Mother: Difference between revisions

The mother (Japanese: お母さん mother) is a prominent character in the various canons of the Pokémon franchise.

In the core series games

Main articles: Mom (Kanto), Mom (Johto), Mom (Hoenn), Johanna, Mom (Black and White), Mom (Black 2 and White 2), Grace (Kalos), Mom (Alola)

The player's mother, often referred to informally as mom (Japanese: ママ mom), is a character in every core series Pokémon game. Although different each time, she will always be the one to see her child off on his or her journey with his or her starter Pokémon.

When players speaks to their mother, she will heal the party, except in Johto, where the player must instead use the healing machine in Professor Elm's lab. The player's mother may also do several other things specific to the game. When the player is setting off on his or her journey as a Pokémon Trainer, the player's mother will typically give him/her the Running Shoes as a gift, either in person or via a messenger, reading the provided instructions as well.

In side series games

Orre

In Pokémon XD, Michael's mother is a researcher at the Pokémon Lab. Her name is Lily and she has a daughter named Jovi. She takes a supportive role throughout the game by working alongside Professor Krane.

Almia

In Almia, the mother of Kellyn or Kate exchanges letters with their family as they attend Ranger School. The family later moves to Chicole Village to be closer to Kellyn or Kate. She also bought the books on the bookshelf. The mother doesn't do much besides look after her youngest child and take care of the player's inactive partner Pokémon. She later has the player perform a Quest where she asks the player to read a recipe off the fridge for her while she cooks.

In the anime

In the main series

Delia Ketchum, mother of Ash Ketchum

In the Pokémon anime, each of the main characters which have a player character counterpart have had their mother introduced except for Jimmy and Marina. Unlike the mothers in the games, however, all of them lead a moderately more active lifestyle.

Delia, Ash's mother, is introduced in the very first episode and is shown to travel to most of the Pokémon League competitions that her son takes part in. She also has her own Pokémon, a Mr. Mime nicknamed Mimey, which cleans the house for her.

Lola, Brock's mother, was, for a time, running the Pewter City Gym while Brock was traveling with Ash on his journey. She is an adept Trainer, however her insistence on using Water-type Pokémon—including attempting to shift Pewter City's Gym's traditional type from Rock to Water—is something she and Brock have butted heads over.

Caroline, the mother of May and Max, is also shown to travel a bit to watch her daughter's competitions in the Grand Festivals. Unlike her game counterpart, however, she lives in Petalburg City. She also seems to have Pokémon; however, they are never shown.

Johanna, Dawn's mother, apparently lives life very similarly to her own game counterpart. She has a Glameow and an Umbreon, and was formerly a winner of the Sinnoh Grand Festival.

Grace, Serena's mother, also lives life similarly to her own game counterpart. She has a pet Fletchling and Rhyhorn, and was once a Rhyhorn racer.

In Pokémon Origins

In Pokémon Origins, Red's mother appears in File 1: Red, telling him that the device Professor Oak was working on is ready and that the Professor wants to see him in his lab, which causes Red to fall down the stairs with excitement. She asks if he is okay before he rushes out the door. She has no other appearance.

In the manga

In The Electric Tale of Pikachu manga

Ash's mother, Delia Ketchum, makes an appearance in the chapter Pikachu, I See You!.

In the Magical Pokémon Journey manga

Hazel's mother and father are mentioned, but are never shown.

In the Pokémon Adventures manga

Gold's mother makes an appearance in the beginning of the Gold, Silver & Crystal arc. She often nags him about his messy hairstyle, calling it "explosive". She is based on the mother from Generation II.

Crystal's mother makes her first appearance in Absolutely Azumarill wanting to catch an Azumarill. After meeting up with her daughter she gifts Crystal with Kurt's Poké Balls and requests the capture of a wild Azumarill. After seeing how depressed Crystal after failing to capture Suicune, she slaps Crystal in the face (in the Viz release of Volume 11, this is replaced with her glaring at Crystal), and recommends Crystal to return to Mt. Mortar to train. She reappears in the HeartGold & SoulSilver arc where she gives Crystal a new set of clothes (against her will) based on the outfit that Lyra wears.

