The Sonic the Hedgehog franchise features many different characters, all interesting and unique in their own way. Notably, even the most obscure characters maintain distinct personalities and traits that strongly define them.
The franchise is also no stranger to some tough, even tragic, storylines. Some of the characters in particular seem to have many obstacles to overcome. Even if they don’t lose their lives as a result, their journeys are littered with plenty of misfortunes. They suffer internal turmoil as a result of their past traumas as well as physical obstacles in the present. Whether they’re part of the main cast or minor one-off appearances, their situations are indeed hapless. Even if many eventually overcome the worst of their misfortunes, they leave with a heavy burden of inner struggle and are forced to carry it with them in the present-day.
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10 Vanilla the Rabbit
Cream the Rabbit’s mother, Vanilla is a calm and kind character who always wants to help others in need. Though she prefers to live a quiet life, she always supports Cream who wants to accompany Sonic and his pals on risky adventures. One such adventure in Sonic Advance 2, however, sees Vanilla really drawing the short straw.
Dr Eggman kidnaps her, Cream and her Chao Cheese. Whereas Cream and Cheese are quickly rescued by Sonic, Vanilla remains missing and isn’t seen until the game’s ending. It’s revealed that the poor rabbit was kidnapped twice by Eggman and then got taken into space with him. Trapped in a capsule that’s hurtling towards Earth, thankfully she’s saved in the nick of time by Sonic.
9 Blaze the Cat
A princess from another dimension, Blaze is known for having incredible fire powers. Unfortunately though, this earned her much teasing from other children as she initially struggled to control it. This led Blaze to see her gift as a bad thing which resulted in her becoming withdrawn, self-pressurizing and highly self-reliant. Sadly this also led her to bottle up all her feelings and though she appears tough and standoffish, inside she can suffer greatly. She’s also terrified of heights.
She debuts in Sonic Rush with no friends and a cold demeanor. However by the game’s end she’s realized the power of friendship and befriended Sonic and his pals, Cream the Rabbit in particular. She can be blunt with others but deep down she is grateful to have friends. Sonic also helps her see her fire powers as a blessing which relieves much of her own self-pressure.
8 Knuckles the Echidna
Poor Knuckles is quite the unfortunate one of Sonic’s pals. If living alone on Angel Island as the sole guardian of the Master Emerald isn’t bad enough, he also happens to be the last of his kind. His isolation made him gullible to Dr Eggman’s trickery, and Knuckles is fooled into thinking Sonic is the enemy on many an occasion.
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There’s even a Sonic Boom episode titled "Unlucky Knuckles" and some vocal tracks in the Sonic Adventure games highlight his sense of pressure to protect the Emerald at all costs and how he feels unfortunate in his search for its pieces.
7 Shahra
The Genie of the Ring from Sonic and the Secret Rings, Shahra finds herself in an unfortunate situation. She loves the villain, Erazor Djinn, but knows his ambitions are wrong. Blinded by her love for him, she helps manipulate Sonic, thus assisting Erazor’s evil plans.
However, as the story unfolds, she actually sacrifices herself for Sonic. When Sonic eventually defeats Erazor, shutting him in the lamp for eternity and resurrecting Shahra, this leaves her overwhelmed: firstly by guilt for manipulating Sonic and secondly since Erazor’s gone forever. Sonic wishes for a load of handkerchiefs, so she can cry all she needs to. Thus, poor Shahra’s story ends rather miserably.
6 Dr. Eggman
Arguably, the award for the most unfortunate character in the whole of Sonic could go to Dr Eggman. Although he’s villainous and out to destroy the world, he’s undeniably a genius and creates many a powerful robot.
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He can also be seen as a determined soul as he’s always back with another master plan. This, however, serves to highlight how unfortunate he really is: all the time and energy spent into crafting his next great scheme is stopped, thwarted and then destroyed beyond hope of recovery by Sonic and his pals. Sadly for the doctor, even if it's not Sonic wrecking his creations something else serves to ruin his plans, like when Perfect Chaos or Zavok revolt against him.
