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Hawking was a member of the Brotherhood of Guardians and son of Mathias and father of Tobor. Hawking was responsible for the creation of the Hyper-wave Projector, and used it to transport the populations of Angel Island to separate zones when the island suffered radioactive contamination. He personally oversaw the cleanup of the Island following its corruption of nuclear fallout. At the time of Knuckles' birth, Hawking was the second-oldest member of the Brotherhood still alive, and had became increasingly physically decrepit and weak. As such, when he was forced to use the Projector to bring Echidnaopolis and the Dingo population back to Mobius Prime, Hawking, having greatly overextended his natural abilities in recent days and suffering extremely old age, succumbed to his weakness and fell into a coma from which he did not wake. He eventually was escorted to the "next-evolution" by his ancestor Steppenwolf and in turn escorted his son Tobor when he died.
History[]
Early Life[]
Hawking was trained by Deo Volente, the father of Semper Fidelis and grandfather of Archimedes. Hawking became close friends with Deo, and this friendship lasted for the rest of his life. With his wife Sonja-Ra and son Tobor, Hawking was loving and caring to both of them, and spent a great deal of time with them both (unlike other Guardians who often put duty ahead of their personal lives), and was especially close with Tobor. (KtE: #5, #6, #17)
In his youth Hawking was quite like Knuckles; sporting, stubborn and eager for a fight, but at his physical prime, Hawking became a much more level-headed individual, and overly-sensitive to the consequences of his actions as Guardian. While many of his forefathers were more concerned with the ongoing conflict with the Dark Legion, Hawking was more concerned with the Dingoes, the Echidna's violent and unstable neighbors who were constantly using increasingly more dangerous methods to achieve their goal of victory over the Echidnas (this conflict going back centuries to the point the Island was created). (KtE: #5)
The skirmish war reached its boiling point when the Dingoes raided Echidna armories and "acquired" ensured and stored nuclear warheads with the intention of directing them towards, and wiping out, Echidnaopolis. Hawking, knowing there was no other choice, delved into the forbidden knowledge of Dimitri the Echidna and created a powerful laser defensive system to destroy the approaching warheads and thwart the attack (forcing him to suffer great guilt and work with his estranged father). This worsened the problem, as the nuclear fallout quickly began spreading and affecting all life on the Island. With no hope to protect the Echidna and Dingo people's from the fallout, Hawking was driven to use Dimitri's research notes on "Zones" (alternate dimensions) and access the abandoned technology of the Grand Conservatory to create the Hyper-wave Projector and use it to save the Echidna and Dingo populations (the latter ironically being affected by their own weapons), by teleporting the cities of both races to safe-and separate-Zones to protect them while he began and supervised a cleanup effort with the other Guardians. The population of Echidnaopolis honored Hawking with a statue dedicated to his actions in the city square. (KtE: #5)
Due to his involvement with the restoration of the Island, Hawking eventually decided to pass on the mantle of Guardian to his beloved son Tobor, and tasked him to watch over Echidnaopolis. Sadly, the Dark Legion breached the barriers between Zones and attacked the city. Tobor dueled with the Legion's leader Moritori Rex, who had planned to replace Tobor to spy on the Brotherhood of Guardians. When Moritori sensed he was about to lose the fight, he teleported himself and Tobor to Angel Island where they were both crushed under debris from ruined buildings. Both were heavily injured, and when Hawking arrived on the scene, he mistook the badly wounded Moritori Rex as his son. Having spied on Tobor for years before this, Moritori managed to act like Tobor and convince everyone he was Hawking's son. Hawing never realized his mistake until after his death. (StH: #100, KtE: #17, #18)
Meeting with Knuckles[]
Hundreds of years later, Hawking, who was now the second-oldest member of the Brotherhood alive (at the time of Knuckles's birth), had retreated to his inner sanctum beneath Echidnaopolis. Extremely old—his body debilitated by his advanced age—he was confined to a wheelchair. As a result of being underestimated by his brethren, Hawking had become cantankerous and stubborn. (KtE: #5)
