Roark

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Roark
ヒョウタ Hyouta
"Call me Roark the Rock!"
Brilliant Diamond Shining Pearl Roark.png
Art from Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl
Gender Male
Eye color Cordovan
Hair color Cordovan
Hometown Oreburgh City
Region Sinnoh
Relatives Byron (father), Underground Man (relative), unnamed mother (anime)
Trainer class Gym LeaderDPPtBDSP
Pokémon TrainerB2W2
Generation IV, V, VIII
Games Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum,
Black 2 and White 2,
Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl,
Masters EX
Leader of Oreburgh Gym
Badge Coal Badge
Specializes in Rock types
Game animation debut GOTCHA!
English voice actor Alejandro Saab[1] (Masters EX)
Unknown (Evolutions)
Japanese voice actor Kenji Nojima[2] (Masters EX)
Kohsuke Tanabe(Evolutions)
Anime debut Shapes of Things to Come!
English voice actor Craig Blair
Zoe Martin (child)
Japanese voice actor Masataka Azuma
Satsuki Yukino (child)

Roark (Japanese: ヒョウタ Hyouta) is the Gym Leader of Oreburgh City's Gym, known officially as the Oreburgh Gym. He hands out the Coal Badge to Trainers who defeat him. He specializes in Rock-type Pokémon. He is Byron's son.

In the core series games

Roark's team is made up entirely of Rock-type Pokémon. After he is defeated, he will give the player the Coal Badge and TM76 (Stealth Rock); the Badge gives the player the ability to use Rock Smash outside of battle. Roark, as the Oreburgh Mine's safety supervisor, lets the Trainers of Oreburgh train in the mines. Despite his young age, he keeps the mine running safely and efficiently. After losing, he feels embarrassed that his Cranidos lost to a Trainer without any Badges and cautions the protagonist that the following leaders are a lot tougher. Roark later appears in the Underground, welcoming the player on their first visit there, and explaining a handful of features of the area. Like the other Gym Leaders, he can be fought again at the Battleground in Platinum Version. A woman in Sunyshore City mentions Byron and the Underground Man are related and they, with Roark, are a trio of dedicated diggers.

As a child, Roark spent a significant amount of time playing on Iron Island.

Apparently, Riley was considered for the position of Oreburgh Gym Leader first, but he declined and suggested Roark for the position, and Roark was instead picked.

Pokémon

Pokémon Diamond and Pearl



Pokémon Platinum

Gym battle



Rematch



Pokémon Black 2 and White 2

Pokémon World Tournament

Roark uses three of these Pokémon in Single Battles, four in Double and Rotation Battles, and all six in Triple Battles. He will always lead with his signature Pokémon, Rampardos.

Sinnoh Leaders Tournament



Type Expert/World Leaders Tournament



Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl

Gym battle



Rematch



Battle Tower
Master Class Single Battles (Rank 1)



Master Class Double Battles (Rank 1)

In each team, Roark uses the first and second Pokémon on the list, and Byron uses the third and fourth.



In the spin-off games

Pokémon Masters EX

Main article: Roark (Masters)

Roark forms a sync pair with Cranidos and its evolved form Rampardos in Pokémon Masters EX. Roark became a playable sync pair since the game's release.

Sync Dex Trainer NDex Pokémon Type Weakness Role Base Potential Availability
#030 VSRoark Masters.png Roark #0409 MastersIcon0409.png Cranidos → Rampardos
Rock
RockIC Masters.png
Water
WaterIC Masters.png
Masters Physical Strike.png ★★★ Sync Pair Scout

Gallery

Artwork

Diamond Pearl Roark.png Sticker Template Roark Background.png
Official artwork from
Diamond and Pearl
Sticker Template background from
Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl

Sprites and models

Spr DP Roark.png Spr Pt Roark.png Spr B2W2 Roark.png VSRoark.png VSRoark BDSP.png VSRoark 2 BDSP.png
Sprite from
Diamond and Pearl
Sprite from
Platinum
Sprite from
Black 2 and White 2
VS sprite from
Platinum
VS model from
Brilliant Diamond and
Shining Pearl
Battle Tower VS model from
Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl
Roark IV OD.png Roark OD.png Badge Case Roark IV.png Roark BDSP OD.png Badge Case Roark VIII.png
Overworld sprite from
Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum
Overworld sprite from
Black 2 and White 2
Sprite from the Badge Case from
Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum
Overworld model from
Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl
Sprite from the Badge Case from
Brilliant Diamond and
Shining Pearl

Quotes

Main article: Roark/Quotes

In the anime

Main series

Roark in the anime

Roark is the Oreburgh City Gym Leader as well as the foreman of the Oreburgh Mine and the chief of Ancient Pokémon Expedition Operations.

