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Dark Oak (ダーク・オーク Dāku Ōku?), real name Lucas (ルクス Rukusu?), is a character from the Sonic X anime series and the main antagonist of the Metarex Saga. He is the powerful leader of the Metarex, a large army of bio-robots that scours the galaxy for Planet Eggs.
Appearance[]
Dark Oak has one large, green eye and carries a golden sword. His armor is comprised of varied shades of purple, with a large green orb on his chest and two tattered halves of a black cape hanging from his shoulders.
As Lucas, he is known to have lilac skin and purple hair with two brown non-flowering buds, similar to what Cosmo has, too. He has be seen to wear a dark blue coat with dark red trim and yellow cuffs.
History[]
Anime[]
Past[]
Many years ago, Dark Oak was originally born Lucas, a male member of a plant-like species and at some point married Earthia. Eventually rising to the combat faction leader of Green Gate,[1] Lucas and his forces entered a war with an unknown army of animals when his planet was ensnared in the turmoil of war. As they were losing the battle, Earthia wanted to leave their planet behind and start a new life, retreating from their enemies. Being a warrior, Lucas would rather stay and fight to stop the enemy causing further destruction in the universe, which brought him into conflict with his wife. Eventually, Earthia told him if he did not like it he could stay and fight the enemy himself and Lucas agreed.
Following that, Lucas and the majority of males in his race stayed behind to fight. Knowing that the planet had been abandoned, Lucas extracted his home world's Planet Egg and tried to harness its energy to sustain his and his followers' monster forms without dying. His actions were discovered by Earthia, who had discovered the plants were dying before leaving the planet. Horrified that her husband has sacrificed so much to fight, Earthia called out Lucas for this betrayal, with the latter hypocritically doing the same to her for wanting to abandon their planet entirely. Earthia and all the female members of the race left while Lucas and his fellow soldiers remained behind to fight for their lost cause.
Fearing the lengths her husband would go to end war, Earthia ordered the remaining males to be killed and unleashed a nuclear strike that devastated their world. Lucas and the few that survived (four other males who would become his most trusted subordinates as commanders of the Metarex) swore revenge against this betrayal. Perfecting their science, they used the Planet Egg to create powerful cybernetic bodies for themselves and vowed to end all conflict in the universe by eliminating all life except plants and plant-based creatures. Now referring to themselves as the Metarex[4], they took new names for themselves and raised an army. From this point onwards they crusaded across the universe, harvesting the Planet Eggs they required to achieve their final goal. At some point afterwards, they tracked down Earthia’s space cruiser and on Dark Oak’s orders, slaughtered everyone onboard, sparing only his and Earthia's last child, Cosmo.
Metarex Saga[]
Dark Oak first appeared to challenge Super Sonic in orbit around Sonic's world in order to claim the Chaos Emeralds from him. Despite Super Sonic's powers, he was unable to defeat Dark Oak. Dark Oak taunted at Sonic that his defeat was certain. Surprisingly, Sonic used Chaos Control to send the emeralds away before he fell towards his home planet. Dark Oak remarked that Sonic had simply delayed his triumph. Before Dark Oak departed for space, he alerted his forces to search for the Chaos Emeralds and to send a Metarex to remove the Planet Egg of Sonic's world.[5]
Throughout the series, Dark Oak appeared behind the scenes, scheming his enemies' downfall in secret. He dispatched Scarship, the space-faring Metarex, to destroy Team Sonic. After this fails, Dark Oak confronts Sonic and co. in a battle over the seven Chaos Emeralds at one of his fortresses, but they soon find that he was simply contacting them with a hologram. After the fortress containing the last two Chaos Emeralds was destroyed and the jewels scattered, Dark Oak declares that it was only a test. From that point on, Dark Oak stays out of the action, dispatching his Metarex commanders in various attempts to kill Sonic and co. He also recruits Doctor Eggman as an ally, though Eggman later proved traitorous.
Dark Oak's plan to let plant life reign supreme was later revealed to occur at galactic coordinates 00,00,00. Every 1,000 year period, a time/space anomaly occurs wherein the “Galaxy Corridor” will align so that all points in space connect to Planet Aqurius. This would mean that whatever events were to happen there would be able to spread across the universe. Using the Planet Eggs as a source of water and the Chaos Emeralds as a source of light, Dark Oak combined with his last two commanders to form Final Mova. Knuckles commanded the Master Emerald to give all its power to the Sonic Power Cannon, which fired a powerful energy blast that killed two of the three heads that the beast had and depowered the Chaos Emeralds, but Dark Oak was still alive and had already extracted all the energy he needed from the emeralds. Dark Oak attempted to finally achieve his goal by entering Final Mova’s second phase, where he would then drain the life out of all animal and robotic creatures and attempt to have them consumed by endless forests - a feat he claimed would allow all life to live forever in complete peace, silence and stillness as all animals are assimilated into the plantlife. However, being plant-based in nature, Cosmo was not affected. She was able to give the restored Chaos Emeralds to Sonic and Shadow, allowing them to assume their Super forms. They attempted to thwart Dark Oak’s plan, but only succeded in spurring him into further rage. Seeing that his plan had been foiled and intent on taking his enemies down with him, he entered Final Mova’s third phase in the shape of a massive, shadowy planet and created a powerful gravity field (which even Super Sonic and Super Shadow could not break through), planning to crush the Planet Eggs, causing it to explode and destroying everything in the entire universe for having rebuffed his offer of peace. Cosmo, in a self-sacrificing act, fused with Dark Oak and was able to immobilize him with her power. Reluctantly, Tails fired the Sonic Power Cannon with Super Sonic and Super Shadow in it, allowing the team to kill Dark Oak once and for all. Super Shadow then used Chaos Control, removing himself and the remaining concentration of energy far away from the vicinity before they could erupt, thus destroying Final Mova.
