|
| “ | Submit. Your reckless actions endanger the world. | „ |
| ~ Sage threatening Sonic, and her most famous quote. |
| “ | Such a beautiful friendship. A family born out of love and not genetics. Everything I want... I wish I'd never seen this. It was so much easier accepting the future when they were simply enemies. | „ |
| ~ Sage after seeing Sonic and Tails bonding. |
| “ | Father, I wanted to make you proud. Father, I will keep you safe. I wish I could've found a way to stay with you forever. Then maybe we... could be a family born of love. |
„ |
| ~ A portion of Sage's song from the end credits. |
Sage is the deuteragonist of the 2022 platform game Sonic Frontiers and its 2023 DLC, The Final Horizon.
She is an advanced AI created by Dr. Eggman as a means of protecting himself from potential threats. Over the course of the game, Sage, who had sworn to protect the land and its inhabitants due to being infused with the data from Cyber Space, initially tries to stop Sonic from saving his friends. Eggman would ultimately go on to consider Sage his daughter.
Combined with Sonic being her creator's sworn enemy, as well as the fact that he's been manipulated by The End in order to save his friends, she takes some degree of control of the Titans outside of Supreme, and even tries to kill Sonic on several instances.
She was voiced by Megumi Hayashibara in Japanese (Who also voice Jessie in Pokémon anime) and Ryan Bartley in English.
Appearance[]
Sage appears as a young human girl with pale skin, a slim body and limbs, and a large head with red, glowing eyes, and a red structure on the left side of her face. She also has white hair that forms a spiral shape, with a red highlight in the spiral. Her hair also covers one of her eyes. The rest of her body, however, is completely black, and made up of code. She is often seen wearing a long black dress and black mary jane shoes.
Despite her body having a red-and-black pattern, it seems to change color depending on her mood. It is usually red whenever she is unhappy. When she feels positive emotions, such as admiration, happiness, or positive reinforcement however, it flickers to a cyan-and-white pattern.
Personality[]
Sage, being an AI, strictly abides by the programming set by Dr. Eggman. As a result of this, she runs entirely off of logic, is unable to feel sympathy towards others, and is generally indifferent towards the feelings of others. This also results in her taking extreme measures when a potential threat is nearby, such as summoning powerful guardians to attack Sonic in an attempt to get him to leave the islands, or imprisoning others in an attempt to discount external variables. Despite this, Sage is also generally cautious and reserved, often warning Sonic about the dangers that may come from trying to save his friends.
While Sage initially sees little worth in trying to reason with Sonic or try to explain her antagonism towards him as a result of Eggman not programming her to assist him, and because of accessing the data from Cyber Space being restricted to outsiders, she begins opening up and becomes more sympathetic after getting to know Sonic. After observing Sonic throughout his adventure of the Starfall Islands and seeing how much he means to his friends, Sage began treating him with more empathy and respect, somewhat to the point of idolization. When she begins warming up to Sonic, she also becomes more pacifistic in nature, as she tries to suggest to Eggman repeatedly that they should be allies. She becomes concerned for Sonic when the End winds up trapping him between dimensions. She also becomes considerably more optimistic and hopeful through Sonic's influence, which is in sharp contrast to her calculative and almost fatalistic nature.
Biography[]
Past[]
Sage was an AI that was created by Doctor Eggman, upset with the failures of all of his other creations. He had managed to create an artificial intelligence that was much more advanced than any software that he had built beforehand, giving it the name "Sage". The first task that he gave Sage was to hack into the technology of the ancient civilization that once lived on the islands in order to learn about its secrets. Despite Sage's warnings about the dangers of doing this, he still pushed through with it anyway, confident that he will overcome it. When Eggman installs Sage into one of the altars, she encounters a problem that pulls both her and Eggman into Cyber Space.
