Who wrote "The Truth of 50 Years Ago"?

Spoiler

I thought Gerald was supposed to never have investigated Angel Island and that's why he only could've possibly researched Chaos? I really can't think of any good reason to involve Angel Island in Shadow's (not Artificial Chaos') backstory other than to also involve the mural.

Now that I said that I'm probably going to be proven wrong but still the timing's amusingly ironic.

 

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So what if they were inspired by a few people who posted on the TV Tropes Fridge Logic page? Obviously, the idea resonated with fans, there has been a push to establish a cohesive continuity that isn't afraid to reference past games, and it seems generally like an idea with story potential. Whether it was thought about in 2001 or 2005 is immaterial.

It should be noted Serialized stories are constantly evolving and are 99% created on the fly because "hey that might be a good idea". TV Shows quite often pick up on story threads simply because it was received well by fans or the creatives simply wanted to explore it. Not everything has to be set in stone before said media produced, and people absolutely can build off of stuff that has been established and make connections that were never considered when various elements were first created. It is not often that stories are written wholesale with no changes between creation of an idea and production of it. To me that's simply a sign of a stubborn creator who is too precious about their work.

Sonic as a series is going to have a story that evolves and makes connection between elements that may not have been considered upon their creation. Maekawa may or may not have had a visit to Angel Island in mind when he wrote SA2 or conceived the backstory for Shadow, but that doesn't mean it's a stupid idea that undermines "Creative integrity" by solidifying it in canon and as people have said in this thread, there's logical merit to it.

 

Despite having a more favorable view of fan theories than you seem to, I actually agree with your take here.

I've always been most interested in the ideas that were developed about SA2 as a standalone story, not what was released after that. That's the core point of this thread. Shadow 05 still strikes me as a weird set of retcons to an otherwise pretty interesting story, but at least the original JP version of it (which most of us didn't have access to until recently), isn't quite as out there as the english version. As I pointed out earlier, all shadow narratives from 2001-2006 flows a lot better in the Japanese versions. It's perfectly fine if you love our meme ridden western versions, they're even very popular, but they just aren't the same style as what the originals intended to be.

I'm certainly curious which ideas this bonus will focus on, but if it's not written by Maekawa with his original plans in mind? I don't actually care all that much. New story material is not what ever fascinated me about this game.

 

Spoiler

So it seems Gerald did indeed visit Angel Island based on the part of the journal we see in the Sonic X Shadow Generations trailer. I think they handled it well enough based on what I've read. Gerald respects the sanctity of the island and leaves well enough alone.

 

Spoiler

He saw it, but never set foot on it.

 

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That's absolutely worded like he visited Angel Island. The "I believe I could see an entire floating city at one point" is referring to him seeing Sky Sanctuary in the distance; which as we know is disconnected from Angel Island.

 

Going back and looking at the Altar as it appears in the present day in SA1, it does look like all the pillars are broken but there are pieces scattered about. It's not hard to imagine he was able to reconstruct it's original appearance based on what he saw.

 

It's not even out and it's causing problems...

 

What a dick move from Gerald that he never wrote down the coordinates from the Mystic Ruins dig for the future Station Square explorers to find the damn ruins.

Those boys are probably still lost in the jungle.

 

Eh, none of this is a new problem. The existence of 2 shrines on the Island was always an odd issue, yet Mania/3K and SA1-2 are now considered canon on the same timeline, so figuring out exactly why it worked this way is besides the point.

We know the emerald can be moved by Knuckles himself, even shrunk to fit in his hands. Maybe he moved it when he saw the Death Egg heading to the island to protect it? It's really not a big deal. And don't forget when we see it on the surface at the end of 3K too.

 

I don't think it's that big of a problem either.

The timeline is basically:

50 Years ago - The Master Emerald is located at the Chaos Altar when Gerald visits Angel Island.

Sonic 3 - At some point, it's been moved to the Hidden Palace Altar and is found there by Eggman (perhaps Knuckles' ancestors decided to move it after observing Gerald?). He steals it, it's returned to Knuckles by Sonic & Tails and he proceeds to return it to Hidden Palace.

Sonic Mania - Eggman and the Hard Boiled Heavies set up shop in Hidden Palace as a launching point to deliver supplies to Little Planet while Knuckles has been warped away by the Phantom Ruby. King Heavy tries to steal the Master Emerald but is stopped by Knuckles.

(Not quite sure if they've resolved the Encore Mode/Mania Adventures timeline problem yet, but in the latter Knuckles moves the Emerald to the Chaos Altar above ground)

Sonic Superstars onwards - The Master Emerald is located at the Chaos Altar.


It seems to me that Hidden Palace was an ancillary location for the Master Emerald, which honestly I think Sega's been leaning toward for a while now.

 

I agree, I don’t think the Master Emerald being moved from the altar to Hidden Palace at some point before S3&K is that much of a problem. After all, it had to move at some point after the SA1 flashbacks - it just happened to be within the last 50 years. Gerald’s very visit, benign thought it was, could easily have spooked Knuckles’ ancestors into keeping the ME more well hidden.

And it makes sense for Knuckles to return it to its proper location in the altar. It’s a better vantage point to observe intruders compared to the underground Hidden Palace, and it just wasn’t very hidden anymore with Eggman and the Heavies invading (and Fang, if the Superstars prequel comic is anything to go by).



Ironically, with official confirmation that Gerald visited Angel Island, I actually think the chances of him having seen the Hidden Palace mural have decreased. It seems his time on the island was brief and he was reluctant to explore it too deeply. Had he ventured deep into Lava Reef, or otherwise used one of the transport beams to reach Hidden Palace, he probably would have mentioned it.

Also, if that journal isn’t Ian Flynn’s writing I’ll eat my hat.

 

I like the mural theory, but even I don't really expect it to be canonized more than what the above text states. The fact that he visited Angel Island at all is just vague enough that you can make up your own mind or not on it, and I agree that an interpretation that he didn't have time to find it is reasonable, though I still think the text allows for some wiggle room.

Again, I'm more curious on whether the document will explicitly state that Shadow was awakened before Prison Island on the Ark and explicitly confirm he spent time with Maria. Even Sth 05 was more vague on this issue than I expected, as all the flashbacks still have evidence of being unreliable narrators, full of contradictions, while the video where Gerald and Maria discuss the Eclipse canon in the Last Story seems to be one filmed 'before' Shadow was awakened, and clearly before Gerald lost his mind, with the intent of the message reaching him at some unknown future date? Seems very odd that they'd both record a message to give to him if he was already awake at that point.

 

Does it though? The message was suppose to come through when the Black Arms came back in 50 years and Gerald would have already been dead by then.

 

But there's always been two?

He's patrolling the altar while the pillar lies beneath the island. We know the pillar is the Master Emerald, which is in the earliest concept arts as well as the Hidden Palace. The altar was always there.

 

I assume Knuckles is always moving the Master Emerald around to keep it safe.

 

Honestly, with both a guidebook and a new animation short coming (there's even a Q&A about it at Anime Expo this year), they seem all but determined to actually go into depth on Shadow's backstory, fan theories or not.

We likely won't get major answers for what was originally intended when SA2 was written, but it looks like we're going to get a major lore dump with this game one way or another. I'd be shocked if they 'don't' give us definitive scenes of Shadow and Maria absolutely having met, regardless of the original intention of the mystery.