Sonic the Hedgehog

Sonic the Hedgehog is a blue hedgehog who is the main character in the 'Sonic the Hedgehog' series. He is well known for his supersonic speed and cool demeanor (Though these days he has been quite cute as well in his Tik Toks). Although free-spirited to the core, he would stop at nothing to protect the ones he cares about and loves.
Though he is usually the hero in his games due to saving the world countless times, it is hinted by Sonic Team that Sonic doesn't particularly like to be a hero or called one. He doesn't like to bend to others and only does what he thinks is right. He doesn't save people or does heroic acts to be called a hero. He's only living life as he sees fit; living free-spirited and by his own rules. Though him saving the world does make him one of the coolest heroes out there.
You can find Sonic the Hedgehog's bio from Sonic Team on their website Sonic Channel here.
== In Games ==
=== Mainline Games ===
==== Sonic Adventure ====
==== Sonic Adventure 2 ====
==== Sonic Heroes ====
==== Shadow the Hedgehog (2005) ====
==== Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) ====
==== Sonic and the Secret Rings ====
==== Sonic Unleashed/Sonic World Adventure ====
==== Sonic and the Black Knight ====
==== Sonic Colors/Sonic Colors DS ====
==== Sonic Generations ====
==== Sonic Lost World ====
==== Sonic Forces ====
==== Sonic Frontiers ====
=== Spin-Offs ===
==== Sonic Battle ====
==== Sonic Rush ====
==== Sonic Riders ====
==== Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity ====
==== Sonic Free Riders ====
==== Team Sonic Racing ====
==== Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric ====
== In Animations ==
=== Sonic X ===
=== Sonic Boom ===
=== Sonic Prime ===
In Sonic Prime, Sonic tends to not think ahead and fall for tricks due to trusting in his friends' counterparts completely. His behavior at first is that of cocky and arrogant from thinking he can fix anything by himself. This behavior was also displayed towards Shadow in the beginning where he refused to listen to Shadow's warnings. Later on in the show, after Shadow shows him the gravity of his mistake and he sees how Chaos Sonic acts, Sonic learns to change his attitude towards things and be a bit more serious. His relationship with Shadow also improves where he talks things out with him instead of ignoring him. He also becomes more friendly towards him to call Shadow a part of his crew/friends later. Even to the end of the show, Sonic still believed in his friends' counterparts completely, even after being betrayed. In the end, Sonic tries to act selfless by sacrificing himself to save everyone and their worlds. When he makes it back to his world, Sonic learns to work with others instead of acting alone by talking to his friends about a plan and working together with Shadow to get the Paradox Prism away from Eggman.
== In Comics ==
=== Archie ===
=== Sonic the Hedgehog (2018) ===
==Hidden Traits==
==== Sonic's Love for Sweets====
A trait of Sonic that can be often missed is his love for sweets. He has shown to love not only his favorite food chili dogs, but also sweets like donuts and ice cream. You can see this love for sweets in places like the Twitter Takeover 3 and 5 as well as in medias posted by Sonic Team/SEGA Japan where they have Sonic enjoying sweets such as ice cream, shaved ice, pancakes, parfaits, cakes like the one made for him on his birthday (Livestream of Sonic eating his birthday cake) and other sweets. In official medias, he has also shown to like ice cream in Sonic Unleased when eating ice cream with Chip.
====Sonic is Not a Picky Eater====
On multiple occasions, it is shown that Sonic eats almost anything. Some examples of the food he eats are various types of stuffed buns, traditional Japanese foods like chimaki (rice cake wrapped in bamboo leaves) or dango, lotus roots type of foods and udon. Because of this, it can be surmised that Sonic doesn't particularly have a preference when it comes to food. It is even stated in one of the videos teaching about Sonic from Sonic Team that Sonic does not hate vegetables.
Many like to believe that Sonic is a vegetarian, though it is not stated anywhere that this is the case. Though Sonic doesn't hate vegetables and doesn't mind eating them, he has also been shown to eat meat like in the Sonic Frontiers' Monster Hunter DLC. He has also shown to eat meat in other canons like in Sonic Boom the animation where he ate a burger that was made of real beef when he was in a parallel universe.
==== Sonic Does Not Fear Water====
Many have a misconception of Sonic where they think he is afraid of water. Although he does not like to be in large bodies of water without the help of a lifejacket or other inflatables because he can't run in the water well and because he can't swim, he is not actually afraid of it. You can see this in many of his games where he is willing to go into large bodies of water (Olympic Games, Sonic Colors, etc.) to progress through the game's levels.
