This article contains heavy spoilers for Sonic Frontiers.Sonic Frontiers has been an interesting game before its release. The marketing campaign was specifically designed to get fans asking questions about the Starfall Islands, where Sonic and friends are trapped. They are full of mysteries about the remains of a lost civilization, what draws the Chaos Emeralds, and the truth about the colossal titans that Sonic must fight. While the fans waited frontiers’ release, led players to believe that Sage, an artificial intelligence created by Dr. Eggman, would be the villain of this story.
In most Sonic game, it is clear 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 who have stabbed Eggman in the back, Sonic Frontiers is not so clean. While the game has its own terrifying antagonist, they take a back seat for most of the game, appearing in the final act. There’s a bit of utilitarianism in the mix given that the circumstances behind what’s happening aren’t a single person’s fault, which adds weight to the story at large.
How Sonic Cast is used in Frontiers
Sage, the newest addition to the Sonic cast, was a good choice as a fake antagonist for Sonic Frontiers’ marketing because at first glance she seems like a perfect fit. She is 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 that this isn’t because Sage has an evil plan up her sleeve, she’s just trying to protect Eggman. She explains to Sonic that she sealed the trio away to avoid external variables that could make what was about to happen worse.
This means players must 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 purchase from Big reveal that he has spent the game exploring the dimension he is trapped in, learning about the Old Ones while growing to see Sage as his daughter. When Sonic arrives at the Starfall Islands, he is spoken to by what he refers to as a “creepy sky voice.” At first glance, this doesn’t seem like much, but in reality, Sonic is unknowingly being used to free the real antagonist: The End.
Sonic Frontiers: What’s the End?
The voice of The End tells Sonic that in order to free his friends, he must collect 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 as he learns of a dangerous enemy that Starfall Island’s Ancients once fought, but doesn’t know what’s going on until he succumbs to cyber corruption. While The End did not lie to Sonic given Tails, Knuckles and Amy were freed from Cyber Space when Sonic is caught between realities, dialogue from The End suggests that the goal was to always throw him away.
The End remains bound to the Supreme Titan until it is defeated, but that can lead to a disconnect as fans don’t get to see or learn what the villain really is unless they beat Sonic Frontiers in hard mode. Once there, The End gets its own special boss fight in the style of frontiers’ hacking segments, showing its true form to be a desolate purple moon. Here it declares itself to be an all-powerful incarnation of the void that has conquered many worlds.
The End’s power is god-like, and it taunts Sonic during the secret boss fight by saying that the gods he has defeated before were finite, while The End itself is “infinite”. There may be weight to this as the cast comments that Super Sonic won’t make it on his own, with Sage and the lingering spirit of the Supreme Titan’s Ancient helping him. Super Sonic has overcome gods like Dark Gaia and Perfect Chaos in the past, so it’s terrifying to imagine that Sonic and the Chaos Emeralds weren’t enough.
Ultimately, as simple 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 several times, but when Sonic asks for clarification, she says that the warning isn’t worth it because the Sonics are doomed to be trapped between realities. Still, she doesn’t want it to die, made clear through Sage’s actions and claims that his fate will result in losing someone “so impressive.” The situation is nuanced, there is no black or white answer, do Borders one of the most in-depth explorations of Sonic cast this year.
Sonic Frontiers is now available for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S.
