Byron

Byron トウガン Tougan
"The Man with the Steel Body!"
File:ArtByron.png Artwork from Diamond/Pearl
Gender	Male
Eye color	Black
Hair color	Purple*, Mahogany*
Hometown	Oreburgh City
Region	Sinnoh
Relatives	Roark (son), Underground Man (father), Unnamed wife (anime)
Trainer class	Gym Leader
Generation	IV
Games	Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum
Leader of	Canalave Gym
Badge	Mine Badge
Specializes in	Template:Type2s
Animated debut	Ancient Family Matters!
English voice actor	Dan Green
Japanese voice actor	Kazuki Yao

Byron (Japanese: トウガン Tougan) is the Gym Leader of Canalave City's Gym, known officially as the Canalave Gym. He hands out the Mine Badge to Trainers who defeat him. He specializes in Template:Type2 Pokémon. He is Roark's father.

In the games

Byron uses Template:Type2 Pokémon in his battles. Trainers who defeat him will receive the Mine Badge, TM91 (Flash Cannon), and will be able to use Strength outside of battle. Byron asked Riley to become a Gym Leader, but Riley declined because he thought Byron's son Roark should be considered first. Byron isn't surprised to find his inexperienced son lost to the protagonist, but is enthusiastic about the next generation of Pokémon trainers. Byron resolves to train harder at Iron Island to compete with younger trainers.

He apparently owns the normally deserted cabin on Iron Island. After the Elite Four, he can be found there. Speaking to him results in him chiding himself for still treating Roark like a child, then he'll give the player a Metal Coat and leave. In Platinum, he mentions that he lived on Iron Island for a long time and so feels out of place when visiting the Villa. Along with those visits, he can also be battled again at the Battleground in Platinum.

Pokémon

Pokémon Diamond and Pearl

File:SpriteTougan.png [[Leader (Trainer class)|Leader]] Byron [[Canalave Gym|Canalave Gym]] Diamond and Pearl [[Leader (Trainer class)|Leader]] and Professor Byron Oak [[Canalave Gym|Canalave Gym]] Diamond and Pearl Reward: $4680

Types: Steel Psychic Ability: Levitate Held item: None Bronzor Lv.36 Flash Cannon Steel Special   --       Extrasensory Psychic Special   --       Hypnosis Psychic Status   --       Confuse Ray Ghost Status   --       Types: Steel Ground Ability: Sturdy Held item: None Steelix♂ Lv.36 Gyro Ball Steel Physical   --       DragonBreath Dragon Special   --       Sandstorm Rock Status   --       Ice Fang Ice Physical   --       Types: Rock Steel Ability: Sturdy Held item: Chesto Berry Bastiodon♂ Lv.39 Flash Cannon Steel Special   --       AncientPower Rock Special   --       Iron Defense Steel Status   --       Rest Psychic Status   --

Pokémon Platinum

File:ByronPlatinum.gif [[Leader (Trainer class)|Leader]] Byron [[Canalave Gym|Canalave Gym]] Platinum [[Leader (Trainer class)|Leader]] and Professor Byron Oak [[Canalave Gym|Canalave Gym]] Platinum Reward: $4920

Types: Electric Steel Ability: Sturdy Held item: None Magneton Lv.37 Flash Cannon Steel Special   --       Thunderbolt Electric Special   --       Tri Attack Normal Special   --       Metal Sound Steel Status   --       Types: Steel Ground Ability: Sturdy Held item: None Steelix♂ Lv.38 Earthquake Ground Physical   --       Flash Cannon Steel Special   --       Sandstorm Rock Status   --       Ice Fang Ice Physical   --       Types: Rock Steel Ability: Sturdy Held item: Sitrus Berry Bastiodon♂ Lv.41 Metal Burst Steel Physical   --       Stone Edge Rock Physical   --       Iron Defense Steel Status   --       Taunt Dark Status   --

Rematch

File:ByronPlatinum.gif [[Leader (Trainer class)|Leader]] Byron [[Battleground|Battleground]] Platinum [[Leader (Trainer class)|Leader]] and Professor Byron Oak [[Battleground|Battleground]] Platinum Reward: $7800

