Whisper the Wolf

Whisper the Wolf is a character that appears in the Sonic the Hedgehog comic series and its spin-offs published by IDW Publishing. She is a heroic anthropomorphic wolf and an enigmatic soldier who supports the Resistance and its allies. She is aided in her efforts by her own personal team of Wisps.

Concept and creation
Whisper's overall design is derived from one of the many models the female wolf Avatar from Sonic Forces could assume. Whisper's early designs were somewhat different than the final version however. For example, she had blue hair and fur. She also had a more ostentatious costume and she did not originally have her iconic mask.

Whisper's mask is inspired by Japanese Kabuki masks. The idea for her mask came from the Kabuki mask Costume piece that the Avatar could wear in Sonic Forces (which was one of Evan Stanley's favorite Costume pieces), and Stanley thought a similar mask would fit Whisper's personality. After seeing the mask concept, Ian Flynn had the idea of making it a sniper scope and a Wisp communication device, which instantly clicked.

The reason why Whisper's eyes always appear closed is for expressing her emotions. In comics and animation, eyes that can see while appearing closed can be short hand for a few things, including indicating that a character is wise, that they are constantly keeping a close eye on everything, or that a character is dealing with a lot of emotional pain. And all of those are kind of true for Whisper. Plus, when she does open her eye, it lets the reader know that what she is looking at is very important.

Appearance
Whisper is an anthropomorphic wolf with brown skin and biscotti fur. She also has thick black eyelashes and cloudy white fur around her eyes that resemble a mask. Her eyes are cadet blue, although they are often closed to the point of squinting. She wears light gray eyeshadow and has a long, bushy tail which ends in several tufts of fur sticking out in various directions. She also has long pointed ears and quite long hair that she keeps tied at the back with a black hair tie, save for a long, thick hair bang that covers her right eye. Her fangs protrude from her mouth which is often in a natural frown. For attire, Whisper wears a cream colored tube top, light gray leggings, and a dark gray cloak, in which she keeps six Wisp canisters. The cloak also has black and dark gray pockets seen on the shoulders.

Whisper wears an outfit geared towards combat. This include dark gray arm sleeves with black elbow pads, dark gray and light gray gloves with visible sharp fingers, and dark gray knee sleeves and black knee pads. She sports military-fashioned black, dark gray, and light gray boots. She can sometimes be seen wearing her cat-like ornate mask scope, which is cream, dark gray and light gray in color. Three holes are seen at the right side of the mask and a blue "eye" on the left side.

Past
Little is known about Whisper, but it is apparent that she had some sort of traumatic encounter with Dr. Eggman at some point.

The War
During the War against Dr. Eggman, Whisper aided the Resistance from the shadows, often turning the tides of battle and saving the lives of many soldiers of the Resistance, including Silver the Hedgehog. Despite her heroic efforts however, she never joined the Resistance or revealed herself to them, as she preferred to work alone. Because of this, she gained a reputation amongst the Resistance soldiers, and became known as the legendary "Guardian Angel".

The Fate of Dr. Eggman
One month after the end of the war, Whisper infiltrated one of Eggman's bases at the same time as Sonic did for reasons unknown, and secretly assisted the hedgehog from the shadows. First, she jammed a security gate before it closed on him, and afterward, she took out a giant Spina that Sonic and Silver failed to notice. Afterward, she tried to break through the sealed door into the base's computer room with her Variable Wispon, using several of its modes to no avail. Sonic and Silver soon arrived and attempted to make contact with her. Startled by Silver's overbearing greeting, she retreated to the rafters using her Wispon. After Sonic apologized and introduced himself, her Wisps emerged and greeted Sonic. Reassured by Sonic's approach and her Wisps' warm response to him, she hesitantly emerged, removed her mask, and introduced herself as "Whisper" (which Silver mistakenly took for a request).

With all three of them joining forces, Silver opened the security gate, revealing E-107 Theta and a host of Spinas on the other side, which Whisper engaged along with Sonic and Silver. Using her Wispon, Whisper repositioned herself on a perch during the battle and zapped Theta with a laser to little effect. Theta returned fire, obliterating her perch and sending her crashing to the ground. Trapped beneath a pile of scrap, Whisper was helpless against an onslaught of encroaching Spina. However, her Wisps emerged, eager to defend her, but Silver intervened before they could do anything by freezing the Badniks and launching them into a wave of missiles launched by Theta. Silver then freed her from the rubble and helped her to her feet. In reference to her Wisps, he commented that she had built quite a team, and that he would be honored to be part of it. Whisper replied with a bashfully "Maybe".

