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Years later, Knuckles met Sleet and Dingo who tricked him into believing that Sonic, Manic and Sonia were thieves after his island's Chaos Emerald. When the hedgehogs arrived on the Floating Island to find their mother, he attacked them until Sonic saved his life. After clearing up the misunderstanding, the echidna and the hedgehog siblings teamed up to reclaim the Chaos Emerald the villains had stolen before the island fell from the sky and they became the allies Aleena wanted. When Dr. Robotnik found another Emerald, Knuckles aided the heroes in reclaiming and containing it when it ran rampant.
In the Sonic X anime series, Knuckles originally lived on a planet in a Zone parallel to the Earth's dimension, where he guarded the Master Emerald. He took his job seriously and had a fearsome temper with a "chip on his shoulder". During one of the battles with Dr. Eggman, an accidental large-scale Chaos Control sent Knuckles, Sonic, the doctor, and their friends to the human world. Upon becoming stranded in this world, the echidna's only desire was to get back to Angel Island quickly. Preferring to do things his own way, he spent most of his initial time on Earth traveling alone rather than joining up with Sonic and their friends, though he would occasionally come to their aid to fight Eggman and befriend others.
When Angel Island was transported to Earth after he failed to work together with Eggman to bring them back home, Knuckles returned to guarding the Master Emerald while helping Sonic with other major threats. Eventually though, he and everyone from his world returned home after learning their presence was threating to freeze time.
Six months after returning home, Knuckles was persuaded to join Sonic and his friends in their fight against Metarex, an alien race of cyborgs that was a threat to the safety of the entire galaxy, when they needed him and the Master Emerald to power the Blue Typhoon. During the final showdown, the echidna was forced to sacrifice the Master Emerald to defeat the Metarex's leader, Dark Oak. After defeating the Metarex, he returned home to look over the Emerald until its power could return naturally.
In the Sonic Boom franchise, Knuckles hails from Angel Island and is the muscle of Team Sonic, a group of heroes who protects Seaside Island and the earth at large from Dr. Eggman and his legion of robots. An orphan and the last of his kind, Knuckles is not very bright, less independent and a little slow on the uptake, but he still has his soft spots: he loves nature and is extremely loyal to his friends. Also, while they are friends, Knuckles has a friendly rivalry going on with Sonic.
In the Sonic the Hedgehogcomic series and its spin-offs published by Archie Comics, Knuckles was the 18th Guardian of Angel Island and a member of the Brotherhood of Guardians. Born to Locke the Echidna and Lara-Le, Knuckles' DNA was indirectly tampered with and his unhatched egg was irradiated with Chaos Emerald radiation by Locke so he had a chance of facing a horrible threat in the future which Locke had seen in a vision. The result was a child with incredible powers–a "living Chaos Emerald."
Knuckles was raised by in Guardian tradition by his father in the wilds on Angel Island and then left to fend for himself at 10 years old. Knuckles learned self-reliance while his forefathers monitored his process, sometimes lending him a hidden hand. Despite the Brotherhood's neutrality, Knuckles joined the First Robotnik War after a meeting with Sonic the Hedgehog and later the Second Robotnik War. The mysteries around his life began to unravel when the effects of the Ultimate Annihilator returned both the Dark Legion and the city of Echidnaopolis to Angel Island. Knuckles was exposed to a family and heritage he knew he had. During this event, he would meet a female Dark Legion member Julie-Su, whom he would soon get close with and would both become members of the Chaotix.
As his prowess grew in facing new challenges, Knuckles' Chaos power grew out of control, transforming him into Chaos Knuckles, a form with god-like power, but had little to no control. The transformation culminated when Knuckles was forced to fight Mammoth Mogul to save his distant uncle and old foe Dimitri, where he released all his power to stop Mogul and died in the process. Knuckles joined the Chaos Force to a degree even the Ancient Walkers had reached. However, with his cosmic awareness, he sensed the Xorda Invasion of Mobius. Using his unlimited power, Knuckles returned to life - but sacrificed his "living Chaos Emerald" quality, leaving him weak and powerless until the Master Emerald's energies restored his powers. His Chaos Force connection was later abused Dr. Finitevus who used dark magic to transform Knuckles into Enerjak. As Enerjak, Knuckles made sweeping changes to Angel Island and the world. He was restored, but at the cost of Locke's life, making him withdrawn to almost everyone. He endured further losses when he later lost almost all the echidnas, including his family and Julie-Su on Mobius to Thrash the Tasmanian Devil.
Following the events of Worlds Collide, Knuckles and his history became nearly indistinguishable from his game counterpart. Assisting in the Shattered World Crisis, Knuckles went on a hunt for the Master Emerald's shards after shattering it to keep it safe.