After becoming infused with Cyber Space's data, she learns all about the civilization that once inhabited the Starfall Islands, the Ancients, and discovered that a powerful being called The End had been sealed by them into Cyber Space by powerful robots called the Titans after it tried wiping out their whole species, and prevent it from continuing the destruction of other worlds.
As this was happening, Sonic, Tails, and Amy were also sucked in by The End into Cyber Space through a wormhole. Some time in-between, Knuckles the Echidna had found an old portal in the ruins of Sky Sanctuary, and from there arrived to the Starfall Islands. Knuckles fights and defeats a set of Guardians until Sage intervenes by sending an Asura after him. After it catches him, Sage imprisons Knuckles. Sage also does the same with Tails and Amy.
Sage states later on on Ouranos Island that she did this to ensure the safety of Dr. Eggman while he was trapped in Cyber Space by getting rid of external variables, as they were all not meant to come to the Islands.
Sonic Frontiers[]
Throughout the game, Sage acts as an antagonistic force towards Sonic during the first half of the game as a result of Eggman's programming, combined with the software set by the Ancients, which inhibit anyone who enters from attacking.
When Sonic escapes from Cyber Space, and gets transported to the Starfall Islands, Sage begins to watch over Sonic. Sage first encounters Sonic on Kronos Island, where she is taking control of the Titan Giganto. When she spots him, she tries to warn him that he should leave the island, and tells him not to approach the Titan. Sonic runs towards Giganto, which prompts Sage to then control it and try to kill Sonic. When Sonic attempts to fight Giganto, it proves to be of little use, as eventually it throws Sonic across the island and into a fault. Sage then views the event with a stoic expression. When Sonic eventually wakes up, he realizes that he can't fight the Titans like he did with most of his other enemies, and decides that he must find the Chaos Emeralds.
After giving Heart Tokens to Amy, Sage shows up at where Sonic currently is, and attempts to warn Sonic about how his current actions are endangering the world, but does not elaborate on this. Sonic, understandably confused, asks Sage how trying to help his friends is inherently bad. However, because of her programming which inhibits her from helping Sonic, Sage cannot share information regarding her motives with Sonic. Amy then calls her out for this, telling her that Sonic wouldn't intentionally try to cause harm, and gives his attempt at reuniting one of the Kocos to their true love as an example of his nobility. However, Sage is unable to process this, as she does not understand love as a concept, declares that both Sonic and Amy are too ignorant to be helped or reasoned with, and leaves.
She later meets with Dr. Eggman in Cyber Space, who wants updates on Sonic. There, he orders Sage to find a way to get him out of Cyber Space, to which Sage then evaluates all possible safe options. Later, she informs Eggman that she was able to extend her range of control over the Islands, but that she can only control a few of the Guardians and Titans at a time. She also informs Eggman that even after running millions of simulations, she can't find a feasible way to get Eggman out of Cyber Space, which Eggman does not accept, and tells her to make it her top priority.
Sage once again watches over Sonic when he frees Knuckles from his Cyber Cage. When Sonic is unlocking one of the alters using the blue Chaos Emerald, Sage summons the Titan Wyvern to attack Sonic. She reveals to Sonic that she does not actually have control over the Titans, but instead has the ability to summon them, and direct them at specific targets. The Wyvern Titan then attempts to kill Sonic, though he manages to escape its sight. Sage comes back to warn Sonic one final time to leave the Islands, but Sonic is still confused about how the attack constitutes as a "warning".
After everything that Sonic had done up to this point, including defeating Giganto and several of the guardians, Sage, feeling that her father is correct on his assessment of Sonic being reckless and a threat to both him and the Starfall Islands, tries to eliminate Sonic by shooting a powerful laser at him, which Knuckles blocks. Afterwards, Knuckles tries to get back at Sage for attempting to harm Sonic, but Sonic prevents him from harming Sage back, realizing that her antagonistic behavior thus far was out of a drive to protect something or someone, and was still willing to help Sage despite how she's treated him. Sage is horrified by what she had just tried to do to Sonic, and flies off from the scene, telling Sonic that he doesn't know what he's talking about.