As the heroes regrouped, Whisper spotted a Eggman computer terminal. Enraged, she tried to smash it with her Wispon. When Sonic frantically asked her to wait until they secured the vital intel stored in it, she took it quite harshly. Agreeing to stand down, she affixed mask, and withdrew into the background as Sonic and Silver warned the Resistance of Neo Metal Sonic's true plans.

Battle For Angel Island
Whisper was soon after brought to Resistance HQ. There, she and the Resistance's other allies were informed that the Resistance needed their help to liberate Angel Island, which had been conquered by Neo Metal Sonic and turned into a flying fortress. To make matters worse, Neo had also secured the Master Emerald for himself on the island. Eventually, Whisper was assigned to help two of the assembled group's factions with breaking the Egg Fleet's control over Angel Island while Sonic and Knuckles confronted Neo.

On the voyage to Angel Island, Sonic thanked Whisper for aiding them despite her aversion of crowds and asked her to stay safe during the battle. She affirmed and reciprocated his sentiments before he left to give her space. While tinkering with her Variable Wispon though, Whisper gave Shadow, who had come along on this mission for his own reasons, an angry glare. Later, when their ship approached Angel Island, the Egg Fleet shot it down. Fortunately, Whisper and her allies got off the ship before it crashed. Landing then on Angel Island, Whisper and Tangle were assigned to protect Tails while the fox cub did "something smart". Soon after, Whisper was locked in heavy combat. Eventually, Whisper covered for Tangle when she had to redirect an Egg Fleet vessel's cannon. Using some prisms to redirect her Variable Wispon's laser when some Spinas attacked, Whisper was able to take all the Spinas out. When the Resistance later took out the last wing unit that had been attached to Angel Island's shoreline, Whisper used her Variable Wispon's Hover Mode to regroup with the others on an Egg Fleet battleship that Tails had secured.

In the meantime, Neo Metal Sonic harnessed Sonic and Shadow's bio-data in addition to the power of the Master Emerald to transform into Master Overlord. As he captured Sonic, Knuckles and Shadow and moved closer to the Egg Fleet battleship, Amy ordered Whisper and the team to move in for a full-on assault. When Sonic then distracted Master Overlord by mocking him, Whisper shot Master Overlord in the face with her Variable Wispon. On Master Overlord's body, Whisper worked with Rouge to damage Master Overlord's wings. Master Overlord soon had enough though, and shook the Resistance members off of him, only for Silver save everyone with his psychokinesis. Soon after, Knuckles managed to remove the Master Emerald from Master Overlord, and restored the Master Emerald to its rightful place. Silver then brought everyone down on Angel Island. Without the Master Emerald, Metal Sonic was out of commission. On the ground while Whisper played with her Wisps, Silver and Blaze thanked her for her aid.

As everyone got ready to leave the island, Whisper found friendship with Tangle. When Sonic came by to talk to them, Sonic asked Whisper if she was able to make any friends. Tangle tried to confirm this by urging Whisper to tell the joke about a toaster she told her earlier. Whisper instead shyly put her mask scope back on, leaving Tangle to wonder if this was due to something she said. As Sonic took off, he apologized to Whisper.

Bonds of Friendship
Whisper came to Spiral Hill Village to visit Tangle, which pleased the lemur very much. Tangle gave Whisper a tour of the town, including places like the salon and the bakery, where Whisper bought and ate a croissant. Tangle then brought Whisper to the Mineral Museum to meet her best friend, Jewel. Tangle introduced Whisper and Jewel to each other, telling Whisper that she and Jewel grew up together. Jewel explained to Whisper that Tangle collected many items during her adventures which Jewel used to curate her museum. Soon, the sky started to go dark outside, which upset Tangle as she did not think it would rain that day. Whisper immediately after pulled out her Variable Wispon as she had heard a scream come from outside.

Tangle & Whisper
Whisper arrived in Spiral Hill Village once again, only this time she was attacking Sonic.

Personality
Whisper is a rather mysterious individual who shows a rather shy and timid personality. Very soft-spoken, she speaks in a very low volume and utters no more than a few words at a time. It is heavily implied that she has experienced some past trauma, likely at the hands of Dr. Eggman. When in social situations, Whisper usually exhibits a rather bashful side of herself.

While Whisper is extremely fearful and mistrustful of other people, she exhibits a strong bond with her Wisps based on trust and friendship, as illustrated by their reception of Sonic persuading her to trust the hedgehog, and the Wisps willingness to stand up to Badniks in order to defend her.

When fighting, Whisper is very focused and determined, preferring to not let her emotions get the better of herself to complete her goals. However, she has shown hints of a greater temperament beneath her calm facade, namely when confronted with something associated with Dr. Eggman.

