Sir Charles the Hedgehog


 * You might be looking for Chuck Thorndyke

Sir Charles Hedgehog (aka Uncle Chuck and Dr. Hedgehog) is a Knight in the service of the Kingdom of Acorn and uncle of Sonic the Hedgehog. After Sonic's parents disappeared, Sonic became especially close with Charles and learned many of his most important lessons from him, as Charles acted like a foster father. Charles' capture and roboticization was the catalyst which led to Sonic's development as a hero. Charles is a respected scientist who earned his knighthood and the personal friendship due to his services to King Maximillian Acorn. Charles was unintentionally the one responsible for the rise of Dr. Ivo Robotnik to power, as he used Charles' latest creation; the Roboticizer, to enslave the minds and bodies of most of Mobius' population.

Early Life and Great War Years
Charles Hedgehog was born some time prior to the Great War, and together with his brother Jules. The two were students of Nate Morgan, the Overlander who created the Power Rings. As they got older and the Great War began, Charles and his brother became soldiers for the Kingdom of Acorn. When the two brothers stumbled across the exhausted and beaten Julian Kintobor during a scouting mission in the Badlands, Charles opted against rescuing him as he felt something was suspicious about the Overlander. However, Jules insisted, saying they were better than their enemies.

During the Overlanders' shelling raids on Mobotropolis, Charles was part of a task force which went underground to hide civilians. The group was successfully led behind enemy lines by Cocoa and Bernadette where they managed to defeat the attacking Overlanders. For his services during the Great War, Sir Charles was knighted personally by King Maximillian Acorn.

Life as a Scientist
He went on to become the inventor of the Roboticizer, a machine that turns flesh into metal, which Charles hoped to use as a means of curing the sick and allowing people to live longer. Charles was forced to test the machine on his own brother Jules, who had been wounded during the Great War shortly after the birth of his son and Charles' nephew, Sonic the Hedgehog. When Warlord Julian Kintobor sabotaged his machine, Charles discovered to his horror that Jules had been transformed completely into a machine leaving him bereft of free will. Blaming himself for the horrible turn of events, with no knowledge of Kintobor's wrongdoing, Charles left behind his position as the kingdom's Minister of Science and his home with Jules, his wife Bernie, and the young Sonic. After Bernie was Roboticized as well, Sir Charles took in Sonic and raised him like his own son, earning the affectionate nickname "Uncle Chuck" as the two worked as manager and delivery boy for Chuck's chili dog stand, which he opened after leaving behind his scientific career. Unfortunately, their peace was not to last, as not long after Bernie's roboticization Julian - now proclaimed Dr. Ivo Robotnik - launched a coup d'état to take over the Kingdom. Chuck was among the first Roboticized, along with Sonic's pet dog Muttski, and the two were lost to Sonic for many years.

Life as a Robian
Sonic continued to regret failing to save Uncle Chuck, and over the years his determination to rectify that failure continued to grow. When he and the rest of the Freedom Fighters were deposited into a holographic fantasy world by Robotnik, intended to lock them forever in a world shaped from their deepest desires, Sonic envisioned a world free of Robotnik, where Uncle Chuck was still his old self and they both lived happily. However, thanks to the efforts of Horizont-Al and Verti-Cal, the illusion was disrupted and Uncle Chuck himself revealed to Sonic the true nature of the fantasy.

Ironically, Chuck's mind was first freed by none other than Robotnik himself, when the Doctor tried to use him as a test subject for his Transdimensional Transporter device, which malfunctioned and restored Chuck's free will and briefly sent Robotnik to the Void. Working quickly, Chuck reunited with Sonic and traveled to Knothole, intent on helping the Knothole Freedom Fighters in their struggle. His first assistance came as he joined forces with them to thwart Snively Kintobor's use of the transporter to send them all to the Void with Dr. Robotnik. Chuck decided to remain in Robotropolis undercover, working as a spy for the Freedom Fighters while pretending to still be a mindless slave. His help proved invaluable in stopping the pursuit of a roboticized Muttski, and he was even able to restore Muttski's free will so that the dog again became Sonic's loyal companion.

