Sash Lilac

Background

Sash Lilac is the main protagonist of the Freedom Planet series. She is one of the two remaining water dragons on Avalice who is thrust into the struggle against Lord Brevon after she saves Commander Torque from his crashed spaceship.

Although she presents herself as a heroine intent on helping others, she spent much of her life as a member of the Red Scarves, a gang of thugs led by Spade, where she met Carol Tea, her sidekick. Due to a conflict of interest, she deserts the Red Scarves with Carol, creating a bitter rivalry between her and Spade. She continues to operate as a petty thief, insisting that she and Carol only steal from the wealthy.

In Freedom Planet, she watches a spaceship crash land nearby and finds Commander Torque within the wreckage, being hunted down by General Serpentine. Torque informs her that Serpentine works for Lord Brevon, an intergalactic warlord who crash landed on Avalice. Brevon intends to use the Kingdom Stone - an ancient artifact comprised of pure energy - to power his ship so he may continue his conquest. Lilac offers to help Torque track down the Kingdom Stone, and to stop Lord Brevon from repairing his ship.

As a neutral party, Lilac serves as a negotiator between the kingdoms, earning the trust of rivals Mayor Zao and the Magister. While on a mission, Torque is kidnapped by Brevon, and Lilac attempts to rescue him, against Carol's wishes. Lilac's attempt fails, and she is captured and tortured by Brevon, which leaves her badly burned and gravely injured.

After recovering, she leads an all-out assault on Brevon's star fleet, breaching into his starship. There, she kills General Serpentine, defeats Brevon, and destroys his ship. This consequently shatters the Kingdom Stone in the process.

Following the events of Freedom Planet, Lilac transitioned into becoming a full-time, professional heroine, training extensively for over two years. According to series creator Sabrina DiDuro, her bright personality shifted into a more reserved demeanor during this time. Although thought to be the only living water dragon, she encounters a pure-bred named Merga in Freedom Planet 2.

Design History

Lilac's overall design changed radically throughout the development of Freedom Planet. Given its origins as a Sonic fan-game, DiDuro originally envisioned Lilac as a hedgehog with features deliberately evoking that of Sonic the Hedgehog. DiDuro struggled to nail down the central design of any of the major characters, and ultimately contacted DeviantArt member Ziyo Ling after coming across her work. Ling, desiring to see her "Team Lilac" series in a video game, permitted DiDuro to use their likeness. With Lilac, Ling's designs were consistent with the Sonic universe, which became more and more inappropriate as DiDuro pushed for Freedom Planet to have its own identity.

After alpha builds of the game were available for Kickstarter backers, players complained that Lilac's design was too similar to Sonic's, and some suggested that she not be a hedgehog altogether. DiDuro elected to redesign her as a Chinese water dragon, which would enable several distinguishing features without requiring she scrap any in-game assets entirely. She enlisted Felicia Val to develop a new water dragon design, which would be the finalized version for Freedom Planet.

DiDuro contemplated moving on from Freedom Planet after its release, feeling she accomplished her goal of creating a proper tribute to Sonic the Hedgehog. However, she eventually decided to develop the series into a franchise that stood on its own. Moreover, she elected to develop Freedom Planet 2 on the Unity game engine, which enables higher resolutions and finer sprite detail. DiDuro enlisted fan-artist Tyson Tan to redesign Lilac once again, completely severing the link to her hedgehog origins.