Chaos Emerald (Pre-Super Genesis Wave)


 * For the version of this object after the Super Genesis Wave, see Chaos Emerald (Archie).

The Chaos Emeralds are objects that appears in the Sonic the Hedgehog comic series and its spin-offs published by Archie Comics. They are magical gemstones containing infinite power. Their ultimate origin is unknown, though they seem to be the physical manifestations of the Chaos Force - the all-encompassing energy of the universe. They previously existed all over the universe, until the Great Harmony, caused by the Chosen One, sent all of them into the Zone of Silence. The thousands of existing Chaos Emeralds were then merged by Feist to form seven different colored emeralds: peridot (green), aquamarine (cyan), sapphire (blue), ruby (red), amethyst (purple), topaz (yellow), and diamond (grey).

The Chaos Emeralds have been the center of conflict on Mobius for thousands of years, from the Forgotten War during the reign of Mammoth Mogul and his Order of Ixis ten thousand years ago, to the recent battles against Dr. Ivo Robotnik's ten year domination of the planet.

Coming of the Chaos Emeralds
The Chaos Emeralds' ultimate origin and how they came to exist across the universe is unknown. The history about the Chaos Emeralds on Mobius began thousands of years ago, during the Saurian Age. One day, the sky turned green and a large quantity of green Chaos Emeralds began raining down on Mobius from space in a mix with hail. This event became know as the Coming of the Chaos Emeralds and supplied Mobius with its Chaos Emeralds. However, their arrival was not a peaceful one. The emeralds triggered what is considered the second Days of Fury, which resulted in disastrous weather anomalies that wiped out all of the Mobosaurs.

Those who survived, discovered the power of the Chaos Emeralds, inspiring cultural and technological wonders. Three Mobosaurs who became known as the Ancient Walkers used the Chaos Emeralds to unlock the secrets of the Chaos Force, gaining god-like powers, wisdom and insight. A Mobian hunter, named Mammoth Mogul, fused with a Chaos Emerald he found and gained unbelievable power and immortality. Seeking global conquest, Mogul used his Chaos Emerald's power to develop Ixis Magicks for his Order of Ixis, but his ambitions were thwarted by the Templar Knights of Aurora.

Creating the Floating Island
Over four hundred years ago, two echidna scientists, Kayla-La and Jordann, discovered that the great White Comet was on a collision course with their city of Echidnaopolis and Kayla-La came up with a daring plan to use the power of the Chaos Emeralds to lift their city off the surface of Mobius and into the sky and away from danger. Approved by the High Council of Echidnaopolis, the people excavated twelve Chaos Emeralds and brought them to the caverns below the city. There, their energies were used to negate gravity around Echidnaopolis, effectively lifting the city into the sky and creating the Floating Island. If the emeralds were removed, however, it would cause the island to fall back down.

Generations later, Kayla-La's and Jordann's great-great grandchildren, Edmund and Dimitri studied the island's Chaos Emeralds and developed their Chaos Syphon to slowly drain the power of the emeralds to lower Echidnaopolis back into its former site, but the High Council rejected their plan. Enraged, Dimitri proceeded with the plan himself, only for the emeralds' power to be transferred into him, turning him into Enerjak. All but one of the twelve emeralds were destroyed as a result, though this one emerald managed to keep the island afloat.

Usage for the Future
After Nate Morgan was taken into the Kingdom of Acorn by King Frederick Acorn and allowed to pursue his energy research, the scientist was given a Chaos Emerald to work with. Using the emerald's bi-product energies, Nate created the Power Rings which allowed the Kingdom of Acorn to enter a golden age of technological advances.

When Locke tried to prepare Knuckles for the coming threat of Dr. Eggman, he used the Floating Island's Chaos Emerald to expose Knuckles' egg when it was just laid to enhance his strength. This eventually triggered Knuckles' evolution into Chaos Knuckles years later.

Modern Usage
At some point, Sonic the Hedgehog learned that he could use the power of seven Chaos Emeralds and fifty Power Rings to transform into a Super State known as Super Sonic. When the Universalamander was sent to destroy the Knothole Freedom Fighters, Sonic the Hedgehog used the seven Chaos Emeralds and Power Rings he had collected to become Super Sonic and defeat the Universalamander.

