Christopher Thorndyke

Christopher Thorndyke (クリストファー・ソーンダイク), also simply known as Chris (クリス), is the main human protagonist in the anime series Sonic X and its comic series published by Archie Comics. He is a kind and caring boy who lives in Station Square on Earth. At the start of the series, Chris finds Sonic at the bottom of his swimming pool and saves him from drowning and hosts him, Tails, Amy, Cream and Cheese for most of the series. Chris, very much like Tails, looks up to Sonic like an older brother figure and is always willing to do whatever he can to help his new friends.

Appearance
At the age of twelve, Chris usual wore a red and white t-shirt, a belt hanging off the edge of his jeans, and stylish shoes. At the age of eighteen, Chris began wearing a pale yellow long sleeve turtleneck, blue jeans and brown shoes. He later wears a lab-coat when he created a teleporter to go to Sonic's world.

When arriving at Sonic's world, he reverted back to his twelve year old self as his clothes as a teenager became loose before it replaced his primary clothes from his twelve year old self.

Past
Chris lives with his grandfather Chuck Thorndyke (who is a scientist), his bodyguard and butler Mr. Tanaka, and his housemaid Ella. He lives in a large, luxurious mansion due to his parents' success in their individual fields of work. Chris' father Nelson Thorndyke is a big-wig businessman who is the CEO of a software company, while Chris' mother Lindsey Thorndyke is a movie star. As a child, Chris rarely saw his parents, which made him become very lonely and find his luxurious mansion to be pretty boring. At some point, he made friends with Danny, Frances and Helen who were his classmates.

New World Saga
One late night, Chris was awoken by the sound of a splash outside of his mansion. Thinking it came from the swimming pool, Chris rushed out of the mansion to investigate, discovering that Sonic the Hedgehog landed in the pool. Without a second thought, Chris dove in to the pool to rescue Sonic. The next morning, Chris was on the phone with his parents, having admitted his actions last night. Eventually, he heard that Sonic's friends Cream and Cheese were captured by the military and held hostage at Area 99. Chris and his grandfather Chuck aided Sonic as he infiltrated the facility to rescue Cream and Cheese. After rescuing them, Chris also met Tails.

When Chris discovered that Sonic was missing, he informed his friends about this and set out with Tails and Chuck to look for Sonic. When they were unsuccessful in doing so, Chris then heard the news of Dr. Eggman attacking Station Square with his E-23 Missile Wrist, announcing his plans for taking over the world. Tails and Chris set out on the Tornado 2 in attempt to stop Eggman. They attempted to attack Missile Wrist, but were useless against it as Missile Wrist fought back. When all hope seemed to be lost, Sonic finally arrived and defeated Missile Wrist, while Tails and Chris escorted Sonic, Amy and Knuckles back to Chris' home (though the latter leaves).

Some time later, Chris learned how Sonic and his friends were sent to earth by a Chaos Control phenomenon caused by the seven Chaos Emerald, making Chris figure they could get Sonic and his friends home if they got the Emeralds together again. Later, Chris got a new homeroom teacher at school named Mister Stewart, who was actually an undercover G.U.N. agent sent to observe Chris for anything that could prove useful against Eggman. As Sonic and his friends went to get a Chaos Emerald that had just appeared though, Chris followed them. However, right before Eggman could get the Emerald, Chris picked it up first, but Eggman quickly snatched it away. Refusing to let him take it, Chris climbed onto Eggman's Egg Mobile to retrieve it, and after some struggling, Eggman threw Chris off the Egg Mobile, only to discover Chris took the Chaos Emerald with him. Fortunately, Sonic managed to save Chris, allowing Sonic to gain possession of the first of the Chaos Emeralds.

When signs of a Chaos Emerald having surfaced in Silver Valley appeared, Chris went to investigate with Tails and Amy. After arriving however, Chris and co. discovered it was a trap laid by Eggman, who captured them in E-47 Pumpty while he lured Sonic and Knuckles into fighting one another. However, Chris and co. managed to escape E-47, and when Sonic and Knuckles joined forces, they managed to defeat Eggman together.

