Sally Acorn

Princess Sally Alicia Acorn is the daughter of the former King Maximillian Acorn and sister to the current king, Elias Acorn. She was sent to the sanctuary of Knothole Village by her father when the Great War was going badly for the Mobians, and led the Knothole Freedom Fighters against Dr. Ivo Robotnik when he took power shortly after the Great War's end. Following the death of Dr. Ivo Robotnik, Sally temporarily assumed the role of leader during her father's health crisis. After he healed and resumed his role as king, Sally once again led the Knothole Freedom Fighters for a time, until the group was disbanded. For months her ability to work with the Freedom Fighters was limited, as she her royal obligations kept her occupied. This continued for over a year, until her brother took up the role as king. Sally returned to field operations, battling along side her long-time friends.

Early Life
The daughter of King Maximillian and Queen Alicia Acorn, Sally was born during the Great War. In the first few years of her life, Sally lived carefree, unaware of the conflicts surrounding her. She would often accompany her father to the Floating Island, where she first met Knuckles the Echidna. While King Max and Knuckles' father Locke would go off to discuss matters, Sally and Knuckles would keep each other company, forging a close friendship. However, after Sally's final visit the two would not see one another again for many years. (StH: #118, KtE: #29, SSS: #9)

Back in Mobotropolis, Sally befriended the brash blue hedgehog called Sonic. The two would often play together in the royal palace and cause mischief. As the Great War escalated and Mobotropolis came under siege, Sally, Sonic and most of the other children in the city were evacuated to the safe haven of Knothole Village. During her stay there, Sally's mother and brother Elias, whom Sally had no memory of, were sent to Angel Island to hide during the remainder of the war. Their air craft was shot down however and the two were presumed dead for over a decade. (StH: #43, #69, KtE: #20)

Following the end of the Great War, Sally and the other evacuated families returned to Mobotropolis. However, not long after this, the Warlord at the time, Julian Kintobor, unleashed in long-planned schemes of betrayal. Changing his name to Dr. Ivo Robotnik, he launched a full scale coup d'état, capturing Sally's father and rounding up millions to be roboticized. Present in the castle at the time of the coup, the five-year-old Sally was quickly taken to Knothole along with many other children by Rosie and Julayla where she would meet up again with Sonic and other childhood friends, including Antoine D'Coolette and Rotor Walrus. There they would remain in safe hiding and live free from Robotnik's tyranny. (StH: #43, #142, SSS: #5)

Sally and Sonic were deeply inspired by the Original Freedom Fighters and their resistance of Dr. Robotnik. Following the defeat and disappearance of the Original Freedom Fighters, Sally forged a pact with Sonic and her friends to continue the fight in their stead. As early as age ten, Sally began leading the Knothole Freedom Fighters in their struggle against Robotnik. (StH: #143, SSS: #5)

After living in Knothole for some time, Sally's mentor and teacher Julayla grew ill. Sally had a deep respect for Julayla, and was deeply saddened when she died of old age. Before she died, Julayla gave Sally the Acorn Royal Signet and told her she was ready to lead the Freedom Fighters. Julayla also left for Sally a blue vest which she continued to wear for years. Immediately afterward, Sally was sent a "friend" in the form of NICOLE, a sentient compact super computer that originates from an alternative future where Sally is Queen. Feeling that her past self would seriously need a friend, Sally had Rotor design NICOLE and sent her back in time. (StH: #18, #120, IYF)

Leader of the Knothole Freedom Fighters
The ultimate goal of the Freedom Fighters was to oust the oppressive tyrant Dr. Robotnik and restore the Kingdom of Acorn. Hidden deep within the Great Forest in their rebel headquarters of Knothole, the Freedom Fighters carried out guerrilla attacks on Robotnik's operations. Seeing the Princess as a threat to his control, Robotnik made her capture a top priority. A scheme to replace Sally with a malevolent robotic double nearly worked, with a secondary plan of creating a whole line of robots modeled off of each of the Freedom Fighters lined up. The real Sally uncovered this plot, unmasked the fake Sally, and destroyed the rest of Robotnik's duplicates. (PSM: #1, #2, #3)

