#Nega does intrigue me as a villain but kind of in the 'he just sucks at everything he does' kind of area

[true-blue-sonic]

The Ifrit's mind powers seemed to be entirely its own; and I guess it could probably even be argued that Nega might not have actually been aware of the extent of it, considering that the only two routes that the mind powers are seen in (Sonic/Tails and Knuckles/Rouge) are also the two routes in which Nega doesn't interact with the heroes in the Ifrit's dimension.

Which is still a damn shame cause we were cruelly robbed of the angst of Espio and Silver fighting each other like in those two other routes—BUT anyway

*yeeting open Word* WHO WOULD BE MORE LIKELY TO BE MIND-CONTROLLED, SILVER OR ESPIO

If I am not mistaken, Gerald apparently did a bunch of research on the Ifrit and wrote a whole book about it that Nega got his hands on... and then subsequently proceeded to lose basically all the pages of, lol. But one page says "The Ifrit held the power of destruction, and the power to blind one's soul…", as read by Tails. Of course, 'blind one's soul' is exactly the kind of vagueness that tells you nothing about what it means, but I figure the mind control is what is indicated with it. Interestingly, all four characters note that their mind-controlled companions do not seem to be entirely under the Ifrit's control and/or are trying to fight it and break free, so I figure it's something that can be warded off if the recipient is strong enough. Thus, even if Eggman Nega had somehow been able to make the Ifrit use it on Silver, I doubt it would have worked in the long run, considering Silver's determination and strong spirit and all. Same for Espio. I honestly think Nega would have been tremendously disappointed that the Ifrit's mind control is not absolute, haha!

So overall, we can conclude that Nega probably had little to do with the Ifrit's mind control. Though, I am wondering if there is an in-game reason why only on the Sonic/Tails and Knuckles/Rouge routes a character got mind controlled; it makes sense from a gameplay perspective because the other two groups are fighting Metal Sonic 3.0 instead and thus the 'rival slot' in the boss battle was already filled, but I do wonder. There's no doubt in my mind that if Nega had been able to control the mind control power (and the plot had had room for it), he'd have had no qualms to use it against Silver and/or Espio. I think it would have been quite nice to have Silver embrace Espio's help so much that he's able to fight him out of his mind control and care for him afterwards! Though in the same vein, Silver is Nega's archnemesis, so for him to be mind controlled instead and having Nega taunt Espio about it is interesting too. Hmm.... My curiosity is piqued!