Chris Thorndyke

Christopher Thorndyke, also simply known as Chris, is the main human protagonist in the anime series Sonic X and its comic series published by Archie Comics. He is a kind and caring boy who lives in Station Square on Earth.
==Appearance==
==Personality==
Chris is a calm and well-mannered boy, though sometimes a bit energetic with a hunger for adventure. Despite being a "rich kid," Chris very is down-to-earth, thinking himself no different from everybody else and does not want to be treated differently despite coming from a rich family. Because of his parents' frequent absences since childhood however, Chris would often suffer from loneliness and thus longed for close companionship. Chris' friendship with Sonic and his friends would ease Chris' pain, but it would also make him worry, panic or even sink into a mind depression whenever he feared they would leave him.
Chris deeply treasures the bonds he makes with other people and will do anything to preserve them. However, this tends to give him a reckless or selfish streak, like when he fell into one of Eggman's traps in an attempt to help Sonic and his friends get home, or when he deliberately kept Sonic from returning home so he would not leave him. Regardless, Chris has a good heart and is always remorseful when his feelings get the better of him.
At the age of eighteen, Chris seemed to have gained somewhat of an attitude, especially around Helen.
==Relationships==
===Sonic the Hedgehog===
Sonic the Hedgehog is Chris's best friend. Chris first met Sonic when he crash-landed into the swimming pool of his parents' mansion, and at first, he had to keep the fact that he saved a blue, talking hedgehog a secret by saying that Sonic was a cat, unfortunately for Chris, his grandpa Chuck discovers Sonic and suspects that he is a robot. However, he later proves instrumental in helping to rescue Sonic's friends and finding the Chaos Emeralds. Sonic and Chris quickly form a close bond that turns into an everlasting friendship that not even separate worlds can break. Like Tails, Chris is as close to Sonic as a younger brother would be. Sonic has always been there when Chris really needed it, as Chris admits in episode 51 when he says to Sonic: "You have always been there for me".
===Miles "Tails" Prower===
Chris and Miles "Tails" Prower are good friends throughout the first two seasons and are seen riding in the X Tornado together. Chris helps Tails give Sonic Power Rings when Tails is too busy to do so. In season three Chris and Tails become closer friends due to Chris being an accomplished scientist in the season and having more to relate to now. Tails comments that Chris reminds him a lot of Chuck now.
===Amy Rose===
Amy Rose is another one of Chris's friends, the two tend to get along quite nicely, but when Sonic gets in the mix, Amy tends to become annoyed. At one point, she even threatened to hurt Chris if Sonic didn't come out of hiding, although it is later revealed that she didn't mean it seriously. Chris and Amy have both admitted to being a bit jealous of Sonic's freedom to do anything at any time.
Chris, however, does have some fear of Amy, as he forfeited a karate match with Knuckles as the winner would then face either Amy or Rouge, as they were in a martial arts tournament for a Chaos Emerald.
===Knuckles the Echidna===
Not much can be said about Chris's relationship with Knuckles the Echidna except that the two get along well enough. After Chris gets captured by Eggman due to Knuckles believing his lies in episode 25, Knuckles makes it his objective to find and rescue Chris. Throughout the series, Knuckles is shown to be concerned for Chris's safety such as when they entered a fighting tournament, Knuckles refused to fight Chris in the Quarter-Finals because he did not want him getting hurt, and also, Chris was concerned that he would be facing Amy or Rouge in the Semi-Finals if he won, resulting in Chris forfeiting the match.
===Cream the Rabbit===
Cream the Rabbit is also one of Chris's friends, they are seen tagging along together in some episodes and are generally friendly to each other. Despite this, in Sonic X's episode 7, Party Hardly, Cream gets mad at Chris after he makes a comment about how his mom is rude to leave the party without telling the guests. Cream is upset because she overheard his mom crying about how she is never able to be there for him and that Cream can't see or even talk with her on a phone with her mom since she is back on Sonic's world. Later, Cream forgives Chris and makes him a crown of flowers which, according to Sonic, is something that she only does for people she really likes.
===Cosmo the Seedrian===
Cosmo the Seedrian is a friend of Chris as well, they get along pretty well. Cosmo starts to look up to Chris after he nearly succeeded in rescuing her from Black Narcissus during which time Chris tells Cosmo that she reminds him a lot of himself before he met Sonic. Like the others, Chris is greatly saddened when Cosmo sacrifices herself to save the Galaxy.
