Christopher Thorndyke

Christopher Thorndyke (クリストファー ソーンダイク) aka Chris (クリス), is the main human character in the Sonic X anime. He is a twelve year old kind and caring boy, who lives in Station Square on Earth. At the start of the series, Chris finds Sonic the Hedgehog at the bottom of his family's 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.

Background
Chris lives with his elderly grandfather name Chuck Thorndyke (who is a famous scientist), his bodyguard and butler Mr. Tanaka, and his Hispanic black maid Ella. He lives in a very 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 finds his luxurious mansion to be pretty boring. At some point, he made friends with Danny, Frances and Helen who were his classmates.

Personality
Chris is mostly seen as 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 back home, or when he deliberately kept Sonic from returning to his 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.

Appearance
At the age of twelve, Chris usual wore a red and white shirt, a belt hanging off the edge of his jeans, and stylish shoes. At the age of eighteen, Chris began wearing a white sweater and a lab coat.

Abilities
He is very smart since he can made inventions that will help Sonic.

Season 1
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.[3] 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.[4]

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 an 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).[5]

Some time later, Chris learned how Sonic and his friends were sent to Earth by a Chaos Control phenomenon caused by the seven Chaos Emeralds, 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, securing the first of the Chaos Emeralds.[6]

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.[7]

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.[8]

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.[9]

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.[10]

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.[11]

Later, Chris arrived at the 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.[12]

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 befuddled by the false lead.[13]

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.[14] 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.[15]

Season 2
As a result of Sonic's heroics, Chris and his household members were invited to meet the President at the White House. When Chris brought Sonic 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.[16]

Following the meeting with the President, Chris saw Sonic and his friends being granted passports, allowing them to travel in public and not be kept secret anymore. However, they had a hard time getting used to it when they noticed the strange looks they were given by the public on an outing to the mall with Chris and Ella. However, Eggman soon attacked Station Square in his new mobile base, the Egg Fort. Sonic arrived to confront him, and with help from Sam and Mister Tanaka, Chris was able to return home and retrieve the X Tornado to help Sonic against the Egg Fort, sending it plunging into the ocean.[17] Later, Chris took Sonic and the others on a vacation to the Sapphire Sea, during which they explored a sunken ship, where they found the blue Chaos Emerald. Eggman soon attacked them with his E-57 Clurken, but Sonic was able to defeat E-57, allowing Chris and co. to escape with the emerald.[18]

During a dogfight with the Egg Fort, both it and the X Tornado were shot down over an African savannah, resulting in Chris, Tails, and Sonic running afoul of a pair of crooked men who were 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 got destroyed, while the criminals were arrested by the local authorities.[19]

Chris soon brought Sonic, Tails, Amy, Cream and Cheese to the site of his mother's next movie that was being filmed. Later, after the director decided to call it quits after a take of Lindsey in the castle resulted in problems with the audio after two tries, Chris paid his mom a visit to wish her goodnight. However, Lindsey got kidnapped by King Boom Boo and his fellow Booms, and Chris soon found himself struggling to rescue her alongside Ella, Sonic, Tails, Cream and Cheese, with Amy's help. After the two got tricked by King Boom Boo into freeing him with the Talisman, Amy got possessed by one of his minions and attacked Chris. Just when it looked like Chris was done for though, the possessed Amy showed fear at the Talisman. Seizing the moment, Chris used the talisman to free Sonic, who then exorcised Amy, before everyone else was released. The group then escaped King Boom Boo and Chris sealed him and his minions up again with the Talisman. However, Chris forgot to put the Talisman back on its pedestal the right way, meaning that King Boom Boo could still escape.[20]

Chris later took Sonic and his friends on a trip to the glaciers on his family's cruise ship, but Sonic proved 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 was not 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. Also aided by an enraged Ella in the X Tornado, Sonic defeated the Egg Fort II.[21]

One night, Chris was awoken from sleep by his uncle, Sam Speed, having arrived to challenge Sonic to a race in his new Rocket Car, which Sonic eventually conceded to. During the race, Chris and Tails arrived in the X Tornado to give Sonic lunch, but Chris was left covered in dust when Sam took off to retake the lead while Sonic was distracted. Chris later appeared at the finish line, where Sonic won by a huge margin.[22]

