Knuckles the Echidna

[] Error: {{Lang}}: no text (help)This article is about the video game character as represented in video games and television series. For information regarding the character's representation in the Sonic the Hedgehog comics, see Knuckles the Echidna (comic character). For the comic series based on this character, see Knuckles the Echidna (comic series).

Knuckles the Echidna
'Sonic the Hedgehog' character
File:Knuckles2006.png Knuckles the Echidna is the guardian of the Master Emerald.
First game	Sonic the Hedgehog 3
Created by	Takashi Yuda

Knuckles the Echidna (ナックルズ・ザ・エキドゥナ, Nakkurusu za Ekiduna) is a video game character within the Sonic the Hedgehog fictional universe of video games, television shows and comics. His creator is Takashi Thomas Yuda.

He is a red, male, anthropomorphic echidna, and while Sonic has large, spiky quills, Knuckles has dreadlocks. He is 16 years old, stands 110 cm (3 ft 7 in) and weighs 40 kg (88 lb). His birth-date is February 2, the date his first game came out.. He also has a white crescent birthmark on his chest. His first game appearance was in Sonic the Hedgehog 3, released on February 2 1994 for the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis. He was described as being 15 years old when he made his debut, but since Sonic Adventure, his age has now been retconned, and he is now 16.

Two of the knuckles on each of his hands are actually sharp spikes and are from which Knuckles gets his name. He has been tasked since birth with being the Guardian of the Master Emerald, which he normally protects while on Angel Island. According to official polls by Sonic Team, Knuckles placed fourth in "Who is your favorite character," first in "Who is your third favorite character," and third in "Who should appear more".

Personality

Knuckles personality and character traits varies between various continuities. However, he is consistently used to represent the 'tough guy', and his abilities remain roughly the same. Also, in almost all versions of the Sonic universe Knuckles has a rivalry in some form with Sonic. Since he has been tasked with guarding the Master Emerald alone on Angel Island most of his life, Knuckles appears to be jealous of the hedgehog's independent nature and freedom. Knuckles being easily tricked by Eggman into believing Sonic is the bad guy has become a recurring theme in the Sonic universe, even to the point of being a running gag.

In the games, Knuckles is independent, headstrong, devoted to his duty and gullible. He is very serious and usually likes to be by himself, but can be relied upon to help out whenever the planet is in danger. Knuckles is extremely stubborn and is often described as a loner. Because of his flaws, he and Sonic don't always get along, but are still allies.

Various literature from the early games (game manuals and Sonic Jam bios) list his favorite food as being fruit, or to be more specific, grapes. He also is described as hating strong sunlight (evidenced in Sonic Adventure when he first arrives at Station Square and shields his eyes from the sun).

In Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie, Knuckles was said to be Sonic's best friend, but he's still more serious than Sonic. Rather than being a serious guardian of the Master Emerald or Chaos Emeralds, he was a devoted treasure hunter and could even be quite goofy at times. This was probably because the Master Emerald and Chaos Emeralds were not involved in the plot of the Sonic OVA.

In Sonic Underground, Knuckles, like the Sonic Underground team, is portrayed as somewhat young and inexperienced rather than gullible. Nonetheless he is very devoted to his duty as the Guardian. He is portrayed as having a crush on Sonia.

In the Archie Sonic Comic, Knuckles has become highly sociable, intelligent and considerably less gullible than his game incarnation. He is less devoted as a Guardian, and has recently left his occupation as Guardian to become a Freedom Fighter with Sonic, although this may not be permanent.

The Fleetway Sonic the Comic version of Knuckles was perhaps the most devoted to his duty as a Guardian, to the point of an obsession. He guards not only the Master Emerald, but also the Chaos Emeralds. He was even willing to stay on the Floating Island as it sank after being forced to eject the Emeralds. He finds Sonic's distinctly increased ego in Fleetway slightly obnoxious, and is an extreme loner. His favorite food was once said to be ant-burgers, an association with the echidnas of Earth.