Types: Steel Flying Ability: Keen Eye Held item: None Skarmory♂ Lv.61 Night Slash Dark Physical   --       Drill Peck Flying Physical   --       Rock Tomb Rock Physical   --       Stealth Rock Rock Status   --       Types: Electric Steel Ability: Magnet Pull Held item: None Magnezone Lv.62 Flash Cannon Steel Special   --       Thunderbolt Electric Special   --       Supersonic Normal Status   --       Thunder Wave Electric Status   --       Types: Steel Ground Ability: Rock Head Held item: None Steelix♂ Lv.61 Gyro Ball Steel Physical   --       Ice Fang Ice Physical   --       DragonBreath Dragon Special   --       Sandstorm Rock Status   --       Types: Rock Steel Ability: Sturdy Held item: None Bastiodon♂ Lv.63 Metal Burst Steel Physical   --       AncientPower Rock Special   --       Iron Defense Steel Status   --       Rest Psychic Status   --       Types: Steel Rock Ability: Sturdy Held item: Sitrus Berry Aggron♂ Lv.65 Stone Edge Rock Physical   --       Metal Burst Steel Physical   --       Earthquake Ground Physical   --       Avalanche Ice Physical   --

File:SpriteTougan.png	File:ByronPlatinum.gif
Byron's sprite from Diamond and Pearl	Byron's sprite from Platinum	Byron's VS sprite from Platinum

Quotes

Canalave Gym

• Before battle

"Ah! That's Oreburgh Gym Badge! I see, I see! You've defeated my son. But that's no surprise. He still has much to learn. In place of my son Roark, I, Byron, will take your challenge!"

• After sending out last Pokémon

"Oh, what's this? My last one! This is where we make our stand!"

• During battle

"We're not done yet! There's no giving up!"

• When defeated

"Hmm! My sturdy Pokémon, defeated!"

• After being defeated

"You were strong enough to take down my prized team of Pokémon. In recognition of that power, I give you this: the Mine Badge!"

"Gwahahahaha! The Sinnoh region is vast! Tough Trainers like you and <rival> crop up constantly to challenge the old guard! With more young Trainers like my son and you two taking charge, the future of Pokémon is bright! But I'm not stepping aside just yet! I merely need to rededicate myself to training on Iron Island."

Villa

"Guhahahaha! How's your Villa? Can you give me a tour?"

"Gwahahahaha! I spent a long time living on Iron Island. A place this fancy, I feel a little out of place. Don't get me wrong, it's a great place. It's nothing like my son's!"

"You're acquainted with a fellow named Riley, aren't you? He's a mystifying sort, that one. I have no idea how old he is, to tell you the truth."

In the anime

File:Byron.png

Byron in the anime

Byron made his debut appearance in Ancient Family Matters! together with his son, Roark. It was revealed Byron had once been the Gym Leader of Oreburgh and had left his family to become the Gym Leader of Canalave as he was more interested in fossils, leaving his former position to Roark. Byron battles his son for a short time before the match got interrupted by Team Rocket. It was later revealed that Byron still cared for his son as he kept the fossil Roark had found as a child with him ever since.

Byron is obsessed with digging and fossils. When his fossils were stolen by Team Rocket in Ancient Family Matters!, Byron was too busy admiring the hole they dug into the building to notice.

In Dealing With Defensive Types!, Ash had his gym battle against Byron, defeating him and earning a Mine Badge.

In DP155, Byron was presumably defeated by Paul, earning him his eighth badge, and therby making him eligible for the Sinnoh League.

Pokémon

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

Bronzor

Byron's Bronzor

Debut	Dealing With Defensive Types!
Voice actors
Japanese
English	Tom Wayland

Bronzor was the first Pokémon used by Byron during his Gym Battle against Ash where it went up against Ash's Chimchar where it was able to stand up to Chimchar's Flamethrower thanks to Byron's intensive training with the Pokémon. It was able to cause significant damage to Chimchar before being knocked out by Flame Wheel.

Bronzor's known attacks are Gyro Ball and Rain Dance and its ability is Heatproof.

