in her lap, and all mourn his passing (even Eggman shows a degree of sadness). Soon afterwards, Elise senses Sonic's presence around them, signifying that he is not quite dead yet, and that they can use the Chaos Emeralds to resurrect him. Once Eggman uses the radar in his sunglasses to pinpoint the locations of the Emeralds, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Shadow, Rouge, Omega, and Silver all split up to gather them. Once they manage to gather them as reality itself falls apart around them, Elise resurrects Sonic with a kiss and the Emerald's magic, which also transforms him into Super Sonic. Sonic thanks and hugs her, then transfers the Chaos Emeralds' powers to Shadow and Silver as well. After Solaris is destroyed, Sonic and Elise are suddenly transported through another time vortex.

They arrive in the Soleanna of ten years ago, before the Solaris Project, where the Duke of Soleanna and a young Elise are observing Solaris, now only a tiny flame. After the Duke explains his plans for the flame and they leave, Sonic and the present-day Elise arrive. Elise takes the flame and tells Sonic that if the flame is extinguished, it will result in her and Sonic never meeting. Sonic confirms this with a nod of his head. Overcome with despair, Elise begins to cry and shouts that she doesn't care what happens to the rest of the world, only that she and Sonic will never be friends. Sonic tells Elise to just smile, meaning to accept life's ways for what they are and to go with the flow, even when things aren't going satisfactorily. Elise considers this and, with tears in her eyes and a small smile, gently blows Solaris from existence, thus erasing the whole game's events and happenings.

With this being done, the game returns back to its beginning scene when the Festival of the Sun is taking place in Soleanna, except that Eggman doesn't come to abduct Elise since there is no so-called "Flames of Disaster" secret, though Sonic is still visiting the city. As the ceremony is taking place, Sonic rushes past the boat that Elise is on, and the "wind" of his rapid pace causes one of the feathers in Elise's hair to detach. After staring in wonder at the floating detached feather for a while, one of her maids comments that it was probably just the wind that gushed by. Elise acknowledges this, but states that this "wind" felt familiar somehow, and smiles, apparently realizing who it might have been. After this, we see Sonic, who is perched upon a stone structure high above where the Soleanna festival is taking place. The game concludes where Sonic, also smiling, is watching Elise's detached feather float up into the moonlit sky.

Because of this, it seems that, although the game's events never actually happened, Sonic and Elise retain their memories of them to some extent due to their involvement in the paradox that happened. However, due to the time reversion, it seems unlikely that Elise will make any future game appearances. She did, however appear as a collectible card is Sonic Rivals 2.

Personality
Elise is very kind-hearted, sweet and genuinely cares about her country and its citizens, as seen when she willingly gives herself up to Eggman in order to protect them from Eggman himself.

During her adventures with Sonic, she becomes quite attached to the heroic hedgehog, the latter is hinted at in her first conversation with Amy, where she is visibly flustered and embarrassed when Amy asked her if he (not knowing that it was Sonic) had asked her out on a date, and in the cutscene after the Tropical Jungle stage, where she desperately fights back tears when Sonic reveals that he plans of departing the city once he thwarts Eggman's plans. Sonic's presence makes Elise truly happy for the first time since her father's death.

Possibly as a side effect of the ritual that was used to seal Iblis within her body, Elise, at times, seems to possess a small degree of mental instability, as shown when she hallucinates Soleanna in flames during the Festival of the Sun and sees a vision of Silver surrounded by flames upon meeting Sonic for the first time.

Abilities
Elise has some sort of supernatural ability which is unspecified, possibly from Iblis within her. When Elise and Sonic are together, she is somehow able to make him light enough to travel across the surface of water and over quicksand for short amounts of time by forming a barrier around the two; however, it is only used for the aforementioned purpose, as Sonic can still be harmed by enemies even with the shield up. In the Last Story, after the seal on Iblis is broken, she states that she can sense the presence of Sonic's spirit around them, and later senses Solaris' consciousness, allowing Sonic, Shadow, and Silver to figure out his weak point.

