T. Hawk

T. Hawk, or Thunder Hawk (サンダーホーク), is a Mexican Indian/Native American video game character in the Street Fighter series. He was first introduced in Super Street Fighter II, and has made a few recent appearances afterwards.

Background
When he was an infant, he and the members of his tribe were being forced off their land by Shadaloo. Some of the Thunderfoot members resisted and fought against them, and many were killed, including their leader, Arroyo Hawk (T. Hawk's father), who was murdered by a younger M. Bison. Now living in Mexico near the Monte Albán plains, T. Hawk wants nothing more than revenge from Bison for his despicable actions and to reclaim the land that was taken from his people. The Thunderfoot tribe had also experienced disappearances of many of their people, T. Hawk took the responsibility of finding them. One of them, his beloved Julia, became Juli, one of Bison's brainwashed dolls.

Appearance
T. Hawk is immensely tall and bulky with long, powerful arms and legs, massive hands and feet, a flat nose and a wide chin. He paints his cheeks and lower jaw in a white indigenous-style battle paint. His clothing consists of a stereotypical Native-American attire comprised of jeans-imitating chest-open sleeveless jacket and pants, iron bracers on both fists, thin steel rings around his biceps, a huge belt, mocassin shoes or boots and a blue and white triangular-patterned tiara-like headband ostentating a pair of white eagle feathers etched diagonally upwards from it.

Personality
T. Hawk is commonly brave, tough, selfless, noble-spirited, centered and fearless, but equally grumpy, cold, brutish, unemotional and apparently unsympathetic. His lack of emotion display mostly comes from the suffering and devastation inflicted by M. Bison towards his people and sacred homelands - such hatred grew even more powerful in Street Fighter Alpha 3, when T. Hawk discovers that his childhood friend and lover Julia was turned into Juli, one of the Shadaloo's top-ranking female assassins, known as The Dolls, under Bison's brainwash. Despite his externally hard demeanor, T. Hawk is actually a warm-hearted, compassionate man - as evidenced in several of his artworks, where he shows unquenchable affection for native animals - who sights revenge solely on the purpose of rescuing his long-lost people and restoring his ruined homelands back to its former glory.

Super Street Fighter II Turbo
Hawk enters the second World Warrior tournament to battle against Bison to find Julia, reclaim his people's land and win their freedom from his tyranny. He does not come out as the grand champion, but does regain his land - however, it is desolate and empty. Determined, T. Hawk vows to make his land as great as it once was and bring the Thunderfoot people back home.

Super Street Fighter IV
His land begins to recover from Shadaloo's damage, though it is not even close to its former glory. Because of this, and the fact that he was ultimately unable to save Juli, he feels that he isn't worthy to be the next chief of the Thunderfoot tribe. He decides to enter S.I.N.'s next tournament to continue his atonement. Along the way he encounters El Fuerte, and it appears the two have previously encountered each other. The two then battle it out to settle their old rivalry. Later, T. Hawk meets Rose, who tells him where Julia is, but warns that "she is now a shell of her former self". T. Hawk, following Rose's directions, finds Julia in a cabin in the wilderness - however, her mental state is troubled, and she does not appear to recognize him or even notice his presence.

In Other Media
In the 1994 live-action "Street Fighter" film, T. Hawk was a Sergeant serving under Colonel Guile. He and Cammy (who is a Lieutenant) appeared to be Guile's second in command, which would lead one to believe his rank was something along the lines of Master Sergeant or Chief Master Sergeant.

He also makes a small appearence in the animated movie, battling Ken on a pier.

Gameplay
He is the equal of Zangief in strength, but uses more "finesse" in his attacks. Though large, he can defeat many smaller, more agile fighters with his devastating Rising Hawk, Diving Hawk, and Mexican Typhoon techniques. Unlike most bulky warriors, he does not like to grapple, but he can when necessary. More often, however, he uses the swooping aerial attacks that are also at his disposal.

Stage Theme
   

Trivia

 * T. Hawk's background in the Super Street Fighter II games feature the Hospicios Cabañas in Guadalajara, Mexico.
 * T. Hawk shares his birthday with Ryu.
 * In the UDON comics, T. Hawk, watching a wrestling match on TV in a restaurant, requests that the channel be changed, since he can't stand pro wrestling. After El Fuerte hearing him badmouth both pro wrestling and R. Mika, El Fuerte bursts from the kitchen and yells at him. Mika's image adorns every piece of El Fuerte's cooking attire, not to mention El Fuerte being a big fan of Mika herself. This could possibly be the reason they are Rivals in Super Street Fighter 4. Given T. Hawk's dialogue of "Looks like I have more to teach you" prior to his Rival Match against El Fuerte, it would suggest that El Fuerte might have lost to T. Hawk before the events of Super Street Fighter IV, or perhaps that T. Hawk was a mentor to El Fuerte prior to the events in the game.
 * The name of T.Hawk's music, "Eye of the Eagle", was inspired by Survivor's song Eye of the Tiger
 * Being 7'7" (230cm) tall, T. Hawk is the second-tallest character in the Street Fighter series, behind Hugo. Also, he is the tallest character in the whole SSF4 cast.
 * T. Hawk is the only character in Super Street Fighter IV where he is refered by both his first initial and last name by the announcer upon winning a match. All other characters with a first initial (such as E. Honda and C. Viper) are only referred to by their last name by the announcer.
 * Out of all the player characters in Super Street Fighter IV, T. Hawk is the only one not to say a single word in his own ending. All the dialogue in his ending comes from Rose and the two elderly people looking after Julia.