Back in Cyber Space, Sage tells Dr. Eggman about Sonic's encounters with the Titans, which pleases him. At this point, Eggman has been impressed with Sage's performance, and had looked forward to her reports once they escape from Cyber Space. He also has the plan of completely replacing Orbot and Cubot with her, and decided that he would use her as the primary driving force of all of his badniks. Sage then points out how, because of how Orbot, Cubot, and all of Eggman's Badniks, much like herself, are Eggman's creations, that makes them all her siblings. This also makes Sage look forward to meeting them.
At a later point, Sage reports to Eggman that Sonic had entered and escaped Cyber Space multiple times. When Eggman mocks Sonic's ability to accomplish this, Sage is confused about why he simultaneously speaks of him in respectful terms whilst also cursing him. Eggman responds by saying that although he hates Sonic, he still views him as a formidable foe that challenges him. He also clarifies that although he respects him for this, he doesn't like him at all. This only further confuses Sage, as she points out how with his genius, and Sonic's skills, they could work together, suggesting to him that their rivalry is ultimately harmful to one another.
Sage later observes Sonic as he is interacting with Knuckles, noting how the two of them get along well, despite having fundamentally different philosophies on life, with Sonic being free-spirited, and Knuckles having the duty of guarding the Master Emerald as his primary priority, while also noting how Sonic appears to resort to making peace with his enemies first. Sage, still strictly abiding by her programming, quickly gets back to running simulations on all possible scenarios, and states that Sonic will still be doomed.
Sage follows Sonic onto Chaos Island after he had defeated the Wyvern Titan. When Sonic frees Tails, she notices how despite the amount of cyber corruption he had accumulated by now, he's still persistent on saving his friends, even enduring it better than she had calculated. This gives her a sort of sense of admiration for Sonic. When Sonic starts feeling the effects of the Cyber Energy, Sage begins to mourn him for his potential death. After obtaining the blue Chaos Emerald, Sage summons the Knight Titan after him as a means of experimenting with him on his potential reaction.
After Sonic meets up with Tails on his progress towards fixing one of the Ancient's technology, Sage appears and questions Tails on his loyalty towards Sonic after everything that he did up till now. Tails replies that although he doesn't think Sonic is perfect, he has still managed to overcome impossible odds when things seemed grim, saying that he has has a "lifetime of data" to back up these opinions on him. Sage is intrigued by how Tails relies on Sonic out of actual observations and not through faith. She then wonders if the inspiration that Sonic sparks in Amy, Knuckles, and Tails is what living is really all about.
Sage later appears to confront Sonic, asking him what his overall end goal is, to which Sonic answers with only obtaining the Chaos Emeralds and saving his friends. Sage isn't sure if this is a good idea, however, though she doesn't fully allude to the potential threats that may come of this, believing that the voice that is commanding Sonic has set up an elaborate trap for him. Sonic however states that he's actually neutral to the voice that's commanding him, only saving his friends out of necessity, and that if the voice really was trying to set up something malicious, he'll simply take it down when it accomplishes its supposed plan. Sage however warns Sonic that his confidence in the scenario is unfounded, and may lead to his doom. Sonic, annoyed with Sage's cryptic warnings, asks her again what the threat is, but still tells him that there'd be no point in doing so.
Back in Cyber Space, Sage tells Eggman about the only possible scenario in escaping from Cyber Space. Sage hesitantly says to Eggman that this is for him to form an alliance with Sonic. Eggman is unsurprisingly enraged by this conclusion, but Sage also points out how with their alliance, they were able to stop much greater threats. Eggman, still blinded by his rivalry towards Sonic, angrily interrupts Sage and tells her that those alliances were purely out of desperation. Sage still continues to suggest this, but Eggman still rejects the notion, and demands her to find another option for his escape. When a large group of simulations of G.U.N. helicopters try to attack Eggman, Sage destroys all of them with ease by manipulating their data. This makes Eggman very proud of her.