In the Sonic the Comic series published by Fleetway Editions, 8,000 years ago, Knuckles was the leader of the Echidna Empire's armies under Pochacamac, fighting the Drakon Empire. Presumably by being placed in suspended animation, Knuckles survived to the present day, but with no memories of his earlier life. Seemingly the only echidna left in this era, Knuckles came to live on the Floating Island where he alone guarded the Chaos Emeralds. In addition to a near obsession of protecting his island, Knuckles is greatly affected by the uncertainty of the fate of his own people.
When Dr. Robotnik and his Death Egg II crashed on the Floating Island, Knuckles was tricked by the doctor into believing Sonic the Hedgehog sought to steal the island's Chaos Emeralds. Knuckles thus allowed Robotnik to rebuild the Death Egg II on the island and assisted him in fighting Sonic and stealing Sonic's own six Chaos Emeralds so they could be combined with Knuckles' into one set of Emeralds. Knuckles, however, was skeptical enough to conceal that he had the missing Grey Emerald, so when Robotnik revealed his betrayal and tried to absorb the Emeralds' power, Knuckles used the Grey Emerald to defeat him.
From that point on, Knuckles worked as an ally to the Freedom Fighters in the battles with Robotnik. When Dr. Zachary appeared, Knuckles stopped him from destroying Mobius, but then had to spend the next period undoing the subsequent damage to the Floating Island, which culminated as he returned home to stop Robotnik and Zachary from turning the Emerald Hill refugees into an organic computer. After Robotnik had been overthrown, Knuckles came to help Sonic and his friends' with the following threats, such as when Robotnik tried to force Mobius into environmental collapse and when Chaos was unleashed.
When Sonic and Tails came to the Land of Darkness to stop the Robot Generator, Knuckles came to the duo aid when they came under attack by Metal Robotnik and helped destroy the metallic menace. When it turned out that the Robot Generator was a trap made by Dr. Robotnik to complete Hyper Metal Sonic, the echidna helped the heroes keep the doctor from destroying the Land of the Sky.
In the Sonic the Hedgehog film series produced by Paramount Pictures and its spin-offs, Knuckles is an alien echidna who is the last of his kind and is seeking out the Master Emerald, a gemstone of great power created by the echidnas but was later confiscated by the giant owls due to its dangerous power. To gain a clue to the Master Emerald's whereabouts, Knuckles began to search for the Sonic the Hedgehog, who was the apprentice of the final owl, Longclaw. In his search, he discovered Dr. Robotnik, who lead him to Earth and promised to help him find the Master Emerald. However, Robotnik later betrayed Knuckles and took the Master Emerald for himself. Due to this, Knuckles teamed up with Sonic and Tails to recover the Master Emerald. The trio formed a pact to protect it and Knuckles went on to live with them and the Wachowskis on Earth.
Quotes[]
"As far back as I can remember, I've been living here on this dark island, always guarding the Master Emerald from anything that can harm it. I don't know why I was given this job, why it was my fate, destined to be here... forever."
"Without the Master Emerald's power, this whole island will fall into the ocean!"
—Knuckles before Angel Island falls, after the Master Emerald shattered into pieces.
"I'll probably be on this floating island forever, guarding the Master Emerald again. I may not know the whole story behind this, but perhaps it's better that way. I'm at peace once more."
"What're you talking about?! That emerald's MINE! You got that?! The Master Emerald contains special powers that neutralize the energy of the Chaos Emeralds. That makes it very powerful!"
"We're fighting to get our world back now. Don't stop, don't look back! Just focus on the task ahead no matter what! Let's do this, everyone!! CHARGE!!!"
In addition, the game has two different themes depending on the version. In the standalone version of Sonic the Hedgehog 3, the song had techno beats. In Sonic & Knuckles as well as the lock-on game, it is changed to the aforementioned percussion theme.
In Sonic Adventure 2, Knuckles' theme song is a remake of "Unknown from M.E." The song has a faster pace and a greater focus on pure rap, and was performed by Marlon Saunders and Hunnid-P.
In Sonic Heroes, Knuckles' team, Team Sonic, theme tune is called "We Can," and actively mentions him in the lines; 'And Knuckles by our side makes this a safer ride.'
In Sonic Riders, Knuckles' theme, shared with Sonic and Tails, is an instrumental called "High Flying Groove."
Dr. Eggman has speculated that Knuckles has inherited his powers from his ancestors and former guardians of the Master Emerald.[12]
In the console/PC version of Sonic Generations, once Sky Sanctuary and Knuckles are restored, grapes can be seen growing on a tree behind Knuckles. This could be a reference to his preference for grapes that is stated in the instruction booklet for the United States' edition of Sonic the Hedgehog 3.
In the original versions of Sonic 3, Sonic & Knuckles and Sonic 3 & Knuckles, respectively, the cutscene Knuckles is slightly pinker than the playable Knuckles and has yellow cuffs on his shoes instead of green cuffs. This is due to the palettes conflicting with the HUD items; the latter was able to be perfected so this would not happen.
