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kremzeeks · 14 days ago

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OK so I have so many thoughts about this. I will put them under a read more and then people can just ignore them easily that way.

I really enjoy the Knuckles series for what it is... But it was really missing that "full circle" moment.

The first episode sets up a couple of emotional beats for Knuckles as a character. After Sonic's talk with him on the roof, and after this advice gets him grounded, Knuckles states, "...the hedgehog cannot possibly understand" (but I really think you can replace Sonic with the whole family in general) before calling out for spiritual guidance from his Tribespeople.

The crux of the issue that we (the audience) can see for him is that he is very much tied to his own traditions and customs, and everything here on earth is very different. Him even being on earth at all is not out of any sentimentality, but because he believes he has a duty of protection towards the Master Emerald. He considers himself a sentinel on duty, and when he does what is natural to him (and what would have been expected of him among his tribe) - this being, protecting his territory (and where we can presume he's keeping the Emerald until he trusts Wade enough to hand it off to him) - he is punished, and made to feel shame for his behaviour. Not only that, but Sonic encourages him to abandon these duties and just relax and have fun.

This doesn't make any sense to Knuckles because the unspoken implication here is that there was no relaxing and "having the fun" for his tribespeople. I'm speaking without much knowledge of the lore from the videogames, but as far as the live action movie canon goes, there's this sense that Knuckles has had it instilled in him to always be on duty, all of the time.

Even the flashback scene we get in the second film, where his father tells him this moment for heroism isn't his - he's holding a spear in his hand, and standing sentinel over their home. He was the last one left alive in the tribe, and so the only one who didn't go on that raid. So it's very likely he was being left a job, which was to watch over their home village until everyone else returned. He wasn't "warrior" enough at that time to go and fight, but he still had a duty to perform.

When nobody returned, he then assumed the duty the whole tribe once embodied - finding and protecting the Master Emerald.

Another thing the first episode sets up, is this idea that it's now Knuckles' duty to replenish their tribe by finding and training students. Wade being his first.

Although we do get Knuckles referring to earth as his home eventually, these two emotional beats aren't really followed through in a satisfying way. The second one isn't really even followed through at all.

Starting with the first - we sadly don't see Knuckles form any attachment to his home home - this being his home with Sonic, Tails, Maddie, and Tom (and Ozzie, of course!)

I've watched this series through a few times now, and here are some things I have noticed. Although Maddie refers to Knuckles as her "kid" to the construction crew, I feel like this is less about her actually considering Knuckles as one of her children, and more about her explaining him in a way that other people will understand. Because otherwise, she doesn't show a whole lot of maternal behaviour towards Knuckles. This is probably because unlike Sonic and Tails, he is used to being self-sufficient and taking care of himself. A domestic life is probably mind-numbing for him, especially if Maddie is trying to see to all of his immediate needs like a mother would.

And from context clues in this series, I get the sense Knuckles isn't really allowing Maddie to mother him either, which is why there's such a rift between them.

For example, when Knuckles greets them all at the breakfast table with his newly built throne - notice Maddie calls the "boys" down for breakfast, and is only holding two plates. One for Sonic, one for Tails. There isn't even a plate on the kitchen island behind her to suggest she was going to bring one for Knuckles (and just couldn't carry all three plates at once). We can assume from this that she isn't in the habit of preparing breakfast for him.

This is probably because, as Sonic introduces for us at the episode's start, Knuckles starts his day with training. Not by chilling at the breakfast table with the family.

Secondly, Knuckles creates distance between himself and Maddie by referring to her as "Pretzel Woman", which comes across as demeaning. Whilst we (the audience) can acknowledge this is just the way Knuckles refers to others in general (with a moniker - Hedgehog, Fox, etc), I think for Maddie, it's a clear sign that Knuckles has rejected his place in the family, and thus her place in relation to him.

Interestingly, it's only Wade (and his Chief, of course) who Knuckles calls by name in this series, which suggests to me anyway that he sees Wade as an equal, or at least as some kind of kin, probably because Chief Pachacamac has urged him to take Wade on as a student for training.

Everyone else, he creates distance with by not referring to them by their given names, and instead titles/names he's decided they should have.

When Maddie finally loses it and goes full Mom Mode on him, Knuckles talks back to her, not understanding the dynamic she's trying to establish - that she is the boss - the Matriarch, even! - in their house, and he has to fall in line. I think up until that point, Knuckles has considered her just as a thing living in the territory he has to protect, and he doesn't really give her any consideration, the way he doesn't give Ozzie the dog any consideration either. Or at least he's not considering them with the proper/due amount of respect they deserve.

I feel like what this series was missing like you say, OP, is a scene at the end where Knuckles returns home and he understands - from observing Wade with his family - how Maddie sees him in the Wachowski Tribe. Or at least acknowledges her as the Matriarch, the way he does Wade's mom. This would have been a perfect marrying between Knuckles' culture, and the culture he's going to have to assimilate into, if he's to have a peaceful life alongside Maddie and her family.

Bonus points if we could have had a conversation between them both about how Knuckles feels about this. I don't think he necessarily wants to be treated like a child, but he might be at least willing to defer to her a little more and see her as more of an equal, and not just some NPC roaming around who keeps getting in the way and yelling at him for reasons he's not understanding.

