Knuckles the Echidna

Knuckles the Echidna (ナックルズ・ザ・エキドゥナ) is one of the main characters in the anime series Sonic X and its comic series published by Archie Comics. He is an anthropomorphic echidna, famous as a treasure hunter and a master of martial arts. Knuckles' primary ability is strength, his arms are so powerful that he can shatter rocks. Ever since the first Chaos Control incident, Knuckles has become dedicated to finding the Chaos Emeralds so he can go back to his job of guarding the Master Emerald as soon as possible which he takes very seriously.

Anime
Knuckles hails from an unnamed world in a parallel dimension to Earth. Until the Sonic Adventure and Sonic Adventure 2 adaptions in Earth, Knuckles is desperate to find a solution to return back to their dimension on his own. However, he has helped Sonic and his friends whenever Doctor Eggman stirred up trouble. His role is minor until the video game adaptions and then minor again.

In Season 3 after returning home, he joins the heroes gathering the Chaos Emeralds in space in order to defeat a new villainous group, the Metarex and their leader, Dark Oak. During this adventure, Knuckles had to use the Master Emerald to power up the Blue Typhoon. At first he was too stubborn to use it, but after a serious beat-down by Amy, Cream the Rabbit and Cosmo, the Master Emerald had to be used. During their final showdown, however, the Master Emerald is destroyed and drained of its power. After this adventure, Knuckles head back to Sonic's world and oversee the restoration of the Master Emerald, which he fails to see Chris leaving and declares war on Doctor Eggman with the others.

Early adventures
Knuckles kept the oath he took to guard the Master Emerald when he arrived on Earth. Sonic would travel to Angel Island and try and persuade him to take a break and go on an adventure with him, but Knuckles refused unless there was a good reason. Continuing his duties, Knuckles noticed a ship off the Emerald Coast and was curious watching Sonic jumping into the ocean. Suspecting that they may be a Chaos Emerald involved, he continued observing until Dr. Eggman arrived with his new Dragonbots. Knuckles helped them by rescuing Chuck Thorndyke from the ocean and was given diving gear to help Sonic, Rouge and Topaz below. They managed to destroy Eggman's Dragonbots and retrieved Captain Seamus MacGuffin's treasure, but found no Chaos Emeralds.

Knuckles joined Sonic and his friends again when he noticed missiles coming from Station Square and suspected Eggman and Sonic fighting. He came to the museum to help them fight Eggman's robots, along with Chuck, Cream and Cheese. He was instantly flirted by Rouge and told that Chris, Topaz, Sam Speed, the President and Mister Stewart were trapped inside. Knuckles worked with the others and they managed to free Chris from Eggman's control and eventually managed to free the hostages from Eggman's robots and defeat him.

Later, Knuckles would be guarding the Master Emerald when Tikal, Chaos and her army of Chao appeared from it. He would accompany them to Station Square to fight off Eggman's evil army of Dark Chao and joined the fight with Sonic, Tails and Amy. He was impressed by Tikal's fighting style being similar to his as they fought off the Dark Chao and Chaos fought against Eggman's Egg-Gantor. Chuck managed to create a device to stop Eggman's control and Sonic used this to transform the Dark Chao back to normal. With Eggman's robot defeated; Tikal, Chaos and the Chao went back to the Master Emerald and Knuckles joined Sonic and his friends to celebrate.

No Thanks for the Memories
Knuckles would be captured by Eggman and placed into virtual reality with Sonic, Amy, Tails, Rouge, Cream, Cheese and Vanilla while the machine would be powered with the Master Emerald. He would later be hit by Sonic and Amy in Spring Yard Zone as they spun to avoid a spike and thrown off a cliff with them. He blamed Sonic for getting them into this situation until they encountered a game version of Eggman. They continued through the virtual reality world eventually meeting up with the others and being flirted with Rouge until the final level. They were saved by Chris and Chuck before they were sent to the moon via Eggman's old base. Sonic took the Master Emerald to stop the launch and they all left as the base exploded. Sonic would give Knuckles back the Master Emerald once they were save. Sonic would return to Angel Island to pester Knuckles because he was bored. Knuckles would not cave into Sonic's annoyances and demanded that Sonic found someone else to bother.