The Knuckles of Sonic X gets mad very easily, but is slightly less stubborn than other incarnations and tends to give in to situations when others gang up on him or suggest that he is not brave enough. He is probably the most gullible of all the versions of Knuckles for the comedic value. On one occasion, however, the Sonic X exclusive character Cosmo voiced her opinion of Knuckles' gullibility. According to her, Knuckles has a good heart and would like to believe that there is good in everyone, which is why he is constantly being fooled by villains. Sadly, she was the only one to share this opinion (and Sonic even said that "That's a nice way to look at it, but it still doesn't change the fact that you're a sucker!")

Histories

Games

File:Sonic3 Knuckles the Echidna.gif

Knuckles in Sonic the Hedgehog 3.

Knuckles lives on Angel Island, which hovers in the sky thanks to the power of the Master Emerald. His duty in life is to guard the Master Emerald, and he is the last surviving member of the Echidna people who once inhabited the island.

In Sonic the Hedgehog 3, Knuckles thought that Sonic and Tails were attempting to steal the Master Emerald and that the infamous mad scientist Dr. Robotnik (also known as Dr. Eggman) was trying to protect it. However, Robotnik had lied to Knuckles. He was planning to use the Emerald to power his space station, the Death Egg. In the Hidden Palace Zone, Eggman's betrayal was revealed to Knuckles very bluntly, in the form of an electric shock. Since then, Knuckles has joined Sonic and Tails in their quest to stop the villain.

Aside from appearances in the main Sonic series, Knuckles featured prominently in Knuckles Chaotix, a relatively unknown spin-off title developed for Sega 32X. The game also introduced Team Chaotix, a group of comical misfits.

In Sonic Adventure, the Master Emerald shatters when Eggman frees Chaos and Tikal's spirit from within it, causing Angel Island to fall out of the sky. Knuckles's goal is to reassemble the shards of the Master Emerald. These levels are large, explorable areas in which you must hunt about the various Action Stages for three shards per stage.

In Sonic Adventure 2, Knuckles the Echidna is guarding the Master Emerald when Rouge the Bat attempts to steal it. In the middle of their argument, Dr. Eggman snatches the emerald. Knuckles then shatters it in order to prevent Eggman from successfully obtaining it. Knuckles then sets off to find the pieces and restore the Master Emerald once more. The gameplay is the same as in the first Adventure title.

File:Knuckles-sinbad.jpg

Knuckles in the Story Mode of Sonic and the Secret Rings.

In Sonic Heroes, Knuckles joins forces with Sonic and Tails, becoming the power member of Team Sonic. He serves a similar role in Sonic Riders, which also features a rivalry between him and Storm the Albatross. In Shadow the Hedgehog, he assists Shadow in several Hero missions. In Sonic the Hedgehog, Knuckles appears with Tails as an "amigo" character in Sonic's storyline.

Knuckles is also a playable character in Sonic Rivals. The game starts out with him on a search for the Master Emerald which strangely disappeared. Due to his rivalry with Sonic, once Dr. Eggman reveals he is the cause for the Master Emerald's disappearance, the two begin a friendly competition which expands to include other rivals, namely Shadow the Hedgehog, Silver the Hedgehog and Metal Sonic.

He is a playable character in Multiplayer Mode of Sonic and the Secret Rings alongside Sonic, Tails, Amy, Shadow, Cream, Silver and Blaze. Knuckles, also, plays the role as Sinbad the Sailor from the Arabian Nights stories in the single-player mode. In this role he has no recollection whatsoever of ever meeting Sonic.

He is set to appear the crossover Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games.