==== Sonic and Being Patient When He Wants to be ====
A misconception many have about Sonic is that he can't sit still. Although it would seem like Sonic is impatient due to many instances he was restless and because he is known to always be going fast, Sonic can actually sit still and wait if it's for something he wishes to wait for (Sonic Team sports car video and for his fans). If he is not interested in whatever the subject is or wants to get something done quickly, then he is not willing to stay still and wants to leave or do whatever he has to do as soon as possible.
==== Sonic is Gap Moe ====
Gap Moe is a common term used for Japanese medias when two contradictory points of a person complement each other. In Sonic's case, this would be how he is both cute and cool at the same time in several medias. These two traits tend to be seen as contradicting points or traits in someone, but Sonic is able to make these contradictory points complement each other. Another Gap Moe example for Sonic is that despite his cute or friendly appearance, he can also be dangerous or violent. One such example of this is his attitude towards Infinite in Sonic Forces when he told Infinite to shut-up (in English) and when he said that the grave would be for Infinite instead of himself while calling him a clown. Another example is how Sonic is violent towards Eggman in general.
====Sonic can Wear Whatever He Wants====
Sonic has shown to wear different types of clothing in several of his medias. He doesn't seem to have a particular preference when it comes to clothes where he will even wear articles of clothing that mostly women wear, like maid outfits. (Sonic Team Twitter | SEGA Japan TikTok) Though it is thought that he may like to wear athletic clothes the most if he had to choose due to his sporty and outgoing personality.
====Sonic Loves Nature====
In many occurrences, Sonic has been shown to have a love for nature. He particularly has shown to like flowers where he would stop to appreciate them among other forms of nature. He also likes to look at natural environments like beaches. (SEGA Japan TikTok)
====Sonic is Shadow's Only Friend ====
In many official medias, the only one who is said to be Shadow's friend is Sonic. Many like to believe that those in Team Dark are also Shadow's friends or family, but this has not been stated anywhere in official medias. Shadow also does not treat them as friends in recent materials, such as Team Sonic Racing. The relationship between Shadow and Team Dark is more of those who use each other for benefits (like in Sonic Heroes), but also respect each other. Since Shadow is also said not to work for G.U.N. (this can be seen on Shadow's character page) it can be taken that Shadow is not friends with anyone other than Sonic. It is also mentioned by Ian Flynn in one of his podcasts that Team Dark is not a thing; they do not hang out with each other and are not friends.
To Shadow, Maria was seen more as a sister and family to him than a friend. He never mentions her as a friend, but rather as family.
left|thumb|250x250px|A video teaching others about Sonic - In this video Shadow is listed as one of Sonic's friends
Places that call Sonic Shadow's friend are in medias like the 20th anniversary history book from 2010 called The History of Sonic the Hedgehog under Shadow's bio, Life in Sonic's World picture book/merchandise where it calls all those in the pictures Sonic's friends, some English medias like the Squishmallow advertisements from SEGA Shop Europe, a video from Sonic Team talking about who is Sonic's friends and even in some English medias like The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog. In the history book, Sonic is the only one listed as Shadow's friend, therefore, it proves even more that Sonic is the only one considered as Shadow's friend and therefore, is his only friend.
====Sonic is an Observer Introvert====
Contrary to the Western employees' interpretation of Sonic of him acting before thinking, Sonic in non-Western influenced medias, assess and observes the situation before acting. A recent, though not completely untainted, example would be in the December 2023 Calendar Story Act 12: Eggman's Ultimate Weapon, where Sonic stopped himself from teasing Shadow when he realizes that Shadow got hurt. An example of a Western interpretation where Sonic acts before thinking is in Lost World where he kicks the conch that controls the Zeti away, not listening to Tails.
== Relationship with Others==
=== Shadow ===
Shadow is Sonic's friend and rival who he respects and cares for. To see more on Sonic and Shadow's relationship, see the Sonic and Shadow's Relationship Status page.
=== Tails ===
Tails is usually referred to as Sonic's younger brother and partner. Sonic tends to help him out and usually has him always by his side wherever he goes. When dealing with Amy Rose, there are times Sonic leaves her with Tails to take care of as he flees the scene. This can be seen in Sonic Colors DS.
=== Knuckles ===
Knuckles is a good friend and rival to Sonic. Though he can be sometimes a bit rough on the outside, Sonic knows he can depend on Knuckles' help when it really counts. Though they started out as enemies, they developed a relationship where they can count on one another when the times get rough.
