Professor Pickle, the Scholar of Sonic Unleashed

Professor Pickle is the scholar from Spagonia University who, in Sonic Unleashed (2008), hands Sonic the key to the disaster: he is the only individual known to be able to read the Gaia Manuscripts. Kidnapped by Dr. Eggman and then freed in Mazuri, he goes on to guide the hedgehog from temple to temple, between two cucumber sandwiches.

Who is Professor Pickle?

Professor Pickle (Professor Pickle, ピックル教授) is a human, an academic attached to Spagonia University and presented as a world-renowned scholar specializing in ancient literature. In a world populated by anthropomorphic animals, he stands out as an exception within the saga: a scholar without the slightest power, whose only weapon is his learning.

His look is recognizable at a glance: a middle-aged man with pale skin, a large nose, gray hair and eyebrows so broad that they permanently cover his eyes, which are never visible on screen. He wears a brown suit with dark brown buttons, a white shirt and a red bow tie; the concept art gives him a walking stick, absent from the final game.

As for his temperament, his official profile describes him as wise, calm and well-mannered, but not without eccentricities, his mind moving at its own pace. He remains detached in the most critical situations and loves his friends, ancient literature, travel souvenirs and study. His English voice is that of Dan Green, his Japanese voice that of Chō, stage name of Shigeru Nagashima; no source documents a French voice, and the name remains “Professeur Pickle” in French.

Kidnapped in Spagonia, freed in Mazuri

Shortly before the events of Sonic Unleashed, the professor is abducted from his Spagonia laboratory by Eggman and his robot army, who also carry off his research data and the Gaia Manuscripts: the doctor wants to awaken Dark Gaia and complete the Eggmanland project. The professor's assistant witnesses the scene without being able to intervene.

A detail that often gets confused: Pickle is kidnapped in Spagonia but held in Mazuri, in Eggman's local base, over near Savannah Citadel. The rescue takes place at night, which is why Sonic steps in there in his beastly form: the trio brings together Tails, Chip and the Werehog, and it is Tails who opens the cell.

True to form, the professor is at first more put out by the food than by his captivity — he says he is half starved after being fed nothing but appalling sandwiches — and takes a moment to grasp that he is being rescued. Before leaving the premises, he has Sonic and Tails retrieve the Gaia Manuscripts from a nearby safe: the documents do not walk out on their own, and Eggman does not hand them back. On the way out, Chip offers him some chocolate, which he accepts without needing to be asked twice.

🍫 Barely out of his cell in Mazuri and half starved by Eggman's appalling sandwiches, Pickle accepts Chip's chocolate without needing to be asked twice. Your own snack goes in your bag before hunger strikes, with something to drink in one of our Sonic water bottles tucked at the bottom.

The Werehog, in plush form

Sonic The Werehog Plush - 30cm

This 30 cm plush does not depict the professor but Sonic in his Werehog form, the very one who comes to pull him out of his cell in Mazuri, at night.

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The Gaia Manuscripts: what he explains, and what he does not

Back in his laboratory, Pickle delivers the briefing that structures the whole game. The Gaia Manuscripts are ancient documents recounting a catastrophe that took place tens of thousands of years earlier, and he is the only individual known to date who can read their language. They point to Dark Gaia as the one responsible for the shattering of the planet.

The solution he puts forward fits into a single sentence: restore the Chaos Emeralds, drained of their energy at that point, inside the seven Gaia Temples scattered across the globe, in order to put the world back together and seal Dark Gaia away again. From Spagonia, he supplies the locations of the temples of Mazuri, Spagonia, Chun-nan and Holoska, then moves his laboratory to his research center in Shamar, from where he pinpoints those of Adabat and Eggmanland.

He also designs the “Uncanny Camera”, the device that makes it possible to exorcise people possessed by Dark Gaia's minions, and entrusts it to Sonic and Tails — he never uses it himself, having not the slightest aptitude for combat. On the other hand, contrary to a widespread belief, he is not the one who reveals Chip's identity: the little companion gets his memory back and reveals himself. The professor only broaches the Light Gaia / Dark Gaia pairing in the epilogue, in the form of a reflection on the balance between night and light.

The cucumber sandwich, an official running gag

The professor's favorite dish is the cucumber sandwich, and he is a fussy perfectionist about it. The gag runs through the whole game: barely freed from his cell, it is the quality of Eggman's sandwiches that outrages him, far more than his own kidnapping.

The recipe is not a fan invention: it is spelled out word for word in the game. It calls for bread at least three quarters of an inch thick, a tablespoon of mayonnaise, a pinch of black pepper, and freshly and thinly sliced cucumbers. His official profile pushes the joke as far as the section on his dislikes, which mentions “Eggman and his sandwiches”.