At the time, Dr. Ivo Robotnik had fired the Ultimate Annihilator, the effects of which caused the barriers between Zones to begin destabilizing and ultimately break down. Hawking teamed up with Knuckles, sending him to quell the Dingo uprising currently taking place, while he took steps to stabilize things, shedding some light on his family's past as a result. Eventually Hawking was forced to use the Hyper-wave Projector once more to begin transporting Echidnaopolis back to the Floating Island. Unfortunately, the city's return coincided with the Dingo's, and because Echidanopolis' transition was rather violent and destructive, it caused a disruption on the Island and threatening both with destruction. Thankfully, the Dingoes were transported by Knuckles to Echidnaopolis, so Hawking could concentrate his efforts on them while the Dingo's city was destroyed. At this time, the Projector suddenly began breaking down, forcing Hawking to combine his powers with the Projector to transport Echidnaopolis safely home. The overexertion of his abilities, combined with his physical condition, caused Hawking to fall into a coma. (KtE: #5, #6)
He was found by Deo, and brought to Haven, and kept on full life-support, with the Brotherhood and Fire-Ants unable to help him. At first, Hawking's condition was unstable, and he had repeated heart attacks, though Locke melded with Hawking at this time and stabilized him. As Locke journeyed into Hawking's decaying mind, Hawking remarked he would finally go to the great beyond, and he was tired after doing so much in his life, though Locke insisted his life was worth saving. (KtE: #7)
Death and Afterlife[]
Before the Quantum Beam was fired on Angel Island, Hawking, as old and weak as ever, and still in his coma, was visited by the spirit of Steppenwolf. Steppenwolf's appearance caused Hawking to finally awake, and he recognized the Echidna standing before him and knew why he had come; to take him to the afterlife. Hawking was initially worried for his descendants, but Steppenwolf assured Hawking the Brotherhood would endure, and so Hawking's spirit separated from his body and accompanied his ancestor willingly into the afterlife, while his body flat-lined. (SSS: #14)
Soon afterward, Hawking—who at the time was still transitioning to the afterlife—assumed the appearance of himself in his youth yet lacking color or substance, and returned to help Knuckles, who at the time was suffering and struggling to come to grips with his greatly-amplified Chaos powers. He stopped Knuckles from interfering with the natural flow of history. Knuckles initially doubted his claim that he was Hawking, remembering the last time he saw him he was extremely old, but Hawking proved it by taking Knuckles through time to shortly after his death, and Knuckles saw Hawking's deceased body. Hawking assured him he was still evolving however, just like Knuckles was, and wished him luck on his journey of self-discovery before departing for the afterlife. (StH: #99)
After finishing his transition to the afterlife, Hawking appeared before his son Tobor as he died destroying the Quantum Beam and killing Kragok. Appearing before Tobor as he looked during the prime of his life, Hawking performed the same role Steppenwolf had for him, escorting Tobor to the "next evolution" as they walked arm-in-arm with him to the afterlife. (StH: #100)
Hawking and the rest of the deceased members of the Brotherhood attended Knuckles's funeral. Hawking and his forefathers tried to explain to Knuckles the concept of their afterlife before the Chao brought Knuckles before Aurora. (StH: #121)
Powers[]
Hawking possessed the same abilities as the rest of the Brotherhood, and with time gained incredible mastery of the Chaos force, using his powers with great efficiency and refinement (though he never achieved or delved into his father's level of connection with the force), such as using telekinesis to pick himself up. Hawking retained his abilities even as his increased age caused his body to weaken, though using them during the crisis with the collapse of the Zone barriers greatly over-extended him and caused his coma and eventual death.
Background Information[]
- It is presumed that Hawking is named and partially based off of the famous scientist, Stephen Hawking, Because both are highly intelligent and both are disabled in a wheelchair.
- Hawking is one of the few Brotherhood members shown to have advanced significantly in physical age despite his connection to the Chaos Force.
- Hawking's iconic cowboy hat (which he gives to Knuckles) is based on Knuckles's cowboy hat in the Sonic OVA.
- In the same vein, his chest gear resembles the Dragon Armor worn by Burai/DragonRanger of Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger and his American counterpart, Tommy/Green Ranger of Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers.
- Hawking, along with Spectre are the only two guardians to wear hats (Aside from briefly Tobor, and Knuckles in the Mobius: X Years Later timeline).