Tikal the Echidna
is a fictional character from the
Sonic the Hedgehog game series. She is the only
Sonic the Hedgehog character in the
Sonic the Hedgehog series of games released by
Sega to die willingly. This is displayed when she had requested the
Master Emerald to do so, thus stopping
Chaos from destroying the earth. This shows that Tikal would do almost anything for peace and harmony in the world.
This character was designed by
Yuji Uekawa to be a light orange
anthropomorphic echidna with blue eyes. Tikal first appeared in the game
Sonic Adventure for
Sega Dreamcast, which was released in
Japan on
December 23,
1998. The character is 14 years old, 3 ft 1 in tall, 52.8 lb in weight, and has
dreadlocks. Tikal's
Japanese voice-overs are done by
Kaori Asoh while in her
American games,
Elara Distler does her voice.
Tikal is named after a ruined Mayan city whose name means "bread", or "Place of Voices", and her father shares the name of both an
Inca solar deity and a city of the Inca Empire.
In addition to this, the
pyramid in the
Mystic Ruins resembles the city of
Tikal's, and the Lost World level retains aspects of
Maya ruins, such as the rotating
snake and the
jade.
Tikal's
attire is also derived from the Mayan civilization. Tikal is also a word for a
board game played in
Germany.
|
Tikal's original Sonic Adventure lineart by SEGA, inked and coloured by KojiChan. Some of Tikal's artwork shows her with a cloth attached to her skirt, like this one. |
Tikal's role in the game,
Sonic Adventure, is to show what happens thousands of years prior to the game. It shows how Tikal has pleaded with her father to stop all his
"fighting, stealing, and killing," and how she struggled with him to be on the right path to peace. It shows how much she wanted
Pachacamac to do what's right, to the point of being knocked unconscious.
Even though Pachacamac was stubborn and refused to listen to his own daughter, Tikal continued to beseech with them to stop. When this failed, Tikal even let the
Master Emerald seal herself and
Chaos in it.
The remaining echidnas that lived made it their duty to protect the Master Emerald to assure that Chaos would never be released again.
A few thousand years later,
Doctor Eggman found the ancient tablets describing the event and shattered the Master Emerald to free Chaos. When the Master Emerald broke again, Tikal strived for peace by subsequently transporting
Sonic and his friends to the past, hoping they would see what would happen if Chaos obtained the emeralds again. Always trying her hardest, she finally succeeded in
mollifying Chaos, stopping him from wreaking havoc on the rest of the world.
Unlike the other games in the series,
Sonic Adventure relies on a strong storyline.
Sonic Team took a trip to Central America to find inspiration for their next Sonic title, leading them to create the character, Tikal. The character shares a name with an assembly of ruins in
Guatemala, the ancient
Mayan city of
Tikal.
Tikal is the daughter of Chief
Pachacamac and is said to have originated from the same tribe as
Knuckles the Echidna. Her mother had died when she was young, so she depended on her grandmother to raise her. Tikal respected her and believed everything she taught, resulting in her becoming a pacifist. After her grandmother died, Tikal always cherished her words and followed her wishes to oppose Pachacamac's power-hungry ways in invading other countries.
As time passed, Pachacamac and a group of his men stormed into the Master Emerald's temple to use the
Master Emerald and
Chaos Emeralds for total power. However, Tikal intervened,
"once you have greed, you will always have more." Ignoring her words, Pachacamac charged forward with his men, knocking over Tikal and many chao on the way. This aroused the anger of
Chaos, the guardian of the
Chao, causing him to kill Pachacamac and his men. As he proceeded to destroy the world, Tikal rose from her unconsciousness and saw what Chaos had done. Running to the Master Emerald, she remembered what her grandmother had taught her,
"The servers are the seven Chaos, Chaos is power, power enriched by the heart. The controller is the one that unifies the chaos." Now realizing what it meant, she requested to the Master Emerald to stop Chaos, whice responded by sealing Chaos and Tikal in itself.
4000 years passed, and
Doctor Eggman shattered the Master Emerald, awakening Tikal as well as Chaos. Subsequently, Tikal transported
Sonic and his friends to the past to know the trouble that befell her world before. Despite this, Chaos managed to obtain the
Chaos Emeralds and used their negative energies to become
Perfect Chaos. As he began destroying
Station Square, Tikal appeared and told Sonic that Chaos must be
"sealed in the Master Emerald now!" However, Sonic used the positive energy of the Chaos Emeralds to become
Super Sonic instead. Once neutralized, Tikal and Chaos rose into the air and disappeared.