Chris eventually came along with his friends and Sonic's crew on a trip to the homeland of Mister Tanaka, led by Mr. Stewart. After Cheese got flushed down a river however, Chris helped his friends search for it. Eventually, the group discovered a small passage through which they entered a Chao colony. There, Chris and the others were warmly welcomed by its residents. After they found Cheese and played with the Chao, they decided to return to Mr. Stewart. However, Dr. Eggman and his E-66 Da-Dai-Oh soon appeared. When the robot tried to attack the group however, it slid down the mountainside. Although that neutralized the threat, the robot would muddle up the river feeding the Chao colony. Chris and the others thus tried cleaning the pond where the Chao lived until Chris came and did it for them. After that, Chris could enjoy the evening at a bonfire, learning that Tanaka knew about the Chao colony.[23]

A short time later, Chris received a call from his father Nelson, asking him to come to Filmdom City. The reason was that Nelson wanted his family, Sonic, and his friends there as he was planning on surprising Lindsey for their wedding anniversary by appearing on the set of her latest movie to present her with a ring he got for their anniversary while in disguise as one of her co-stars. However, when he revealed the ring to Chris and co., it turned out to be the purple Chaos Emerald, which reacted violently to the one Sonic was carrying before being subdued. During the rehearsal for the scene Nelson would present the emerald to Lindsey in, he ended up ruining the whole plan and exposing the emerald again, causing it to react to both the ones Sonic and Knuckles were carrying, destroying much of the sound stage's equipment before Mister Tanaka subdued it. Lindsey was furious as a result, but before Chris' parents could get too deep in arguing, the set got crashed by the Egg Fort II, setting in motion events that left the purple Chaos Emerald in Eggman's possession, before E-74 Weazo attacked everyone. When E-74 threatened Chris, Lindsey, and Ella, Nelson protected them, but Sonic and Knuckles managed to lure E-74 away and destroy him, while Eggman escaped with the Emerald. Afterward, Chris and his mother were relieved that Nelson was alright, before cheering Tanaka up after the butler thought he had failed his duty to protect the Thorndykes. With all matters settled, Chris encouraged everyone to celebrate his parents' anniversary, which they did.[24]

Later, Sonic found himself unable to stop running when a microchip from Eggman's E-88 Lightning Bird got stuck in his ear unnoticed. Chris and his friends made several attempts to stop Sonic with various traps, but they all failed. Thankfully, Sonic eventually got the microchip out himself.[25]

With everyone looking for the last missing Chaos Emerald, Chris began feeling depressed, knowing that once they had all seven, Sonic and his new friends would leave him and head home. When Steward convinced Chris to think about his friends first though, the decision was made for Chris and Knuckles to meet with Eggman and call a truce so they could work together to get those among them home. After Eggman agreed and asked for the Chaos Emeralds to be brought to him for safekeeping, Chris took the four Sonic had, and the one Knuckles had, to the Egg Fort II. After dropping them off, Chris and Knuckles witnessed E-77 Lucky report that he had found the last Chaos Emerald. Seizing the moment, Eggman ejected Knuckles from the Egg Fort II and took Chris hostage, revealing to Chris that he planned to establish the Eggman Empire on Earth and had no interest in their truce. With that, he launched the Egg Fort II to go meet with Lucky.[26]

Shackled to the back wall of the Egg Fort II's cockpit, Chris was left helpless as he watched Eggman deal with Sonic and G.U.N., only able to cheer Sonic on and taunt Eggman. However, when Eggman turned the Egg Fort II into the E-99 Eggsterminator, fueled by power from the six Chaos Emeralds he now possessed, Chris saw Sonic get beaten into a pulp by the Eggsterminator, struggling against his restraints and shouting Sonic's name in anguish. Finally, when the Eggsterminator drop-kicked an unconscious Sonic into the ocean, it became too much for Chris to bear. Breaking free of his restraints and grabbing the Emeralds, Chris was left in a heavily injured state. When Knuckles then broke into the cockpit to rescue Chris, Rouge carried him off in the confusion. However, Chris struggled in her arms, causing her to drop him and the Emeralds. Rouge was able to save him, but the Emeralds fell into the ocean. As the Eggsterminator then grabbed Rouge and Chris and attempted to crush them, however, Sonic was revived by the seven Chaos Emeralds, as Lucky had given him his earlier, transforming into Super Sonic. Tearing the Eggsterminator's fist holding Rouge and Chris to pieces, Super Sonic took down the rest of the Eggsterminator, before inducing Chaos Control.[27]

