Dark Gaia


 * This is about the character in Sonic Unleashed. For the character in the Archie Comics, see Dark Gaia (Archie).

"The abomination grows strong on the negative energies of the world, sleeping within its core for millennia in wait..."

- Gaia Manuscripts, 4:11, Sonic Unleashed

Dark Gaia (ダークガイア) is one of the main antagonists and the final boss of Sonic Unleashed. It is a hyper energy organism originating from the dawn of time and is the incarnation of darkness, night and destruction. Since the beginning, Dark Gaia has fought Light Gaia in an perpetual cycle of destruction and rebirth of earth where Dark Gaia destroys the planet after having slept for eons. It would then have its work undone and itself returned to sleep by Light Gaia to continue the cycle.

In the present day, Dark Gaia was awoken prematurely by Dr. Eggman, who planned to use its power to establish the Eggman Empire, which caused it to break apart and scatter across the world. After being reassembled, Dark Gaia attempted to destroy the world, but was defeated and returned to dormancy by Sonic the Hedgehog and Light Gaia, restoring its cycle.

Appearance
Dark Gaia is an immensely large and gargantuan creature of such size that it makes characters like Sonic seem like grains of sand by comparison. It has brown skin with its lower body and torso resembling that of a snake's, two thin arms with long neon-blue claws, and scaly shoulders. Its head itself is very wide, much wider than its main body and is mostly composed of its jagged mouth (which remains closed until it transforms) and has a single green eye on each end of it. Its central face looks like that of a reptile, with four small horns on the top of it, white eyes and one large green eye on the middle of its forehead.

On its back, Dark Gaia has seven purple flaming energy tentacles sticking out from it, and neon blue scaly fins that runs from its lower back, up to its head. It also possesses "hair" in the form of purple energy that emits from its head and back, giving it the appearance of a mohawk.

Early life
Dark Gaia was born in the beginning of time and existed as the counterpart to Light Gaia. In this age, Dark Gaia and Light Gaia came to reside on earth when the planet came into existence. Dark Gaia wanted to destroy this planet per its purpose, but Light Gaia assumed his job of protecting the planet from it. This started an endless conflict between Dark Gaia and Light Gaia, creating a continuous cycle of the destruction and rebirth of earth over the eons. In this cycle, Dark Gaia would sleep in the earth's core for millions of years while gathering negative energy from the world in order to mature. It would then awaken during the time of awakening as Perfect Dark Gaia and break the planet apart before trying to utterly destroy it. Each time, however, Dark Gaia would be defeated by Light Gaia, who would rebuild the world and return Dark Gaia to dormancy, leaving Dark Gaia to gather up negative energy to awaken anew.

Some tens of thousands of years prior to Sonic Unleashed, Dark Gaia had just finished another cycle with Light Gaia and had returned to the planet's core to grow strong enough for the next confrontation.

Sonic Unleashed
In Sonic Unleashed, Dark Gaia was awoken prematurely by Dr. Eggman with his Chaos Energy Cannon, who wanted to exploit its power to establish Eggmanland. Though Dark Gaia emerged from the planet's core as the earth broke apart, it had yet to reach enough maturity to keep its mass together, As such, it could not support its own weight and broke into countless energy fragments that scattered across the world.

Despite its scattering, Dark Gaia's desire for destruction lived on as its fragments became Dark Gaia's Minions, who began causing havoc and distress amongst the planet's people until Dr. Eggman devised a homing signal that drew them all into one place. There, Dark Gaia was reconstructed with Eggman's technology while its power was harnessed to build Eggmanland. Meanwhile, Sonic and Chip traveled across the broken world to repair it, hoping to seal up Dark Gaia before it could be fully reawakened.

