World of Camelot

The World of Camelot is an alternate reality that appears in Sonic and the Black Knight. This world exists within the storybook of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, a compilation of stories about the adventures of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, and is created from the stories within this storybook. As such, this world and the living beings that resides there reflects the book's stories and characters.

In Sonic and the Black Knight, this Arthurian realm was threatened when this world's central character, King Arthur himself, was corrupted by the power of the Scabbard of Excalibur, thus becoming the Black Knight, and began enslaving his once-peaceful kingdom. To combat this foe, Merlina the Wizard called Sonic the Hedgehog into the world of Camelot, so that he could defeat their evil king with the help from the sacred sword Caliburn.

Sonic and Caliburn eventually managed to defeat King Arthur and took the Scabbard of Excalibur. Merlina, however, double-crossed Sonic by using him to claim the scabbard for herself to prevent the end of the kingdom and this world, though at immeasurable costs. Sonic and Caliburn, however, managed to foil Merlina's plans, thus bringing peace to the kingdom and the world of Camelot.

Setting
As a world created from the stories of the Arthurian legends, much of the world of Camelot's locations and settings resemble those found in medieval Europe, such as Stonehenge, while the world's history, recordings and culture themselves resemble and follow the stories written in the storybook, complete with knights serving as enforcers, codes of chivalry and honor, and monarchs ruling over villagers.

Many of the residents that can be found in the world of Camelot are more-or-less identical counterparts to the characters found in the Arthurian legends, such as Sir Lancelot, Sir Gawain, Sir Percival, the Lady of the Lake and King Arthur, and have as well backgrounds similar to those of the characters in the stories. This world also features several common folk tale creatures originating from Europe, such as fairies, giant trolls and european dragons. The main inhabitants of this world are the Arthurian townspeople, while sentinent, anthropomorphic animal like Sonic are also shown to make up a part of the inhabitants.

Locations
The central location in the world of Camelot is King Arthur's kingdom with its capital Camelot. It is a large region that is located somewhere in England, with a large bay and an island in the middle of the kingdom and a sea located to the south. The kingdom itself is divided into four smaller domains; the Grand Kingdom, the Outlands, the Highlands and Avalon. What other locations that lies beyond the boudaries of the King Arthur's kingdom is unknown, except for an enemy country to the kingdom.

Grand Kingdom

 * Camelot Castle
 * Knight's Passage
 * Deep Woods
 * Shrouded Forest
 * Dark Hollow

The Outlands

 * Misty Lake
 * The Cauldron
 * Molten Mine

The Highlands

 * Titanic Plain
 * Crystal Cave
 * Great Megalith
 * Dragon's Lair

Avalon

 * Faraway Avalon

Early History
Much of the world of Camelot's early history remains largely unknown. According to Merlina the world of Camelot was created from the stories in King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, which presumably occurred at the time when the said storybook was just created, giving birth to the beginnings of this world. While the inhabitants born in the world of Camelot are as much sentient beings as those in the "real world" and able to make their own choices and decisions, they can have certain parts of their lives determined beforehand, since the stories involving them have been written so.

Several ancient ruins can be found around in King Arthur's kingdom, which hints that at some point in the past, one or more unspecified civilizations might have existed.

Arrival of King Arthur
Long before the beginning of Sonic and the Black Knight, a wizard named Merlin created a sentient, magical illusion named King Arthur with the purpose of bringing peace and a just rule to the kingdom as its monarch, thus creating the perfect world. Using the forces of the Underworld, and as well King Uther Pendragon, and Lady Igraine, an enemy country's queen, to act as surrogate parents, Merlin was able to bring Arthur into the world through his trickery.

After Arthur was born, he soon managed to achieve his purpose and became the king of the kingdom and Camelot, when he as a boy managed to pull out Caliburn from the stone he was embedded in, as it had been claimed by Merlin, who had put Calibrn there, that only the true king could perform this act. As a ruler, King Arthur proved himself to be a wise and just ruler and an equally noble knight. As such, everyone in the kingdom praised King Arthur. During his rule, King Arthur managed to gather a group of mighty and noble knights under his service, which was named the Knights of the Round Table. With their aid, King Arthur led his kingdom and possibly the world into an era of peace and prosperity.

