The fifth generation of Pokémon contains new Pokémon, new adventures, and a whole new world. Have fun.For the Pokémon introduced in these games, refer to this page. Tropes applying to characters Post-Time Skip in Black 2 and White 2 are on that character sheet.
Theme Naming: Cheren comes from "black," contrasting with Bianca coming from "white." In the Japanese version, this is taken further, as Touya and Touko come from "transparent," establishing the player as the middle and leader of the main trio.
Three Amigos: No matter which gender you choose, the main group will have this set-up between the player, Bianca, and Cheren. However, Cheren's always a guy, Bianca's always a girl.
True Companions: The player and their friends definitely give off this vibe, and are sticking up for each other no matter what.
Two Guys and a Girl/Two Girls and a Guy: If you play as Hilbert/Hilda, respectively. This doesn't stop most fanfiction and fanart where Hilbert/Hilda is the protagonist from including Hilda/Hilbert as a member of the Nakama, though. The most common explanation is that they're Half-Identical Twins.
Disappeared Dad: As the protagonist. Interestingly enough, if you check out the television in his room before choosing your starter, it mentions his father bought it for him. He never appears in the game, though.
Expy: Out of all of the playable males, he looks the most like Red, especially when compared to Red's appearance (including his official artwork) in Generations III and IV. Considering the amount of throwbacks to the first and second gen, this was very much intentional.
Fan Nickname: Black, since that was the name they used for him in the trailers, and male player characters are always labeled with the "first" game's name. Plus, nobody had done multi-battles and thus seen his Canon Name yet. "Kuro" was also coined by screenshots on the official website and "Blair" by the demos that were played at the mall tour.
Meaningful Name: Hilbert means "magnificent in battle" or "battle bright." Touya comes from "fight" (which makes his English name fitting), "transparent" or "untainted" which establishes his role as the middle and leader of the group.
Nice Guy: His nearly-unanimous Fanon interpretation.
The Cameo: If you picked Hilbert, you only team up with her during double battles in Battle Subway. Otherwise she doesn't appear in the game.
Disappeared Dad: As the protagonist. Interestingly enough, if you check out the television in her room before choosing your starter, it mentions her father bought it for her. He never appears in the game, though.
Exposed to the Elements: During the winter months and whenever she pays the Cold Storage a visit. Especially noteworthy in the latter case, as the Workers there are all wearing protective clothing and Cheren and Zinzolin won't stop griping about how cold it is.
Fan Nickname: White for the same reasons as Hilbert above. "Shiro" was also coined by screenshots on the official website and "Whitlea" by the demos that were played at the mall tour.
Meaningful Name: Hilda means "Battle Maiden." Touko comes from "fight" (which makes her English name fitting), "transparent" or "untainted" which establishes her role as the middle and leader of the group.
For tropes pertaining to his appearance in the sequel, see here.
And Then What?: A key part of his development is Alder asking him just what he intends to do if he becomes Champion like he is so motivated to do and why he wants it so bad.
Informed Ability/Gameplay and Story Segregation: His battle prowess and superiority in battles to Bianca is put into question by his rather weak team makeup, which is objectively worse than hers. Bianca doesn't (1) have an Unfezant, which has awful special attack (while decent physical attack), use exclusively special attacks, or (2) run defensive sets on pure offensive Pokémon like said Unfezant and Liepard, while half their team pools from the same options (depending on your starter choice).
Early in the game, you and he have a double battle against two Team Plasma Patrats. If you have Tepig and he has Oshawott, he might use Water Sport, which in this situation does nothing except HARM YOU.
The Rival: He shares this trope with Bianca, but their Character Development in that regard is quite different. Cheren begins his journey as determined and, arguably, overconfident. He gets better once he starts realizing his limitations and that simply becoming the Champion for the sake of it is a pointless goal.
Break the Cutie: Right from the start, her father almost completely prevents her from going on her journey. She tries her best and still loses to the player, and then her Munna is stolen by Team Plasma (it's given back later), causing her to feel weak. Later, in Nimbasa, her father goes all the way there to attempt to drag the poor girl back home. Thank goodness for Elesa's interference.
Though it's possible for Bianca to win against the player, you still have to beat her to continue the plot.
Expy: Her design bears similarities to Barry, and she is shown to be energetic when she is happy like him. However, she is the exact opposite in terms of pacing—she is always late to gatherings between her, the main character, and Cheren.
Forehead of Doom: Not commented on, but her hairstyle greatly emphasizes it.
