Knuckles the Dread (ナックルズ・ザ・ドレッド[2] Nakkuruzu za Doreddo?) also known as Captain Dread or just simply Dread, is a character that appears in the Sonic the Hedgehog series. He is a pirate echidna and an alternate version of Knuckles the Echidna from the world of No Place and is also the former captain of his crew, passing on the role of captain to Black Rose.
Appearance[]
Knuckles the Dread's full profile, from Sonic Prime.
Knuckles the Dread is a doppelgänger of his mainstream counterpart, albeit with some notable differences. As such, he is an anthropomorphic echidna with red fur that covers most of his body, a black nose on his peach-skinned muzzle, and purple eyes. He also has seven wavy dreadlock-like spines around the sides and back of his head with black and brown bands on them. He also has small fangs and a gold tooth.
For attire, Dread wears a black and gold rimmed pirate hat on his head, a black vest with a light blue underside with gold marks, underneath the vest is a white shirt with a purple cravat with a red and gold button, brown gloves with spikes on the knuckles with matching boots.
History[]
TV series[]
Past[]
Some time prior to Sonic's arrival in No Place, Dread had attempted to retrieve the Devil's Lighthouse, only to fail, causing him and his crew to lose their main ship. Dread was abandoned by his crew, after which he would form a new pirate crew consisting of newbies Black Rose, Catfish, Froggy, Batten Rouge and Sails Tails.[3]
Season one[]
Dread welcomes Sonic to his ship, from "It Takes One to No Place".
Dread was first seen when Sonic is brought to the Angel's Voyage by his subordinates. Dread then threw several parties for Sonic across several days, after which Sonic insisted that he needs to find the blue Prism Shard which was known to the crew as the "Devil's Lighthouse", prompting Dread to tell Sonic to forget about it, since it is extremely dangerous to retrieve. When his old crew invaded the ship, Sonic and the others fight back, while Dread cowered instead. Following pressure from Sonic, Dread revealed his backstory with the help of Black Rose, and explained that the map to the Shard had been lost in the shipwreck. When the crew began to address Sonic as their Captain and taking orders from him, Dread himself was left with no choice but to accept.[3]
Dread becomes obsessed with the Shard, from "There's No ARRGH in "Team"".
A while later, the ship was attacked once again, this time by Rusty Rose and an army of Eggforcers, leaving the ship heavily damaged. Dread abandoned his crew instead, but after persuasion from Sonic, he returned and assumed the role of captain again. Having salvaged the ship, Dread decided to make another attempt at the "Devil's Lighthouse". The ship caught up with Rusty Rose, and Dread engaged in a battle with the Eggforcers. When Rusty Rose ordered a small team of Eggforcers to go after the shard, Sonic convinced Dread to go after them. Dread fought past the Eggforcers and engaged them in a tussle, before finally taking possession of the Shard.[4]
Season two[]
Dread puts his crew against Sonic, from "No Way Out".
Dread returns to the ship with the Shard in his hands. The Chaos Council pays a visit to No Place, in an effort to steal the Shard. Sonic comes back too, and Dread is happy to have him there, as he believes Sonic's speed could be used in his favor. After Rusty is betrayed by her former leaders, Dread orders Black Rose to untie her, making Rusty a new member of the crew. He steals the Council's Kraken, and uses it as the crew's new main ship. The pirates engage in battle against the Council and its robots. When Sonic goes after the doctors, Dread starts telling his crew that Sonic betrayed them. This makes Batten, Sails, Rusty and Black Rose mad at him when he comes back. Dread has no mercy on him, and orders his crew to attack the hedgehog. Despite this conflict, they eventually make peace with Sonic again, as the Council is still their main enemy. Dread is then hurt by one of the Eggforcers while he was trying to get the Shard back from Sonic. In the end, he climbs into the Council's Mothership, following them through a portal to New Yoke City.
Dread meets Knucks, from "Double Trouble".
In New Yoke, Dread falls off the Council's ship, but Sonic manages to save him by throwing him on solid land. Dread decides to explore the city on his own. A while later, he surprises Sonic by protecting him from Chaos Sonic. He states this is just an alliance, and then the race is off to get "his beauty" back. Dread fights alongside Sonic, Rebel and Knucks, but their efforts are not enough to stop the robot. Later, Dread is seen fighting Renegade Knucks, as they clearly don't like each other.
Season three[]
Dread resigns as the captain, from "The Devil Is in the Tails".
When the Shatterspaces start to collapse, Dread stays in the Yoke HQ, sitting down. He is not happy to work with the Council, but he has no choice. When Sonic finds out some pirates are still stuck in No Place, he rushes to help. Dread, lying on the floor, ignores Sonic and Black Rose, saying he has no purpose after losing his Shard. Despite this, he still shows up to The Grim with everyone once they go to help Sonic face Nine. Dread is seen fighting against the Grim Troopers. At one point, Jack suggests that they climb up Nine's tower to steal the Paradox Prism. Dread is excited by this idea, until he realizes Black Rose is having trouble fighting Alpha Grim Amy. He decides to help his friend, and Rose is very surprised. Dread states that she is now the captain, and that he will follow her commands. Some time later, Dread and all the others break into Nine's lab to confront him one last time. Once the fox fixes everything, Dread says goodbye to Sonic and tells him to not waste any more time while he is in a weak state.
