Solaris


 * This article is about the being. You may be looking for the 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, concerning Solaris

Solaris (ソラリス) is the 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. Prior to the game's events during the Solaris Project, he was separated into two halves: Mephiles (the conscious mind) and Iblis (the raw strength). His desire is to destroy all of reality by consuming all existing time lines, and thus bring the collapse of time itself.

Appearance
Prior to the Solaris Project, Solaris was nothing more than a tiny 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 gloving 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 rule of 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. Before he could achieve this, however, he was defeated by a combined assault from, Super Shadow, Super Silver, and a resurrected Super Sonic, where the 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 before the fateful experiment. After some contemplation, Elise chose to blow out the flame that would become Solaris's tiny flame form and change the history.

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.

In this media, some believe Solaris was one of the Seven Ixis Master Works while others think it has always existed.

Powers and abilities
Solaris is the most powerful villain in Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) and probably the most powerful being in the entire Sonic series, and possesses many traits that could be deemed as godlike (which is fitting, seeing as it is a god). It took the combined might of three super hedgehogs to defeat Solaris, and even then, they could not actually destroy him. Described as a super-dimensional being, Solaris is able to exist in the past, present and future, making him omnipresent throughout time and virtually impossible to defeat, unless he is attacked simultaneously in all time periods. In addition, Solaris is one of the few bosses in the series whose attacks take rings away from super transformed characters; each of his attacks costs Super Sonic, Super Shadow, or Super Silver 10 rings.

As a god over time, Solaris is capable of freely manipulating time itself, and is able to cause instabilities in time and create time-space rifts. According to Dr. Eggman, Solaris can devour the fabric of time and space itself, and should he consume all existing time lines, it would lead to the collapse of time itself.

Solaris can shoot out meteors from the red orbs surrounding him and fire lasers, seemingly in front of his body that can hit its enemies from any distance. In his second form, he increases the number of meteors and laser he can fire (he can fire up to 9 lasers at the same time), and can launch purple orbs similar to Mephiles' that will follow the opponent until it hits.

Besides being invulnerable to standard attacks, Solaris has also displayed several ways to protect himself from harm. In his first form, his body is covered in shells of light that protects him and keeps him tied to the dimension where he is fought. These shells can only be destroyed by being attacked by the right super transformed hedgehog at the right time. This is probably because Solaris cannot be defeated in just one time period: The first shell on his left arm can only be destroyed by Super Silver, the second shell on his right arm can only be destroyed by Super Shadow and the final shell on his main body can only be destroyed by Super Sonic. Once all shells are destroyed, he can take damage from any of the three characters. In his second form he has another invisible and almost impenetrable shield of light that can block any of the characters attacks, and can only be bypassed when Solaris himself attacks.

As hinted by Princess Elise, Solaris may possess pyrokinetic abilities, which is further enforced by his relationship to Iblis, a being of fire.

During the "End of the World" level (where the characters are trying to revive Sonic), another power Solaris has is the ability to create massive orb-like "eyes" that suck in anything around them, including enemies that the characters encounter. Touching these eyes results in instant death, regardless of rings or even an invincibility power-up. He can also create red orb-like eyes that he uses to hurl objects at his enemies.

Much like his two halves, Iblis and Mephiles, Solaris' physical body appears to be immortal and indestructible, as he easily came back after his first defeat by Super Sonic, Super Shadow and Super Silver, even after they eliminated his omnipresent throughout time, and can as well assume other stronger physical forms. His only weak point is his consciousness, which is still vulnerable to attacks. By destroying it, it would still leave Solaris' body intact, but he would be unable to use it.

Strategy
To defeat Solaris, the player must take control of Super Sonic, Super Shadow, and Super Silver. Like most super forms, rings are required to maintain them. If running low on rings, switch characters to collect more. The boss has two phases, and the strategies for each are below.

Solaris Phase One
To defeat this form of Solaris, the player's targets are the "light shells" on his body. Solaris mainly attacks by telekinetically throwing meteors 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. 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. 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. Once all three light shells are destroyed, attack the red core on his chest until he is defeated, or so it seems.

Solaris Phase Two
It seems that Solaris has been defeated, but he quickly rises up with a new body. Eggman suggests that if they cannot stop his body, they can stop his consciousness. To do so, the player must attack the red core to damage him. This is much easier then before, as now any of the hedgehogs can attack Solaris at anytime. Solaris' tactics have not changed from the previous battle. The only obvious difference is that Solaris can increase the number of lasers and meteors he can fire at the hedgehogs; he can now fire up to 14 lasers at once. Otherwise, this is the easier of the two forms. As long as the player switches characters to collect more rings, Solaris will be defeated, and you will have beat the game.

Trivia

 * 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 6 stones on his back, 6 claws, and 6 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.
 * 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.
 * The Time Eater from Sonic Generations has a similar ability: to alter (and destroy) time.
 * 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, the Time Eater, the Egg Salamander, and the Egg Wizard.
 * Out of all of these bosses, however, Solaris is the only one that required more than two super transformed characters to defeat, with a total of three.