Overprotective Dad: She has one. At one point, he actually shows up to try to take her home!
Plucky Girl: Don't think anything's going to stop her from finding her own dream. Not losing in battles, not having her Pokemon stolen, not even her dad's interference. Hell, she doesn't even back down or flinch during their conversation in Nimbasa City!
The Rival: Despite sharing this trope with Cheren, their character development in that regard is very different. Bianca starts her journey without many expectations or hopes to become anything, and discovers her abilities as her journey progresses.
Shrinking Violet: Somewhat. While she's usually perfectly outgoing, she is also shown to be frightened pretty easily. It doesn't help that her father is constantly worrying over her journey, and his sheltering of her all her life probably caused her insecurities to start with.
Dummied Out: After this rumor was quashed, another rumor sprung up that there was data in the game files that had her as this. The data was actually Saturday rebattle data like Barry's in Pokemon Diamond And Pearl, and all of her data gives her the title "Pokémon Trainer".
Wide-Eyed Idealist: She's constantly looking on the bright side of things. Cheren is a little annoyed by this near the end, where she's still being bubbly despite the possible threat of N beating the Pokémon League ahead.
Side Characters
Professor Juniper (Dr. Araragi)
The Pokémon Professor of Unova. She studies the origins of Pokémon.
All There in the Manual: According to the official English guidebook, her first name is "Aurea." This is never seen in-game.
One Steve Limit: In the Japanese version, she and her father are both referred to as "Araragi." In the English version, her father is given a first name- Cedric.
Theme Naming: Once again, the professor is named after a tree.
However, it is noteworthy that she also breaks the pattern — somewhat. All of the previous professors are named after deciduous trees, but she's named after a coniferous one.
Fennel (Makomo)
A scientist and close friend to Prof. Juniper. She studies dreams using Munna's Dream Smoke. She has a fairly larger role in the Dream World.
Stop Helping Me!: She was rather unpopular once the Dream World website launched in North America given how many a user saw her very image saying nicely that they needed to wait a little more until they could enter the site.
Cedric Juniper (Dr. Araragi Sr.)
Prof. Juniper's father who wanders the Unova region for his own research.
Early-Bird Cameo: You don't actually see him, but if you check out one of the pictures in his daughter's lab, it mentions her standing with a smiling man hinted to be him.
Expy: Is somewhat similar to Professor Birch- both are bumbling father bearded professors with a child who is in their line of work or planning on going into it.
Fan Nickname: Is often referred to as "Papa Juniper" by the fans.
Mid-Season Upgrade: He's the one who upgrades the Pokedex (not to National-level, though; that's for after finishing the game) upon first meeting him in Mistralton City.
One Steve Limit: In the Japanese version, both he and his daughter are referred to as "Araragi." In the English localization, he has a first name of "Cedric" to avoid having two characters being referred to by the same name.
Only One Name: Played straight in the original Japanese, averted in international releases. For example, the English translation gives him the full name and title of Professor Cedric Juniper.
Parents as People: Well, his role sure isn't limited to the backstory!
Emmet (Kudari) and Ingo (Nobori) (Subway Bosses)
Emmet is the one on the left in white and Ingo is the one on the right in black. Not the other way round. Thanks, Official Nintendo Magazine UK.
Meaningful Name/Theme Naming: For the Japanese names, Nobori comes from "nobori-sen" (in-bound line) and Kudari comes from "kudari-sen" (out-bound line). In the English localization, Ingo comes from "in-going line" and Emmet comes from "emit" (again, out-bound). Both of these tie into their train motif.
Sibling Yin-Yang: Seems to be the intention — Ingo is frowning in his official art, whereas Emmet is smiling. Ingo dresses with a black theme, and Emmet wears lots of white.
Stepford Smiler: At least Emmet. Though there's something odd about them that makes them both feel like Stepford Brothers.
Engrish: So, so hard. Like the fellow Engrish speaker Final Team Rocket Grunt, there doesn't seem to be a reason for this, as they are no longer "supposed" to be non-native Japanese speakers given they are in New York/Jersey. Of course, it is possible that Looker is not from Unova either, considering he travels the world for his job and he never stated that he specifically was heading to his homeland, unlike the Rocket Grunt.
Leitmotif: His theme from Platinum shows up again.
Master of Disguise: Hey, since when does your mom have an identical twin? No, wait, it's just Looker. Who decided to dress as your mother for some reason or other.