Tikal was a passionate, gentle
pacifist. She never wavered in her attempt to oppose
Pachacamac and was determined to have her tribe in peace. She had tried to stop her father in amicable ways and has never once resorted to violence. Tikal's peaceful temperament and beliefs drastically contradicted with her father's, who was fierce and warlike. Though she begged him to stop in his
conquest, his greed and ambition overcame everything else, eventually causing him to lose his love for his daughter.
Although Pachacamac lost his
compassion for his daughter, Tikal cares for him and for the rest of the tribe. She is an
amiable person with a good nature and, according to the official Sonic Adventure 2: Battle website, Tikal is
"...a caring person, and everyone loves her, however, she sometimes opposes her father's ways. She moves very quickly and is a proud warrior of this tribe."
In the comic books,
Sonic the Comic (
Fleetway),
Sonic the Hedgehog, and
Sonic X, Tikal acts similar to her game personality. However, in the Archie comic book,
Sonic X, Tikal is more willing to fight as she had assisted Sonic and his friends against the angry chao. In the cartoon,
Sonic X, Tikal acts more eager to stop Chaos from wreaking havoc in the world than in the game. She also believes that
"...if our hearts have nothing except anger and fear, they will only bring destruction!"
Because of Tikal's docile personality, she is not very popular in the Sonic community. However, there are several fans who do like her personality as well as the fact that her design was based on a real civilization. She is even popular enough for
Sonic Team to create an official
fanlisting for her called '
Memory'.
Tikal's personality is actually quite similar to
Maria Robotnik, leading some people to believe that she goes well with
Shadow. However, they have never met in a game nor show or comic book so far and any romance between them is considered to be
fanon. She and Maria have similar traits, such as disliking violence and being kind and compassionate.
One of Tikal's abilities in the game,
Sonic Adventure, is the ability to transport people to the past in their mind (similar to a vision), which affects the plot of the game. With it, she is able to show Sonic and his friends her past and try to persuade them to stop Chaos from obtaining the seven Chaos Emeralds. Tikal is also able to turn into a red and white
sphere of light, which enables her to quickly go to different places where Sonic and his friends are located. She can also communicate with Chaos, which allowed her to mollify his anger by telling him that the Chao are fine. After using some of her abilities, some people began to wonder how she is able to talk to Chaos or how she became a sphere of light. This has yet to be explained by
Sonic Team.
In
Sonic Adventure 2 and
Sonic Adventure 2: Battle, Tikal has similar abilities to
Knuckles the Echidna and can also sense emeralds but does not contribute to the plot. Her only purpose is to be in 2-player. In those two games, for every twenty rings Tikal obtains, she will receive one of three special attacks. The special attacks are called Wrath of Gaia (shakes ground), Heaven's Justice (hits opponent) and Captive Light (prevents opponent from moving for some time).
In the
Archie comic books,
Sonic the Hedgehog and
Sonic X, Tikal has
telepathy, which allows her to communicate with Chaos. In
Fleetway's Sonic the Comic, she has a
staff, which allows her to battle complacently. In the
Sonic X comic book, Tikal mentions that the tribes' elders taught her how to fight, which explains how she knows how to defend herself.
Tikal's weaknesses include being physically weak, which shows that even though she isn't strong, she is determined to have her tribe in peace. These attributes are shown in her shows, comic books, and most of her games. In the two other games,
Sonic Adventure 2 and
Sonic Adventure 2: Battle, she throws short punches and can't sense emeralds as well as the treasure hunters,
Knuckles,
Rouge, and
Chaos.
In
Sonic the Comic (
Fleetway), Tikal was not around in present day, as the Echidna race was all but
extinct. Instead, she existed in the distant past - about 8000 years ago. At this period in history, the
Drakons had taken over the Echidnas' sacred emerald mines and, by obtaining the emeralds therein, used the unstable "Chaos"
energy source to create the
Chaos Emeralds. They were waging war with the Echidnas because
Pachacamac had defied the Drakons and taken the emeralds back.
Fearing the danger, Tikal used the Power of the Chaos Emeralds to transport
Sonic to her time period. Pachacamac then beseeched Sonic to assist
Knuckles in the capture of a Drakon Prosecutor so he could make peace with the Drakons. However, after the two had captured the fish, the Drakons had attacked them. In the resulting firefight, the Chaos Emeralds were hit, which caused them to begin leaking Chaos Energy into the room. They all began to flee, leaving the captured Drakon Prosecutor behind, which resulted in becoming Chaos. The Echidnas then sealed Chaos in an enchanted container, but Dr. Robotnik's assistant,
Grimer, later released him.
