Sonic the Hedgehog 2 introduced Knuckles to the live-action film series and explained his backstory, but one theory claims that Knuckles’ knowledge of his tribe’s history might not be correct. In the Sonic video games, Knuckles was an anthropomorphic echidna with super strength. He came from a clan of warriors who protected the Master Emerald, a powerful mystic relic. However, after a period of violence, the number of echidnas began declining until Knuckles was the last survivor and sole guardian of the Master Emerald.
While Sonic the Hedgehog 2 kept many of the major elements of Knuckles’ origin, the Sonic sequel did make some changes. Knuckles was still the last remaining member of the echidnas, a fierce warrior tribe. However, the echidnas made the Master Emerald as a powerful weapon, which a group of owl warriors had to steal to prevent it from being used for evil. In addition, rather than slowly dying off over many years, Knuckles explained that the echidna tribe was wiped out in a single final battle. When Knuckles was a child, the other echidnas – who were all old enough to fight – died attacking Longclaw, an owl who knew the location of the hidden Master Emerald and Sonic’s guardian. Due to this battle, both Knuckles and Sonic lost their guardians at a young age.
However, some viewers have raised questions about Knuckles’ account of events. Since Longclaw was the last owl warrior, Knuckles’ story implies that she killed the entire echidna tribe on her own. If she had been able to defeat all of the echidnas though, then she probably would not have felt the need to hide from them for so long. To explain this, one theory (via Gamefaqs) holds that not all of the echidnas died in that battle. Instead, some echidnas could have traveled through ring portals to escape Longclaw, but they lost their rings along the way. Due to this, the echidnas were trapped on other planets with no way home. If this theory were true, then Knuckles might not be the last of the echidnas in the Sonic the Hedgehog movies.
Why Knuckles Believes He’s The Last Echidna
One interesting point about this theory is that even if there are other surviving echidnas, Knuckles’s story was not an intentional lie about his past in Sonic the Hedgehog 2. Instead, the echidnas could easily be alive without Knuckles knowing. After none of the echidnas returned from their battle with Longclaw, Knuckles’ primary goal became finding Sonic, who he believed knew the Master Emerald’s hidden location. Even with ring portals though, Knuckles struggled to find Sonic for years. Eventually, Kunckles only found Sonic with Dr. Robotnik’s help. This is despite Knuckles seeming to have full access to rings since he used one to reach Robotnik on the Mushroom Planet. Given that the other echidnas did not have any rings according to the theory, it would have been even harder for them to find their way back to Knuckles in their home village. Once Knuckles started moving between different worlds in search of Sonic, it would have been nearly impossible to track him. In this way, Knuckles could believe that he is the last echidna without suspecting that they are actually trying to reunite with him.
Theory: Not All Of The Echidnas Died Fighting Longclaw
Further support for this theory is based on the fact that Longclaw probably was not physically capable of killing all of the echidnas. When the echidnas attacked Longclaw and Sonic at the beginning of Sonic the Hedgehog, Longclaw immediately grabbed Sonic and tried to fly away. Unfortunately, Pachacamac, an echidna warrior, shot Longclaw with an arrow, causing her to crash. Unable to escape, Longclaw got Sonic to safety through a ring portal and prepared to face the echidnas on her own. Although Longclaw was an owl warrior, the echidnas vastly outnumbered her. Additionally, Longclaw’s injury would have prevented her from fighting as well. Due to this, Longclaw could have defeated many of the echidnas, but it is unlikely that she could have singlehandedly eliminated all of them without some of the echidnas managing to escape.
Where Are The Other Echidnas In The Sonic Universe?
So far, the Sonic the Hedgehog movies have only shown three worlds: Earth, the Mushroom Planet, and Mobius (where Sonic lived with Longclaw). However, Sonic has a Safe Worlds Map, given to him by Longclaw to escape whenever someone discovered his powers. This map is filled with Easter eggs for Sonic video games and even foreshadowed the importance of the Master Emerald in Sonic 2. Based on the planets shown on the Safe Worlds Map, the most likely place for the echidnas to be trapped is the checkered sphere on the right side of the map, which resembles a “Special Stage.” In the Sonic 3 & Knuckles video game, Special Stages were extra game levels that required special Giant Rings to access. When players beat that level, they earned one of the seven Chaos Emeralds needed to make the Master Emerald. Both of these game elements could be incorporated into the Sonic films. The echidnas could be trapped in the Special Stage without any rings, and one of the Chaos Emeralds could have ended up on the planet after Sonic scattered the emeralds at the end of Sonic the Hedgehog 2. While this theory may seem somewhat unlikely, since Knuckles is known to be the last echidna in the Sonic video games, the Sonic the Hedgehog movies could change this and later reveal that Knuckles is not the last after all.