NonSequitur: At the beginning of the post-game, your mother asks Looker what him giving you the Super Rod has to do with catching Team Plasma's agents. His response? "Absolutely nothing!"
Police Are Useless: He doesn't show up until the postgame... AFTER Team Plasma's plot has pretty much been destroyed, and the only business left is to arrest the loose sages.
Bonus Boss: Wielding her old team (sans Roserade and Togekiss/Gastrodon, replaced by Unova pokémon) as well as her battle and pre-battle music from her days as the final boss of Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum with some level improvements.
Poor Predictable Rock: Averted. Rather than screw over the players who picked Fire (or in Falkner's case, Grass), the Leader you battle here depends solely on your choice of starter and, as such, will always have the type advantage over you.
Shrinking Violet: Cilan. It's to be noted that he's the only one of the three that stutters before, during, and after battle and doesn't seem as confident in his battle skills as his brothers.
Spell My Name with an S: Cilan's Japanese name, Dent can be translated as Dento, too. Cress's Japanese name, Corn, can be read as Koon as well. Chili's Japanese name, Pod, can also be called Poddo. The usual translation problems.
Also, they're all named after corn (some more subtly than others).
Their English names all have to do with food.
The food theme also matches with their types. Cilan comes from the herb cilantro, Chili is named after the spicy pepper, and Cress comes from watercress, a vegetable.
What Happened to the Striaton Gym Leaders?: They are the only gym leaders not to show up during the Big Damn Heroes moment against the Plasma Sages at N's Castle because Bianca hadn't actually got to them by the time they were needed
Nacrene City Gym Leader—An Archeologist with Backbone
Adventure Archaeologist: If her English title wasn't enough to convince you, she got to one of the stones before Team Plasma even went on the hunt and hid it right in plain sight! Mock her now.
Chef of Iron: One interpretation of her, although it is never shown in the game.
Chess Master: Her battle style. Easier to see in the anime and manga, but still shows up in the game. Example? No matter which of her Pokemon you face, you're in to get hit hard with Retaliate after beating it, which is going to be a base 140 STAB because of it..
Wake Up Call Boss: Much harder to take down than the trio. Her Pokémon's levels are 18 and 20, which is a steep jump up from what you've been facing, and both hit like tanks. Using a Roggenrolla won't help you much either, since they both know Dark moves to get around its resistance to normal attacks. The Watchog even knows Hypnosis, to make things worse (you did give those Chesto berries that Cheren gave you to your Timburr, right?).
And the first thing Watchog uses is Retaliate. Which is immediately after you faint her Herrdier, therefore it's going to be a base 140 STAB attack. There's gonna be a really long time before you see a move with so much base power again.
Not just her Watchog, they both know it. So if you forced her to switch out the two somehow, you're still not safe.
Not So Stoic: When you beat her, despite being very calm up until that point, she is overwhelmed with excitement and immediately becomes embarrassed over it.
Justified, as she seems to be based on a Vocaloid.
Informed Ability: She, for no reason at all, says she's a model in her first appearance, but unlike the other Unova leaders' careers, this doesn't pop up in any way aside from her sprite being dangerously thin (the waiter triplets have a restaurant for a gym, the archeologist has a museum and reference library for a gym, the painter has a gallery in the city, and she has... a roller coaster) and the comments of a few random NPCs.
She does mention that she has a TV gig after she calls Clay to lower the bridge to Driftveil City, so she probably does model work for television.
And it does explain her outfit (all gym leaders in Unova have outfits tied into their day jobs)
Badass: He senses the presence of the Shadow Triad before they even appear, and fights Team Plasma alongside Cheren. All of this is done after your gym battle with him.
Mythology Gag: In Pokémon Special's third arc, the main villain was Pryce, the Johto Ice Gym Leader, using the alternate identity of the "Mask of Ice."
His English name is also very similar to Pryce's.
The Stoic: Word Of God says he's like this because he used to be a movie star, and went into depression after his career ended. He then went to an icy cave alone to train and become more knowledgeable, and feels he must keep his identity a secret.
Purely Aesthetic Gender: The only real difference between her and Drayden is that her Pokémon are female; they're the same species and have the same moves. Their Druddigon's abilities are different, too; hers has Sheer Force.
Purely Aesthetic Gender: The only real difference between he and Iris is that his Pokémon are male; they're the same species and have the same moves. Their Druddigon's abilities are different, too; his has Rough Skin, which could be a nasty surprise.