Roark first appeared in Shapes of Things to Come!, in which he was seen excavating for buried fossils at the Oreburgh Mine. He later battled Paul, during which he demonstrated his strong abilities, even beating Paul's Azumarill with his Geodude. However, his powerhouse, Cranidos, was not powerful enough to defeat Elekid. With this victory, Paul earned the Coal Badge from Roark.

Following his defeat, Roark recovered and battled Ash the following day in A Gruff Act to Follow!. Roark's Cranidos quickly knocked out Aipom, Ash was later forced to recall Pikachu as well, but Turtwig’s super effective Razor Leaf attacks led to Cranidos's defeat. Onix made quick work of Turtwig in the next round, then its Screech attack knocked Pikachu out and Ash was left defeated.

In Wild in the Streets!, Roark used Cranidos to confront a wild Aerodactyl which had been released into Oreburgh City by Team Rocket. While Dawn had her Piplup and Buneary pin Aerodactyl to the ground, Cranidos later evolved into Rampardos and sent Team Rocket blasting off.

In O'er the Rampardos we Watched, Ash challenged Roark in a rematch. Onix and Geodude were defeated by Ash's Pikachu and Aipom respectively. His powerhouse Rampardos battled against Ash's whole team, but it was knocked out by Turtwig. Being the victor, Ash earned his first Sinnoh League Badge, the Coal Badge.

A younger Roark with his first Fossil

He reappeared in Ancient Family Matters!, where he confronted his father Byron in Canalave City over some family tensions. Roark revealed that his father left the Oreburgh Gym to him after he was requested to take over the Canalave Gym. Roark was shocked and saddened by his father's sudden departure, thinking that he didn't care what happened to him or his mother. The pair argued over who loved fossils the most, and it escalated into a battle. Byron's Bastiodon and Roark's Rampardos were evenly matched, but the battle was interrupted after Team Rocket set off alarms when they stole Byron's fossil collection. The father and son duo joined forces to defeat Team Rocket, and Pikachu sent Team Rocket blasting off. Later, Byron revealed that he had always treasured a fossil of a Sunkern's leaf that Roark had given to him as a child ten years earlier, and Roark accepted that his father did care about him all along.

In Dealing With Defensive Types!, he was the referee for Ash's Gym battle against Byron.

Roark made a cameo appearance during the ending credits of Zoroark: Master of Illusions.

Character

Roark is a compassionate individual who often complements his challengers on their strategies during a Gym battle. Roark is ambitious, but he puts a lot of pressure on himself to perform his best in his leading roles at the Oreburgh Mines and as Gym Leader. He also shares his father Byron's enthusiasm for fossil Pokémon, and has deep interests in investigating the past.

Roark has trained his Pokémon to be fast and relentless in battle. While his style of battle is largely offense based, his defense strategies however are much like his father. He utilizes his Pokémon's Abilities to combat status condition ailments and negate damage, while the move Stealth Rock causes damage to any of the opponent's substituted Pokémon before the round begins.

Pokémon

This listing is of Roark's known Pokémon in the anime:

Roark's Geodude
Geodude
Geodude was the first Pokémon Roark used against Paul. It first battled Paul's Azumarill, and despite being at a major disadvantage, it defeated the Aqua Rabbit Pokémon as if it were nothing. Geodude then went up against Elekid, and this time it had a type advantage, but it was defeated by a single super effective Brick Break attack. It was also used as the second Pokémon in Ash's rematch and faced Aipom. Although it put up a good fight, Aipom's speed and agility turned out to be too much for Geodude, causing it to be defeated by her powerful Focus Punch.

Geodude's known moves are Hidden Power, Rollout, and Seismic Toss.

Debut Shapes of Things to Come!
Voice actors
Japanese Shin-ichiro Miki
English Michael Haigney
Roark's Onix
Onix
Onix was used as Roark's second Pokémon during his match against Paul. It first went up against Elekid and while it was able to weaken the Electric Pokémon, Onix was struck by Elekid's Static and was paralyzed, allowing it to be defeated by Chimchar. Onix was also used during Roark's first match against Ash and easily won the battle for Roark, as Turtwig and Pikachu were already exhausted from battling Cranidos earlier. During the rematch, Pikachu made up for his loss and defeated Onix with Iron Tail.

It reappeared in a flashback in Dealing With Defensive Types!.

Onix's known moves are Slam, Double-Edge, Stealth Rock, and Screech, and its Ability is Rock Head.