In the aftermath, Lucas was shown in a mysterious location, greatly saddened by his long and futile efforts to end conflict. In the English dubbed version, he ponders his actions, now regretful and wishing to repent. There, he was greeted by and departed with a form of Earthia, having forgiven each other of their pasts.
Personality[]
As Lucas, Dark Oak was ready to do anything to defend his planet, refusing to let the villanous beasts that attacked his planet rule the universe. As such, he decided to stay and defend his planet to the end, never fleeing. As time went on however, Dark Oak became corrupted by his ideals and ambitions. Convinced that all sentient beings other than plants are foolish and destructive creatures, he sought to remake the universe into an endless, silent forest, therefore ending war and conflict and creating an ideal universe but killing all non-plant life in the process. When he ultimately failed, he decided to destroy the universe in an act of hatred for having rebuffed his offer of salvation.
Dark Oak was helped by his resourcefulness and ability to plan long-lasting and complicated operations. He was cunning and tried to get to know his opponents first by sending various Metarex to fight them, rarely deciding to fight directly.
After he was defeated, Dark Oak seemingly changed and came to understand that he had allowed his righteous quest to blind him to the suffering he had caused.
Powers and abilities[]
As a male member of Cosmo’s species, Lucas had the ability to enter "Mover Mode", which transforms him into a colossal tyrannosaurus-like being with enhanced strength and durability. However, maintaining this transformation would drain Lucas of his own energy, and extended usage of it would kill him.
As a Metarex, Dark Oak was by far the most powerful of the Metarex Commanders and one of the most powerful foes in Sonic X, possessing might so great that even Super Sonic was unable to defeat him in their first fight. It should be noted though that back then, Super Sonic had spent much of his stamina fooling around with him, and even after he had scattered the emeralds, Dark Oak admitted he only had a slim chance of succeeding in a direct assault against Super Sonic.[6]
Dark Oak had unimaginable physical strength, enough to bruise Super Sonic and repel his charges without recoil or strain. He likewise had high durability, only receiving a small wound from all of Super Sonic's attacks. He was also capable of flight, allowing him to move freely through the void of space at speeds matching Super Sonic's.
In addition to his incredible power, Dark Oak was an intelligent schemer. He was able to lay out complex and successful plans of his own as the leader of the Metarex, and possessed technological genius rivalling or surpassing even Eggman or Tails. Notable technological accomplishments of his include the manipulation of Planet Egg energy to enhance his soldiers, the construction of Scarship, the use of an artificially created wormhole to destroy one of his bases and his own powerful cybernetics amongst others. In the Japanese version, it is said that most of his strategic losses were done on purpose to increase the team’s trust in Cosmo - allowing them to gather the Chaos Emeralds for him as he monitors their whereabouts and capabilities from afar, only stepping in to retrieve the Emeralds when Shadow learned of Cosmo’s nature as a spy device.
Weapons[]
Dark Oak wielded a large green sword, suggesting he had some proficiency on swordsmanship. So far, he was only seen using it in his battle with Super Sonic, but with little usage.
Relationships[]
The Metarex[]
Sonic the Hedgehog[]
Sonic has interacted with Dark Oak several times. Although Sonic did not give the alien much thought at the beginning, Sonic would later display a deep loathing toward Dark Oak for forcing him to scatter the Chaos Emeralds across the galaxy. However, during his imprisonment in Final Mova's dreamscape, Sonic threw his anger aside and toyed with Dark Oak's minions, all while refusing the offer for a new life given to him by the Metarex.
After Dark Oak's defeat, Sonic had a final conversation with the deceased Metarex through a tree, where they discussed their different ideologies. Afterwards, Sonic bid him farewell before running away, making Dark Oak chuckle faintly.
Earthia[]
Earthia was Dark Oak's wife. When Earthia wanted to leave their planet behind and start a new life, Lucas would rather stay and fight to stop the enemy attacking is home from causing further destruction in the universe, which brought him into conflict with his wife. Eventually, Earthia told him that if he did not like it he could stay and fight the enemy himself, and Lucas agreed. Later horrified that her husband had sacrificed his world's Planet Egg to fight, Earthia called out Lucas for this betrayal, with the latter hypocritically doing the same to her for wanting to abandon their planet entirely. After he was defeated though, Lucas managed to forgive Earthia before disappearing with her.
Allies[]
Enemies[]
- Sonic the Hedgehog
- Miles "Tails" Prower
- Knuckles the Echidna
- Amy Rose
- Cream the Rabbit
- Cheese
- Christopher Thorndyke
- Shadow the Hedgehog
- Rouge the Bat
- Chaotix
- Cosmo
- Dr. Eggman
- Decoe
- Bocoe
- Bokkun
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 File:Sonicx-ep74-eye1.jpg
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 File:Sonicx-ep73-eye1.jpg
- ↑ Yoshimura, Kiyoko (6 May 2006). "So Long Sonic". Sonic X. Season 3. Episode 78.
- ↑ Sonic X episode 74, "Eye Spy"
- ↑ Sonic X episode 53, "A Cosmic Call"
- ↑ Yoshimura, Kiyoko (25 March 2020). "A Cosmic Call (Japanese version)". Sonic X. Season 3. Episode 53.