When Dr. Robotnik and Snively crash-landed on the Floating Island, Robotnik stole the island's Chaos Emerald to recharge his craft by tricking the island Guardian, Knuckles the Echidna into chasing after Sonic and Tails. However, Sonic quickly took the emerald back, and he and Knuckles got rid of Robotnik while returning the Chaos Emerald to the island.

Robotnik later obtained another Chaos Emerald for a Mega-Engine. However, the doctor's machine split the emerald in half and sent the highly unstable shards across Mobius. One shard landed in the Great Forest, where it created an abnormal zone, and the other landed on the Floating Island, where it was attracted to the island's Chaos Emerald and would blow up the island due to the imbalance between them. Despite interference from Nack the Weasel, who was hired by Robotnik to retrieve the Emeralds, Sonic and Knuckles worked together to rejoin the Chaos Emerald shards in time. The reformed Chaos Emerald was then claimed by the Ancient Walkers in a flash.

Soon after, Robotnik secretly turned the Floating Island it into a flying fortress powered by the island's Chaos Emerald. Ridden with guilt, Knuckles destroyed the island's Chaos Emerald to stop the doctor. As a result, the island began falling from the sky, but Knuckles quickly saved the island with an extra emerald he had in storage. A while later, Bunnie Rabbot began stealing Dr. Robotnik's Chaos Emerald supplies for the Knothole Charity Dance. Despite Robotnik sending Coconuts to protect his remaining Chaos Emeralds, Bunnie was able to outsmart Coconuts and get the emeralds.

Having only one Chaos Emerald for the Floating Island, Knuckles decided to go in search of another for emergencies. His search took him to pocket zone filled with Chaos Emeralds and Power Rings but was forced to compete against Sonic, who thought he intended to strike a deal with Robotnik. The two combatants each collected seven Chaos Emeralds and fifty Power Rings, transforming into Super Sonic and Hyper Knuckles, respectively. Their battle eventually destroyed the dimension and all the Chaos Emeralds inside of it, but Knuckles managed to save one emerald and accomplished his mission. When Sonic shortly after got his One Billionth Power Ring, he was treated to knowledge about the Chaos Emeralds' connection to the Power Rings from the Ancient Walkers as a reward for his achievement.

In 3235, Dr. Robotnik went after the Chaos Emeralds on the Floating Island to fully charge his Death Egg. As Robotnik rammed the station into the island, its Chaos Emeralds barely resisted the pressure, but their dispersed energy now threatened to topple the island. Fortunately, the Death Egg's attack was quickly thwarted. However, one of the emeralds were shortly after borrow by the Knothole Freedom Fighters after persuading Knuckles to cure Maximillian Acorn of his crystallization. Unfortunately, it had the opposite effect on the king and instead temporarily accelerating his crystallization.

Robotnik soon went on a new hunt for the Chaos Emeralds on Flicky Island and discovered one in another Zone. Despite interferences from Sonic, Robotnik found the Chaos Emerald, but lost it when he escaped from the foreign Zone as it collapsed. Later on, Archimedes used one of the Floating Island's Chaos Emeralds to combat Mammoth Mogul when he had the Knothole Freedom Fighters and the Chaotix at his mercy. The overlapping energies between the island and Mogul's Emerald triggered an explosion that made Mogul retreat. When Mogul later resurfaced as Master Mogul, the demi-god was beaten back by the combined forces from Super Sonic, Hyper Knuckles, Turbo Tails, the Ancient Walkers, Athair and the Brotherhood of Guardians. As a last resort, Master Mogul tried draining the Chaos Emeralds on the Floating Island and add them to his total of twelve Chaos Emeralds. However, the brotherhood invert the power flow and trapped Mogul in the Master Emerald, a Chaos Emerald composed of all the emeralds Mogul obtained.