My Rules Are Not Your Rules: He has a level 50 Bisharp - Outside of hacking the game, there is no way for you to have a Bisharp at that level. Considering what Dark-types are knownfor, it actually does make sense in a way.
A member of Unova's Elite Four. Specializes in Psychic types.
Adaptation Dye Job: She was a darker blonde in in her last appearances, but her hair is noticeably brighter in Generation V.
Ascended Extra: Castle Valet Darach from Gen IV's Battle Frontier took great care to tend to Lady Caitlin. Caitlin, however, never said or did much... Until now, that is.
Psychic Powers: She has them herself in addition to them being her specialty type—if you look at her battle sprite, she has pink, glowing bits of energy floating around her. She didn't have complete control of them when she was younger, though.
Rapunzel Hair: Doubled in length from her last appearance.
And floats. She may hold it up with psychic power.
Royals Who Actually Do Something: Her relationship to Darach in Gen IV has her come off as quite royal (Battle Castle?)— Or very rich, at the least.
She Is All Grown Up: In more ways than one. Young Caitlin did not respond well to losing a battle and would erupt into highly destructive psychic tantrums. Darach battling in her stead was a measure to prevent this.
Marshal (Renbu)
A member of Unova's Elite Four. Specializes in Fighting types.
Not so Different: Alder mentions that Marshal used to be solely driven by strength like Cheren.
Walking the Earth: What he used to do in search of strong trainers before he was offered a place on the Unova Elite Four.
Alder (Adeku)
The Champion of the Unova League. Like Champions in previous generations, he shows up in the main game every so often to give advice to the protagonist.
Actually, I Am Him: in the previous games, the story keeps the identity of the Champion remains a secret until you actually fight him/her (save for when checking a guide), and that that champion is always there to give you aid at appropriate times. Alder is the first in line to actually introduce himself as Champion before the mandatory Elite Four Challenge. Of course, given what happens at the end of the game, this was probably intentional.
Bait-and-Switch Boss: Turns out you don't get the traditional battle against the Champion this time after all. Rather, when you enter his chamber, N will arrive with his legendary dragon, curbstomp the Pokémon League, and raise a huge castle up, making the actual final bosses the version mascot, N, and Ghetsis. You do get to fight him during rematches, though.
Big Creepy Crawlies: He specializes in Bug types with half of his team being bugs. The rest of his team are various types, which try to cover his weaknesses somewhat (such as an Ice type to beat Flying types).
Cool Old Guy: While his age is never made explicit, he is easily older than most of the previous champions appearance wise and uses Antiquated Linguistics in the Japanese language.
Dead Sidekick: It's mentioned several times throughout the game that Alder spends a lot of time wandering when he's not taking challengers due to the death of one of his Pokémon. In the post-game he mentions it was his starter, but the species is never revealed.
Meaningful Name: His English name refers to the Alder species of moths, as well as the Alder plant—a diet of many species of moths and butterflies. Both these reference his Volcarona. In addition, an "alderman" is a person who is recognized as the eldest and most influential member of a council. This is exactly the capacity he serves as Unova's champion.
True Final Boss: He may share Cynthia's levels, but you merely battle her in a villa while to get to Alder, you have to re-fight the entire League. Beating him brings minor plot and character arcs to a close and registers you in the Hall of Fame.
The Unfought: Subverted; you do fight him in the game, but not when you think you would.
Walking the Earth: He spends most of his time in the games doing this because of the aforementioned Dead Sidekick above.
Dark is Evil: They usually use Dark types (Purrloin, Scraggy, Sandile lines).
Light is Not Good: And there is the fact that Team Plasma is rather strongly based on Christianity, with their Templar-like uniforms, talk about "saving" Pokemon, and use of the Chi Rho, an ancient symbol used to represent Jesus, as a symbol. They're also a deranged hypocritical terrorist cult being manipulated by a fraudulent leader in his attempt to gain power.
Several can be witnessed considering this at N's Castle toward the end of the initial story mode due to how close they've grown to their Pokémon.
One can locate a man in Opelucid City who was a former Team Plasma member who performed one of these.
The Seven Sages (minus Ghetsis) all willingly turn themselves in to Looker for questioning when you catch them in the post game, having realized the error of their ways.
Hypocrites: One of the grunts explicity says that while it's bad for regular trainers to keep Pokémon, it's fine for Team Plasma to have them. This only applies to some of them though, other grunts keep using Pokemon because they've grown attached to them.