===Helen===
Chris and Helen are very close friends in the first two seasons of the anime and Helen is the most trusted human friend of Chris. In the second series, Helen and Chris appear to have become closer and they both excel at machinery. Both also felt lonely due to the fact that their parents were working really hard and had little time for them. However, Helen's family was doing it to get by and she was able to restore her relationship with her parents much quicker than Chris was able to with his.
===Danny===
Danny is Chris's childhood friend and helps Sonic and the others a few times in the first season. In the Archie comics Chris and Danny are shown to be on the same soccer team. In the pilot episode of the series, Danny was going to have a much larger role then he ended up having but he would still have a smaller role than Chris.
===Frances===
Frances is another close friend of Chris who helps Sonic and the team out in the first season. Frances is seen as a tomboy and enjoys poking fun at Chris and Danny.
===Shadow the Hedgehog===
Chris takes an interest in Shadow the Hedgehog especially when he returns after supposedly sacrificing himself to stop the ARK from hurtling into the earth. Shadow does try to hurt Chris at one point, but Chris is rescued by Rouge, who later abandons him and then Chris must be rescued by Knuckles. Although at times Chris has shown signs of dislike for Shadow, he has also shown signs of liking him. Chris kept Shadow's Limiters until Shadow came back and Chris returned them to him. Chris did as well shed one tear when he learned Shadow was supposedly dead. Chris also convinced Shadow that Maria would want him to help people before Shadow lost his memory. Chris also reminds Shadow of Maria.
===Friends and allies===
*Sonic the Hedgehog (best friend)
*Miles "Tails" Prower (good friend)
*Knuckles the Echidna
*Shadow the Hedgehog (to a degree)
*Rouge the Bat
*Amy Rose
*Cream the Rabbit
*Cheese
*Chuck Thorndyke (grandfather)
*Nelson Thorndyke (father)
*Lindsey Thorndyke (mother)
*Sam Speed (uncle)
*Helen (close friend and love interest)
*Chaotix
**Vector the Crocodile
**Espio the Chameleon
**Charmy Bee
*Vanilla the Rabbit
*Big the Cat
*Froggy
*Emerl (formerly)
*Cosmo the Seedrian
*Ella
*Mister Tanaka
*Mister Stewart
*Danny
*Frances
===Rivals===
*Danny
===Enemies===
*Doctor Eggman
*Decoe
*Bocoe
*Bokkun
*King Boom Boo
*Boom
*Chaos (formerly)
*Emerl
*Metarex
**Dark Oak
**Black Narcissus
**Pale Bayleaf
**Yellow Zelkova
*Mr. Kinney (when possessed)
*Mrs. Kinney (when possessed)
==Reception==
While he was received positively in Japan, Chris is sometimes criticized by Western fans for his roles in the Sonic Adventure adaptions as he takes the place of the other characters that had an important role in the games. For example, during the adaptation of Sonic Adventure, he journeys with Big and Cream as they go looking for Froggy (even though it should be noted that Cream has never gotten any criticism for usurping Tails' role in finding Froggy). In the adaptation arc of Sonic Adventure 2, he replaces Amy as the one who convinces Shadow to save Earth. He also receives Shadow's ring as Rouge the Bat did in that game. He has also been criticized for other reasons such as shutting down the portal so Sonic couldn't return back home. He has also been criticized for his dependence on Sonic.
==Trivia==
*Chris was one of four Sonic X characters exclusively promoted by Sonic Team (the others being Danny, Nazo and Cosmo)
* While never physically appearing in the video games, Chris does appear in a cameo on a poster for Sonic X. Next to Sonic in the Missions 3 and 12 of Mission Mode of Sonic Adventure DX in the form of a poster promoting Sonic X. His voice is also heard congratulating Sonic whenever Sonic solves a problem in the Sonic X Leapster game.
*He invented five pairs of shoes for Sonic on Season three, one of which appeared to be Sonic's Soap shoes from Sonic Adventure 2.
*Chris reminds Shadow of Maria because of their caring personalities and the similar look in their eyes.
*Chris making it home safely at the end of the series is never confirmed, only heavily implied by Eggman.
*Even though he only appears in Sonic X (minus the Leapster game and the cameo in Sonic Adventure DX), Chris was created by Sonic Team.
*Chris unintentionally managed to make both Sonic and Shadow come to tears.
*Even though Chris does not appear in the games, he is the only main male human that Sonic has been good friends with as Sonic's other human-like friends were female. (Elise, Merlina etc.).
*Chris learned martial arts growing up but is unable to defend himself with them at first because of not being used to be in a twelve-year-old body.
Category:Characters
Category:Intelligent Characters
Category:Humans