Debut Shapes of Things to Come!
Voice actors
Japanese Unshō Ishizuka
English Unshō Ishizuka
Roark's Rampardos
Skull Fossil → Cranidos → Rampardos
Main article: Roark's Rampardos

Rampardos is Roark's main Pokémon. It first appeared as a Cranidos. It was used to battle Paul, defeating his Chimchar before losing to Elekid. Then, against Ash, it defeated his Aipom and wore down Pikachu and Turtwig before losing to the latter. Its rock hard head and incredible speed make it a difficult opponent, and it was shown to be able to launch itself into the air making it also good against airborne attackers. While battling Team Rocket, it evolved into Rampardos. In the rematch, Rampardos defeated Aipom again, followed by Pikachu, and it almost defeated Turtwig as well before Turtwig managed to win.

It reappeared in Ancient Family Matters!, where it battled against Byron's Bastiodon.

Debut Shapes of Things to Come!
Voice actors
Japanese Kenta Miyake
English Kenta Miyake

Voice actors

Language Voice actor
Japanese 我妻正崇 Masataka Azuma
雪野五月 Satsuki Yukino (child)
English Craig Blair
Zoe Martin (child)
Czech Pavel Tesař
Jana Páleníčková (child)
Finnish Aku Laitinen (DP015-DP018)
Petrus Kähkönen (DP107-DP108)
European French David Macaluso
Polish Grzegorz Pierczyński
Katarzyna Łaska (child)
Brazilian Portuguese Sérgio Corsetti (DP015-DP018)
Yuri Chesman (DP107-DP108)
Spanish Latin America Ricardo Mendoza (DP015-DP018)
Ignacio Casas (DP107-DP108)
Spain Cholo Moratalla
Mar Bordallo (child)


GOTCHA!

Roark briefly appeared in GOTCHA!.

Pokémon Evolutions

Roark appeared in The Rival, where he and his Cranidos were defeated in a Gym battle by Barry and his Piplup.

Pokémon

Roark Cranidos Evolutions.png
Cranidos

In the manga

Pocket Monsters DP

Roark appeared in PMDP07.

Pokémon

Roark Cranidos PMDP.png
Cranidos


Pokémon Adventures

Roark and his Cranidos with Gardenia and her Roserade

Roark first appears arriving in Oreburgh City after exploring the Underground with the Underground Man at Eterna City and speaking with his father, Byron, at Canalave City. He meets Platinum, a new Trainer who wishes to challenge and sets up a match for the next day.

The next day, Platinum challenges the Oreburgh Gym for their match. After getting through the Trainers inside, she faces Roark in an official Gym battle. In the match, Roark's Cranidos proves to be a powerful opponent for Platinum's Piplup, but the match eventually ends in Platinum's favor. Defeated, Roark awards Platinum with her first Badge, the Coal Badge. Later, he talks with Byron over the phone about his recent loss to Platinum and they begin talking about another subject.

Later, it is revealed that the aforementioned subject was about a mysterious group that had been going in and out of Canalave to read ancient texts at the library. With the recent disappearance of two scientists, Roark worries that his father would start jumping to conclusions about the littlest things. Later, when Byron is forced to find her, Maylene, and Platinum someone to train them so they can confront Team Galactic, he considers Roark at first but soon changes his mind to Volkner.

Later, Roark, along with Fantina and Gardenia, faces the Team Galactic Commanders on the Spear Pillar. After Candice, Maylene, Byron, and Crasher Wake join the fight, Roark and Fantina team up to face Saturn. Eventually, they emerge victorious and attempt to fight Cyrus before he can finish his ritual. Due to a rift in space-time, they are forced to use the Sinnoh Underground to get to Cyrus, but they manage to come up right at the exact spot he was in.

All the Gym Leaders attempt to stop Cyrus's plan by breaking one of his Red Chains. Though a difficult struggle, they manage to succeed, but they bring upon Cyrus's wrath in the process and are defeated.

After the final battle with Cyrus ends, Roark and the other Gym Leaders are taken to a hospital due to their heavy injuries.

Pokémon

This listing is of Roark's Pokémon in the Pokémon Adventures manga.

Roark's Rampardos
Egg → Cranidos → Rampardos
Main article: Roark's Rampardos

Roark received Rampardos when it was an Egg prior to its debut and it eventually hatched into a Cranidos. Roark used it during Platinum's first Gym challenge. It was able to weaken her Piplup with Shock Wave as Roark was aware of the type disadvantage his Pokémon had with Water types. However, even with its Double Team it was defeated by the Penguin Pokémon's Water Pulse which confused it and it knocked itself out.

