"I understand now... My inherent power over fire... As princess, it is my duty to protect the Sol Emeralds. But because of my duty, I shut people out and keep to myself... But trying to make it solely my responsibility, I put my world in danger. But then... [...] Sonic the Hedgehog... [...] I'll see you again."

Blaze the Cat is a purple cat princess from an alternate dimension. She has been appointed as guardian of the Sol Emeralds, her dimension's version of the Chaos Emeralds, making her role similar to that of Knuckles the Echidna. She is portrayed as calm and levelheaded, hiding her true feelings. She is sometimes "bogged down" by her own strict discipline and devotion to her position, making her appear withdrawn. Blaze can control fire but wears a cape to conceal it, as she was teased about her pyrokinetic abilities when she was young. Using the Sol Emeralds, she transforms into Burning Blaze. Blaze wears a purple dress and white tights with pink high heels and a yellow necklace.

Blaze debuted in Sonic Rush as a playable character along with Sonic. She arrives in Sonic's dimension from another dimension along with the Sol Emeralds. While searching for the Emeralds, she befriends Sonic and Cream and helps them stop Dr. Eggman and Eggman Nega before returning to her dimension. She reappears in Sonic the Hedgehog as Silver the Hedgehog's friend during the future of Sonic's dimension. The two attempt to fix their ruined future world by traveling back in time. Blaze ends up sacrificing her life to seal Iblis, the fiery monster that has destroyed their world, inside herself but is brought back to life at the end of the game when Sonic destroyed Iblis in his own time period. She appeared again as the main character in Sonic Rush Adventure, where Sonic and Tails are transported to her dimension and help her retrieve the "Jeweled Scepter."

Since her first trio of games, she has been relegated to being an extra playable character in Sonic spinoffs and multiplayer games. She is an unlockable multiplayer character in Sonic and the Secret Rings and Sonic and the Black Knight, a playable racer in Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity, Sonic Free Riders, and Team Sonic Racing, and a playable athlete in all five Mario & Sonic at the Olympics games. She appears together with Silver in Sonic Colors DS in several cutscenes and missions. She is also mentioned in Sonic Frontiers.

Blaze has been mostly well received by critics. IGN remarked upon seeing her at TGS 2005 that she "easily earned her place in the team" amidst unremarkable secondary characters. Her gameplay has been praised as "fast-moving and fun" as opposed to slower characters introduced earlier in the series but criticized for its resemblance to that of Sonic. Blaze has been called "a nice addition to Sonic's cast" and "one of the more complex, multifaceted characters in the Sonic canon." Fan reception is similar, with Blaze ranking as the seventh most popular Sonic character in a 2025 Japanese poll conducted by Dengeki Online