Nigel Acorn

Maximillian Acorn was crowned King of Mobius during the Golden Age, taking over his aging sire King Frederick Acorn, with his seat of power being the Kingdom of Acorn. Max also took Alicia Acorn as his wife, fathering two children; Elias Acorn and Sally Acorn. Max lead his people in the Great War, and during so was duped by Overlander defector Julian Kintobor into making him Warlord of his combined military might, and as such, upon the war's end, was betrayed by Julian, who christened himself "Dr. Ivo Robotnik", and and banished to the Zone of Silence. After many years in the Zone, where he was forced to become subservient to the wizard Ixis Naugus in order to survive, the Knothole Freedom Fighters, lead by Sally, finally found and freed Max, who resumed command of the Kingdom of Acorn shortly afterwards. The strain of all these conflicts, battles with Robotnik and Eggman, and three attempts on his life, have all taken their toll on Max, eventually to the point he prematurely aged, and was left in no condition to lead, leading to Elias taking his place. Nevertheless, Max remains a vital member of the House of Acorn.

Early Life
Maximillian was just a young boy when his father Frederick Acorn granted the wizard Ixis Naugus the title of Royal Wizard. Some time after this, the Overlander scientist Nate Morgan was taken in by his father and provided major scientific knowledge which brought the Kingdom of Acorn out of the pre-industrial age. Because of his contributions to the kingdom, Nate Morgan was very close with the royal family and acted somewhat like an uncle for young Maximillian. (StH: #65, #66)

At the age of ten, Frederick revealed the mysterious Source of All to Max, and soon he bonded with the Source as per royal tradition. The Crown and Sword of Acorns were forged from the remaining Source of All that did not merge with him. Because of their bonding with the Source of All, the Acorns were granted guidance from the Source. The Source guided Max's father Frederick to select the young Alixis to act as his future wife. At age eleven, Max and Alicia were betrothed, and upon their eighteen commemoration, the two formally married. As his father aged and Max became old enough, he assumed the mantle as king, with Nate Morgan present at the ceremony. (StH: #58, #60, #65)

During his early years as a king, Max found himself as odds with what to do during the allegations by Ixis Naugus and Warlord Kodos regarding Nate Morgan. Unable to see Nate perform treason and feeling sympathy for him because Nate had been there during his upbringing, Maximillian was deeply troubled when Kodos and Naugus accused Nate of providing their location to a group of Overlander scouts. To spare Max of the trouble, Nate imposed self-exile and left the kingdom, much to Max's dismay. (StH: #65)

The Great War Years
During the Great War, the Overlander's superior technology allowed them to push back the Acorn Kingdom Army at almost every turn. As the city began being bombarded by mortars, Max had his wife and infant son Elias sent away to a safe haven on Angel Island. However, their craft was intercepted by Overlander ships, and everyone on board the craft was presumed to have been killed. (StH: #65)

Unbeknownst to Max, the Brotherhood of Guardians had arrived on the crash scene first and lied to the Overlanders about there being survivors, taking in the wounded Queen Alicia and Elias. (KtE: #21)

Not long after this, the Hedgehog brothers Jules and Sir Charles brought before Max the wounded Overlander Julian Kintobor, whom they had found being chased in the Badlands by other Overlander troops. Feeling guilty over what had happened with Nate Morgan, Max easily accepted Julian into the Kingdom, hoping to not make the same mistake twice of chasing away an Overlander seeking refuge in the kingdom. (StH: #74)

After Kodos mysteriously "disappeared" (Julian was actually responsible, having sent him to the Zone of Silence), King Max along with everyone else believed Julian's story that Kodos had tampered with leftover weapons from Ixis Naugus which resulted in his death. With Julian's knowledge of Overlander tactics, King Max appointed him as the new Warlord. Eventually, with Julian's new battle tactics and development of new weaponry, the Kingdom of Acorn finally won the Great War and brought peace to their lands. (StH: #74, #78)

The Zone of Silence
While in the Zone, King Acorn was forced to pledge loyalty to Ixis Naugus, now completely mad and the creator of the zone, to survive. Over the next ten years, he lost his memory, not recognizing Sonic or Sally when they came to the Zone. He also came to command an army of goblin-like creatures, clad in a barbaric suit of brownish-purple armor and claiming the Zone as his domain to rule over with an iron fist.

The Return of the King
Later on, the Freedom Fighters managed to free King Acorn from the Zone and brought him back to the Knothole Village. Unfortunately, the King's body began to crystallize due to exposure to the Zone's harsh environment. It was discovered afterwards that the Sword of Acorns, when brought together with the Crown of Acorn and the King himself, possessed powerful healing properties and was able to restore King Acorn to his former self. It later became known that the wizard Ixis Naugus had been responsible for the King's condition, forcing Sonic to confront him and his minions-Warlord Kodos, Uma Arachnis, and Feist-in Max's dreams forcing them all out.

