Mephiles the Dark



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Mephiles the Dark (メフィレス・ザ・ダーク) (pronounced Meh-fill-ess or Muh-fill-eez in English) was a character and the primary antagonist from Sonic the Hedgehog.

Mephiles has three forms; the first and original was a dark, blackish-purple formless ooze or gas with some gaseous qualities. In his second form, Mephiles appears almost identical to Shadow the Hedgehog. His third and primary form was a crystalline, anthropomorphic hedgehog form resembling the appearance of other hedgehogs in the Sonic series, such as Sonic himself. His name was based on the one of the names of Mephistopheles related to the legend of Faust.

History
Mephiles was created during the "Solaris Experiment" (Project Solaris) related to Elise's father. He was actually an extension of Iblis himself, his conscious part. He was sealed in the "Scepter of Darkness" by Shadow the Hedgehog, who had traveled through time to ten years before the events of the game. In the present, Dr. Eggman accidentally releases him while trying to steal the scepter from Rouge the Bat. Mephiles' true state was like Shadow's shadow. He seeks to get the Chaos Emeralds and bring pain and despair to Princess Elise, with the goals of making her cry, therefore releasing the "Flames of Disaster" (a.k.a. Iblis) and then fuse with him, becoming Solaris.

To accomplish this, he tells Silver the Hedgehog and Blaze the Cat that Sonic the Hedgehog was the cause of Iblis being released, which led to the destruction of their world. Sonic was, thus, referred to as the "Iblis Trigger". The two then promptly travel back in time to stop Sonic from inadvertently destroying the world in the future, when it was really Mephiles' plan to make Elise cry, as she cared for Sonic as a good friend.

Along the way, as all three storylines progress, the three main characters discover how Mephiles was somehow involved in the secret "Flames of Disaster", wielded by Princess Elise. Mephiles has a very pivotal role in all of the storylines, throughout the course of the game (even though he ends up battling Shadow in Shadow's story). In the Last Story, Mephiles uses a Chaos Emerald to warp to Sonic and Elise's location, then Mephiles instantly impales Sonic with a spear of energy, thus killing him. Elise cries over his death and, as a result, releases Iblis, allowing Mephiles to fuse with him and transform into Solaris.

Mephiles holds a particular hate for Shadow since it was he who sealed him in the Scepter of Darkness. Mephiles attempts to break Shadow's will to fight and join him, much like Black Doom had, by revealing that in the current future, the world, and an unwilling Omega, would turn against Shadow and imprison him (Mephiles keeps his hatred for Shadow a secret when he tries to convince him to join him). However, Shadow proved immune to Mephiles' tactics, saying Shadow would determine his own destiny. Later, when Shadow learned of Mephiles's goal, he made a permanent enemy of him.

Abilities


Many of Mephiles's offensive techniques are based on that of past Sonic bosses. He can sink into the ground and become the shadow of his opponent (particularly Shadow's since you only fight him as Shadow, but on one level you fight Mephiles as Omega); this was not unlike King Boom Boo. Mephiles's final attack used before transforming into his Solaris form was a long energy bolt that he extends from his right hand to impale Sonic. He can also duplicate himself into an army of clones.

Mephiles also appears to have unique and almost flawless form of manipulation, as he was able to manipulate nine people (Amy, Blaze, Knuckles, Omega, Rouge, Shadow, Silver, Sonic, and Tails) across a time period of 210 years (from 10 years in the past until 200 years in the future) to get a single result in the present. However, this also spawns the question of whether Mephiles travels through time after Silver to do this or simply exists through all the events, making alterations in the future that he believes caused events in the past, to stay the dominant force.

Trivia

 * Mephiles' name derives from Mephistopheles, one of the chief demons of the Christian faith.
 * Mephiles was the only villain in the various Sonic continuities to canonically kill Sonic.
 * Mephiles was voiced by Dan Green, the same actor who voices Knuckles the Echidna. He is somewhat famous for sounding almost exactly like Atem/Yami Yugi from Yu-Gi-Oh! who is also voiced by Dan Green. In Sonic the Hedgehog, he is credited as his alias, "Jay Snyder".
 * Mephiles seems to have a lot in common with Shadow, like how both were results of science experiments to help mankind, both were attacked by members of GUN, (in Mephiles' case, it was Shadow, who worked for GUN at the time), and so on.
 * Mephiles appears on a card in Sonic Rivals 2, after earning an S on knockout mode.
 * It is not stated why Dr. Eggman wanted to capture Mephiles, but based on his actions in the game, it can be guessed that he had hoped to harness Mephiles' power to travel through time.
 * Mephiles is one of the three characters (along with Fang the Sniper and Bean the Dynamite) to have a title that is not based off their own species; that is because Mephiles is not of a species, unless you count darkness as his species "Mephiles the Dark"
 * Mephiles is most likely the most evil being Sonic has ever faced, as he plans to destroy Time itself, and kill everything on Earth. Not to mention how he killed Sonic in the Last Story.
 * Why did Mephiles have to kill Sonic to release the Iblis in Princess Elise when he could have just fused with Iblis in the future? Some speculate that it was due to the lack of Chaos Emeralds in the future, but this is untrue (Mephiles used an emerald to show Sonic to Silver).