Afterwards, Chris learned that his parents were taking a break from their work to visit him back home. However, on the day of their arrival, Chris found his class interrupted as Mister Stewart was abruptly thrown out by Eggman's E-51 Intelligente, who took over the class, and quickly gained the respect and support of the kids. However, when Eggman arrived to discover E-51 having apparently gone AWOL on him, he threatened E-51 into swearing his loyalty to the Eggman Empire again. When Chris then tried to leave for home, E-51 kept him from leaving and forced the class to paint portraits of Eggman. Thankfully, Sonic arrived after wondering about Chris being late and destroyed E-51, leaving Eggman to depart in defeat again. Sonic then reminded Chris that he needed to get home, and Chris arrived in time to see his parents again.

The next day, Lindsey was helping prepare a dinner for her and Chris. However, she soon had to return to work, leaving her upset at thinking she was a bad mother for leaving Chris like this without saying goodbye first. When Chris discovered this, he began to think ill of his mother, causing Cream, who had been pretending to be a stuffed animal to fool Ella, Mister Stewart, and Sam, to break her ruse and yell at Chris in fury for thinking bad of his mother after she overheard Lindsey earlier, before running out in a huff. Later though, Chris was able to make amends with Cream for what happened.

When Eggman began sucking up satellites with his E-90 Super Sweeper, Sonic and Tails proved unable to reach orbit to face it in the Tornado 2. Tails and Chuck thus made the X Tornado, allowing Chris to join Tails and Sonic as they went into space to deal with E-90. When Sonic was frozen solid on the outside of the X Tornado's fuselage due to the freezing temperatures of the altitude they were at, Chris uses one of the cables in the cockpit to provide a means to thaw Sonic out using Ring energy, allowing him to destroy E-90.

Chris soon after had to attend the opening of Hotel de Blanc at Emerald Coast on behalf of his parents, providing Sonic and the others a chance for a vacation at the Thorndyke Family's bungalow. However, Eggman soon arrived to destroy the hotel and make room for his new amusement park, with Chris caught in the middle, leading to another battle in which Sonic and Amy were able to defeat him.

Later, Chris arrived at soon-to-be-demolished Diamond Stadium when Tails located the turquoise Chaos Emerald that had been found by the stadium's groundskeeper, Albert Butler. When Eggman arrived with his baseball team of E-21 Ballios to challenge Sonic and his friends for it and the green Chaos Emerald, Chris took part in the game, but proved to be no match for the E-21s until a pep talk from Sonic encouraged him from striking out when up at bat again, allowing him to help Sonic and their team take the lead. In the end, Eggman cheated when he lost the lead, resulting in him escaping with the turquoise Chaos Emerald, but the game convinced the team manager to have the stadium's turf moved to the new stadium and keep Albert employed to maintain it.

While Chris was in class one day, a rumor came up that another Chaos Emerald had been found in an abandoned warehouse. Chris went to check it out with Sonic, Tails, and Danny, but were lured in the wrong direction by Rouge the Bat. By the time they discovered the mistake and checked out the warehouse, the trap set by G.U.N. had already caught Rouge, leaving Sonic, Chris, and the others left befuddled by the false lead.

However, Chris soon set off with Frances, Tails, and Amy to Tingalin Villa to seek out the yellow Chaos Emerald there, only to be secretly followed by Mister Stewart, who had installed a tracking device in Chris' new goggles. However, during the search, Chris and the others were attacked by Eggman and his E-35 Funfun. Sonic soon arrived in time to save them, but Eggman quickly escaped with the yellow Chaos Emerald. Sonic, Chris, and the others followed him back to his headquarters, currently under attack by G.U.N. naval and air forces, where Sonic was able to break inside, defeat Eggman, and retrieve the turquoise and yellow Chaos Emeralds, while also allowing Rouge, Knuckles, and a G.U.N. commando team a chance to escape before the explosives they planted wiped out Eggman's headquarters.

Chaos Emerald Saga
As a result of Sonic's heroics, he was invited to meet the President at the White House. When Chris brought him the news though, Sonic chose to stay in Station Square to fulfill a request for Chris' classmate, Helen. Chris thus went to the meeting with Chuck, Tails, Amy, Cream and Cheese. When Chris grew worried about Sonic though, he arrived in a commandeered G.U.N. helicopter with Helen, allowing Sonic to meet the President, before Chris and everyone shared a laugh when the President's aide, Jerome Wise, passed out upon discovering that the press he had at the party to take a picture of Sonic shaking hands with the President were fast asleep thanks to his earlier stall tactics until Sonic finally showed up.

