History Characters / PokemonMysteryDungeonExplorers

* GreaterScopeVillain: In the main story. He's the one responsible of trying to get the planet paralyzed, but his existence isn't revealed until after the credits roll.

A very wise explorer who rose to stardom overnight. Despite this, he's very humble and willing to help even the smallest Pokémon. He's from the future, where he's Primal Dialga's right-hand Ghost-type.

The local god of time. Doesn't appear in person much, but he's benevolent enough. His descent into madness as Primal Dialga drives most of the pre-credits plot.

!Villains ('''SPOILERS''')

[[folder:Dialga (Major Spoilers)]]

* AntiVillain: Of the "good guy brainwashed into being evil and none of his villainy is really his fault" variety.

[[folder:The True Villain (MASSIVE SPOILERS)]]

* PhantomThief: Based on how he managed to scatter the Time Gears around and create the bad future with nobody having a single idea about what hit them until it's almost too late, has five backup plans mostly involving trickery or illusions and is a MasterOfDisguise, he can be considered a truly maligant example of this trope.
* TheSociopath: Feels no remorse, has a complete LackOfEmpathy, uses emotional blackmail and manipulation to get what he wants (at one point, while disguised as Cresselia, he almost convinces the hero and their partner to commit suicide), he couldn't care less about others and sees them as just tools for him to use and then dispose of, he has a grandiose sense of self-importance (if him wanting to take over the world and plunge it into darkness is any indication) and he is cruel and sadistic.

* ObviouslyEvil: As soon as his first dialogue after being exposed, you know this is '''not''' a sympathetic Darkrai.

* VileVillainSaccharineShow: A downplayed version, as there are several other dark moments in ''Explorers'', but he's not only easily the most evil villain in the game, he's likely the most evil villain in the ''entire Franchise/{{Pokemon}} franchise''.

* ChekhovsGunman: He becomes much more important during the post-game story, helping you when Azurill gets trapped in a nightmare.
* EarlyBirdBoss: He's the second boss in the game after Koffing and Zubat (who are total cakewalks) but he's rather annoying to beat, as both his abilities, Forewarn and Insomnia, will allow him to block your moves occasionally and makes him completely immune to sleep-inducing moves or Sleep Seeds respectively, while he puts you to sleep himself via Hypnosis and hits quite hard with Confusion.

* ForTheEvulz: It's never explained why he wanted to rule the Pokémon world besides destroying both time and space in order for that to happen.

* MythologyGag: His deep, abiding love of the ocean may be a reference to a Diglett/Dugtrio father-son pair who played a minor role in ''Red/Blue Rescue Team'' and spent most of their time overlooking the sea. [[EpilepticTrees Assuming, of course, that]] [[WildMassGuessing there isn't something more to it...]]

* TheChessmaster: He's so well prepared for the final battle, it takes the intervention of a PhysicalGod to stop him!
And that's not even getting into what he did to start the main plot in the first place -- he somehow managed to ''slowly drive another PhysicalGod into despair and doom the world into a BadFuture'' without anybody else knowing what's actually going on.

* LivingEmotionalCrutch: They are one for their partner, to the extent that [[spoiler: after they are removed from time and space, Diagla sees fit to make an unstable paradox by putting them back in after seeing what an emotional mess their partner has become without them.]]

* AdaptationalVillainy: Grovyle are supposed to be Pokémon ''heavily'' associated with heroes or protagonists just like other starters. In this case, he's built up as a dreaded and horrifying criminal and the BigBad causing the world's eventual stasis. [[spoiler:Actually {{Subverted|Trope}}; he was just trying to get the Time Gears back to Temporal Tower, and he turns out to be GoodAllAlong.]]

* EnemyMine: [[spoiler: With Dusknoir in his special episode.]]