Ruby's mother appears in the Ruby & Sapphire arc where she can be seen worrying about her son and her husband.

Green's parents appear in the FireRed & LeafGreen arc where they are kidnapped by a Deoxys; they are eventually rescued.

Emerald's mother and father have been stated to be deceased, making him an orphan.

Diamond's mother is Johanna, a former Coordinator. She is the one to give him his winter clothing.

Platinum's mother is Professor Yanase Berlitz, a Pokémon researcher. She was the one who researched Rayquaza and attempted to make a Green Orb to try to control it. She is also the one who sent Platinum to the Sinnoh Battle Frontier to search for information on the Distortion World.

Whitley's mother is a former member of Team Plasma. She was seen accompanying her to her first day at Aspertia City's Trainers' School. She decided to switch Whitley's school in order to cut off all connections with her past as a Team Plasma member. She is based on the mother from Pokémon Black 2 and White 2. In PS537 it was revealed that Whitley's mother had led the research efforts to nullify the Colress Machine's powers.

Y's mother is Grace, a famous and very successful Rhyhorn racer. Her relationship with her daughter is not very good, since Y wishes to become a Sky Trainer against her mother's wishes. Grace also voluntarily takes care of X, since his parents are in a faraway region due to their work.

Pokémon

Gold's mother

On hand

These Pokémon are raised by Gold's mother. Due to the large amount of Pokémon she raises, their home is known as "the Poké-house".

Lickitung	Sandshrew	Oddish
Krabby	Chansey ♀	Weedle
Exeggcute	Kakuna	Drowzee

Given away

Aibo ♂

Polibo ♂

Crystal's mother

Due to Crystal's mother being a Poké Maniac, she likes wearing clothes stylized on her Pokémon.

In the Pokémon Gotta Catch 'Em All manga

In Pokémon Gotta Catch 'Em All, Shu's father is an inventor who created the Income, a device which Shu uses to communicate with his Pikachu. Shu's father has spent the last five years of his life attempting to capture Mew.

Shu's mother has appeared in the manga as well.

In the TCG

This listing is of cards mentioning or featuring a mother or her Pokémon in the Pokémon Trading Card Game.

Mother Cards listed with a blue background are only legal to use in the current Expanded format. Cards listed with a green background are legal to use in both the current Standard and Expanded formats.
Card	Type	English Expansion	Rarity	#	Japanese Expansion	Rarity	#
Mom's Kindness	Su	Majestic Dawn		83/100	Torterra/Infernape/Empoleon Half Deck
					Giratina/Dialga Half Deck		013/014
					Piplup/Pikachu Half Deck		015/015
					Arceus LV.X Deck: Grass & Fire		017/017
					Arceus LV.X Deck: Lightning & Psychic		017/017

Trivia

• Generation V is the only generation that introduced two different mother characters for each set of players. However, Pokémon Black 2 and White 2 are not the first games in which two mother characters are accessible since Red's mother can be visited in Pallet Town in the Generation II games and Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver.
• Although Red's mother has blue hair in the core series games, his mother has brown hair in Pokémon Origins.
• In Pokémon Gold and Silver, there's leftover code that allows the player to name their mother. A control character displays the mother's name but it is never used. However, the memory address for the mother's name is written to with the player's name as a means of copying the player's name back after the Dude's catching tutorial ends (as the player's name is temporarily replaced with Dude). This mechanic is similar to how watching the old man's demonstration in the Generation I games causes the player's name to be stored in the wild Pokémon encounter data until after it's finished.^[1]

In other languages

Mother Language Title Chinese Cantonese 媽媽 Màhmā Mandarin 媽媽 / 妈妈 Māma French Mère German Mutter Italian Madre Korean 어머니 Eomeoni Spanish Madre

Mom Language Title Chinese Cantonese 媽媽 Màhmā Mandarin 媽媽 / 妈妈 Māma French Maman German Mutter Italian Mamma Korean 엄마 Eomma Spanish Mamá

References

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.