Maria Robotnik


 * This article is about the character from the games. For the Sonic X character, see Maria Robotnik (Sonic X). For the Archie Comics character, see Maria Robotnik (Archie).

"Shadow, I beg of you! Give them a chance to be happy!"

- Maria Robotnik, Sonic Adventure 2

Maria Robotnik (マリア・ロボトニック) is fictional character from the Sonic the Hedgehog series. She was a young human and the granddaughter of Gerald Robotnik and the cousin of Dr. Eggman. Born and raised on the Space Colony ARK, Maria suffered from a terminal illness. To save Maria, Gerald agreed to work on Project Shadow in hopes of using the fruits of the research to find a cure for her. Gerald's research produced Shadow the Hedgehog, who Maria became close friends with. When GUN later tried to shut down the ARK, Maria was killed when trying to assist Shadow in his escape from the colony.

Appearance
Maria was described as overall frail in appearance. She was a normal, youthful and slim human girl, who was about two heads taller than Shadow. She had neck-long and voluminous dark blond hair, light skin, large blue eyes, and pink lips. Her hairstyle was wavy and held back with a blue hair band. For clothes, she wore a dark blue top with short puffy sleeves and light blue endings, a light blue dress, and slipper-like cobalt shoes with low heels. Other than that, she has been seen wearing a white surgery suit.

In Sonic Adventure 2, Maria's clothes were slightly different; her clothes were overall paler, her dress had long sleeves, and she walked around barefooted.

Early Life
Maria was born and raised onboard the Space Colony ARK. Before she could visit earth however, Maria contracted Neuro-Immune Deficiency Syndrome, an incurable and inevitably fatal disease. Because of her illness, Maria was left very weak and frail, and in need of constant attention which meant she could not leave the ARK's hospital, leaving her confined in outer space. Despite all her help though, Maria's condition only continued to weaken over time. While looking down at the earth from the ARK, Maria developed an interest in it and longed to go there.

While living on the ARK, Maria was looked after and cared for by her grandfather, Gerald Robotnik. Maria came to mean everything to Gerald, and the two of them would work and live together onboard the ARK. She also befriended a young Commander whom she would play with.

Living with Shadow
In an attempt to save Maria's life, Gerald agreed to work on Project Shadow, a medical project to create an immortal life form, in hopes that he could create a cure for Maria's illness through the creature they sought to make. Gerald's research eventually led to the creation of Shadow the Hedgehog, who Maria befriended and grew very close to. As Shadow was raised, Maria remained by his side and they would spend their time together grazing upon the earth, wondering what it was like and hoping to go down there.

When the Artificial Chaos went on a rampage onboard the Space Colony ARK, Maria sought out Shadow and begged for him to help save the ARK, her grandfather and all the innocent. Shadow complied to Maria's wishes and the Artificial Chaos crisis was soon after averted.

Death
Some time after the completion of Project Shadow, Maria's peaceful existence was shattered when GUN attacked the ARK to eliminate everything and everyone relate to the project and shut the ARK down due to Shadow being deemed too dangerous. Meeting up with her grandfather during the attack, Maria was entrusted with Shadow by Gerald, who told her to escape the ARK with Shadow. While Gerald distracted GUN, Maria and Shadow tried to escape, but Maria was unwilling to leave the other researchers in the captivity of GUN and pleaded Shadow to help them. After Shadow had made his decision, Maria and him continued onward, but were blocked by a Heavy Dog which Shadow defeated.

Eventually, Maria and Shadow got to the ARK's escape pods, but before Maria could get into one, she was shot and mortally wounded by a G.U.N. soldier. With her last strength, Maria was able to save Shadow by launching him in his escape pod from the ARK, though not before pleading Shadow to protect the world and give everyone a chance to be happy. As she succumb to her wound, Maria's parting words were "Bring hope to humanity."

Legacy
Maria's death was a tragic event that deeply struck those close to her. Shadow, who witnessed Maria's death first-handed, was traumatized by this sight and came to loath humanity for what they did to her. The Commander also suffered a deep loss which made him develop a life-long grudge at both Gerald and Shadow for inadvertently killing her. However, none was more affected by Maria's death than her grandfather, Gerald, who went mad with grief and made a plan to destroy the world to avenge her, though it was ultimately averted. Before he went insane though, Gerald made Maria's last words the keywords that would activate Emerl's free-willed emotions-based AI.