* MessiahCreep: He starts off as a villain willing to kill the Lake Guardians and the player Team even when it won't make a difference, then is gradually revealed as more heroic. In his episode, he's regarded as an idealist and [[spoiler: manages to talk his opposite number into reforming.]]
* NonHumanSidekick: [[spoiler:Darkrai]] later reveals that [[spoiler:Grovyle was the hero's sidekick when they were a human. However, because he attacked them in the middle of the Time Stream, Grovyle was separated with the hero and ended up in the future, while the hero transformed into a Pokémon.]]

A Pokémon who is trying to steal the Time Gears. He's a good guy and came from the future to try to prevent the planet's paralysis.

* KnightOfCerebus: He's the first serious step that the story gets.

* TheChessmaster: He's so well prepared for the final battle, it takes the intervention of a PhysicalGod to stop him! Not to mention that he was the mastermind of the main plot.

* DarkIsEvil: A Dark-type, and the main villain of the post-game plot.

* TrueFinalBoss: Defeating him wraps up the plot entirely, though there are still {{Bonus Boss}}es after him.

* TheUnfought: While Zubat and Koffing act as the [[DualBoss the first bosses]], Skuntank prefers dirty tricks and running away, and the heroes never get to fight Skuntank. Except when they take a solid one upside the chin due to a combination of TheWorfEffect and the fact they're fighting the BonusBoss.

* AmbiguouslyBi: It's heavily implied that over the course of their journeys together, the partner eventually grows to develop feelings for the hero, regardless of either's gender. [[spoiler: It's also implied that this is why the partner is as emotionally messed up as they are after the hero's HeroicSacrifice]]

* AmbiguouslyBi:
** It's heavily implied that over the course of their journeys together, the partner eventually grows to develop feelings for the hero, regardless of either's gender. [[spoiler: It's also implied that this is why the partner is as emotionally messed up as they are after the hero's HeroicSacrifice]]

* BadassAdorable: A cute and soft pink Pokémon who's silly and friendly to everyone, and also probably among the strongest and most intelligent characters in the entire series. Taken UpToEleven in his appearance as an Igglybuff during his special episode, where he's even more adorable as a CheerfulChild and repeatedly shocks other characters with his explosive power, [[GameplayAndStoryIntegration and even his basic Pound attack is likely to one-shot most enemies you encounter by the end of it.]]

* NearVillainVictory: And one that comes ''dangerously close'' to becoming TheBadGuyWins at that. The BadFuture was basically ''established'' when the hero and partner starts foiling his plans without even knowing who he is, and if not for [[BigDamnHeroes Cresselia]] arriving to expose him they would had been [[DespairEventHorizon broken down]] right in front of him and Palkia in Spacial Rift. And as far as Grovyle and the hero are concerned, they aren't meeting each other anytime soon.

* AntiClimaxBoss: Can become this if you throw a hunger seed at him. It will cause all of his attacks to do only one point of damage. This is due to lacking the IQ Skill that most of the other bosses have that makes them immune to it.

Darkrai is a mysterious and malevolent Pokémon who is the [[ManBehindTheMan true mastermind]] of the hero's lost memories and their separation from Grovyle, as well as Temporal tower's collapse and the resulting Badfuture. His goal is to create a world of darkness where he reigns over. Once this fails, he takes action himself, and he resorts to spreading illusions and lies to lure the hero and the partner to their deaths.

* ButtMonkey: Before your team comes along, he's pretty clumsy and was always getting yelled at by Loudred and Chatot. He unknowingly even ruins the "surprise" of the Grandmaster of all things bad, much to Wigglytuff's annoyance.

Appears in the post-credits plot. He is the game's ManBehindTheMan, and a WalkingSpoiler for that reason.

* CrazyPrepared: His original post game plot was to convince the heroes they should destroy themselves. When that didn't work, he convinces Palkia that he should destroy them. When that failed, he already had a backup plan to lure them to their deaths at his hands. When they show up, he tries to convince the player to join him by trapping them in a nightmare where their partner betrayed them and joined Darkai. When that failed, he summoned his army of {{Mooks}} to help him kill the group. Then when he lost, he had an escape route ready and would've escaped had Palkia not intervened. Yeah, he had a total of ''five'' backup plans!

