Lawrence III: Difference between revisions

Lawrence III (Japanese: ジラルダン Gelarden) is a Collector, appearing in The Power of One. He is often referred to as being a "Pokémon collector", but there is no evidence he ever had a Pokémon before the events of the movie. His Japanese voice actor is 鹿賀丈史 Takeshi Kaga, and his English voice actor is Neil Stuart.

He travels in the 飛行宮 Hikōkyū (an airship the size of a small city, the name means "Flying Palace") and gathers artifacts from the world over. Despite the scope of his collection, he is rather shortsighted about the world around him. His entire plan to capture Lugia reflects this, as it involves the disruption of powerful natural forces, through attempting to capture Moltres, Zapdos, and Articuno.

What is known of his past is limited to the first object in his collection -- an Ancient Mew card. Also, his mother is deceased.

After reading an ancient prophecy, Lawrence III misinterpreted it that "the chosen one bringing together three treasures to tame the Beast of the Sea" meant that he was the Chosen One, and if he brought Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres together, Lugia (whom he thought the prophecy referred to as "Beast of the Sea") would appear. He weakened Moltres on Fire Island using ice bombs, and captured it using traps from his gigantic ship, thus disrupting the balance. He then captured Zapdos after it flew to Fire Island, but inadvertently captured Ash, Misty, Tracey, Pikachu, Melody, Jessie, James, and Meowth as well. He left them to watch from the window while he attempted to capture Articuno. However, Ash's Pikachu, Bulbasaur, Squirtle, and Charizard set Moltres free, and Moltres in turn set Zapdos free. However, Zapdos attacked Moltres, and a fight broke out between them, resulting in Lawrence III's ship crashing on Lightning Island.

He saw Lugia appear through his telescope, and just as Ash had the final sphere needed to fulfill the prophecy and save the world, Lawrence III attempted to capture Lugia using triangle-shaped traps, but Lugia used Aeroblast to destroy his ship, leaving it in ruins. Lawrence III survived this, and was seen watching the Beast of the Sea (the underwater current) rise into the air and sink back into the ocean. At nighttime, he found the Mew card, and with it decided to restart his Pokémon collection, but on a smaller size than before. It is hinted in the book that he will not try to capture Lugia again, as his attempt proved unsuccessful, and his ship is destroyed.

He has a brief appearance in Pokémon Heroes; during the end credits, a photo of him is seen in a book that Annie and Oakley are reading in prison, along with a photo of his ship.

Pokémon

Temporary

Moltres

Zapdos

Name origin

The origin of his peculiar Japanese name is most likely from French philosopher and Stanford University professor René Girard, whose theories link problems in the modern world to legends and religious stories in the ancient world. Those who follow Girard's theories are known as "Girardins".

His English name is up for debate. The closed captioning in the movie calls him Gelardan, but the official English book of the movie calls him Lawrence III, although he was called Stelthius twice in the book.

As well as this, many fans refer to him as Jirarudan, which is basically a katakana representation of Gelarden that has become more popular than the actual name.

Trivia

• Lawrence III is one of the few main human antagonists who is not affiliated with Team Rocket.
• When last we see Lawrence III in person (as his picture appears in a book in a later movie), he is on Lightning Island, and his ship destroyed. As far as the viewers can tell, there appears to be no form of transportation off Lightning Island at this moment. While a scenario involving him getting off the island is not impossible, it is unknown how or if he ever does.
• Lawrence III used circular traps on Moltres, square traps on Zapdos, and triangular traps on Lugia. If he had gotten around to using the triangle traps on Articuno first, and then tried to capture Lugia afterward, what shape the traps would have taken is unknown, assuming he picks a different type of trap for each Pokémon.
• Though Lawrence III implies that he already has a big Pokémon collection, the only Pokémon that have ever been seen captured aboard his ship are Moltres and Articuno. In addition, when he picks up his Mew card, he says he'll restart his collection, which he wouldn't have to do if he still had a collection of Pokémon in another area. However, it is possible that they are in an area of the ship that hasn't been witnessed yet, and were released when Lugia destroyed his ship.