Knuckles the Echidna

Knuckles the Echidna is a fictional character from the Sonic the Hedgehog series. He is an anthropomorphic echidna and the current guardian of the Master Emerald, a powerful ancient relic which is his solemn duty to protect from anyone seeking to abuse it. He is also the sole remaining descendant of the Knuckles Clan and last of the echidnas on Earth. His dominant traits are his superhuman strength, and the two spike-like knuckles on each of his hands, from which his name is derived from, which he can use to dig with and climb walls. He can also trap the wind under his dreadlocks to glide through the air.

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 for 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 post and prove himself a faithful and good-hearted hero. He is also one of Sonic's oldest friends and rivals.

In the Heroes Coalition fics, Knuckles is a member of the Heroes Coalitions and is part of the Super Sixth Squad.

Appearance
Knuckles is an anthropomorphic echidna with red fur that covers most of his body, peach skin on his muzzle, a white crescent-shaped patch of fur on his chest, and purple eyes. He also has seven dreadlock-like spines on his head and a medium-sized tail.

For attire, Knuckles wears red and yellow shoes, each with green cuffs and a grey, sextuple-bolted plate on top. He also wears white, mittens-like gloves with sock-like cuffs and two spiked knuckles on each hand. Both his gloves are quite large.

Personality
Knuckles is independent, wild, tough, and a loner by nature. Like how Sonic embodies the wind, Knuckles embodies the mountain; stern, unmovable and anchored to his duty. 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, straight-forward, and somewhat egotistical.

Knuckles is fiercely loyal to his homeland and does whatever is in his power to protect it. He prefers to stay close to the island's current emerald shrine to keep a watchful eye over everything at his home. Despite this devotion, Knuckles is willing to leave his duty whenever his help is needed, or when he feels the Master Emerald and Angel Island will be safe. Though Knuckles has found other lifestyles appealing, he will never trade away his duties as he is far too devoted to his role as guardian. 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, collected, and usually likes to be by himself. He is likewise stubborn, 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, Knuckles has an extremely short and wild temper and is hard to reason with when he is angry. Though his temper has often been known to get him into trouble, Knuckles has also learned to use it to his advantage by channeling it into his fighting skills.

Despite being a silent loner, Knuckles is heroic, brave, kind-hearted, and selfless, risking his life to save anyone or get them out of trouble, and shows empathy for people, even if they are a villain or enemy. 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, Knuckles is pretty laid-back and never cracks under pressure. He can also be very understanding on the sly and doesn't 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 Eggman. This has made Knuckles aggressive and suspicious towards anyone he deems questionable. Over time, however, Knuckles has gotten better about this and is more suspicious concerning Eggman's trickery. Once he finds out he has been tricked, Knuckles 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, Knuckles often chooses force to be the solution, pushing himself through obstacles while focusing on his goal and ignoring other factors along the way. When in his right element on composed, 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 plansthat 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.

Knuckles is said to be shy around women, which makes him act awkwardly around girls like Amy, Blaze, and Rouge. Because of his secluded lifestyle on Angel Island, Knuckles feels very uncomfortable in industrialized or crowded cities and places and being around hi-tech objects or gadgets (mostly because he's not inclined).

Knuckles seems to have lightened up somewhat in Sonic Generations. While he still displays some brooding, headstrong and stubborn attitude, he is shown being better to acknowledge his shortcomings and displays more personal restraint and better social interaction.

Abilities
Knuckles' trademark ability is his immense superhuman strength, which is so vast that he can 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 Sonic's measured footspeed, which range between Mach 1-5, it would mean that Knuckles is capable of lifting 100-500 metric tons. This makes Knuckles one of the physically strongest characters in the series. Knuckles' strength seems to lie in his upper body, particularly in his arms and fists, the latter of which are noted to be as hard as rocks.

Another testament to Knuckles' strength is that by punching the ground, he can create fissures, tremors, and even small 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 cause air molecules to split and create explosions of enormous power.

Knuckles is shown to possess the ability to run at breakneck speeds, enough to let him keep up with both Sonic and Tails' running speed. He is even able to run fast enough to create afterimages of himself. Even so, he is not quite as fast as Sonic at his maximum speed, as Knuckles is noted to run fairly slow by comparison. Additionally, while Knuckles is capable of executing rapid punches in quick succession within a split-second, he has been noted to have slow movements in combat.

Knuckles possesses near-maximized physical endurance and durability to match his astounding strength. He can thus take just as much punishment as he can dish out and has achieved numerous feats of impressive durability. These include surviving a bomb exploding right in front of him through sheer toughness, and going through atmospheric reentry and then land on the ground unharmed. Also, despite the force of the impacts Knuckles' fists receive when punching at high forces, he is never phased by the recoil, regardless of what he hits or how hard he is hitting. Knuckles additionally has enough stamina to hold out against an army of enemies without rest.

