History Characters / PokemonSunAndMoonMajorOrganizations

* PeekABangs: Her bangs cover her right eye. Soliera maintains this hairstyle even while wearing her visor.

* EmoTeen: Design-wise, he wears red and black punk clothes and has PeekABangs. Personality-wise he's aloof, cynical, and abrasive. This is even lampshaded in his concept art, with "Gotta express that middle-school arrogance and being emo." Of course, [[DarkAndTroubledPast he has a lot of things to be emo about]].

* IdiotHair: Even with his messy PeekABangs, Gladion noticeably has this going on. He's not an idiot ''per se'', but he does have an impulsive streak.

* PeekABangs: His blond bangs cover his right eye, [[spoiler:a trait shared by his mother]].

* RedHerring: [[spoiler:In ''Pokémon Masters'', during the Alola Villain Arc, he is seen acting suspiciously, talking in secret to a "president" and hiding his blatant sketchy behavior from the foundation's employees. Pretty much Lusamine and the employees have all the right to expect him to be the real mastermind behind the Ultra Wormhole mess wrecking havoc in Pasio...but it turns out it really wasn't him but ''the traitorous employees'' pulling the strings. When he's confronted about his secret calls to a certain "president," he just says he's been trying to get the "president" of Pasio (Lear) to give him a job as a retainer, but the entire mess with the rogue employees made it hard for him to get that job since he doesn't have a good track record in foundation incidents tracing back to him. On the other hand, the rogue employees point out that he could've easily betrayed the foundation if he had been contacted first by Team Rocket, which he sheepishly doesn't deny.]]

->Voiced by: Hiroshi Yanaka (''VideoGame/PokemonMasters'' - JP)

** Averted in ''Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon,'', where Gladion ''does'' address [[spoiler:Lusamine as Mother, both to her face and to other people. This is likely a reflection of how their relationship in that story is better, [[AdaptationalHeroism as Lusamine isn't quite so horrible.]]]]

* WhatTheHellHero: [[spoiler: In ''Sun and Moon,'' Lillie chews him out for leaving her alone with Lusamine after taking Type: Null, revealing to him that their mother's abusive behavior got even worse after he left. This is softened in the ''Ultra'' retellings, where Lillie tells him that she understands why he left but still wishes he had told her.]]

* TheCoup: [[spoiler:In ''Pokémon Masters,'' several employees want to overthrow Lusamine from her presidential status and hand over the leadership to Team Rocket.]]

** [[spoiler:Played straight for the employees in ''Pokémon Masters,'' where several of them are aiding Team Rocket by stealing the Ultra Wormhole research from Lusamine to overthrow her. In fact, the battle mugshots between good and bad employees put them apart by the game's normal battle theme and the remixed Aether Foundation employee battle theme.]]

* TheCoup: [[spoiler:In "Pokémon Masters," several employees want to overthrow Lusamine from her presidential status and hand over the leadership to Team Rocket.]]

** [[spoiler:Played straight for the employees in "Pokémon Masters," where several of them are aiding Team Rocket by stealing the Ultra Wormhole research from Lusamine to overthrow her. In fact, the battle mugshots between good and bad employees put them apart by the game's normal battle theme and the remixed Aether Foundation employee battle theme.]]

* ObviouslyEvil: Subverted. After the intro where Aether employees were chasing Lillie with [[SlasherSmile Slasher Smiles]], was anybody really buying that they were a benevolent company, on a mission to help all Pokémon? However, it is implied that the majority of employees don't even know what's going on and are hostile only due to you being an intruder. In the post-game, once Lusamine's obsession with the Ultra Beasts and affliction with Nihilego's neurotoxins has been dealt with, the Aether Foundation really ''does'' become a benevolent company that helps Pokémon. This trope is also subverted in ''Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon'', [[spoiler:as they are a benevolent company that helps Pokémon but kidnap Nebby in an effort to stop Necrozma from stealing Alola's light.]]

* SitcomArchNemesis: Maxie and Archie didn't know the other was also recruited, but they're teleported away by [[spoiler: Colress]] before they can do much but gawk.

* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking: His bravado isn't just for show; he's easily a very strong battler, and ''definitely'' the strongest member of Team Skull. When you confront him in Aether Paradise, he's already defeated ''Gladion''[[note]]who at this point uses a Golbat, which is a ''Flying-type'' and thus should have had a major advantage over his primarily Bug-type team[[/note]] and is ready to rip you apart. Also, his team when you battle him in the post-game is on par with the ''Elite Four'', and he can also be found amongst many strong, fightable (and recruitable) trainers in the Battle Tree.

* BewareTheSillyOnes: He's just as much of a LargeHam as the rest of his team, but unlike them, [[AuthorityEqualsAsskicking he's actually a threat]].

[[center:[-[[Characters/{{Pokemon}} Main Character Index]] > [[Characters/PokemonSunAndMoon Sun and Moon]] ('''Major Organizations''') ([[Characters/PokemonSunAndMoonLudamine Lusamine]])-]]]

[[folder:Faba ''[-(Sauboh)-]'']]
!!Faba / Sauboh (ザオボー ''zaoboo'')
[[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/faba_9.png]]
The Aether Foundation's branch chief. He has a very arrogant personality, and believes himself to be far more important than he actually is.

[[center:[-[[Characters/{{Pokemon}} Main Character Index]] > [[Characters/PokemonSunAndMoon Sun and Moon]] ('''Major Organizations''')-]]]

[[folder:Lusamine '''(Unmarked Spoilers)''']]
!!Lusamine (ルザミーネ ''ruzamiine'')
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lusamine_sm.png]]
[[caption-width-right:300:Click [[labelnote:here]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/motherbeast_lusamine.png[[/labelnote]] to see her fused form with Nihilego]]
->Voiced by: Creator/MichelleRuff (''VideoGame/PokemonMasters'' - EN), Creator/SayakaOhara ([[VideoGame/PokemonMasters Pokémon Masters]] - JP)
--> ''"I still need that Pokémon. I need to get it back. [...] It looked like it was suffering... Like it pained it to be in this strange place... I can't bear to see that happen! I will save it. [[TraitorShot And I will love it]]!"'' - From VideoGame/PokemonSunAndMoon

--> ''"[[WellIntentionedExtremist I will force Cosmog to use it's power and it may very well die. But if it will save the world for all my beloved Pokémon, then that is what I will do.]] Lillie. I will be using the Cosmog you stole for a great purpose. [[PetTheDog You have kept it safe until now, and for that... I thank you.]]"'' - From VideoGame/PokemonUltraSunAndUltraMoon

The lovely Lusamine functions as the Aether Foundation’s president, though as it turns out, she's not as lovely as she seems. At least, in the original ''Sun'' and ''Moon''.

