Rouge the Bat

Rouge the Bat is a character from the Sonic the Hedgehog series. She is an anthropomorphic bat and jewel thief who has worked as a part-time government spy for the President of the United Federation and in close association with the Guardian Units of Nations (G.U.N). A world-famous treasure hunter, Rouge has a weakness for jewels, like the Master Emerald and Chaos Emeralds, which she always obsesses about. As a spy, Rouge is trained in combat, stealth and infiltration, and possesses both super-level kicking power and flight. Rouge is in short, an enigma, as her motivations are always in question. In truth, she is usually just out for herself. She is incredibly smart, sassy, and seductive, and knows how to get what she wants. Once she has a target in mind, she always goes for it, regardless of the costs. Beneath her ditsy exterior though, she is a calculating realist and her motives are always mercenary in nature. Regardless, she is loyal to her closest friends and has more than once helped Sonic the Hedgehog and his allies save the world.

Rouge is a strong-minded female bat with a collected and convivial voice. She is a person of many mysteries, always playing an active role on both sides of the truth in many global affairs. Her appeal is very complex, but it is not too far off to describe her as an elusive, mysterious, and mature woman who is true to her desires. To most people, Rouge appears as a brave, ambitious, independent, flirtatious, greedy, calculating narcissist who only thinks about herself and treasure. In Sonic Generations she is referred to as a temptress, due to her seductive ways. A gem-enthusiast, Rouge specializes in gem heists and gem-based treasure hunts, and has an unquenchable thirst for gemstones. The latter is due to a certain philosophy of hers: once you get a good gem, you will want a better one. However, a jewel that she cannot actually hold in her hand has no value to her, although a beautiful scenery matching the finest of jewels is equally valuable to her. Rouge's carefree and playful devil-may-care attitude can be fun to some people, like the easygoing Sonic, or annoying for others, like the gruff Knuckles. While she may appear ditzy though, Rouge is in truth a cunning, calculative, and pragmatic realist; though she pretends to know nothing, she always manages to gets closer to the heart of the matter than anyone else; she shows lax behavior but manages to conduct delicate research; she can be on the enemy's side but then turn into a reliable ally while keeping her eyes on seizing the monetary prizes for herself. Overall, she has a way of taking off a figurative veil to reveal a dramatic new side of herself. Regardless, this unpredictable and mysterious aspect of Rouge may be her appeal.

Rouge can also show a bashful side, such as the time Knuckles saved her life from falling to her doom and became very embarrassed before concealing it with disgust, outrage, and ingratitude. She can also be a bit of a hypocrite, especially in regard to thefts. This is especially evident when, after witnessing the Master Emerald being stolen, she refers to the one stealing it as a thief despite the fact that she herself had stolen it from Knuckles earlier, something the echidna even noted by saying "Look who's calling who a thief", and in Grand Metropolis stage when she calls robots energy thieves. Rouge is also at times a government spy who often works for her own gain. Rouge has a great obsession for jewels which she loves more than anything else, or even anything else that shines or glitters. Known to be a brilliant spy one minute and a gem-obsessed treasure hunter the next, she has little to no qualms about lying and manipulating others, often using her charms and attractiveness to seduce and take advantage of others, just to get what she wants. In truth though, below her outward demeanor, she possesses a kind heart. In fact, on many occasions, Rouge has shown she can be heroic, possess loyalty, care about others, or, at least, have some degree of morality. In the final events of Sonic Adventure 2, she helped save the planet from destruction. In Sonic Heroes, she jumped between Shadow and Omega's hectic fight as the mediator. In Sonic Battle, when Shadow was injured and needed a place to stay, Rouge helped him. In Shadow the Hedgehog, she did other laudable things, such as rescuing a Chaos Emerald from the doomed mainframe, destroying the evil monster Black Bull, and assisting Shadow in defeating Black Doom as well as showing concern for his welfare at the end of the game. She also is not fond of hearing Omega constantly talking about vengeance.

Recently, she has been seen less selfish. However, as shown in her portrayal in Sonic Free Riders, which depicts her as very cold and callous from her desire for the cash prize, suggesting she still possesses her interest in jewels and riches. This is proved as she couldn't care less that her robot team member broke down and even went on to insult it as well.

