Player character

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Red's Pokémon journey is about to begin...

A player character in the world of Pokémon is the protagonist of the games, the avatar of the player. Player characters are usually remarkably silent, only able to answer yes and no to questions. This is so that the player can "fill in" what the character is thinking, feeling and acting, thus immersing the player within the world of the game. In the mainstream games, they are always Pokémon Trainers. At the conclusion of their journey, most will have conquered a Pokémon League's eight Gym Leaders and Elite Four, and become the Champion.

Those who do the above will most often start their journey in their hometown by getting, or shortly before getting, a starter Pokémon, a Pokémon that appears very early in their native region's Pokédex, and is of the Grass-, Fire-, or Template:Type2. The region's native Pokémon professor will always give them this, as well as a Pokédex.

In Pokémon Crystal, and each game in the main series which followed it, players were also able to pick the gender of the lead, more often than not to match their own.

Aside from the standard that many of the games' player characters take in their journey, there are also several other ways in which other player characters complete their journey. Wes and Michael, for example, must defeat Cipher and free all of their snagged Pokémon from their Shadow state. Solana and Lunick, are not Pokémon Trainers, but instead Pokémon Rangers. They must use the Pokémon they have captured with the Capture Styler to help them along the way. Todd as well must strive for something different from Trainers. In Pokémon Snap, he must capture all the Pokémon on Pokémon Island-- on film.

To date, only one player character has reappeared from an older generation. In Generation II, when Gold or Kris travels to Mt. Silver and reaches the deepest point of the cave, Red is found, utterly silent as he was under the player's control, to challenge to the highest-leveled Pokémon battle that has appeared in the series. The original games from Generation I also got remakes in Generation III. Lastly, if Super Smash Bros. Brawl is counted as a Generation IV game due to the time of it's release, Red makes an appearance in the Generation IV games aswell as he is a playable character there.

Region → Kanto Johto Hoenn Sinnoh
Male File:Red.png
Red
File:Gold.gif
Gold
File:Brendan.png
Brendan
File:Koki.png
Lucas
Female Leaf.png
Leaf
File:Kris.gif
Kris
May.png
May
Hikari.png
Dawn


In the anime

In the anime, five of the player characters have been given major roles, three of them in the main anime series. Ash, of course, represents Red, being based on him in appearance as well as basic history. At the beginning of Advanced Generation, May entered the fray in order to better represent Generation III to viewers, as both Misty and Brock are characters native to Generation I. Likewise, at the beginning of Diamond & Pearl, Dawn joined Ash.

Jimmy and Marina appeared in The Legend of Thunder! special, taking a similar role to Ash and his female companions, fighting Team Rocket members to protect legendary Pokémon. While the protagonists of Generation II were not represented in Ash's party, these two filled the roles as the anime counterparts to Gold and Kris.

So far, Brendan has only made a few select cameo appearances in the anime, while Lucas has not yet made an appearance at all. Leaf, or a counterpart to her, likewise, has not appeared.

Player characters
Core series RedLeafEthanKrisLyraBrendanMayLucasDawn
HilbertHildaNateRosaCalemSerenaElioSelene
ChaseElaineVictorGloriaReiAkariFlorianJuliana
Side series WesMichaelNateCyndy
Spin-off games MarkMintTodd SnapLucy Fleetfoot
LunickSolanaKellynKateBenSummer
HeroHeroineTim GoodmanScottieBettie