5 Amy-Rose the Hedgehog
Amy is a determined and passionate individual, always optimistic despite her lack of success in getting Sonic to like her. Her numerous attempts at winning Sonic’s heart have often landed her in trouble, even getting her kidnapped by Metal Sonic in Sonic CD.
Unfortunately, her near-obsession with Sonic actually makes him uncomfortable, so he tries to stay out her way. Even if she’s not pursuing him, like when she attempts to rescue Birdy in Sonic Adventure, this leads to her being kidnapped by another robot, Zero. She also occasionally suffers being left out or behind by Sonic and Co. Despite all this, Amy never gives up hope that one day it’ll work between her and Sonic.
4 Silver the Hedgehog
Silver’s a good guy with a strong sense of justice. Introduced in Sonic ’06, he lives in a world devastated before he was born. Then he meets the vile Mephiles, who tricks him into thinking it’s Sonic’s fault his world was ruined. Mephiles takes advantage of his naivety and sends him on an assassination quest to kill Sonic. Silver struggles with his conscience about his mission, but his intentions aren’t evil; he’s just trying to prevent his world’s destruction.
His best friend is Blaze the Cat, whom Silver relies on emotionally. But as the story progresses, Silver faces a difficult choice: kill Blaze or let their world’s dire situation remain unfixed. He’s unable to kill her, but sadly she fades away to another dimension, leaving the poor hedgehog alone and vulnerable.
3 Void
A unique lesser-known villain, Void appears in the spinoff Sonic Shuffle. He’s half of the guardian of Maginaryworld, Illumina, who split in two after she experienced inner turmoil, with Lumina being her other half. Unlike Lumina, who embodies positive emotions, Void represents negative feelings, which govern all his actions. Thus, he is greatly misunderstood and very unlucky in his quest to become whole again.
Void is trapped in a cycle of destruction and gloom since it’s his nature, but he isn’t out for evil purposes as Sonic and his friends believe. Inside Void is hurting, depressed and lonely; he just wants to reunite with Lumina to stop his pain. He suffers being continually rejected by Sonic, his pals and Lumina throughout the course of the game. When Void’s sadness reaches its peak, he transforms into a monster. However, Sonic eventually convinces Lumina to rejoin with him, thus restoring Illumina in the process.
2 Princess Elise The Third
The princess of Soleanna from Sonic ’06 may not be popular but its undeniable how much misfortune the girl suffers. Elise’s mother passed away when she was young, and her father’s ambitions to harness time-travelling powers led to the splitting of Solaris, which killed him. His last effort was to seal Iblis, Solaris’ fiery half, into Elise. This means she’s never able to cry lest Iblis is released and devastates the world.
If that’s not bad enough, the game sees her kidnapped a whopping five times by Eggman. She falls in love with Sonic, something the evil Mephiles takes advantage of, murdering Sonic in front of her. Heartbroken, Elise cries bitterly, releasing Iblis who joins with Mephiles to restore Solaris. Then after Solaris’ defeat she’s forced to give up her true love, Sonic, in order to prevent the same disaster happening again.
1 Shadow the Hedgehog
The Ultimate Life-Form seems to suffer one unfortunate thing after another. His life starts with losing all he knew in a single moment, when Space Colony ARK is stormed by GUN and his best friend Maria is murdered. GUN take and seal him in a stasis capsule for 50 years.
Dr. Eggman eventually releases him in Sonic Adventure 2. Shadow thinks he’s on a quest to avenge Maria’s death, but it's revealed his memories were manipulated by Gerald Robotnik in order to carry out his posthumous revenge. After near-defeat battling the Finalhazard, Shadow is put in another stasis capsule by Eggman. He’s released in Sonic Heroes but with terrible amnesia, making him vulnerable to manipulation again. Black Doom uses this to his evil advantage in Shadow the Hedgehog. Doom also uses the terrible loss of Maria, which greatly impacted Shadow’s psyche, to coax him into doing his bidding. Shadow does overcome the misfortune of his past albeit with a huge struggle.