Iblis

Iblis (イブリース), also known as the Flames of Disaster (炎の災厄), is the secondary antagonist in Sonic the Hedgehog (2006). He is the raw power of the sun god Solaris and an immortal energy-based being of mass destruction. Iblis was born during the Solaris Project when the experiments on Solaris split him into Iblis and Mephiles the Dark. Following its birth, Iblis was sealed inside the soul of Princess Elise by the Duke of Soleanna.

Ten years later, Iblis was targeted by Dr. Eggman, who sought its power for world domination. In the main timeline, Iblis was released and ravaged the world far into the future. However, this future was averted thanks to Silver, Sonic and Blaze. Regardless, Iblis was still released by Mephiles and the two rejoined and remade Solaris, only to be defeated by Sonic, Shadow and Silver, and subsequently erased from existence

Appearance
Iblis' body is composed entirely of magma and rock armor that varies between its forms. His original form was a giant, swirling ball of flames. After being released into the world, Iblis' primary evolved form grew tremendously and sprouted four arms with an armored head of molten rock, appearing to be a lava-like version of Perfect Chaos. His second form consisted of a giant serpent-like body while retaining the armored, ripped up head. His final and most powerful form appears to be larger than the previous forms, but has a more human-shape; he has two arms, legs (which have no feet, similar to Mephiles' crystalline form) and his head becomes less armored. However, he grows horns on both sides of his head and back, where he also grows a tail.

In all of his forms apart from his original, Iblis has green reptilian eyes. In his second and final evolved forms, he also had a third eye placed on his forehead.

History
Ten years before the events of Sonic the Hedgehog (2006), Iblis was accidentally created during one of the Solaris Project's experiments. In the experiment, a spatial meltdown caused Solaris to become unstable and split into two parts: Iblis (the raw power) and Mephiles (the cunning mind). Iblis was originally sealed inside Princess Elise by her father, the Duke of Soleanna, who, before dying of his wounds caused by the accident, told her not to cry no matter what happens (as her tears would release Iblis). However, Iblis was inadvertently released by the "Iblis Trigger" with the death of Elise ten years later under unknown circumstances. As a result of Iblis' release, humanity blamed Shadow the Hedgehog for the world’s devastation and sealed him away in an energy prison for eternity. Despite this, Iblis continued to devastate the world up until, and including Silver the Hedgehog's time period in the future.

In Silver's story, he and Blaze the Cat continuously battle Iblis, but he ended up proving too powerful for either of them to defeat, since he had the ability to constantly resurrect himself from his ashes. Thus, Mephiles appeared and advised Silver and Blaze to depart to the time period right before Iblis' transformation to stop Sonic the Hedgehog, referred to as the "Iblis Trigger", from releasing Iblis and destroying the world. However, Mephiles' advice was misleading - the Iblis Trigger was not Sonic, but rather Sonic's death at the hands of Mephiles, which caused Princess Elise to shed tears and thus release Iblis from within her. Nevertheless, Silver learned how to defeat Iblis when going back to the accident of the Solaris Project ten years prior to the present, and returned to the future with Blaze to face him. Sonic and Shadow also encountered Iblis in their respective story arcs while searching for a Chaos Emerald to warp back to the present, having been sent to the future by Dr. Eggman and Mephiles, respectively, with Shadow also sensing its approach and warning Rouge not to touch the Emerald. After they defeated it, they warped back to their own time.

Silver and Blaze confronted and defeated the monster, but in order to stop Iblis permanently, Blaze was forced to seal him within her using two Chaos Emeralds, trapping herself in another dimension.

Personality
Iblis is a mindless creature without a consciousness trying to regain its wisdom, since it was split from Solaris (that is, Mephiles) during the Solaris Project. He only seems to be interested in wreaking havoc and creating destruction, as he continued to devastate the world in Silver's future. However, in Phase 3, he showed some amount of focus and concentration while battling Silver and Blaze.

Powers and abilities
Iblis possesses the raw power and strength of Solaris. Fitting its appearance, Iblis' attacks are lava-based. Its main attack, which was available to all forms, was releasing molten fireballs from its body at enemies. By forming a specific hand sign, Iblis can summon a huge meteor and launch it at the enemy. Another similar power Iblis has is pyrokinesis (the manipulation of fire). With this, it could breathe large streams of fire and shoot waves of flames one after another. It could as well craft hordes of fiery monsters from its own flames.

Thanks to its enormous size, Iblis has great strength and durability, being strong enough to lift large buildings and smash stalactites at the size of itself. In its third form, Iblis could even break parts of Silver and Blaze's foothold by simply slamming it with its hands. Even in its original energy form, it was able to resist Silver's psychokinesis with brute force.

Iblis possessed shape shifting powers; it can change its form at will, ranging from a swirling ball of fire to a giant, monstrous creature of destruction. He can use these different forms to adapt to the environment when fighting. Like his other half Mephiles, Iblis possesses the power of immortality and can resurrect itself after being defeated.

Weakness
While Iblis' anatomy varies greatly between his forms, he always has a green eye on his forehead which is highly sensitive to damage. Also, when Iblis' body is destroyed, he is reduced to his energy form before he can regenerate. While still indestructible, Iblis is almost helpless in this state and susceptible to being sealed.

Battle
Iblis serves as a boss in the Sonic Episode, Silver Episode and Shadow Episode storylines. Sonic and Shadow fight Iblis' second form in Flame Core where they have to attack it close up across pool of magma, and Silver fights its first and third form in Crisis City and Flame Core respectively where he has to attack it using projectiles.

Archie Comics
Iblis appeared in the continuity of the Archie Sonic the Hedgehog comics in similar fashion to his game counterpart. However, like in the game, Iblis was erased from history. But, he was subsequently listed in an entry in Sonic the Hedgehog: The Complete Sonic Comic Encyclopedia.

Etymology
Iblis, or Shaytan (الشيطان), is a figure in Islam, which in general is the name of Satan in Islam. Iblis is referred to as a Jinn, a spirit that exists in another plane of existence, who has the ability to cast evil suggestions into the hearts of men, women, and other Jinn (which may be paralleled by the fact that he is sealed within Elise and her despair is one of the ways that he can be released into the world.) A Jinn is also a creature of fire, which could possibly be the reason behind Iblis' fire-based forms.

Trivia

 * Iblis is the one of the two bosses in Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) that is fought with all three main characters, the other is Solaris.
 * As he summons the Ifrit Golem in Sonic and the Secret Rings, Erazor Djinn invokes Iblis' name as part of the incantation. Since Iblis means "The King Of Devils" in Islam, this could be a reference to both the religion and the game.
 * Elise and Dr. Eggman always call Iblis the "Flames of Disaster", unlike Silver, who usually calls him Iblis. This might suggest that Iblis got its name after it was released from Elise and began ravaging the world.
 * Strangely, Iblis' minions exist in the present time of Sonic the Hedgehog (2006), despite Iblis still sealed within Princess Elise in that time. Its possible that Mephiles may have brought them to the present from the future or that Iblis' power may have leaked out.
 * It seems some of Iblis' minions are based on Iblis' different forms, like how Iblis' Biter can look slightly like his first form, Worms look like his second form, and Golems look like his final form.
 * It can be noted that, in his third form, Iblis has crude stumps where his feet should be, similar to Mephiles, perhaps further signifying their relationship to Solaris.
 * In the Silver's story line, Silver only fights Phases that are an odd number, while in Sonic and Shadow's story line, they only fight the Phase that's an even number.

Iblis Iblis