* PortmanteauCoupleName: Their team name just smashes their names together.

* CowardlyLion: Can be literal in Sky if the player chooses [[PantheraAwesome Shinx]] as their species.

* Mystical108: An antagonistic group of 108 ghosts crammed together.: An antagonistic group of 108 ghosts crammed together.

[[quoteright:214:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/07e9914a_a186_44ec_9f6f_b47be9afd86d.png]]
[[caption-width-right:214:The world of darkness will be wonderful]]

A hermited explorer who taught Wigglytuff all he knows about exploring. Appears in Sky version's bonus content.

A young Pokemon who dreams of becoming a great explorer... but is too intimidated to join the local guild. After meeting the hero, they decide to try signing up as a team, reasoning that their new friend will help them learn how to be brave. They treasure a small rock with a strange design on it, which they named a 'Relic Fragment'; someday, they hope to discover just where it came from...

** He does not seem to be the part, but he sure is one of the smartest Pokemon in the ''Mystery Dungeon'' series, with deductive abilities that catch ''almost everyone'' off-guard. For example, the moment he looks at The Partner's relic fragment, he figures out it has something to do with Brine Cave and Lapras.

[[quoteright:150:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/29750b20_7acb_4dfa_a5bb_28ab1abf802c.png]]

* KnowNothingKnowItAll: He describes himself as an "encyclopedia" of knowledge, and he ''is'' actually pretty knowledgeable about various legends and Pokemon (which is more or less your RequiredSecondaryPowers for being the guild's personal ExpositionFairy), but he is also ''really'' lacking in patience and basic common sense. Especially with never noticing how ObviouslyEvil Team Skull was, and believing their word over the protagonists. Oddly enough, he's very perceptive and when he notices something's wrong with Bidoof, has [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold the Guildmaster look into it so they can save him from an untimely ambush]].

A cheerful beaver Pokemon who's eager to please others. Before the newcomers arrived, he was the Guild's most recent recruit, and was having trouble adjusting. Things get better for him after your arrival, and he quickly befriends the team. While he can be a bit slow at times, he tries his hardest and dislikes the thought of giving up.

* RecurringCharacter: The same Corphish (or possibly all talking Corphish say "Hey, hey!") has appeared in almost every game in the franchise since that features talking Pokemon. Such as, ''Poke Park Wii 2'' and ''Pokemon Rumble Blast''.

A trio of poison Pokemon who do [[AlwaysChaoticEvil nothing for their Type's bad reputation]]. The brutish Skuntank leads the team, while Koffing and Zubat are his sneering lackeys. Not to be confused with [[VideoGame/PokemonSunAndMoon the other Team Skull]].

* ManChild: It's not known if [[VagueAge Koffing and Zubat]] are adults or not, but one would assume Skuntank is a fully grown adult (or rather a fully-evolved Pokemon), and he's no different from a petty school bully.

* {{Expy}}: Essentially, the Pokemon versions of Series/CharliesAngels.

* BadassBystander: Should you provoke a Kecleon in a DungeonShop, you'll find that they're ''level 49, with max stats and permanently at double speed''. Playing this trope more straight, it is possible under very rare circumstances for them to begin fighting the wild Pokemon alongside you, without actually joining your team, should a wild Pokemon use Explosion or some other attack that damages their goods.

The energetic owner of "Electivire Link Shop", where he teaches customers how to [[{{Combos}} link moves together]]. He can also help Pokemon remember any level-up moves they've forgotten.

Teller of the "Duskull Bank", where Pokemon store any money they don't want to risk losing if an adventure goes horribly wrong.

A very wise explorer who rose to stardom overnight. Despite this, he's very humble and willing to help even the smallest Pokemon. He's from the future, where he's Primal Dialga's right-hand Ghost-type.

A pack of six pokemon who assist Dusknoir in the capture of Grovyle.