Shadow's Revenge
When Shadow the Hedgehog was reawakened by Dr. Eggman and enlisted to help him take over the world, Shadow began hunting down seven Chaos Emeralds to power the Eclipse Cannon which Eggman could use (though Shadow true agenda was to destroy the world as revenge for Maria Robotnik's dreath). After stealing a Chaos Emerald from the Bank of Station Square and a few more from Prison Island, seven Chaos Emeralds were brought to the Space Colony ARK. When the Finalhazard threatened to destroy Mobius with the ARK, Sonic and Shadow, who had realized he had been mislead by fake memories planted by Gerald Robotnik, used the seven Chaos Emeralds on the ARK to become Super Sonic and Super Shadow and save the world.

Evil Emerald Entities
When Sonic was transported planet Thoraxia, he discovered six of the red Chaos Emeralds native to the planet. When the friendly Blodex were attacked by the Bzzzz, Sonic tried using these Chaos Emeralds to transform into Super Sonic. However, these Emeralds instead manifested Super Sonic as a separate entity which was wild and uncontrollable. Fortunately, the energy of the Chaos Emeralds soon ran out, ending the mad Super Sonic's existence.

When Master Mogul reappeared and began destroying the multiverse, Titan Tails used his cosmic powers to trap Mogul inside his own Chaos Emerald. However, Mogul managed to escape and reclaim his Emerald when the Ancient Walkers died.

The Great Harmony
In 3237, A.D.A.M., enacted his plan to draw all of the Chaos Emeralds from around the universe using Tails and Shadow's innate abilities. The rogue A.I. succeed in his plans, not only gathering green emeralds of Mobius (excluding the Master Emerald), but also drawing the red emeralds from Thoraxia, the cyan emeralds from Weeet, the blue from Xorda, the purple from Teragosa 6, the yellow from the star that killed E.V.E., the silver from Argentium to Mobius. When Sonic arrived to stop A.D.A.M., Sonic used the gathered Chaos Emeralds to become Super Sonic, but A.D.A.M. retaliated by using them to become Super A.D.A.M. Unbeknownst to A.D.A.M., his plan ultimately allowed Tails, the "Chosen One," to fulfill the prophecy of producing the Great Harmony. While A.D.A.M. was distracted, Super Shadow assisted Turbo Tails in opening a portal to the Zone of Silence. There, Tails sent all of the Chaos Emeralds so they would be safe and out of reach from villains, thus fulfilling the prophecy set out by the Ancient Walkers.

Seven Emeralds to Share
Shortly after being sent into the Zone of Silence, every Chaos Emerald was fused together with the other emeralds of the same color by Feist (the Mobian trapped inside the Zone), creating seven Chaos Emeralds and giving him god-like power in that Zone; using that power, Feist reshaped the Zone of Silence into the renamed "Special Zone". Feist now present challenges to those who wished to obtain one of the emeralds.

While on a mission into what they thought was still the Zone of Silence, Sonic the Hedgehog and Tails encountered Feist who revealed what he did to the Emeralds. Due to their shared antagonism of his former master Ixis Naugus, Feist granted them the grey Chaos Emerald upon request, but warned them they would be challenged if they returned for any more. They left the zone to use the emerald to awaken Maximillian Acorn from his death-like sleep. Its power was then, temporarily, given to Merlin Prower to use with Knuckle's Guiding Star Gem to, successfully, retrieve Amadeus and Rosemary Prower, Tails's parents, from Argentium. After this it was returned to the Castle Acorn, only for Mammoth Mogul to force Sonic and Ash Mongoose to steal it to make him immortal again or lose the lives of Tails, Mina Mongoose and Mighty the Armadillo. Embedding the emerald in chest and regaining his powers, Mogul broke out of prison and escaped with the emerald.

Later on, the green Chaos Emerald ended up in the Sol Zone under unknown circumstances, where it was found by Marine the Raccoon. After Sonic and Tails mistakenly entered the Sol Zone and met Marine, the green Chaos Emerald was stolen by Johnny. With help from Blaze the Cat, Sonic, Tails and Marine retrieved the Chaos Emerald from Johnny, Captain Whisker and Dr. Nega, which Sonic then gave it to Blaze to help in her search for the lost Sol Emeralds. A few weeks later, Metal Sonic v3.3 and Shadow accidentally appeared in the Sol Zone, where Shadow helped stop Metal Sonic when it went on a rampage with help from Blaze and Marine. Blaze generously gave the emerald to Shadow as thanks for protecting her zone, which Shadow used to get home with using Chaos Control before handing it over to G.U.N. who would be used to develop better and stronger robots.