Rouge is an anthropomorphic bat with white fur, teal-green eyes with two eyelashes on each one, tan skin, and a curvy figure. She has large pointy ears, small fangs, a small black nose on her muzzle, a short pointy tail, and a pair of dark purple wings on her back. Only her head appears to have fur, which flares out into six points at the back. Rouge usually wears makeup consisting of powder blue eyeshadow and pink lipstick. For attire, Rouge wears a pink heart-shaped chest plate with thin white trim going around it, as her plate covers the front of her black, skin-tight, strapless low-cut jumpsuit. She accessorizes with a set of elbow-length white gloves and thigh-high, high-heeled boots with pink cuffs, with her boots featuring both gray soles and heels, along with steel toes in the appearance of pink hearts, matching her chest plate. For the purpose of Extreme Gear racing and olympic sporting events, Rouge wears a black sports top with white trim, black bell-bottom pants with white flower-print designs on the calves and a white trim at the waist. She also wears white gloves with pink trim, gold bracelets, and a pair of pink sport shoes with white stripes, pink straps with yellow fasteners, and gray soles. In game called "The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog", Rouge wore a purple blazer that was opened to expose a black midriff-revealing top, gold-framed sunglasses on her forehead, white pants with a black belt and white high-heel shoes with purple hearts on the toes.

A part-time government agent who has undergone extensive special and secret training, and the "world's greatest thief," Rouge has proven herself a most fearsome individual in terms of both skills and physical might and is arguably one of the strongest female characters in the Sonic series. Notably, she has been able to outmatch Amy more than once, and during the Space Colony ARK incident, she was able to fight the combat-versed Knuckles the Echidna to a stalemate during their clash. Rouge possesses powerful bat wings that let her fly and glide through the air with ease. As a seasoned and greatly skilled spy, and the "world's greatest thief" to boot, Rouge possesses a keen and tactical mind, and is an expert in a diverse set of skills that includes gathering intel, manipulation, infiltration, lockpicking, and much more. These abilities let her out-think, out-maneuver, or simply out-class her opposition. Most of the time though, she uses these skills to pull different kinds of heists. With all those skills at her disposal, Rouge can surreptitiously enter enemy-held territory using only her expertise and sharp intellect; during the Space Colony ARK incident, she not only snuck onboard the Space Colony ARK undetected, but also tricked Shadow and Dr. Eggman into believing that she was willing to help them when she was actually sent to investigate the doctor on behalf of the United Federation while repeatedly toying around with them and eventually getting closer to the truth about Project Shadow than anyone else. She is similarly an expert in the art of stealth, as she can masterfully enter even the most fortified of locations nearly undetected, such as Prison Island, Eggman's headquarters, or Space Colony ARK, and sneak up on people without bringing attention to herself. She also has skills in hacking computers and breaking codes in record time with successful results every time.

Rouge's only known physical weakness is high frequency soundwaves (loud noise). Her bat ears may grant her radar-like hearing, but that can just as easily be used against her with any sort of auditory weapon, like a sonic cannon. Rouge's obsession with jewels can distract her. She similarly has a stubborn attitude that, along with her greed, has put her in mortal danger; during the Space Colony ARK incident, her arguing with Knuckles over the ownership of the Master Emerald would have made her fall into a lava pool had he not come to her rescue. Also, her infiltration skills are not flawless either, as she was discovered by Flying Dog while robbing Prison Island and got imprisoned by Dr. Eggman when she stole the Scepter of Darkness (although she eventually broke herself out in the latter case).

Knuckles the Echidna is Rouge's primary rival and the two have been fighting over the Master Emerald ever since they met. Out of all the characters, Knuckles is most distrusting of Rouge, as her desire for jewels will often cause the Master Emerald to be targeted for theft. Unbeknownst to Knuckles, Rouge has a crush on him, but she would never admit it. Regardless, she is secretly inspired by Knuckles' determination to protect the Master Emerald. In Sonic Battle, Knuckles apologises to Rouge for Emerl's rudeness, showing clear respect, Rouge disappears before Knuckles notices after warning the "boys" (Knuckles & Emerl) to be careful. Rouge is actually helpful towards Knuckles, welcoming Knuckles anytime to Club Rouge for training in his story, the only story where this is possible and even gives an Emerald Shard to Knuckles & Emerl saying she has no use for a measly shard, reminiscent of Sonic Adventure 2, only this time she is amiable when relinquishing the jewel. Knuckles and Rouge are seen having a conversation at Sonic's birthday party. They appear to be communicating in a friendly, light-hearted way. In Sonic Forces, Rouge and Knuckles don't show any sort of rivalry going on, as they are both determined to save the world. Rouge also seems happy to be a spy for the Resistance with Knuckles, who amiably trusts her, as its commander; she even calls him "boss", showing clear respect towards him. In Team Sonic Racing, their interactions and rivalry are shown to be more friendlier, with Rouge playful with Knuckles in a less teasing way. Knuckles is shown to be worried about Rouge, greeting and warning her the race is dangerous so to be careful, of which Rouge is flattered and giggles.

