Knothole Village

Knothole Village is the primary location of Sonic the Hedgehog television series and much of Sonic the Hedgehog comic series by Archie Comics. In the Archie continuity, Knothole Village is situated in the upper half of what was, thousands of years ago, the state of Mississippi; its location was never set down in the SatAM continuity. It has the population of 3,487, and is hidden by the sprawling woodland of the Great Forest.

During the war against Robotnik, Knothole Village was the site of the Freedom Fighters. Much later, but before Robo-Robotnik arrived on the scene, King Max made Knothole the new capital of the Kingdom of Acorn, to speed his country's economic and social recovery.

In the fictional universe of Sonic the Hedgehog (specifically the SatAM and Archie Comics continuities), Knothole Village (later known in the comics as Knothole City) is the base of operations for the Freedom Fighters, a small band (led by Sonic the Hedgehog and Princess Sally Acorn) dedicated to overthrowing the evil Dr. Robotnik.

Both series initially depicted Knothole as a hidden village located in the Great Forest on planet Mobius. In the comics, however, it grows into a thriving city that is impossible to keep hidden, and it enters into a state of open war with the Eggman Empire under Dr. Robotnik. Knothole was later destroyed, and the populace was relocated to the city of New Mobotropolis and its site was called the Great Wastes. Following the events of Worlds Collide, it was restored in the new reality and relocated to the Wood Zone on Westside Island.

SatAM
Located deep within the heart of the Great Forest, Knothole Village is accessible only through hidden entrances at various points in the forest. Originally (as shown in SatAM), it was a hidden retreat for the royal family, who otherwise lived in the capital city of Mobotropolis. When Dr. Robotnik took over and banished the King, he began to round up the citizens of Mobotropolis to be roboticized. Sonic, Sally, and their friends were taken to Knothole by their caretaker, Rosie. Eventually, the group would become the Freedom Fighters and would use Knothole as both their home and center of operations. Mobotropolis, under the control of Dr. Robotnik, was renamed Robotropolis and became a polluted, factory-infested wasteland.

In SatAM, it has always been depicted as an above-ground village located deep in the forest (see image above). The heart of the village is the living quarters, small thatched-roof huts where the Freedom Fighters live.

Hidden Village
Knothole was thought to have been occupied as long as a thousand years ago; early, simple tools and other remnants of old civilizations were said to have been found long ago. It eventually came to serve as a sort of nature retreat for the people of Mobotropolis; Theodore Acorn was even said to have retired there.

Home of the Freedom Fighters
During the Great War, most of the children from Mobotropolis were sent to the sanctuary of Knothole Village. Maximillian Acorn also had hidden caches of supplies placed near the village. When Dr. Robotnik betrayed the royal family and took over Mobotropolis, many fled to Knothole. The Original Freedom Fighters set about organizing and constructing suitable homes and facilities for the refugees and used the village as their base of operations. Having largely grown up in Knothole, Sally Acorn, King Max's daughter, later based her own team there as well.

Kingdom of Knothole
Following the arrival of Robo Robotnik to Mobius Prime and his recapture of Mobotropolis, the Mobian and Robian citizens once again fled to Knothole. Once there, King Max declared the formation of the Kingdom of Knothole to act as a safe haven for those opposed to the new Robotnik's tyranny.

After Sonic's disappearance and presumed death as a result of the Xorda's attack, Eggman formally declared war on both the Kingdom of Knothole and Station Square Knothole's location became known to the dictator, but over the course of a year, it became a bustling city and the new capital for the royal family. Forced to compete with Eggman's level of technology, Knothole featured a large amount of technology itself, including the Technolotree, the city's main means of global communication.

Destruction
Dr. Eggman, tired of years of minor engagements with the Freedom Fighters and repeated failures, decided to destroy his enemies once and for all. He deployed his entire Egg Fleet and effectively wiped out all of Knothole via aerial bombardment. The nearby Freedom HQ was heavily damaged as well. All but five citizens were captured and transported to the Egg Grape Chambers. However, the combined efforts of Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy and Nicole resulted in their rescue. Nicole then reprogrammed Eggman's weapons to transport all of the former Knothole residents not back to his Egg Grapes but to the nanite city, now known as New Mobotropolis. While Knothole was gone, everyone was safe.

Aftermath
With everyone moved to the new city of New Mobotropolis, only Freedom HQ (which had been on the outskirts of Knothole and thus had not been directly bombed) was rebuilt. The ruined land between the HQ and the Great Forest would come to be called the Great Wastes. The area is now full of rubble, burnt trees and little grass; craters and scorch marks litter the area. When Mina Mongoose returned from her world tour, having missed the destruction of Knothole, she explored the ruins with Sonic, wanting to have a better sense of what had happened. In tribute, she wrote a song about the destruction and formed a new band, the Forget Me Knots named in memory of the village. She was still taken aback upon seeing the damage firsthand, shocked to find that nothing remained. Amy later lead Cream the Rabbit and Cheese the Chao through the area on a search, the young girl innocently commenting that it was a shame that Freedom HQ was in such an "ugly" location. Amy explained what had happened and tried to point out where her home had once stood, though she admitted it was hard to tell where anything had once stood with all the landmarks gone.

The wastes later became the site of a battle between Metal Sonic v3.7 and Shard the Metal Sonic, who flew there after departing New Mobotropolis. After a lengthy struggle, Metal Sonic detonated its Power Gem core, destroying itself and causing substantial damage to Shard. The Secret Freedom Fighters were dispatched to recover their fallen comrade, while Metal Sonic was apparently salvaged and rebuilt into Metal Sonic v3.8 by Dr. Eggman.

Recreated
In the new reality created by Sonic's failed attempt to reverse the Super Genesis Wave, Knothole was never destroyed and was located on West Side Island in the Wood Zone. As in the original continuity, it became the home of refugees from Robotnik's takeover, including the future Freedom Fighters. Once the capital of Mobotropolis was reclaimed, Knothole returned to being a peaceful village.

Trivia

 * The Sonic Live in Sydney show was (presumably) located at an area in SegaWorld Sydney called "Knothole Village". On top of that, the background for the show looks reminiscent of the design for Knothole in the Sonic the Hedgehog television series.