=== Amy Rose ===
Amy Rose is said to be a friend of Sonic's after being persistent in following him wherever he goes. Amy Rose is the only one said to have feelings for Sonic, but Sonic does not reciprocate. Amy Rose tended to follow Sonic to have him marry her or take her out to do romantic things like dates. Sonic wasn't fond of those times and usually ran away from her. There were times he even left her in someone else's care in order to flee the scene, like in Sonic Colors DS with Tails and Sonic Battle with Emerl. Though even if Sonic ran away, she still tried to force romantic acts or relationships on Sonic by calling herself a self-proclaimed girlfriend, forcing him on dates like to Twinkle Park and by calling him the father of Emerl in Sonic Battle while she enforced herself to be called the mother (after a misunderstanding from Tails), even if he showed displeasure to such actions.
Throughout official material, Amy has tried to force Sonic to marry her at least four times. All those times, she was not joking about marrying Sonic and meant it each and every time, even if Sonic already told her no and has shown that he doesn't want to marry her or that he is not interested in marriage with her. This behavior of hers of having it her goal to marry Sonic is even mentioned in official medias such as Sonic the Hedgehog 2006's manual and in side medias like the 20th Anniversary History Book - The History of Sonic the Hedgehog book. And even if Sonic already told Amy no or hinted no through his actions, she still insists to force a romantic relationship on him by calling herself his girlfriend (which makes her a self-proclaimed girlfriend), when she is not. By doing this, she disrespects Sonic's wishes on not wanting a romantic relationship with her, but even if she knows that, she does it anyways and disregards his wishes. This doesn't reflect her to be a kind or caring person like most people or "official" medias (American or corrupted employees medias) claim. It is also worth mentioning that anything in Sonic X is not canon or official to the main timeline, therefore it is not connected to the games in any manner. So nothing in it is official or can be taken as official, especially because the show is never brought up again and is years old to be out of relevance.
* In Sonic Adventure 2, Amy said that she would only tell Sonic about Shadow if he would marry her. Sonic replied to her, "No way!!" Her response was cheeky saying that she thought she had him that time, meaning she thought she could trick him into saying yes for some information he was desperate for. Also, before that, she taunted the keycard at the prison in front of him before Sonic mentions Shadow and she tries to trick him into saying yes to marry her. Once he was eventually freed and told the information after showing no concern or interest in Amy, Sonic leaves Amy behind without saying a word to her once realizing that it was Eggman who was at fault for the turn of events that lead him to be imprisoned, which shows even more how he had no interest in Amy and was only interested in Eggman and Shadow.
* In Sonic Heroes, Amy takes Cream and Big along with her so that they can find Sonic. Her first objective is finding Sonic and not finding Chocola or Froggy. Once finding Sonic, she tells him to marry her and fights with him. Sonic doesn't take her seriously and says he doesn't have time to waste on her right now by saying he doesn't have time to play with her. Therefore, he doesn't take her statement of wanting to marry him seriously because he had more important things to deal with at the time, which also shows he wasn't interested in marrying her either.
* In Sonic Battle, when Tails makes a misunderstanding saying that Sonic sees Emerl as a son, Amy tries to force herself to be Emerl's mother. This indicates that she wants to marry Sonic and have kids with him. But when Sonic saw Amy coming in the game, he immediately thought to run away from Amy and left her in Emerl's care.
* In Sonic Colors DS, Amy runs up to Sonic violently and starts telling him to do cool actions for her to watch. Upon seeing her, Sonic becomes distressed. Once he does the stage in the game, she demands for Sonic to marry her. Though, once she says this, she starts to get dizzy. Sonic uses this as an opportunity to escape the scene and leave her with Tails. Later, while Big is looking for Froggy, Amy tells Big that even if he's worried about Froggy, he should be helping her find Sonic instead. Once she spots Sonic, she then only focuses on him and disregards everything around her. Sonic then makes a comment that she is dragging Big into her crazy world. She responds saying that it's all Sonic's fault because he's always disappearing and forces her thoughts onto Big by saying that he knows how important it is for the two of them to be together. She then tells Sonic to entertain the two of them. Once done with the stage, Amy then tries to claim that she and Sonic are already on a date by trying to force him have a picnic with her, but things don't end up that way because Sonic never agrees to have a picnic with her and Big comes in wanting to eat the prepared food. When you go back to one of the stages Amy is at and complete it, Amy again tries to tell Sonic to marry her, but Sonic just leaves her without saying anything. If you complete the stage with an S rank, she will try to ask Sonic how he wants their honeymoon to go, which is acting like they are already married or that they are going to get married. Sonic doesn't respond to her and simply leaves again without saying anything while she's distracted. After daydreaming, she turns back around and calls Sonic dearest as if they are already together romantically. Both times he just leaves her with Tails. If you go to redo the mission, she calls Sonic her soul mate and it is hinted he is not by Big replying, "He is? I didn't know that." When completing the other stage with S rank, Sonic does not even go back to the group and Amy simply daydreams from afar until she tells Big that he is too fat to run.