* AbsurdlyYouthfulMother: Subverted. She appears to be pretty young but is actually over 40.
* AbusiveParents:
** Discards her daughter Lillie, declaring her to be worthless, and was prepared to kill her during their confrontation in Ultra Space. She tightly controlled every aspect of her children's lives, right down to what clothes they could wear, as both Gladion and Lillie attest. Lillie later tells Gladion that, as bad as she was when they both lived with her, she got ''worse'' after he fled with Type: Null.
** This behavior seems to be a result of Nihilego's neurotoxins as this trope is heavily downplayed in ''Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon''. While she does keep some of her controlling tendencies and temporary disownment of her children, she isn't as abusive to them, just more of a case of being a tough parent struggling with her grief for losing her husband. Not to mention, some of her crueler dialogue is replaced with kinder dialogue.
** In ''VideoGame/PokemonMasters'', she has undergone a bit of a HeelFaceTurn and has rekindled her relationship with her children, but she is still haunted by the horrible things she did to them (and to the Alola region), and is plagued with self-doubt over herself and if it's right for her to still be a part of their lives. On the other hand, she could be feeling that she is taking full responsibility (or rather, blaming herself) for her part in what Necrozma had done.
* ActionMom: She is easily one of the strongest characters in the game, and could easily put Gladion or Lillie back in their place. In ''Sun and Moon'' at least, though, [[AbusiveParents this is not a good thing.]]
* AdaptationalBadass: Depending on the version, this also comes with AdaptationalWimp. In ''Sun and Moon'' Lusamine is the BigBad and the FinalBoss of the main story, fusing with Nihilego to powerup herself and her Pokémon considerably to the point she's tanky enough to withstand a hit from a ''Legendary Pokémon''. In ''Ultra Sun and Moon'' however, she's an AdaptationalWimp, as she is not the BigBad, that role being usurped by Necrozma, and then she's a DamselInDistress thanks to Team Rainbow Rocket.
* AdaptationalHeroism: In the original games, she is a crazed, abusive mother and BitchInSheepsClothing who is willing to callously off anyone in order to live out her obsession with Ultra Beasts, specifically Nihilego who causes this behavior with its neurotoxin, before suddenly having a HeelFaceTurn offscreen. In ''Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon'' she is a [[WellIntentionedExtremist well-meaning]], decent if flawed ReasonableAuthorityFigure and AntiHero who is willing to do anything to save the people and Pokémon she loves from what Necrozma plans to do with Alola's light, as well as [[ParentsAsPeople genuinely caring for her children despite not being the best parent as well as being mad at them for stealing the Pokémon needed to stop Necrozma]], and finally seeing the error of her ways and changing them for the better.
* AdaptedOut: Her Mismagius from the originals was switched out for a Lopunny in ''Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon''. Due to her obsession with Nihilego and evil personality being inflicted with its neurotoxin no longer being present in these games, she never fuses with one and thus her Motherbeast form also does not appear.
* AffablyEvil: In ''Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon'', her friendliness is shown here to be rather genuine, unlike her evil personality in the original games. First, she thanks Lillie for keeping Cosmog safe until it was captured. Then she takes a moment to show pity for Cosmog's pain, and acknowledges its love for Lillie. After she was defeated in Aether Paradise, instead of ranting like a bratty teenager like in the original games, she becomes impressed with the player character's strength in battle and compliments him/her. Finally, she feels genuinely touched by Gladion's concern for her, and takes a moment to reassure him that she'll be fine when she goes to stop Necrozma.
* AlmightyMom: No matter how much Lillie and Gladion try to stop her, she proves to be one step ahead. If it wasn't for you, she would've gotten what she wanted, (having Cosmog open up a wormhole so that she could unleash the Ultra Beasts, and also stay in Ultra Space) even after Gladion ran away with Type: Null, which was itself created to defeat those very same Ultra Beasts. And in Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, despite being mad at her children, she is willing to save them from Necrozma, along with all the Pokémon in existence.
* AlternateSelf: The Lusamine of ''Sun and Moon'' and the Lusamine of ''Ultra Sun and Moon'' are drastically different, presumably because of one getting infected by Nihilego years before the story began, but one (the infectee) is a cruel, FauxAffablyEvil manipulator who has no problem abusing or killing anyone who interferes with her plans, the other is a WellIntentionedExtremist who ultimately wants to avenge her husband and lacks actual malice towards people as much as wants to do what she views as right.
* AmazonBrigade: Her Pokémon team is all-female with a [[CuteBruiser cute]] or beautiful theme. They are also one of the toughest fights in the game, with great natures, individual values, effort values, and Totem Boosts on top of that in their second battle.
* AnimeHair: It looks like several giant sheets of paper.
* AntiHero: In ''Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon'', she is motivated by a desire to save the world and all the people and Pokémon she loves from Necrozma, as well as the desire to avenge the loss of her husband, rather than out of totally insane selfishness. That said, she still goes through with nearly killing Nebby to open the Ultra Wormhole and sends several Aether Foundation employees to stop you from reaching her, even deciding to battle you herself... Just to prove that she is strong enough to face Necrozma herself.
* ArchnemesisDad: GenderFlipped: She's this for Gladion and Lillie, especially for the latter in the original games. The player and Hau are mostly just along for the ride in the main storyline, with Lusamine's children being the primary force when it comes to taking her down.
* AsleepForDays: In ''Sun and Moon.'' After being released from Nihilego, Lusamine falls into a coma. However, Lillie tells you after you beat the Pokémon League and during the celebration that Lusamine had recovered from her comatose state and even tried to come to the celebration as well.
* TheAtoner: Tried to be so in ''Sun & Moon'' if it weren't for her sick condition holding her back. Her ''Ultra Sun & Ultra Moon'' incarnation is a more straight example, which has more or less become the main sample.
* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking: She is the president of the Aether Foundation and is one of the most difficult fights of the series.
* AxCrazy: In ''Sun and Moon.'' Be it innocent bystanders or her own children, she doesn't care who she has to hurt to get what she wants. To put things into perspective, even Guzma, the guy who calls himself "destruction in human form", thinks she's too far gone to be reasoned with, though this is admittedly after her mental state has gotten a lot worse from being inflicted with Nihilego's neurotoxins.
* BadassAdorable: Her team is full of them. Her team theme is cute or beautiful Pokémon[[note]]Clefable, Mismagius, Milotic, Lilligant, Bewear, and Lopunny[[/note]], and all five of them have perfect individual values ''and'' ideal natures and effort values, meaning that each of them is likely to be able to crush a casual player's Pokémon in a one-on-one fight unless they're facing a type or level disadvantage. Somewhat {{downplayed}} in ''Sun and Moon'' - all of them (except Mismagius) lack type coverage moves, and can be shut down with the right resistances.
* BadassInCharge: Head of the Aether Foundation and their strongest trainer.
* BadassInDistress: The Team Rainbow Rocket subplot in ''Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon'' centers around Lusamine being held hostage while the evil team takes over Aether Paradise, all so Giovanni can use the Ultra Beasts' power to brainwash her into becoming his pawn and lending all of Aether's technology and knowledge of the Ultra Wormholes.
* BadBoss: In ''Sun and Moon''. Faba and Guzma are shown to be scared by her and think she's gone off the deep end. She also uses both of them as pawns and seemingly has no care about them.
* BearsAreBadNews: She has a Bewear, which are infamous for killing people by accident.
* BeautyIsBad: In ''Sun and Moon''. A deceptively beautiful woman secretly plotting to go to Ultra Space even if it means unleashing Ultra Beasts on Alola.
* BenevolentBoss: In ''Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon'', she treats her employees far better than her original counterpart, even if she is not without flaws. She even treats Guzma more respectfully and makes good on her statement on how strong Guzma is by treating him more like a partner than a pawn. It's telling when she gets captured by Team Rainbow Rocket, Guzma immediately goes in to help the player character and Lillie save her because of her respectful treatment of him.
* BewareTheNiceOnes: In ''Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon'', she is a very decent and well-meaning if flawed person. But she is a force to be reckoned with as well. Harming the people (including her children) and Pokémon she loves and the Aether Foundation is a '''''very''''' good way to get on her bad side. Just ask Faba and Necrozma.
* BigBad: Ultimately of ''Sun and Moon''. She's also the first female example in the series. Subverted in ''Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon'', where it's revealed that she's actually fighting the actual BigBad, Necrozma.
* BitchInSheepsClothing: Appears to be a kind and helpful woman when she is introduced, but she is anything ''but'' that. Averted in Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, when her kind and helpful nature is revealed to be genuine this time, as she is only harsh to Lillie and Gladion for stealing Cosmog and Type: Null, respectively, since they were both needed for more heroic purposes this time, and she only disowns them out of feelings of genuine betrayal and hurt disappointment. Her earlier behavior in ''Sun and Moon'' is implied to be a result of Nihilego's neurotoxins.
* BossOnlyLevel: She is the only enemy in the small area of Ultra Space that you get to visit courtesy of Solgaleo/Lunala. There aren't even any random encounters. But in Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, that part of Ultra Space is called the Ultra Deep Sea, when Nihilego can be caught there many times, even Shiny ones!
* BossRemix: Her battle theme is a remix of her normal theme.
* BrainwashedAndCrazy: In ''Sun and Moon''. She is unhealthily obsessed with [[EldritchAbomination Nihilego]] and the other Ultra Beasts. Considering that Nihilego is based on a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myxobolus_cerebralis Myxozoa]], which brainwashes the fish it infects, her obsession and insanity might stem from mind-control.
* BreakingOldTrends: The first leader of a villainous team that's a woman, and the only known person to fuse with a Pokémon. Her goal in ''Sun and Moon'' is probably the smallest scale one, wanting to stay in Ultra Deep Sea with the Nihilego while Ultra Beasts wreak havoc on Alola.
* BrokenBird: Once a paragon and a loving mother, Lusamine underwent a tragedy - namely the loss of her husband and the father of her children to an Ultra Wormhole - that changed her personality for the worse, turning her into a controlling mother. Even in ''Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon'' where she's less abusive and doesn't descend into insanity, Lusamine is motivated to defeat Necrozma not out of altruism, but rather to protect the ones she loves and for her own self-satisfaction, believing it will help her overcome the helplessness she felt when she lost Mohn.
* BrutalHonesty: Those comparisons between her and the player in ''Sun and Moon'' run really deep...
* CatchPhrase: "How annoying."
* ClimaxBoss: In ''Sun and Moon''. While not the FinalBoss, the battle with Motherbeast Lusamine concludes the game's primary storyline, with only the Pokémon League left afterwards. Fittingly, the fight is one of the most difficult in the game.
* CombatStilettos: She wears heels throughout most of the game and is an extremely proficient Pokémon battler. Her intro animation for her first fight and Title Defense battle starts with a strong clack of her right heel.
* ConfusionFu: In ''Ultra Sun And Moon'', her Lopunny knows Thunder Punch, Ice Punch, Fire Punch, ''and'' Dizzy Punch.
* ControlFreak: She was very controlling of her two children, down to choosing exactly they were allowed to wear. Before the reveal, she briefly tries the same on Hau, a small boy she'd never even met before. [[CharacterDevelopment She grows out of this in Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon.]]
* ContrastingSequelAntagonist:
** Lusamine compares and contrasts with the BigBad of [[VideoGame/PokemonXAndY the prior game]], Lysandre, in quite a few ways. Both of them are wealthy philanthropists who are introduced to the player long before their official reveal as villains, but Lysandre is a DevilInPlainSight whereas Lusamine's a BitchInSheepsClothing while under the influence of Nihilego. Lysandre directly leads his game's main villainous team while Lusamine serves as a MysteriousBacker to hers. The methods and motives of the two are parallel but also differ in some important ways: both want to destroy the world after spending years trying to better it, but Lysandre is convinced that mankind as a whole can't be saved because it's fundamentally flawed, while Lusamine rejected humanity because she can't comprehend why a select few - her family - never showed her what she believed to be love. Both of them are also very fixated on the concept of beauty, and have a significant but antagonistic relationship with the player's closest ally (Professor Sycamore for Lysandre, Lillie for Lusamine). Admittedly Lusamine's goals can be seen as more a rejection of the world and wanting to leave it behind rather than any desire to destroy it, indeed the only explicit destruction she mentions is being okay with the Ultra Beasts wrecking the islands if it makes them happy. Otherwise she is content to just stay in another dimension, unlike Lysandre who decided the world should change for him. While in [[VideoGame/PokemonUltraSunandMoon the retelling,]] Lusamine instead seeks to use Nebby to save Alola.
** She is also one to the BigBad of [[VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite the game even further back]], Ghetsis. Both of them lead a team who claim to look after the common welfare of Pokémon but while Team Plasma's true agenda is absolutely ruthless and self-serving, the Aether Foundation genuinely wanted to help Pokémon before Lusamine got involved with Nihilego and in the retelling is instead trying to save Alola. Both are also AbusiveParents. (Lusamine in the original game) However, while Team Plasma's ruse was paper-thin and it was clear that Team Plasma couldn't be trusted since they blatantly steal Pokémon from trainers to "free" them. The Aether Foundation does a ''much'' better job of hiding its shadowy intentions, using far more professional strategies and having far more resources to carry out their plans. While the Aether Foundation stayed whole in both the original game and it's retelling/remake, Team Plasma split, due to half following Ghetsis and half actually wanting to help Pokémon with their king, N. While Ghetsis was driven only by love for himself while harboring callous apathy or even outright contempt for others, Lusamine is driven by a self-serving insanity that she mistakenly believes is pure love and a desire to give love and affection to others she deems worthy of receiving it, induced by Nihilego. Both Ghetsis and Lusamine became physically ill by the end of their story arc, but while Ghetsis remained irredeemable to the last, Lusamine seeks to make amends, according to Lillie and is a much better person in ''Ultra Sun And Ultra Moon''.
** In ''Ultra Sun And Ultra Moon'', she contrasts N. Both are the most altruistic villains in the Pokémon core series and believe that their actions will be for the benefit of Pokémon in the long run. However, N wanted to use a Legendary Pokémon to separate people and Pokémon in an incorrect view that they are better of that way and thought of himself as a hero when his actions were detrimental to both humans and Pokémon alike. Lusamine is trying to stop'' a dangerous Legendary Pokémon from destroying Alola and if she succeeded, she actually would have been a hero... but her methods would've likely alienated her from her children forever.
** On a more meta level, she's also the ''Pokémon'' series' [[TheSmurfettePrinciple very first female]] BigBad.
* CollectorOfTheStrange: Nothing gets stranger and more morbid than having dozens of '''cryogenically frozen Pokémon''' on display.