As for the second beat - whilst we get a lot of information about Wade's culture and traditions, we don't get any from Knuckles. Even though that is specifically what Chief Pachacamac instructs him to do - find a student who he can teach all about the ways of the Echidna.

He is sort of mildly instructing Wade about how to be a warrior, and talking a lot of warrior-isms, but we don't actually learn anything about the Echidna tribe's customs and traditions. Which is a shame because there were lots of places Knuckles could have reciprocated with his own stories when hearing from Wade, and later his mom, but it doesn't happen for some reason.

All we really learn from this series about Knuckles is the same thing we learned from the second movie: he used to be part of a tribe, but they were all killed when he was young, and now he's on his own.

I do think there are small things we can glean about Knuckles' past (and his customs/traditions) from the things he says and does at least... But without proper on-screen confirmation, these are all just technically headcanon... But here are some vague details we can discern:

At some point, Knuckles participated in (and likely witnessed others participating in) a ritual in which one Echidna has to face their fear in a trial by combat. And just in general, the trial by combat was used to iron out disputes in rank and suchlike. It's very telling that Maddie labels Knuckles' handiwork on the living room as a "Gladiator fighting pit", and Knuckles quickly corrects her with (and emphasises), "Warrior fighting pit". There is more honour in the notion of two willing warriors fighting one another versus one unwilling participant against a seasoned fighter for sport. This is how Knuckles' culture has framed this activity - it's an honourable battle where one must display strength and win against their opponent to determine an outcome. Whatever happens to the loser is deserved because they lost the battle of strength, and the winner is congratulated and/or promoted. What Maddie sees is something very brutal and barbaric. What Knuckles experienced and believes in, is a system for determining rank and encouraging an honourable, warrior-like spirit.

The Matriarch in the clan is to be respected and admired. This one's a bit of a stretch, but if you watch how Knuckles responds to Wanda being admonished for not doing her duty at the table (lighting the candles), and the way he reacts to Wade and Wanda fighting at the table in general juxtaposed with their mom's exasperation, it is clear he disapproves of and is shocked at their behaviour. Poor guy looks utterly flabbergasted the whole way through - they are at a feast table with their Matriarch, and nobody is doing what they're told or what they are expected to do! What is going on?! Meanwhile, he is very enthusiastic about complimenting Wade's mom, shows enjoyment for the food she brought to the table (even though it's not what he would prefer to eat), and admires her physique and strength.

Which ties into three: one's physique is very important and can show on the surface (to Knuckles and maybe others in the Echidna Tribe) a "true" warrior. Notice how Knuckles is quite happy to be mothered by Wade's mom ("Let me get you some more, sweetie", to which Knuckles nods and smiles and gratefully accepts), but less comfortable to be mothered by Maddie (he argues back at her, he's not part of the breakfast routine she has established, and he is just generally quite disrespectful towards her). This certifies he sees Maddie as a "weakling" because unlike Wade's mom, she doesn't appear physically strong to him. It's worth noting, however, that Chief Pachacamac himself doesn't put so much stock into physical appearance because when Knuckles despairs at Wade being his student (and not seeming like a warrior at all), Chief Pachacamac immediately returns that Knuckles wasn't much of a warrior either when they first met. Although to be fair to Knuckles, he probably first met his Chief for lessons as a literal child, whereas Wade is a grown man (so by Knuckles' standards, he should already embody all that a warrior is and does - this could be a signifier of maturity within the Echidna tribe).

My final point doesn't have much to it, but it's very simply about the absence of a mother figure for Knuckles. The main detail in his story is that he witnessed his father leave and never return, and found out that it was because everyone in that raid was murdered by their opponents. Knuckles also references being trained by Chief Pachacamac, and speaks very highly of him in general (quoting his words, for example). Although Knuckles can acknowledge and respect a Matriarch (the way he does Wade's mom), there's not much evidence that he knew a mother in his lifetime. I wonder if this could be another reason he rejects Maddie's attempts to bring him into the family. She treats him the way a mother would a child, but what Knuckles needs from her is for her to behave like a Matriarch - someone he can respect and look up to. He doesn't need or want someone running after him, tidying up his messes, cooking his meals, and tucking him into bed. Those days are waaaay behind him, if they ever even happened at all! I personally get the sense Knuckles has never been mothered (or parented) a day in his life. He was probably a warrior in the making from the moment he could walk, and never really allowed to be a child. Which is why the way Sonic wants to live (as a concept) is so alien to him.

Anyway, with all that said, I think I'm done overthinking this children's media now hjfgjfjgjfgfjg.

Y’know what would be nice?

If that the series ended off with Knuckles returning home to Sonic, Tails and Maddie, and (after the rapid fire of questions and scolding for running away which is most likely prone to happen lol) begins to tell them about how he realised he isn’t living with them just to fulfil a vow of protecting the M.E anymore, but rather because he finally found his home

He explains how he finally understands the definition of “home” and what makes one

And if it’s anywhere he is most at home (since losing his tribe), it’s in the small town of Green Hills, with the Wachowski family, because with them is where his place of belonging lies…they are his home, and always were from the moment they took him in

Yeah, I think that would be nice

#sth

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