Maria and her last request to Shadow would prove to be a driving force in the latter's life. For Maria's sake, Shadow made a promise to uphold her wish of him protecting the world and its people despite his loathing of humanity. Because Gerald brainwashed Shadow for his own needs to believe Maria wanted revenge though, Shadow initially sought to destroy the world for killing Maria, but he managed to remember Maria's true request. Shadow would then strive to fulfill his promise to her which has made him stop several global threats, such as Gerald's doomsday plans and Black Doom.

Personality
While Maria was frail in appearance, she was strong in spirit. She was eternally cheerful, optimistic and kindhearted and could see the good in almost anyone or anything, and finds it easier than most to forgive and forget, not to mention trust. Her mindset and personality are similar to that of Amy Rose: The two always look on the brighter side of things, have similar views on humanity and are overly cheerful and determined. These connections are prominent in Sonic Adventure 2.

Abilities
Although Maria seems to lack extraordinary abilities, it is shown in Shadow the Hedgehog that she can encourage others to accept themselves, and successfully calm those in stressful situations, including Shadow. This aside, the flashbacks in Shadow the Hedgehog could have been fabricated by Black Doom as a means to coax Shadow into submission as certain things do not match up such as her being lead by Shadow and getting shot at a dead end. In fact, it was Maria who bravely lead Shadow to the escape pod, and ultimately sacrificed her chance at seeing the world as she knew Shadow would carry out her dream to "bring hope to humanity." It can be said she is quite intelligent and utterly selfless due to these events.

Archie Comics
Maria appears in the Archie Comics continuity, occupying much the same role in Shadow's backstory as she does in the games. She acts like a sister figure or a mother figure to Shadow. She first appeared in the Sonic Adventure 2 adaptation. In keeping with the established backstory, this version of Maria is an Overlander, not a human.

Another character, named Hope Kintobor, also appears in the comics. Hope greatly resembles Maria, and Shadow has mistaken her for Maria repeatedly.

Sonic X
Maria makes a number of appearances in the anime Sonic X, partial to Shadow's memory. Her role in the story is about the same as it is in the games. Chris Thorndyke reminds Shadow of Maria. The role she plays is a reminder to Shadow to protect the people of Earth and not conquer them.

Quotes

 * "Isn't this place huge? Even I still get lost sometimes."
 * "Don't hurt yourself."
 * "Sorry I'm late!"
 * "Oh, Shadow. Thank you!"
 * "Sayonara, Shadow the Hedgehog."
 * "When the research experiments split apart, don't you think they look kinda cute?"
 * "Shadow, help me."
 * "Shadow, what do you think it's like on Earth?"
 * "Shadow... I beg of you...please give them a chance to be happy"
 * "The Heal Unit was one of grandfather's greatest inventions."
 * "Shadow, are you going to stare out that window all day?"
 * "Bring hope to humanity!" 

Trivia

 * In the GameCube and PlayStation 2 versions of Shadow the Hedgehog, Maria can be played by P2 in the stages The Doom and Lost Impact. This is the only game in which she is playable.
 * The length of Maria's hair seems to vary between continuities - she had short blonde hair in Shadow the Hedgehog, while she had long hair in Sonic Adventure 2 and Sonic X.
 * In the Japanese version of Sonic X, it is explained that Maria is in space because her disease is contagious and could be deadly if allowed to spread.
 * In the original Dreamcast version of Sonic Adventure 2, Maria had lengthy eyelashes. In Sonic Adventure 2 Battle and all subsequent appearances, they were removed.
 * In Sonic Battle, it is revealed that both Shadow and Emerl have the heart and soul of Maria Robotnik.
 * Her appearance and outfit are reminiscent of Alice, the heroine of Lewis Carroll's novels Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass.
 * Her outfit also seems to vary between games as in Sonic Adventure 2 Battle the sleeves of her dress are quite long while in Shadow the Hedgehog onwards the sleeves of her dress are much shorter.
 * Maria's name is also the password for both activating Shadow the Hedgehog and accessing the ARK's files about Project Shadow. Also, the reason why the password is utilized as "Ma-Ri-A" is because of Japanese phonetics.
 * In Sonic Adventure 2 Battle a Maria voice narrator can be unlocked by getting all 180 emblems in the game. It can be bought in Chao World's Black Market for 30,000 rings.
 * In every version of Sonic Adventure 2, Maria is barefoot. She wears blue shoes in all other appearances.
 * The song that played during Maria's flashback scenes in Sonic Adventure 2 and Sonic Adventure 2: Battle was an instrumental mix of "Throw It All Away," Shadow's theme in the game.
 * A character called Marie from another SEGA game, called Rhythm Thief & the Emperor's Treasure, has a similar design to Maria.