Following the meeting with the President, Sonic and his friends are granted passports, allowing them to travel in public and not be kept secret anymore, though at first they have a hard time getting used to it when they notice the strange looks they are given by the public on an outing to the mall with Chris and Ella. However, Eggman soon attacks Station Square in his new mobile base, the Egg Fort. Sonic arrived to confront him, and with help from Sam and Mister Tanaka, Chris is able to return home and retrieve the X Tornado to help Sonic against the Egg Fort, sending it plunging into the ocean.

Later, Chris takes Sonic and the others on a trip to explore a sunken ship, where they find the blue Chaos Emerald. However, Eggman attacks them with his E-57 Clurken, but Sonic is able to defeat E-57 and they escape with the emerald.

During a dogfight with the Egg Fort, both it and the X Tornado are shot down over an African Savannah, resulting in Chris, Tails, and Sonic running afoul of a pair of crooked Russian men who are planning to build a dam and destroy the Savannah in the process. However, thanks to Decoe and Bocoe fighting Sonic in the E-65 Gorru-Gaooh, the construction equipment is destroyed, and the criminals are arrested by the local authorities.

Chris soon brings Sonic, Tails, Amy, Cream and Cheese to the site of his mother's next movie that is being filmed. At first, when Lindsey sees Tails and Amy, she mistakes them for being in costumes. Chris soon becomes fearful when the director caught Cream in one of the shots from the take they just did, but is relieved when another hand tells him they can fix it in editing. Later, after the director decides to call it quits after a take of Lindsey in the castle resulted in problems with the audio after two tries, Chris pays his mom a visit to wish her goodnight. However, Lindsey is soon kidnapped by King Boom Boo and his ghosts, and Chris soon finds himself struggling to rescue her alongside Ella, Sonic, Tails, Cream and Cheese, with Amy's help. However, King Boom Boo soon has Amy possessed by one of his minions, but just when it looks like Chris is done for, the possessed Amy hesitates to deliver the finishing blow, due to how Chris had put the Talisman in the crossfire, and the possessed Amy did not want to damage it. Seizing the moment, Chris turns it around, freeing Sonic, who then exorcises Amy, before everyone else is released, and they escape King Boom Boo and seal the chamber up again, not realizing that they forgot to put the Talisman back on the pedestal the right way, meaning that King Boom Boo could still escape.

Chris then takes Sonic and his friends on a trip to the glaciers on the Thorndyke Family yacht, but Sonic proves to be unable to relax due to being surrounded by water, paranoid with wanting to return to dry land. Mister Tanaka soon arrived with a helicopter full of senior citizens to help Sonic and his friends relax, but it isn't until Eggman arrived to attack in his new Egg Fort II, and with support from a senior citizen offering him some advice, that Sonic finally managed to regain his focus and, aided by an enraged Ella in the X Tornado, Sonic defeats the Egg Fort II.

Metarex Saga
Six years has passed and Chris becomes eighteen years old. Early in the third season, he uses a portal to travel to Sonic's home in the show. But due to the differences in time-acceleration between both planets, the teleportation process rejuvenates his body back to his pre-teen age. Chris no longer takes the back seat in the X-Tornado; instead, he is shown as flying it capably, which his younger self would never have been able to do so. Chris also comments in one episode that he is a black belt in karate. Additionally, he has also shown to have become a quite capable engineer, enough to impress Tails. He invents different gadgets and devices like Sonic's Hovershoes, a hoverboard and a new, better Chaos Emerald scanner for the Blue Typhoon. He is also seen in a few episodes using Flash Bombs as a distraction and he also uses a laser gun as a weapon.

Personality
Chris is a calm and well-mannered boy, though sometimes a bit energetic with a hunger for adventure. Despite being a "rich kid," Chris very is down-to-earth, thinking himself no different from everybody else and does not want to be treated differently despite coming from a rich family. Because of his parents' frequent absences since childhood however, Chris would often suffer from loneliness and thus longed for close companionship. Chris' friendship with Sonic and his friends would ease Chris' pain, but it would also make him worry, panic or even sink into a mind depression whenever he feared they would leave him.