Game appearances[]
Sonic Dash[]
In Sonic Dash, Dread appears as one of the playable characters. In this game, he can be unlocked after obtaining 200 of his Character Cards.
| Image | Rarity | Affinity Bonus | Upgrade Profile | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Power-Up | Highest level | |||
 |
Rare | N/A | Dash Boost | 9 |
| x2 Multiplier | 11 | |||
| Magnet | 9 | |||
| Shield | 10 | |||
| Headstart | 9 | |||
Sonic Forces: Speed Battle[]
In Sonic Forces: Speed Battle, Dread appears as one of the playable characters, being added to the game's roster in the version 4.18.0 update. In this game, he has the following gameplay characteristics:
| Image | Rarity | Stats | Items | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Projectile | Boost | Trap | |||
 |
 |
Speed: 8/10 Acceleration: 5/10 Strength: 8/10 |
 |
 |
 |
Sonic Dash+ / Sonic Prime Dash[]
In Sonic Dash+ and Sonic Prime Dash, Dread appears as one of the playable characters. In these games, he can be unlocked by obtaining 500 of his Character Tokens.
| Image | Affinity Bonus | Unlock Requirement | Upgrade Profile | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Power-Up | Highest level | |||
|
 
|
Obtain 500 
|
Dash Boost | 9 |
| x2 Multiplier | 11 | |||
| Magnet | 9 | |||
| Shield | 11 | |||
| Headstart | 10 | |||
Sonic Speed Simulator[]
In Sonic Speed Simulator, Dread appears as a playable character, debuting during the Captain Dread event.
| Character | Unlocking requirement | Rarity |
|---|---|---|
 Knuckles the Dread |
|
Exotic |
Personality[]
Dread lies to his crew, saying Sonic betrayed them, from "Second Wind".
| This section requires an expansion. |  |
Dread possesses Knuckles' ability to lead others, and he used to love adventure, and wanted to become legendary for it. Unfortunately, since a failed adventure to discover the "Devil's Lighthouse" (a Prism Shard), Dread's personality became focused around all of Knuckles' caution, turning him into a coward who did not want to take any risks, and instead of finding pleasure in adventures and treasure hunting, his ship stayed in place on a calm sea and the remains of his crew just held parties.
Dread is the counterpart of Knuckles who is sometimes quick to trust others - perhaps too quick, as his crew are cautious of the total stranger Sonic, but he is not, and never considers traps or betrayal. He seems to be made from that part of Knuckles who is willing to kick back and have fun. After a while though, doing nothing but holding parties came to bore his crew.
He also possesses Knuckles' short, hot temper, but lacks the underlying anger issues to remain angry, soon getting over his outbursts.
Powers and abilities[]
Dread is a capable pirate captain, having led two pirate crews throughout his pirating career. He is also a proficient sailor and quick thinker, as he was quickly able to salvage the sinking Angel's Voyage using equipment aboard the ship and sail it across the dangerous waters around the blue Prism Shard.
Dread is also a capable combatant, both in hand-to-hand combat and swordsmanship, having taken down numerous of Rusty Rose's Eggforcers all on his own. In terms of swordsmanship, he is clearly shown to be leagues above his subordinates. With the blue prism, Dread can shoot lightning out of his sword.
Dread has also demonstrated the ability to glide and climb, much like his main counterpart. He also learns to Spin Dash by Sonic.
Relationships[]
Angel's Voyage crew/Kraken's crew[]
After Jack and his crew abandoned Dread, he created his new crew called the Angel’s Voyage crew featuring Batten, Black Rose, Sails and Catfish. And later, Dread recruited Rusty Rose after the Chaos Council deserted her.
Jack and his crew[]
The old crew used to be Dread’s crew at first, but because of Dread’s obsession with the Blue Shard, Jack and his crew turned against him.
Sonic the Hedgehog[]
In season 1, when Sonic first arrived to No Place, Dread showed a kind expression towards Sonic. However, in season 2, because of his obsession for the Blue Shard, he manipulated his crew into turning against Sonic. But when Dread arrived in New Yoke and attacked Chaos Sonic, he owed Sonic for saving him earlier. However, in the end, they remained on neutral terms with each other. But in Season 3, Dread rooted for Sonic for wishing him luck in getting back to Green Hill meaning that both of them are on good terms.
Renegade Knucks[]
When Dread saw that Knucks was his counterpart, he reacted by saying "Shiver me timbers! Ye be me!". What they both agreed on was on Sonic liking traps.
Friends/allies[]
Neutral[]
Enemies[]
- Alpha Grim Sonic
- Alpha Grim Amy
- Alpha Grim Rouge
- Alpha Grim Birdie
- Alpha Grim Knuckles (Grim counterpart)
- Chaos Council
- Chaos Sonic
- Grim Big
- Grim Troopers
Trivia[]
- The way Knuckles’ dreadlocks are structured like tentacles is likely a reference to a Kraken (or Octopuses in general).
- His name could also be inspired by the prominence of his dreadlocks.
- Dread is one of the four characters (along with Fang the Hunter, Mephiles the Dark and Bean the Dynamite) to have a title that does not refer to his species. Dread refers to how feared he is in the eye of the pirates of No Place, and his dreadlocks.
See also[]
References[]
- ↑ Nicholas Kole (@FromHappyRock) on Twitter. Twitter (15 December 2022). Retrieved on 19 December 2022. "Nicholas Kole: Getting asked to design Knuckles The Dread was...everything *eyes collection of all 32 issues of the knuckles archie run that I bought with saved up lunch money*"
- ↑ Sonic Prime ("It Takes One to No Place"), Japanese subtitles
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Spahi, Omar (December 15, 2022). "It Takes One to No Place". Sonic Prime. Season 1. Episode 7. Netflix.
- ↑ Peniston, Justin (December 15, 2022). "There's No ARRGH in "Team"". Sonic Prime. Season 1. Episode 7. Netflix.