At the time the final continent was being restored, Dark Gaia was nearly fully reassembled and emerged from the planet's core when Eggman, Sonic the Werehog and Chip ended up there. Dr. Eggman tried to assume control over it, but Dark Gaia swatted the doctor away and turned its attention to the duo. Sensing that Sonic held its final fragments, Dark Gaia reabsorbed its essence from Sonic, depriving him of his Werehog form while completing itself. Dark Gaia then tried to kill Sonic and Chip, but was blocked by Chip, who called the Gaia Temples to him to form the Gaia Colossus. With the time of awakening having truly arrived, Dark Gaia engaged the Gaia Colossus. Their battle, however, was only a distraction while Sonic attacked Dark Gaia's eyes, weakening it. As Dark Gaia appeared defeated, it revitalized itself as it completely regained its lost powers and began casting the world into darkness. Transforming into Perfect Dark Gaia, Dark Gaia faced off against the Gaia Colossus and Super Sonic. In the end, Perfect Dark Gaia was defeated by the heroes, halting its attempt to destroy the world, and was returned to the planet's core where it reentered dormancy to resume its conflict with Light Gaia at a later point.

Personality
Dark Gaia is best likened to an innate and malevolent force of nature. Most of the time, it shows little more than the mindset of an incredible hostile and abominable beast, attacking anyone in its way, and seemingly lacks any consciousness or wisdom. Existing for the sole purpose of destroying the world, Dark Gaia is only driven by its singular instinct to bring the end of the world, not showing any reasons, regrets or thoughts about its actions.

Despite its bestial behavior, Dark Gaia appears to be a sapient being to some extent, such as showing cunning in battle and planning an attack that Chip could not figure out, or choosing to extract its fragments from Sonic before continuing its assault. At times, it would also make body movements indicating a mocking laugh.

Powers and abilities
Dark Gaia is one of the most powerful beings in the series, possibly only second or equivalent to Solaris. At the peak of its power, Dark Gaia is strong enough to injure a Super State with sheer force alone. Additionally, it could fight Super Sonic to the point where Sonic fainted from exhaustion, something no one has been capable of, and at the same time, take on Light Gaia who is supposedly just as powerful as itself.

As the sole reason for its existence, Dark Gaia has the natural ability to break an entire planet into pieces, though elements such as gravity, atmosphere and sea levels are still maintained on the various fragments. Due to its immense size, Dark Gaia has vast amounts of physical strength; in its immature form, it can lift masses weighting potentially hundreds of tons with just one hand and throw them effortlessly. Even in its immature form, Dark Gaia has large amounts of physically durability and endurance, being able to withstand a series of pummeling from the Gaia Colossus and still continue to fight and resist. Additionally, Dark Gaia has such a resistance to heat that it can touch molten magma without being burned.

Dark Gaia is capable of projecting extremely powerful and large blasts of energies; it can either shoot beams from its mouth or as concentrated points around its body, or create small energy orbs that can shoot themselves at enemies. Similarly, Dark Gaia's body is composed of an unknown form of energy that is sinister, dark and corruptive. It has complete control of this energy as it was able to rip out its energy from Sonic the Werehog by will alone. Energy fragments from Dark Gaia can take the form of various dark and destructive monsters, which have various powers and are able to possess people, and can mutate beings or the environment into corrupted creatures. As revealed by Eggman, Dark Gaia's energies can also power machinery, such as the Egg Dragoon.

Dark Gaia can manipulate darkness on a global scale. It can unleash a well of darkness that can envelop an entire planet. This, in turn, can bring it into total darkness and eventually extinguish all life on it. It can also draw power from the negative energies of the world to empower itself and help it mature. Additionally, it can also manipulate emotional energy, allowing it to gain strength from the negative emotions manifested by the people on the planet as well, such as hatred and sadness.

As a being of darkness, and therefore one of the eternal forces alongside light, Dark Gaia is completely immortal and can therefore never truly be destroyed, as its presence is needed to preserve the world's balance.

Dark Gaia's only known weak spots are its various green eyes which are highly sensitive to damage, since Sonic could inflict significant damage on Dark Gaia by attacking them. Also, when in its immature state, it can use its powers on a basic level, such as using it hands to pick up magma rather than by levitation and it can lose focus on its energy blasts if attacked.

Perfect Dark Gaia
When reaching full physical maturity, Dark Gaia transforms into Perfect Dark Gaia. In this form, Dark Gaia is at the peak of its power, making it so strong that the combined strength of Super Sonic and the Gaia Colossus was required to defeat it. Additionally, Dark Gaia gains the ability to manipulate its energies in a much more refined way, allowing it to form energy durable shields, lift objects through levitation, and maintain better control over its energy blasts.