Unlike Sonic, Knuckles is a very experienced swimmer. Due to his interest of being a treasure hunter, he can swim to incredible depths and with both great speed and skill. Knuckles is also a proficient burrower, able to dig into any wall or floor and excels at tunneling through subterranean regions at great speed.

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. Additionally, Knuckles can jump several stories into the air from a standstill position. While not being quite as acrobatic as Sonic and Shadow, Knuckles makes up for his lack of agility through his wide range of movement abilities. By stretching his arms and legs outwards while airborne, Knuckles can catch the air under his dread-lock-like spines to ride on air currents, allowing him to expertly glide long distances through mid-air. Also, by using the spikes on his fists, Knuckles can scale any kind of surface with ease.

Knuckles has the uncanny ability to sense the chaos energy of the Chaos Emeralds and the Master Emerald, or similar objects like Sol Emeralds, and can track down their "signals" which makes him a living Emerald Detector. Like Sonic and Shadow, Knuckles can also harness the power of the Chaos Emeralds to empower himself.

Being the guardian of the Master Emerald, Knuckles is a very powerful fighter. He is a master in a number of martial arts, focusing on hand-to-hand combat, and is capable of taking on even the most powerful of opponents without rest, such as when he was able to take down several of the military-trained Nocturnus Clansoldiers. Even more so, he has been able to fight Sonic the Hedgehog to a standstill on several occasions. Also, in Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood, Tails noted that anyone to beat Knuckles in a fight must be very powerful, a testament to his fighting abilities.

When in battle, Knuckles makes use of his powerful arms and fists to take on his foes, with his specialty lying in punching moves where he uses his spiked fists for some devastating effects. In terms of fighting style, Knuckles' focuses specifically on power, using robust and forceful punches, such as power-packed jabs or piercing uppercuts to deal damaging blows to his opponents. Once he catches an opponent in his combos, he will keep them trapped by keeping up his strikes, not allowing his opponents a chance to counterattack. For stronger strikes, Knuckles tend to build up momentum with his fists by swinging them around, before hitting his opponent with full force. In his Major Eruption move in Sonic Battle, Knuckles takes advantage of his burrowing abilities, hiding underground and hitting opponents with an uppercut as he leaps out when his opponent least expects it.

Despite being a powerhouse in close combat, as stated by Sonic, most of Knuckles' fighting moves are slow and easy to read, making Knuckles more vulnerable to the fastest characters who can read his moves and rapidly counterattack.

Techniques and Moves

Knuckles' various moves and techniques revolve around his trademark Punch Attack, where he attacks his opponents with various punching combos, including surrounding his fists with fire. His Spiral Upperallows him to strike foes above him with a spinning uppercut, and his Drill Claw sends him spiraling down on his foes from above. Similar to those, he also has his Screwdriver which allows him to home directly at his enemies. For wider impacts, Knuckles can use his Hammer Punch or Knuckle Slam to create wide tremors or explosions that effect everything within their effect range.

Knuckles has also been shown being able to use Sonic's trademark Spin Attack and Spin Dash where he curls tightly into a concussive ball while in locomotion to damage, mow down, or burrow through obstacles and foes. He does, however, not use these moves or their variants, such as the Homing Attack, as often as Sonic and Shadow do.

When gliding, Knuckles can also use his Grinding/Gliding Knuckles Attack in conjunction with his movements, using the spikes on his fists to damage any foes he comes into contact with during his descend. With his Maximum Heat Knuckles Attack, Knuckles glides through the air at high speeds, destroying any foes within his attack range.

Super Knuckles

 * Main article: Super Knuckles

With the seven Chaos Emeralds, Knuckles is able to attain a Super State known as Super Knuckles. In this state, all of Knuckles' abilities far surpass his normal ones. In addition, he is able to fly and is virtually invulnerable. However, this transformation consumes a lot of energy and requires Rings to be maintained.

Hyper Knuckles

 * Main article: Hyper Knuckles

In Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles, Knuckles can transform into an extended version of Super Knuckles, called Hyper Knuckles, with the seven Super Emeralds. This form basically shares the same abilities and powers as Super Knuckles but on an even higher level.

Color Powers
 * Main article: Color Power

By harnessing different variants of Hyper-go-on from Wisps, Knuckles can use specific Color Powers to transform into a certain form, such as a drill, a laser or even a planet, each one possessing its own unique abilities. So far, Knuckles has been able to transform into the Cyan Laser, Yellow Drill, and Indigo Asteroid. However, these transformations require a steady supply of Hyper-go-on to be maintained.

