This article contains spoilers for Sonic Frontiers.Sonic Frontiers is praised by many fans for showing the series’ most in-depth story in years. It sees much of the cast go through character development, which tempts the status quo to become established Sonic history. While the story mostly deals with Sonic and his friends, Dr. Eggman gets a significant amount of time to shine. The villain has his own role to play, and it’s partly related to the newest addition to Sonic Cast: Sage.
Sage is an AI that Eggman built that has grown to have free will. During Sonic Frontiers, Sage and Dr. Eggman get to know each other and form a bond. This bond ends up being accepted by both as a father and daughter relationship. It can fly under the radar if players haven’t taken the time to find everything they need, but all the pieces are there.
Sonic Frontiers: Sage’s Origin
Sage, before the events of Borders, was a simple AI that Eggman created to hack into the Ancients’ technology so he could exploit it all for himself. Once her code reached Cyber Space, she was affected by its power and discovered the sealed evil lurking within. Her code quickly changed, and with the understanding of the impending danger, she purposefully trapped Eggman in Cyber Space to protect him. Protecting Eggman is her priority, and while he demands that Sage find a way out, she keeps telling him that there’s no way to remove him “safely.”
Due to her integration into Cyber Space, she was given sentience, and was able to take on the appearance of a human girl. With her newfound free will, Sage seems to find comfort in the fact that she is one of Dr. Eggman’s creations, with the basic protective functions manifesting as viewing the antagonist as family. However, Dr. Eggman talks to her as he would any of his other lackeys for the majority of the game, leaving Sage feeling alone. This makes her cry when she sees Sonic and Tails’ brotherly relationship.
Dr. Eggman’s Egg Memos and Thoughts on Sage
To quote Eggman himself Sonic Lost World, he’s a “complicated guy.” As he orders Sage around, he also records audio logs from his time in Cyber Space, and these “Egg Memos” reveal that there’s more going on. They quickly take a turn from being about the situation Eggman is in to being about how helpful Sage is. When Eggman catches himself calling Sage “she”, only to correct himself that she’s just “a program”, his attachment is very clear.
The Egg Memos were lost in Cyber Space and players can get them by fishing with Big the Cat. They play a big part in understanding what’s going on between Eggman and Sage, but due to the fact that they’re optional, some cutscenes still hint at what’s going on. When Sage protects Eggman from some digitized versions of the GUN militia, he says he’s proud of her, signifying how much their bond has changed.
It is unclear if Eggman and Sage actually had a conversation about the fact that they saw each other as family, but Eggman calls her his daughter as he watches her fly into battle. Despite not knowing how her creator felt about it, she refers to him as her father in the scenes where he does not appear.
Anyway, the true ending for Sonic Frontiers is proof that these two will definitely treat each other like family if Sage returns. Hopefully, thanks to her likable story of wanting to take care and protect her father, she will win the hearts of many fans. Not having Sage back after players worked hard to unlock the true ending would definitely upset people who loved her development with Dr. Eggman.
Sonic Frontiers is available for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S.
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