Rouge and Shadow the Hedgehog are partners. They often work together during missions, but are not seen together outside of their business alliance and do not casually spend time in one another's presence. Nonetheless, Shadow is one of the few people Rouge cares about and shows loyalty to, other than herself. It has been implied that she may have feelings for Shadow. During the Space Colony ARK incident, Shadow saw a comparison to Maria in Rouge and saved her life when she was trapped in Security Hall. Despite how he later dismissed his actions saying he only returned for the Chaos Emeralds that she had acquired, Rouge suspected that there was more to his reason for saving her than he let on. In Sonic Heroes, Rouge forms Team Dark with Shadow and Omega. During this time, Rouge and Shadow become much closer; interacting more within Team Dark as partners alongside Omega. At the end of the game's title sequence, they perform a fist pump before posing with Omega and the other three teams. While out for Eggman's treasure, Rouge is willing to also help the amnesiac Shadow get answers about his past and is shown to have concern for him when they discover the existence of Shadow Androids. Rouge makes an attempt to draw Shadow into a conversation that doesn't involve Mephiles' plan to destroy the world, and at one point she says, "It's always business with you." when Shadow ignores her and rejects the off-topic sessions. Although, Shadow shows he is protective of Rouge's well-being. He caught her from a fall after she was momentarily knocked out by one of Dr. Eggman's robots, and again he jumped in front of her defensively, after a fake Chaos Emerald explodes. After Omega revealed to Shadow that he is the one who traps him in the future, Rouge told Shadow, that she will always be on his side no matter which side he takes, Shadow paused, then replied strongly that he will. Rouge says, "Even if the world becomes your enemy, I will be your ally."

As seen so far, Rouge and Sonic the Hedgehog do not really show a dislike for each other, despite being associated with each other’s rival, Shadow and Knuckles. Also, despite having some conflicting encounters and standpoints, they appear to be on good terms. They were at first enemies during the Space Colony ARK incident since Rouge was working with Shadow and Eggman, although they had no proper meeting until they later became allies during the event to save the earth. Then, after Shadow's supposed death after defeating the Finalhazard, Sonic comforted her by giving her his Inhibitor Ring. In Sonic Battle, Rouge challenges him to a battle, if she wins, Sonic will have to get her gems and work for her. Sonic manages to win however, but he did not hold any grudge against her as seen later on. Later, Sonic let Emerl say hello to Rouge, which suggest Sonic somehow trusts her. She gives Sonic the nickname "Big Blue" in Sonic Generations when rescued. Overall, Rouge sees Sonic as a "shrewd" person. Although not often, due to Rouge's thieving nature, there are times when she cannot help herself but to cheat, take advantage of, or steal something from him. Therefore, she often hides important information about her mission or the real purpose of giving him the information from her. The conversations between Sonic and Rouge are often "probing," camouflaged by jokes, but Sonic loves to joke and talk lightly, while Rouge is a sarcastic person. Nevertheless, both Sonic and Rouge enjoy the conversations between them that play out their "good-natured" rivalry, and can think of each other as people they can rely on in times of need, with appropriate levels of trust and caution. Whenever Rouge jumps into Sonic's adventures, she always brings new developments to Sonic and his friends.

Tails and Rouge the Bat have a friendly though sometimes tense relationship, despite Rouge adding complications to it. They will usually get along, but Rouge occasionally loves to tease Tails. Rouge has accumulated a variety of nicknames for Tails, most notably "Cutie" and "Foxboy". In Sonic Adventure 2, Tails was basically unaware of Rouge's presence, but this was because Rouge was sent by Eggman to spy on Tails when he was trying to find the President. After that their interaction stopped until the Ark was set on its collision course with the earth. In Sonic Battle, Rouge would use her charm to tease Tails, even kissing Tails should he lose their bet for the access card, as her reward for winning. She was however very helpful in Tails' story as she gave him the access card for the Central Computer Room whether or not he won the fight, broke up Tails and Shadows' fight, and told Tails how to escape the Guard Robots. Later on, in Rouge's story, Tails had to stop Rouge from stealing a Chaos Emerald. In Sonic Free Riders, Tails was angered with Rouge's selfish and unsympathetic behaviour towards her teammate E-10000B. In the game called "The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog", as a favor in return for her assistance in Tails' investigation, Rouge enlists Tails' help in stealing a valuable Fabergé Egg from the Mirage Express. Specifically she finds Tails' genius to be of great use in disarming the security and robotic train arms along the way, and later Tails' deductive skills in reasoning how the fabergé egg wasn't a bomb as she feared. Although Tails is somewhat uncertain about the morality involved, and tries to reign in Rouge's urge to pickpocket along the way, Tails feels very proud that their meticulous plan goes off without a hitch, and later admits that he had a lot of fun working with Rouge.