Headscratchers / Sonic and the Secret Rings

• How is it that Erazor's sword was able to kill a genie? I thought they were supposed to be immortal... Plus Erazor mentions that he is.
  • A Wizard Did It. Or more accurately, a genie.
  • Erazor wanted to control the seven World Rings and accidentally slashed Shahra (he planned on killing Sonic instead). "But the life of the one who gathered the rings must be offered up in sacrifice as the key to that control. I offer up your life, blue hedgehog!"
  • Genies aren't unkillable, they simply live for thousands of years. Erazor Djinn claims to be immortal, but maybe he was just referring to his long life.
  • It may also be that Djinn are immune to mortal capabilities. They can still hurt each other, but mortal-created means won't do anything. Thus, Erazor's sword (which is an extension of himself), can hurt him.
  • From the wikia: " His most notable ability is the "Flame of Judgment" curse, an arrow of flame that slowly consumes the victim's life force. When the flame is extinguished, the victim will die immediately, even if it's another immortal being. Erazor is capable of manipulating the World of the Arabian Nights to a certain degree, mainly absorbing the words of the book to grow in power or transforming the words of the book into spirits under his control."
• In The Secret Rings, why does Erazor need those World Rings so badly if he has already achieved "god-like" power?
  • Because the World Rings were the only things that could stop him? Sounds like a good idea to go after the 1 thing that can stop you if you have god-like powers, if just to prevent other people from getting them.
  • Actually, it's because, for all it's worth, Erazor needed more power (I mean, he lost to a hedgehog.), and the World Rings were his ticket to such godly power, and he'd actually be able to escape the book and wreak havoc on the real world.
  • Also, he's evil. Why wouldn't you expect a villain to want more power than they already have?
• How did Erazor bring Shahra back to life?
  • He's a genie. As far as I know, there's no genie rule against reviving the dead.
  • Unless you're the Disney version of the genie from Aladdin.
    • Genie didn't have a rule against reviving the dead. He just preferred not to do it for rather obvious reasons.
    • Erazor is the Genie from Aladdin. Granted, he's not the friendly Robin Williams type, but still.
    • Actually, it's likely because the wish was made before Sonic restored the Arabian Nights. If that's the case, then there were basically no rules for bringing the dead back to life. In short, "No Arabian Nights? All Wishes are Fair Game".
    • However, no Arabian Nights, no rules; that would mean that the rules of the lamp still wouldn't apply to Erazor Djinn, even if he HADN'T served his sentence yet.
• Why didn't they tell us more about Erazor and Shahra's relationship? I thought that that was one of the few things in the story with real potential, but they never even clarified the exact nature of their relationship. Was Erzaor Shahra's boyfriend, brother, father, or what?
  • Because you'd have things like Elise and Sonic.
  • Erazor and Shahra are both genies. How is that anything like Elise and Sonic?
    • This troper thinks that what they meant is that after 06, SEGA became afraid of heading to the "explicit romance route" in any of their Sonic games.
  • Maybe Shahra and Erazor were best friends at some point, but when Erazor turned evil, Shahra was too afraid to sever ties with him. This could also be the reason why she cries at the end of the game. Maybe he was good until some traumatic event caused him to go insane and do a Face–Heel Turn. This troper imagines Erazor's backstory as something similar to Hitler and how he came to be. Maybe Erazor started out good, but a traumatic experience (for Hitler, the death of his mom who was under the care of a Jewish doctor) caused him to go insane and rip the pages out of the book in an attempt at conquest (like Hitler killing off the Jewish population as he tried to rule the world). On Shahra's part, she was probably trying to get Erazor to do a Heel–Face Turn because she knew that he was destroying the world but was too afraid to turn her back on him. She turned his back on him when Sonic commanded her to face her fear. While this did result in her temporary death, it played out in Sonic's favor, but it also left her with a Bittersweet Ending.
• Where did Shahra get Erazor's lamp? Why couldn't she use it herself?
  • Erazor probably threw it away and Shahra found it. As well, chances are that genies can't use each other's lamps.
  • It was broken when Shara had it, and she was working for Erazor Djinn at the time.
• How come Shahra gave Sonic Erazor's lamp, if she was intent on betraying him the whole time up until the very end?