Robotnik later managed to infiltrate Knothole with a duplicate of Sally's father, King Max. The traitorous Freedom Fighter named Drago arranged for Sally's assassination, pinning the blame on Sonic in an elaborate frameup. Robotnik then appeared unexpectedly in Knothole after the fake King Max leaked its location. After arriving at the Freedom Fighters' doorstep and holding them all hostage, Robotnik announced his plan to use the rebel headquarters as a testing ground for his super-weapon, with which he intends to eradicate all non-robotic life on the planet. His "Endgame" scheme is nevertheless foiled by the rebellion, and Robotnik is vaporized during the weapon's backfiring. (StH: #47, #50)

Rebuilding the Kingdom
In the wake of Robotnik's defeat, Sally worked hard to re-establish the old kingdom. The desolate wasteland of Robotropolis was difficult to rebuild, and discrimination against Robians threatened to spark a civil war. A new Robotnik arrived from a alternate reality and quickly retook Mobotropolis. He was destroyed in battle, but through the digital transfer of his mind into a new robotic body, he was able to live on as "Dr. Eggman". For a time, Sally presided over the newly-established Kingdom of Knothole, a haven from Eggman until he too, like Robotnik, learned of its location. (StH: #51, #75, #76, #78)

Return to the Front Lines
After Robotnik was killed, Sally was put in charge of reconstruction of Mobotropolis. With Sally busy behind the scenes, other Freedom Fighters took on the role of field commander, with Sonic himself occasionally filling that role. With the return of her parents, Sally could not properly rule either. Sally became frustrated with a lack of control over her life, which culminated in an arranged marriage with Antoine. After arguing that she alone has the right to choose her consort, she was threatened to lose her title by her own father. The marriage was made official years later when King Max was forced to step down due to a sudden illness. However, the day afterwards, the wedding was quickly annulled when her groom turned out to be Patch, an evil version of Antoine from a parallel universe. After her brother Elias took the throne and her father fell into a coma, Sally returned to taking a more active role in overseeing the Freedom Fighters, even joining them in combat. (StH: #50, #60, #78, #93, #94, #99, #155, #156, SSS: #2, #4)

Sally agreed to be the maid of honor at Bunnie and Antoine's wedding, with Sonic serving as best man. Not long after the ceremony, Sally became Eggman's prisoner during the aerial bombardment of Knothole, but was promptly freed by a rescue mission mounted by the few who weren't taken prisoner: Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, and NICOLE. With Knothole completely crushed, Dr. Eggman turned his sights on New Mobotropolis. Sally once more led the charge against the enemy forces herself, resulting in the the Freedom Fighters and Chaotix defeating Eggman's Egg Beater battlesuit. Just prior to this, her shoulder-length hair was restored to its original length and style by Bunnie, symbolizing that she was her old self again. (StH: #175, #176, #177)

Not long after, she interrupted a duel between her brother Elias and Tails' father Amadeus Prower, both of whom were leading separate factions in a schism that threatened to plunge New Mobotropolis into civil war. Reminding them of her own ruling experience, she managed to bring the battle to an end and worked with them to establish a new system of government. Though the new ruling body called for seven council members-including Elias-Sally declined running, apparently quite fine with leaving politics behind for a while. Sadly, her relief at the averted crisis was short-lived, as Dimitri the Echidna arrived with horrifying news: Enerjak had returned. (StH: #178, #179)

Recent Battles
After the Enerjak rampage and Mogul's escape, the latter then took over Robotnik's old Casino Night Zone and changed it to his own image. Meanwhile, Sally spent some time alone with Sonic in the ruins of Knothole talking about their past and feelings for one another. Their conversation was interrupted by Bean and Bark and the Destructix. Eventually, Sonic was knocked out by a shot from Nack the Weasel, who then gave Sally ten seconds to run for help while Sonic was dragged off by the Destructix. She soon liberated him with the help of Amy Rose and Geoffrey. When the heroes confronted Mogul, however, he denied all claims of wrong-doing as his accusers lacked any incontrovertible evidence. Sally and her friends were then sent away publicly humiliated. (StH: #187, #188)

