Solaris


 * For the project, see Solaris Project.

"That body of light is the sign of a super-dimensional life-form. Standard attacks won't work on him. He eats dimensions for lunch!"

- Dr. Eggman, Sonic the Hedgehog (2006)

Solaris (ソラリス) is the true main antagonist and final boss of Sonic the Hedgehog (2006). He is the sun god of Soleanna, as well as a super-dimensional lifeform and a god of time, who is worshiped by the people of Soleanna. Originally a living flame, Solaris was split into two halves during the Solaris Project; Mephiles the Dark, his conscious mind, and Iblis, his raw power. Both of Solaris' halves were subsequently sealed away.

Ten years later, Mephiles and Iblis were freed and rejoined, recreating Solaris as a corporeal lifeform. Solaris then sought to bring the destruction of time itself, but was defeated by Super Sonic, Super Shadow and Super Silver. Solaris was subsequently erased from existence, ensuring his wrath would never be unleashed on the world.

Appearance
Prior to the Solaris Project, Solaris was nothing more than a tiny white flame. After his two halves Mephiles and Iblis fused together, Solaris took on a more creature-like form. During the battle against him, Solaris' main body is revealed to be a rather simple figure: He has a large and transparent body made of light, with a red orb that is his consciousness/core in the center of his body. He has no head, his upper body only includes the top piece above his core, with a curve behind his "neck", and his lower body resembles a stalactite. He has three fingers on each hand with no visible palms, and his arms are not connected to his body at his shoulders.

In Solaris' first form, he has three shells of light covering his body, giving him a more complex appearance. He has one shell covering each of his upper arms, and one main shell on his body. The lower part of the main shell covers his "chest" area, as well as his core, and the top part of it has a figure, resembling an eagle head with glowing yellow eyes and antlers. This makes it look like Solaris actually has a head. On his back he has a ring with six triangular pieces "attached", making it resemble a sun.

In his second form, Solaris loses his light shells, exposing his main body. On his back, he now has a long plate, with a set of wings "attached", where each wing is made up of five segments.

History
Solaris initially existed as an apparently sentient flame which was worshiped by the citizens of Soleanna. Nothing is known about Solaris' origins, other that he had been "entrusted" to the royal family ruling over Soleanna at some point in the past and had remained under the protection of them for an unpresented amount of time.

During the reign of the Duke of Soleanna, the duke prepared the Solaris Project to experiment on Solaris in the hopes of using his time control powers to allow humanity to correct its past sins (and also to allow himself and his young daughter, Princess Elise, to see Elise's deceased mother once again). Once Solaris' flame had grown sufficiently large enough, the Solaris Project was initiated, leading to several experiments being performed on Solaris. However, during one such experiment, Solaris became unstable, ignoring the Duke of Soleanna's pleas and split into two forms: Iblis: the raw power and Mephiles: the cunning mind. Mephiles was sealed into an artifact known as the Scepter of Darkness by the time-traveling Shadow the Hedgehog, while the Duke was forced to seal Iblis inside of Elise's soul. Before dying from wounds caused by the accident, he told his daughter to grow up to be a strong queen who would never cry as doing so would destroy the seal on Iblis.

Mephiles was eventually freed and he began plotting to reunite with Iblis. He made Elise cry by killing Sonic the Hedgehog, thereby releasing Iblis and the two entities joined to create Solaris again. Solaris immediately plunged the world into darkness and prepared to devour time itself by consume all existing timelines. Before he could achieve this, however, he was defeated by a combined assault from Super Shadow, Super Silver and a resurrected Super Sonic. The three heroes managed to defeat Solaris by destroying his consciousness. Solaris' defeat reverted him back to his original form and spirited Elise and Sonic back to the time before the fateful experiment. After some contemplation, Elise chose to blow out the flame that would become Solaris - thus changing history by erasing his corporeal form from existence.

Powers and abilities
Solaris is arguably the most powerful being in the entire Sonic the Hedgehog series. Dr. Eggman himself theorized that without targeting Solaris' weakness, the deity was completely unstoppable. Along with possessing several godlike traits, it took the combined might of three super transformed hedgehogs to defeat him, and even then, they could not actually destroy him. As another testament to his power, Solaris is one of the few beings that can knock back a Super State through sheer force.

Being a god of time, Solaris can freely manipulate and change the fabric of time itself; according to Dr. Eggman, Solaris is capable of devouring time and space on an incomprehensible scale, encompassing entire dimensions and timelines. As a transcendent life form, Solaris possess a unique state of existence that lets him exist in the past, present and future simultaneously, making him omnipresent throughout time and virtually impossible to defeat unless he is attacked simultaneously in all eras. He can also create time-space rifts which can either suck objects into oblivion or hurl meteors of condensed matter at opponents which can knock back even a Super State user.

Much like his two halves, Iblis and Mephiles, Solaris is immortal and virtually indestructible. His body is unaffected by standard attacks, and it takes super-charged Chaos Powers from Super State users to just inflict harm on him. Even then, he was able to easily revitalize himself after taking extensive injuries from Super Sonic, Super Shadow, and Super Silver. He is also able to project energy as massive lasers and purple orbs which are powerful enough to bypass the invulnerability of a Super State. In his second form, Solaris demonstrated the ability to generate an impenetrable shield of light named the "Wings of Light" that can block any attack. However, this shield works both ways, so Solaris has to lower it to launch his own attacks.