* CorruptCorporateExecutive: She's the head of the Aether Foundation company and the main villain in ''VideoGame/PokemonSunAndMoon''.
* CripplingOverspecialization: Surprisingly, most of her team falls under this in ''Sun and Moon''. All of Lusamine's team save Mismagius lack coverage moves, and can be easily shut down by a Pokémon with the right resistances. Even Bewear, a juggernaut with the ability to sweep teams on her own, is helpless against Ghost types [[note]]It gains Pain Split in the second battle, but Pain Split only draws out the inevitable.[[/note]]. Though given how diverse her team is, one would need a separate Pokémon to deal with each one. Averted in ''Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon'', where her team has much better coverage (though Lilligant still lacks coverage).
* CuteAndPsycho: In the final battle in Sun and Moon, her BadassAdorable Pokémon team get a little... demented.
* DarkActionGirl: The "Dark" part isn't obvious until later, but she's nonetheless a very competent opponent in battle.
* DeathGlare: In the final battle of ''Sun and Moon'', all of her 'mons except Bewear have these expressions when given a Totem aura.
* DeconstructedCharacterArchetype: Some of her actions (And even her motivations) actually make her somewhat like a ''player'' of the Pokémon games. [[YouBastard And it's played for horror.]]:
** Lusamine loves Pokémon, especially ones that are needy or suffering, and wants all of them... which is a common goal in the franchise.
** Lusamine has a huge collection of Pokémon in cryogenic stasis. Hau, Lillie, and the player character are horrified at seeing this. How many players have a huge collection of Pokémon in PC Stasis, ''just'' like her? When Lillie calls her out on treating Pokémon and people as merely things to use and discard as she pleases, Lusamine responds by asking what makes her so different from the player character putting Pokémon they no longer need inside a Box. However, this comparison rings a bit hollow in these games, where Poké Pelago provides boxed Pokémon with a place to frolic. Obviously, Lusamine doesn't know about it, otherwise she'd know where her husband is -- but the player character surely does, and never thinks to mention it.
** A brand new unknown Pokémon appears. What does Lusamine want with it? Why... she wants it herself. Which most players ''wanted'' with the Ultra Beasts anyway.
** In ''Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon'' she is trying to stop the latest Legendary Pokémon that is going out of control and threatening to destroy the region, just like players of past generations. However, she is oblivious to the fact her actions have the potential to harm others and she herself is unable to stop Necrozma. Her motives for stopping Necrozma are also implied to be more about avenging the loss of her husband rather than about saving Alola.
* DragonInChief: In ''Sun and Moon''. Nihilego is not considered sentient as it doesn't seem to have actual malice and is motivated on self-preservation. Lusamine is the one with the plan.
* DrunkOnTheDarkSide: In ''Sun and Moon''. Her apparent "fusion" with the Nihilego she captured leaves her somehow an even more wrecked individual than before; that is, until she's knocked out of her senses by Solgaleo/Lunala and the Nihilego is off her. Information given about Nihilego in the post-game implies that this is basically what its neurotoxins always do to a host that it latches onto, and that Lusamine's repeated exposure to said toxin left her in a lingering case of sociopathic madness.
* DyingAsYourself: Downplayed in ''Sun and Moon''. While she doesn't actually die, she apparently returns to her former self before losing consciousness and entering a temporary coma.
* EasilyForgiven:
** Despite all she's done in ''Sun and Moon'', including trying to ''murder'' her children, once she's defeated and recovers from her coma Lillie says she wanted to attend the player being crowned Champion if she weren't too weak to go, implying they would have let her attend. Lillie is also comfortable letting her rebuild their relationship.
** In ''Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon'', it's more {{justified|Trope}}, as Lusamine is not as villainous as she was in the original games, and undergoes a more extensive HeelFaceTurn. Because Lusamine is motivated by the desire to avenge the loss of her husband, Lillie makes it clear that while she didn't approve of her mother's methods, she understood that they were motivated by the desire to avenge her father. As such when Lusamine apologizes to her for what she did, it's obvious that Lillie had already forgiven her.
** In ''Masters'', it is shown during the story event she and her children debut in that she hasn't quite forgiven herself for what she's done.
* EasterEgg: Two of her Pokémon, Lilligant and Clefable, had evolved through -- you guessed it -- a Sun and Moon Stone, respectively.
* EvilMatriarch: She's Lillie and Gladion's mother and the first female main antagonist in the main Pokémon games. Zigzagged in Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, when she's revealed to have a kind and helpful nature this time, as she needs Cosmog to help protect Alola's Pokémon - but is still far from a good person until CharacterDevelopment kicks in.
* EyesDoNotBelongThere: Her fused form has eye-like patterns across her tentacles, with what seems to be Z-Crystals acting as their pupils.
* FaceOfAnAngelMindOfADemon: In ''Sun and Moon''. In contrast to most other ObviouslyEvil team leaders, she looks perfectly innocent and helpful (even resembling Gen [=IV=] BigGood Champion Cynthia to some degree), but is one of the most psychotic characters in the series.
* FallenHeroine: She used to be good before she lost her husband in the Ultra Wormhole, which caused her to take a much darker path. Assuming he was dead.
* FauxAffablyEvil: In ''Sun and Moon''. Like Ghetsis, in the Japanese version, she continues to speak in an overly polite manner even after she drops her charade.
* FeetFirstIntroduction: In both the English and Japanese trailers, though it's more apparent in the Japanese one. Zig-zagged in-game, as while you see her model first, the cutscene that plays when meeting her starts on her feet before panning up the rest of her body. Her battle animation is also introduced in this manner, probably as a deliberate CallBack to the above.
* FemalesAreMoreInnocent: Relatively speaking, when compared to the male villain team leaders that came before her. She used to be a loving mother and only turned evil and psychotic after losing her husband to an Ultra Wormhole and then being infected with Nihilego's mind-altering neurotoxin.
* FingerlessHands: After fusing with Nihilego, her shoes disappear, revealing her now toeless feet (though it's possible they're covered in some sort of substance or membrane).
* {{Foreshadowing}}: In ''Sun and Moon''. She is visibly annoyed when Hau mentions Lillie, and has a sinister grin when everyone else is freaking out over Nihilego's first appearance.
* TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou: In ''Sun and Moon''. In her pre-battle animation as Motherbeast Lusamine, she throws her Ultra Ball and flies right towards the camera while pulling off a NightmareFace.
* FriendToAllLivingThings:
** How she presents herself in ''Sun and Moon'', and allegedly had been before she went insane. As of the present, she's anything ''but''.
** In ''Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon'' however, this is a genuine aspect of her personality. She makes it clear that she will do anything to protect the Pokémon she loves from what Necrozma plans to do with Alola's light.
* FusionDance: Performs this with her Nihilego before the final boss battle in ''Sun and Moon''. This also gives all her Pokémon Totem Boosts. In reality though, this is very well likely how Nihilego further parasitizes on its host, and she ends up with a nice heaping load of neurotoxin in her system.
* GirlsLoveStuffedAnimals: She uses a Bewear.
* GirlyBruiser: All of her Pokémon are feminine in design and are among the toughest the player has to fight in the story.
* GreaterScopeVillain: Ultimately subverted. She secretly serves as this to Guzma in the first half of the game, because while she doesn't directly get involved in Team Skull's schemes, she ''is'' their secret financial backer. Later on, she takes Guzma's place as the BigBad of the game, thus becoming much more involved in the plot as the true main antagonist of ''Sun And Moon''.
* GracefulLoser: In ''Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon'', defeating her at Title Defense has her take her loss ''much'' better than previous battles, even as far as finding it ''interesting''.
* GreenThumb: Uses a Lilligant.
* GoodParents: [[AbusiveParents While not so much in the main story]], Lillie states that Lusamine was a kind, loving mother before she changed. In ''Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon'', [[CharacterDevelopment you can see this side of her later in the story.]]
* HalfHumanHybrid: In ''Sun and Moon''. She fuses with Nihilego to create this.
* HeelFaceTurn:
** She comforts Lillie and finally recognizes her as being beautiful even when not dressed to resemble Nihilego, before falling into a coma. Lillie reveals at the end of the game that Lusamine regained consciousness and is starting to rebuild her relationship with her daughter, also wanting to see you at your coronation as Champion.
** She has a much more detailed one in ''Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon'', coming to full terms with her faults and feeling remorse for them, now being determined to do her best to make it up to her children - from a safe distance, as she doesn't want to control their lives anymore. She also occasionally battles you in as a Champion challenger, being gracious and complimentary to you when she does.
* TheHeavy: In ''Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon''--her actions still cause much of the conflict, but her previous BigBad status is now taken by Necrozma and later Giovanni.
* HeavySleeper: In ''Sun and Moon''. According to Wicke in the ''Sun and Moon'' post-game, the Nihilego's neurotoxins still in Lusamine's body are causing her to have issues with waking up[[note]]Wicke specifically says "the President is having issues rousing herself"[[/note]], implying that the neurotoxins side-effects include something akin to narcolepsy.
* HorrifyingTheHorror: She absolutely adores Ultra Beasts, so when she tells the protagonist and Lillie to "Run away... that thing is a monster!" in ''Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon'' when Necrozma shows up, ''[[OOCIsSeriousBusiness it's time to run your ass off]]''.
* IHaveNoSon:
** She claims that she has no children right to Lillie's face when you are trying to rescue Cosmog from the Aether Foundation, citing that anybody who truly loved her wouldn't have betrayed and abandoned her as Lillie and Gladion both did. Then again, she hasn't been herself for a while.
** Downplayed in ''Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon'', where she still disowns her children for stealing Cosmog and Type: Null, respectively, but she'll still do everything she can to save them along with the Pokémon of Alola from Necrozma's wrath. Even her facial emotions express how downplayed it is, going from an enraged scowl in the original games to a hurt and disappointed look in the new games.
* IJustWantMyBelovedToBeHappy: In ''Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon'', she reunites with Mohn when he visits Aether Paradise for a tour of the facility. He does not remember it, or her, but Lusamine doesn't press the issue any further, and lets him go because he's happier this way. That said it is indicated she may rekindle her relationship with Mohn, as he expresses that he intends to see her again.
* ItsAllAboutMe:
** She doesn't care about anyone that she doesn't deem beautiful enough for her love, and even those that she does consider worthy of her love are viewed as possessions rather than sentient beings with free will. Before the final battle with her, Lillie calls her out for only ever thinking about herself; Lusamine doesn't even try to deny it and flat-out asks Lillie why she ''shouldn't''.
** In ''Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon'' she still has this characteristic to a degree, Lillie summarizing her as a selfish person because she does what she thinks is best for everyone without considering the feelings of others.
* {{Jerkass}}: In ''Sun and Moon''. While she seems nice the first time you meet her, Lusamine is revealed to be nothing but an extremely [[TheSociopath sociopathic]] and [[ItsAllAboutMe selfish]] ''bitch''. She is also abusive to Lillie and Gladion, and even [[IHaveNoSon disowns them as her children later on because they dared to reject her "love".]] Not to mention she even tried to ''[[OffingTheOffspring kill them!]]''
* JerkassHasAPoint: In ''Sun and Moon''. She wasn't wrong about the fact that you can put additional Pokémon in the PC, so technically they ''can'' be replaced if they aren't strong enough (interestingly ''Sun and Moon'' introduced a method to make any Pokémon have perfect [=IVs=], making her argument less true).
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: In ''Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon'', she gains more likable and redeeming qualities, such as having more [[WellIntentionedExtremist understandable]] and less completely selfish [[AntiHero motives]], and [[JerkassRealization ultimately]] realizing [[HeelRealization her mistakes]] and [[HeelFaceTurn doing her best to make it up to her children]], as well as being more [[ReasonableAuthorityFigure reasonable]]. Also, she only disowns them because she felt genuinely betrayed by them when they took Cosmog and Type: Null, but she still says that she will save them from Necrozma, showing that for all of her abrasiveness towards her children, she still cares about them enough to save them from Necrozma. Her response to Hau's surprise at her familial connection between herself and her children describe her best.
-->'''Lusamine:''' Those wretches beside you left me. But I will still save them.
* KickTheDog:
** In ''Sun and Moon''. It's a minor one, but when Nebby cries out in pain after being used to open an Ultra Wormhole, she yells at it for making too much noise.
-->'''Lusamine:''' Ugh, must you be so noisy, even inside there? What an annoying Pokémon. The only thing I need from you is your power!
** Averted in ''Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon'' where she takes pity on Cosmog's pain and briefly hesitates when Lillie again emphasizes that what she is doing could kill it.
-->'''Lillie:''' If you use too much of its power, it will die!\\
'''Lusamine:''' ''(turns away)'' I... I am Lusamine.
* KillerRabbit: Most of her team consists of cute, but deadly Pokémon, such as Clefable, Bewear, and, no pun intended, Lopunny.
* KnightTemplar: She believes she is doing something righteous when it comes to helping injured Pokémon, while her true intentions are unusually bizarre and twisted. She is somewhat more of a straight example in ''Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon'', where she wants to defeat Necrozma and save Alola, although it's all under the justification that she can't "love [her] babies" if the world's light is stolen.
* LackOfEmpathy:
** In ''Sun and Moon''. When Lillie begs her not to use Nebby to open the Ultra Wormholes, warning her that doing so might kill it, Lusamine informs her that she knows that might happen, but as long as it does what she wants it to, she doesn't ''care''.
** Averted in ''Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon''. When Lillie tells her that using Nebby to open the Ultra Wormhole might kill it, Lusamine understands it and clearly doesn't want to do this to Nebby, but she feels that she must in order to save Alola from Necrozma. After Necrozma's defeat at the hands of the player, Lusamine decides to take Nebby back to Aether Paradise to care for it, and orders Lillie to help care for it too, as a way to make up for what she did.
* LadyOfWar: She is a beautiful woman who gives off a serene and elegant aura, and also happens to be one of the most formidable battlers in Alola. This extends to her team, which are all stereotypically cute, elegant, or feminine in some way, and are also extremely powerful.
* LargeAndInCharge: She's rather tall and is the boss of the Aether Foundation.
