Maria Robotnik

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Maria Robotnik

Maria Robotnik, as seen in Shadow the Hedgehog
Game series Sonic the Hedgehog
First game Sonic Adventure 2
Voice actor(s) (English) Shelly Fox
(2001-2005)
Bella Hudson
(2005-Present)
Voice actor(s) (Japanese) Yuri Shiratori
In-Universe Information
Species Human
Age 12 (before deceased)
Birthplace Space Colony ARK

Maria Robotnik is a fictional character in the Sonic the Hedgehog universe.

Maria is the granddaughter of Professor Gerald Robotnik, making her either Doctor Eggman's cousin or sister. Before Shadow was created, she was friends with the GUN Commander. Maria suffered from the illness known as "NIDS" (Neuro-Immune Deficiency Syndrome), which was considered incurable at the time.

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[edit] Personality

In Sonic Adventure 2, Maria was quite calm and gentle. In Shadow the Hedgehog, it shows she was also quite childish and playful (when she was chasing the Commander as a child). Although in SA2 it seems like she cares only about Shadow, this game shows she cares for everybody else on board the ARK. She even feels pity for the rampaging Artificial Chaos in the "Lost Impact" level, and the GUN Soldiers attacking her and Shadow in "The Doom". She pictures Shadow as the protector of the ARK, and hopes that he will bring hope to humanity.

[edit] Storyline in the games

While Professor Gerald's government-sponsored research aboard the Space Colony ARK was initially intended to attain an immortal being, Gerald took on the task to try and save his granddaughter, and named the project 'Project Shadow'. Trials of the test had been practiced on the Biolizard, which quickly became unstable and required a Life Support System to continue living. Later, when Shadow the Hedgehog was created, he and Maria became friends. Then the President called a halt to the experiments, due to suspicions of what Gerald was doing, since a mad robot known as Gizoid, who was originally researched by Gerald, went crazy and destroyed large portions of the ARK. The ARK was then stormed by GUN, Maria and Shadow attempted to flee the invading soldiers, and she encased Shadow in an escape pod to escape the ARK. However, Maria was shot by a soldier, and as Shadow watched in horror, unable to help her, she asked him to bring hope to humanity and give humans a chance to be happy. On her dying breath, she ejected the capsule.

Shadow, who was eventually captured, was freed by Dr. Eggman and his robots 50 years later. Although at first he didn't fulfill that promise, Amy (or Chris Thorndyke in Sonic X) helped him remember Maria's words, "Shadow, I beg of you, please do it for me. For all those people on that planet. Please, give them a chance to be happy." After this, he went to help Sonic and his friends prevent the Earth's destruction.

[edit] Shadow the Hedgehog

In the game Shadow the Hedgehog, Maria makes an appearance during flashbacks on the ARK, in both levels and cut scenes. Maria helps Shadow neutralize 35 Artificial Chaos units in Lost Impact, and wishes to heal ten wounded researchers in The Doom. In the introduction sequence before Westopolis, Shadow recalls her violent death. However, due to the unpleasantness of his recollections (or realistically due to the developers wishing the game to remain as accessible as possible), the scene is censored - Maria's death is never seen by the player. Instead, a GUN soldier raises a pistol, the screen flashes white, there is the sound of a gunshot, and Shadow yells "Maria!" It should be noted the censorship is only in the beta version (see here).

It should also be noted though that in the cut scene where Doom reveals all this to Shadow, (which is also visible in some of the trailers) at the point it switches back to Shadow you can see the still image of Maria being thrown backwards as the bullet hits her.

There have also been some changes to the flashbacks. When Maria sends Shadow off in the escape pod, she is on the floor instead of near the control panel, like in Sonic Adventure 2, but this may be hinting that Shadow's memory is not completely correct. However, it could also be a retcon, or just an error.

In the end of the game, when there is a transmission from Gerald Robotnik to Shadow, Maria appears in it. Some fans speculate that Maria wanted Shadow to save the planet from destruction, however since Maria appears in the transmission with her grandfather it is presumed she wanted Shadow to save Earth from the Black Arms.

[edit] Sonic X

Maria Robotnik, as seen in Sonic X.
Enlarge
Maria Robotnik, as seen in Sonic X.

In the dub of Sonic X, Maria's death was cut and replaced with Gerald Robotnik (and the GUN agent who killed her) saying that she was "taken away" from the ARK during the raid (although they could be speaking metaphorically), which would suggest that she possibly wasn't shot and was unharmed. This use of avoiding death in anime is often used by 4kids Entertainment.

[edit] Trivia

  • Maria in her first appearance in the Archie comics was miscolored as a brunette; all other minor appearances of her have her correctly colored as a blonde. The comic issue was a teaser to the game and was released almost a month before Sonic Adventure 2.
  • Maria appears as two collectable cards in Sonic Rivals.


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