Following this, the Suppression Squad came to Mobius Prime through the Star Posts and began attacking Freedom HQ. Sonic arrived back at Freedom HQ just as Scourge emerged. Unfortunately, the Freedom Fighters found themselves matched blow-for-blow with the Suppression Squad, and the battle was taking its toll on the base so Sally convinced Sonic and the rest to retreat. (StH: #189, #190)

Later, Sally told Sonic he was being sent on a mission to invade Anti Mobius with Amy Rose. While they were gone, Miles from the Suppression Squad was sent to bomb New Mobotropolis. Sally and the Freedom Fighters arrived on the scene, only to find that Miles was actually willing to propose an alliance against Scourge. After Miles explained how Scourge took over their world, Sally agreed to helping him. (StH: #192, #193)

However, the Freedom Fighters and Suppression Squad were no match for Scourge. After Sonic returned to take on Scourge, they were both blasted by Boomer and thrown back into Moebius by Miles. Afterwards, Boomer shut down the star posts; therefore, Sonic and Scourge were unable to return to Mobius. (StH: #194)

Sally and Alicia ended up arguing about stranding Sonic and Amy in Moebius, but the two were interrupted when Rob O' the Hedge and Silver the Hedgehog arrived. Sally proceeded to explain to them what had happened to Sonic and Amy and how they were stranded in Moebius. Silver then used the warp ring to go there with Rob O' the Hedge. Sally then told Tails to start fixing up the Star Posts. (StH: #195)

Shortly after Tails had repaired the Star Posts and they went through them to Moebius, the Suppression Squad and Freedom Fighters where ambushed by Super Scourge and he tried to injure the corwardly Miles, but Silver used his psychokinesis to grab and hold Scourge before he could, but he managed to break free nonetheless. Sally then ordered Silver to try this again so the others could pile on top of Super Scourge long enough for him to lose his super form, but Silver's power failed him yet again and Scourge threw the others off of him. Scourge was later defeated thanks to the quick thinking of Sonic, as the Anarchy Beryl drained Scourge of his strength when he powered down. Sally then walked back with the others to Dr. Kintobor's tower to go back to Mobius via the Globe Posts. (StH: #196)

Tried for Treason
After returning from Moebius, Sally was brought before the Council of Acorn to a hearing to see if they should arrest her for going against their orders of not retaliating against the Suppression Squad and not attacking Eggman, with her former student Hamlin as the prosecutor. Some even thinking her actions could be some part of a royal conspiracy. The council almost arrested Sally as the case against her was too strong, but Sally said that she would always wait for the orders of the council, even during a battle, to not make the same mistake twice, and would neglect to go to the Chaotix for any future help. Or that the council could trust her with the duty she's had all her life and drop the charges. Everyone but Hamlin then voted for the charges against Sally to be dropped. She later spoke with Hamlin who revealed that he only tried to arrest her because if he could not make sure the battles were fought properly on the field himself, as he was the substitute that never went into battle and was always forgotten, then he would see to it that the Freedom Fighters did. (StH: #197)

Battle to Bring Down Eggman
The next day, Sally led the attack against the Egg Dome, commanding both the Knothole Freedom Fighters and the Chaotix. Using her tactics, both teams managed to defeat the Dark Egg Legion and force it into retreat. Before they could get the group to surrender, the Egg Phoenix showed up and began attacking. Sally came up with the plan to have Sonic distract Eggman while Ray, Charmy and Saffron planted Tails' Neutralizing Mines. After the Egg Phoenix was destroyed, Sally ordered the groups to set up camp for the night, as they were all battle-weary (except Sonic). The next day, Sally assisted Rotor in setting up her plan to have the citizens back home view the final battle stating to Sonic that the people had a right to know. After making their way inside she helped command the Freedom Fighters and the Chaotix in their attack. However, they found they could go no further because of a barricade Espio stated was meant for Sonic to spin dash through. Sonic dicided to take the invitation with the rest coming in later to back him up, though Sally was against it, however Sonic reminded her that this was how they usually fought. Sally reluctantly agreed giving Sonic a hug and telling him to be careful before he left.(StH: #198, #199)