The Fall of a King and Rise of a Tyrant
The peace of King Arthur's kingdom and the rest of the world would not prove to last forever. In King Arthur's youth, after the king had broken his own sword, he was guided by Merlin to the lake in Deep Woods, seeking out Excalibur. Nimue, Lady of the Lake and owner of the legendary sword, decided to bestow Excalibur and the Scabbard of Excalibur upon the king, as Arthur had proven his nobility, virtue and chivalry, and was thus worthy to wield these artifacts. Using Excalibur, Arthur was able to save his kingdom countless times.

The Scabbard of Ecalibur's magical enchantment proved to make King Arthur an immortal being, but its powers was too great for even King Arthur to wield; the magical power of the scabbard and the promise of immortality ultimately bewitched and corrupted King Arthur into a power-hungry tyrant. Taking on a new name, the Black Knight, King Arthur began enslaving his people and summoning the Knights of the Underworld to do his bidding, thus plunging his kingdom and the world of Camelot into horror and chaos. The corrupting darkness of King Arthur eventually caused the light of Excalibur to be lost and it split into the four Sacred Swords, leaving only the corrupted illusion of itself, Deathcalibur, behind as King Arthur's personal sword.

Despite his change in character, the Knights of the Round Table chose to remain loyal to King Arthur as their honor and code required them to say by their king's side, leaving little hope for the world of Camelot and the kingdom.

A Bleak Future
At some point, Merlina, now the Royal Wizard, managed to scry into the future of the storybook realm and the kingdom, but was deeply scarred by grief and sorrow to see that at the end of the stories that made up the world of Camelot, nothing but ruin and warfare awaited their world. Determined to stop this and to escape her own sorrow, Merlina planned to uphold her grandfather's wish of an eternal kingdom by taking the Scabbard of Excalibur for herself and use its power over immortality to keep her kingdom and world suspended in a permanent state, thus keeping it from arriving at its inevitable fate. To do this, however, Merlina first had to steal the scabbard from King Arthur.

Under unknown circumstances, Merlina invoked the King's wrath, possibly when trying to take the scabbard for her plans. She tried to escape, but King Arthur pursued Merlina himself, determined not to let her get away.

Enter the Knight of the Wind
While Merlina was on the run from King Arthur, the king overtook her and summoned the Knights of the Underworld to corner her. Merlina was surrounded by King Arthur's minions, but before King Arthur could take her, Merlina performed a summoning ritual, calling upon a knight "swift as the wind" to aid her. The result of her spell brought Sonic the Hedgehog to her world (just as Sonic was enjoying some chili dogs). As Sonic fell down from the sky and caught his chili dogs, he wondered where he was and Merlina tried to explain the situation. Sonic however understood the issue at hand and defeated the King Arthur's minions in a flash, leaving Merlina surprised at this act. Sonic and King Arthur then tried to fight, but Sonic was restrained by Merlina and she teleported them both away in a whirlwind. With his targets gone, King Arthur sent out the three of the Knights of the Round Table, named Lancelot, Gawain and Percival, to find and kill Sonic and Merlina on sight, while he gave chase. While Lancelot was firmly determined to carry out the king's order, Gawain and Percival were nevertheless concerned about their king's change.

At Misty Lake, Sonic asked Merlina why she stopped him, and Merlina explained that King Arthur was immortal and why. Seeing that Sonic was willing to fight King Arthur, Merlina thought he could possibly defeat King Arthur and help her get the Scabbard of Excalibur. Merlina therefore began training Sonic in the art of swordsmanship, without revealing her true intentions. With Merlina's guidance, Sonic acquired the Sacred Sword Caliburn, a talking sword who was highly skeptical of Sonic's abilities, to aid Sonic in the coming battles. Shortly after Sonic obtained Caliburn, however, King Arthur appeared and Sonic and Caliburn tried to fight him. Lacking however the skills and means to defeat King Arthur, Sonic could not beat the king. Deciding that Sonic was not threat to him, King Arthur arrogantly bailed out on his battle with Sonic and took off.

