Christopher "Chris" Thorndyke (Japanese: クリストフア "クリス" ソンダイク Kurisutofua "Kurisu" Sondaiku) is a fictional character and the main human protagonist from the Sonic X anime series. He is the son of Nelson Thorndyke, the CEO of a fictional engineering corporation, and his wife, actress Lindsay Thorndyke (born Lindsay Flair). Though he was raised in a wealthy family, he rarely lets that affect his lifestyle. His parents cannot spend much time with him, he prefers action and love, although he should avoid any hazard at all costs, and he was mostly raised collectively by his grandfather Chuck Thorndyke and the house servants - Mr. Tanaka the butler and Ella the maid. Chris is 18 years old, 140 cm tall, and weighs 77 lbs[2]. In the Japanese version of the anime, Chris is voiced by Sanae Kobayashi, and in the English version, his voice was performed by Suzanne Goldish. During a brief segment where he is seen as an adult, he is voiced by Masakazu Morita in Japanese and Matthew Charles in English.
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Storyline in Sonic X
In the first episode of Sonic X, Chris is introduced after he saves Sonic from drowning in his backyard swimming pool. He quickly makes friends with the hedgehog, who goes on to live with him throughout the original 52-episode run of the show. In Sonic, as well as Sonic's friends (each of whom forge deep connections to other members of the household), Chris receives attention from his parents. By the end of the season, Sonic and his friends go back to their own dimension. After Chris grows up, he makes a machine to go to Sonic's dimension. When he arrives, he is turned back to a young boy, which is due to the different time dimensions. He travels through space with Sonic and his friends to defeat the alien Metarex in season 3. However, his friends and family miss him, and send him his belongings. In the season finale, after the death of Cosmo, Dr. Eggman builds a shuttle to carry Chris back to Earth, but the shuttle ride is a one-way trip. If Chris does go back home he might never see Sonic or any of his other friends again. Upon his departure, Eggman immediately begins to scheme a counterattack against Sonic now that Thorndyke is "out of the way". Eggman's true intentions remain ambiguous to the viewer. Chris has also appeared in every issue of the Sonic X comic book series, with the exception of the series' 25th & 27th issue.
Personality
Chris grew up as a lonely child,[1] so he can often become very attached to the few friends he manages to hang on to. Chris never made friends easily, supposedly because many people were intimidated by his wealth and important parents.
On many occasions, Chris attempts to help find the Chaos Emeralds, and he even lets Sonic and his friends stay at his parent's mansion. He seems to want to help Sonic and his friends any way he can. Chris likes to go along with Sonic and the others into their exciting adventures but they have to face their greatest enemies that stand in their way, in order to stop them. In Episode 3 & Episode 15, Chris wears a football helmet to join Tails during battles, and in Episode 4, he wears skate safety gear and roller skates to follow Eggman, which may possibly mean that he goes skating a lot. In the Sonic X comic book series, Chris sometimes plays soccer with his friends after school. Chris doesn't always wear his usual clothing (as do most people). Some examples of different styles can be seen once in episode 20, when he is wearing summer clothing taking a cruise on his father's cruise ship. Another one is his winter clothes, seen in episode 57. In episode 59, he wears a space suit similar to that worn by Space Suttle Astronauts
Criticism
Some aspects of Chris' character have led to complaints by Sonic fans, including his rich background, his 'good boy' attitude, and supposedly taking the spotlight away from other characters (specifically Sonic, Tails and Amy). He is also criticized for having more screen time than Sonic. A more specific complaint is that he took an unnecessarily major part in the Sonic Adventure 2 storyline. He was rescued with Rouge from the safe on Prison Island, which was the only reason he ended up in the finale on ARK. Once on the ARK, he was the one who reminded Shadow of Maria's real last wishes, rather than Amy, even though she was right there in the room. Also, he received Shadow's lost Power Ring after the hedgehog sacrificed himself, rather than Rouge. These acts have annoyed some fans who believe that it detracts from Shadow's relationship with arguably the two living characters most influential to his personality.
![[2]](http://www.teamartail.com/sonicx/viewimage.php/05/images/083chris.jpg){kind=link}