In Brash Bronzong I, Cranidos evolved into a Rampardos.

Debut Putting a Crimp in Kricketot
Roark's Onix
Onix
Roark used his Onix during Platinum's Gym battle after switching out Cranidos. It was able to defeat Platinum's Ponyta but lost to her Piplup despite being hit by the effect of Stealth Rock.

Onix's known moves are Double-Edge, Stealth Rock, and Slam, and its Ability is Rock Head.

Debut A Conk on Cranidos's Cranium

Pokémon Diamond and Pearl Adventure!

Roark first appeared in Oreburgh City, using his Cranidos to defeat the Team Galactic Grunts that kidnapped Hareta. Afterwards, Hareta challenged him to a Gym battle. Using a combination of Bide, Bubble Beam and the Oran Berry Roark had given him, Hareta managed to defeat Roark and earn the Coal Badge.

Pokémon

Roark's Cranidos
Cranidos
Main article: Roark's Cranidos

Roark's Cranidos was used to rescue Hareta after he was tied up by Wurmple's String Shot. Then, he used it in Hareta's Gym battle and lost to his Piplup with the help of an Oran Berry Roark gave earlier.

Debut Hareta's Very First Pokémon Battle!!
Roark's Geodude
Geodude
Geodude appeared in a flashback where it tried to comfort Roark when he was young after Byron pushed him too hard to become a Gym Leader.

None of Geodude's moves are known.

Debut Team Galactic's Conspiracy Revealed!!

In the TCG

Ultra rare print of Roark
Main article: Roark (Paradox Rift 173)

Roark was introduced as a Supporter card in the Pokémon Trading Card Game during the English Scarlet & Violet Series (the Japanese Scarlet & Violet Era). It was first released in the Japanese Future Flash expansion and the English Paradox Rift expansion, with artwork by Ryuta Fuse. An ultra rare version with artwork by the same illustrator was released in the same sets. It allows players to draw 2 cards, and put a Basic Energy card from their discard pile into their hand.

The Rising Rivals expansion during the Platinum Series featured two of Roark's Pokémon: Rampardos Pokémon GL and Aerodactyl Pokémon GL.

Trivia

  • His Japanese Leader title is ザ・ロックと いわれた おとこ.
  • Roark is the third Gym Leader encountered first in the region that uses Rock-type Pokémon, the other two being Brock and Roxanne.
  • He and his father's Badges are references to the term Coal Mine. Additionally, mines are located in or near their respective town (Oreburgh Mine and Iron Island, which was once a mine).
  • He is the only Sinnoh Gym Leader not to use any fully evolved Pokémon in his Gym battle in the games.
  • He is the only Gym Leader to have a parent who is a Gym Leader in the same region at the same time.

Names

Language Name Origin
Japanese ヒョウタ Hyouta From 瓢箪 hyōtan (calabash gourd), matching with his father Tougan who is named after the wax gourd
English Roark From rock and ore
German Veit From Eveit (eveite), a mineral isostructural with adamite which matches his father's German name Adam
Spanish Roco From roca (rock)
French Pierrick From pierre (stone)
Italian Pedro From pietra (stone)
Korean 강석 Gangseok From 강 (强) gang (strong) and 석 (石) seok (rock) or 광석 (礦石) gwangseok (ore)
Chinese (Mandarin) 瓢太 Piáotài From the Japanese name 瓢太 Hyōta. Contains 瓢 piáo / pìuh (ladle made from dried calabash gourd)
Chinese (Cantonese) 瓢太 Pìuhtaai
Russian Рорк Rork Transcription of his English name
Vietnamese Hyota Transcription of his Japanese name


Related articles

References

  1. Alejandro Saab on Twitter
  2. Nintendo DREAM (vol. 329)
Gym Leaders of the Sinnoh region
Oreburgh Gym Coal Badge
Badge Case Roark VIII.png
Roark
Eterna Gym Forest Badge
Badge Case Gardenia VIII.png
Gardenia
Veilstone Gym Cobble Badge
Badge Case Maylene VIII.png
Maylene
Pastoria Gym Fin Badge
Badge Case Crasher Wake VIII.png
Crasher Wake
Hearthome Gym Relic Badge
Badge Case Fantina VIII.png
Fantina
Canalave Gym Mine Badge
Badge Case Byron VIII.png
Byron
Snowpoint Gym Icicle Badge
Badge Case Candice VIII.png
Candice
Sunyshore Gym Beacon Badge
Badge Case Volkner VIII.png
Volkner


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