Knuckles the Echidna

Knuckles the Echidna, a red-quilled Echidna, aka a 'Spiny Anteater', is a character in the Sonic the Hedgehog series of video games, television shows and comics. His nicknames are Rad Red, Red Storm, and fittingly, Knucklehead.

Who is Knuckles?

He is a red echidna whose quills look like dreadlocks. According to the Sega Megadrive/Sega Genesis games, Knuckles is 15 years old. He was first featured in Sonic the Hedgehog 3. However, in the Sonic Adventure games, he and Sonic had their ages switched, making him sixteen. His name came from the fact that two of the knuckles on each of his hands are actually sharp spikes. Knuckles is very strong. Objects like strong walls and large rocks are nothing to his two fists. This is why he's the power member of Team Sonic. He also has the ability to glide by trapping air under his dreadlocks.

Knuckles lives on Angel Island, also known as the Floating Island, which hovers in the sky thanks to the power of the Master Emerald, which he is charged with guarding. Knuckles is the last surviving member of the Echidna people who once inhabited the island. Due to his rather remote location and the fact that he rarely strays far from his duty, Knuckles is often alone, and as thus can be quite antisocial and distrusting, but on the other side, he is often quite gullible. One example of this gullibility is the belief that he held throughout Sonic the Hedgehog 3: that Sonic and Tails were attempting to steal the Master Emerald and that the infamous mad scientist Dr. Eggman (Dr. Robotnik in the Americas and Europe) was trying to protect them.

Dr. Eggman, of course, had lied to Knuckles, and was planning on using the emerald to power his space station, the Death Egg. Knuckles is quite aloof by nature, and due to his lack of exposure to the outside world, is a poor judge of character. So as soon as they set foot on the island, he grabs the Chaos Emeralds and runs away. Knuckles frequently forces confrontations with the duo, and his in-depth knowledge of the island usually ends up delaying Sonic and Tails with some trap or another. He constantly torments Sonic throughout the rest of the game (as well as its continuation, Sonic & Knuckles). In the Hidden Palace Zone of Sonic & Knuckles, Eggman's betrayal was revealed to him very bluntly, in the form of electrocution. Knuckles then joined Sonic and Tails in their quest to stop Eggman. Although he always sees through Robotnik's tricks in the end, it's not long before you'll see him skirmishing with Sonic, giving Robotnik just enough time to launch another attack.

Knuckles has been a (sometimes reluctant) friend to Sonic and Tails since then, sharing many of their adventures, getting tricked by Eggman, and catching the thieving eye (as well as the heart) of a certain white bat named Rouge, who tries to steal the Master Emerald for herself (Sonic Adventure 2). Besides them, Knuckles had made friends with the Chaotix, a group of misfits who do the same thing as Sonic and friends (saving the day from evil villains), only they are primarily motivated by money.

Like Sonic, Knuckles is able to use the Chaos Emeralds to go Super, changing into Super Knuckles.

Abilities

Knuckles' abilities revolve around two things: his left fist and his right fist. Although he's no slouch in the speed department, the spikes on his knuckles make him a fearsome combatant, and also allow him to dig through dirt/attach and climb walls. In addition, his air-catching quills afford him the ability to hang-glide.