Further challenges
Knuckles continued his guarding duties when "Rouge" came to Angel Island and asked if she could stay there and explained she was being set up for stealing the Moon Emerald. The fake offered to help Knuckles guard the Master Emerald, but Knuckles argued with her until he realized she was trying to knock him out and dodged her attacks. She eventually knocked him out and flew off with the Master Emerald. Knuckles would then find Topaz's office, and demanded to know where Rouge was after explaining his situation. All of them, including Captain Westwood would draw her out of hiding with the promise of the "world's largest Chaos Emerald" as a trap. At night, Knuckles spotted the real Rouge arrive and demanded the Master Emerald. They would fight and fall off the museum onto Sonic and caught by Captain westwood in a trap. Rouge managed to free them, but Knuckles tackled her into the museum only to find the imposter controlled by Eggman. Knuckles tried to take down the fake until another robot arrived and grabbed the fake Chaos Emerald. Sonic and Knuckles would work together to defeat the robot and discover the Moon Emerald and Master Emerald inside it.

Knuckles would save Sonic from Eggman's new robot on an oil rig after watching from Angel Island, but embarrassing Sonic for rescuing him. Eggman disgusted by Knuckles' appearance decided to attack both of them, starting a heated argument between Knuckles and Sonic. They began to fight off the robot, but couldn't work together, causing a realization to Sam trapped in the robot. They eventually decided to work together to stop the robot, but are worn out easily. As Eggman is about to attack them, Sam managed to work with his team and destroyed the robot. Knuckles shook hands with Sonic after the fight, and told him that he will win first and argue later "when Eggman shaves his moustache".

He was informed when Sonic disappeared after a crazy car chase and joined a search party to find him. Chris rallied them to begin the search when Sonic came back. Knuckles annoyed by his appearance was about to head back to Angel Island, but Sonic stopped him and told him who he ran into. Knuckles thanked Sonic for the information given to him about S.O.N.I.C.X. and went to find Hawk to warn him about a member of the group, Li Yan.

After this, Knuckles would later appear on television to show off his skills to Station Square with Sonic, Tails Amy, Chuck and Chris, but preferred to guard the Master Emerald. He went first and showed off his guiding, strength and climbing as Sonic was trying to show him up. After this, his skills were downloaded into Dr. Eggman's robot and was sent to attack them. He tried to take it down by himself, but was overpowered by the robot. He eventually joined Sonic, Tails and Amy to fight the robot. They managed to destroy the robot and Sonic apologized for trying to hog all of the attention. Knuckles would later hear about Sonic's charity match against El Gran Gordo and demanded that he would train Sonic to fight him. Reluctantly, Sonic agreed to Knuckles' training tactics until Knuckles was satisfied.

Green-eyed monster
Knuckles encountered Eggman and his new Greenbots when they arrived on Angel Island for the Master Emerald. Knuckles fought the robots while Eggman boasted that he only needed one more Chaos Emerald, when Sonic, Tails and Amy arrived in the X-Tornado with it. Knuckles angered by their arrival fought against the robot with the six Chaos Emeralds to stop it, but was overpowered by the others. The Greenbots managed to use the Chaos Emeralds with the Master Emerald to summon Chaos. Chaos transformed into Perfect Chaos and Eggman's green bots fused with Chaos into Chaosbot to give him full control. Knuckles went with Sonic, Tails, Amy Chris and Chuck clinging onto the Tornado to follow Perfect Chaos into Station Square. They watched as Sonic managed to obtain the Chaos Emeralds to become Super Sonic. However, when Chaosbot proved more powerful that expected, Knuckles realized that Sonic would not stay super forever while Chaos' power was limitless. Regardless, Sonic managed to stop Eggman and free Chaos who returned to the Master Emerald.

Later adventures
Knuckles would join Sonic and his friends for a barbeque and came with the Master Emerald to continue guarding it. He talked with the Chaotix about how he didn't have much excitement, but remembered his encounter with Hawk and one of Eggman's robots. The party was interrupted when Chuck called the group to a meteorite he discovered through his telescope and believed that there was a Chaos Emerald inside. Chris decided to make it a competition that they would race to bring back to the Chaos Emerald; to which Knuckles decided to be his own team, working best alone. He brought the Master Emerald with him as he travelled to the South Pole to grab the Chaos Emerald within the meteortie. He managed to grab the meteorite off Sonic, but had to choose between it and the Master Emerald when Rouge intervened. He arrived back to find Sonic there with the meteorite, but were unable to find the emerald. Chris arrived last with Charmy and Cream and had retrieved the Chaos Emerald, and thus winning the competition.

After the arrival and departure of the Prime Zone version of Shadow, Knuckles journeyed to Station Square to find Sonic after hearing of Eggman's attack, but was too late to help out.

Personality
Personality-wise, Knuckles is serious, aloof, stubborn and does not adapt easily. Headstrong and inflexible, Knuckles prefers to do things his own way which causes him to clash with others. Regardless, he is very strong-willed, seldom wavering in his determination.