Chris deeply treasures the bonds he makes with other people and will do anything to preserve them. However, this tends to give him a reckless or selfish streak, like when he fell into one of Eggman's traps in an attempt to help Sonic and his friends get home, or when he deliberately kept Sonic from returning home so he would not leave him. Regardless, Chris has a good heart and is always remorseful when his feelings get the better of him.

At the age of eighteen, Chris seemed to have gained somewhat of an attitude, especially around Helen.

Sonic the Hedgehog
Sonic is Chris's best friend. Chris first met Sonic when he crash-landed into the swimming pool of his parents' mansion, and at first, he had to keep the fact that he saved a blue, talking hedgehog a secret by saying that Sonic was a cat, unfortunately for Chris, his grandpa Chuck discovers Sonic and suspects that he is a robot. However, he later proves instrumental in helping to rescue Sonic's friends and finding the Chaos Emeralds. Sonic and Chris quickly form a close bond that turns into an everlasting friendship that not even separate worlds can break. Like Tails, Chris is as close to Sonic as a younger brother would be. Sonic has always been there when Chris really needed it, as Chris admits in episode 51 when he says to Sonic: "You have always been there for me".

Miles "Tails" Prower
Chris and Tails are good friends throughout the first two seasons and are seen riding in the X Tornado together. Chris helps Tails give Sonic Power Rings when Tails is too busy to do so. In season three Chris and Tails become closer friends due to Chris being an accomplished scientist in the season and having more to relate to now. Tails comments that Chris reminds him a lot of Chuck now.

Amy Rose
Amy Rose is another one of Chris's friends, the two tend to get along quite nicely, but when Sonic gets in the mix, Amy tends to become annoyed. At one point, she even threatened to hurt Chris if Sonic didn't come out of hiding, although it is later revealed that she didn't mean it seriously. Chris and Amy have both admitted to being a bit jealous of Sonic's freedom to do anything at any time.

Chris, however, does have some fear of Amy, as he forfeited a karate match with Knuckles as the winner would then face Amy, as they were in a martial arts tournament for a Chaos Emerald.

Knuckles the Echidna
Not much can be said about Chris's relationship with Knuckles except that the two get along well enough. After Chris gets captured by Eggman due to Knuckles believing his lies in episode 25, Knuckles makes it his objective to find and rescue Chris. Throughout the series, Knuckles is shown to be concerned for Chris's safety such as when they entered a fighting tournament, Knuckles refused to fight Chris in the Quarter-Finals because he did not want him getting hurt, and also, Chris was concerned that he would be facing Amy or Rouge in the Semi-Finals if he won, resulting in Chris forfeiting the match.

Cream the Rabbit
Cream is also one of Chris's friends, they are seen tagging along together in some episodes and are generally friendly to each other. Despite this, in episode 7, Cream gets mad at Chris after he makes a comment about how his mom is rude to leave the party without telling the guests. Cream is upset because she overheard his mom crying about how she is never able to be there for him and that Cream can't see or even talk with her on a phone with her mom since she is back on Sonic's world. Later, Cream forgives Chris and makes him a crown of flowers which, according to Sonic, is something that she only does for people she really likes.

Cosmo
Cosmo is a friend of Chris as well, they get along pretty well. Cosmo starts to look up to Chris after he nearly succeeded in rescuing her from Black Narcissus during which time Chris tells Cosmo that she reminds him a lot of himself before he met Sonic. Like the others, Chris is greatly saddened when Cosmo sacrifices herself to save the Galaxy.

Helen
Chris and Helen are very close friends in the first two seasons of the anime and Helen is the most trusted human friend of Chris. In the second series, Helen and Chris have become sweethearts and they both excel at machinery. Both also felt lonely due to the fact that their parents were working really hard and had little time for them. However Helen's family was doing it to get by and she was able to restore her relationship with her parents much quicker than Chris was able to with his.

Danny
Danny is Chris's childhood friend and helps Sonic and the others a few times in the first season. In the Archie comics Chris and Danny are shown to be on the same soccer team. In the pilot episode of the series, Danny was going to have a much larger role then he ended up having but he would still have a smaller role than Chris.