Boss guide
The battle with Dark Gaia varies between the game versions of Sonic Unleashed. The Wii and PS2 versions put more of an emphasis on directly battling the monster, while the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions are based more around reaching Dark Gaia, with the actual damage being performed through quick-time events.

Wii/PS2
In the Wii/PS2 version, Chip fights Dark Gaia immediately. It will telegraph both of its punches, giving you time to react accordingly. All you have to do is move the control stick in the direction the punch is coming from. For example, if the punch is coming from the left, move the control stick left. To strike back, simply land a punch before Dark Gaia raises its guard. Often, Dark Gaia attacks with ﬁerce combinations. You’ll need to react quickly to successfully avoid the barrage of punches. Take advantage of any pause between its attacks to respond with a punch of your own. Time it correctly and you’ll pull off a counterattack, which deals significantly more damage than the average punch. Successful timing requires shaking the Wii Remote or Nunchuck just as you ﬁnish your dodge, so there’s little delay between the dodge and the counterattack. Once in a while, Dark Gaia attempts to grapple with you. If you don’t pull the control stick back in time to avoid its grasp, you’ll need to follow the onscreen prompt in a last attempt to break free. Throw a two-handed attack by shaking the Wii Remote and Nunchuck at the same time. The final punch sends Gaia reeling, but he isn’t through yet. In a last-ditch effort to survive, he grasps the Gaia Colossus with his massive claws.

As Sonic, you must navigate the ruins of the Gaia Temples, avoiding Dark Gaia’s tendrils and attacks along the way. Dodge Dark Gaia’s Dark Energy Blasts by leaping over the impact zone. Once you begin grinding, follow the onscreen prompt to jump from rail to rail and avoid obstacles. Back on the ground, leap over the Gaia tendril to avoid damage. The next glowing ramp sends you ﬂying toward Dark Gaia’s exposed eye. You must successfully follow three onscreen button presses to damage the eye and move on to the second eye. From here, leap off the ramp and into the ﬂoating red ring. After a loop, a blue spring sends you ﬂying. Perform the correct button press to continue along the less dangerous route. The ﬁnal straightaway contains Gaia bombs. Jump over them or avoid them and concentrate on hitting the glowing ramp. Execute three more button presses and you’ll blind the second eye. The path to the third eye is a little more difficult. When you begin, aim for the glowing ramp on the track’s right side. It’ll send you through a rainbow ring, which will make the race a bit easier. Once you land, be prepared to leap through a second rainbow ring located at the end of the high walkway. The main road is fraught with obstacles, including Dark Energy Blasts and tendrils. Jumping over both hazards is highly advisable. A large tendril splits the path here, but both ramps lead to the same place.

Homing Attacks are required here in order to avoid falling to your death. After the third homing attack, execute a Light Speed Dash to make it back onto the road. After leaping over more Dark Gaia obstacles, you’ll be prompted to slide under a low-hanging tendril. Afterward, you must navigate tilting platforms. Remember, the name of the game is survival, not speed. Be quick but controlled. Hit the ramp at the end of the ﬁnal straightaway and concentrate on executing the correct trio of button presses. Do so and the Dark Gaia’s grip on the colossus is weakened. Dark Gaia is not ﬁnished yet, and it’ll take more than simple Homing Attacks to put it down for good. The ﬁnal battle follows from here.

Xbox 360/PS3
In the Xbox 360/PS3 version of the game, the fight with the Gaia Colossus occurs a different way. The battle starts with Chip having the Gaia Colossus fly towards Dark Gaia from a distance to engage in the actual fight. During this time, Dark Gaia tries to stop him by throwing massive molten rocks, which can be destroyed with the Gaia Colossus' fire punch, and firing a laser from its mouth, which cannot be avoided and must therefore be guarded against to minimize the damage.