Unwilling to let his uncle remain a robot, Sonic worked together with Rotor Walrus to try and devise a De-Roboticization method to turn Chuck and Muttski back into their normal selves. Their efforts were unsuccessful, and they were forced to abandon the attempt when word reached them of Robotnik's new army of Combots, battle machines superior to SWATbots that possessed the power to destroy Knothole. Unfortunately, Chuck's return to Robotropolis to neutralize them played into Robotnik's hands, and both Charles and Muttski had their Robian programming re-initialized. With Chuck's knowledge, Robotnik's army marched on Knothole, and the Freedom Fighters found themselves at the mad doctor's mercy-or so Robotnik thought. In truth, Rotor had installed Neuro Overrider units in Chuck and Muttski, permitting them to retain their free will no matter what Robotnik tried. Reprogramming the Combots, Chuck easily neutralized the threat, all the while cementing Robotnik's belief that he remained a loyal, mindless slave.

Setting up a hidden facility from which to continue his work, he soon picked up an imminent earthquake that threatened Robotropolis. Leading Sonic and Sally Acorn into the city while Robotnik took shelter in the sky, Uncle Chuck triggered an alert to bring all Robians to the Roboticizer room of Robotnik's citadel, where he detonated the machine and de-roboticized many of the Robians. When the earthquake hit, Chuck remained in the city to allow room for all the freed Mobians onto the Freedom Fighters' plane, trusting in his robotic body to keep him safe. Correct in his theories, Chuck was awarded the Mobius Golden Acorn medal for his efforts.

Shortly afterwards, Chuck found his abilities put to the test again, this time in trying to cure King Max after his escape from the Zone of Silence, where he had been subjected to a crystallizing spell by Ixis Naugus, an evil wizard. Unable to cure him using Power Rings, Chuck determined that the king could only be held through the power of the Crown of Acorns, which had unfortunately been lost during Robotnik's coup. Immediately afterwards, Chuck was confronted by guilt as Sleuth Dog, an agent of Chuck's own Robotropolis Spy Network, betrayed the entire group and the Freedom Fighters. Upon discovering the disappearance of another group member, Fly Fly Freddy, Chuck had called upon Knuckles the Echidna for help, and the Guardian of Angel Island agreed.

Chuck continued to provide intelligence up until the fall of Dr. Robotnik, including the danger posed to their primitive ally Mobie by Robotnik's machinations in the Great Jungle with his Eco-Destroyer, a weapon intended to destroy the jungle which Robotnik feared and hated. He was then invited along on one of Sally's military retreats, a chance for the Freedom Fighters to reflect on their past efforts, following his display of guilt for allowing Robotnik to seize the Roboticizer. With the arrival of first the Wolf Pack Freedom Fighter group and then Geoffrey St. John, Chuck learned that he was the target of both prejudice and suspicion, as Geoffrey had been following him since the Sleuth Dog incident and now believed him to be a double-agent working for Robotnik. Painful as that must have been, Chuck was then confronted with worse as Sonic was arrested by St. John's Rebel Underground on suspicion of having killed Sally. Charles refused to believe the charges, and even provided Sonic with information regarding a traitor amidst the Freedom Fighters, who turned out to be Drago Wolf, an abusive and power hungry Wolf Pack member who framed Sonic and nearly brought about Sally's death. He was then amongst those taken prisoner by Dr. Robotnik when an Auto Automaton of King Max betrayed Knothole to the dictator. Thanks to the brave actions of Sonic and other allies, however, Chuck was freed just in time to see Robotnik overthrown.