In the early games released on the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive, the letters K.T.E. (Knuckles the Echidna) are by his life icon, instead of "Knuckles" because the name display could not support more than five letters.
Due to space limitations, in Sonic Drift 2, Knuckles' name is spelled "Knucles", without the second "K".
Knuckles' eye color has varied in the Sonic series, changing from blue to purple. In Sonic Battle, he is actually portrayed with both eye colors (blue for the fighting and purple for the cutscenes.)
Knuckles is the only playable character in Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) who does not finish a Stage, boss or Town Mission. Despite this, he does have a victory pose and quotes depend on the rank.
Knuckles' "Oh, no!" quote when he takes damage during his battle against Sonic or Tails in Sonic Adventure is a popular meme among fans, due to himself comically speaking in a monotone voice.
This was actually a mistake during the development of the game, as Knuckles' voice actor at the time, Michael McGaharn, did give Knuckles a more upbeat reaction, but Sega used an earlier test voice clip that ending up being left in the final release.
During multiplayer on Sonic Heroes, the white crest symbol on Knuckles' chest will disappear while he is taunting the opponent.
Knuckles' shoes have been miscolored multiple times:
In the original versions of Sonic 3 & Knuckles and Sonic the Hedgehog Triple Trouble, respectively, Knuckles' cuffs were colored yellow during cutscenes, as it interfered with the HUD palette. The playable version of Knuckles has green cuffs, though.
In Sonic Drift 2 and Sonic 3D Blast, Knuckles' cuffs were colored blue.
In Sonic R, Knuckles' shoes instead resemble Tails' white-tipped shoes, save for the metal tops and green cuffs. In still art, however, his shoes are correctly colored, but the yellow stripe covers the back too.
The crest on Knuckles' chest has been erroneously colored peach on various occasions, including the gameplay in Sonic 3 & Knuckles and the title screen of Knuckles' Chaotix.
"Rankles the Otter", a joke character based on Knuckles in the November 1994 issue of the British Sega Magazine.
As part of a humor article in the November 1994 issue of the British Sega Magazine, a character named "Rankles the Otter" was featured under the guise of a search-and-find competition where the first person to submit a photograph of the character from Sonic & Knuckles would have received 1,000,000 pounds as a reward.[13] The character appears to be a green recolor of Knuckles, but with spiky ball like feet, only two dreadlocks, and a small belt around his gloves instead of his knuckles.
Additionally, the character was referenced by a tweet by the official Sega Twitter account as part of April's Fools.[14]
In Sonic Battle, Sonic once calls Knuckles a "spiky-headed mole". This is a play on the Japanese term for echidna, which literally translates as "needle-mole".
The eyes that appear right at the end of Sonic the Hedgehog (TV series) series finale that were meant to be the ones of Knuckles until they ended up being Naugus'.
Knuckles was planned to appear in the cancelled third season of the Sonic the Hedgehog (TV series) where he would accompany Snively to begin with as the latter yelled "and I'm not alone!". The eyes piercing from the darkness at the end of the last episode were also a last-minute addition by director Ron Myrick, and were meant to belong to him. However, writer Ben Hurst would change the source of the eyes to Naugus in his draft for the cancelled season three, [15] despite the eyes bearing noticeable differences from that of Naugus and being somewhat closer to Knuckles'.
Had this been kept, this would mark the first animated appearance of Knuckles.
↑Sega of America
. Knuckles the Echidna. Sonic Characters. Sega. Archived from the original on 5 March 2005. Retrieved on 26 October 2017. "Knuckles was born alone on Angel Island, brought into this world to defend the Master Emerald. That is Knuckles' destiny and fate. If Sonic exemplifies the wind, then Knuckles is the mountain: stern and unmovable. Knuckles is quick to anger, but cool and determined in battle. Even though he considers Sonic his friend, the disposition of the Master Emerald is his ultimate concern. His determination to protect the gem from harm or ill use is set in stone and is unshakable. He is often envious of the adventurous lifestyle Sonic lives and the fame that has followed from Sonic's deeds, but Knuckles is well known in his own right, as a treasure hunter versed in the martial arts."
↑Sega Magazine. November 1994. p. 70. ISBN 9771352426008.
↑SEGA on Twitter. Twitter. SEGA (1 April 2024). Retrieved on 1 April 2024.
↑The Complete History of Sonic SatAM on Twitter. Twitter (24 March 2021). Retrieved on 27 March 2021. "The Complete History of Sonic SatAM: Did you know that the red eyes seen at the end of Doomsday were not only a last minute edition by Ron Myrick, but had initially been added to tease Knuckles? And that even after the owner of the eyes were changed to Naugus by Ben Hurst, he still had planned to include him in the-"
