Knuckles the Echidna

* Modern
* Classic

## Bio

**Knuckles the Echidna** is a character in the *Sonic the Hedgehog* series. He is an anthropomorphic echidna and the current guardian of the Master Emerald, a powerful ancient gemstone which is kept on Angel Island. Guarding it is his solemn duty to protect from anyone seeking to abuse it, as well as the sole surviving descendant of the echidna race from the Knuckles Clan. Known for his powerful and wild nature, his dominant traits are his super strength and the two spike-like knuckles on each of his gloves, from which his name is derived from, and which he can dig and climb walls with. He can also trap the wind under his dreadlocks to glide through the air. Knuckles is also one of Sonic the Hedgehog's oldest friends and rivals.

A loner by nature, Knuckles is independent, headstrong, and serious, yet gullible and short-tempered to a fault. He is entirely devoted to his duty, spending most of his time on Angel Island protecting the Master Emerald, and rarely cares about anything that is of no importance. When his friends and others are in need of his help, however, Knuckles can always be relied on, being willing to leave his home very often.

Though usually depicted as the guardian of the Master Emerald, he was originally described as the guardian of Angel Island's seven Chaos Emeralds.

## Appearance

Knuckles is an anthropomorphic echidna with red fur that covers most of his body, a black nose on his peach-skinned muzzle, a white crescent-shaped patch of fur on his chest, and purple eyes. He also has seven dreadlock-like spines around the sides and back of his head and a medium-sized, tri-crooked tail. For attire, Knuckles wears red and yellow shoes, each with green cuffs, light gray soles, and metallic, sextuple-bolted plates on top. He also wears large, white, mitten-like gloves with sock-like cuffs and two spiked knuckles on each hand.

In his younger years, Knuckles had black eyes, a more protruding chest, more defined cheekbones, and was shorter in height, but he has since grown out of these traits.

In the *Sonic Riders* series, Knuckles wears purple and light gray goggles with dark gray straps around his neck, and high-top tennis shoes similar to his standard shoes. He also wears his standard gloves with a dark gray band around each wrist.

In *The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog Comic Special*, Knuckles wore a brown cowboy hat with a matching brown vest that had a gold sheriff's star on it.

## Personality

Knuckles is independent, wild, hot-blooded, tough, and a loner by nature. If Sonic embodies the wind that keeps blowing forward, then the echidna personifies the immobility of a mountain. Due to having lived in seclusion for most of his life, Knuckles is a rather antisocial and reclusive individual. As such, he cares very little about what others think, which makes him bluntly honest, straightforward, and somewhat egotistical.

Knuckles is fiercely loyal to Angel Island and does whatever is in his power to protect it. He prefers to stay close to the Master Emerald's shrine to keep a watchful eye over everything at his home. Despite this devotion, the echidna is willing to leave his duty whenever his help is needed. Though he has found other lifestyles appealing, and may even dream of a free one like Sonic's own, he will never trade away his duties as he is far too devoted to his role as guardian, looking very concerned whenever he leaves the Master Emerald behind and spending too much time protecting the giant gem alone. When not performing his duties, Knuckles prefers spending his time practicing his fighting skills, going treasure hunting, or hanging out with his friends.

Knuckles is usually solemn, stoic, and collected, and usually likes to be by himself. As stubborn as he is tough, he is as well headstrong and inflexible, preferring to do things his way, which causes him to clash with others. Regardless, he is very strong-willed, seldom wavering in his determination, and will not give up on his goals once he has set them. While he is cool and determined in battle, the echidna has an extremely short and wild temper and is hard to reason with when he is angry, which has more than once gotten him into trouble.

Despite being a silent loner, Knuckles is a heroic, brave, kind-hearted, and selfless soul. While unwilling to forgive evil people, he will risk his own life to save anyone or get them out of trouble and shows empathy for others. He is likewise a loyal and caring friend, who is always willing to help his friends out in tight situations and will do anything to protect them. When not angered, the echidna is pretty laid-back and never cracks under pressure. He can also be very understanding of the sly and does not take kindly to people who disrespect or hurt his friends, or innocents, in any way.