Post-Robotnik Life
With Robotnik's downfall, Sir Charles was among the many present at the festivities in Knothole. However, their celebration was interrupted as Sonic fell prey to a bugged medal that dragged him into a nightmare in which Robotnik was still alive and the Freedom Fighters fell to him one by one, eventually leading to Knothole's capture. Chuck managed to break into the virtual dream and attempted to contact Sonic, only to find his initial messages garbled so that Sonic couldn't understand them. Luckily, he was able to pull Sonic out just in time to save him from a horrible fate: being trapped forever in his own nightmare.

Unfortunately, Chuck found his relationship with his nephew strained when he finally revealed the secret he had kept hidden for quite some time: that Sonic's parents, though Roboticized, were still alive and had regained their free will with his help. This came to light when Chuck brought the remaining Robians out of their sewer hiding place to greet the liberators of Mobotropolis. Sadly, Sonic was at first hurt and angry at Chuck's subterfuge, not knowing that his parents had asked Chuck to keep their continued existence a secret. Sadly, Charles also had to face the fact that with the Roboticizer destroyed, he had no idea as to how to restore the Robians to their original forms. With the suspicion directed at the Robians, Chuck was among the many who felt it would be better to establish a settlement for themselves away from Mobotropolis, but Sally refused to exile the lost populace of the Kingdom of Acorn.

Ixis Naugus' escape from the Zone of Silence brought another disruption to Mobotropolis, which involved King Max having apparently sworn away the Kingdom of Acorn to the wizard in exchange for his magical protection during their imprisonment in the Zone. Though Chuck briefly insinuated that Naugus was within his rights, the issue soon became null as the wizard was driven from Mobotropolis by Sonic after his minions Kodos and Uma Arachnis were defeated. Afterwards, Chuck attempted to analyze Sonic's maximum speed, but Sonic's exertion proved too much for his instruments to keep up with. Sensing that his nephew had a lot on his mind, Chuck thought about the recent decision to move the Robians to Knothole to prevent overcrowding in Mobotropolis as well as keeping the Robians safe from persecution. It wasn't far into Chuck's investigations before he learned that Sonic was still furious with him for not telling him about his parents. However, after Chuck explained that he had deceived Sonic to protect him from the obsession he had felt after Uncle Chuck's Roboticization and to keep him from making foolish mistakes that could have cost them the war, Sonic and his uncle were reconciled. Sadly, persecution soon arose as the ordinary Mobians began accusing Robians of treachery against the kingdom. Things grew worse when King Max ordered that all Robians be dismantled for treason, only to collapse as the Freedom Fighters returned from a recent mission.

While the Freedom Fighters left for Angel Island to aid Knuckles the Echidna against Mammoth Mogul, a sorcerer responsible for the theft of the Sword of Acorns, Max was driven even further into madness by the lies of a band of illusory Freedom Fighters created by Ixis Naugus. Uncle Chuck and the other Robians found themselves caught up in a war with the kingdom's soldiers, with Chuck taking charge and receiving the returning Freedom Fighters. After some tension, the two sides agreed to work together, only for Uncle Chuck to be struck down by a young soldier. Furious, Sonic attacked the trooper with vengeful intent, but the arrival of his parents and his accidental activation of the Sword of Acorns restored everyone's clear thinking. Chuck was then miraculously revived by the Sword, and his would-be assassin revealed that he had no idea of what had happened since the illusory Freedom Fighters arrived. Sonic was then able to use the Sword to break Naugus' spell on the king, bringing an end to the hostilities.

With Sonic away in search of Ixis Naugus, Uncle Chuck remained in Knothole and Mobotropolis to help with the reconstruction. He also helped organize Sonic's sixteenth birthday party upon his return, and was able to welcome back not only his nephew but also his old mentor Nate Morgan.