In order to find a way to hinder the Scabbard of Excalibur's power, Caliburn suggested that they sought out the scabbard's former owner, Nimue, for that kind of information. Sonic was more or less annoyed by Caliburn, who continuously called him "Knave". As the trio headed out, however, Caliburn had to get his blade sharpen in Castle Town. As Sonic teased him for that, however, he noticed Merlina acting strange, before she said that she had to go into hiding as she would be recognized in town. Sonic said goodbye to Merlina for the time being, before taking off to town.

The Path to a Knight
In Castle Town, Sonic and Caliburn found the Blacksmith, who Sonic briefly mistook for Tails. The blacksmith recognized Caliburn, but could not remember where he had heard of its name before. With Caliburn's blade sharpen by the Blacksmith, Sonic headed into the Deep Woods to find Nimue. On the way, however, Sonic met Lancelot, who challenged him to a duel. Through either sheer skill or luck, Sonic defeated Lancelot and claimed his sacred sword Arondight. After the battle, Sonic and Caliburn found Nimue, but Sonic mistook her for Amy and tried to run away. Caliburn remonstrated Sonic and had him give a proper greeting.

As Nimue knew about Sonic and his quest, Nimue told Sonic and Caliburn that she was willing to help stop King Arthur, since she was the one gave the scabbard to him. However, fearing that Sonic could turn out the same way as King Arthur if he took the scabbard, she would only assist Sonic if he proved himself a true knight and presented him with three tests to be completed in three days. After completing first task, liberating King Arthur's prisoners in Camelot Castle, Sonic soon encountered a crying townspeople child whose village was abducted by a dragon. Sonic quickly decided to help her, despite Caliburn's protests and with the risk of running out of time to clear the tasks. At Titanic Plain, Sonic soon encountered and defeated Gawain, and took his swords Galatine before he could kill himself out of shame for failing his king. Sonic then asked him if there was more to being a knight than serving a king before heading of to save the townspeople.

Eventually, Sonic managed to save the townsfolk, though at the cost of running out of time. As Sonic and Caliburn returned to find the child waiting for them, Nimue revealed that she was the crying child and that she was testing Sonic. Having shown compassion, strength and courage, Nimue deemed Sonic a worthy knight and the she would reveal the scabbard's secrets to him. Back at her lake, Nimue told Sonic that he could blunt the scabbard's power by retrieving the four sacred swords wielded by himself and the Knights of the Round Table. Confident as ever, Sonic was ready to obtain Laevatein from Percival. Despite Caliburn warning Sonic about her skills, however, Sonic had grown used to Caliburn and had faith that they could succeed.

At Molten Mine Sonic met Percival and defeated her. After the battle, Sonic saved her from falling from a cliff, an act that finally earned him Caliburn's respect and Caliburn knighted Sonic "Sir Sonic, Knight of the Wind".

Now that Sonic had all four sacred swords, Merlina, having seen those events from her reflecting pool, arrived to inform Sonic that King Arthur was on Faraway Avalon. After giving Sonic praise for his development, Merlina told Sonic where to find her and Sonic headed towards Avalon. Once arriving there, Sonic and Caliburn pursued and defeated King Arthur with the power of the sacred swords.

Merlina's Betrayal
As Sonic celebrated his triumph over King Arthur, the hedgehog was surprised to see the evil king fading away like one of the Knights of the Underworld. Later, at Castle Camelot, Merlina revealed to the Knights of the Round Table that King Arthur was an illusion conjured by her grandfather, Merlin. Sonic then arrived and Merlina revealed her true colors to Sonic as she took the Scabbard of Excalibur to become all-powerful and went through with her plan of making King Arthur's kingdom eternal.