Because of Chaos' presence, a creature whom Tikal had seen in visions of the future, Tikal stated that this would be the beginning of the Great War. Despite this, Pachacamac returned Sonic to his own time by manipulating Chaos' energy with his staff. After a long fight with Chaos, they finally succeeded in capturing him. Pachacamac, Tikal, and Knuckles then thought about the beginning of a war that would determine the fate of the entire Echidna race. Although Tikal and Pachacamac knew Knuckles would live 8000 years, they realized that everything else was lost.
In the online continuation of Fleetway (also known as STC-O), it was discovered that when the Echidnas captured Chaos, they accidentally sealed Tikal along with it and she was forced to spend 8000 years trapped in a state of constant fear.
However, her spirit was able to pass into Sonic (due to his briefly being submerged in Chaos), but was released, so she decided to remain on the Floating Island. She was briefly able to suppress the memory of her torment, but they quickly became more and more prominent, until there was a real danger of her going insane. Ebony, a spellcaster, took it upon herself to erase Tikal's memories in order to spare her, but the spell also erased most of her memories of ancient times - something Knuckles feared would happen. Knuckles has tried to bring back her memories by taking her to the ruins of Megapolis City, which lead to her being involved in a battle against Rouge in the Haunted Hill Zone and an encounter with
the King of Ghosts. Recently, she revisited an old Echidna shrine in order to make contact with her past, but only found countless ghosts of murdered Echidnas who scared her away with cryptic references to the returning god of death.
Sonic the Hedgehog
In the
Archie comic book,
Sonic the Hedgehog, Tikal first appears in issue #79. Throughout her comic book appearances, her artwork was done by
Steven Butler, inked by
Pam Eklund, and colored by
Frank Gagliardo. Contrasting to the game, her eyes are green instead of blue. In the comic book, Tikal's
tribe lived next to the Mysterious Cat City and fought against the Cat people. Later, Tikal found the ruins where the
Chao resided and made friends with them. When the Echidnas started to lose to the Cats, they attempted to use the power of the
Chaos Emeralds to win against them. The warriors attacked
Chaos, who in turn used the Chaos Emeralds to turn into
Perfect Chaos and kill them. Chaos began to wreak havoc on the world so in order to stop the disaster, Tikal and the chao trapped Chaos in the Black Emerald. For a price, Tikal's spirit was trapped as well.
Later,
Doctor Eggman's Robian slaves were digging up the Mysterious Cat City when they found a Black Emerald. Eggman broke it open and Chaos emerged while Tikal, in the form of a red light ball, flew by, unnoticed. Later, Tikal communicated with
Knuckles through
telepathy and told him her history. Some time later, Chaos acquired the seven Chaos Emeralds and used the negative energies of the emeralds to turn into Perfect Chaos. As he began to destroy Station Square, Tikal appeared to
Sonic and showed him the past of Chaos's
origin. Then Tikal used a spell to weaken Perfect Chaos and positive-charged the Chaos Emeralds, which changed Sonic into
Super Sonic.
After Sonic neutralized Chaos, he and Tikal returned to their zone, which is
Angel Island before the attack on the
Master Emerald shrine.
Sonic X (Archie)
Tikal first appears in the
Archie comic book,
Sonic X, in issue #5 in a
flashback, but later appears in issue #6 with a bigger role. The
Master Emerald had brought Tikal to the present time because the earth was in danger from angry
Chao. As a back-up, Tikal brought
Chaos and a multitude of chao with her and assisted
Sonic and his friends in the defeat of the enraged chao.
Later,
Doctor Eggman appeared, so Tikal telepathically told the chao to give Chaos the seven
Chaos Emeralds to increase his strength in order to beat their enemy. After Dr. Eggman's defeat, she and the chao spend some time with Sonic and his friends. However, she later returns back to her time, telling
Cheese that if she calls her name, she will return.
Tikal appeared in the series,
Sonic X, in
episode #27,
The Beginning of Disaster, narrating the first part of the show. However, the dub cuts her out, and instead, she first appears in episode #28,
Puzzle of the Liquid Life Form, Chaos (in the dub, it's known as
A Chaotic Day).
Although Tikal is not of royalty, she is commonly referred to as Princess Tikal, likely because she is the daughter of a chief, which is something similar to a king.
does Tikal's voice in the
American version of
Sonic X.
