Summary
Everyone knows that Sonic the Hedgehog is a pretty loud, eccentric, and extroverted main character, though this certainly doesn’t apply to all of his comrades or even his enemies. Over the many years thatSonichas been in the gaming zeitgeist, its universe has slowly incorporated more unique characters, to the point where it has now amassed a massive ensemble of unique individuals, some of whom could beconsidered introvertsfor how quiet and closed off they are.
Most of the time, Sonic will be the one to try and bring these characters out of their shells with his boundless energy, but when the Blue Blur isn’t around, these characters can often be found enjoying their own company and personal hobbies rather than socializing with others. These sorts of introverted qualities definitely apply to the characters listed below who have proven themselves to be the polar opposites of Sonic whenever they appear.
As aself-proclaimed ninja, being a chameleon who can change his skin color at will is a very big perk for Espio. This muted ally of Sonic’s may only appear in a few of the games, but it’s pretty clear Espio is a lot more introverted than his two fellow Chaotix members, Vector and Charmy.
Even in the intro toSonic Heroes, while Vector and Charmy can be seen screaming their heads off over a new high-paying contract, Ezio is in the background and largely minding his own business. Ezio is the type of character who will help out his closest friends when they need it, but sticking to the shadows and remaining hidden from sight is more his speed.
Before Knuckles met Sonic, the former was tasked with protecting the Master Emerald by any means necessary. Because every other member of his kind was long gone though, it meant Knuckles watched over the Emerald all by his lonesome for many years, causing him to become somewhat introverted, and even hostile towards others.
Throughout the games, Sonic’s infectious personality starts to make Knuckles more sociable and open, but his introverted tendencies do still shine through now and again, especially with how he often tries to avoid getting help from others, such as Sonic and Rouge.
Any time Big makes an appearance in the games, he’s usually always enjoying arelaxing fishing tripwith his best pal Froggy by his side. Big loves fishing so much, he will often avoid hanging out with the rest of the group just to spend a few more hours by the calming waters, which was seen to be the case inSonic Adventure, and inSonic Generationswhere Big can’t be seen in the surprise party at the beginning.
Even inSonic Frontiers, with all the chaos that occurs in that game, Sonic manages to stumble upon Big who has seemingly been watching the world go by while fishing, and even lends a rod to Sonic to join him. It’s ironic Big is such a closed-off and passive character since, if he was more rebellious, or even a villain, he could deal some serious damage given his size and strength.
E0123 Omega makes his debut inSonic Heroeswhere he suddenly wakes up from a long slumber and starts blasting apart a room with his built-in machine guns. It’s soon after revealed Omega had been locked away by Eggman, rendering the bot useless for many years. As a result, Omega decides to vow revenge on Eggman and his army ofinferior robots, turning him into a cold-hearted and rather dangerous individual.
Omega’s tunnel vision has also caused him to be rather introverted as he generally avoids interacting with others unless he thinks they can aid him in his mission to take down Eggman. While he and Shadow probably wouldn’t have gotten along as part of a team inSonic Heroes, thankfully, Rouge was there to act as the glue, keeping the two of them on the same page.
Eggman has one goal in life; to capture and finally take down his arch-nemesis, Sonic the Hedgehog. As a result, thecrazy scientistis always conjuring up new weapons, bots, and machines for each new game, causing him to be a shut-in who is never really seen socializing with others, since he’s too buried in his own work.
Whenever Eggman has been shown speaking to characters like Knuckles or Sage, it’s not because he enjoys their company, but purely so he can use them for his own selfish gain. Eggman’s introverted personality also may have come as a result of the loss of his grandfather, and how he may feel as though talking too openly about his own experiments may come at the cost of his own life.
Blaze is dedicated to her role as the guardian of the Sol Emeralds, and will put her duties above all else, including her own feelings. As a result, she gives away virtually nothing about herself to others, and is constantly trying to achieve everything on her own without needing to rely on anyone else for help.
These are ultimately two very bad qualities though, as Blaze has come to realize several times through the games, including inSonic RushandSonic Generations. Blaze isn’t the type of character who enjoys speaking or hanging out with others too much, but she has come to learn from Sonic that she shouldn’t be ashamed about relying on her allies when the going gets tough.
Takashi Iizuka, the director of the majority of the games in the franchise, has stated in multiple interviews and events that Shadow was designed to be the exact opposite of Sonic. While his blue counterpart may therefore be a people person who’s always up for chatting and hanging out, Shadow is a loner who is often shown to be trapped in his own thoughts, or pursuing a solo mission, often refuting the assistance of anyone who tries to support him.
In theShadow the Hedgehoggame for example,Black Doom, Sonic, and a range of other characters try to help Shadow, but players are free to completely ignore them, as Shadow mostly does in the cutscenes. Part of Shadow’s introverted nature probably stems from the loss of Maria, and how this has impacted Shadow’s ability to ever form a close bond again out of the fear that he might lose someone close to him again.