When Doctor Eggman made a broadcast over the Kingdom's new television network, Chuck was one of the many watching, his old guilt renewed as Robotnik's biographical program brought up his part in creating the Roboticizer. Perhaps seeking solace, he traveled to the Mobotropolis library and found Amy Rose and Miles "Tails" Prower speaking with the librarian, Jeremiah, about the events preceding Robotnik's rise to power. Afterwards, he participated in his brother Jules' and Bernie's wedding vow renewal, providing them with Power Ring commemoration bands, which brought him to contemplate how he had for so long received credit for the creation of the rings instead of Nate. Sonic and Nate then left Knothole, where the ceremony had taken place, only to return later to find it empty, courtesy of Eggman's satellites and their teleportation system. When Sonic finally found Uncle Chuck again, Dr. Eggman had restored his Robian programming despite Rotor's Neuro-Overrider, and with all the Robians-except for Sonic's parents, who escaped using Power Rings-Chuck was sent back to the recaptured Robotropolis as Dr. Eggman's slave.

Eggman's Lieutenant
When Uncle Chuck was next encountered, it was by the Wolf Pack Freedom Fighters, who found him reprogrammed as one of Eggman's villainous under-bosses. Having captured the entire wolf population of Mobius and the Wolf Pack themselves, he forced Lupe to submit to Roboticization or risk having her Robian children destroyed. Though she was transformed, Lupe was able to retain her free will long enough to distract Chuck's forces and let the rest of the pack escape. He was later placed in charge of the Roboticization of Elias Acorn, Max's son and heir to the throne. When Max himself and the Freedom Fighters penetrated the Roboticization chamber, Chuck opposed their efforts until his mind was freed yet again by the Sword of Acorns. Before he could be rescued, however, Eggman separated him from the Freedom Fighters with an impenetrable wall, and King Max's own injuries forced the group to retreat.

Free Will Restored
Eggman remained under the impression that Uncle Chuck was his devoted servant despite a "temporary" release through the power of the Sword of Acorns. However, Chuck was once again playing the part of mindless drone, revealing himself after seeing Uma Arachnis steal the Sword of Acorns after Eggman cast it aside in frustration. Even though he longed to rejoin the Freedom Fighters, he continued acting as Robotnik's agent, joining a horde of Robians that forced Sonic to flee Robotropolis rather than risk hurting them. Realizing the danger of the Sword in the hands of Uma's ally Kodos, he reprogrammed one of Eggman's Shadowbots to deliver a message regarding the Sword's status to Sonic in Knothole. However, Geoffrey St. John destroyed the robot and seized it before it could complete the message.

Despite this interference, the Freedom Fighters recovered the Sword and used it to free all the Robians, and Uncle Chuck joined them all in escaping Robotropolis, only to lose Nate as the Overlander stayed behind to deactivate the energy shield that would have held them all prisoner in the city. Like the rest of Mobius, Chuck was then caught up in a number of alternate timelines caused by Chaos Knuckles' attempts to alter the past. One of these found Chuck an undistinguished former member of the Court of Acorn, having resigned following Jules Roboticization. However, in this universe Robotnik was thwarted by Amadeus Prower, and Uncle Chuck gave Sonic much needed advice as he faced the upcoming wedding between Sally and Knuckles. This reality faded as Knuckles' efforts were undone by the Chaos Force, leaving the present back in its rightful state. Chuck quickly deduced what was going on, though the explanation was initially given by Nate until the timeline was fully returned to normal.

Reunited with his family, Chuck enjoyed a brief peace, until he was called upon to alert Sonic and Tails to Station Square's accidental launch of nuclear missiles against Robotropolis.

With the return of the Robians, Uncle Chuck found himself faced with yet another bout of guilt, this time over his actions as Robotnik's lieutenant. After refusing to attend a going away party for Lupe and her family, Charles was surprised as Sonic brought the group of merrymakers to him. Despite this, Charles remained downhearted, envying the carefree attitudes of the Freedom Fighters and excusing himself from the festivities. Lupe and the others quickly came after him, wishing to know what ailed him. After Chuck confessed his troubles, Lupe worked to convince him that it had not been his doing, but Eggman's. Regret at creating the Roboticizer came to him again, and he expressed his desire for forgiveness, to which Lupe replied that he had to forgive himself before anyone else could forgive him. Lupe declared the party a celebration in honor of Charles as well as for her departure, and the deeply moved Hedgehog thanked her with an embrace.

