Maria Robotnik
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Maria Robotnik is a fictional character in the Sonic the Hedgehog universe.
Maria is the granddaughter of Professor Gerald Robotnik, making her Doctor Eggman's cousin. Before Shadow was created, she was friends with the GUN Commander. Maria suffered from a fictional illness known as "NIDS" (Neuro-Immune Deficiency Syndrome), and was considered incurable at the time.
Personality
Maria in Sonic Adventure 2 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 also seems to dislike violence and may be a pacifist.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 the ARK was stormed by GUN before Maria's cure could be found. 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, 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 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 in Sonic Adventure 2.
Shadow the Hedgehog
In the game Shadow the Hedgehog, Maria makes an appearance during flashbacks on the ARK, in both levels and cutscenes. 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 and Shadow yells "Maria!" It should be noted the censorship is only in the english version (see Shadow_the_Hedgehog_%28video_game%29#Censorship_issues).It should also be noted though that in the cutscene 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.
Sonic X
In the dub of Sonic X, Maria's death was cut and replaced with Gerald Robotnik saying that she was taken away from the ARK during the raid, which would suggest that she wasn't shot and was unharmed (This use of avoiding death in anime is often used by 4kids Entertainment)--much to the annoyance of loyal fans of the Japanese version and the games.
Trivia
- The Maria in the Archie comics was a brunette to begin with. The comic issue was a teaser to the game and was released almost a month before Sonic Adventure 2.
- Some fans speculate what Maria wanted Shadow to save the planet from destruction, however since Maria appears in the transmission with her grandpa it is presumed she wanted Shadow to save Earth from the Black Arms.
Voice actress
- In the American version of Sonic X and Shadow the Hedgehog, Maria is voiced by Bella Hudson.
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