When Sage sees Sonic and Tails sharing an immutable bond with one another, Sage is in awe with how "beautiful" it is, and realizes that what she wanted all along was to be part of a family born of love, and not genetics, hence why she wanted to protect Eggman and make him proud. This causes her to cry, realizing how Eggman had saw her more as just another pawn in a large batch of his other creations, albeit his most successful one, rather than as his legitimate daughter.
By the time Sonic arrives on Rhea Island, Sonic is barely able to stand, and is in a great deal of pain from all of the Cyber Energy that he absorbed. After he deactivates the second tower on the island, Sage shows up again, and is genuinely concerned of Sonic for the state he is currently in, questioning how he's still able to smile despite how much pain he's in. When Sonic deactivates the fourth tower, Sage comes to understand what his motivations truly are, as well as how they mirror her own. Both want to protect the people that are precious to them. Sage, having admiration for Sonic's dedication bids him farewell, as she realizes that doing this will likely kill him.
After Sonic deactivates all six towers, he has absorbed so much Cyber Energy, and has traveled through so many dimensions, that he becomes corrupted and gets trapped in-between dimensions, and is on the brink of death. Although this freed everyone, including Eggman, from Cyber Space, Sage warns Eggman that all of Sonic's efforts had also released something far worse as well, so Eggman should be brought back into Cyber Space for his own safety. The voice that was guiding Sonic reveals itself to actually be the malicious entity that destroyed the Ancients’ home planet. As entity reveals its true motivations in tearing down the walls between dimensions, and destroying them, Eggman declares that he will shoot the entity out of the sky, which Sage tells him is useless, as it already took out the Ancients, even with their advanced technology.
When Sonic's friends all return to Cyber Space to revive Sonic, Sage realizes that the only chance there is to defeat the End is for her to team up with Sonic. She cannot accomplish this, however, as Eggman first has to command her to do this. Eggman still refuses to form an alliance with Sonic, but Sage pleads him to allow her to help Sonic. Eggman then hesitantly agrees to have Sonic temporarily induct him into the Eggman Empire to defeat The End, though also stating that this is not an alliance. Eggman then commands Sage to help him, believing that Sonic won't be fast enough to retrieve the emeralds. Sage agrees to this command, though Sonic's inductance into the Eggman Empire now allows Sage to help Sonic.
Sonic and Sage form an alliance, and they both travel to Ouranos Island to defeat the last Titan Supreme, which has The End encased inside. While they are on this island, Sage appears to be a lot more open about the civilization that used to roam on the Starfall Islands, and is more willing to discuss her overall motivations with him. She also expresses deep regret for the way she's treated Sonic beforehand, and not just telling him about why she was keeping him for freeing his friends. This is despite the fact that Sonic tells her about how everything would have turned out much better had they worked together, and how he shouldn't have been so reckless throughout his adventure, and should have earned her trust first.
After Sonic and Sage activate a bridge, Sonic points out how despite all of the times they've encountered each other, only now has Sonic learned her name, and how she could have told her sooner. Sage replies that previously they were enemies, and how she doesn't feel her name has any meaning. Sonic however states that Eggman likely gave her that name for a reason, which gives Sage a feeling that he really does care about her, which Sonic assures to her.
After Sonic and Sage obtain six of the Chaos Emeralds, Eggman approaches them with the seventh, and goads Sonic to defeat the last Titan. When Sonic goes on to do so, Sage smiles at this, but Eggman still doesn't like the idea of Sage looking up to Sonic, and gives her a disgusted look, prompting Sage to only hide the smile with one hand. After Sonic defeats the Supreme Titan, The End escapes from the giant robot and retreats into space in order to begin progress on assuming its true form. Because The End cannot be defeated, even by Super Sonic, in its true form, Sage urgently asks for Eggman to allow her to help Sonic fight the entity while it's still in a weakened state. Eggman again hesitantly, but this time somewhat encouragingly, allows Sage to defeat the entity alongside Sonic, and she starts patrolling the Supreme Titan.