Informed Ability: The Seven Sages are said to be some of the smartest men in the world but never really show it. One decides it's a bright idea to put their evil lair across the street from Burgh's gym and is shocked when they're discovered in short order. To be fair, he did it because he thought it would be funny.
Jerkass: One of the first grunts you battle repeatedly kicks a Munna to get it to release some Dream Mist. This while still saying they want to help separate Pokémon from abusive trainers. There are also several jerkass grunts at the castle in the end, though they are counterbalanced by some more sympathetic ones.
Jerkass Has a Point: Capturing sentient, intelligent creatures in mobile prisons, forcing them to fight for your satisfaction and keeping them dependent on you for things like medicine and food? If they weren't such arseholes, they'd be pretty damn convincing.
Meaningful Name: They aim to separate Pokémon from people "controlling" them. Plasma is a state of matter where atoms separate from the electrons they "control" and become ions.
Minion with an F in Evil: Some grunts have grown to like their Pokémon given them by Ghetsis, and don't want to let them go. Lampshaded of course!
Space Christians: A cult where the grunts wear uniforms similar to the armor worn by medieval knights, has an emblem that resembles a Chi Rho, wants to "save" your Pokémon, and is revealed that the whole thing is a lie that will give their leader ultimate power.
Well-Intentioned Extremist: They all seem to have the same goal, they just do it in a REALLY wrong way. Most of the grunts have this personality, though there are a few that are just bloody hypocritical Jerkasses.
N Harmonia/Natural Harmonia Gropius
Abusive Parents: His father, Ghetsis, neglected him and forced him to be raised among Pokémon abused by humans. He did this in order to shape his opinion that Pokémon and humans need to separated, and so he would be distinct from humans. Then, when you defeat N in the battle using your legendaries, Ghetsis openly mocks his son as an inhuman monster incapable of real emotion (hypocritical, since this describes Ghetsis more than anything.)
Adorkable: If his weird mannerisms don't put a given player off, chances are he's coming off like this for them.
Ambiguous Disorder: He has a strange enough personality and a screwed up enough childhood that he can probably be diagnosed with something.
Badass: He's the only villain in the main series so far to successfully wield his legendary of choice. He then curbstomps the Pokémon League with it—Champion included—and challenges the player to a six-on-six match at the top of an enormous castle, where he leads off with his legendary. After all is said and done, he even gets a dramatic exit on his legendary- much cooler than the usual villain exit where the villain pouts and storms off.
Black and White Morality: He starts out with such belief regarding his goals, and says it as a Title Drop. Word Of God says the connection to the title was intended from the start. This of course, makes him (and the rest of the game) in-fact, Grey.
Black and White Insanity: Get it? Actually, he views humans (save for those with his beliefs) as bad and Pokémon as good, hence why he wants to separate them. He even lampshades it at one point by saying how when humans and Pokémon are separated, "black and white will be clearly distinct."
But Now I Must Go: At the end. He gives a big speech thanking the player and states that his life is in his hands now before flying off on whichever dragon he caught. He is not seen again in the game after that, although Looker implies that someone spotted him in a faraway place.
Chekhov's Gunman: He's introduced in the second town, but it isn't until later that you find out that he's the boss of Team Plasma.
False Friend: Sort of—he seems to still view you as a "friend" of sorts even after he reveals he is Team Plasma's king.
It seems that he wants to be friends, and thinks that he and the protagonist could be once humans and Pokémon are separated.
N: It's my turn to become that hero—and you and I will be friends!
N: [after Zekrom/Reshiram fails to appear] How disappointing. I actually kind of liked you a little.
Freudian Excuse: He was raised by abused Pokémon all his life with little interaction with other humans, therefore that's why he hates humans and wants them to separate from Pokémon. And considering all the other tropes here, this excuse actually holds water. A LOT of water.
Friend to All Living Things: Well, except for his fellow humans who aren't a part of Team Plasma and share his goal. Though this changes towards the end after being beaten.
Gilded Cage: He has a very nice room, but it and a garden of some kind were the extent of his contact with the world growing up.
Good With Numbers: He mentions that he likes mathematical formulas a couple of times, which is apparently the reason he carries around a Menger sponge.
Heel Realization: Suffers this when Ghetsis reveals the truth about Team Plasma.
Hero Antagonist: He is true to his word with helping out Pokémon, and he is arguably a main character besides yourself, as much of the story revolves around helping him with his conflicted morals and getting out of the grasp of his hideously Abusive Father. He's also set up as the "hero" for Reshiram/Zekrom, and heck, he even has the fashion sense of a main Pokémon hero.