G.U.N. later assigned Shadow and Rouge the Bat to retrieve another Chaos Emerald from the Special Zone. When they arrived, Feist gave them one of his challenges for the red Chaos Emerald. They, unfortunately, failed, but returned with E-123 Omega. Failing, yet again, they used "Plan B" with Omega shooting Feist while Shadow and Rouge escaped with the emerald.

Due to losing the grey Chaos Emerald, Sonic and Geoffrey St. John entered the Special Zone once more, to recover a Chaos Emerald in it would settle Maximillian Acorn's delusional mind. Once they arrived, Feist challenged them with a race. Sonic easily passed the challenge and got back with the emerald, only for Geoffrey to paralyze Sonic and throw him into the void of the Special Zone and taking the emerald. Going to the Casino Night Zone with the emerald, Geoffrey convinced Mogul to let him use the emerald to restore Ixis Naugus's sanity by promising it would make Sonic's life a misery. With the emerald's power, Naugus was restored and the wizard made the purple Chaos Emerald a part of his wand, allowing it to augment his various spells and lead an Ixis Resurgence.

Genesis
Shortly after, Dr. Eggman and Snively went to the Special Zone to acquire a Chaos Emerald for Operation: Clean Sweep. There, Feist challenged Eggman and Snively in a race against each other for the blue Chaos Emerald. Eggman defeated his nephew in the race, but before he could have the emerald, Feist had the doctor choose between the Chaos Emerald or Snively, as he was only allowed to bring one of them back. Without hesitation, Eggman chose the blue Chaos Emerald and return to the Prime Zone, though he teleported Snively back to him afterwards. The blue Chaos Emerald was then used to power Dr. Eggman's Death Egg Mark 2, and launch the Genesis Wave, a reality changer that used the blue Chaos Emerald's Chaos Energy to rewrite the Prime Zone's timeline.

In the rewritten timeline of the Prime Zone following the initiation of Operation: Clean Sweep, the seven Chaos Emeralds' history were rewritten as well, causing them to end up in unspecified locations that fit their new history. They were eventually collected by Eggman as part of his plan to conquer Mobius by having them reenergize the Death Egg Mark 2. During Sonic's battle with the Egg Destroyer Battlesuit, Sonic harnessed the seven Chaos Emeralds' energies that was flowing through the Death Egg Mark 2 to become Super Sonic and destroyed Eggman's mech, before returning reality to normal.

With the restoration of the Prime Zone's reality, the seven Chaos Emeralds were returned to their original place as their history was corrected. In the aftermath of Operation: Clean Sweep, however the blue Chaos Emerald was inexplicably transported to the Lanfront Ruins in an alternate dimension.

Worlds Collide
The blue Chaos Emerald was found by one of Dr. Albert W. Wily's Robot Masters and brought to Dr. Wily, who decided to analyze it which brought him into contact with Dr. Eggman. Deciding it was in their best interest to meet, Wily created the Skull Egg Zone with the blue Chaos Emerald for them to meet in. Deciding to join forces in conquering their respective worlds, Eggman and Wily devised the agenda to collect all seven Chaos Emeralds to unleash a "Super Genesis Wave" that would let them reshape their universes to their liking.

Using the blue Chaos Emerald's power inside their Wily Egg, Drs. Eggman and Wily initiate a regular Genesis Wave, reshaping the Prime Zone and the Earth in the year 20XX to their benefits. This Genesis Wave, however, scattered the other Chaos Emeralds across both worlds, leaving the doctors to collect them.

Using the Roboticized Masters, Eggman and Wily collected five of the Chaos Emeralds. At some point afterwards, the Roboticized Masters found the sixth Chaos Emerald inside the National Bank in Mega City. Despite some interference from Mega Man and Proto Man, the Roboticized Masters got the sixth Chaos Emerald to the Wily Egg. Not long after, the last Chaos Emerald was found by Silver Man and Blaze Woman and brought to the Wily Egg as well.

