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“ | The abomination grows strong on the negative energies of the world, sleeping within its core for millennia in wait... | „ |
~ Gaia Manuscripts, 4:11 (about Dark Gaia). |
Dark Gaia is the overarching antagonist of the 2008 platform video game Sonic Unleashed.
He is a titanic, snake-like deity and the "dark" half of Earth's cosmic cycle and is the dark counterpart of Light Gaia.
Every few eons, Dark Gaia emerges from beneath the planet and destroys it, allowing Light Gaia to put the world back together and usher in a new era. However, after being awakened prematurely by Dr. Eggman, Dark Gaia begins corrupting the Earth and its inhabitants in an attempt to gain more power, break free, and destroy it.
Appearance[]
Dark Gaia appears as a serpent-like entity so gargantuan, that it dwarfs the entire Earth in size in its completed true form. In its incomplete form, it has a brown body with its torso resembling that of a snake's body and two thin arms with large neon-blue claws. It also has a very wide head, which is even wider than its entire body, which consists of a mouth made up of many teeth, and a single green eye one each side of it. In the center of its head is a reptilian face with four horns on top, and a pair of white eyes. On its back is a group of seven lavender-colored tentacles made up of flaming energy.
Its true form looks roughly the same, however, the entity instead has a set of six arms rather than two, and it has many more green eyes in its mouth.
Biography[]
When Dr. Eggman used the Chaos Energy Cannon to split the Earth into pieces, Dark Gaia was awoken and began to destroy the natural order while Light Gaia was born into the mortal world as a small fairy-like creature named Chip. It is what spawns the monsters that plague the world. However, Dark Gaia was awakened prematurely, causing him to split into pieces that Eggman eventually brought together.
Upon becoming mostly whole and emerging from the lava at the center of the Earth, Dark Gaia ignored Eggman's orders and sent him flying into the distance. Chip fought Dark Gaia, and eventually Sonic fought him as well, before Dark Gaia absorbed the power within Sonic that made him a Werehog, turning sonic back to normal, becoming Perfect Dark Gaia. Sonic used the Chaos Emeralds to turn into Super Sonic and defeated him, smashing through his center eye. Slowly decaying and gushing green blood, Dark Gaia fell back into the lava. Though the world was saved, Professor Pickle explains that light and darkness cannot exist without each other and thus Dark Gaia is still alive as part of the planet's cycle. Dark Gaia and Light Gaia will continue their fight in another ten thousand years.
Trivia[]
- Dark Gaia is one of the largest enemies to be fought throughout the series, followed by The End.
- In the Wii/PS2 version, when Sonic must attack Dark Gaia's eyes by going across the Gaia Colossus, it is the only time Sonic grinds in 3D, as in this version, all rails are strictly 2D only. It is also the only time when Sonic must use the quick step on a grind rail.
- His final battle is different in the Wii/PS2 version and the 360/PS3 version. In the Wii/PS2 version, Sonic must collect rings and smash through each of his eyes one by one, and then do the same with his center eye to finish him off. In the 360/PS3 version, Sonic must take out his shield by killing the snakes projecting the shield while Chip fights Dark Gaia inside. Then Dark Gaia grabs onto Chip, and the player must press buttons as they appear to make Sonic attack Dark Gaia's hands. Then Dark Gaia shoots an energy wave at Chip, which the player must tap a button repeatedly to block. After Chip punches Dark Gaia, the player must press a final button to make Sonic smash through Dark Gaia's center eye.
- The name Gaia is derived from an ancient Greek nature goddess, who was the personification of the Earth. Although named after a goddess, Dark Gaia is referred to as male.
- Chaos, a previous Sonic villain, was also named after a Greek god.
- Dark Gaia seems to change size throughout the course of Sonic Unleashed. When he is first awakened, he is large enough to put one hand on either side of the planet, yet during the final fight, he is noticeably smaller and fits inside the planet with plenty of extra space in the planet's core. This is probably due to Dark Gaia's mass being spread out and incomplete, as SA-55 states later on.
- Dark Gaia might have been one of the reasons that Sonic Unleashed was given the ESRB rating of E10+ for “animated blood” as he leaks green blood during his transformation into Perfect Dark Gaia. This blood is also seen in his "death" scene.
- All of the bosses in the game with a Dark prefix appear to elemental:
- Dark Gaia Phoenix - Fire.
- Dark Moray - Ice.
- Dark Guardian - Lightning.
- Dark Gaia - Earth.
- Dark Gaia appears to have a resemblance to Iblis. Dark Gaia has Shadowy dark minions like Iblis has Fire minions, and they both have a desire to destroy the world.
- Considering Dark Gaia needs a certain amount of power to become Perfect Dark Gaia, it's possible that he might have never transformed if he never absorbed the Werehog energy from Sonic.
- Dark Gaia is one of the three final bosses to have an orchestrated version of the game's main theme as the final boss music (specifically "Endless Possibility"), the other two being Solaris' second phase ("His World") and Nega Wisp Armor's second phase ("Reach For The Stars").
- In the Sonic Frontiers DLC The Final Horizon, Dark Gaia is implied to be connected to The End when the End injects itself into Supreme, transforming it to take on one of its incarnations, where the Titan sprouts multiple arms similar to Dark Gaia's on its back. Additionally, its power has been compared to that of Dark Gaia by Tails in the base game.
External Links[]
- Dark Gaia on the Sonic Wiki