Sonic the Comic

In Sonic the Comic, Knuckles is depicted as (at first) being the last of his kind, and bears the burden of guarding the Master Emerald and Chaos Emeralds alone. When the Death Egg crashed on the island, Knuckles was briefly tricked by Doctor Robotnik into believing Sonic was a dangerous villain who plotted to steal the Island's Chaos Emeralds. The echidna thus allowed Robotnik to place his Badnik armies on the island and also construct a Launch Base Zone to rebuild his Death Egg, and assisted him in fighting Sonic & stealing Sonic's own six Chaos Emeralds so they could be combined with Knuckles's into one set of Emeralds. Knuckles, however, didn't trust Robotnik enough to tell him that he had the "missing" Grey Emerald which could control the others (the games show that this is the Master emerald, the Master Emerald doesn't appear until later when the merged emerald become fully charged), and when Robotnik tried to absorb the Emeralds' power into himself, Knuckles used the Master Emerald to defeat him.

Knuckles spent the next few months destroying every trace of Robotnik's influence on the Floating Island, including the entire Carnival Night Zone, and assisted Sonic both when his secret base came under attack by a Badnik army and when Robotnik established a base in the Ice Cap Zone. Finally, the two heroes teamed up to destroy the Death Egg before it could launch - which they failed to do, and worse Knuckles had failed to stop Robotnik's Metallix from stealing the Master Emerald to power the Death Egg! While Sonic fought to retrieve the Emerald, Knuckles used ancient echidna technology to pilot the Floating Island and open fire on the Death Egg with Chaos Energy blasts, finally downing the craft. With the Master Emerald returned, Knuckles owed a debt to Sonic and, despite preferring privacy, agreed to hide the entire population of Emerald Hill Zone in the Mushroom Hill Zone to keep them safe from Robotnik's wrath.

In the story The Homecoming, Knuckles discovered that an elderly, white-furred echidna named Dr. Zachary had appeared on the Island. Initially he claimed to be the first echidna to return to Mobius and that he was being pursued by a dangerous robot. It turned out Zachary was evil & using the robot (in reality an ancient echidna Guardian Robot) as his minion. He had the robot destroy the Master Emerald & absorb its power and intended to attack Mobius with it, but Knuckles stopped him (and ended up using the robot's head as a brief substitute Emerald) and Zachary fell off the island. Knuckles then created a new Master Emerald from the echidna's Sacred Emerald Mines, which existed in a graveyard haunted by the ghosts of the Kohenyu - a race of Styrakosaurus' who were unwittingly hunted to extinction by the echidnas -, and he had to take responsibility for their death.

He was roped into helping Captain Plunder and his Sky Pirates launch a heist on an alien galleon, in return for a chest of ancient echidna documents that could help him with the Island's ancient computer systems. Knuckles trekked across Mobius with the chest, fighting the occasional villain as he went, before finally returning to the Island to battle Robotnik & a cyborg Zachary's attempt to turn the Emerald Hill refugees into an organic computer. Robotnik was then overthrown, and the refugees returned home.

Knuckles spent his days with Porker Lewis trying to uncover the mysteries of his lost people, occasionally being drawn into battle. He left the island to save lives from the environmental collapse of Mobius, when Robotnik tried to drain the planet's life force. Soon after that (in STC's last story), the Floating Island came under attack by the terrifying Chaos creature and Knuckles was forced to scatter the Emeralds across Mobius - dooming the island in the process. He was left distraught and had to be forcibly evacuated from the island, and joined up with the Freedom Fighters to stop Chaos & retrieve the Emeralds.

Knuckles is also one of the few to know of Tails' legendary status in the Nameless Zone, a fact he became aware of when he followed Tails through a portal mistakenly believing the young fox was being kidnapped. The Nameless Zone residents came to the conclusion that Knuckles was actually Sonic, whom Tails had claimed was his sidekick. Far from blowing Tails' cover, Knuckles was delighted to meet people who didn't worship his rival and played along, assisting him in defeating the terrifying Trogg once and for all.

The last STC storyline revealed Knuckles had lived in the ancient past, acting was a warrior & leader for the echidna's against the Drakon Empire. It is presumed by Sonic that Knuckles was placed in suspended animation for unknown reasons and lost his memory.