Unlike the rest of Sonic's group, Knuckles walks his very own path and is able to fight many people on his own, due to his brute strength and competence at martial arts. He also never gives up once he has a goal to accomplish, especially when its about finding the Master Emerald which is his job/duty to protect it. When on a serious mission, Knuckles is extremely self-sufficient and only says a few words.

Knuckles grew up believing in honesty, and holds a strong and steadfast belief that there is good in everyone, which always lets him give people (especially Eggman) second chances. However, this makes him very naive, quite gullible and easily misled, which has given him a history of being tricked by Eggman.

Though he is cool and determined in battle and most stressfull situations, Knuckles has an extremely short temper which leads to aggression, and is difficult to talk to or reason with when he is angry. Though his wild-temper has often been known to get him into trouble, Knuckles uses his anger to fight off his enemies.

Knuckles holds a special loneliness as he is the last of his tribe of Echidnas that lived on Angel Island for generations and believes that he will never see any one like him in his lifetime. Despite of this though, he believes that he is the only person who can carry out the task of protecting the Master Emerald to ensure no one abuses its power.

Despite his solitude, temper and blunt honesty, Knuckles is quite understanding and kind, and respects those who are nice in return, but keeps to himself. However, he shows alot of empathy, especially for people he believes need some comfort. Knuckles is also extremely selfless, heroic, and valiant, willing to put his safety on the line to save people's, and even his adversaries', lives.

Physical abilities
Knuckles possesses incredibly immense physical strength. He is strong enough to hold back Sonic and Shadow's Spin Attack and could throw the Mongroun which weights 20.050 tons. When pushed to his limit, Knuckles was even able to punch through Yellow Zelkova's armor which could withstand the Sonic Power Cannon. Although not to the same extent, his lower parts possess enhanced strength too. By stretching his arms and legs outwards while airborne, Knuckles can catch the current under his dreadlock-like spines, allowing him to glide over long distances through mid-air. Also, by using the spikes on his fists, Knuckles can attach himself to walls and climb up any kind of surface with ease, no matter the material.

Knuckles is not only strong, but also happens to have great speed. He has nearly kept up with Sonic on several occasions, and is fast enough to cut large layers of land just by running in circles and avoid Shadow's Chaos Spears. Knuckles is also a proficient burrower, able to dig into any wall or floor and excels at tunneling through subterranean regions with great speed. His jumping skills are also superhuman, as he can do several high leaps across falling debris and the backs of large robots.

Knuckles is incredibly durable, resisting both Sonic and Shadow's spin dash barehanded and electrical blows without lasting effects. Also, while not significantly cunning, he was strategic enough to remove Shadow's Limiters while he struck him to weaken him.

Combat skills
Knuckles' fighting skills is a force to be reckoned with, and is said to be as fearsome to his enemies as his temper. A master of martial arts, and he mainly relies on his spiked fists to their fullest, using strong and powerful punches, such as powerpacked jabs or piercing uppercuts, to deal damaging blows to his opponents. By adding the Shovel Claws to his fists, he can enhance his punches' piercing effect.

As examples of his fighting skills, Knuckles could fight Sonic to a standstill, and even match his punches' toughness with Sonic's quick kicks. He has also defeated Rouge in a tent battle blindly, who is a trained thief and master of martial arts. In addition, Knuckles is one of the few that could defeat a Metarex on his own.

Miscellaneous Skills
Due to his extensive moveset, Knuckles is an expert treasure hunter and has proven himself capable of finding hidden objects in record time as seen during his many Emerald Shards hunts. Knuckles also possesses a special connection to the Master Emerald which allows him to sense and locate it, command its ability to nullify the Chaos Emeralds' power, or channel its energies for different purposes, like powering machines.

Equipment
The Shovel Claws are ancient iron claws that Knuckles discovered during his adventure with Hawk. Upon adding it to his possession, Knuckles gained the ability to burrow underground for kilometers, and break solid debris. He has also used it in combat to do sharp uppercuts.

Weaknesses
Despite his toughness, Knuckles possesses more strength than his body can handle. For example, when penetrating Yellow Zelkova's armor, Knuckles punched with such force that he partially broke his own hand.

Sonic the Hedgehog
Once he and Sonic the Hedgehog were rivals, but their differences have been resolved. Despite this, he is often jealous of Sonic's free spirit, and has an inferiority complex according to Rouge.

Sonic and Knuckles' relationship is mostly seen as a friendly rivalry, as the extent of Sonic's speed parallels that of Knuckles' strength. Sonic and Knuckles fight each other at times, but they can also be powerful teammates against fearsome foes such as Chaos, the Egg Golem and Yellow Zelkova.