Presumably, as Solaris has been erased from existence, Elise is now a normal human with none of these supernatural powers.

Relationships
Elise meets many other characters in the game, but the following are the closest to her:

Sonic the Hedgehog
Elise's most prominent relationship is with Sonic. She forms a close friendship to him. Mephiles uses this as an advantage, and kills Sonic, making Elise cry and free Iblis. Elise revives Sonic with a kiss, also turning him into Super Sonic. After the defeat of Solaris, Elise and Sonic travel to a point in the past where they find the Flames of Disaster at its birth. Elise decides to put out the Flames. Although Solaris will never exist, this also will make it so that she will never meet Sonic. Elise screams that she doesn't care what happens to the world, as long as she and Sonic are friends. Sonic tells her to smile, which convinces her to abandon their meeting. Elise puts out the Flames of Disaster, destroying Solaris forever, and causing a time reboot. At the end of the game, Sonic watches Elise in the Festival of the Sun.

Amy Rose
Elise is also close friends with Amy Rose. Amy rescues her from Eggman's base then escorts and saves her from the robots that are chasing her, and they become friends. Amy gives Elise some advice on love and tells her that she has a good chance with Sonic (though she doesn't know that the guy that Elise has feelings for is Sonic), saying, "You're a Princess and you're super-cute. This guy's the lucky one." Amy also comforts her in the Last Story of the game, and they can be seen together.

Silver the Hedgehog
Elise also met Silver the Hedgehog when he traveled to the past to investigate the Solaris Project. Silver watched how Solaris was separated into Mephiles and Iblis, and was also the only witness of the Duke of Soleanna, Elise's father, sealing Iblis into her body. Silver promises to the dying Duke that he would take his daughter to a safer place. Silver then returned to the present, but not before giving Elise the blue Chaos Emerald he had, telling her to keep it as a lucky charm. While their interaction in the present day is brief, it is still important, as it is through Silver's words that Elise is convinced to use the Chaos Emeralds to bring Sonic back to life.

Trivia

 * The apparent romance between Sonic and Elise was the main criticism against the game, some even accusing Sonic Team of supporting beastiality. When asked about this in an interview with GameSpy, Lacey Chabert stated, "Ha! No, you're just being silly. It's not an inappropriate relationship. Let's just say Sonic and Princess Elise have an attraction for each other."
 * There also is the likes of Sara from the Sonic OVA who wanted Sonic to marry her. Elise did not try and go that far with Sonic like Sara tried to.
 * Elise was originally supposed to be named "Oliga".
 * Despite the fact that both of her parents were dead during the events of Sonic '06, she is still referred to as the princess, and not the queen.
 * It is possible that Elise reminds Shadow of Maria since during a cutscene in his story he was looking at her portrait in a strange way.
 * In Sega's Sonic 06 Game Script Spreadsheet File there are character profiles written in corresponding English and Japanese that talk about their personalities and some of their origins. In the end of Elise's English profile emphasizing her role in the story it says, "On one side, she is a prim and proper princess, but on the other, she is a typical confused and anxious 17 year old girl. She tries to make light of her fate, but her encounter with Sonic is what shall truly set her soul free."
 * Elise is the only character in the game series to be voiced by a Hollywood actress.
 * Elise made a cameo appearance in the credits of Sonic Generations.

Memorable Quotes

 * "We give thanks for the blessed fames. May we always continue to have peace. Sun of Soleanna, guide and watch over us with your eternal light..."- Elise's thanks to Soleanna's sun god before lighting up the eternal flame.
 * "Umm... why are you helping me?"- Asking Sonic why is he helping her.
 * "I have no words to express how grateful I am for your help..."-Elise glad after Sonic saved her.
 * "You're hurt!"- After noticing Sonic's wounded arm.
 * "The name of our sun god our country honors Solaris... It is told that Solaris's rage would destroy the world. His wrath comes in the form of the Flames of Disaster. 10 years ago we almost faced the full force of his fury..."
 * "I would rather die than be your prisoner!"- When Eggman kidnapped her again. 
 * "Farewell."- Before falling off Eggman's carrier.