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The Ancients[4] (古代人[5] Kodaijin?) are a race that appear in the Sonic the Hedgehog series. They were extraordinarily advanced aliens that existed in prehistoric times. They originally come from an alien planet and sought refuge on earth after they were attacked by a mysterious entity that destroyed their home planet. They arrived on Starfall Islands and settled there. However, their settlement on the islands was short-lived because the threat that destroyed their planet followed them, causing them to flee towards the location of what is now known as Angel Island. However, the Ancients were wiped out from the earth due to unknown circumstances, leaving nothing except their creations on the Starfall Islands and Angel Island as their spirits begins inhabiting their good luck charms which became Koco, their characteristics and appearance is inherited by their descendant: Chaos.

Concept and creation[]

The Ancients were created by Sonic Team, pitched as an alien race to explain the origin of the Chaos Emeralds. When writing for Sonic Frontiers, Ian Flynn proposed that the Ancients were ancestors to the Chao, as he felt there were already too many "random aliens" on the Sonic series, and this got approved.[6]

Description[]

Anatomy[]

The Ancients share many similar characteristics as Chaos , being humanoid creatures with a long body that seem to be made out of some sort of liquid. They have claw-like hands with three fingers on each hand, and two fingers on each foot. They have a protrusion at the top of their head, two usually long protrusions at the back of their head, and usually protrusions from their shoulders and hips, and they have two glowing eyes. The Ancients exhibit sexual dimorphism: Males have a masculine torso and shoulder and hip protrusions pointing upwards and females have longer protrusions from the back of their heads, dropped shoulders, a feminine torso, and thinner shoulder and hip protrusions hanging downwards. Ancient warriors are similar to normal male Ancients except they have pronounced eyebrows and larger shoulder and hip protrusions. Child Ancients are smaller, shorter, have much shorter head protrusions, and lack shoulder and hip protrusions. Aged Ancients, such as Elder, tend to bend forward. The protrusions on their head go in a zig-zag direction and they drag downwards. The shoulder and hip protrusions also drag downwards a bit. Additionally, Elders appear to have a pronounced vascular system visible on the surface of their bodies.

The Ancients don't normally wear clothes; however they contain Koco in their torso as some sort of good luck charm.

History[]

Long before recorded history, the Ancients used to live on a planet far from earth, along with other four Ancient tribes.[7] One day, a mysterious entity known as The End posed a threat on the Ancients and their planet, eradicating those four tribes in the progress. In an attempt to escape, the Ancients built machines called Chaos Engines that harnessed the power of the Chaos Emeralds in order to power their spaceships, and escape from the impending doom.[citation needed]

Once they were successful, they mounted their spaceships and escaped while witnessing the explosion of their home planet. During their travel, they become close to the planet earth and the Chaos Emeralds on their ship start reacting to the Master Emerald on earth. As a result, the Ancients lost navigation of their ships and the emeralds drew them towards earth. The Ancients land on the Starfall Islands and start rebuilding their civilization from there. Among these creations were altars that harnessed the energies of the Chaos Emeralds, the Cyber Space which stored all the Ancients' hopes, dreams, memories and data and can be accessed through portals they created. They also created weaponry and towers and an army of robots in order to defend themselves if the End was able to reach Earth as well.[citation needed]

Once the End arrived at earth and attacked the Islands, it killed many Ancients. A couple of the Ancients powered up their most powerful robots known as Titans with the Chaos Emeralds and made a backup plan that consisted of a small group of Ancients taking the Chaos Emeralds to the location of the Master Emerald. Four of the Ancients piloted the four Titans and fought The End, but it proved far more powerful than the Titans. Crane, the Ancient piloting the Titan known as Supreme, came up with the plan of binding their Titan with the End and asked the other three Ancients to seal them in Cyber Space. However, the process of binding the Titan with The End caused their death. The Ancients carried out their backup plan and a small group fled towards the land that would later become known as Angel Island.

Any other remaining Ancients that survived on the island have presumably passed away as their spirits were stored into their good luck charms that later became the Koco, which inhabit the Starfall Islands. Eggman believes they died a generation later.[8]

Not much is known about the Ancients that fled to the Master Emerald; though the DNA analysis from Dr. Eggman suggest that the Master Emerald may have devolved them into the Chao and making them related to Chaos.[9]

Personality[]

The Ancients' emotions are very akin to humans. They are capable of expressing various emotions such as sadness, happiness, amazement and love.[citation needed] They valued their hopes and dreams and memories as much as they valued their knowledge and information, they were also a group of archivists as evidenced by the Cyber Space that they created for the purpose of storing data in hopes of passing it to their younger generations or to those who would inherit the earth after them.[citation needed]

Despite their technological advancements, the Ancients also relished in simpler pleasures. While inhabiting the Starfall Islands, one of their favorite activities would be to stack stones into large structures and towers. The activity was fiercely competitive, and annual contests were hosted, with the winners being based on the height of their structure, as well as the creativity of it. They also enjoyed knocking the structures down, because it meant that they could be rebuilt.

Much like humans, they also seemed to have a less serious, more playful side. When Sonic questioned why there was a pinball machine in the volcano on Chaos Island, Tails explains that the pinball machine was actually a way to control the volcano. When Sonic pressed again about why it was designed like a pinball machine specifically, Tails could only tell him that maybe the engineer designing it was simply being playful.

Powers and abilities[]

The Ancients are extremely intelligent, with marvels such as the Cyber Space network and Guardians being far more advanced than modern-day technology. They are also able to telekinetically control their creations, and are competent pilots of spaceships and Titans. In addition, they speak in an otherworldly language beyond that of humans and other beings.