* Even to today, Amy still tried to force herself to marry Sonic as seen with the Japanese exclusive Sonic & Friends merchandise where Amy is wearing traditional Japanese wedding garments. In Sonic's profile for the merchandise, it states that Sonic is not interested in being forcibly constrained to one place or one person, which includes being married to Amy. Yet despite that, Amy still tries to force herself on him to marry her by wearing wedding garments. Even if what Sonic is wearing could be wedding garments too, because the profile says he does not wish to be forcibly constrained, the garments can be more interpreted as casual garments because those in his position, especially samurais, can wear those garments as casual clothing or clothes for war as well.
In current day, when asked what he really thought of her by Sonamy fans, Sonic had called Amy a reliable friend while hinting that sometimes she can be a bit too overbearing and nothing more via Sonic Team. It has also been stated by those working on the Sonic series on the western side that the relationship between the two is completely one-sided where Amy is the one who likes Sonic, but Sonic doesn't feel the same way back. This was also seen in a TailsTube where Amy gave Sonic a picture of herself in a heart frame, but Sonic thought nothing of it and replaced the picture with him and Tails pranking Eggman. This moment was phrased as if it can be taken as a joke, though that leaves either two interpretations of the moment. Either Sonic is aware of Amy's affection towards him and takes it as a joke/not seriously, or he is unaware of her feelings and didn't see the picture frame as proclaiming her love since he never saw her in a romantic manner in the first place. Either way, it further shows how Sonic simply thinks of Amy as a friend and nothing more. They have also been called just friends, despite Sonamy fans trying to push that them hanging out with each other or Sonic asking to eat dinner with Amy is a romantic date. It was even stated that the IDW Comics never had romance in them to begin with. So despite the interactions between Sonic and Amy in the comics, they are not romantic interactions and are just them being on friendly terms as friends. Even with merchandise that pushes (or gives the illusion of) the two as being more than just friends, the merchandise has been called as non-official and not contributing to them being anything more than friends by saying that those type of merchandise is no more credible than two friends being put together in a similar setting, meaning that even if there are merchandise like that, in reality or in canonicity, they are only just friends. For both Japanese and Western sides of SEGA, Amy has been called solely Sonic's friend and nothing more. When advertised together, she is also constantly called Sonic's friend. To see them as anything else would be disrespecting the company, how they wish for others to interpret their relationship and how they wish to view the two characters they own.In Sonic Boom's universe, it is also said that the relationship between the two was that of a joke by one of the writers. Therefore, even if it seemed like the two were pushed in a more romantic manner, in reality, the writers only wrote it that way as part of a joke or as something to make fun of. He even further clarifies that the ship was something they never took seriously. When asked if there was a Sonamy episode that makes the two official, the writer says an episode for that was never made.
Another thing to remember about Sonic's character is that he is based off of Japanese culture and is from Japan. So to understand Sonic's character or personality, one would have to understand the true Japanese social culture. And to understand the Japanese culture properly, one would have to look at more than just their fictional medias to understand how the Japanese culture really is in both the good and bad parts of it. Japanese medias, like Anime and Manga, usually are made in a manner for people's escapism, so the medias will only highlight the good parts of their culture or make things seem more happy than they really are the majority of the time. But even in their medias, this sort of social behavior can be seen in the characters of nearly every series. In reality, there are many in Japan who feel oppressed due to their social structure. They are often told to reproduce while also being told to glorify women as if they are better than men and should be served or given everything because women are necessary to reproduce a pure bloodline for Japanese people. This made many men in the country afraid of women because there are women who act mean, rude, disrespectful, violent and pushy with men because they are taught growing up that they should be catered to no matter how they are as a person while the men are brought up to be okay with the horrible treatment, that they should always take the blame (even if the woman is actually at fault) and to just take the horrible treatment silently. Japanese men also tend to be afraid to speak up out of thinking they have to conform to society in order not to get judged, outcasted or ridiculed by their fellow Japanese people. This is why many Japanese people don't speak up and tend to just follow the social structure of things since they are in fear of being rejected by their peers or being alone. But this social structure in Japan is the very reason why there is said to be a decline of new Japanese people because men are too afraid to go with a woman and have a family with them. Instead, they keep to themselves, which further pushes the decline in the country. So the more the country pushes them to reproduce, the more the people in the country don't want to do it. And this is mainly because of how people's personalities are structured in their culture, such as women being pushy, violent and arrogant with holidays like "Doll Day" being integrated into their life while men are degraded and aren't treated fairly when every person should be treated equal and fair no matter the gender. This social behavior from them is also seen in Sonic when he is faced with women like Amy Rose. Despite Sonic being free spirited and carefree most of the time, he has shown to be uncomfortable or has shown distaste towards Amy Rose's pushy, violent and overbearing behavior. because that's how the Japanese men were raised in their culture. but he does try to have some say by running away or leaving her in others' care. This also explains why Sonic would call Amy a "friend" despite how uncomfortable she makes him with her actions towards him. And this culture difference is not translated into English medias since the Westerners who made content for Sonic don't understand the Japanese culture or why Sonic behaves the way he does with Amy. Out of not understanding, they instead change Sonic's personality into what they want and incorrectly interpret Sonic to be like (like an arrogant know-it-all who's also aloof and doesn't take things seriously). This also extends to fans who claim that Sonic doesn't mind Amy's presence or her chasing him because they also don't understand the true Japanese social culture.