Tikal is first seen when
Knuckles has a flashback of Tikal at the shrine, pleading with
Pachacamac not to take the
Chaos Emeralds. Later, when Knuckles goes back to
Angel Island, Tikal transports him to the past and he sees that the shrine has been overcome by flames. After some time, Knuckles has another flashback of Tikal at the shrine with the
Chao and beseeches
Chaos to help them.
Later, when Knuckles
acquires the last piece of the Master Emerald at the
Egg Carrier, he has another flashback. There, the shrine is engulfed with fire and Tikal is on the ground. She talks to Knuckles and then runs up to the
shrine. As Knuckles tries to follow her, he awakes. Afterwards,
Sonic enters the
temple in the Mystic Ruins and sees the
mural of Perfect Chaos. He hears Tikal's chant and suddenly, Sonic is transported to the past. The shrine is on fire and he approaches Tikal, who is holding an injured chao. After Tikal determines to stop Chaos, Sonic is taken back to the present time.
Later on, when Knuckles and Sonic are looking for Chaos, they are taken to the past, where they see Tikal begging her father not to take the Chaos Emeralds,
"No, father, I won't. You can't take the emeralds away. You'll regret it forever." Dismissing her pleas, Pachacamac and his men then knock down Tikal and the Chao and approach the shrine. Chaos, enraged at their actions, uses the Chaos Emeralds to turn into
Perfect Chaos and kills them. As he began to wreak havoc, Tikal runs to the Master Emerald and asks it to stop the Chaos Emeralds from powering Chaos.
When Perfect Chaos begins wreaking havoc in Station Square, Tikal appears and tells Sonic that Chaos must be sealed in the Master Emerald again. However, Sonic instead uses the Chaos Emeralds to become
Super Sonic. Tikal then understands that others could use the positive energies of the Chaos Emeralds as well, not just the negative ones. After Chaos is neutralized, Tikal says that the Chao are alright, and she and Chaos disappear.
Tikal has played a major role in
Sonic Adventure and
Sonic Adventure DX, but was not seen after this. However, Tikal is playable in the
Dreamcast game,
Sonic Adventure 2. To acquire her, the player has to complete all of
Knuckles' missions with an 'A' rank. She is then available to play in 2-player in the treasure hunting game as well as in the kart one. In the
GameCube version,
Sonic Adventure 2: Battle, she is already playable in Treasure Hunting. Some people believe that her appearance in 2-player clears up the plot hole of her disappearance, while others think
SEGA put her there for fans.
Tikal also makes a cameo appearance on
Sonic Pinball Party as an animated stone carving. In addition to this, she has appeared on a
chao mini game in
Sonic Advance,
Sonic Advance 2, and
Sonic Adventure, via
Sonic Adventure DX, which involves Tikal giving
Sonic tips on where to find a specific chao.
Tikal appears on
Sonic X in episode 27,
The Beginning of Disaster, episode 28,
The Puzzle of the Liquid Life Form, Chaos (Dub:
A Chaotic Day), episode 29,
Amy the Captive (Dub:
A Robot Rebels), episode 30,
Egg Carrier Battle (Dub:
Heads up, Tails!), episode 31,
Gamma the Wanderer (Dub:
Revenge of the Robot), and in episode 32,
The Cry of Perfect Chaos (Dub:
Flood Fight). Tikal also appeared in the
Archie comic book,
Sonic the Hedgehog, in issue #79, #82, #83, and #84 (her artwork were all by
Steven Butler, inked by
Pam Eklund, and colored by
Frank Gagliardo) , and in the
Sonic X comic book in issue #5 and #6. In addition to this, she appeared in
Sonic the Comic (
Fleetway) in issue #180, #181, and #182.
Besides these appearances, Tikal has not been seen since, and it is unknown where she went. It is possible that she may never reappear because when asked about it to
Sonic at
Sonic Central, he responded that he didn't
"...know exactly where they (Tikal and other minor characters) are" - possibly suggesting that she will not be in the games any time soon.
A popular
theory is that she went back to the Master Emerald, but this has been proven to be untrue, for when it shattered in
Sonic Adventure 2, she was not to be seen.
[ It is also possible that Tikal died when the Master Emerald sealed her and Chaos, but it cannot be confirmed. However, the image after the Super Sonic story credits shows Tikal at Angel Island (Though it should noted that the image shown is of Angel Island as it was in the past).*Sonic Adventure]
*Sonic Adventure 2
*List of characters from Sonic the Hedgehog
*List of dead characters from Sonic the Hedgehog
*Official Sonic Adventure DX website
*Sonic Channel
*Sonic Heroines