The motif comes back in his exchanges with the other characters: he offers Amy Rose to explain everything about Sonic to her over a plate of cucumber sandwiches, and calls Tails to witness when he holds forth on the subject. The device serves the character: that imperturbable composure in the face of a planetary disaster is what makes his appearances so enjoyable.

Around the professor: the assistant, Otto, Amy and Tails

The character most attached to him has no name. Credited as “Professor Pickle's Assistant”, he is a man, a human from Spagonia, and the first name “Cucumber” sometimes attributed to him comes exclusively from the Archie comics. The game's official manual specifies that he takes his time over just about everything, to the point of laboring three days over a job anyone else would wrap up in one. The credited English voice is that of Jason Griffith, who nevertheless stated in an interview that he did not remember voicing the role.

⌚ According to the Sonic Unleashed manual, Professor Pickle's assistant labors three days over a job anyone else would wrap up in one. With our Sonic watches on your wrist, you can at least keep track of the hours he lets slip by.

This assistant is also the target of the very first exorcism in the game: possessed by Dark Gaia's minions, he drags Amy Rose off by force to a nighttime dance party, from which Sonic the Werehog and Chip deliver him — he will keep no memory of it. Pickle meets Amy just after that scene, tells her everything he knows about Sonic, and she then assists him in his research on the Manuscripts; she is also the one who pulls him out of despair when the world tips into darkness.

Otto, caretaker and landlord of the Spagonia University student building, is a friend of very long standing: their friendship goes back more than eighty years before the game. Note, however, that in the Wii/PlayStation 2 version only, Otto is one of the guardians of the Spagonia Gaia Temple without ever having revealed it to Pickle, and he is also the one who is said to have inspired the professor's career as a researcher. As for Tails, the two already knew each other before the events of the game, and it is through the Miles Electric that Pickle later follows the restoration of the planet.

After 2008: a scholar who never came back

Professor Pickle survives Sonic Unleashed: he does not die, betrays no one, is never an antagonist, and ends the game preparing with Amy the party for Sonic's return, after hailing a miracle and admitting that she had been right to believe in it. He has, on the other hand, never come back in person in a game since.

His only later trace is The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog (2023): a portrait of him can be seen in the library, and Tails mentions him when describing Spagonia, insisting that you absolutely have to stop by and see the professor and his university, not least for his sandwiches. So it is not an appearance in the strict sense. Elsewhere, Sega has brought him back out through nods: a “Calendar Comedy” illustration on Sonic Channel in 2024, in which Amy helps him pick out a rock outfit, an image in TailsTube, and a cameo alongside Big the Cat in the instruction guide for Sonic Tweet.

🖼️ In The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog (2023), Professor Pickle doesn't come back in person: all you see is a portrait of him in the library. At home, the same kind of nod fits right in on your bedroom wall or on a shelf, thanks to our Sonic decor.

Two other Pickles exist, in separate continuities. At Archie Comics, he is called Professor Dillon Pickle (first appearance in Sonic the Hedgehog #257), an archaeologist and historical anthropologist at Spagonia University, kidnapped on a train alongside Sir Charles “Chuck” the Hedgehog and then freed by the Freedom Fighters; there, his name plays on the “dill pickle”. A third one appears just once in the children's novel Sonic and the Tales of Terror. None of these elements is valid for the canon of the games.

Summary

Frequently asked questions

• Which games does Professor Pickle appear in?
  A single one in person: Sonic Unleashed (2008), in both of its versions, Xbox 360/PS3 and Wii/PS2. The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog (2023) makes do with a portrait in the library and a mention from Tails. Voices: Dan Green in English, Chō in Japanese.
• Who kidnapped Professor Pickle, and who freed him?
  Dr. Eggman and his robots abduct him from his Spagonia laboratory along with his research and the Gaia Manuscripts, then lock him up in their Mazuri base. Sonic the Werehog, Tails and Chip come to fetch him at night; it is Tails who opens the cell.
• Is he the one who reveals that Chip is Light Gaia?
  No. He explains Dark Gaia, the Gaia Manuscripts and the solution: recharging the Chaos Emeralds in the seven Gaia Temples. Chip gets his memory back and reveals himself. Pickle only brings up the balance between Light Gaia and Dark Gaia in the epilogue.
• Why this obsession with cucumber sandwiches?
  It is his favorite dish and the running gag of the game: he stays more outraged by Eggman's bad sandwiches than by his own kidnapping. He dictates the recipe in the game: bread at least three quarters of an inch thick, a tablespoon of mayonnaise, a pinch of black pepper, fresh cucumbers thinly sliced.
• Does his assistant have a name?
  No, and it is a male assistant, not a female one. The games credit him only as “Professor Pickle's Assistant” (credited English voice: Jason Griffith). The first name “Cucumber” exists only in the Archie comics. In the game, he is the target of the very first exorcism.