Sonic the Hedgehog is a franchise with a great amount of lore, which is ever expanding. From well-loved characters with unique personalities to vivid stories and locations, the franchise boasts numerous qualities which immerse players in the blue hedgehog's many quests.

Related

Sonic The Hedgehog: 14 Fastest Characters, Ranked

The Sonic franchise is full of speedy characters. Each is unique, but one is ultimately faster than the rest.

Over the course of more than 30 years, the franchise has given rise to various fan theories. Concerning both the lore and characters, and even the development of the franchise as a whole, these theories raise many intriguing questions. In many cases, these notions seem highly plausible and invite fans to ponder how well they really know SEGA's famous hedgehog and his pals.

8 Sonic’s First Film Design Was Entirely A Publicity Stunt

Caused Fan Backlash for the Purpose of Turning Heads

There’s been much fan speculation that the original (quite horrific) design for Sonic’s live action outing was done deliberately. In order to gain more public interest in the first movie, Sonic could’ve been designed in such a way to guarantee a massive backlash from fans. This would generate more of an internet presence, thus creating a sense of anticipation for his new design, in the hope that more people would want to watch the movie.

Though the movie producers deny this was a publicity stunt, this version of Sonic was created to make the character seem more realistic in the human world. However, it really does not appeal to fans of the cool, witty blue hedgehog, the one that appealed to so many fans in the games for decades. Interestingly, “Ugly Sonic” has become quite a character in his own right, with a cameo in “Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers”.

7 Sonic and Co. Know They Exist In Videogames

Continuous Fourth Wall Breaks Happen In The Franchise

Throughout the games and TV series, Sonic and other characters break the fourth wall frequently. This refers to the characters appearing to talk directly to the players. From the classic Genesis games, when Sonic would look towards players and tap his foot to show impatience with them, the modern-era games continue this trend.

From subtle references in Sonic Boom, like when Amy and Sticks discuss being watched by outside viewers, to Sonic telling players he’ll call the Wisps "aliens if that’s OK with everyone," the franchise has many examples. Fourth-wall breaks happen a lot in Sonic, strongly suggesting that, from a lore point of view, the characters know they exist in a video game or TV show. Some characters even have real world items, such as Eggman’s Dreamcast in Sonic Unleashed.

6 "The Princess And The 'Hog"

Sonic's Apparent Love Interest

From the very beginning, it was planned that Sonic would have a human girlfriend. SEGA of Japan proposed an initial idea that Sonic would be part of a band, and have a character named “Madonna” as his girlfriend. SEGA of America rejected the two ideas, feeling they wouldn’t appeal to a worldwide audience, and to differentiate the franchise even more from Super Mario’s Princess Peach; Nintendo was their primary competition.

Related

10 Unluckiest Sonic The Hedgehog Characters

These characters in the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise have endured some rough times, physically and emotionally.

However, the idea was revived in Sonic 06's Princess Elise. After saving her from Dr. Eggman, Elise falls in love with Sonic, and it's strongly implied he felt the same way. Unlike with Amy, Sonic likes spending time with Elise, and is genuinely really nice to her. After Sonic is killed by Mephiles, the game draws upon a fairytale influence: Elise’s "True Love's Kiss," alongside the Chaos Emeralds, revives him. What’s more, Sonic’s ending theme is a love song, a remix of “Sweet Dream” by J-Pop band Dreams Come True. Surely this wouldn’t have been the case if Sonic didn’t love Elise!

5 Sonic And His Friends Are Actually Human

They Can Roam Freely Around The Human World

Another interesting theory is that Sonic and his friends are not actually animals, but humans. This ties into Sonic’s origins, as the earliest idea for SEGA’s new mascot was a human boy. No concept art exists, and the idea was quickly dropped. But it potentially continues: There are multiple human characters that Sonic and his pals interact with in the games, and the humans themselves don’t bat an eyelid at the fact the Sonic gang look like different animals. Of course, the main antagonist, Dr. Eggman, is human, so it's been theorized that the hedgehog and his friends are actually just dressed in animal costumes.

In fact, some human characters actually assume Sonic and Co. are real people, and talk to them normally. In the anime Sonic X, Lindsey thinks that Cream is wearing a rabbit costume. Spagonia's hairdresser Denise, from Sonic Unleashed, comments that she loves Sonic’s ‘hairstyle’. The fact that Sonic loves chili dogs could also hint that he's a real person. This notion would also clear up any controversy over the love interest theory too.

4 Sonic Can Be Considered A Criminal

He Loves To Cause Property Damage

The idea that Sonic loves property damage has become part of meme culture. When Eggman first brought his robots to Green Hill Zone, Sonic responded by destroying them. Of course, it was to free the animals inside, but what if these repeated acts of destruction desensitized him to destroying any sort of artificial items? He'll obviously crash into things when running at max speed, but what if there are other times when he wrecks things when he probably doesn’t need to?