=== Elise ===
Though Sonic doesn't remember Elise clearly anymore since the events of Sonic the Hedgehog 2006 never took place due to Elise blowing out Solaris, Sonic was on good terms with Elise while he traveled with her to protect her from Eggman. While traveling with her, Sonic helped her become more open and even comforted her when she was sad. He also allowed her to hug him and patted her as she hugged him. He was even sad when Elise died and he traveled back in time in order to save her from the tragedy that took her life.
During the game, Sonic also died when Mephiles killed him in order to break the seal on Solaris through Elise's tears for Sonic. It was Elise who brought him back to life through her love for him and her internal power from being able to seal Solaris. When Sonic was revived, he turned into Super Sonic and caught Elise when she almost fainted from using her powers along with the Chaos Emeralds. Sonic then went to Shadow and Silver and shared the Super powers with them so that together they went to defeat Solaris.
Elise also mistakes Silver for Sonic in the game. When Silver went into the past with Shadow and they saved Elise from an accident in the lab that took her father's life, Silver gave Elise his Blue Chaos Emerald to protect her. Not being able to see well, Elise thought that Sonic was the one who gave her the Emerald as a child when Sonic came to save her later when Eggman tried to kidnap her in the beginning of the game. This misconception was never cleared in the game and Elise ended up loving and caring for Sonic despite it being Silver and Shadow who saved her when she was a child. She also shares parallels with Amy Rose in the game where, like Amy, she also mistakes Silver for Sonic, they both were options in the Trial of Love during the game and they both said they rather choose being with Sonic than the world and its people's safety; than preventing the end of the world from Solaris.
But in the end, even if Elise loved Sonic during the game and Sonic was okay with letting Elise care for him until the end of the game, none of these events happened because Sonic encouraged Elise to blow out Solaris so that she thought of the world over her own desires of wanting to be with him at the cost of hurting others or the end of the world. (Amy choosing Sonic over the world is a parallel to this, and it is through Elise that Sonic is also saying this for Amy by saying that she shouldn't be selfish in choosing him over the safety of the world and its people either, if it came to it. Therefore, Sonic's answer to Elise is an answer to both of them saying that, even if they claimed to love him, he won't choose them over the world and that he wouldn't reciprocate because of their selfishness in choosing him blindly without thinking of those who will be affected by their decisions.)
=== Sally Acorn ===
Sally Acorn is a character from the discontinued Archie Comic series. This series was made in America and was in no manner official or supervised by the Japanese. The story followed its own personal story where it often added in personal characters such as: Scourge, Eclipse, Sally, Nicole, Bunnie, Dulcy and so on. The comic at times took inspiration for its stories by taking the stories from the video game canons, but they also changed the story and characters to its liking and put them in situations they wanted to put them in that differed from the video game canon stories. This was done by Archie characters being added to the stories where the stories were changed slightly to include those characters and premade characterizations of canon characters like: Sonic, Shadow, Knuckles, Tails and so on. They also had their own stories that were not related to the video games at all, which also caused the characterizations of many characters to change. One such difference is in making Sonic a player or someone who would seek going out with women romantically on several occasions. This is completely different than how video game canon Sonic is like. This in turn changed the story to be more like fanfiction and is not an official story accepted by the main company, SEGA Japan. The personal characters involved are also not affiliated with SEGA and belong more to the ones who made the Archie series. In other words, they are more like Original Characters (OCs).
Though Sonic was married to Sally in a possible future in the Archie Comics, since this is an unofficial story, the relationship between the two is nulled and nonexistant. The Archie Comics have no connection to the video game canon in any shape or form. For Sonic and everyone else in the canon universe, Sally does not exist.