After Bunnie and Mighty finally managed to pull the doors apart she ran ahead to see if Sonic needed any help only to find Eggman in a state of insanity. After Snively told them that Sonic "broke" Eggman and that they had won, much to the delight of the Freedom Fighters and Chaotix. However, Sally noticed that Sonic was feeling uneasy about his victory, having not won in the way he was expecting. Wondering what he should do next, Sally, hoping to comfort him, told him that moving on was the best thing he could do. They then joined the two teams as they returned home, unaware of the new threat that had just arrived at the Eggdome. (StH: #200)

Iron Dominion
During the celebration of Eggman's defeat, Sally attempted to get Sonic to enjoy himself, while he mulled over Eggmans descent into insanity. However, before the Forget Me Knots could start playing, Monkey Khan violently inturrupted, chastising the heroes for celebrating while other parts of the world were in turmoil. Sally was surprised by Khan's appearence, but Sonic simply attempted to attack the cyborg. Fortunately, Sally intervened before physical contact could be made. Sally attempted to explain to Khan that Eggman had been defeated, but Khan stated that a mere change in management had taken place, and the Iron Dominion was now in control of the Eggman Empire. While Sonic and Khan decide to attack head-on, Sally tries to warn them of the dangers they might face, but her warnings fall on deaf ears, with the two fighters leaving to fight, while Sally stays, worried. (StH: #201)

Sonic the Hedgehog
Over the years Sally has had numerous flirtations and love-interests, the largest being Sonic the Hedgehog. During their battles against Dr. Ivo Robotnik as Freedom Fighters, the two kept their feelings for each other mostly to themselves, though the idea of marriage had come up on occasion, mostly as a joke. Additionally, because of their clashing personalities, both were reluctant to make anything more out of their relationship. Their mutual feelings for each other became far more obvious when Sonic discovered Sally had survived Operation: EndGame and the two shared a kiss. (StH: #18, #50)

When King Max discussed the topic of marriage with his daughter shortly after he'd been freed from the wizard Ixis Naugus's control, Sally requested that Sonic be her future husband. The aged king flat-out refused this offer, saying that the Source of All would ultimately decide who her husband would be, as it had dictated Max's wife and his father's wife before him. (StH: #60)



Sonic and Sally spent the next few months apart, while Sonic was chasing after the Ixis Naugus around the planet with Tails. Shortly after his return, Dr. Eggman began his campaign to retake Mobotropolis and roboticize the Mobians, which prevented Sonic and Sally from getting close. To make matters worse, after the Kingdom of Knothole was formed, Sally was forced to be home schooled while Sonic and the others went to public school. Sally's duties as princess kept her both busy and distant from Sonic for some time. When Sally finally attempted to visit Sonic, she caught him being kissed by Mina Mongoose. After this, Sally believed Sonic had moved on. The two later recovered and fully admitted their love for one another when Sonic freed Sally from the bounty hunter Nack the Weasel. (StH: #58, #66, #94, #99, #123)

After almost a year had passed since Max's original decision to force Sally to marry Antoine, his opinion had drastically changed, after Sonic had proven himself a worthy candidate for a spouse. Max accepted Sonic and Sally's request for marriage, but shortly after this, the Xorda's attack on Mobius occurred, which resulted in Sonic being lost in space for over a year. (StH: #124, #125)

Upon Sonic's return from space, the two wasted no time rekindling their love for one another. However, their relationship took a turn for the worse when Sally was put in charge of the kingdom and requested Sonic stay by her side, as opposed to risking his life on numerous combat missions. Sonic reluctantly refused. An enraged Sally slapped him and accused him of being selfish, when in reality, she didn't want to lose him again. She asked whether his fight with Eggman was more important than his love for her. Unable to get an answer, she ran off in tears, later resulting in a bitter break up. Since then, Sonic has dated Fiona Fox, but the two broke up when Sonic discovered Fiona was actually more interested in his evil double, Scourge the Hedgehog. Recently, after Antoine and Bunnie announced they were getting married, Sally admitted she missed Sonic and felt jealous that it wasn't her who was getting married. (StH: #130, #134, #151, #172, #173)

Since Antoine and Bunnie's marriage, Sonic and Sally have once again showed signs of interest in one another. Sally in particular has flirted and hinted at this with Sonic. At one point, the two almost kissed each other, but were interrupted by Bean the Dynamite, Bark the Polar Bear and the Destructix. (StH: #187, #189, #190)