Having been living much of his life in isolation, Knuckles grew up believing in honesty and holds a firm and steadfast belief that there is good in everyone, which always lets him give people second chances. Because of his lack of social ingenuity, however, it makes him very naive, incredibly gullible, fast about forgiving people, and easily misled, which has given him a history of being tricked by Dr. Eggman. This has made the echidna aggressive and suspicious towards anyone he deems questionable. Over time, however, Knuckles has gotten better about this and is more suspicious concerning the doctor's trickery. Once he finds out he has been tricked, he can get quite angered, but quickly regains enough of his composure to start working towards a resolution immediately.

Though not dull-witted, Knuckles is often prone to rash and ill-advised actions. While not above picking complex strategies, he often chooses force to be the solution, pushing himself through obstacles while focusing on his goal and ignoring other factors along the way. Similarly, he can also be quite reckless when panicking about the Master Emerald, such being especially evident during the Space Colony ARK incident, where he ended up fighting Sonic for the controls of the space shuttle and causing it to crash land as well as abandoning his allies out of a panic due to the Master Emerald shards being lost to space from a collision with a meteor forcing the cargo bay to open. When in his right element, however, Knuckles can be quite clever, sharp-witted, and sneaky, such as setting several successful traps for Sonic and Tails on Angel Island when they first arrived. He is also capable of learning from his mistakes. Knuckles has also proven himself to have a high degree of leadership skills, most noticeably during his time as the commander of the Resistance. He is noted to be very charismatic with inspirational speeches, and he has a flair of daring plans that provided the Resistance with a much-needed offensive during the War to Take Back the Planet. However, for all his skills as a leader, Knuckles is still easily distracted and prefers to be out on the battlefield rather than in the command center. While he would never admit it, Knuckles has become a bit envious of the lifestyle that Sonic has, being able to live carefree without anything holding him in one place. Even so, Knuckles would never trade away his duties to live Sonic's life, far too devoted to his role as guardian.

Knuckles is said to be shy around women. Also, due to his secluded lifestyle on Angel Island, Knuckles feels very uncomfortable in industrialized or crowded cities and places, especially if they do not have any vegetation or are littered with bright lights.

Knuckles seems to have lightened up on later adventures, such as the Time Eater incident and the War to Take Back the Planet. While he still sometimes displays a brooding, headstrong, and stubborn attitude, he is shown to be better at acknowledging his shortcomings and displays more personal restraint and better social interaction

## History

### Sonic Adventures Series S4-S6

Sonic meets Knuckles on angel island during a vacation, Sonic & Knuckles were not the best of friends at first, but he finds out Eggman was tricking him, Knuckles after that would be rivals with sonic but also keeping a close bond.

### Sonic Future

Knuckles was on angel island until the master emerald warned him about the future. He goes of his island to help Sonic, and his friends save the future.

### Classic Sonic Adventures Comics

Knuckles would get to experience more adventures with sonic after saving the future.

## Powers/Abilities

Being the guardian of the Master Emerald, Knuckles is a very powerful, seasoned fighter. Said to be an unstoppable power in fights, he is capable of taking on even the most powerful of opponents without rest. He has even been able to fight figures like Sonic, Rouge, Shadow, Silver, and Metal Sonic to a standstill.

Knuckles' trademark ability is his superhuman strength. Possessing lots of power, he is strong enough to pulverize massive boulders, punch through solid steel, and lift objects several times his size and weight with ease. By comparison, Knuckles' strength is stated to equal Sonic's speed; considering the hedgehog's measured footspeed, which is known to surpass Mach 1, it would mean that Knuckles is capable of lifting over 100 metric tons. This makes the echidna one of the physically strongest characters in the series. His strength seems to lie in his upper body, particularly in his arms and fists, the former of which boasting enormous strength and latter being as hard as rocks. Another testament to Knuckles' strength is that by just punching the ground, he can create fissures, widespread tremors, and even powerful volcanic eruptions. Additionally, he can punch with his fists or throw objects through the air with such force that they ignite from friction. He can even launch punches with such force that they create explosions of enormous power. Despite his main strength lying in his upper body, however, Knuckles' legs are quite powerful too, as he can jump several stories into the air from a standstill position.

