Brotherhood of Guardians

The Brotherhood of Guardians is a group of Echidnas and older Guardians who protected Angel Island and other parts of Mobius. All of its members are also the ancestors of Knuckles the Echidna. Operating from their secret facility Haven, the groups' primary aim was to protect Echidnaopolis and their people from the Dark Legion. Generations of Guardians managed to fend off numerous invasion attempts by the Dark Legion, each time returning them to their imprisonment in the Twilight Zone. After Sonic the Hedgehog was sent off world by the Xorda's Quantum Dial, the Brotherhood found themselves defending the Master Emerald from a major assault by the Eggman Empire. Although they successfully defended the emerald, they were captured in their weakened state and secretly studied by Dr. Finitevus. Following his studies, Finitevus dumped the surviving Brotherhood members into the Twilight Zone, leaving Knuckles as the sole Guardian of his people.

History
The Brotherhood of Guardians began with Steppenwolf inheriting the title of Guardian from his deceased father, Edmund, and battling the Dark Legion. As the years passed, Steppenwolf's descendants joined him in watching over Angel Island, and it was his great-grandson Rembrandt who first suggested the name Brotherhood. Early on, the group's operating methods and existence were known to all its members, even the current Guardian, until the first death of one of their number since Edmund: that of Aaron. Afterwards, the Brotherhood created a code of conduct that involved hiding from the people of Mobius, their existence hidden from all but a handful of allies-and of course their ancestral enemies, the Dark Legion-and observing Mobius as a whole while the youngest member defended Angel Island itself against such threats as the Dingoes and the Overlanders. With only a few exceptions, the Brotherhood had no contact with anyone from the outside world. This continued for 400 years, right up until Knuckles became the active Guardian of Angel Island. (KtE: #1, #2, #3, #25)

The Kingdom of Acorn formed a friendship of sorts with the Brotherhood during the years between the Great War with the Overlanders and the later war with Dr. Ivo Robotnik. When Queen Alicia was evacuated from Mobotropolis and sent to Angel Island, her escape craft was shot down by an Overlander patrol. However, the Brotherhood arrived on the scene first, and upon discovering the Queen and infant Prince alive, they lied to the Overlander scout party and brought them back to Haven where they looked after the two. (KtE: #21)

Because of political differences, however, the two groups never truly aligned with each other, not even against the threat posed by the Dr. Eggman. When Sally Acorn met with the Brotherhood to discuss their providing support to the beleaugered people of Knothole, the Guardians refused to grant her request. The main reason for this was that the Brotherhood's main offering would include munitions technology, something that the Kingdom of Acorn's traditional laws forbade the use of and that Sally personally loathed. (KtE: #29)

Despite their usual missions of observing Mobius, the Brotherhood members have gotten involved in matters personally. Such occurrences include when the disguised Guardians threw Monk, Knuckles' childhood tormentor, off the edge of Angel Island. They later atoned for this in a way by holding Hunter, the Overlander responsible for Monk's death, in prison. (KtE: #31, #32)

Following this, the Brotherhood found themselves unprepared for a surprise attack by Dr. Eggman and a group of his Shadowbots. Due to Hunter's tamperings on Angel Island and the Brotherhood being unable to restore their fail-safes soon enough, the Chaos Chamber was breached and the Master Emerald shattered. The Brotherhood would later create a new chamber for the restored Master Emerald which would better harness its powers and allow it to keep the island afloat once again. (StH: #80, #84)

Not long afterwards, members of the Brotherhood led by Guardian Mathias attacked the Dark Legion stronghold at the Grand Conservatory, but were transported to an alternate zone by the Quantum Beam along with the rest of Angel Island's inhabitants. They were freed weeks later by Chaos Knuckles undoing the effects of the Quantum Beam. (StH: #107, SSS: #14)

Unlike the other species and peoples of Mobius, members of the Brotherhood do not simply "die". Instead, due to their link with the Chaos Force, they evolve to a higher level of existence, and continue to watch over the events of Mobius, unseen by its inhabitants. Brotherhood members also eventually become one with the Chaos Force itself, once they are chosen by Aurora and the Chao to evolve to an even higher level. All of this was discovered by Knuckles during his brief time in the afterlife, following his death at the hands of Mammoth Mogul. Watching his own funeral, Knuckles found himself conversing with the other deceased members of the Brotherhood, particularly Steppenwolf, Harlan, Hawking, Tobor and Janelle-Li. After this, Knuckles was chosen by two Chao to evolve to a higher plane of existence, leaving the other Brotherhood members to wait for their turn. (StH: #121)