Sonic is actually out to vandalize and damage property as he doesn’t care about or like inorganic things, since they invaded his homeland. The iconic "City Escape" sequence in Sonic Adventure 2 sees Sonic break the GUN helicopter's wing to use as a snowboard. He then destroys a bunch of cars, and even a tram, as he hurtles down the streets. Perhaps he sees all things of human origin as potential threats, due to the mentality of needing to destroy Eggman’s robots for his and his friends' safety.

Funnily enough, Eggman himself comments in the Sonic Boom series about how much his robots cost. Even though a woman in Soleanna comments that Sonic “is not suspicious at all," it certainly seems that Sonic doesn’t feel guilty about destroying civilian property.

3 Shadow And The Biolizard Were Based Off Ancient Murals

Professor Gerald Studied An Ancient Civilization

Why do many characters think Shadow the Hedgehog looks like Sonic, even though he's 50 years older than him? Professor Gerald Robotnik, who designed Shadow and the Biolizard, had studied the culture of the ancient echidna clans, including Knuckles' ancestors. The Hidden Palace Zone in Sonic and Knuckles was a site of great importance to the ancient echidnas, and contained the Master Emerald altar. Some fans think the mural on the wall shows the same quill shape as Shadow's. In fact, the mural is of Super Sonic. Therefore, Shadow has the same appearance as Super Sonic, hence why Amy gets the two hedgehogs mixed up on many occasions.

Related

10 Most Emotional Songs from the Sonic the Hedgehog Games

Sonic the Hedgehog is known for his speed, but the games are also known for harboring some emotional songs that could make the players shed a tear.

Knuckles’ clan were obliterated by Perfect Chaos, as seen in Sonic Adventure, which gives rise to a theory about the Biolizard. It seems Gerald based the Biolizard off Perfect Chaos, as both share a reptilian form and have a similar roar. Since Gerald studied the ancient echidnas, he would have come across their murals in the "Lost World" which depicted Perfect Chaos' form.

Interestingly, the professor designed the "Artificial Chaos" enemies, and certain aspects aboard his Space Colony ARK bear resemblance to the Hidden Palace's and Lost World's features, suggesting where his influences came from.

2 Tails Is Infinite

The 'Bad Ending' Of Sonic The Hedgehog 2 (Game Gear Version)

In this game, Tails is captured by Eggman. It’s "Bad Ending," when Sonic fails to collect all the Chaos Emeralds, means Sonic can't rescue him. This potentially created an alternate dimensional version of the beloved fox, seen in Sonic Forces' villain, Infinite. As well as having similar features, both the Fox and the Jackal, Infinite's species are members of the “Canidae” animal family. Infinite hates Sonic and tries desperately to eliminate him, which could be Tails seeking revenge on Sonic for not saving him.

The fox used to believe his two tails were a shame, since he was bullied for them. However, Sonic helped change his perspective and see them as a good thing. Infinite appears to have one tail, suggesting that his hatred of Sonic caused him to reject this notion, and get rid of his unique second tail. Similarly, Infinite can't stand his own weakness, which directly contrasts with Tails' personality. He knows he doesn't have Sonic's power, but as his theme song "Believe in Myself" implies, he embraces his different kind of strength. These opposites suggest Infinite is a completely alternate version of Tails.

Interestingly, the name 'Infinite' would also pair well with Tails' real name “Miles Prower,” sounding like “Infinite Miles Per Hour,” as the character is supposedly "faster than Sonic!"

1 Nintendo Caused Sonic X-Treme's Cancelation

A Suspicious Release Date For Super Mario 64

On Sonic’s 'fifth birthday,' June 23rd, 1996, his primary rival Mario had his first 3D outing with the release of Super Mario 64 in Japan. This game was an incredible feat of early 3D gaming, and became extremely successful. Sonic’s first 3D outing was meant to be Sonic X-Treme for the Sega Saturn. This game has become infamous for its cancelation due to multiple factors. However, it seems strange for SEGA's primary rival, Nintendo, to choose the day Sonic's first ever game was released for their groundbreaking 3D title's launch.

Did they influence, or even cause, Sonic X-treme's demise in order to beat them to releasing the first 3D game? A theory states that a disguised Nintendo employee possibly sabotaged Sonic X-treme, eventually causing it to be canceled. Since competition was so high, they wanted to halt their closest rival’s ambitions and be the first to release a 3D platformer. This initial release date definitely seems a strange choice, almost being a mockery of Sonic, due to the fact his game was canceled and their's went on to great success.

More

Sonic The Hedgehog: Most Iconic Themes From Every Mainline Game

Sonic the Hedgehog is renowned for having consistently good soundtracks. These songs represent the best from every entry in the long-running series.