* LaserGuidedKarma: In ''Sun and Moon''. In Ultra Space she ends up being defeated by the evolved Cosmog, [[TheDogBitesBack the same Pokémon she sent goons to chase after and ultimately abused it nearly to the point of death for her own selfish desires]].
* LeeroyJenkins: Her sudden decision to fight Necrozma head-on alongside Guzma pretty much obliterated the Ultra Recon Squad's plans and burned the ashes. She gets called out on it too.
* LegFocus: The camera and her ProperTightsWithASkirt bring emphasis to her legs. If her official art and in-game model are to be trusted, her legs are almost twice as long as the rest of her body from the waist up.
* LightIsGood: Downplayed in ''Ultra Sun And Ultra Moon'', as she is willing to sacrifice Nebby if it means she can save Alola from Necrozma.
* LightIsNotGood: In ''Sun and Moon''. She's angelic in appearance, though ''definitely'' not in behavior. She wears mostly white with gold with blonde hair and she's the biggest KnightOfCerebus since Cyrus as she outcasts two of her family members as tools for her will and when they defy her she decides to try to kill them (only when her madness reaches its peak though). She also is willing to [[ColdBloodedTorture torture "Nebby" to death]]. She states very clearly that if everyone doesn't agree to her standards then [[OmnicidalManiac everyone can die by her will]]. She's also a BadBoss who uses her minions as pawns.
* LivingDollCollector:
** She has a collection of Pokémon that she cryogenically froze to preserve their "beauty and perfection". She also treats her own children as dolls rather than people in ''Sun And Moon'', expecting them to look and behave however she wants them to, and viciously discarding them when they display the slightest bit of independence. Gladion likens living with her to being a "living ornament" instead of a person.
** This is implied to be taken in a different direction in ''Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon'', where Lusamine is implied to have cryogenically frozen her Pokémon collection and controlled her children to a certain degree [[NeverBeHurtAgain as a way to prevent losing anything else she loves,]] [[NeverBeHurtAgain like her husband Mohn]]. She's even the one who decides to unfreeze her Pokémon collection after her HeelFaceTurn instead of a generic Aether Foundation employee, as she realizes that she needs to give her loved ones the freedom that they need to grow up properly without interfering in their affairs from now on.
* LossOfInhibitions: Because of Nihilego's neurotoxins, Lusamine becomes more openly cruel towards her children and more obsessed with the Ultra Beasts, intending to shower them with love alongside all the Pokémon she collects.
* LoveFreak:
** {{Deconstructed}}. Lusamine's motivations revolve around love, and she rants about trying to spread her love to everyone around her several times. The problem is, as a textbook {{sociopath}}, Lusamine doesn't really understand what love is, and as a result her brand of controlling affection tends to push others away, leaving her bewildered and angry over how anyone could reject her love before writing them off as being "ugly" and unworthy of her affections.
** It's revealed in the post-game that her father, who founded the Aether Foundation, was also a LoveFreak and that Lusamine inherited his love for Pokémon, particularly those that are beautiful or those most in need of it. She also loved her husband and children, loving the former so much that she drove herself mad in her research and experiments with Ultra Wormhole energy trying to bring him back after he went missing in the Wormhole. Then she discovered Nihilego and things took a drastic turn for the worse.
** Even in ''Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon'' she cites her love for all Pokémon as her main motivation. Fortunately, she has a HeelRealization before it can get as extreme as it did in ''Sun and Moon'', claiming that a love where she can let others flourish on their own is a more beautiful kind of love.
* LoveMakesYouCrazy: It's implied that her obsession with Ultra Beasts in ''Sun and Moon'' and her hatred towards Ultra Wormholes ''Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon'' came out of desperation to find her missing husband.
* MamaBear: In ''Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon'' despite disowning her children because they left her, she still cares about them enough to try and protect them from Necrozma, and even when she is defeated, [[GoOnWithoutMe she tells Lillie and the player character to run away without her so she'll be safe from Necrozma]]. In the aftermath of Rainbow Rocket Episode, after realizing Faba's scheming also put her daughter in great danger, she give Faba his FateWorseThanDeath punishment by demoting him into ''intern'' position.
* MagicPants: When fusing with Nihilego, her brooch, shoes and stockings disappear, only to come back intact after she's separated.
* MakingASplash: Uses a Milotic.
* TheManBehindTheMan: She's this in the first part of the story for Guzma, and therefore Team Skull, as their secret supporter.
* ManipulativeBitch: Lusamine's twisted perception of love is psychologically manipulating anyone she's fond of to keep them in line so she can continue to use them as puppets, and employs this on her children. She also sponsored Team Skull and convinced them to do her dirty work by taking advantage of their financial difficulties and personal turmoil, and [[VillainWithGoodPublicity used the Aether Foundation’s benevolent image to present herself as a good person]]. In ''Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon'', while her manipulative nature is still in place, her reasons are more altruistic, only needing Cosmog to open the Ultra Wormhole to stop Necrozma from stealing Alola's light, and having the Aether Foundation stop anyone who gets in her way to make sure no one can interfere with what she feels is for the greater good.
* MaskOfSanity: Lusamine's vicious insanity is very carefully masked behind an empathetic and loving facade. Averted in ''Ultra Sun and Moon'', where her empathetic and loving nature is genuine this time, to the point where she'll do anything to protect all the Pokémon in existence, no matter what she has to do. It is implied that in ''Sun and Moon'' her previous behavior is a result of Nihilego's neurotoxins.
* MeaningfulName:
** The plant she's named after (the garden balsam or ''Impatiens balsamina'') is a beautiful ornamental plant with healing properties, fitting her benevolent appearance. However, it's also bitter and slightly toxic upon ingestion - which fits with [[BitchInSheepsClothing her nature under Nihilego's neurotoxins.]]
*** Garden balsam is also invasive on several islands in the Pacific Ocean; Alola is based on Pacific islands and her goal in ''Sun and Moon'' is to summon the Ultra Beasts (which according to the developers were conceived as a reference to invasive species).
** Her English name keeps the above reference but brings to mind the Latin ''lux'' (light), in keeping with her appearance and status as head of the seemingly good Aether Foundation.
* MoralMyopia: In her Nihilego-induced state, Lusamine suffers almost from a BlueAndOrangeMorality where she cannot and does not comprehend that she and her actions could be wrong in any way. This makes her so disconnected from reality that she sees nothing wrong with hurting people, but can't stand when it naturally drives them away. In her eyes, rebelling against her wishes or showing any sort of opposition makes them "ugly" and no longer worthy of love; meanwhile ''she'' is the victim who's being hurt by ''them'' and never did anything wrong to deserve such treatment. After losing to the player character for the first time, she even asks him/her, without a hint of irony, "How can you be so ''awful?''" When later confronted by the player character and Lillie in Ultra Space, she actually states to her own daughter that she will never forgive her for stealing Cosmog from her, which really rings hollow considering that she tortured Cosmog into opening up multiple Ultra Wormholes against its will.
* MotiveRant: A brief one after Nihilego's first appearance, as she filibusters about sharing her love with the Ultra Beasts and all the other Pokémon in the world. [[CerebusRetcon It becomes much darker in hindsight]] once what's BeneathTheMask is revealed and the player learns just how twisted Lusamine's concept of "love" really is in ''Sun and Moon''.
* MultiArmedAndDangerous: Mother Beast Lusamine has several tentacles, four of which even have claws that make them look more hand-like. Ironically, she still lets her Pokémon do the fighting as opposed to getting involved herself.
* MumLooksLikeASister: She's over 40, but barely looks much older than her children.
* MyBelovedSmother: This is at least part of the reason Gladion ran away in ''Sun and Moon''; as according to him, he was "like an ornament" to her, wearing whatever she told him to wear, and acting however she wanted him to act. It's also why Lillie is so timid and lacks confidence.
* MysteriousBacker: Team Skull's. Her identity is at best, vaguely alluded to a few times, and it's only after Lillie is kidnapped that it comes out in full.
* NeverMyFault: She has a big problem with this in ''Sun and Moon'', [[MoralMyopia thinking she is justified in everything she does and that anyone who opposes her are the bad ones.]] Not so much in ''Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon'', where she shows signs of wavering and has to convince herself what she's doing is justified, and then clearly admits that she was wrong and Lillie was right after getting her ass kicked by Necrozma.
* NightmareFetishist: Her desire to avenge her husband from the otherworldly [[EldritchAbomination Ultra Beasts]] is utterly warped into insane infatuation thanks to the parasitic entity Nihilego. Becoming so obsessed with the Ultra Beasts that she endangers others in her efforts to be with the entity and please it, to the point of even fusing with the creature.
* NoblewomansLaugh: Often does one when she's mocking Lillie. It is also her speaking animation in the overworld, as well as one of her poses in one of her ''TCG'' artworks.
* NonActionBigBad: Zigzagged -- She's plenty active in the story of ''Sun and Moon'' and battles the player twice, but after fusing with Nihilego and taking on a surely-stronger OneWingedAngel form... She still uses her Pokémon to fight the player, rather than battle them directly.
* NonElemental: Her Bewear is primary Normal type. In ''Pokemon Ultra Sun And Ultra Moon'' she uses Lopunny as a replacement for Mismagius.
* NotGoodWithRejection:
** It's subtle at times, but the game implies pretty heavily that most of Lusamine's villainy is/was prompted by the disappearance of her husband Mohn and the discovery of Nihilego, followed by both of her children running away from her due to her abuse of them. It becomes most obvious by the end of the Aether Foundation story arc, where, having been abandoned by her entire family, all she wants is to be left alone with the Nihilego in Ultra Space for the rest of her life because they'd become her gold standard for beauty, perfection, and worthiness of receiving her love.
** In ''Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon'' we see a bit more of this, although it's a bit more subdued. While her children leaving still has an effect, her reaction is not so extreme as to lead to hating her children, she still is deeply enraged by her children opposing and leaving her, and she still uses cryogenic freezing on various Pokémon so they can stay with her always. She gets better though after a humbling encounter with Necrozma, begins the process to restore the frozen Pokémon, allows her children independence, and even allows her amnesiac husband Mohn to choose how and when he meets with her.
* ObliviouslyEvil: In ''Sun and Moon'', it's implied that she's more [[TheMentallyDisturbed insane]] than out and out evil, which only serves to make her more dangerous and terrifying as it makes her nigh-impossible to be reasoned with. She's insistent that what she's doing is right and refuses to let anyone tell her otherwise.
* OffingTheOffspring: In ''Sun and Moon'', after losing her rematch against the player and utterly crazed/enraged, she tries to personally kill Lillie while being still fused with Nihilego.
* OhCrap: Gets a deliciously satisfying one when she starts unfusing after the evolved Cosmog hits her fused form.
* OlderThanTheyLook: She's over 40 years old - even though by first glance, she looks to be somewhere in her 20s - which is [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] by Hau's dumbfounded reaction upon learning this fact.
* OlympusMons: When wearing a Sygna Suit in ''Masters'', she pairs up with Necrozma.
* OneBadMother: ''Motherbeast'' definitely qualifies in the original games.
* OneWingedAngel: For the second battle against her, she fuses with Nihilego into a half-human, half-jellyfish beast, and uses Totem power to buff all of her Pokémon. You may be forgiven for thinking Lusamine's fusion with Nihilego would actually lead to a final boss battle against her ''directly'', though.
* OptionalBoss: Exclusively in ''Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon'', she is one of two additional challengers in the Title Defense match.
* OurFairiesAreDifferent: Uses a Clefable, which she always sends out first.
* PaintItBlack: While fused with Nihilego, her golden hair becomes black with gold strands, and her entire color scheme also darkens (with her feet turning purple altogether).
* ParentalNeglect: Lusamine's parenting is very neglectful, often refusing to listen to her children's concerns and simply ignoring them as she believes that she either [[VideoGame/PokemonSunAndMoon doesn't care about them, only the Ultra Beasts]], [[VideoGame/PokemonUltraSunAndUltraMoon or she's doing what's best for them.]]
* ParentsAsPeople: What she is in ''Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon''. She's not the best parent, being very controlling, but she is otherwise a very well-meaning person and there is no doubt that she cares for her children unconditionally.
* PeekABangs: Her blonde bangs cover her right eye.
* PetTheDog: After she is revealed to be a HeroAntagonist, a lot of these moments she has in ''Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon'' substitute her [[KickTheDog crueler moments]] in the original games. First off, she thanks Lillie for keeping Cosmog safe until now, instead of saying that she'd betrayed her, and then when Cosmog is trying to resist, she takes pity on it instead of being annoyed for making too much noise and commends it for its bravery and love for Lillie.
* PoorPredictableRock: Surprisingly enough, her Mismagius is her ''only'' Pokémon that can't be completely shut down through resistances (as it knows Shadow Ball, Power Gem, and Mystical Fire). All of the others have only one or two attacking moves, leaving themselves wide open to being blocked by a 'mon with the right resistances. That said, her team as a whole is diverse enough that you'll likely need a separate Pokémon to deal with each of them if you go this route, and dedicated {{Stone Wall}}s will likely find themselves frustrated by the fact that ''every single one of them'' has some means of healing itself.
** Thrown out the window in ''VideoGame/PokemonUltraSunAndUltraMoon''. Every single one of her Pokémon has plenty of coverage moves thanks to the Move Tutor and only Bewear has any real healing option in Drain Punch, but that is really more to make up for the recoil damage of Take Down.
* PowerDyesYourHair: Her hair turns black (albeit a few thin streaks of its original color) after fusing with Nihilego, which itself changes from primarily light blue to black.
* ProperTightsWithASkirt: She wears a short skirt and some stockings. The stockings cover almost all of the leg.
* PsychopathicWomanchild: In ''Sun and Moon.'' She treats her children as if they were dolls, and is prone to throwing tantrums like a bratty teenager when angry.
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: She is more reasonable in Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon. When Gladion and Lillie start worrying for her safety, she decides to battle the player in order to reassure them that she'll be fine when she goes to stop Necrozma. And after Necrozma's defeat at the hands of the player, she clearly understood what she did wrong and resolves to make it up to her children from a safe distance.
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: In ''Sun and Moon'', while Lillie is giving her one, Lusamine even gives one to ''the player character'' themselves. Especially to note that [[VillainHasAPoint she points out that just about everyone replaces the Pokémon in their party once they are no longer serving a use to them]]. Which is ''exactly'' what the player most likely did... Ironically, this is the game which introduced Poké Pelago, meaning that the player knows for a fact that their boxed Pokémon are on what amounts to an island vacation, and is likely visiting them regularly -- this is brought up as a counterargument exactly never.