  • I think she was gambling that Sonic would be powerful enough to survive and defeat Erazor, thus freeing Shahra. The betraying was simply her sticking to the plan to ensure her survival in case Sonic failed.
  • I think she had conflicting emotions. She didn't want to destroy the Arabian Nights, but that was the only way she and Erazor Djinn could be together. She probably gave Sonic the lamp in case her plan to be with Erazor failed.
  • She was a Minion with an F in Evil, she felt sympathy for the patsy she used, and after being told to do what she feels is right, she instead sacrifices herself when it becomes evident what a monster her love truly is. Alternatively, it's the exact opposite; she genuinely was trying to assist Sonic, but didn't have the heart to fully betray Erazor, so she was cryptic in her methods so fate could choose for her. This would at least make Erazor's punishment for her more logical (it seems a pretty risky gamble to expect a stranger to save her in such a precise method that leaves him cursed instead).
  • I figured that Erazor had some magical way to compel her to serve him, regardless of how they knew each-other in the past. She doesn't really want him to win knowing what a monster he is, can act against him when he's out of range or not actively using his power, and is looking for a way out. The way she speaks in the betrayal scene has a vibe of it not being her full self, like something is puppeting her. When Sonic wishes for her to do what she knows is right, the magic of his wish clashes with the magic of Erazor's spell, forcing her down to the floor. The showing of his lamp in the scene is what I call a hint of Erazor's hold on her.
• Why didn't Shahra explain to Sonic the exact nature of what she was giving him (Erazor's lamp) instead of being vague about it?
  • I think she was simply too psychologically dependent on Erazor to go against him so blatantly.
  • She was still working for Erazor Djinn, hoping they could have a life together. She eventually has a Face–Heel Turn at the end of the game.
• How was Shahra able to escape the Arabian Nights, when Erzaor, who is much more powerful, couldn't?
  • Probably the nature of her existence. She's a ring genie, chances are such a genie has such an ability.
• Whatever happened to that fire in Sonic's chest in Sonic and the Secret Rings? It was implied that if it runs out, Sonic dies...and by the end, it's never brought up even after the battle against Alf Layla Wa Layla.
  • His transformation into Darkspine Sonic probably removed the flaming arrow.
• The white world ring is infused with the power of wishes/desire, and the blur world ring is infused with prayer/hope. What's exactly the difference between these two rings don't they pretty much cover the same thing?
  • Wishes are more direct than prayers. A wish is definitively saying "I DESIRE this", and then it will likely happen, given that this is a world with genies inhabiting it. A prayer, however, is the HOPE that something that will happen. Rather than a "please make this happen" scenario (a Wish), it's a "I sure hope something like this happens" (a Prayer). The two rings doubtlessly help the other function, either way.
• Shahar mentions that the "newest chapter" written in the Arabian Nights story involves Sonic getting involved and gathering the World Rings. She also mentions that King Shahryar is the creator of the Arabian Nights and wrote the newest chapter involving Sonic. Therefore, he should recognize who Sonic is but he doesn't. Did he forget or did someone else wrote the latest chapter? Was it Shahar or Erazor Djinn?
• Sonic claims that only he can touch and interact with the World Rings deducing to due being from a different world so how is Sinbad able to handle the Blue Ring to control storms?
  • Sonic could have been wrong? I'm none too sure, really, that's odd.
  • Keep in mind that Knuckles is in place of Sinbad. It'd make sense if it was a parallel of Knuckles being the guardian of the chaos emeralds and thus, being able to use some of its power.
• Why is Erazor Djinn still bound to his lamp? Shahar explains that Erazor Djinn was "punished for his misdeeds and sealed away in the lamp. He would not be forgiven until he had granted the wishes of a thousand people." Then mentions that "his sentence has been served" meaning he that he was no longer bound to the rules of the lamp. So technically, he shouldn't have to grant Sonic or anyone whom have his lamp wishes at all.
  • From the final cutscenes, it seems when Sonic asked Shahra to go back to the way she was, his wish affected the lamp instead (perhaps Shahra redirected the target of his wish to it once she knew she couldn't use magic to revive herself), and brought the lamp back to its normal form. Perhaps it put Erazor Djinn back into servitude as it was the "way it was before" and would've required fulfilling his punishment again until Sonic wished for him to stay sealed into the lamp forever.