Solaris is capable of at least limited shapeshifting, allowing him to assume new and stronger physical forms, as seen when he changed the sun-like appendage on his back into wings. According to Princess Elise and Eggman, Solaris also possesses pyrokinetic abilities, which is further enforced by his relationship to Iblis, a being of fire.

Weakness
Solaris' only vulnerable point is the red core in the center of his body that holds his consciousness. By destroying it, it would still leave Solaris' body intact, but he would be unable to use it.

Boss guide
To defeat Solaris, the player must take control of Super Sonic, Super Shadow and Super Silver. Like most Super States, Rings are required to maintain them during the boss battle. If the player runs low on rings, they can switch characters to collect more. The boss has two phases. Getting hit by an attack from Solaris will cost the player ten Rings.

Phase One
To defeat this form of Solaris, the player's targets are the "light shells" on his body. Solaris mainly attacks by throwing meteors from his red eyes at the hedgehogs as well as firing a laser from his chest. He can also create an invisible force field to protect himself. To start the fight, switch to Super Silver and use his Shield of Light power to grab the meteors that Solaris throws and hurl them back to destroy the light shell on his left arm while continue moving. Once that light shell is gone, switch to Super Shadow and use his Spear of Light beam to destroy the light shell on his right arm, while using the Turbo Boost. After the light shell on his right arm is destroyed, switch to Super Sonic and use his Arrow of Light to destroy the light shell on his body along with dashing by the Turbo Boost. Once all three light shells are destroyed he can take damage from any of the three characters. Attack the red core on his chest until he is defeated.

Phase Two
As soon as the player can attack Solaris again, switch to Super Shadow and start charging up his Action Gauge. When it is full, launch a full salvo of Spear of Light and then Turbo Boost to either side of Solaris to avoid immediate retaliation. Super Shadow is the best hero to use in this final attack, so take extra care always to switch out before his Ring count dips below ten. Solaris increases the frequency of meteors thrown through the void, so Super Silver is a pivotal hero to use in this second attack on Solaris. Use his Shield of Light to capture the meteors and return fire. Always watch Solaris' wings. When the player finds them growing especially bright, get ready to Turbo Dash to either side to avoid an incoming Beam Attack. When the player must let Super Shadow and Super Silver build up their depleted Rings, use Super Sonic's Arrow of Light when Solaris leaves his core completely exposed. When Super Sonic does not have a full Action Gauge, use Turbo Boost to zip around Solaris and avoid incoming attacks. When Solaris' health bar is almost empty, lay it on as thick as the player can. In desperation, Solaris will unleash a violent torrent of meteors and energy beams. Keep switching between Super Shadow and Super Silver so the player can attack from a safe distance, especially with Super Shadow as he can attack while moving. Never hover in one place, as the instant Solaris draws a bead on the player, he will release a flurry of attacks.

Archie Comics
In the Archie Comics' Sonic the Hedgehog comic book series, Solaris was initially hinted to have appeared in the comics' continuity by writer Ian Flynn, who confirmed that the events of Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) had occurred in the comics. Solaris was later officially revealed to have appeared in the comics in The Complete Sonic Comic Encyclopedia though it has yet to appear in the storyline. Much like in the game, Solaris was originally a flame which was split into Mephiles and Iblis during experiments conducted by the Duke of Soleanna and his researchers. Solaris was eventually restored due to the actions of Mephiles and prepared to destroy time, but was stopped, and eventually erased from existence by Sonic the Hedgehog and Princess Elise.

Trivia

 * Solaris is the one of the two bosses in Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) that is fought by all three main characters, the other being Iblis.
 * He is also the only boss who is fought with all three main characters at the same time.
 * The six stones behind Solaris turn clockwise with Sonic and Shadow being controlled. However, with Silver, his stones turn counter clockwise (after several hits).
 * Solaris, at least in its second form, looks remarkably like part of the crest of Hyrule from the Legend of Zelda series.
 * In his first phase, Solaris has six stones on his back, six claws and six horn segments on his head. This may be a reference to the number 666, which is generally the accepted Number of the Beast from the Book of Revelation. The angelic second form of Solaris can also be looked upon as the true form of Satan. The most beautiful angel but also the most evil entity in the universe.
 * The Time Eater's core closely resembles Solaris' own. Further similarities between the two bosses include their shared power of time travel, and the fact that they can destroy the timeline with relative ease.
 * In further reference to the Book of Revelation, Solaris' two halves, Mephiles and Iblis, represent the False Prophet and the Beast respectively. Both creatures' names are also derived from synonyms for the Devil.
 * Solaris is one the few final bosses to be canonically battled by more than one super transformed character, or by one super transformed character and a character transformed in a similar way; the other ones who have that trait are the Finalhazard, Metal Overlord, the Time Eater, the Egg Salamander and the Egg Wizard.
 * Out of all of these bosses, however, Solaris is one of the only two that required more than two super transformed characters to defeat, with a total of three (the other being Metal Overlord, who also required three).
 * In the second phase of Solaris, the music is an instrumental remix of His World.