* ReplacementGoldfish: In ''Sun and Moon'' she became obsessed with bringing Ultra Beasts into the world and joining them in their own world after her husband disappeared, even more so after her children ran away.
* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: The fact that she had Aether develop Type: Full (later Type: Null) specifically for the purpose of fighting and killing Ultra Beasts, implies that she might have originally intended to destroy them for taking her husband, prior to becoming obsessed with them. In ''Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon'', she still has this mindset, flat-out saying she hates the Ultra Wormholes and the creatures who dwell within it such as Necrozma.
* RuleOfSymbolism: Lusamine's fused form in ''Sun'' and ''Moon'' is effectively a representation of what the neurotoxins have turned her into - a ''monster''.
* SanitySlippage: The loss of her husband did a number on her sanity, causing the obsession driving her during both stories' events. However, once she met Nihilego in ''Sun and Moon'' she got a lot worse...
* TheScream: In ''Sun and Moon''. Her only verbal reaction to losing her rematch against the player is to just give a wordless scream. This also the only noise she makes when "fused" with Nihilego.
* {{Sadist}}: In ''Sun and Moon''. She often smiles happily whenever she emotionally abuses Lillie or Gladion and inflicting ColdBloodedTorture on Cosmog. This changes when you confront her in Ultra Space; where instead of expressing any joy, she's now almost perpetually consumed by rage over what the player and Lillie are doing, with even her PsychoticSmirk unable to hide her underlying rage.
* SheepInSheepsClothing: Downplayed in ''Ultra Sun and Moon''. Although she still retains some of her selfishness and some of her unsavory deeds from the original games, she is every bit as genuine in protecting all Pokémon, just like her company is striving for. This is even lampshaded by Hau.
-->'''Hau:''' Miss Lusamine is out there trying to keep Alola safe, right? I knew she was a good person!\\
'''Gladion:''' I guess... She's always convinced that what she's doing is right and she's really kind of selfish, but... But, I think she really just wanted to find our father, who disappeared into an Ultra Wormhole.
* SignatureMon:
** Bewear, very fittingly. They both seem cute and innocent, but are actually incredibly dangerous and give people unwanted love that hurts them.
** In ''Masters'', she instead uses Pheromosa (probably in reference to her previous affiliation with the Ultra Beasts); in a side story during the story event she (and her children) was introduced in, she tells Nanu and Olivia that it came to her out of nowhere and it's become her partner since then. Later, her Sygna Suit variant gives her Dusk Mane Necrozma.
* SlasherSmile:
** In ''Sun and Moon'', she tends to pull them off whenever she's plotting, and one could argue that even her regular smile counts as a subdued example of one. By the time she's been definitively revealed as a villain in ''Sun and Moon'', it's pretty much become her default expression.
** In ''Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon'' however, because she isn't as bad in this version, she sports it far less.
* TheSociopath: In ''Sun and Moon'', she is this to a disturbing degree, especially considering she's a main villain in the original games, both which are intended for children. Her grasp of concepts like love and social interaction in general are extremely warped, with Lusamine's particular brand of "love" consisting of forcing control on anybody and anything which shows her the slightest bit of affection and whom she deems worthy of receiving her own affections - and reacting violently when they reject her. She's also quite self-absorbed, generally treats others like objects and/or tools to be used until they're run out of purpose for her (reinforced by Gladion's comment that she's "extremely kind as long as you mean absolutely nothing to her").
* StartOfDarkness: The disappearance of her husband Mohn is hinted to have made her into a much colder person.
* StatuesqueStunner: While no official height is given for her, she's clearly taller than average.
* StatusBuff: In the second battle against her, she utilizes her Beast Boost powers she obtained from Nihilego to give her Pokémon enhanced power right off the bat.
* StrongFamilyResemblance: Her children also have platinum-blonde and angular hair as well as bright green eyes. Gladion also shares her PeekABangs hairstyle, albeit in a much different fashion than his mother.
* SupernaturalGoldEyes: She sports these in her Mother Beast form.
* ToughLove: Her treatment of her children in ''Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon'' is suggested to be this. While she may have retained some of her controlling behavior, unlike the original games, there is no doubt that she cares about her children, enough to try and protect them from Necrozma. And when she acknowledges that Gladion and Lillie have grown up a bit since leaving Aether Paradise, she is genuinely happy. Also if you compare her expressions when she disowns Lillie, from ''Sun and Moon'' to ''Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon'', you'll see that unlike her enraged scowl in the original games, she has a disappointed and hurt expression in ''Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon.''
* TragicVillain: Once a caring wife and mother, her futile attempts to reunite with her husband and gradual SanitySlippage due to the Ultra Beasts made her the villain she is in the present. In ''Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon'', she takes it upon herself to defeat Necrozma and save Alola, and her insistence on doing this herself only leads to her defeat and Necrozma almost destroying Alola. All for the sake of avenging her husband, Mohn.
* TraitorShot: In her first appearance in ''Sun and Moon'', when talking about Ultra Beasts, the camera zooms in on her eyes and her SlasherSmile.
* TranquilFury: In ''Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon'', when she finds out that Faba was the one who sold out the Aether Foundation to Team Rainbow Rocket, her expression is basically just a DeathGlare that contains enough anger to scare Faba into running away.
* TriumphantReprise: Her remixed theme in ''Masters'' lacks all of the sinister tones of her original theme and sounds much more heroic due to her HeelFaceTurn.
* {{Troperrific}}: She is competing with [[VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite N]] for stakes in this.
* TsurimeEyes: While Lusamine's eyes are normally like this, when Hau mentions Lillie in her first appearance and whenever Lusamine switches to her SlasherSmile, her eyes noticeably become even ''more'' slanted. After her final defeat and separation from Nihilego, her eyes look wider and brighter, indicating that her malevolence is gone.
* UncattyResemblance: With her long blonde hair, bangs that partially cover her eyes, and white dress with gold jewelry, she bears some resemblance to Pheromosa. {{Averted|Trope}} in the main series as she never encounters Pheromosa, but in ''Masters'', it's her SignatureMon.
* TheUnfought: In a sense. While you do fight her Pokémon, you don't get to directly fight her Mother Beast form in the original games.
* UselessUsefulSpell: Subverted with Milotic. Lusamine's Pokémon in the final encounter get a totem aura to power up a stat that benefits most of them, but Milotic, a special attacker, has her Attack boosted. It's revealed that she has Flail in her moveset, which ''does'' benefit from the boost.
* VileVillainSaccharineShow: In ''Sun and Moon''. This is a woman who, while under the influence of a [[EldritchAbomination Nihilego]], [[AbusiveParents abused her children]] and tried to micromanage every aspect of their lives down to what clothes they should wear, [[IHaveNoSon declared that they weren't her children]] and eventually attempted to ''murder them'' when they tried to rebel against her control, freezes the Pokémon she adores so that they'll stay the same forever while they remain on display for her, is willing to hurt and even kill anybody or anyone to further her schemes, Pokémon or otherwise, and in general cares about absolutely nothing but herself and the things she desires. This is all in contrast with Team Skull's [[LaughablyEvil general ineffectual goofiness]] and Alola's cheerful and bright atmosphere.
* VillainHasAPoint: In ''Sun and Moon''. When Lillie tells her that people and Pokémon aren't hers to just collect, use and discard at her pleasure, Lusamine counters that ''trainers'' (using the player in particular as an example) do that exact thing, namely switching out weaker members of their party for stronger, more appealing Pokémon. While this doesn't excuse any of her actions in any way, her point isn't refuted.
* VillainousBSOD: Downplayed in ''Sun and Moon''. She partly recovers after her final defeat in ''Sun and Moon'', yet she is still struggling with the remaining Nihilego's neurotoxins in her body.
* VillainousBreakdown: In ''Sun and Moon''. She undergoes a gradual one throughout the last part of the main story of ''Sun and Moon''. After her first defeat, she's annoyed by the player character's interference with her plans, but still appears relatively cool-headed. Compare this to her later appearance in Ultra Space, where she's visibly livid and angrily screaming at the player character and Lillie. This ultimately culminates in her fusing with Nihilego, which leaves her not only unable to speak coherently but also in a much more violent state of mind.
* VillainWithGoodPublicity: In ''Sun and Moon''. Lusamine is the president of the Aether Foundation, a well-known organization that heals Pokémon. This helps mask her true colors, as she actually experiments on Pokémon to achieve her goals.
* WalkingSpoiler: It's nearly impossible to talk about her without spoiling that she's the villain of ''Sun and Moon'' or her changed role and true personality in ''Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon''.
* WellIntentionedExtremist: [lIn ''Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon'', she is willing to do anything to save the people and Pokémon she loves from Necrozma, even if it meant sacrificing Cosmog.
-->'''Lusamine:''' I will force Cosmog to use its power and it may very well die. But if it will save the world for all my beloved Pokémon, then that is what I will do.
* WhenSheSmiles: In ''Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon'', she sports this during her PetTheDog moments after she is revealed to be a HeroAntagonist, and it's oddly quite touching to see. Because she is not as bad this time, this is basically her default expression. This is in stark contrast to the original games where she sports a SlasherSmile during her KickTheDog moments.
* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: In ''Sun and Moon''. It's stated that Lusamine's obsession with the Ultra Beasts stemmed from grief over the disappearance of her husband Mohn in an Ultra Wormhole, and that at least at first she was looking for a way to get him back, and possibly seek vengeance upon the Ultra Beasts using Type: Null. Lillie reminisces that her mother was fun-loving and kind to her before that incident, after which her obsession with finding Mohn and the discovery of Nihilego is implied to have twisted her into a gradually worsening sociopath, which eventually resulted in Gladion fleeing from her, later followed by Lillie herself. Ultimately, all Lusamine wanted was to have the love of her life back, but in her psychosis forgot how to care for her children and played with forces she didn't understand, and as a result both she and her family suffered the consequences that she was too obsessed to even consider in the first place.
* WouldHurtAChild: Makes an ambiguous murder threat to the player character at the start of their first battle in ''Sun and Moon'', an ''unambiguous'' murder threat at the start of their second battle, and then attempts to ''kill her daughter Lillie'' afterwards. Averted in ''Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon'', when she states that even after Lillie and Gladion betrayed and left her, she will still save them along with all the Pokémon in existence, as it is her duty as President of the Aether Foundation, even if it she has to sacrifice Cosmog.
* {{Yandere}}: She really, really ''really'' loves the Ultra Beasts. So much so she would literally ''destroy the world'' if it meant being able to be with them. In ''Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon'', this trope is ''completely'' averted as she's more motivated by wanting to stop Necrozma and losing Mohn.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Wicke]]
!!Wicke (ビッケ ''bikke'')
[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/wicke_9.png]]
The assistant branch chief of Aether Paradise has a caring personality, so she’s loved by all the Aether Foundation employees.
----
* BespectacledCutie: Wicke's glasses only add to her charm.
* FriendToAllLivingThings: Wicke cares about the well-being of the Foundation's Pokémon; because of this, she is popular among the Foundation's staff.
* IronicName: Her name is one letter away from the word "wicked". [[TokenGoodTeammate She is one of the few non-antagonistic members of the Aether Foundation, supports both Lillie and Gladion in opposition to their insane mother in Sun and Moon, and even heals your team when you storm Aether Paradise.]]
* TheMole: You learn in the ''Sun and Moon'' post-game that she's now working for Interpol, and provides them with information on the Ultra Beasts.
* MsExposition: Her role for the remainder of ''Sun and Moon'' after the completion of the postgame is showing you info on the Ultra Beasts.
* NiceGirl: In the initial trailer that revealed the Aether Foundation, both Wicke and Lusamine were built up to be sweet and motherly characters. In the game proper, Wicke actually ''is'' as nice as the trailer made her out to be, in stark contrast to ''Sun and Moon's'' version of Lusamine.
* NeutralFemale: She neither directly opposes nor particularly assists the player's efforts at rescuing Lillie and Cosmog, though she ''does'' heal their Pokémon after they return to the Paradise's main floor for the second time.
* NonIndicativeName: Her name's Wicke, but she's not really wicked.
* OnlySaneWoman: Wicke is one of the few employees who remains nice and helpful throughout.
* ParentalSubstitute: Implied to have been a mother figure to Gladion and Lillie after Lusamine turned cold towards them.
* SheepInSheepsClothing: Wicke really is as nice as she appears to be, unlike Faba and Lusamine (more so in ''Sun and Moon'' than in ''Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon'').
* SweaterGirl: She probably has a sufficient reason to wear a thick turtleneck sweater in the Alola region, but the pink sweater is the most vibrant part of her design.
* TokenGoodTeammate: She is the one who helped Lillie escape the Aether Foundation from the beginning. Also, during the protagonist's investigation of the Aether Foundation to save Lillie, Wicke is one of the few members who doesn't battle you. In fact, she even heals your team at one point. This is even further suggested in an official release poster for ''Ultra Sun and Moon'' which shows a VFormationTeamShot consisting of Guzma, Sophocles, the Player Character, and Wicke facing off against Team Rainbow Rocket.
* TrademarkFavoriteFood: Heavily implied to be malasadas. In both games, she gives the player character and Hau some Big Malasadas at various points. Taken further in ''Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon'', where she gives them away much more frequently, mentions malasadas when you talk to her in the postgame, and is even seen holding a basket of them in a [[https://cdn.bulbagarden.net/upload/6/6e/Ultra_Sun_Ultra_Moon_Team_Rainbow_Rocket.png piece of promotional art]] for Episode RR.
* TheUnfought: The only named member of the Aether Foundation to not be fought, even though in ''Ultra Sun and Moon'' [[RetiredBadass she mentions that she went on a journey in Kanto when she was younger, meaning that at least at one point she was a trainer]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Faba ''[-(Sauboh)-]'']]
!!Faba / Sauboh (ザオボー ''zaoboo'')
[[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/faba_9.png]]
The Aether Foundation's branch chief. He has a very arrogant personality, and believes himself to be far more important than he actually is.
----