Sonic the Hedgehog (comic)

Main article: Knuckles the Echidna (comic character)

Sonic Underground

Knuckles appeared in several episodes of the cartoon Sonic Underground. Friend or Foe echoes the usual storyline of his initial meetings with Sonic, as he is tricked by Robotnik's cohorts and goes after Sonic and his siblings. This episode also introduced a pet for Knuckles, a carnivorous dinosaur named Chomps. In keeping with the constantly reenacted scenario, Knuckles came to realize that he had been tricked, and teamed up with Sonic and co. to save the Floating Island.

Later, Sonic, Sonia, and Manic come to Floating Island seeking Knuckles's help in the recovery of a Chaos Emerald that has fallen into Robotnik's hands. Despite the warnings of his great-grandfather Athair, Knuckles leaves the island to help them. When the Chaos Emerald is damaged and releases energy enough to threaten all of Mobius, Knuckles leads his friends to Athair in search of a way to contain it. Despite the warnings of the Hedgehogs, Knuckles is vehement in following Athair's plan to form an alliance with Robotnik. He agrees to betray the Hedgehogs to help Robotnik, but when the doctor breaks his word not to Roboticize them, Knuckles saves his friends. After the Emerald is contained, Knuckles returns to the Floating Island, despite Sonia's wishes that he join them as a Freedom Fighter.

Sonic Underground was cancelled before the plots could be resolved, and so Knuckles only appeared in four episodes. Had the series gone on, he would likely have appeared in the finale to aid Sonic and his siblings in their last battle with Dr. Robotnik. However, such events were never seen on the show.

Sonic X

File:SonicX Knux.gif

Knuckles in Sonic X

Knuckles was a prominent character in Sonic X, appearing in most of the episodes. His history with Sonic isn't covered, but it can be assumed that some version of the events portrayed in most of their initial meetings took place before they became friends. In the first season, Knuckles was among those pulled to Earth by Chaos Control. Of all of Sonic's friends, Knuckles was the most vehement about returning home, often letting his concern for the undefended Master Emerald lead him into losing his temper. As always, this was taken advantage of, and Knuckles fought Sonic several times. Knuckles also became a popular figure, if not as popular as Sonic, and was trusted by the police and citizens of Earth alike.

After the first appearance of Super Sonic, Knuckles was able to return to his duties of guarding the Master Emerald. However, the activities of Dr. Eggman pulled him away constantly. Such occurrences took place during the adaptations of Sonic Adventure, Sonic Adventure 2, and Sonic Battle. During the latter, Knuckles joined the tournament to win the red Chaos Emerald, and made it to the final round before being defeated by Emerl.

When the Metarex became a threat, Knuckles was unwillingly drafted into the crew of the Blue Typhoon, since the Master Emerald was needed to power it. Despite his complaints, Knuckles proved helpful, joining in battle against the Metarex and helping to make sure that the Master Emerald provided enough power. However, his usual gullibility remained, and he was tricked into another showdown with Sonic by Dr. Eggman. Berating himself, Knuckles was consoled somewhat by Cosmo, who claimed that Knuckles kept being tricked because he had a good heart and wanted to believe that there was good in everyone. Sonic sneered at the sentiment, stating: "That's a nice way to think of it, Knuckles, but it still doesn't change the fact that you're a sucker!"

Knuckles became the only member of the Blue Typhoon's crew to develop a rivalry with one of the Metarex, and became a bitter enemy of Yellow Zelkova. They battled twice after meeting, pitting their great strength against each other. Knuckles fought hard, even shattering the spikes on his gloves in the second confrontation before defeating Zelkova once and for all. However, it should be noted that in the original Japanese episode, he attempts to save Zelkova from death, but Zelkova declines his help. This was possibly cut from the English dub as Zelkova's death would have looked like suicide.

He later helped provide the Blue Typhoon's Sonic Driver with power, shattering the Master Emerald in the process. When Chris Thorndyke asked if he could stay on Angel Island until he could somehow return to his own world, Knuckles replied yes, but it never came to that.

