This article has heavy spoilers for Sonic Frontiers.Sonic Frontiers has been an interesting game prior to release. Its marketing campaign was specifically designed to get fans asking questions about the Starfall Islands, where Sonic and friends get trapped on. They are full of mysteries about the remnants of a lost civilization, what's drawing in the Chaos Emeralds, and the truth of the colossal titans that Sonic has to fight. While fans awaited Frontiers' release, players were made to believe that Sage, an AI created by Dr. Eggman, would be the villain of this story.
In most Sonic games, it's evident who the antagonist is at one point or another. While some games have surprise reveals, such as Sonic and the Black Knight's Merlina, as well as the others that have stabbed Eggman in the back, Sonic Frontiers isn't so clean cut. While the game has its own intimidating antagonist, they take a backseat for a majority of the game, appearing in its final act. There's a bit of utilitarianism thrown in the mix given the circumstances behind what happens isn't a single person's fault, which adds weight to the story at large.
How the Sonic Cast is Used in Frontiers
Sage, the newest addition to the Sonic cast, was a great choice as a faux antagonist for Sonic Frontiers' marketing because at first glance she seems like a perfect fit. She's responsible for the wormhole that separated Sonic, Amy, and Tails at the beginning of the story, and is also the reason why a majority of the islands' guardians go after Sonic. However, over the course of the game, it's revealed this isn't because Sage has an evil scheme up her sleeve, she's just trying to protect Eggman. She explains to Sonic that she sealed the trio up to avoid any external variables that could make what was about to happen worse.
This means players need to look to other cast members for answers. As tenacious as Dr. Eggman can be, his hands are tied in Cyber Space. The Egg Memos that players can buy from Big reveal he's spent the game exploring the dimension he's trapped in, learning about the Ancients while growing to view Sage as his daughter. When Sonic arrives on the Starfall Islands, he's spoken to by what he refers to as a "spooky sky voice." At first glance, this doesn't seem like much, but in reality Sonic is unwittingly used to free the real antagonist: The End.
Sonic Frontiers: What is The End?
The voice of The End tells Sonic that to free his friends, he needs to gather the Chaos Emeralds and defeat the titans. Sonic accepts it as the one clue he has, unaware of what is speaking to him. Slowly, he breaks The End's seal while learning about a dangerous enemy that the Starfall Island's Ancients once fought, but doesn't know what's happening until he succumbs to cyber corruption. While The End didn't lie to Sonic given Tails, Knuckles, and Amy were freed from Cyber Space once Sonic becomes trapped between realities, dialogue from The End suggests the goal was to always throw him away.
The End remains bound to the Supreme Titan until it's defeated, but it may lead to a disconnect as fans don't get to properly see or learn what the villain truly is unless they beat Sonic Frontiers on hard mode. Once there, The End gets its own special boss fight in the style of Frontiers' hacking segments, showing that its true form is a desolate purple moon. Here, it declares itself to be an all-powerful incarnation of the void that has conquered numerous worlds.
The power of The End is god-like, and it mocks Sonic during the secret boss fight by saying the gods he's bested before were finite, while The End itself is "infinite." There may be weight to this as the cast comments that Super Sonic won't be able to best it on his own, with Sage and the lingering spirit of the Supreme Titan's Ancient helping him. Super Sonic has bested gods such as Dark Gaia and Perfect Chaos in the past, so it's terrifying to imagine Sonic and the Chaos Emeralds weren't enough.
Ultimately, as easy as it may seem that Sonic is to blame for breaking The End's seal, it's not that simple. Sage alludes to the threat lurking deep in Cyber Space numerous times, but when Sonic asks for clarification, she says the warning isn't worth it because Sonic's doomed to be trapped between realities. As Sage learns more about Sonic, she wishes that she could try and change the situation, but it's revealed that she couldn't because Eggman was stubborn on not teaming up with the hedgehog. The situation is nuanced, there's no black or white answer, making Frontiers one of the most in-depth explorations of the Sonic cast in years.
Sonic Frontiers is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
