Chaos Emeralds in Sonic Boom? (Theory)

I've wanted to write this post for a long time, but I figured I'd save it for Shadow the Hedgehog's birthday since it really has more to do with him than anyone else in the Boom universe. That said, happy birthday, Shadow! 14 years ago today, Shadow the Hedgehog (my favorite Sonic character of all time) was introduced in Sonic Adventure 2: Battle, for the Gamecube. Though the game creators intended for SA2B to be his only appearance (he was supposed to die at the end), they ended up bringing him back in Sonic Heroes due to his popularity among Sonic fans. Today he remains one of the most popular secondary characters, but he'll always be #1 in my book!

Shadow has been rebooted along with other popular Sonic characters for the Boom universe, reverting back to his original anti-hero / villain role. He is fiercely independent and an incredibly powerful individual, though he does not appear often. Something I noticed almost immediately, however, was that in the new Sonic Boom games, Shadow uses Chaos weapons against Sonic and his friends every time they battle. But wait a minute...the creators of the show confirmed that there would be no Chaos Emeralds in this new series. But wait another minute...using Chaos weapons is impossible without the existence of the Chaos Emeralds. What the what?

I have a theory about all this.

After watching and scrutinizing every aspect of the Boom universe I could get my hands on (games, TV series, comics, etc.), I have come to believe that the Boom universe is a pre-Chaos version of Mobius. That means that Sonic, Eggman, and whoever else have not yet discovered the Chaos Emeralds and their power...except for Shadow the Hedgehog.

New Mobius is - from what we've seen so far - a world in which technology is just starting out and Eggman wants to use it to conquer the world (or at least Bygone Island). It is a relatively peaceful planet without any real threats. Eggman is a joke at this point; the only real villain we've seen so far is Lyric, and even he paled in comparison to villains we've seen in the Prime universe. Sonic and his friends live normal lives as normal Mobians. They are more hometown heroes than world famous Eggman-beaters. All that to say that neither party knows about the Chaos Emeralds. If they did, things would be drastically different. But somehow Shadow found them. Or at least one of them, since he only needs one to activate his Chaos powers.

It is not possible for Shadow to use Chaos anything without at least one Emerald, which means at least one is on New Mobius somewhere. My official theory is this: even though the creators confirmed that the Emeralds would not be included in the Boom universe, they are still there waiting to be discovered. Most likely they are scattered throughout the world, hidden in various places, waiting for someone to discover them.

It's actually kind of interesting to see a pre-Chaos version of Mobius. We hear about it all the time in the Prime universe but never really see it like we are now. It's nice to now that the Emeralds are there for Sonic when he needs them, and it's also nice for long-time Sonic fans to have something familiar to hold on to, since pretty much everything else has changed.

The existence of the Chaos Emeralds also suggests the existence of the Chao, since the two are connected, which I explained last week.

Now I want to address another matter: Shadow the Hedgehog. As mentioned before, we don't see much of him at all in the Boom universe. Just glorious moments of him coming out of nowhere to fight Sonic and then retreat, basically. He has not shown up at all in the TV series or comics yet. Despite his lack of screen time, there is a lot that we can learn about his rebooted character. Thankfully he is the same personality-wise, but there are other things that I believe have changed now.

As of yet, it is unknown whether Professor Gerald and Maria ever existed, though theoretically the former would have had to since Eggman is still around. For you non-Mobians out there, Prof. Gerald was the man who created Shadow in the Prime universe. On Mobius Prime, Shadow was given life by the Black Arms' blood and powered by a single Chaos Emerald (meaning when he gets a hold of all seven, you had better watch out). He is considered an organic being and is immortal, much like Mammoth Mogul in some respects. In the Prime universe, Shadow is physically 18 but has been alive for roughly 50 years, give or take.

In the Boom universe, I believe he is younger, and inorganic. Here's why.

Prof. Gerald probably existed at some point in the Boom universe in order for Eggman to be alive, since Gerald is Eggman's grandfather. But there is no evidence for that, and there is certainly no evidence that Maria was ever around. Though Maria is literally the only reason Shadow is alive in the Prime universe, we don't know what events took place in Shadow's creation story now that things have changed. And since it's very obvious that any Chaos Emeralds on New Mobius are currently hidden, it would have taken Professor Gerald years to find a single one and then use it to power his creation. That, and I strongly believe that the Black Arms do not exist in this universe, which implies that Shadow cannot be organic in any sense of the word. This means that he is most likely an android in the Boom universe. And since it would have taken Professor Gerald longer to find just one Emerald, Shadow was most likely created when Eggman was either a toddler or possibly even before then. Since Eggman is younger in the Boom universe (roughly in his early 20s), it is safe to assume that Boom's Shadow the Hedgehog is about 20 years old.

In short, the Chaos Emeralds DO in fact exist in the Boom universe (as well as the Chao), Shadow is most likely the only individual who knows of their existence, and he is now a young android instead of an organic immortal. But hey, it's just a theory.

Until the writers prove otherwise, these are my thoughts and I'm sticking to them. Also, I'm just going to state for the record that I'm STILL WAITING for Shadow to show up in the TV series! Just saying!

Fun Fact: Shadow helped me discover who Sonic was. Quickly after I discovered the Blue Blur I started watching Sonic X, which was the show on the air at the time. The moment Shadow was introduced in Episode 33, I fell in love with him and have adored him nonstop ever since. He is the best of the best, the Ultimate Life-Form. And I can't wait to see more of him in the future.

Happy birthday, Shadow! I love you! <3