Interactions with other characters

Rouge the Bat was first introduced as a rival for Knuckles the Echidna, both of them expert treasure hunters. While Rouge has a secret crush on Knuckles, he has not shown returning affections, with his only "nice" interaction with her being a scene in which he saved her life in Sonic Adventure 2.

Tails, Amy Rose, Cream the Rabbit, the Chaotix, E-123 Omega and Blaze the Cat are more allies to Knuckles than actual friends. Of any of them, Tails is probably the closest, the two usually working in a group with Sonic to thwart any opponents. The others have been Knuckles' allies by circumstance; they happen to be fighting the same enemy, and so end up working together.

Dr. Eggman is perhaps Knuckles' greatest source of embarrassment and irritation. Having been fooled time and time again by the mad scientist, he has constantly found himself locked in battle with Sonic or others only to realize that he's been duped. As a result, Knuckles is never hesitant about giving Eggman a piece of his mind or dragging him back to pay for whatever he's done.

Aside from Sonic and Rouge, Knuckles has accrued a number of other rivals. Various instances have brought him into competition with both Shadow the Hedgehog and Silver the Hedgehog. Knuckles has also formed a rivalry with Babylon Rogues member Storm the Albatross, with the two of them being nearly equal in terms of raw physical power. A rivalry of this type was also featured in Sonic X, with Knuckles finding himself antagonized by Metarex commander Yellow Zelkova.

In Sonic Underground, Knuckles was friends with Sonic's siblings Sonia and Manic. Sonia, in particular, was close to Knuckles, the two of them sharing the view that Robonik was evil and that he had to be defeated. During his appearances in the series, he and Sonia grew closer, and it became in the last episode he appeared in that their relationship was moving in a romantic direction. Unfortunately, the series ended before this could be expounded upon.

Sonic versus Knuckles

A recurring theme within the Sonic universe is that Sonic and Knuckles will have some sort of disagreement resulting in combat. Sadly, this often stems from Knuckles being fooled by Dr. Eggman into thinking that Sonic has goals that don't coincide with his own. However, these battles are always left unresolved, tied, or interrupted by outside circumstances (Tails usually stop them). After these battles, they generally team up to defeat a common enemy.

The battle has appeared in the games, comics, and TV series. It occurs in practically every game featuring Knuckles up until Sonic Adventure 2. It appeared in both Sonic comic books, with Sonic the Hedgehog even featuring a battle between Sonic's and Knuckles's powered-up selves, Super Sonic and Hyper Knuckles. This comic also featured a battle between Mecha Sonic and Mecha Knuckles, both having been subjected to roboticization. It has also occurred during Knuckles's introductory episode of Sonic Underground and several times throughout Sonic X. It also serves as a sideplot for the game Sonic Rivals, which begins as a friendly competition between Sonic and Knuckles but expands to include Shadow, Metal Sonic and Silver.

Abilities

Knuckles is physically one of the strongest characters of the Sonic series. His extraordinary physical strength enables him to perform feats such as shattering boulders with his fists, and lifting objects many times his own size and weight. His endurance is also notable. Knuckles is occasionally shown to have fire-enhanced punches, as well as earth elemental powers, though these are usually game-specific abilities. He is also an expert of a variety of martial arts, though his sharp knuckle punches are still his specialty.

Like most characters in the Sonic the Hedgehog series, Knuckles is a very fast runner, except not as fast as Sonic or Shadow. However, Knuckles is one of the few characters that is able to swim and float along the surface of a body of water. Although his jump height is relatively low, he can glide through the air by, according to the Sonic Heroes manual, trapping air under his dreadlocks. Knuckles is also a proficient burrower, able to dig into nearly any wall or floor, and can use the spikes on his eponymous knuckles to grip and climb walls. As the Guardian of the Master Emerald, he is able to access and utilize its powers, allowing him to use some Chaos powers in an incredible manner, and can sense it from a distance, even in pieces. This comes into play as Knuckles's role in the games often involves the Master Emerald breaking. Additionally, he seems to be able to sense other energies such as those used in Chaos Control. In Sonic Adventure 2, when Sonic uses Chaos Control to save himself, Knuckles (who was wandering about somewhere else) states that he felt 'some strange energy.'