Knuckles is able to run at breakneck speeds that almost match Sonic's, who can reach supersonic running speeds. He is even able to run fast enough to create afterimages of himself and scale vertical surfaces and ceilings. Even so, he is not quite as fast as Sonic at his maximum speed, as Knuckles is noted to run fairly slow by comparison. Knuckles is also fast enough to execute rapid punches in quick succession within a split-second, although he has been noted to have slow movements in combat.

Knuckles possesses near-maximized physical durability. Testaments to this include him surviving a bomb exploding right in front of him through sheer toughness, and him going through atmospheric entry and then landing on the ground unharmed. In addition, despite the force of the impacts his fists receive when punching at high forces, Knuckles is never phased by the recoil, regardless of what he hits or how hard he is hitting. Knuckles is also shown to have sharp reflexes and acrobatic skills, enough to let him do special tricks and movements while in mid-air, pull off various Spin Attack maneuvers at high speed, and grind along rails just as fast as Sonic while doing tricks and evading obstacles.

Unlike Sonic, Knuckles is a good swimmer, being able to swim into incredible depths and with both great speed and skill. Thanks to the spikes on his fists, he is also a skilled burrower, being able to dig like a gopher into any wall or floor and tunnel through subterranean regions at great speed. These spikes also make him a skilled climber, as they allow him to plant his fists into any surface and scale them. In addition, the echidna is an expert at gliding, which he can easily do by using his dreadlocks.

Knuckles possesses the uncanny ability to sense energy, specifically the one produced by the Chaos Emeralds and the Master Emerald or similar ones, such as those contained in the Sol Emeralds. and can track down their "signals" like an Emerald Detector. Like Sonic and Shadow, Knuckles can also harness the power of the Chaos Emeralds to empower himself. As its guardian, Knuckles is also the only person alive who knows how to control the Master Emerald, which allows him to utilize the jewel's different powers or tap into its vast energies to empower himself. Other more mystical abilities Knuckles has exhibited include summoning lightning bolts, harnessing earth elementals to heal himself, and using the supernatural power of the earth to make rocks fall from the sky.

Knuckles is also able to perform the Spin Attack, a technique where he curls into a concussive ball or cutting disk and directs himself at his targets. With it, Knuckles can shred or burrow through just about any substance given enough speed. Adept in its usage, Knuckles can utilize several variants of the Spin Attack for both ground- and aerial maneuvers, including the Spin Dash, Spin Jump, and Homing Attack.

Even without his Spin Attack, Knuckles is a skilled hand-to-hand combatant. A master in a number of martial arts focusing on hand-to-hand combat, Knuckles makes use of his powerful fists to take on his foes, with his specialty lying in punching moves where he uses his spiked fists for devastating blows. In terms of fighting style, Knuckles focuses on power, using straight, repetitive and forceful punches, such as power-packed jabs or piercing uppercuts to deal critical blows to his opponents. For stronger strikes, Knuckles tends to build up momentum with his fists by swinging them around, before hitting his opponent in full force. By taking advantage of his burrowing abilities, Knuckles can even hide underground before hitting opponents with an uppercut from below when his opponent least expects it. Despite being a powerhouse, however, most of Knuckles' fighting moves are slow and easy to read.

Knuckles is an expert treasure hunter and can be considered one of the best in the world, if not the best. Also, while not highly intelligent, Knuckles is well-versed in ancient cultures, ruins, and legends, such as when he was able to translate the ancient Babylonian texts at Gigan Rocks during the MeteorTech incident.

Knuckles is also a skilled Extreme Gear rider, having proven himself a worthy competitor against many of the world's best Extreme Gear riders. To best put his skills in perspective, Knuckles was able to beat Storm the Albatross in a race, who is regarded as a "wind master". When riding his Extreme Gear, Knuckles can bash his way through obstacles effortlessly and engage in close combat with his fellow racers without losing control. With his Extreme Gear, Knuckles can even enhance his physical abilities.

When it comes down to it, Knuckles is also shown to have very competent leadership skills. During the War to Take Back the Planet, he was able to lead the Resistance for several months against the Eggman Empire and even come up with war strategies of his own.

As seen during Dodon Pa's Grand Prix, Knuckles has excellent skills when it comes to driving and racing in racecars like the Land Breaker. Along those lines, Knuckles has also demonstrated some rudimentary piloting knowledge of more advanced crafts, having once piloted the Egg Saucer, and a Space Shuttle from Eggman's base to the Space Colony ARK (albeit in a more dangerous manner for half the journey due to panic over losing his Emerald Shards).