With all seven Emeralds, Drs. Eggman and Wily plugged them into the Genesis Reactor from the Genesis Chamber and had them power it up. At the time where Eggman and Wily had captured Sonic and Mega Man inside the Wily Egg, the Emeralds had finished charging. As the doctors gloated over their impending victory, however, Knuckles and Proto Man attacked. In an attempt to get rid of the duo, the doctors drew power from the Chaos Emeralds and super-charged their Egg-Wily Machine X. Then, just as the Super Genesis Wave was unleashed and rewrote the two universes, Sonic and Mega Man harnessed the seven Chaos Emeralds as well, transforming into Super Sonic and Super Armor Mega Man, allowing them to defeat the doctors. The two heroes then tried to restore their worlds to normal with Chaos Control, but while Mega Man succeeded without interference, Sonic's attempt was disturbed by an attack by Dr. Eggman.
 * Note: From this point, the Chaos Emeralds' history continues from their new existence in the altered timeline.

Powers and traits
Each Chaos Emerald contain an unlimited reserve of pure and highly potent Chaos energy which can be harnessed from each emerald by both living creatures and machines. The current power levels after the merging is unknown but most likely incomprehensibly great. Alone they can enhance and empower the holder, granting enhanced power and mystical abilities, while together they have theoretically unlimited potential, literally capable of reshaping the face of reality and can induce a powerful, nigh-invulnerable state.

Origin controversy
The origins of the Chaos Emeralds on Mobius and the other planets is rather questionable, due to the revelation that remarkably-similar Chaos Emeralds existed all over the universe. Furthermore, the robot Isaac claimed that the green Chaos Emeralds on Mobius were a bi-product of the Gene bomb's radiation reacting with beryl deposits beneath the planet's surface.

The Gene Bomb origin story does not account for the Emeralds across the universe, nor for the Green Emeralds that exist in Mobius's pocket dimensions. The most current storywriter, Ian Flynn, has very solidly denounced the "Xorda Gene Bomb" origin for the Chaos Emeralds and has purposefully left their origin vague and untouched, so as to accentuate their "mystical qualities" and leave it open for interpretation by the reader. Thus, the "Gene Bomb" theory is considered not-canon, though other details provided by Isaac about Mobius' history are, as there is no contrary evidence to these in the books.

Trivia

 * "Chaos" in the English language means disorder and an irregular, unpredictable action that was remarkably sensitive to regular changes in environment, similar to how the Chaos Emeralds in the series act. "Chaos" as used in Greek refers to a large emptiness, or space. "Space" in English came to be a general term meaning both everything outside of the Earth’s atmosphere and the placement of objects in relation to one another.
 * Chaos Emerald Mischief.jpg color of the Chaos Emerald that Team Dark obtained in Sonic Universe #4 has been switched. Originally, it was colored green in the original issue, but when it was reprinted in trade-paperback novel Sonic Universe: The Shadow Saga, it was switched to red.
 * Chaos Emerald Messup.jpg messup happened in Sonic the Hedgehog #235; when Silver the Hedgehog asked Mammoth Mogul to go over what happened in the time period 3237, he mentioned Ixis Naugus and his plan to make a new Ixis Resurgence. However, the flashback shows Naugus having the purple, red, and green Chaos Emerald. The comics only shown Naugus having the purple Chaos Emerald, thus it could be a possibility that Naugus could have stolen those Chaos Emeralds from G.U.N. or, it could be just a mess up.
 * All of the flashbacks involving the characters using the Chaos Emeralds are all colored green, which is true to the continuity, as all of the Chaos Emeralds prior A.D.A.M. summoning the gems on Mobius were green.
 * The colors of the chaos emeralds were chosen based on the three primary colors of light (red, blue, and green), the three secondary colors wich are mixtures of the primary colors (red + blue = purple, blue + green = cyan, and green + red = yellow), and finally grey which is a mixture of all three primary colors (red + blue + green = grey).
 * Writer Ian Flynn has stated that each Chaos Emerald started with infinite power and that has not changed despite the thousands of Chaos Emeralds have now merged into seven, saying "there's nothing to be gained when you already have everything."