In the final battle with the End, it takes on one of its incarnations, a large purple moon. From there, Sage and Super Sonic fight the entity using Supreme's attacks. Even while in a weakened state, and with their combined power, the End still proved to be too powerful. At one point, Sage tosses Sonic into the incarnation, which actually manages to inflict damage onto it when he bursts through it. The End then tries to blow itself up in an attempt to kill both Sonic and Sage, and wipe out the entire universe in one shot. Sage however sacrifices herself by giving another blow onto the incarnation. This seems to result in her absorbing The End as the incarnation explodes, killing her. In her last words, she tells Sonic to protect her father. In the ending, Eggman is clearly grief-stricken by the apparent death of his daughter. However, in the post-credits ending, he is seen reviving her after hacking into the Ancient's technology. Eggman is ultimately relieved to see his daughter alive and well again.
The Final Horizon[]
Upon Sonic's friends' sacrifice, the main story and The Final Horizon diverge. Sage states to Sonic that she could reverse the team's efforts, while also stabilizing Sonic's Cyber Corruption for a brief period of time. The three are released, Sage suggesting that they find the Chaos Emeralds for Sonic, so he could focus on something else, eventually revealed to be the Trial Towers, located in Ouranos Island. Upon the completion of the final Tower, Sage speaks to Sonic.
The group, including Eggman, who arrives fashionably late, regroup give the emeralds to Sonic, as Supreme appears in the distance. Sonic becomes Super Sonic and flies off to confront Supreme, with Sage looking on towards him wistfully. Supreme is defeated and The End takes control of it, instead of Sage taking control.
After Eggman takes control of Supreme's rifle midway through the fight, Sage puts up a barrier that is immediately attacked by The End, but is reinforced by the trio of Amy, Tails, and Knuckles. Sonic enters the rifle and becomes Super Sonic Cyber, destroying The End. Dr. Eggman and Sage then shared a moment together and decided to move forward to the future as father and daughter.
Other Media[]
The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog[]
In the 2023 spin-off game The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog, when Eggman reveals his plans to have The Mirage Express take Sonic and his friends to his base to be Roboticized, Eggman jokes about how they will become toys for Sage to play with.
Sage also makes a cameo appearance during the game's ending screen, where she is seen alongside Metal Sonic wearing a white shirt that reads "Let's Go Daddy" and a party hat, waiting for The Mirage Express to deliver Sonic and his friends to Eggman's secret base; however, she appears disappointed as Eggman realizes that the train isn't coming.
Sonic the Hedgehog Minecraft Texture Pack[]
In the Minecraft texture pack created by Gamemode One, Sage assists Eggman fighting the player in a contraption that resembles a combination of the Titans from Sonic Frontiers, taking the place of the Ender Dragon.
Relationships[]
Dr. Eggman[]
At the beginning of the game, Dr. Eggman has an impersonal relationship with Sage, seeing her only as a pawn to his plans, like with all of his other creations. This changes over the course of the game, as Sage proves to indeed be one of the most successful of Eggman's creations.
Sage has a daughter-father like relationship with her creator, Dr. Eggman, openly praising and being proud of her. She is able to persuade him to team up with Sonic to stop The End while Eggman mourns her death and is filled with delight when he is able to bring her back using the Ancient network
Knuckles[]
It's not entirely certain how Sage views Knuckles, but she appears to view him as an adversary much like how she did towards Sonic, also under the belief that Knuckles meant to do harm onto the Starfall Islands, as evidenced in the Divergence prologue animation. In that animation, she sends one of the guardians after Knuckles, which knocks him out.