During Sonic the Hedgehog's exodus in space, a result of the battle with the Xorda, all living members of the Brotherhood except for Locke and Knuckles-with the exception of Athair, as he is not technically a member of the Brotherhood any longer, disappeared mysteriously. This apparently occurred when they worked together to hold off Dr. Eggman's attempt to seize the Master Emerald. Later on, Dr. Finitevus supplies Locke with the apparent location of his missing family, tricking Locke into passing on the Guardian duties to him and sending him off with a Warp Ring to undertake his search. (StH: #125, #139, #171)

However, the fate of the Brotherhood was later revealed to Scourge the Hedgehog by Finitevus. In Finitevus' plot to make a new Enerjak, he had captured the Brotherhood members (except for Locke) and studied them, trying to learn how their bloodline could channel Chaos energies. The doctor had also captured Moritori Rex due to his time as pretending to be the Guardian Tobor. After Finitevus learned all he could, he sent the Brotherhood and Moritori into the Twilight Zone, finding it a fitting prison as the Dark Legion had been sent there so many times. (StH: #183)

Active

 * Knuckles

Status Unknown

 * Spectre
 * Sojourner
 * Thunderhawk
 * Sabre

In-Active

 * Athair

Deceased/Evolved

 * Edmund
 * Steppenwolf
 * Moonwatcher
 * Harlan
 * Rembrandt
 * Aaron
 * Jordan
 * Mathias
 * Hawking
 * Tobor
 * Janelle-Li
 * Locke

Guardian's Relatives

 * Jordann and Kayla-La (Great-great-grandparents of Edmund and Dimitri)
 * Byron and Angel-La (Parents of Edmund and Dimitri)
 * Dark Legion Grandmasters (Cousins of the Guardians)
 * Sonja-Ra (Hawking Wife)
 * Voni-Ca (Tobor's Wife)
 * Crystal-La (Athair's Wife)
 * Jenna-Lu (Sabre's Wife)
 * Lara-Le (Locke's Ex-Wife)
 * Wynmacher (Knuckles' Step-Father)
 * Knecapeon "Kneecaps" Mace (Knuckles' half-brother)
 * Lara-Su (Knuckles' possible future daughter and successor as Guardian)

Abilities
Since Steppenwolf was instructed in the manipulation of Chaos energy by the Fire Ant Christopheles, all of the Guardians have had the ability to control such energy. Each member of the Brotherhood uses it to varying power, and it seems to be augmented by their emotions. Use of these energies gives the Guardians powers such as teleportation, telekinesis, and the ability to fire Chaos energy blasts from various parts of their bodies, most often their hands. (KtE: #3)

Having been exposed to Chaos radiation while in his egg state, Knuckles is the most powerful member of the Brotherhood, being effectively a living Chaos Emerald. As such, he has demonstrated powers that no other member of the Brotherhood has ever exhibited, such as warping reality as he so chooses or healing any injuries that are inflicted upon him. Knuckles also temporarily used his power to become Chaos Knuckles, a green colored version of himself who is the most powerful Chaos entity on Mobius. Knuckles is also uniquely possessed of super strength, and is the first member of the Brotherhood to have actual fist spurs. All older Guardians who appear to possess them are really wearing barbed mittens, a tradition originating in the Knuckles Tribe, whose members include Tikal and her father Pachamac. Knuckles is the only Guardian whose knuckle spikes are actually part of his hand. (StH: #82, #90, #91, #122 KtE: #25)

Continuity Errors
Back in the letters page of Knuckles the Echidna #21 a fan asked a question about listing Knuckles' relatives in order up to Hawking. The response was: "The father of Knuckles is Locke. Locke's father is Sabre. Sabre's father is Athair. Followed by Athair is his mother Janelle-Li, the first and only female guardian, and daughter of Thunderhawk. Thunderhawk's father was Sojourner, who was child of Spectre. Tobor the father of Spectre, and the son of Hawking." Evidence to support this appeared in the comics in Knuckles the Echidna #29 when Spectre gives a roll call introduction to Princess Sally stating that his son is Sojourner and Thunderhawk is his grandson.

It wasn't until the Sonic Data Banks that this was changed around to Sojourner being the son of Thunderhawk. As to reasons why this change was made nobody is quite sure. All that is known of this situation was that it was handled under poor editing. Hardcore fans got upset with this, but many have adapted to the changes. This order was also shown on Knuckles family tree.

Confusion once again arose in the letters page of StH #193. When asked the order of birth, the editor responded: For the record: The order goes Spectre, Sojourner, Thunderhawk, then Janelle-Li, Athair, Sabre, Locke and Knuckles, for those of you keeping track at home.". When asked about this, writer Ian Flynn responded: I'm going to have to go over it all again to see if there's a nuance somewhere that can nail it down. We will eventually be setting it in stone. Officially. In print. That's more official than what's come before.1

Given the recent note by the editor, confirmation by the lead writer this is more canon than what has come before, as well as evidence from dialogue in the comics, Mobius Encyclopaedia recognizes the order as: Spectre, Sojourner, Thunderhawk.