Gerald Robotnik

Professor Gerald Robotnik is a fictional character in the Sonic the Hedgehog universe.

The grandfather of Doctor Eggman, Professor Gerald Robotnik is the creator of Shadow the Hedgehog, and was introduced in Sonic Adventure 2. He also created the Space Colony ARK, and was noted as "one of the most brilliant minds of all time."

While on board the ARK with his granddaughter Maria Robotnik, the professor began work on the Ultimate Life Form Project, a creation that was intended to benefit humanity. The end result was Shadow the Hedgehog. During this time, he also came across an ancient robot known as the Gizoid, which was able to copy melee and weapon abilities and use them. The government and its military organizations became uneasy about Project "Shadow", believing that is could be a potential threat to Earth. To buy some time, Gerald gave them the Gizoid to use for their own purposes. However, this did not change their feelings about "Shadow", and eventually attacked the ARK. Maria was killed, Shadow was launched toward earth, and the Professor was captured and imprisoned.

After the time of the military attack, Professor Robotnik began to lose his grip on sanity. Whether or not he completed the trap involving Bio-Lizard as punishment for humans stealing the life of his beloved Maria and destroying everything he had ever worked for at said time is somewhat debatable, due to the fact that his final recording in Sonic Adventure 2 was done while he was in custody (and apparently moments from execution). Some speculate that he took the time during the military's invasion to 'program' Shadow for the destruction of humanity, while others suspect it was done in secret during Professor Gerald's time in prison. Some even speculate that Gerald ended up with a split personality, and when his sane self realized that his insane self had modified Shadow, making it next to impossible for him to fullfill his original purpose (Maria's last wish,) Gerald began work on a new Shadow, but the insane Gerald found out and tried to stop the project, but the new Shadow just ended up in suspended animation for 35 years. The theory even goes to explain that this new Shadow is none other than Sonic the Hedgehog.

"All of you ungrateful humans, who took everything away from me, will feel my loss and despair." - Gerald Robotnik