Soon afterwards, Chuck was among the many Robians who disappeared mysteriously, only to return one by one restored to normal courtesy of the Bem, a race of aliens who had developed a device known as the De-Robotizer and used it on the Mobians. Only Jules, Chuck's brother, remained unchanged, due to the fact that his De-Roboticization would result in his death due to injuries. Chuck worked night and day for some time in hopes of finding a way to restore his brother to normal, but in the end it was Jules himself who stopped him, refusing to let Chuck continue to push himself beyond his endurance.

After the Xorda
After the Xorda's attack on Mobius, Chuck became a member of the main group of Freedom Fighters. He served as a technical expert, befriending Rotor Walrus and working with him under Max's orders to build an elite unit of Metal Sonic Troopers, robots designed to defend Knothole after Sonic's apparent death. Upon Sonic's miraculous return, Uncle Chuck was the first relative to greet him, sharing a warm embrace with his nephew before sending word to Sonic's other family and friends. Despite the warmth of the reunion, peace soon ended as Eggman announced his plans for a two-pronged nuclear assault, which the Freedom Fighters and Chaotix thankfully managed to avert. With Sonic back home, though injured from the battle, Charles finally learned the truth of why he had been unable to de-roboticize Jules thanks to Sonic's time among the Bem. Sadly, Chuck's problems with Jules soon escalated, as his brother was damaged to the point of near death by an Auto Automaton of Sonic's long lost friend Tommy Turtle. Despite his skills, Chuck had no idea how to restore his brother's life force, meaning that repairing his body would be worse than useless. Luckily, Sonic wasn't willing to give up, and by using the one-billionth Power Ring he had collected, he restored his father to life. Chuck then dissected the Auto Automaton, and discovered its point of origin. With the Freedom Fighters success in thwarting that particular scheme of Eggman's, Charles joined King Max, Queen Alicia Acorn, and the Anti-Freedom Fighter Patch, then posing as Antoine D'Coolette Prime, on their tour of the Kingdom of Acorn's domain.

With the onslaught of Eggman's nanites and their capture of Bunnie Rabbot, Uncle Chuck was called upon for help to defeat A.D.A.M., Eggman's computer virus "son" and the controller of the nanites. Remembering how Tails had previously beaten A.D.A.M. by telling jokes, Chuck advised his nephew to defeat A.D.A.M. with logic by convincing him that he couldn't absorb Bunnie as she was only partly cybernetic, and her carbon "components" would not be accepted into A.D.A.M.'s silicon being. Charles then teamed with Rotor, Tommy Turtle, and the Freedom Fighters' new ally Snively to analyze a sample of the nanites, and soon discovered interesting details about their properties. Thinking them inactive, Chuck left, only to have them merge with Tommy's shell thanks to a massive electric shock they had been exposed to and one of Tommy's tears. The group then examined the new abilities given to Tommy by the nanites, and Chuck deduced that the microscopic robots were not insentient as they had initially deduced. Having no part in the scandal surrounding Sally's brief marriage to Patch before the Anti-Mobian's deception was discovered, Chuck's next difficulty came when A.D.A.M., masquerading as the villain "Anonymous" took control of the Metal Sonic Troopers and sent them against first Eggman, and then Knothole. Revealing his actions in the creation of the automatons to the newly crowned King Elias, he attempted to deactivate his rebellious creations, but was unsuccessful due to A.D.A.M.'s machinations. He was similarly caught off guard when A.D.A.M. secretly used the nanites he had infused Tommy with to bug Bunnie Rabbot, Jules, and Sally's computer NICOLE.