Whisper is very much a lone wolf. Keeping to herself, she prefers to do her own thing and work on her own rather than cooperating directly with others. This is illustrated by the fact that while she assisted the Resistance during the war, she never actually joined or even revealed herself to them. Despite this, it is shown that she can open up to others if they are nice to her and is willing to join group efforts, like when she joined the Resistance on a mission to liberate Angel Island.

A particular quirk about Whisper is that her eyes are squinting most of the time. She usually only opens them when she gets very angry.

Powers and abilities
Whisper is a capable fighter. During the Eggman Empire-Resistance war, her skills on the battlefield were enough to turn the tide of any battle.

Whisper is an expert marksman and a master of stealth, able to infiltrate areas undetected and hit distant targets with her Variable Wispon without being detected by friends or foes alike. Her natural aptitudes are further enhanced by her unique equipment. She seems to prefer positioning herself on high perches and snipe enemies from a safe distance, but is able to hold her own in melee combat as well.

Equipment and weapons
Whisper's primary tool of choice is the Variable Wispon, a customized Wispon that can utilize the powers of more than just one Wisp, thus giving her more options during battle. Unlike other Wispons however, which were designed to clear out crowds of robots, the Variable Wispon is designed for precision shooting.

Whisper also wears a mask scope that she uses for targeting. It covers her right eye and assists her left eye in aiming. With it, she can make pin-point shots with deadly accuracy. It also serves as a Wisp communication device.

Whisper also wears utility cloak over her shoulders. It stores up to six specialized Wisp canister cartridges within it (three on each side). These canisters hold her Wisp allies. Whenever Whisper needs one of their powers, her Wisps will leave their capsules and enter her Variable Wispon. If one Wisp is already occupying the Variable Wispon, they know to switch places.

As support for her Variable Wispon's Laser Mode, Wisper carries around a number of octahedron-shaped prims. By shooting one of these prims with her Variable Wispon's laser, she can change her laser's trajectory. She can also throw a bunch of prims into midair, thereby allowing her lasers to ricochet between each prism and create an offensive laser grid.

Shadow the Hedgehog
It seems that Whisper holds an unknown form of disdain for Shadow the Hedgehog; while traveling together with Shadow, she would give the black hedgehog an angry stare without anyone noticing it. It is currently unknown what the nature of this disdain is.

Silver the Hedgehog
Although Silver the Hedgehog is a big fan of Whisper, their first meeting face-to-face was less than stellar. While Silver was exceptionally eager to meet Whisper, Whisper, being a loner, got scared off by Silver and retreated into the shadows in order to avoid him. Thanks to Sonic's convincing though, Whisper decided to give Silver a chance by teaming up with him to infiltrate Eggman's base. After Silver later helped save Whisper's life and exhibited a respectful desire to be a part of her team, Whisper bashfully replied with a "maybe", showing that she has begun opening up to Silver.

Sonic the Hedgehog
At first, Whisper was against revealing herself to Sonic the Hedgehog, opting to hide in the shadows when he first noticed her. After seeing how Sonic exhibited an understand for her need to be alone and how her Wisps seemed to trust Sonic though, Whisper opened up to Sonic by revealing herself to him and telling him her name. Since then, Whisper has begun to trust Sonic's judgement. Most noticeably, she trusted Sonic enough to come directly to the Resistance's aid for the first time rather than working from the shadows during the battle for Angel Island.

Whisper's Wisps
Whisper is accompanied by her own team of Wisps, namely a Blue, Cyan, Green, Orange and Pink Wisp, whom she uses to power her Variable Wispon. According to Silver, they make "quite a team".

Despite their role as fuel for Whisper's weapon, Whisper's Wisps treat Whisper as a friend and care much for her. In fact, they care so much for her that they were filling to defend her on their own when she was at the mercy of some Badniks. Whisper likewise seems to trust her Wisps, enough for her to come out of the shadows when they deemed Sonic the Hedgehog a worthy ally. She is also shown caressing them on a few occasions.

Friends/allies

 * Amy Rose
 * Blaze the Cat
 * Chaotix
 * Charmy Bee
 * Espio the Chameleon
 * Vector the Crocodile
 * Jewel
 * Knuckles the Echidna
 * Miles "Tails" Prower
 * Rouge the Bat
 * Shadow the Hedgehog
 * Silver the Hedgehog
 * Sonic the Hedgehog
 * Tangle the Lemur
 * Wisps

Enemies

 * Eggman Empire
 * Dr. Eggman
 * Metal Sonic

Trivia

 * Whisper's name is based on her quiet personality and because she usually whispers. It could also be a play on the Wisps, due to her friendship with them and how she obtains a Variable Wispon.
 * Whisper is the fourth new character exclusive to IDW's Sonic the Hedgehog and the second new heroic character.
 * Whisper was officially revealed at the Sonic the Hedgehog's Way Past Cool Panel at SDCC 2018 on 19 July 2018.