### Equipment

Although he prefers to let his fists do the talking, Knuckles has wielded a number of tools during his adventures, albeit never permanently. During the Emerl incident for example, he made use of deployable landmines, and amidst the Gemerl incident, he would wield his own version of the Piko Piko Hammer.

### Transformations

#### Master Knuckles

As a result of the Master Emeralds Energy tampering with Knuckles' DNA, Knuckles eventually underwent a Super Form called Master Knuckles. Because this form is more of a form of himself rather that an enhanced state, Knuckles cannot stay in the form forever. As Master Knuckles, Knuckles was the most powerful being in existence and virtually omnipotent. However, he lost this form when the Master Emerald ran out of Energy.

## Relationships

### Sonic the Hedgehog

Sonic the Hedgehog is Knuckles' rival and best friend. While they have known each other for a long time, their relationship is somewhat complicated, the two of them having been summed up as "best frenemies." When the echidna first met the hedgehog, the two had the worst kind of encounter, with the former trying to keep the latter from stopping the Death Egg's re-launch after Dr. Robotnik had deceived him into thinking that Sonic was a thief seeking the Master Emerald. As such, they started off as adversaries. However, when Knuckles discovered that the doctor had tricked him, he joined forces with the hedgehog to stop his nemesis. Afterward, they parted ways on good terms.

Because of their first impressions of each other and their personalities and competing feelings, Knuckles and Sonic were not initially "good friends" to begin with. In fact, they are much like oil and water. While the echidna exemplifies the mountain and is stern, serious, and unmovable, the hedgehog exemplifies the wind and is laid-back, cool, and free. As such, they tend to argue a lot. They likewise share a competitive rivalry with each other, and it usually comes to blows when they clash, although their confrontations have become less serious in recent times and are now more of a form of slapstick between the two. In fact, the more they fight, the better they get along. With Knuckles' strength matching Sonic's speed perfectly, their battles are anything from climactic to just plain funny.

Knuckles sees himself as Sonic's rival, though it has been implied it is because he envies the hedgehog's free lifestyle and self-reliant nature. Being as egotistical as he is as well, the echidna sees himself as Sonic's better, as seen during the Lost Hex incident where he claimed more than once that he could do better than his friend on his adventure. Also, because of his short temper, Knuckles usually falls for the hedgehog's teasing and provocations directed at him, which causes him to lose his cool and get angry at him. This tends to make him seek outright brawls with Sonic to put him in his place, and not wanting to talk about him at all. The hedgehog also manages to find a way to get Knuckles involved in his skirmishes very often, which the echidna finds very annoying. Nevertheless, he is willing to admit that one rarely gets bored with Sonic.

Due to his lack of social abilities in the past, Knuckles used to fall for the deceit of Dr. Robotnik, later known as "Eggman", very often, which, in turn, would be the cause of most of his confrontations with Sonic, although as time passed, he has generally become more aware of the doctor's plans and has stopped believing his claims regarding the hedgehog. When the echidna discovers he has been deceived by Eggman though, he usually tries to hide his embarrassment from Sonic, who in turn tends to chide him by calling him "Knucklehead", a nickname that does not sit well with Knuckles.

In contrast to their differences, after having been on several adventures together, Knuckles and Sonic's relationship has improved, with the former seeing him more and more as his friend. Likewise, they have always rushed to each other's aid when they are in a pinch. The two of them are connected by a hot-blooded friendship and while they still argue and complain about each other from time to time, they are perfectly synchronized in the heat of action. Details aside, they also have a connection that lets them understand what is really important without saying anything to each other. In fact, when it all comes down to it, Knuckles can be considered Sonic's best friend next to Tails. It can even be argued that the two of them are as close to each other as Sonic and Tails are, as the nature of their rivalry/quarreling friendship lets them have a relationship that does not require any hesitation. Also, according to Tails, Sonic and Knuckles are "funny" together.