In the void of Chaos Control, Super Sonic healed Chris of his injuries. Chris hugged Super Sonic, asking him not to leave, but Super Sonic soon disappeared, leaving Chris in deep grief. It soon turned out however, that Chaos Control brought the Mystic Ruins and Angel Island to Earth instead, and Chris' face brightened once more when Sonic appeared before him.[27]

Six months after Super Sonic's battle with the Eggsterminator (during which Eggman had mysteriously gone silent), Chris would pay his mom a visit, where she gave Cream the yellow Chaos Emerald as a gift. Later, the two met another resident from Sonic's world, Big the Cat, who was looking for his pal Froggy, and Chris and Cream agreed to help him. However, some time later, Chris found the Station Square police under attack by was only when Sonic showed up to fight it that Eggman arrived and revealed that he was behind Chaos and planned to evolve it into an unstoppable monster with the Chaos Emeralds to conquer the world with. Stealing Cream's Chaos Emerald, alongside the Emerald he already possessed, Eggman evolved Chaos into Chaos 2. However, Knuckles arrived, demanding to know what Eggman did to the Master Emerald, and together with Sonic, they managed to defeat Chaos 2.[28]

Gathering with his friends to hear their stories, Chris learned from Knuckles that the Master Emerald had been shattered and that Froggy had swallowed the purple Chaos Emerald Big had found. Chris thus agreed to help Big find Froggy, while Sonic and Tails looked for the rest of the Chaos Emeralds to ensure Chaos could not grow stronger. Knuckles also began his search for the shards of the Master Emerald so he could restore it.[29]

During their search for Froggy, Chris and Big managed to fish him up from one of the fishing spots Big found, only for Froggy to then be kidnapped by E-102 Gamma, one of Eggman's E-Series robots sent to hunt Froggy down.[30] Pursuing Gamma to the Egg Carrier, Chris and Big freed Froggy.[30][31] However, they ended up becoming captives of Chaos when it absorbed the Chaos Emerald from Froggy, along with the Emerald Eggman got earlier from a Flicky, which transformed Chaos 4 into Chaos 6. However, a tag-team effort by Sonic and Knuckles defeated Chaos 6, thus freeing Chris, Big and Froggy from its clutches, leaving Eggman to escape his crashing Egg Carrier in fury. Boarding the abandoned X Tornado, Chris managed to escape the Egg Carrier, but was separated from the others, only to then find the white Chaos Emerald.[31]

With the Emerald in his possession, Chris went to find Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles, who had just discovered from Eggman that Chaos was still alive.[32][33] When Chris finally found his friends, Chaos ambushed him, forcing Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles to rescue him, but allowing Chaos to get all seven Chaos Emeralds the group had and assume its ultimate form of Perfect Chaos. Chris subsequently flew back to the now flooded Station Square with the others in the X Tornado, but none of their attacks, nor Eggman's Egg Carrier 2, were able to break through Chaos' defenses. Before Chaos could finish them off though, a spirit named Tikal saved them. Chris was later among those who retrieve the drained Chaos Emeralds for Sonic to use, who used their remaining energy to become Super Sonic again to fight Perfect Chaos. During the fight, Perfect Chaos tried attacking Chris and the others, but Super Sonic blocked the attack. Provoked by Perfect Chaos attacking his friends, Super Sonic defeated Perfect Chaos. This purged Chaos of the anger and hatred that had poisoned it for so long and reverted it back to its base form. After Chaos left with Tikal, Chris and the others noticed Eggman had escaped in the confusion, but they knew he would be back.[33]

Quotes

 * Don't miss it!

Knownable Relatives

 * Lindsey Thorndyke (Mother)
 * Nelson Thorndyke (Father)
 * Chuck Thorndyke (Grandfather)
 * Sam Speed (Uncle)

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.

Voice Actresses & Actors
all information on Christopher Thorndyke came from http://sonic.wikia.com/wiki/Christopher_Thorndyke
 * Japanese : Sanae Kobayashi
 * Japanese voice actor : Masakazu Morita (Adult)
 * English : Suzanne Goldish
 * English voice actor : Michael Sinterniklaas (Adult)