Rouge the Bat
Rouge is Knuckles' rival, especially in treasure hunting. The way Knuckles can punch is just like the way Rouge can kick. The two can get into heated or playful arguments. Rouge constantly mocks Knuckles, in which he extremely dislikes in return. In the Sonic X bio, it is revealed that she has a crush on Knuckles, however it is unknown whether Knuckles returns the same feeling for her, but in a few episodes it is hinted that he may like her.

In the episode The Volcanic Venture, Knuckles and Rouge had to team up with Sonic to go into a volcano; however the two couldn't get along and were constantly arguing, but Sonic didn't mind it. But somewhere in the end of the episode Rouge flies off, Knuckles asks her where is she going; she said that she'll find Chris, Knuckles tells her to stop, he shyly smiles and says, "Hehe! Good Luck!", Rouge replies that she'll be back and comments that he is "handsome".

In episode 52, Knuckles and Rouge were simply talking to each other, until they came to a heated fight, because Knuckles was making fun of Sonic and Rouge didn't like that and said that she knows that Knuckles actually misses Sonic and he should be lucky that she came and gave him company, Knuckles couldn't admit that fact and said that she is actually the one who is missing Sonic. After brutally hitting each other, they see Super Sonic flying in the sky, they stopped fighting and Rouge asked that it is useless to fight like this, Knuckles jokingly states that Rouge looks "awful" with dirt covered on her face, Rouge then jumps on Knuckles with the camera facing the moon, and it is believed that she's tickling him (kissing him in the Japanese version), since Knuckles was heard laughing hysterically and shouting. "Rouge, stop!! That tickles!" Even if they really are fighting, it is done in a playful manner.

Doctor Eggman
Knuckles' relationship with the doctor is complex as Knuckles always seems to fall for Eggman's trickery, believing that what Eggman is saying is the best for him and it would seem that Knuckles is basically another of Eggman's mindless slave doing his dirty work without giving a second thought. Most of the time though, Knuckles is seen as a powerful threat to Eggman and his plans for world domination.

Knuckles appears to respect Eggman, despite the fact that they're enemies. This may be due to Engman generally being the villain he, Sonic and Tails are used to. However, he tends to forget about all that, once Eggman has pushed his buttons.

Chris
Knuckles is seen having several friendly conversations with Chris. In episode 25, Knuckles notices Chris being nervous about being out in the woods, and he comforts him by telling him that he'll protect him. Knuckles was also the last one Chris spoke to before going home. They were seen interacting in a friendly and good-natured manner, in front of the Master Emerald, speaking about Chris's next move.

Cosmo
Knuckles and Cosmo are seen having some few interactions. Though Knuckles did not trust her at first, he develops a warm, friendly attitude towards Cosmo later on. They usually get along well, but Cosmo still joins the others in mocking him. However, Knuckles is generally protective towards Cosmo, and cares about her well-being.

Friends and Allies

 * Sonic the Hedgehog (Friendly Rival and good friend)
 * Miles "Tails" Prower (Best Friend)
 * Shadow The Hedgehog
 * Amy Rose
 * Cream the Rabbit
 * Christopher Thorndyke
 * Cheese
 * Shadow the Hedgehog
 * Vector the Crocodile
 * Espio the Chameleon
 * Charmy Bee
 * Vanilla the Rabbit
 * Big the Cat
 * Emerl
 * Tikal
 * Cosmo
 * Rouge the Bat
 * Hawk (Great Friend)

Rivals

 * Sonic the Hedgehog (Friendly Rival)
 * Rouge the Bat
 * Emerl (After obtaining a Chaos Emerald)

Enemies

 * Dr. Eggman
 * Bocoe
 * Decoe
 * Bokkun
 * Chaos (formerly)
 * Dark Oak
 * Yellow Zelkova

Trivia

 * Knuckles uses the third most amount of Engrish in the Japanese version coming right behind Eggman, who uses the second most amount of Engrish, and Sonic himself, who uses Engrish at least once in practically every episode.
 * Knuckles' mittens were drawn as gloves in "How to Catch a Hedgehog", his eyes are colored green twice in "Missile Wrist Rampage" and once in "An Enemy in Need".
 * In episode 65, Vector the Crocodile says "When I'm through with him (Knuckles), even his own mama won't notice him." Vector is probably mentioning Knuckles having a mother, thus making him possibly the second character (after Cream) to have any parents mentioned in the show although this is mainly an exaggeration.
 * Knuckles is the last friend of Chris to speak with him personally as seen in "So Long Sonic". They had their final conversation next to the Master Emerald.
 * Knuckles mentioned that he honed his fighting skills from scrolls left by his ancestors of his tribe.