Sonic[]
Sage initially views Sonic as a threat due to his drive to save his friends, despite all of the warnings that she gave to him. When her "warnings" fell on deaf ears, she made the decision to eliminate him by taking control of the titans of the Islands. However, after witnessing Sonic's heroism and the bond he had with his friends, Sage began to realize that he was not a bad person and began treating him with sympathy, feeling bad for him when the Cyber Energy he absorbed started taking a toll on his body. She later expressed concern when it fully corrupted him and then relief after his friends saved him at the cost of sacrificing their physical bodies for the time being, in contrast to her creator, Eggman, who showed no sympathy for the hedgehog and boasted over his "victory", only to be less than enthused once he was brought back.
Tails[]
Sage appears to be primarily neutral to Tails, not viewing him as an obvious threat to the islands. Instead, in their only interaction, she questions him on his loyalty towards Sonic, but seems to have a great amount of appreciation for the fact that he's loyal to him, not out of faith, but by observations he's made on his character.
Family[]
- Gerald Robotnik (great-grandfather; deceased)
- Maria Robotnik (first cousin once removed; deceased)
- Dr. Eggman (father/creator)
- Orbot (brother)
- Cubot (brother)
- Metal Sonic (brother)
Allies[]
Neutral[]
Enemies[]
Quotes[]
| “ | Sage, your dad's a mess, but... you turned out alright. | „ |
| ~ Sonic after forming an alliance with Sage. |
| “ | You... leave, immediately. | „ |
| ~ Sage in her first encounter with Sonic. |
| “ | If we are fortunate, it will destroy you. | „ |
| ~ Sage after Sonic first approaches Giganto. |
| “ | While I cannot fully control it, I can awaken its rage against you. | „ |
| ~ Sage after summoning Wyvern. |
| “ | It's so sad someone so impressive will be lost in the end. It's... it's not fair. | „ |
| ~ Sage after seeing Sonic beginning to feel the effects of the Cyber Energy. |
| “ | Please... look after... father... | „ |
| ~ Sage's last words. |
| “ | Father…? | „ |
| ~ Sage’s return during the epilogue. |
| “ | Home? I like the sound of it. | „ |
| ~ Sage agreeing to her father since he deserved a happy ending. |
Trivia[]
- Due to numerous parallels and references that Sonic Frontiers has for the Evangelion franchise, some fans believe that Sage's design and character was based off of Rei Ayanami to some extent. Though this is not completely confirmed, both characters have the same English and Japanese voice actors (though Ryan Bartley had only voiced Rei in the Netflix dub), further cementing the comparison.
- Sage's character was created around the time of the IDW comic character Belle the Tinkerer was pitched, likely both being ideas for Eggman having a sort of offspring, as both are robotic daughters of the doctor.
- Many fans have noted how Sage's name is an anagram for "Sega", with the "e" and "a" switching places. It was also speculated that her name is an allusion to the Sega Amatuer Games Expo, an online fan game exhibit which highlighted fan-created content. Regardless, Ian Flynn, a lead writer for the universe's lore, had denied the latter being the origin of her name. Rather, along with Sage's name being an anagram of Sega, he also cites the name as a reference to her wisdom and prudence of the Starfall Islands.
- Ian Flynn had confirmed in a Bumblekast that when Eggman had attempted to resurrect Sage, he was only able to bring back a portion of her. The implications of this are currently unknown.
- Sage reveals in The Final Horizon that the symbol which appears throughout the base game is meant to symbolize the god that the Ancients worshipped. As she is pondering if this God is still around today, the camera zooms in on a part of her face, leading to fans to believe that she may actually be said God, inadvertently reincarnated by Eggman after implanting her software into the Ancients' technology.
- A common counterargument to this, however, is that the leader of the Ancients, Master King, saw Sage as an interloper, disallowing her access to his trial for Sonic.
External Links[]
- Sage on the Sonic Wiki
- Sage on the Heroes Wiki
- Sage on the Magnificent Baddie Wiki
