Silver the Hedgehog is a silver-furred anthropomorphic hedgehog from 200 years in the future of the main timeline. He first appeared in the 2006 Sonic the Hedgehog. His individual episode revolves around him traveling back in time with Blaze the Cat to find and kill Sonic the Hedgehog, known to them as the "Iblis Trigger", who they believe is the cause of their world being destroyed in the future.

Since this first appearance, he has been relegated to the Sonic series spinoffs, multiplayer games, and small cameo roles. He is one of the main characters in Sonic Rivals and Sonic Rivals 2. He is playable in multiplayer modes in Sonic and the Secret Rings, Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity,Sonic Free Riders, and Sonic and the Black Knight, though he was known as Galahad in the latter. He also makes an appearance in Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games. Cameos include briefly being seen in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, in the background of Sonic's Green Hill Zone stage, and as a trophy and sticker. He also has a cameo in the DS version of Sonic Colors

Silver's primary ability is psychokinesis which is also known as telekinesis. He is able to levitate objects (including himself) and use them as projectiles, and fly. He can also fire shock waves that temporarily paralyze his enemies. He is able to use many standard abilities similar to those of Sonic and Shadow and he can utilize Chaos Control in order to warp through time and space. He is able to transform into "Super Silver" by using the power of the Chaos Emeralds, and he becomes able to use a special "Shield of Light" to draw in and throw any object within a large circular field.

Silver was conceptualized from utilizing a new realistic physics engine in Sonic the Hedgehog, and, while given similar game play elements to Sonic and Shadow, provides vastly different game play with his unique abilities. The design team developed over fifty different concepts for the character. They felt that a mink would not blend in with the rest of the characters, so they decided to make Silver a hedgehog instead. Orange was originally decided for his fur, but they soon decided on white-gray. While developing the character models and textures, they focused on using the hardware to develop the textures rather than just use white-gray, which lead to Silver's color and name.