* BareYourMidriff: She wears a tank top that exposes her midriff, which also has a tattoo of Team Skull's emblem.

* TheRival: Notably in that he's the first rival since Silver to ''not'' be your friend. He's also the first one to be a part of the villainous team, which gives an additional reason for this beyond simple competition. And like Wally, Gladion never gets one of the three starter Pokémon; instead his final Pokémon is Type: Null, although it evolves into Silvally, whose type will always beat your starter's.

* BadassAdorable: Her team is full of them. Her team theme is cute or beautiful Pokémon[[note]]Clefable, Mismagius, Milotic, Lilligant, Bewear, and Lopunny[[/note]], and all five of them have perfect individual values ''and'' ideal natures and effort values, meaning that each of them is likely to be able to crush a casual player's Pokémon in a one-on-one fight unless they're facing a type or level disadvantage.

[[folder:Lusamine]]

The lovely Lusamine functions as the Aether Foundation’s president, though as it turns out, she's not as lovely as she seems. [[spoiler: At least, in the original ''Sun'' and ''Moon''.]]

** [[spoiler:This behavior seems to be a result of Nihilego's neurotoxins as this trope is heavily downplayed in ''Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon''. While she does keep some of her controlling tendencies and temporary disownment of her children, she isn't as abusive to them, just more of a case of being a tough parent struggling with her grief for losing her husband. Not to mention, some of her crueler dialogue is replaced with kinder dialogue.]]

* AdaptationalBadass: Depending on the version, this also comes with AdaptationalWimp. [[spoiler:In ''Sun and Moon'' Lusamine is the BigBad and the FinalBoss of the main story, fusing with Nihilego to powerup herself and her Pokémon considerably to the point she's tanky enough to withstand a hit from a ''Legendary Pokémon''. In ''Ultra Sun and Moon'' however, she's an AdaptationalWimp, as she is not the BigBad, that role being usurped by Necrozma, and then she's a DamselInDistress thanks to Team Rainbow Rocket.]]
* AdaptationalHeroism: [[spoiler:In the original games, she is a crazed, abusive mother and BitchInSheepsClothing who is willing to callously off anyone in order to live out her obsession with Ultra Beasts, specifically Nihilego who causes this behavior with its neurotoxin, before suddenly having a HeelFaceTurn offscreen. In ''Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon'' she is a [[WellIntentionedExtremist well-meaning]], decent if flawed ReasonableAuthorityFigure and AntiHero who is willing to do anything to save the people and Pokémon she loves from what Necrozma plans to do with Alola's light, as well as [[ParentsAsPeople genuinely caring for her children despite not being the best parent as well as being mad at them for stealing the Pokémon needed to stop Necrozma]], and finally seeing the error of her ways and changing them for the better.]]
* AdaptedOut: Her Mismagius from the originals was switched out for a Lopunny in ''Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon''. [[spoiler:Due to her obsession with Nihilego and evil personality being inflicted with its neurotoxin no longer being present in these games, she never fuses with one and thus her Motherbeast form also does not appear]].
* AffablyEvil: [[spoiler:In ''Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon'', her friendliness is shown here to be rather genuine, unlike her evil personality in the original games. First, she thanks Lillie for keeping Cosmog safe until it was captured. Then she takes a moment to show pity for Cosmog's pain, and acknowledges its love for Lillie. After she was defeated in Aether Paradise, instead of ranting like a bratty teenager like in the original games, she becomes impressed with the player character's strength in battle and compliments him/her. Finally, she feels genuinely touched by Gladion's concern for her, and takes a moment to reassure him that she'll be fine when she goes to stop Necrozma.]]
* AlmightyMom: No matter how much Lillie and Gladion try to stop her, she proves to be one step ahead. If it wasn't for you, she would've gotten what she wanted, (having Cosmog open up a wormhole so that she could unleash the Ultra Beasts, and also stay in Ultra Space) even after Gladion ran away with Type: Null, which was itself created to defeat those very same Ultra Beasts. And in Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, [[spoiler:despite being mad at her children, she is willing to save them from Necrozma, along with all the Pokémon in existence.]]

* AntiHero: In ''Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon'', [[spoiler:she is motivated by a desire to save the world and all the people and Pokémon she loves from Necrozma, as well as the desire to avenge the loss of her husband, rather than out of totally insane selfishness. That said, she still goes through with nearly killing Nebby to open the Ultra Wormhole and sends several Aether Foundation employees to stop you from reaching her, even deciding to battle you herself... Just to prove that she is strong enough to face Necrozma herself.]]

* TheAtoner: [[spoiler:Tried to be so in ''Sun & Moon'' if it weren't for her sick condition holding her back. Her ''Ultra Sun & Ultra Moon'' incarnation is a more straight example, which has more or less become the main sample.]]

* BadassInDistress: [[spoiler:The Team Rainbow Rocket subplot in ''Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon'' centers around Lusamine being held hostage while the evil team takes over Aether Paradise, all so Giovanni can use the Ultra Beasts' power to brainwash her into becoming his pawn and lending all of Aether's technology and knowledge of the Ultra Wormholes.]]

* BewareTheNiceOnes: In ''Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon'', [[spoiler:she is a very decent and well-meaning if flawed person. But she is a force to be reckoned with as well. Harming the people (including her children) and Pokémon she loves and the Aether Foundation is a '''''very''''' good way to get on her bad side. Just ask Faba and Necrozma.]]
* BigBad: Ultimately of ''Sun and Moon''. She's also the first female example in the series. [[spoiler:Subverted in ''Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon'', where it's revealed that she's actually fighting the actual BigBad, Necrozma.]]
* BitchInSheepsClothing: Appears to be a kind and helpful woman when she is introduced, but she is anything ''but'' that. [[spoiler:Averted in Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, when her kind and helpful nature is revealed to be genuine this time, as she is only harsh to Lillie and Gladion for stealing Cosmog and Type: Null, respectively, since they were both needed for more heroic purposes this time, and she only disowns them out of feelings of genuine betrayal and hurt disappointment. Her earlier behavior in ''Sun and Moon'' is implied to be a result of Nihilego's neurotoxins]]
* BossOnlyLevel: She is the only enemy in the small area of Ultra Space that you get to visit courtesy of Solgaleo/Lunala. There aren't even any random encounters. [[spoiler:But in Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, that part of Ultra Space is called the Ultra Deep Sea, when Nihilego can be caught there many times, even Shiny ones!]]

* BreakingOldTrends: [[spoiler:The first leader of a villainous team that's a woman, and the only known person to fuse with a Pokémon. Her goal in ''Sun and Moon'' is probably the smallest scale one, wanting to stay in Ultra Deep Sea with the Nihilego while Ultra Beasts wreak havoc on Alola.]]
* BrokenBird: Once a paragon and a loving mother, Lusamine underwent a tragedy - namely [[spoiler:the loss of her husband and the father of her children to an Ultra Wormhole]] - that changed her personality for the worse, turning her into a controlling mother. Even in ''Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon'' where she's less abusive and doesn't descend into insanity, Lusamine is motivated to defeat Necrozma not out of altruism, but rather [[spoiler:to protect the ones she loves and for her own self-satisfaction, believing it will help her overcome the helplessness she felt when she lost Mohn.]]

* CombatStilettos: She wears heels throughout most of the game and is an extremely proficient Pokémon battler. Her intro animation for her first fight and [[spoiler:Title Defense battle]] starts with a strong clack of her right heel.

* ControlFreak: She was very controlling of her two children, down to choosing exactly they were allowed to wear. Before the reveal, she briefly tries the same on Hau, a small boy she'd never even met before. [[spoiler:[[CharacterDevelopment She grows out of this in Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon.]]]]

** In ''Ultra Sun And Ultra Moon'', [[spoiler:she contrasts N. Both are the most altruistic villains in the Pokémon core series and believe that their actions will be for the benefit of Pokémon in the long run. However, N wanted to use a Legendary Pokémon to separate people and Pokémon in an incorrect view that they are better of that way and thought of himself as a hero when his actions were detrimental to both humans and Pokémon alike. Lusamine is trying to stop'' a dangerous Legendary Pokémon from destroying Alola and if she succeeded, she actually would have been a hero... but her methods would've likely alienated her from her children forever.]]

** In ''Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon'' [[spoiler:she is trying to stop the latest Legendary Pokémon that is going out of control and threatening to destroy the region, just like players of past generations. However, she is oblivious to the fact her actions have the potential to harm others and she herself is unable to stop Necrozma. Her motives for stopping Necrozma are also implied to be more about avenging the loss of her husband rather than about saving Alola.]]

* EvilMatriarch: She's Lillie and Gladion's mother and the first female main antagonist in the main Pokémon games. [[spoiler:Zigzagged in Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, when she's revealed to have a kind and helpful nature this time, as she needs Cosmog to help protect Alola's Pokémon - but is still far from a good person until CharacterDevelopment kicks in.]]

* FemalesAreMoreInnocent: Relatively speaking, when compared to the male villain team leaders that came before her. She used to be a loving mother and only turned evil and psychotic after [[spoiler:losing her husband to an Ultra Wormhole and then being infected with Nihilego's mind-altering neurotoxin]].

** In ''Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon'' [[spoiler:however, this is a genuine aspect of her personality. She makes it clear that she will do anything to protect the Pokémon she loves from what Necrozma plans to do with Alola's light.]]

** [[spoiler:She has a much more detailed one in ''Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon'', coming to full terms with her faults and feeling remorse for them, now being determined to do her best to make it up to her children - from a safe distance, as she doesn't want to control their lives anymore. She also occasionally battles you in as a Champion challenger, being gracious and complimentary to you when she does.]]
* TheHeavy: In ''Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon''--her actions still cause much of the conflict, but her previous BigBad status is now taken by Necrozma and later [[spoiler:Giovanni]].

** [[spoiler:Downplayed in ''Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon'', where she still disowns her children for stealing Cosmog and Type: Null, respectively, but she'll still do everything she can to save them along with the Pokémon of Alola from Necrozma's wrath. Even her facial emotions express how downplayed it is, going from an enraged scowl in the original games to a hurt and disappointed look in the new games.]]
* IJustWantMyBelovedToBeHappy: [[spoiler:In ''Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon'', she reunites with Mohn when he visits Aether Paradise for a tour of the facility. He does not remember it, or her, but Lusamine doesn't press the issue any further, and lets him go because he's happier this way. That said it is indicated she may rekindle her relationship with Mohn, as he expresses that he intends to see her again.]]

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: In ''Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon'', [[spoiler:she gains more likable and redeeming qualities, such as having more [[WellIntentionedExtremist understandable]] and less completely selfish [[AntiHero motives]], and [[JerkassRealization ultimately]] realizing [[HeelRealization her mistakes]] and [[HeelFaceTurn doing her best to make it up to her children]], as well as being more [[ReasonableAuthorityFigure reasonable]]. Also, she only disowns them because she felt genuinely betrayed by them when they took Cosmog and Type: Null, but she still says that she will save them from Necrozma, showing that for all of her abrasiveness towards her children, she still cares about them enough to save them from Necrozma. Her response to Hau's surprise at her familial connection between herself and her children describe her best.]]

* KnightTemplar: She believes she is doing something righteous when it comes to helping injured Pokémon, while her true intentions are unusually bizarre and twisted. [[spoiler:She is somewhat more of a straight example in ''Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon'', where she wants to defeat Necrozma and save Alola, although it's all under the justification that she can't "love [her] babies" if the world's light is stolen.]]

** [[spoiler:Averted in ''Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon''. When Lillie tells her that using Nebby to open the Ultra Wormhole might kill it, Lusamine understands it and clearly doesn't want to do this to Nebby, but she feels that she must in order to save Alola from Necrozma. After Necrozma's defeat at the hands of the player, Lusamine decides to take Nebby back to Aether Paradise to care for it, and orders Lillie to help care for it too, as a way to make up for what she did.]]

* LeeroyJenkins: [[spoiler:Her sudden decision to fight Necrozma head-on alongside Guzma pretty much obliterated the Ultra Recon Squad's plans and burned the ashes. She gets called out on it too.]]

* LightIsGood: Downplayed in ''Ultra Sun And Ultra Moon'', [[spoiler:as she is willing to sacrifice Nebby if it means she can save Alola from Necrozma.]]

** [[spoiler:This is implied to be taken in a different direction in ''Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon'', where Lusamine is implied to have cryogenically frozen her Pokémon collection and controlled her children to a certain degree [[NeverBeHurtAgain as a way to prevent losing anything else she loves,]] [[NeverBeHurtAgain like her husband Mohn]]. She's even the one who decides to unfreeze her Pokémon collection after her HeelFaceTurn instead of a generic Aether Foundation employee, as she realizes that she needs to give her loved ones the freedom that they need to grow up properly without interfering in their affairs from now on.]]

* MamaBear: In ''Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon'' [[spoiler:despite disowning her children because they left her, she still cares about them enough to try and protect them from Necrozma, and even when she is defeated, [[GoOnWithoutMe she tells Lillie and the player character to run away without her so she'll be safe from Necrozma]]]].[[spoiler: In the aftermath of Rainbow Rocket Episode, after realizing Faba's scheming also put her daughter in great danger, she give Faba his FateWorseThanDeath punishment by demoting him into ''intern'' position]].

* ManipulativeBitch: Lusamine's twisted perception of love is psychologically manipulating anyone she's fond of to keep them in line so she can continue to use them as puppets, and employs this on her children. She also sponsored Team Skull and convinced them to do her dirty work by taking advantage of their financial difficulties and personal turmoil, and [[VillainWithGoodPublicity used the Aether Foundation’s benevolent image to present herself as a good person]]. [[spoiler:In ''Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon'', while her manipulative nature is still in place, her reasons are more altruistic, only needing Cosmog to open the Ultra Wormhole to stop Necrozma from stealing Alola's light, and having the Aether Foundation stop anyone who gets in her way to make sure no one can interfere with what she feels is for the greater good.]]
* MaskOfSanity: Lusamine's vicious insanity is very carefully masked behind an empathetic and loving facade. [[spoiler:Averted in ''Ultra Sun and Moon'', where her empathetic and loving nature is genuine this time, to the point where she'll do anything to protect all the Pokémon in existence, no matter what she has to do. It is implied that in ''Sun and Moon'' her previous behavior is a result of Nihilego's neurotoxins.]]