Steelix

Byron's Steelix

Debut	Dealing With Defensive Types!
Voice actors
Japanese	Unshō Ishizuka
English	Unshō Ishizuka

Steelix was the second Pokémon used by Byron when battling Ash, and proved to be a very tough opponent. It knocked out Buizel easily, and was able to cause massive damage to Chimchar. However it was eventually defeated by Chimchar after the Chimp Pokémon weakened the ground with Dig restricting its movement.

Steelix's known attacks are Screech, Bind and Iron Tail.

Bastiodon

Byron's Bastiodon

Debut	Ancient Family Matters!
Voice actors
Japanese	Unshō Ishizuka
English	Dan Green

Main article: Byron's Bastiodon

Bastiodon is Byron's main Pokémon, first appearing when Byron had a battle with Roark.

It was then used in the Gym Battle against Ash as Byron's final Pokémon. It knocked out an already weakened Chimchar, but was defeated by Gliscor.

In Canalave Gym

Kabuto	Kabutops	Omanyte
Omastar	Armaldo	Cradily

Voice actors

Language Voice actor Japanese 矢尾一樹 Kazuki Yao English Dan Green

In the manga

Pokémon Adventures

Byron made an appearance with his Shieldon. Roark met him at Eterna City when exploring the Underground, where they discussed something (not known yet). Roark said that his father was the unpredictable type.

After being defeated by Berlitz, Byron takes on the responsibility of protecting Professor Rowan and Mr. Berlitz while doing research in Canalave City. When Candice, Maylene, and Platinum Berlitz are defeated by Team Galactic, he responds with their request to send one strong to help them. After briefly considering Roark, Byron reluctantly calls Volkner.

Pokémon

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

Shieldon

Bronzong ×2

Given away

Shieldon

Byron gave a Shieldon to Diamond.

Pokémon DP

Byron finds Hareta washed up on the shore after having been defeated by Cyrus. Byron takes Hareta in and allows him to regain his strength before putting him through a rigorous training session similar to what he put Roark through years ago. Hareta charges forward never considering his remaining strength, causing him to fail the challenge at the final stage. Byron then sends him to Iron Island to restart his training from scratch and improve his skills. He returns at the completion of Hareta's training to allow him to take his challenge again, however something terrible is happening in the distance. Byron seemed to have a fondness for Hareta, possibly like a second son to him.

Pokémon

Bastiodon

Bronzor

Steelix

Onix

In the TCG

This listing is of cards mentioning or featuring Byron or his Pokémon in the Pokémon Trading Card Game.

Name	Type	Level	Rarity	Set	Set no.
Bastiodon GL		41		Rising Rivals	2/111
Steelix GL		38		Rising Rivals	51/111

Trivia

• Both Byron and his son, Roark, use Fossil Pokémon and a member of the Onix evolution family in Gym Battles.
  • Both of their Pokémon in the Onix evolutionary line know the move Screech in the Pokémon anime.
• Byron and his son's badges are references to coal mines. They both have mines in or near their respective towns (Oreburgh Mine and Iron Island, which was once a mine).
• In Platinum, all of Byron's Pokémon have the Sturdy ability when the player challenges him at his gym.
• Byron and Winona are the only Gym Leaders in the anime to own a giant Pokémon; however, Byron's was only a fossil.

Names

Language	Name	Origin
Japanese	トウガン (Tougan)	The Japanese name of the wax gourd (his son, Hyouta, is also named after a gourd). Possibly a reference to 鋼 hagane, "steel."
English	Byron	Sounds similar to iron.
French	Charles	From charbon, coal.
German	Adam	From latin adamas, very hard iron, steel.
Italian	Ferruccio	From ferro, iron.
Spanish	Acerón	From acero, steel.
Korean	동관 Dongwan	Similar to Japanese name. Also, wax gourd is called 동과 (Dongwa) in Korea.

External links

Gym Leaders of the Sinnoh region
Oreburgh Gym Roark	Eterna Gym Gardenia	Veilstone Gym Maylene	Pastoria Gym Crasher Wake
Hearthome Gym Fantina	Canalave Gym Byron	Snowpoint Gym Candice	Sunyshore Gym Volkner

This game character article is part of Project CharacterDex, a Bulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on each character found in the Pokémon games.