At one point, King Max was secretly replaced by one of Robotnik's Auto-Automatons. While impersonating the King, the robot sentences Sonic to life in the Devil's Gulag prison when Sonic was mistakenly charged with the murder of Princess Sally. He also later brought Robotnik himself to Knothole, where Robotnik reveals that the King was a fake.

Following Robotnik Prime's defeat, it came to light that King Max had been hiding the existence of his wife Alicia and his son Elias from Sally. Found by the Brotherhood of Guardians, the young prince and comatose queen were cared for until they were eventually returned to Knothole by the Kings Secret Service. After the Freedom Fighters' return from a crucial mission in Station Square, they joined the King and his army in rescuing Elias who had recently found a solution to Alicia's illness. The rescue was a success and Alicia finally woke from her coma sometime after. Unfortunately, Max found himself paralyzed from the waist down on their way back. This caused his use of a wheelchair to get around. For unexplained reasons, he recovered from this condition during Sonic's Xorda enduced, year-long exile in space.

Max led the Kingdom of Knothole in the first years of its ever raging quest to defeat the Eggman Empire. He was not well liked among the Freedom Fighters at first because of his decisions, which included disbanding them in favor of his Secret Service, trying to force Sally into an arranged marriage with Antoine D'Coolette, and denying Sally her birthright if she refuses to go through with the marriage. This was later revealed to be the result of his mind being half-crystallized, a side effect of time spent in the Zone of Silence.

Passing on the Leadership
King Max was poisoned by Patch, the Anti-Mobius version of Antoine, whom he was impersonating at the time due to an exchange by Evil Sonic. The king slipped into a coma, forcing Prince Elias to take the throne to keep Patch from becoming King. Some time afterwards, Max was revived by a device powered by a Chaos Emerald, though confined to a wheelchair once more. He was among those captured during the destruction of Knothole and was beamed to the Egg Grape Chamber, only to be saved by the efforts of Sonic, Knuckles, Tails, Amy Rose, and NICOLE, who saved the prisoners by having NICOLE transport them to the city of New Mobotropolis. When his old general Amadeus Prower rebelled against the monarchy, Max was outraged, denying Amadeus' criticism of the House of Acorn despite the merits of Amadeus' accusations. Moreover, he used the opportunity-and Amadeus' short imprisonment-to try and plant mistrust of Sonic in Elias' mind. Influenced by his father, Elias ended up facing Amadeus in a duel, which was luckily brought to a halt by Sally, who settled the differences of the two and worked with them to create a new form of government. The new system of a ruling council in which the king served as a presiding councilor with six elected peers was received warmly by everyone-except for Max who refused to acknowledge his son after the news became public.

Personality
King Max's personality is hard to peg down, particularly because of his link to the Source of All and trauma from his stay in the Zone of Silence. There are two constants to King Max's personality. His deep love for his kingdom and his intense love for his family. He is a wise and just ruler, as well as a devoted husband and father. He is, however, tradition bound to a fault, which had put him in conflict with his children on numerous occasions-the most prevelant examples being his attemps to arrange marriage between Sally and Antoine, and his fury over Elias' reforming of the government into a republic.

He is also prone to prejudice-in particular against Robians-which Ixis Naugus was able to capitalize on. However, he is normally wise enough to act in spite of his prejudices rather than because of them.

Max's attitude with reguards to Sonic vary widely depending on the situation. He showed an almost immediate dislike for Sonic upon his recovery, despite the fact that Sonic saved his mind twice before. This was likely a combination of Sonic's lack of obedience and Sally's interest in him. However, Max changed his tune dramatically after Eggman's arrival, after Sonic was instramental in preventing the destruction of Knothole. He reguarded Sonic as the hero he is for some time thereafter. After Sonic's return from space, King Max gave his wholehearted blessing to Sally's union with Sonic, though after their breakup, he reverted back to his dislike for refusing to marry his daughter.

Background Information
King Acorn has varied alter egos in others dimensions. One version of him, known as Evil King Max, exists (but is never seen) on Anti-Mobius. This King Max was a complete despot, who was dethroned and cast into the Zone of Silence by his daughter Anti-Sally and her boyfriend Evil Sonic. Together they formed the Anti-Freedom Fighters and terrorized Mobius. Evil Sonic later mutated into Scourge the Hedgehog and graduated to being a top-tier Sonic villain.

King Acorn also appeared in a future storyline where Sonic and Sally are married as King and Queen, and where he is a grandfather. This version of the future is where NICOLE originated. He does not appear in the Mobius: 25 Years Later future, possibly having died at some point between the present and the possible future.