* MumLooksLikeASister: She's in her 40s, but barely looks much older than her children.

* NeverMyFault: She has a big problem with this in ''Sun and Moon'', [[MoralMyopia thinking she is justified in everything she does and that anyone who opposes her are the bad ones.]] [[spoiler:Not so much in ''Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon'', where she shows signs of wavering and has to convince herself what she's doing is justified, and then clearly admits that she was wrong and Lillie was right after getting her ass kicked by Necrozma.]]

* OhCrap: Gets a deliciously satisfying one when she [[spoiler:starts unfusing after the evolved Cosmog hits her fused form.]]

* OptionalBoss: [[spoiler:Exclusively in ''Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon'', she is one of two additional challengers in the Title Defense match.]]

* PetTheDog: [[spoiler:After she is revealed to be a HeroAntagonist, a lot of these moments she has in ''Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon'' substitute her [[KickTheDog crueler moments]] in the original games. First off, she thanks Lillie for keeping Cosmog safe until now, instead of saying that she'd betrayed her, and then when Cosmog is trying to resist, she takes pity on it instead of being annoyed for making too much noise and commends it for its bravery and love for Lillie.]]

* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: [[spoiler:She is more reasonable in Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon. When Gladion and Lillie start worrying for her safety, she decides to battle the player in order to reassure them that she'll be fine when she goes to stop Necrozma. And after Necrozma's defeat at the hands of the player, she clearly understood what she did wrong and resolves to make it up to her children from a safe distance.]]

* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: The fact that she had Aether develop Type: Full (later Type: Null) specifically for the purpose of fighting and killing Ultra Beasts, implies that she might have originally intended to destroy them for taking her husband, prior to becoming obsessed with them. [[spoiler:In ''Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon'', she still has this mindset, flat-out saying she hates the Ultra Wormholes and the creatures who dwell within it such as Necrozma.]]

** In ''Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon'' however, [[spoiler:because she isn't as bad in this version, she sports it far less.]]

* ToughLove: [[spoiler:Her treatment of her children in ''Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon'' is suggested to be this. While she may have retained some of her controlling behavior, unlike the original games, there is no doubt that she cares about her children, enough to try and protect them from Necrozma. And when she acknowledges that Gladion and Lillie have grown up a bit since leaving Aether Paradise, she is genuinely happy. Also if you compare her expressions when she disowns Lillie, from ''Sun and Moon'' to ''Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon'', you'll see that unlike her enraged scowl in the original games, she has a disappointed and hurt expression in ''Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon.'']]
* TragicVillain: Once a caring wife and mother, her futile attempts to reunite with her husband and gradual SanitySlippage due to the Ultra Beasts made her the villain she is in the present. [[spoiler:In ''Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon'', she takes it upon herself to defeat Necrozma and save Alola, and her insistence on doing this herself only leads to her defeat and Necrozma almost destroying Alola. All for the sake of avenging her husband, Mohn.]]

* WellIntentionedExtremist: [[spoiler:In ''Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon'', she is willing to do anything to save the people and Pokémon she loves from Necrozma, even if it meant sacrificing Cosmog.]]
-->'''Lusamine:''' [[spoiler:I will force Cosmog to use its power and it may very well die. But if it will save the world for all my beloved Pokémon, then that is what I will do.]]
* WhenSheSmiles: [[spoiler:In ''Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon'', she sports this during her PetTheDog moments after she is revealed to be a HeroAntagonist, and it's oddly quite touching to see. Because she is not as bad this time, this is basically her default expression. This is in stark contrast to the original games where she sports a SlasherSmile during her KickTheDog moments.]]

* WouldHurtAChild: Makes an ambiguous murder threat to the player character at the start of their first battle in ''Sun and Moon'', an ''unambiguous'' murder threat at the start of their second battle, and then attempts to ''kill her daughter Lillie'' afterwards. [[spoiler:Averted in ''Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon'', when she states that even after Lillie and Gladion betrayed and left her, she will still save them along with all the Pokémon in existence, as it is her duty as President of the Aether Foundation, even if it she has to sacrifice Cosmog.]]
* {{Yandere}}: She really, really ''really'' loves the Ultra Beasts. So much so she would literally ''destroy the world'' if it meant being able to be with them. [[spoiler:In ''Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon'', this trope is ''completely'' averted as she's more motivated by wanting to stop Necrozma and losing Mohn.]]

[[folder:Guzma]]

* AbusiveParents: [[spoiler:A house on Route 2, his childhood home, hints that Guzma may have had a very troublesome childhood. It's implied that his father beat him, but Guzma later retaliated and ran away from home afterward. His father says "I tried to set that boy straight, but instead, I was the one who got beat." And then there's the bag of bent and broken golf clubs found in the same house. What makes it more unsettling is that the very lady he follows orders from is an abusive mother herself. Further hints that he may have been abused as a child can be seen in his catchphrase about being "the hated boss who beats you down and beats you down and never lets up" (which could be a FreudianSlip about what his father did to him), and the way he slips into third-person and screams "Guzma! What is wrong with you?!", which combined with his AlwaysSecondBest status, further looks like sublimated emotional abuse.]]
* AchievementsInIgnorance: [[spoiler:When he shows up at Team Rainbow Rocket's Castle to rescue Lusamine, he unintentionally causes two Rainbow Rocket Grunts to [[IllNeverTellYouWhatImTellingYou tell him where she is]].]]

* AtArmsLength: [[spoiler:He does this to two Rainbow Rocket Grunts, holding his hands against their faces while they futilely swing their arms at him.]]
* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking: His bravado isn't just for show; he's easily a very strong battler, and ''definitely'' the strongest member of Team Skull. [[spoiler:When you confront him in Aether Paradise, he's already defeated ''Gladion''[[note]]who at this point uses a Golbat, which is a ''Flying-type'' and thus should have had a major advantage over his primarily Bug-type team[[/note]] and is ready to rip you apart. Also, his team when you battle him in the post-game is on par with the ''Elite Four'', and he can also be found amongst many strong, fightable (and recruitable) trainers in the Battle Tree.]]

* BecauseYouWereNiceToMe: [[spoiler:According to Plumeria, he likes Lusamine because she's the only adult who ever seemed to acknowledge his strength.]]
* BenevolentBoss: Even if it isn't as immediately obvious with him as it is with [[CoolBigSis Plumeria]], Guzma does care about his underlings. [[spoiler:If you speak to him in the postgame of ''Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon'', he'll tell you that he's working hard to become stronger so that he can make sure no one messes with his "homies". This is also the reason he formed Team Skull in the first place, as a means to give fellow social outcasts a place to call home.]]

* BigBad: TheLeader of Team Skull, and as such, he acts as one for [[DiscOneFinalBoss the first part of the game]]. [[spoiler:Later subverted, as he is actually TheDragon to [[TheManBehindTheMan Lusamine]], who operates the much more competent and just as villainous Aether Foundation.]]
* BigBadWannabe: Played with. He certainly ''acts'' like he wants to be feared by everyone [[spoiler:despite not being [[BigBad the biggest threat to Alola]]]], and there may be a scared, broken boy with self-esteem issues underneath his loud, boastful attitude. But he's still a hostile, destructive gang leader who's out to do as much damage as he can and is perfectly willing to back up his threats.
* BigBrotherInstinct: [[spoiler:Seems to feel this way about the protagonist and Lillie in the Rainbow Rocket storyline. He joins you in a battle againt two rainbow rocket grunts, telling them before that "(even though his team is disbanded, he still has things) he can't let go of and won't let anybody mess with". He also holds off other grunts to allow the protagonist to take on the leaders of the Rainbow Rocket relatively unbothered.]]

* BlingOfWar: He wears various bits of jewelry, such as a gold watch and a Team Skull pendant. [[spoiler:He takes off the pendant after disbanding Team Skull.]]
* BreakTheHaughty: [[spoiler:In ''Sun and Moon'', when you find him in Ultra Space, he realizes [[AxCrazy Lusamine]] has gone too far when both are stuck in Ultra Space, and he gets possessed by a Nihilego when he cockily tried to capture it. By his own words, [[MindRape his body and mind were driven out of his control]], and he experienced fear for the first time. Meanwhile, [[BrokenPedestal Lusamine is just on another level and was gone for him]], and it's implied [[TalkingTheMonsterToDeath he tried to talk her down]], but it didn't work.]]
* BrokenAce: [[spoiler:If the trophies in his parents' house on Route 2 are any indication, then he most certainly is. Not only that, he had actually trained his Pokémon since he was younger during his island trial, and he also failed at becoming a Trial Captain, feeling like society cheated him when this happened. These are the reasons to why he formed Team Skull, as [[NobleDemon he wanted to take in people that weren't that different from him]], and despite being TheAce and TheLeader of the team, he is a broken ace one at the end of the day. Fortunately, by the end of ''Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon'', he works to amend his issues.]]

* CallingTheOldManOut: [[spoiler:Post-game in ''Ultra Sun And Moon'', he has the audacity to visit his old home on Route 2, and beat his father in a battle.]]

* CoolShades: Guzma wears an asymmetrical pair of sunglasses on his forehead. [[spoiler:He swaps them out for a symmetrical pair after his HeelFaceTurn.]]

* TheDragon: [[spoiler:He is one to Lusamine, the president of the Aether Foundation]].

* EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas: [[spoiler:And this is despite his mother being an {{abusive parent|s}}. If you visit his house in the postgame, his mother will say that while she heard all sorts of rumors that her Guzma was up to no good, she knew they were "all lies", implying he couldn't bring himself to fess up to her.]]

** Despite being the leader of a gang, seeing himself as "destruction in human form", and wanting to vandalize Alola, he's the only villainous team leader to not plan to {{take over the world}}, or do something to it. [[spoiler:Reinforced by Episode RR in ''Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon''.]]
** [[spoiler:He also feels [[AxCrazy Lusamine]]'s OmnicidalManiac tendencies are going too far, at the end of ''Sun and Moon''.]]
** [[spoiler:In ''Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon'', he also doesn't seem to take backstabbing well, as Faba did to Lusamine.]]

** To Plumeria, his second-in-command. Guzma is loud and gets angrily very easily, while Plumeria always keeps her cool. [[spoiler:While Guzma happily goes along with Lusamine's plan (until the events in Ultra Space), Plumeria is against kidnapping Lillie and regrets being a part of it. She apologizes sincerely for her actions and has nothing but nice things to say to the protagonist. When the protagonist meets Guzma after Team Skull's disbandment in ''Sun and Moon'', he gives them his lucky Dawn Stone while refusing to call it a gesture of apology]].

** [[spoiler:His encounter and battle themes both contain samples of the Aether Foundation theme, which hints towards who he answers to.]]
** Inverted in ''Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon''. He knows Hala's grandson, Hau, and that he's approximately the same age as the main character. [[spoiler:Which makes more sense since, after his ''Sun and Moon'' postgame fight, Hala is revealed to have been his former mentor.]]
* FreudianExcuse: [[spoiler:He's implied to be as violent and aggressive as he is because of a rough childhood, particularly because [[AbusiveParents his parents abused him]] (moreso his father) until he snapped, beat his father up, and ran away from home. Afterwards, he tried to become a Trial Captain, but failed. This combination led Guzma to see society as the source of his problems and drove him to try and take revenge on Alola as a whole.]]
* GoodCostumeSwitch: Sort of. [[spoiler:After disbanding Team Skull, he swaps out his sunglasses, ditches the necklace, removes his tattoos, and crosses out the Team Skull logo on his jacket with red paint. The resulting look is largely unchanged except for the removal of all Team Skull motifs.]]

* TheHeavy: The Team Skull goons who serve as the most regular obstacles to the player are all working for him, and once the player arrives on Ula'ula Island, Guzma takes (negative) notice of them and becomes a RecurringBoss. [[spoiler:He's not the BigBad, but he ''is'' the game's most frequent obstacle.]]

** [[spoiler:In the post-game, he disbands Team Skull, with his title changing from "Team Skull Boss Guzma" to "Pokémon Trainer Guzma". After being defeated, he leaves with Hala to train and become stronger.]]
** [[spoiler:More so in ''[[VideoGame/PokemonUltraSunAndUltraMoon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon]]''. Guzma helps the protagonist take down Team Rainbow Rocket, primarily by keeping an eye on the entrance to their castle and intercepting grunts who pass by while the protagonist investigates the interior, and becomes one of the potential challengers after the player character has become the Champion, meaning that Guzma has cleaned up his act]].

* HiddenHeartOfGold: Yes, Guzma is the leader of Team Skull, which are all a bunch of delinquents that plan to cause damage to Alola, with him being the most competent of them all. [[spoiler:However, the reason [[NobleDemon he took all of the grunts into Team Skull]], including Plumeria, is because he knew how bad they must have felt after they failed to make an impact to the society they are a part of, and felt cheated by them. Deep down, all that Guzma wants is for him and the people he sympathizes with to be recognized, though of course, [[HiddenDepths he will not let the positive side of him be seen by the heroes]].]]
* HumanityEnsues: Ironically, this is what happened to "destruction in human form" himself at the end of both games.
* IGaveMyWord: Defeating him in the Shady House has him actually give back the Yungoos that Team Skull kidnapped. [[spoiler:Likewise, defeating him in Aether Paradise has him let you through, letting you battle [[BigBad Lusamine]].]]

