Board Thread:AMA - Ask Me Anything/@comment-26921625-20170616145336/@comment-26921625-20170616150208

Exotoro wrote: Where does Knuckles come from? I'll explain both where he comes from and why I added him. To answer your question, he was taken from his homeland by Mallory through a wormhole similar to how Fandraxono nabbed Ike from his own universe. So he comes from Angel Island -- and the Master Emerald is with him to make sure he doesn't get overly suspicious of much. He is allowed to keep the emerald if he operates well as a tollman. He replaced Ike because the swordsman refused to work for a person as rotten as Mallory. Also, Sonic's world is in danger as the Master Emerald is no longer there to balance the energy of the Emeralds.

I added Knuckles because I wanted to have a new guardian for the Lifts for its second phase and Ike just wouldn't work along someone like Mallory. Knuckles was perfect because he was already set to be a guardian and he was planned to be in the Lifts before.