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Princess Elise the Third[2] (ソレアナ公女エリス3世, Soreana Kōjo Erisu 3-sei?, lit. "Princess Elise III of Soleanna") is a character that appears in the Sonic the Hedgehog series. She is a human girl and the current sovereign of Soleanna, the sole living member of the principality's royal family.[3] The daughter of the Duke and Duchess of Soleanna, Elise lost her mother at a young age, and her father later perished as well in the failed Solaris Project, but not before sealing the Flames of Disaster inside of Elise's soul. Elise eventually grew to lead the principality, burdened by the pressure to never cry, lest the Flames be released. Ten years after the Solaris Project, Elise was targeted by Dr. Eggman for the Flames of Disaster and her Chaos Emerald. Coming to her rescue, however, was Sonic the Hedgehog, who would save Elise multiple times and ultimately help free her from her heavy burdens. Elise is a tall, teenage, human girl with fair skin, short red hair, and light blue eyes. Her outfit consists of an off-shoulder short white dress with short-puffed transparent sleeves and a ruffle rim at the top, a golden strap with crossed black edges and white flowers on the chest, and rhombus pattern with the Soleanna symbol at the hem. She also wears white evening gloves, silver earrings, a gem necklace, orange pantyhose, and red and silver high heel shoes. Elise is kind-hearted, sweet, loving, and genuinely cares about her country and its citizens, being willing to give herself up to Eggman in order to protect them from the doctor. She is well aware of her role as a monarch and does her best to stand as a worthy and exemplary princess. Behind her formal facade, however, Elise is like any typical confused and anxious young woman. The loss of her parents left Elise with much grief and sorrow, but she always tried to stay strong due to her father's words. When Iblis was later sealed inside her, Elise forced herself to never cry, as her tears would free Iblis from within her. This trapped her in a perpetual state of fake optimism where she would try to make light of her fate, but in reality, she always carried sadness that she could never let go of, leaving her trapped in her own feelings. During her adventures with Sonic, she becomes quite attached to the heroic hedgehog, the latter is hinted at in her first conversation with Amy, where she is visibly flustered and embarrassed when Amy asked her if he (not knowing that it was Sonic) had asked her out on a date and later where she desperately fights back tears when Sonic reveals that he plans of departing the city once he thwarted Eggman's plans. It is eventually Sonic's presence that makes Elise truly happy for the first time since her father's death, allowing her to get out of her own captivity. Despite her genuine love for her people, Elise wishes to be able to make herself happy with her own desires coming first as she hesitates to blow out the flame of Solaris, since it would mean she would never meet Sonic, who gave her so much happiness. However, Sonic's words of encouragement and her own knowledge of what is right win out in the end and she blows out the flame.

Possibly as a side effect of the ritual that was used to seal Iblis within her body, Elise, at times, seems to possess a small degree of mental instability, as shown when she hallucinates Soleanna in flames during the Festival of the Sun and sees a vision of Silver surrounded by flames upon meeting Sonic for the first time.

The city of Soleanna is a constitutional monarchy, with an economy dominated by tourism and precision machinery.[1] It is at least 1,500 years old.[4]

Being a principality, Soleanna's reigning monarchs eschew the title "king" or "queen";[note 1] Soleanna's sovereign is generally known as "Duke" if male and either "Duchess" or "Princess" if female. The small nation is apparently wealthy and prosperous, with its urban environments bearing resemblance to modern Mediterranean cities. However, Soleanna is shown to possess highly advanced technology, as is evident in Aquatic Base, a research lab underneath the ancient royal palace located in Kingdom Valley.

The city worships a deity known as Solaris, "The Eternal Sun God", who is honored during the "Festival of the Sun". Soleanna's sovereign during the events of Sonic the Hedgehog is the young Princess Elise, introduced while presiding over this ceremony. In the game's timeline, the ancient castle that used to house the royal family in Kingdom Valley has been abandoned after the Solaris Project accident. The new castle is on an island off of Soleanna Castle Town near Soleanna New City – although it is unclear if this remains true in the new timeline after the game.