Once reaching Dark Gaia, as opposed to a simple fist fight, Chip must attack Dark Gaia with a quick-time event. After clearing the quick-time event, Sonic takes over and tries to attack Dark Gaia's eyes by racing through the Gaia Colossus and then clearing another quick-time event. Unlike the Wii/PS2 version however, this course has a time limit as Chip is merely just holding Dark Gaia back so he cannot attack, with the time limit being the amount of time Dark Gaia has until he charges up his attack. If you do not get to the eye before the time limit, Dark Gaia fires its laser and you lose a life, so you must start over. If Sonic manages to attack one of its eyes however, Dark Gaia will throw Sonic and the Gaia Colossus away in pain and the player has to start over, by trying to reach Dark Gaia again, resuming the process. This cycle has to be done three times before clearing the Dark Gaia boss battle and moving on to the battle with Perfect Dark Gaia.

Archie Comics
In the Archie Comics' Sonic the Hedgehog comic book series and its spin-off comics, Dark Gaia is a malevolent deity that resides beneath the surface of Sonic's World and is supposedly connected to an event that occurs every ten thousandth year where the planet shatters into pieces. When the Shattered World Crisis occurred, Dark Gaia was awoken and began ravaging the world at night as the Dark Gaia Creatures.

Trivia

 * The name Gaia is derived from an ancient Greek goddess, who was the personification of the Earth. (A previous Sonic villain, Chaos, was also named after a Greek god.) Although named after a goddess, Dark Gaia is occasional referred to as male.
 * Dark Gaia resembles the second form of the final boss in the game Terranigma. In fact, the final boss in Terranigma is also called "Dark Gaia."
 * In the Wii/PS2 version, when Sonic must attack Dark Gaia's eyes by going across the Gaia Colossus, it is the only time when Sonic must use the Grind Step on a Grind Rail.
 * The monsters that are made of Dark Gaia's essence somewhat resemble the Heartless from the Kingdom Hearts series of video games.
 * Dark Gaia appears to be able to change the composition of its skin. In the cutscene when it transforms from Dark Gaia to Perfect Dark Gaia, its skin appears to be stretchy but firm, while the skin on the opposite side of its body appears to be brittle.
 * Dark Gaia seems to change size throughout the course of Sonic Unleashed. When it is first awakened, it is large enough to put one hand on either side of the planet, yet during the final fight, it is noticeably smaller and fits inside the planet with plenty of extra space in the planet's core. This is probably due to Dark Gaia's mass being spread out and incomplete, as SA-55 states later on.
 * Perfect Dark Gaia is the largest final boss in the series to date, being the size of a large continent.
 * Dark Gaia is the only boss in Sonic Unleashed with "Dark" as a prefix that is fought with normal Sonic.
 * Dark Gaia was one of the reasons that Sonic Unleashed was given the ESRB rating of E10+, as he leaks green blood during its transformation into Perfect Dark Gaia. This blood is also seen in its "death" scene.
 * All of the bosses in the game with a Dark prefix resemble elements:
 * Dark Gaia Phoenix - Fire
 * Dark Moray - Ice
 * Dark Guardian - Thunder
 * Dark Gaia - Earth
 * If you look closely during the third round with Dark Gaia in the Xbox 360/PlayStation 3 version of Sonic Unleashed, it appears as if Dark Gaia is laughing.
 * Dark Gaia appears to have a resemblance to Iblis. Dark Gaia has shadowy dark minions like Iblis has fiery minions, and they both have a desire to destroy the world.
 * Dark Gaia is one of the three final bosses to have an orchestrated version of the game's main theme as the final boss music (specifically Endless Possibility), the other two being Solaris Phase 2 (His World) and Nega-Wisp Armor Phase 2 (Reach for the Stars).
 * During the cutscene where Dark Gaia traps the Gaia Colossus in its claws, it makes the exact same snarling noise that Iblis does during its boss introduction in Sonic the Hedgehog (2006).
 * During the Wii/PS2 version of Dark Gaia's boss battle, the player needs to use homing attacks on a group of E-16 Electro Spinners. However, at this point, Eggman has been thrown to the outer limits of space, and it is unlikely that he was controlling his robots at the time. However, since he used Dark Gaia's energy in making his empire, it is entirely possible that Dark Gaia itself is controlling them.