Geoffrey St. John
When Geoffrey St. John first met Princess Sally, he assisted her in training the Substitute Freedom Fighters and foiling Dr. Robotnik's scheme of creating robo-duplicates of the Freedom Fighters. After seeing St. John's heroics, the skunk gained a place in Sally's heart, nearly rivaling Sonic. After the events of Project: Endgame and Sonic's revival of Sally, St. John realized her heart belonged to Sonic, but continued to clash with Sonic on numerous occasions. Some time later, Geoffrey St. John established a relationship with Hershey Cat, eventually marrying her and losing his feelings for Sally. (StH: #46, #50, #130, PSM: #3)

Knuckles the Echidna
Sally had known Knuckles even before she met Sonic, during her father's regular visits to Angel Island. The two quickly became friends as neither one had anyone else their age to play with. (StH: #44, SSS: #9)

Years later, when Knuckles came to Knothole to fight against Mecha Sonic, the two reminisced about their childhood days. Sally even showed signs of interest in Knuckles at this point, especially due to the anger she felt towards Sonic, who everyone thought had deliberately allowed himself to be roboticized. (StH: #39, SMM)

Not long after this however, Knuckles was perused by the fellow Echidna Julie-Su, who is currently Knuckles' girlfriend and soul mate. Sally and Knuckles' friendship was temporarily damaged when the latter decided to remain on Angel Island rather than assist the Freedom Fighters on Mobius against Dr. Eggman, though the two repaired their friendship over time. (StH: #138, KtE: #28, #29)

Abilities
Sally is agile and proficient in basic combat, having been trained by her mentor Julayla to improve her reflexes and self-defense abilities despite average physical strength. Her agility often lends itself to acrobatic maneuvers and skilled climbing. She's a quick thinker and tactician, often using NICOLE to gain information or statistics in order to create her plans, and is familiar with computers in general. She has strong leadership and organization capabilities and has shown to have good aim with various projectile weapons. While it was in her possession, she could use the Sword of Acorns for unusual feats, but eventually rejected it.

Personality
Sally is often logical and focused with a playful side. She prefers to plan ahead in almost all situations. She often takes the role of a leader, not only in directing and organizing people en mass but also through mediation and offering suggestions or compromises to difficult situations. Her attitude towards her title of princess is one of duty; she loves her people and strives to do the best she can for them. In this she shows passion, bravery and determination, often remaining undeterred by setbacks. While inwardly compassionate, she can often come off as hard and sardonic. Her personal emotions are sometimes less well-controlled, and under some extreme situations she's fallen into turmoil concerning her relationships with others, especially with her father, King Acorn, and Sonic. She cares deeply for her family and was quick to establish connections with her long-lost mother and brother, though her love for her father is sometimes strained as his past, actions and decisions often cause friction with her ideals. In some cases she fostered some feelings of betrayal and jealousy, though she usually recognizes it while she's doing it. As such, she often confides in NICOLE.

Background Information
In the Original Sonic Miniseries, Sally's colour scheme was red and yellow. She was changed to pink and black for the first 15 issues of the main Sonic series. In issue #16, the comics changed her colours to match her Sonic SatAM counterpart. The change in colours was explained later on as a result of falling into a chemical mixture during one of her missions in Robotropolis.

When the four-part saga "EndGame" was first written, the intent of the writers was to remove Princess Sally from the comic permanently. The idea was to kill the character with enough dignity to not drive away any of the character's fans. During a mission inside Robotroplis, Sally is slain after her rappel wire is cut, sending her falling several stories to the ground; Sonic was framed for her death. The reasoning on the part of the writers was that the arrival of King Max would displace Sally's power, making her unnecessary, and that the restrictions placed on the book by SEGA made it too difficult to continue writing the character as having a relationship with Sonic. SEGA, however, had promotional plans for the character and ordered her to be revived. The character's return was written into issue #50, which interfered with scheduling and caused several pages to be cut. The issue was later revised and reissued as a Sonic Super Special. Her intended death was emphasized in one of the random realities in issue #101.