While Knuckles is impressed by Sonic's skills on some level, respects him, and believes him to be a "good guy" and his friend, he prefers not to admit it when he needs his help; as seen during the Time Eater incident, after the hedgehog restored the echidna from a lifeless state, the latter thanked him for his help before quickly stating that he did not need it. At the end of the same incident, knuckles also begrudgingly admitted that Sonic was not "half-bad" after defeating the Time Eater, showcasing a reluctance to admit how well Sonic does. Despite it all though, the echidna and the hedgehog deeply acknowledge each other. The two are also great and loyal teammates. In addition to Knuckles being a vital part of Sonic's team, the two of them have been called "Fighting Buddies" on one occasion. Noticeably, when they do manage to work together, they form an unstoppable team. Additionally, the echidna is always happy to help out the hedgehog if it means scrambling Eggman's plans for world domination.

### Miles "Tails" Prower

Miles "Tails" Prower is a close friend of Knuckles. Although they do not seem to have much of a relationship in the earlier games, when they first met, Knuckles and Tails were enemies, as Dr. Robotnik had tricked the echidna into believing Tails and Sonic were intruders seeking the Master Emerald for evil purposes, though they become friends when Knuckles discovers that Robotnik had lied to him.

Knuckles shows a more amicable attitude towards Tails, particularly compared to his interactions with Sonic and others, although the fox may occasionally irritate the echidna with his technobabble. Additionally, by the time of Starfall Islands incident, Tails' manners had begun to imitate Sonic's due to having spent so much time with him, much to Knuckles' displeasure. However, the echidna seems to enjoy teasing his friend from time to time, such as when he scared him with the idea that Team Sonic had fought with Shadow's ghost just before entering Hang Castle during the Neo Metal Sonic incident. Nevertheless, the echidna does care about Tails, attempting (with little success) to defend him from Wave's taunts during the first EX World Grand Prix

### Amy Rose

Amy Rose has only been seen interacting with Knuckles on very rare occasions, although they seem to have an awkward, yet at the same time, friendly relationship. During the War to Take Back the Planet, they were teammates as part of the Resistance. Although they got along well, Amy had to keep Knuckles in check at times.

### Richard , Jimmy , Jamison , and Zooey

Knuckles used to be claimed as the last Echidna but later on he would slowly began to find more family. A new part is Zooey, she got married in the Sonic Adventures Comic. Making her apart of Knuckles family in-law. Either way Knuckles is really happy to know that’s he’s not the last echidna of his family.

### Dr. Eggman

Dr. Eggman is Knuckles' worst enemy. They first met during the Angel Island incident, where the doctor, at the time carrying the name "Dr. Robotnik", tricked the echidna into believing that Sonic and Tails were thieves trying to steal the Chaos Emeralds. At the last second, however, Knuckles could see through the villain's lie and joined the hedgehog's side to stop him. In the later crises that arose though, the echidna, due to his gullible nature, was still occasionally manipulated by the scientist in his favor, which made him feel very embarrassed when Sonic found out about it.

### Shadow the Hedgehog

Knuckles and Shadow do not have much interaction with each other, but when they do, they are either allies or rivals. They started off as indirect enemies in *Season 11* because Shadow impersonated Sonic and had him thrown in jail at Prison Island as well as being associated with his own arch-rival, Rouge. Toward the end of the game, they became allies when they had to save the planet from the Space Colony ARK.

The first real fight between them happened in *Green Hill* when Team Dark provoked Team Sonic into battling them, although Shadow did not remember Knuckles and his teammates. After the fight, Knuckles jokingly mentioned that they might have fought Shadow's ghost and scared Tails.

In *Shadow the Hedgehog spin-off series* Knuckles appears in Glyphic Canyon, Central City, and Black Comet stages asking for Shadow's help in Hero missions.

In *Season 16* he and Shadow were loosely allies in the game, and they worked together again for a time in order to return to the present and save all of reality from Solaris in the end.

