Christopher Thorndyke

Christopher "Chris" Thorndyke (クリストフア "クリス" ソンダイク Kurisutofua "Kurisu" Sondaiku) is a main character in the television anime Sonic X. He is 11 years old and lives in Station Square on the planet Earth, which is regarded as an alternate version of Sonic's home planet in another dimension. He finds Sonic at the bottom of his swimming pool and saves him from drowning at the start of the series, and hosts him, Tails, Amy, Cream and Cheese for most of the anime.

Chris is a young boy who lives with his grandfather Chuck Thorndyke, his bodyguard Mr. Tanaka and a maid called Ella. He lives in a large mansion due to his parents being successful in their individual fields of work. Mr Thorndyke runs an electrical company and Mrs Thorndyke is an actress. As a child, Chris rarely saw his parents. His uncle, known as Sam Speed, is the head of a police car-chase team and drives a Formula One racecar. His elementary school teacher is Mr Stuart, who turns out to be a spy working for the government later in the anime.

At the end of the second season and during the third season, he is eighteen years old. Early in the third season he uses a portal to travel to Mobius (Sonic's home in the series). After this point in this series he is still in his preteen design and still speaks and thinks in his younger voice. However, he has gained new skills during the six years inbetween the series. The new Chris no longer takes the back seat in the X-Tornado; instead he is shown as flying it cabably, which his younger self would have never picked up. He also comments in one episode that he is a black belt in karate.

Although he only exists in the anime, Chris was created by Sonic Team.

Criticism
It is complained often that the character is annoying and doesn't belong in the story correctly. A reason for this is that the series hosts adaptations of the Sonic Adventure series. During the adaptation of Sonic Adventure he journeys with Big and Cream as they go looking for Froggy; in the anime's version of Sonic Adventure 2 he replaces Amy as the one who convinces Shadow to save Earth. He also receives Shadow's ring as Rouge did in that game.

Trivia

 * His design bears semblance to Sora from the video game Kingdom Hearts. As Sonic X was made after this game, it is possible the artists took some reference from this character.
 * He was one of four Sonic X characters exclusively promoted by Sonic Team and 2 by 4Kids Entertainment. The 2 were Chris and Chuck, and the four were Chris, Danny, Nazo/Silver/Hyper Sonic, and Cosmo, which included Big and Helen before Japan released episode 1.
 * A hotel pool is marked by a picksign for Sonic X in Sonic's misson mode in SADX (by Emerald Coast).