Symbol[]

Faith is an excellent way to shape a group's sense of kinship. However, the markings in the sky are a clear and observable phenomenon, and cannot be the manifestation of a miracle. Perhaps the god of the Ancients depicted by the wall markings still exists out there today.


Sage, Sonic Frontiers
Sonic-Frontiers-Symbol-Rock-Background-Block

The symbol which the Ancients identified their deity, from Sonic Frontiers.

Despite their highly advanced technology, the Ancients had a form of religion. They worshiped an unknown deity, only identified with a symbol. Sage speculates that, whoever this deity is, may still exist somehow.

The symbol of the Ancients appears during the story of Sonic Frontiers, every time the characters relive the memories of the ancients after helping the Koco complete their mission and find peace. It appears in the sky, close to the recently departed Koco, ominously. The symbol appears in the base game post-credits sequence on Dr. Eggman's computer when Sage is revived by him.

List of known Ancients[]

Trivia[]

Team Sonic Racing Ancients

Imagery of heads resembling those of the Ancients in Sky Road, from Team Sonic Racing.

  • The Ancients may have been hinted as early as Team Sonic Racing in 2019, with carvings at the end of the Sky Road track showing heads that resemble that of Chaos and/or what seems to be an Ancient.
  • The Ancients share their name and many characteristics with the group from the Sonic Boom series.
  • The Ancients are known as "the Ancestors" in the Spanish and French dubs of Sonic Frontiers. This dub change also acts as foreshadowing, as is later revealed that they are the ancestors of the Chao.
  • According to Ian Flynn, the Ancients that piloted the Titans had placeholder names in the script of Sonic Frontiers in order to identify and differentiate the four of them.[10]
    • The pilots were left nameless until The Final Horizon where they were given names, via the title names of the Trial notifications; Dragon, Snake, Tiger and Crane.

Gallery[]

Concept art[]

References[]

  1. Sonic Team (8 November 2022). Sonic Frontiers. PlayStation 5. Sega. Area/level: Rhea Island. Cutscene: Sage Memory Token cutscene #6. "Sage: The Ancients came to this world tens of thousands years ago. The planet was still undeveloped back then, and their technology was vastly superior to anything else at the time."
  2. Sonic Team (8 November 2022). Sonic Frontiers. PlayStation 5. Sega. Area/level: Ouranos Island. Cutscene: Side Story. "Sonic: If I understood those visions correctly, the Ancients came from space, right? And they wearing things that looked like the Koco, but they didn't seem... I dunno, "alive?" Do you know what the Koco really are? / Sage: They originated as lucky charms for the Ancients. They were never designed to contain their data... their will."
  3. Sonic Team (8 November 2022). Sonic Frontiers. PlayStation 5. Sega. Area/level: Ouranos Island. Cutscene: Side Story. "Sonic: Yeah, but the Koco I've found do hold the memories of their creators. Maybe the Ancients changed them, or maybe the Koco wanted to keep their memories alive after they were gone."
  4. Sonic Team (8 November 2022). Sonic Frontiers. PlayStation 5. Sega. Area/level: View Fish-o-pedia Menu. "Egg Memo 7': Who were the Ancients? They predate any civilization by a wide margin. The echidnas? Pfft. The Black Arms? Please. The Babylonians? Hardly! And yet they didn't seem to influence the world beyond these three piddly islands. Why? What stopped them from conquering the world?"
  5. Sonic Team (8 November 2022). Sonic Frontiers. PlayStation 5. Sega. Area/level: View Fish-o-pedia Menu. "Egg Memo 7': 古代人とは何者か? 「彼らはどんな文明よりもはるか昔に存在した。 「エキドナ? プププ。 「ブラックアームズ? 冗談はよせ。 バビロン盗賊団?比べものにならん! だが連中はこのつまらん島々以外の世界には影響をもたらさなかったようだ。 なぜだ? なぜ連中は世界を征服しようとしなかったのだ?"
  6. BumbleKing Videos (30 December 2022). BumbleKast Mini for December 30th, 2022 - Ian Flynn Q&A Podcast. YouTube. Retrieved on 30 December 2022.
  7. Sonic Team (November 8, 2022). Sonic Frontiers. PlayStation 5. Sega. "Sage: There used to be five tribes co-existing on the planet of the Ancients."
  8. Sonic Team (8 November 2022). Sonic Frontiers. PlayStation 5. Sega. Area/level: View Fish-o-pedia Menu. "Egg Memo 10': Something wiped out the Ancients, that's for certain. A catastrophic event caused dire environmental shifts across the islands. It appears they made some effort to rebuild, but they were living on borrowed time. They died out within a generation.."
  9. Sonic Team (8 November 2022). Sonic Frontiers. PlayStation 5. Sega. Area/level: View Fish-o-pedia Menu. "Egg Memo 11': I don't believe this! I had Sage run a diagnostic on the recorded genetic data of the Ancients and then against archives I have with me. They're relatives to Chaos, the God of Destruction! After countless years, their DNA corroded to the point they were completely transformed into a new species. Some kind of radiation affected them for eons, making them unrecognizable -- except for a genius like me."
  10. Keepin' on Bumblin' | BumbleKast LIVE! for May 1st, 2023 - Ian Flynn Q&A Monthly Stream (14:13). YouTube. BumbleKast Videos (29 April 2023). Retrieved on 3 May 2023. "'Ian Flynn: They had placeholder names...in the script, just to identify them."

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