Shadow and Knuckles appear to have some bitter resentment towards each other as seen in *Sonic Rivals* comic adaptation when Shadow bluntly pointed out that Knuckles was useless for his shortcomings while retaining an indifferent attitude towards his challenges, whilst Knuckles, briefly trying to be cordial, was irritated by Shadow's haughty presence. In *Sonic Rivals 2 comic adaptation,* Shadow is willing to hinder Knuckles' search for the Master Emerald to keep him from getting the Chaos Emerald while indecisively refusing to explain his motives, even starting a fight with him, ultimately leading Knuckles to mistakenly assume he was involved in the Master Emerald's disappearance. Knuckles seems to find Shadow and his smug demeanor annoying, and it is likely that Shadow's inflated ego tends to rub Knuckles the wrong way, and examples of this is seen in *the Sonic Free Riders Saga* when Knuckles pointed out that Shadow had a big ego in a rather annoyed tone after Team Dark beat Team Babylon and remarked to Tails he and Rouge weren't ones for team loyalty as they showed no compassion for E-10000B. Even so, Knuckles possesses respect for Shadow, cheering him in his fight against Devil Doom in *Shadow the Hedgehog* spin-off series. In *Season 17*, Knuckles was shocked to hear about Shadow causing trouble in Sunset Heights. wondering why he would "work for the enemy". As it turned out that the real Shadow was not working with Eggman, Knuckles fought alongside him in the penultimate battle against the Eggman Empire as an ally. Overall, Knuckles and Shadow's relationship revolves around their goals.

### Friends/allies

* Sonic the Hedgehog (good friend & rival)
* Miles"Tails"Prower (good friend)
* Knuckles the Echidna (best friend & friendly rival)
* Amy Rose (good friend)
* Big the Cat
* Richard Echidna Simmons (Brother)
* Pete
* Sticks the Badger
* Chase the Yorkie
* Nails the Bat
* Shadow the Hedgehog
* Rouge the Bat (arch-rival)
* E123-Omega
* Cream the Rabbit
* Cheese
* Chocola
* Vanilla Rabbit
* Gemerl
* Kula the Fox
* Dadon Pa
* Tangle the Lemur
* Whisper the Wolf
* Jewel the Bettle
* Techno

Dimensional Twins

* Clay the Panther
* Trois the Panther

* Asuka the Contemporary
* Candy the Cat
* Honey the Cat
* Mighty the Armadillo
* Ray the flying Squirrell
* Tania the Hedgehog

Crystal Twins

* Alumi
* Numami

* Silver the Hedgehog
* Blaze the Cat
* Marine the Racoon
* Gardon
* Chao
* Omochao
* Forge the Android
* Lumina Flowlight
* Void
* Jamison (Cousin)
* Jammy (Younger Brother)
* Avatar
* Princess Elise the Third
* G.U.N (formerly)
* Chip
* Juliea the Cat
* E-10000b

Team Chaotix

* Espio the Chameleon
* Charmy Bee
* Vector the Crocodile

* Resistance
* President
* Commander
* Khole the Fox
* Jack the Fox
* Berry the Quokka
* Conductor
* Conductor's Wife
* Captain
* Humans
* Spinel the Hedgehog
* Tikal
* Chaos
* Neon Sonic
* Neon Tails
* Neon knuckles
* Feels the Rabbit
* Amanda the Hedgehog
* Akinator

### Neutral

Babylon Rouges

* Jet the Hawk
* Wave the Swallow
* Storm the Albatross (rival)

* E-102 Gamma
* Wolferine
* Max the Cat
* Sammy the Wolverine
* Turles the Hedgehog

### Enemies

* Dr. Eggman (arch-nemesis)
* Metal Sonic
* Orbot
* Cubot
* Dr. Starline
* Tails Doll
* Metal Knuckles (Robotic Doppelgänger)
* Mephiles the Dark

Team Hooligan

* Fang the sniper
* Bean the Dynamite
* Bark the Polar bear (rival in punching)

* Eggman Empire
* Robots
* badnicks
* Black Doom
* Black Arms
* Chrome Metal Sonic
* Solaris
* Ibilis
* Aeron
* Rough the Skunk
* Tumble the Skunk
* Eggman Nega
* Terios the Hedgehog
* Shadow Androids
* SCR-HD
* Erazor Djinn

Deadly Six

* Zavok
* Zazz
* Zeena
* Zomom
* Zor
* Master Zik

* Jaine the rabbit
* Professor Gerald Robotnik
* Johnny
* Sei
* Cinq

Dynamite Crew

* Captain Chuck
* Bin the Dynamite
* Pin the Dynamite

* Seethe
* Glicth Virus
* Glicthbots
* Egg Pawn
* Zane the Crocodile
* Nega Sonic
* Infinite