Like several other characters in the Sonic games, Knuckles can make use of the Chaos Emeralds to transform into a super form, named "Super Knuckles." In Sonic 3 & Knuckles, he could also use the Super Emeralds to transform into "Hyper Knuckles." The exact powers granted by these transformations vary from game to game. In the Sonic the Hedgehog comics, he was turned into Chaos Knuckles by absorbing the power of the Master Emerald.

Game-specific abilities

• In Sonic the Fighters Knuckles can activate the Shadow Punch, where he can attack an opponent from three different directions in rapid succession.
• In Sonic Adventure, Knuckles can perform an attack called Maximum Heat Knuckles Attack after collecting the "Fighting Gloves" upgrade. This is a punching version of Sonic's "Light Attack," and makes Knuckles glide around and home in on all nearby enemies.
• In the 2-player Battle Mode in Sonic Adventure 2, collecting 20 rings allows Knuckles to use Hammer Punch, where he punches the ground and stun the opponent. Collecting 40 rings allows him to utilize a move known as the Thunder Arrow, which sends a lightning bolt from the skies to shock and confuse an opponent. 60 rings allows him to do a move called Power Flash which freezes the other player's control for 10 seconds. (Five if using the secret costume)
• In Sonic Heroes, Knuckles plays the role of Power Formation for Team Sonic. He can use a move called Fire Dunk in which he uses Sonic and Tails as fire balls to destroy their enemies. He is also able to slam the ground and kick up tremors to attack enemies. The range and power increases as Knuckles collects energy cores. At Level 3, Knuckles can kick up a small volcanic eruption, spewing fireballs in all directions. Finally, his gliding ability is modified into the Triangle Dive which enables him to float upwards using fan drafts.
• In the racing game Sonic Riders Knuckles is a power-type character, and can bash his way through certain obstacles. When a character is near him, the player can attack the opponent in one of two different ways. One is a normal punch, and the other is a punch that leaves opponents in a humorous screw form for a few seconds.
• In Sonic the Hedgehog, Knuckles can perform an attack called Screwdriver, which unleashes a spinning forward punch that flattens enemies. He can also perform a move called Ground Shaker, which paralyzes some enemies around the attack.

Voice actors

• Sonic Underground - Ian James Corlett
• Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie - Yasunori Matsumoto (Japan) - Bill Wise (US)
• Video games, Sonic X - Nobutoshi Kanna (Japan)
• Sonic Adventure - Michael McGaharn (US)
• Sonic Shuffle - Ryan Drummond (US)
• Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic Heroes, Sonic Battle, Sonic Advance 3 - Scott Dreier (US)
• Sonic X and every game since Shadow the Hedgehog - Dan Green (sometimes using his alias "Jay Snyder")

Associated Songs

The games feature several theme songs related to Knuckles. For the most part, Knuckles is associated with the rap/hip hop genre.

• Sonic Adventure: "Unknown From M.E." - Marlon Saunders.
• Sonic Adventure 2: "Unknown From M.E." (remake) - Marlon Saunders, Hunnid P.
• Sonic Heroes: "We Can" - Tony Harnell, Ted Poley. This was a team theme shared with Sonic and Tails.
• Sonic Riders: "High Flying Groove" - Tomonori Sawada. This was also a team theme shared with Sonic and Tails.

In addition, each of Knuckles's levels in Sonic Adventure 2 has a vocal song associated with the character.

• Wild Canyon: "Kick the Rock" - Hunnid P
• Pumpkin Hill: "A Ghost's Pumpkin Soup" - Hunnid P
• Aquatic Mine: "Dive into the Mellow" - Hunnid P
• Death Chamber: "Deeper" - Hunnid P
• Meteor Herd: "Space Trip Steps" - Hunnid P

External links

• Official Sonic site