Arachne

The Arachne were the six children of Uma Arachnis, and like her are ninja Spiders; any father they might have had is unknown. Born from eggs laid by Uma prior to her death, they inherited her fixation on the Sword of Acorns, her loyalty towards Ixis Naugus, and her ninjitsu skills through genetic memory. Initially, they did battle with the Knothole Freedom Fighters in an effort to claim the Sword of Acorns, only to be entrusted with it by Princess Sally Acorn. A year or so later, they used it to free Ixis Naugus from the Zone of Silence, and briefly served under him and then Mammoth Mogul before being captured by Dr. Eggman and imprisoned in the Egg Grape Chamber, where they died as a result of their life force being drained.

History[]

Birth and First Appearance[]

The birth of the Arachne was first hinted at following Sonic the Hedgehog's final encounter with Uma Arachnis, after which the eggs containing them were seen hanging in a web in a nearby tree. Some time after their mother's death, the Arachne hatched and launched an assault on Castle Acorn, their intention being to capture the Sword of Acorns. Handily defeating the guards and engaging Sonic, they had him on the ropes until Sally intervened using the Sword's power, allowing the other Freedom Fighters to come to Sonic's aid. Sally stopped the battle, however, having learned that the Arachne were interested in obtaining the Sword only because knowledge of it was one of the few things their mother had left to them. Having come to dislike the Sword's attempts to convince her to submit to its will, Sally entrusted the weapon to the Arachne. (StH: #95, #111)

Return and Death[]

After a year long absence following their claiming of the Sword, the Arachne were manipulated by Eggman's computer virus son A.D.A.M. into bringing the Sword of Acorns to the Egg Grape Chamber. Possibly having inherited their mother's loyalty to Ixis Naugus or having made their own pledge to the sorcerer, the ninjas used the Sword to open a dimensional rift inside the chamber. As a result, Naugus was able to fuse his Zone of Silence with the Void, the Ancient Walkers were killed, Mammoth Mogul was released from his Chaos Emerald, and the Egg Grapes previously held in the chamber were drawn into the Zone of Silence. Naugus also escaped back to Mobius proper through the rift, and with the Arachne at his side vowed to exact revenge on Eggman for past wrongs once he had claimed the Crown of Acorns. This led the Arachne into a battle with the Destructix, Chaotix, and Freedom Fighters while their master battled Mogul, until Mogul's role in the founding of the Order of Ixis was revealed. Submitting to the more experienced wizard, Naugus joined the Arachne with the Destructix in continuing the battle, until the actions of the brave Sir Connery resulted in the destruction of both Sword and Crown. The Arachne and their allies were then captured by the Egg Fleet and sent to a new Egg Grape Chamber, where they were briefly protected by Mammoth Mogul's powers. (StH: #162, #163, #164)

However, as Mogul's own survival took precedence over what little loyalty he had to any of his minions, and since the Arachne had only served him because of their ties to Naugus, he sacrificed them to the Egg Grapes. As a result, the Arachne died before they could be rescued by Dr. Finitevus as the Destructix were or released by A.D.A.M. as were Mogul and Naugus. Later, it was revealed that the Arachne were descended from the Gossamer Clan of the Dragon Kingdom, and that their mother had taken it upon herself to destroy the Source of All to keep it from falling into evil hands. (StH: #165; SU: #13)

Abilities[]

Each of the Arachne was a master of ninjitsu who specialized in wielding a different weapon: sai, katana swords, bow and arrows, nunchakus, and staffs.

Appearance[]

The Arachne all resembled each other very closely, with no obvious differentiation between gender. Each of them wore the same full body black ninja garb as their mother had, and identical pairs of red or blue eyes (depending on the issue in which they were depicted). Aside from their wielding different weapons, the only differentiation that could be made between them was the red markings present on all their masks, which varied from member to member.

Background Information[]

Writer Ian Flynn stated that the reason he eliminated the Arachne after their second appearance was because the whole "spider ninja" concept had become stale, leading him to close the story of the characters.
It is unknown why the Arachne would have liberated Ixis Naugus from the Zone of Silence, or served him and later Mammoth Mogul, if they had continued their mother's quest to destroy the Source of All and its relics. However, it should be noted that their delivery of the Sword into Naugus' hands and his into Mogul's ensured that the Sword would be brought to bear against Mobius' heroes, who would see to its destruction. The fact that the Sword was destroyed by Sir Connery and his Sword of Light while being wielded by Mogul reinforces this logic.
The identity of the father of the Arachne is unknown.
Arachne was the name of a woman in Greek mythology who was turned into a spider by Athena after losing to her in a weaving contest.