Trivia

 * According to the Sonic the Hedgehog 3 manual, Knuckles' favorite food is grapes. This is referenced many times through the series.
 * In Sonic Generations, once Sky Sanctuary and Knuckles are restored, grapes can be seen growing on a tree behind Knuckles. This is an Easter Egg for Knuckles, as grapes are his favorite food.
 * Strangely, in Sonic the Hedgehog 3, Sonic & Knuckles, and Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles, the cutscene Knuckles is slightly pinker than the playable Knuckles. This is due to the palettes conflicting with the HUD items; the playable Knuckles was able to be perfected so this would not happen.
 * Due to Knuckles' guillible nature, he has a tendency of getting tricked by his nemesis, Dr. Eggman, (and/or his lackeys) either to work for him or, against his allies/friends, particularly Sonic and Tails. This mostly occured during the classic games, and has mostly faded out as time passed.
 * Knuckles' counterparts in spin-off media also suffer from this problem. As an example, he has been tricked four times in Sonic X.
 * In Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles, finishing the game with only the Chaos Emeralds leaves a picture of the character's Super State on the Game Select screen. If the game is completed with Knuckles, an image of Super Knuckles is shown. In this image, he appears to be the same color as Knuckles, but with a bright purple aura.
 * In the earlier games, the letters K.T.E. (Knuckles the Echidna) are by his life icon, instead of "Knuckles" because the name display could not support more than five letters.
 * Due to space limitations, in Sonic Drift 2, Knuckles' name is spelled "Knucles", without the second "K".
 * Knuckles' eye color has varied in the Sonic series, changing from blue to purple. In Sonic Battle, he is actually portrayed with both eye colors (blue for the fighting and purple for the cutscenes.)
 * He and Shadow were originally confirmed to appear in Sonic Unleashed, though neither were seen nor mentioned in the released game.
 * Knuckles' music was one of the reasons for the "Mild Lyrics" warning in Sonic Adventure 2. "Unknown From M.E.", "Deeper" and "Kick the Rock!" were among them.
 * Knuckles and Amy are the only 2 Sonic characters who appeared to have "aged"; Knuckles going from 15 to 16, and Amy going from 8 to 12.
 * Knuckles, along with Sonic and Dr. Eggman are the only characters whose Japanese voice actors have voiced their character in all Sonic games since Sonic Adventure.
 * Knuckles is the only playable character in Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) who does not finish a level/boss/town mission. Despite this, Knuckles does have a victory pose and quotes depend on the rank.
 * During multiplayer on Sonic Heroes, the white crest symbol on Knuckles' chest will disappear while he is taunting the opponent.
 * In Sonic Rivals and Sonic Rivals 2, the player can unlock an Eggman costume for Knuckles.
 * Knuckles' socks and shoes have been miscolored multiple times:
 * In Sonic the Hedgehog 3, Sonic the Hedgehog Triple Trouble and Sonic & Knuckles, Knuckles' socks were colored yellow during cutscenes, as it interfered with the HUD palette. The playable version of Knuckles has green socks, though.
 * In Sonic Drift 2 and Sonic 3D Blast, Knuckles' socks were colored blue.
 * In Sonic R, Knuckles' shoes instead resemble Tails' white-tipped shoes, save for the metal tops and green socks. In still art, however, his shoes are correctly colored, but the yellow stripe covers the back too.
 * In 2D games such as Knuckles Chaotix and Sonic Mania, Knuckles is colored pinkish rather than red. However, his official artwork shows him colored correctly (red).
 * The crest on Knuckles' chest has been erroneously colored peach several times. In later games, though, it's colored white.
 * Knuckles is the only character in the franchise with purple eyes.
 * One of Knuckles' nicknames is "Knuckle," as stated in the Japanese manual of Sonic the Hedgehog 3.
 * In Sonic Battle, Sonic once calls Knuckles a "spiky-headed mole". This is a pun on how echidnas and moles have the same burrowing prowess. It is also a play on the Japanese term for echidna, which literally translates as "needle-mole".
 * If the player pauses at the right moment, in Sonic the Hedgehog 3, when the sign is twirling in the air, Knuckles' color will be blue instead of red. This does not occur in Sonic & Knuckles.
 * Super Sonic is invincible to any damage, but somehow Knuckles knocked the Chaos Emeralds out of him in Sonic 3 & Knuckles.
 * In Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles, if one glitches Knuckles into Sonic's part of Marble Garden Zone Act 2, Tails will still fly him up so he can defeat Dr. Robotnik. It is the only time this can be done without a cheat.
 * In Sonic Colors, Knuckles is the only one of the "Side Quest" characters to have five poses. All the others have four.
 * Knuckles' crescent-shaped symbol on his body was originally going to be the NIKE logo on him as part of a short-lived sponsorship deal.
 * Knuckles' gloves are a "Rare" weapon in the SEGA game Phantasy Star Portable 2; it was named "Sonic Knuckles", either referring to the strength or to the universe of the Sonic series.
 * There is a possibility that Knuckles' treasure hunting ability is a reference to the fact that real-life echidnas are equipped with electrosensors.