Sonic and the Knights of the Round Table were forced to flee as Merlina unleashed the power of the Scabbard of Excalibur across the kingdom. However, Merlina was too blinded by her desire for an eternal kingdom that she did not realize that the dark magic from the Underworld that she was using to put the kingdom under stasis disrupted and courrpted the natural order of the world of Camelot, and could eventually destroy it. As Sonic and the Knights of the Round Table regrouped, Sonic got the Knights of the Round Table to resume the fight despite the odds and revelations. Then, with Nimue's help, the group set off to use the sacred swords to contain Merlina's influence by putting up a barrier around the kingdom. When they managed to set up the barrier, it was revealed to be much too weak, and was only slowing Merlina down.

The Dark Queen and the Golden Knight
After the four swords formed a barrier around the castle, Sonic and Caliburn confronted Merlina, now the Dark Queen, in the Dark Hollow. There, Merlina explained that she knew the kingdom would come to an end, and that she wanted it to make it last forever. Sonic, however, refused such a world, and battled her, but was outmatched. During the battle, Caliburn's blade was broken as he tried to protect Sonic, but Sonic persevered, despite taking a very severe beating. At the same time, Nimue and the Knights of the Round Table watched Sonic's efforts, telling him to run. Sonic, however, refused to leave, and resolved to stop Merlina no matter the cost. With Sonic's determination at its highest, the lost light of Excalibur was awoken, repairing Caliburn and transforming the duo into Excalibur Sonic and the true Excalibur, respectively. They then engaged Merlina, who transformed into a monstrous spectral creature, and after a long battle, Sonic and Caliburn managed to defeat Merlina, thus saving the world of Camelot.

As the kingdom and the world of Camelot returned to normal, Merlina continued to lament the fate of the kingdom. Sonic however tried to comfort Merlina as he gave her a flower and told her that, while all worlds had to end, they merely needed to live life to the fullest in the time that they had; reminiscing about her grandfather, Merlina took his advice to her heart and began to let go of her sorrow.

As Sonic thanked the Knights of the Round Table for their help, Lancelot said that they would have to disband now that King Arthur was gone, but Caliburn reminded them that he was the one who chose the one to be king; thus, Sonic was the true King Arthur all this time, leaving both Sonic and the knights shocked at this revelation. Sonic then told the Knights of the Round Table to cut it out as the bowed before him.

Aftermath
Despite now being recognized as the true King Arthur of the world of Camelot and the kingdom, Sonic still chose to go back to his own world, now that this one was safe. What happened to the world of Camelot and the kingdom after Sonic left as they did not have a monarch remains unknown.

After Sonic returned from the world of Camelot, much like the Arabian Nights, the King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table storybook that contained the world of Camelot, changed its title into "Sonic and the Black Knight", as the storybook and the world of Camelot acknowledged Sonic's participation in the stories it contained.

Archie Comics
The world of Camelot also appeared in the Archie Comics' Sonic the Hedgehog #197 in the comic's adaptation of Sonic and the Black Knight, called "Knight Time".

In the comics, King Arthur wished death to his royal wizard Merlina and chased after her with an army of monstrous knights. Merlina then summoned Sonic the Hedgehog into her realm in the hopes of defeating the corrupted king. Sonic defeated his army of monstrous knights, but before he could take on the king himself, Merlina pulled him back and they disappeared in a whirlwind of smoke and dust. King Arthur then ordered his three Mobian knights, Lancelot, Percival and Gawain, to spread out and kill the two of them on sight. Though some of them expressed doubts in their king and his orders, they proceeded with their mission nonetheless.

Trivia

 * Since the game is based on the original Arthurian Legends (the original stories are based in Great Britain, which is an actual country in the real world), Grand Kingdom could be an actual place in Sonic's world based on British culture and history in Medieval times, similar to the fact that fictional countries in Sonic Unleashed were based on actual locations in the real world.
 * It is possible that Camelot has its own set of Chaos Emeralds as Sir Lancelot is able to use Chaos Powers.