Frances
Frances is another close friend of Chris who helps Sonic and the team out in the first season. Frances is seen as a tomboy and enjoys poking fun at Chris and Danny.

Shadow the Hedgehog
Chris takes an interest in Shadow especially when he returns after supposedly sacrificing himself to stop the ARK from hurtling into the earth. Shadow does try to hurt Chris at one point, but Chris is rescued by Rouge, who later abandons him and then Chris must be rescued by Knuckles. Although at times Chris has shown signs of dislike for Shadow, he has also shown signs of liking him. Chris kept Shadow's rings until Shadow came back and Chris returned them to him. Chris did shed one tear when he learned Shadow was supposedly dead. Chris also convinced Shadow that Maria would want him to help people before Shadow lost his memory. Chris also reminds Shadow of Maria.

Friends and allies

 * Sonic the Hedgehog (best friend)
 * Knuckles the Echidna
 * Miles "Tails" Prower (good friend)
 * Amy Rose
 * Cream the Rabbit
 * Cheese the Chao
 * Rouge the Bat
 * Shadow the Hedgehog
 * Sam Speed (uncle)
 * Chuck Thorndyke (grandfather)
 * Nelson Thorndyke (father)
 * Lindsey Thorndyke (mother)
 * Cosmo
 * Big the Cat
 * Froggy
 * Helen
 * Danny
 * Frances
 * Emerl (formely)
 * Vanilla the Rabbit
 * Mister Tanaka
 * Ella
 * Espio the Chameleon
 * Charmy Bee
 * Vector the Crocodile

Rivals

 * Danny

Enemies

 * Doctor Eggman
 * Decoe
 * Bocoe
 * Bokkun
 * King Boom Boo
 * Boom
 * Chaos (formerly)
 * Emerl
 * Dark Oak
 * Metarex
 * Bio Lizard
 * Mr. Kinney
 * Mrs. Kinney

Reception
While he was received positively in Japan, Chris is sometimes criticized by Western fans for his roles in the Sonic Adventure adaptions as he takes the place of the other characters that had an important role in the games. For example, during the adaptation of Sonic Adventure, he journeys with Big and Cream as they go looking for Froggy (even though it should be noted that Cream has never gotten any criticism for usurping Tails' role in finding Froggy). In the adaptation arc of Sonic Adventure 2, he replaces Amy as the one who convinces Shadow to save Earth. He also receives Shadow's ring as Rouge the Bat did in that game. He has also been criticized for other reasons such as shutting down the portal so Sonic couldn't return back home. He has also been criticized for his dependence on Sonic.

Trivia

 * Chris was one of four Sonic X characters exclusively promoted by Sonic Team (the others being Danny, Nazo and Cosmo)
 * While never physically appearing in the video games, Chris does appear in a cameo on a poster for Sonic X. Next to Sonic in the Missions 3 and 12 of Mission Mode of Sonic Adventure DX in the form of a poster promoting Sonic X. His voice is also heard congratulating Sonic whenever Sonic solves a problem in the Sonic X Leapster game.
 * He invented five pairs of shoes for Sonic on Season three, one of which appeared to be Sonic's Soap shoes from Sonic Adventure 2.
 * Chris reminds Shadow of Maria because of their caring personalities and the similar look in their eyes.
 * Chris making it home safely at the end of the series is never confirmed, only heavily implied by Eggman.
 * Even though he only appears in Sonic X (minus the Leapster game and the cameo in Sonic Adventure DX), Chris was created by Sonic Team.
 * He appeared with Sonic in the most episodes of Sonic X (76), leaving out episodes 17 and 68.
 * Chris unintentionally managed to make both Sonic and Shadow come to tears.
 * Even though Chris does not appear in the games, he is the only main male human that Sonic has been good friends with as Sonic's other human-like friends were female. (Elise, Merlina etc.).
 * Chris learned martial arts growing up but is unable to defend himself with them at first because of not being used to be in a twelve-year-old body.
 * Sonic's Sonic X actor, Jason Griffith stated that he originally wanted to voice Chris during auditions as he wanted to see what it was like to be a human companion of Sonic, but the producers felt his voice was more appropriate for Sonic only.