Following A.D.A.M.'s final defeat, Chuck teamed up with Rotor to create a machine to restore the health of a comatose Max, which called upon Sonic and Tails to recover a Chaos Emerald from the Special Zone and its ruler, Feist. He also attended Bunnie and Antoine's wedding, but was then captured by Eggman's Egg Fleet along with the rest of Knothole when it was attacked, and sent to the Egg Grape Chamber. Before he could be exposed to the chamber's energies, though, Chuck and the rest of the prisoners were liberated by Sonic, Knuckles, Tails, Amy Rose, and NICOLE, who then tricked Eggman into sending him and everyone else to the city of nanites built by A.D.A.M., which NICOLE had reshaped into New Mobotropolis. Charles took to life in the new city well, becoming a frequent visitor to the Science Center and owner of a new Chuck's Chili Dogs, which Jules and Bernie managed for him. Chuck was then elected to the newly formed Council of Acorn along with Substitute Freedom Fighters Dylan, Penelope Platypus, and Hamlin; Rotor -thus retiring from the Freedom Fighters-; and Rosemary Prower, all of them serving as New Mobotropolis' new ruling body with King Elias at their head. Despite the threat posed by a new Enerjak after their formation, the new council refused to act rashly, and waited for more intelligence to make their decision regarding the Chaos demigod. They waited too long, and Enerjak soon arrived in New Mobotropolis looking for a fight. Chuck later assisted in the making of new Star Posts to help defeat Scourge the Hedgehog and his Suppression Squad after they tried to invade Mobius.

Sonic the Hedgehog (TV series)
Uncle Chuck is Sonic the Hedgehog's uncle. A respected scientist who earned a knighthood for serving the Acorn Kingdom, Chuck is unwittingly responsible for the rise of Dr. Robotnik.

The creator of the roboticizer, a process that turns flesh into metal, Charles hoped to use this technology as a means of curing the sick and allowing people to live longer. The project was stolen by Warlord Julian, who used it to rob others of their free will. This device paved the way for him to enslave Charles' people and seize control of Mobotropolis, emerging as the ruthless dictator Robotnik. Chuck was among the first to be robotized, an event that drove his nephew Sonic to become a Freedom Fighter.

Sonic continued to regret failing to save Uncle Chuck. The Freedom Fighters later captured Uncle Chuck and used a prototype De-Roboticizer on him. Although Chuck subsequently reverted to being a Worker Bot, with Sonic's help he managed to retain his mind and free will. Chuck remained undercover, working as a spy for the Freedom Fighters while pretending to still be a mindless slave, up until Robotnik's defeat.

Sonic Underground

 * Main article: Chuck (Sonic Underground)

Uncle Chuck also appeared in one episode of Sonic Underground, in which he was apparently Sonic's uncle presumably through his foster parents. Uncle Chuck was a high-ranking member of the Freedom Fighters stationed in Robotropolis, and was Roboticized shortly after Sonic found his siblings Sonia and Manic.

Personality
An intellectual and patriotic Mobian, Charles cares for his family more than he does himself. However, he is quick to be hard on himself for his mistakes, often to a point far beyond what he should lay on his shoulders. Even though is not his fault in the first place. Always willing to provide advice to Sonic and the Freedom Fighters, he is something of a father figure to his nephew and shares a close relationship with the other young heroes as well. Bound by a high sense of duty, he is willing to put himself on the line if it means helping the Kingdom of Acorn.

Because of the relationship between him and Sonic. Sonic will do anything to save him even if Sonic does reckless things to save him.

Physical Appearance
Chuck has blue fur with tan arms, chest and muzzle, deep brown eyes and bushy grey eyebrows and a mustache. He has black eyes with red pupils (roboticized version only). In the Archie comics series, his eyes are nowblue.

Attire
Chuck originally wore maroon shoes with twin yellow stripes. He now wears brown boots, gloves and vest, glasses, gray socks, and a Council of Acorn uniform.

Trivia

 * Although Uncle Chuck first appeared in StH #16, he was actually mentioned in the first issue.