* InferioritySuperiorityComplex: For all of his fearmongering and bravado, it's implied that [[spoiler:his less than stellar upbringing combined with]] his failure to become a Trial Captain left him with some confidence issues. [[spoiler:Team Skull is his way of trying to compensate for them and lash out.]]
* {{Irony}}: Being a gang boss who's a LargeHam and has a tendency to [[PercussiveMaintenance break technology by hitting it]], it's made apparent that he's ''smarter'' than [[spoiler:your average Team Rainbow Rocket Grunt (i.e: "experienced" {{Mooks}} part of TheMafia), and Faba, as he has an incredulous look as a reaction to the latter revealing to Lusamine that he backstabbed her ''just to further his own career''.]]
* ItsAllAboutMe: Played with. Guzma formed Team Skull as a way of lashing out after failing to become a Trial Captain and blames society instead of moving on. [[spoiler:Though given the implications he was abused in the past, the trials were probably not the only factor, and his underlings were all kids who couldn't make a living as trainers and are also blaming society for their troubles, so Team Skull's ambitions aren't just for him alone.]]
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Settles into this in ''Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon'', [[spoiler:after his HeelFaceTurn. In the post-game, Guzma thanks you for saving the world from Necrozma and demonstrates to actually get along a bit with Hau, the grandson of Hala, who was Guzma's former mentor. Likewise, Guzma helps you in Episode RR by taking down a pair of Team Rocket grunts, and despite claiming that he did because they were getting on his nerves, he later reassures the player character that he's got their back by holding the entrance and holding off said pair of grunts. He's also helping the player character because Team Rainbow Rocket kidnapped Lusamine, the only person who truly recognized his strength, and he wanted to return the favor by saving her]].

* MusicalSpoiler: [[spoiler:His theme actually glitches out at several points, playing a snippet of the Aether Foundation {{Leitmotif}}.]]
* NinetiesAntiHero: Seems to turn into this at the end of ''Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon''. [[spoiler: His "heroism" part is played up in Episode RR where he describes himself as a "nobody" before teaming up with the player against Rainbow Rocket grunts.]] Besides, his design and traits had already mimicked many of those examples in the genres, and he has the speech of such.

* OptionalBoss: He can be challenged to a match [[spoiler:when you visit his childhood home after becoming Champion in ''Sun and Moon''. In ''Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon'', he's instead one of the Title Defense challengers you can battle.]]

* PutOnABus: In the postgame of ''Sun and Moon'', [[spoiler:he goes to train with Hala. He [[TheBusCameBack comes back briefly]] on the Battle Tree for ''Moon'', where you can face him off or team up with him.]]
** Averted in ''Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon'', [[spoiler:where he can instead be found at the trailer park outside Haina Desert, as well as being a potential Title Defense challenger.]]

* ReformedButNotTamed: [[spoiler:After disbanding Team Skull, his attitude still hasn't changed one bit. He even makes a point of telling you he'll never change. Averted in ''Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon'', where he [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold mellows out]] by the end of the game.]]
* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: [[spoiler:Once it becomes clear [[AxCrazy just how far]] Lusamine's fallen off the deep end, he decides he really wants no further part in her plans. He can't actually go anywhere given [[EldritchLocation where he is at the time,]] though.]]
* SecondPlaceIsForLosers: [[spoiler:One of the causes in Guzma's descent to villainy is found in his trophy collection: he has a ''single'' silver trophy and the rest after that are bronze.]]

* ThirdPersonPerson: He slips into this when he loses a battle. [[spoiler:After all, [[AbusiveParents he's probably used to hearing himself berated for failure this way]].]]

* TookALevelInBadass: Compared to his role in the original games, ''Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon'' shows him [[spoiler:facing you as one of the potential opponents for the title of Champion!]]
** [[spoiler:He even helps you take back Aether Paradise and rescue Lusamine from Giovanni and spends a good chunk of Episode RR holding back two Rainbow Rocket Grunts.]]

* WalkingSpoiler: There's a reason why there's a lot of white in this page. Most notably, knowing too much about him reveals that [[spoiler:he is [[BigBad Lusamine's]] [[TheDragon second-in-command]] during the events of Ultra Space, and that Team Skull was collaborating with the Aether Foundation behind the scenes the whole time.]]
* WhyDontYouJustShootHim: [[spoiler:During the Team Rainbow Rocket arc, when confronted by multiple Team Rocket Grunts, Guzma simply attacks and restrains the trainers themselves rather than waiting for them to bring out their Pokémon.]]
* WideEyesAndShrunkenIrises: Sports this look in his pre-battle animation.
* WorthyOpponent: Averted and PlayedForDrama. In the post-game, he's chastised [[spoiler:by Hala]] for only recognizing his own strength, and his failure to see the strength of others is what keeps dragging him down. Indeed, his go-to "Guzma! What is wrong with you?!" indicates he sees the player's victories as personal failures and nothing else.
* WouldHitAGirl: The female player character is not exempt from the below-mentioned threat. And in ''Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon'', [[spoiler:he noticeably smacks Lillie out of his way while chasing after Lusamine through the Ultra Wormhole.]]
* YoungerThanTheyLook: Despite his white hair, Guzma seems to be a lot younger than he looks, probably in his early twenties. [[spoiler:Plumeria's wording that Lusamine was the only ''adult'' that ever acknowledged his strength, rather than the only person, and his parents and Hala referring to him as a "young man", further reinforce this, and it's mentioned that he failed at becoming a Trial Captain, and 20 is the cutoff age for Trial Captains.]] In case this is true, he's likely the youngest villainous team leader in the main games, moreso than [[VideoGame/PokemonDiamondAndPearl Cyrus]].

* HisNameReallyIsBarkeep: One short cut scene has one of the grunts pointing out to her friend that labelling her clothes to avoid misplacing them won’t work since “we’re all named Grunt”.

* KickTheDog: Most of their early actions are too [[LaughablyEvil funny]] and [[IneffectualSympatheticVillain hopeless]] to be regarded as bad, but the first real nasty thing you see them do is when a couple of grunts mock their ally Gladion for being homeless. [[spoiler:They also steal a Yungoos belonging to a ''preschooler'' at the Aether House, so they're not above stealing from little girls.]]

* AsskickingEqualsAuthority: Her role as the admin of Team Skull is implied to be the result of being the strongest next to Guzma, since she doesn't contribute much aside from being a strong trainer, and looking out for her grunts. In ''Sun and Moon'', she's shown to be a strong enough trainer to challenge the Champion. Though to be fair, Team Skull is far from an organized crime organization in need of much else.

* TheBrute: See AsskickingEqualsAuthority above.

* {{Foil}}: To Guzma, her boss. Guzma is loud and gets angrily very easily, while Plumeria always keeps her cool. [[spoiler:While Guzma happily goes along with Lusamine's plan (until the events in Ultra Space), Plumeria is against kidnapping Lillie and regrets being a part of it. She apologizes sincerely for her actions and has nothing but nice things to say to the protagonist. When the protagonist meets Guzma after Team Skull's disbandment, he gives them his lucky Dawn Stone while refusing to call it a gesture of apology]].

* AntiHero: [[spoiler:Revealed to be this as he wants to save Lillie from being kidnapped and to stop [[EvilMatriarch Lusamine]] from possibly destroying the planet.]] He also isn't the [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold nicest guy ever]].

* DarkIsNotEvil: He's not as sinister as his black and red ColorMotif might suggest, being an AntiHero who is determined to [[spoiler:stopping Lusamine and the Ultra Beasts]].

** In the storyline of the ''Ultra'' games, [[spoiler:Team Rainbow Rocket's attack on Aether Paradise occurs while he is away from Alola, and there is never any indication that he was ever made aware of it.]]

* VagueAge: He's older than the player and Lillie, but it's never stated how old he is. Considering the latter two are eleven, it can be assumed he's anywhere in his early to midteens.
* WhatTheHellHero: Lillie chews him out for leaving her alone with Lusamine after taking Type: Null, never as much coming back after their mother promptly became even ''worse'' as a result of his actions.

* SexyWalk: The female grunts walk like this, similar to Plumeria.

* HartmanHips: Her hips are quite wider than her body, and she tends to [[SexyWalk walk and show this off]].

* SexyWalk: Like most of the older, notably attractive females in the game, she has quite a bit of hip movement when she strides forward.

[[center: [- [[Characters/{{Pokemon}} Main Character Index]] > [[Characters/PokemonSunAndMoon Sun and Moon]] ('''Major Organizations''')-]]]

* SerialEscalation: Inverted. Unlike previous evil teams, these guys aren't out to conquer the world or control some powerful legendary Pokemon. They're just out to steal whatever they can get their hands on, particularly money, while also just being dicks to Trainers going through the island challenge.

* AgentScully: [[spoiler:Implied. He gives you one of the flutes needed to awaken the Legendary Pokemon, but doesn't seem to believe in the existence of it himself.]]

* ArtificialBrilliance: In his first battle in the ''Ultra'' games, his Zorua is disguised as his Zubat. The two Pokemon don't share weaknesses and Zorua's Dark-Type makes it immune to Zubat's Psychic weakness, easily capable of catching unaware Trainers off-guard. Less so later on, however, as Zoroark is later seen disguising as Type: Null and Lucario, both of whom share a Fighting weakness with it.
* ArtisticAge:[[spoiler:He's older than the protagonist, but is shorter than his younger sister Lillie. ''Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon'' and most spin off material such as the anime seem to scale him up to make his age more obvious.]]

* UnskilledButStrong: Gladion has some fairly strong Pokemon, but it's clear he lacks experience and training in battling. This is largely the reason he loses.

* AdaptedOut: [[spoiler:Her Mismagius from the originals was switched out for a Lopunny in ''Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon''. Due to her obsession with Nihilego and evil personality being inflicted with its neurotoxin no longer being present in these games, she never fuses with one and thus her Motherbeast form also does not appear]].

* CripplingOverspecialization: Surprisingly, most of her team falls under this in Sun and Moon. All of Lusamine's team save Mismagius lack coverage moves, and can be easily shut down by a Pokemon with the right resistances. Even Bewear, a juggernaut with the ability to sweep teams on her own, is helpless against Ghost types [[note]]It gains Pain Split in the second battle, but Pain Split only draws out the inevitable.[[/note]]. Though given how diverse her team is, one would need a separate Pokemon to deal with each one. Averted in Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, where her team has much better coverage (though Lilligant still lacks coverage).

* MsFanservice: Soliera is debatably the curviest Pokemon character to date with shapely legs and a rather large chest.

The villainous team of the Alola region. Their designs are based on punk culture, and unlike the crime syndicates and terrorist groups before them, they operate more like street gangs than anything else, having a strong sense of familial bonds throughout their ranks. [[NamesTheSame Not to be confused with the trio of Poison-type Pokémon]] from ''VideoGame/PokemonMysteryDungeonExplorers''.

* {{Expy}}: Lusamine draws some parallels to a few characters in other media.
** Lusamine's original portrayal in the first ''Sun and Moon'' games is basically a slightly tamer (and modestly dressed) version of ''[[Anime/KillLaKill Kill la Kill's]]'' own [[BigBad Ragyo Kiryuin]]. While the latter [[MisanthropeSupreme pretty much makes the former look like a]] '''[[ParentalIncest saint]]''' [[TheQuisling in comparison]], there are many clear parallels: both are [[EvilMatriarch Evil Matriarchs]] leading a powerful, influential organization who threw away one of their two children like trash while grooming the other for their own ends, only for them to turn against their mothers, and both also ended up being brainwashed and obssessed with parasitic, otherworldy [[EldritchAbomination Eldritch Abominations]] responsible for their current state at some point in the past, eventually ''wearing'' said abominations in the finale.
** Her character arc in the ''Ultra'' games is a bit different, but still retains another comparison to ''Kill la Kill'' in Satsuki, contrasting with how she was more like Ragyo form the first games. Like Satsuki, she has a heroic goal (stopping Necrozma, like how Satsuki seeks to stop Ragyo herself), but her methods of going about it make her more of an anti-hero. Both realize that their methods have pushed away the heroes and decide to change things for the better. For Satsuki, she realizes that her way of running the school [[NotSoDifferentRemark made her too much like her mother Ragyo]], while for Lusamine, she realized that she basically abandoned her own children in her pursuit of Necrozma.
** She also brings to mind Merlina from ''[[VideoGame/SonicandtheBlackKnight Sonic and the Black Knight]]''; both acted like allies to the protagonist at first before later being revealed to be the real villains of their respective games and intended to destroy the world through some means before turning themselves into a potentially more powerful form in their last-ditch attempts to destroy the heroes. Again, this only applies to her original counterpart.