Let's Fight Like Gentlemen: After you catch the cover legendary of your game, N decides to heal your Pokémon, stating that it is not a fair battle if he beats you when your Pokémon are hurt.
Light is Not Good/Dark is Evil: He is an angelic-looking teen dressed in white... who is the king of an Animal Wrongs Group and uses dark-type Pokémon. It goes to extremes in each version: in Black, he has Zekrom; in White, he has Reshiram.
Dark Is Not Evil: He's the leader of Team Plasma and his most iconic Pokémon is dark-type, but N is a good person at heart and truly does want what's best for Pokémon.
Meaningful Name: Similarly to his father Ghetsis, N Harmonia. Enharmonic.
Taking into consideration his constant rambling about formulas, it could also come from the common usage of "n" as a variable for an unknown value in equations... which is usually used with the intention of eventually being replaced with a different value.
Harmonia also happens to be a Greek goddess renowned in stories for receiving a fatal necklace (the Necklace of Harmonia) which only brought misfortune to its owner. Misfortune is N's life in a nutshell. This also serves to establish a Theme Naming dynamic for N with Concordia, who was Harmonia's Roman counterpart in myth.
Modest Royalty: Outside of the opening cutscene, he dresses rather casually, even long after his status as Team Plasma's king is no longer hidden. Subverted in that, according to Word Of God, he believes himself to be perfect.
Painting the Fourth Wall: The speed that his text displays at is noticeably faster then that of other characters, though, even if one has the message speed on Fast.
N is true to his word - whenever he fights you, it's with the Pokémon that are found in the location where you fight. He releases them when he leaves the area again. His Klinklang is either this Klang from before that evolved or a new one that he caught later.
He also heals your team after catching your legendary dragon and before fighting him. N says that a victory for him wouldn't count if it wasn't won fairly.
Also, while he hates most humans, he takes exception to his loyal Team Plasma subjects who share his views, even battling you at one point solely to allow some Plasma grunts a chance to escape. Contrast to Ghetsis, who is using the grunts as much as he's using N.
Ominous Music Box Tune: Word Of God said that his various musical themes, especially his overworld Leitmotif and a remix it gets in N's "room," were based around "a fragile music box."
Pure Is Not Good: One of the "goddesses" near the end of the game references that N has a pristine, good heart and is very innocent, which is what makes him so dangerous, especially in the wrong hands.
Raised By Pokémon: At least, he might as well have been, since it's explained he spent most of his childhood interacting more with Pokémon than with people, which is why he gets along with them better than with other humans and wants to separate Pokémon from humans so much. Not to mention that, according to Masuda, rumors exist that he was born of Pokémon, somehow. Not that the rumors have any idea who the parents are.
Right Makes Might: By the time he awakens the legendary dragon, N is willing to have a battle with the Player Character to decide whose philosophy is correct.
Sanity Slippage: Goes into nigh temporary insanity at the final battle, since he KNOWS deep in his heart that he's probably wrong in his philosophy, and is now hell-bent on denying this. It's definitely hard to blame him here, the possibility that everything one believes in is wrong and that their whole life is a total lie would shake anyone up. He gets better after being defeated, just as Ghetsis gets MUCH worse.
Small Name, Big Ego: A literal small name, and according to Word Of God, being brought up as a king and "chosen hero" has made N believe that he is perfect. His realization that he isn't is a factor to his brief period of aforementioned Sanity Slippage.
Speaks Fluent Animal: He can understand other people's Pokémon, due to having been raised with them all his life. This is a key point in his character development, as it's in talking to your Pokémon (and possibly the Pokémon of other people he met in his travels) that he begins to question whether humans and Pokémon really should be separated after all.
Talkative Loon: Comes off as this, especially early on when you know nothing about him.
Troperiffic: Just compare the length of his entry here to any other Pokémon game character's entry. Only Cyrus and Ghetsis come close.
Tyke Bomb: Ghetsis was very clever about doing this with him. N doesn't even realize it until the end of the main scenario.
Unwitting Pawn: To Ghetsis, who was just using him to make Pokémon illegal for everyone but himself.
Villainous BSOD: Hit with this hard after Ghetsis reveals how he has been using the poor guy. Despite normally rambling quite a bit, N falls silent for the majority of Ghetsis's reveal of his motives onward. He seems to have recovered a little at the very end when he talks to the player one-on-one, though.
Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: He's on the opposing side, but he still seems to be a good, understanding person regardless. And then you progressively discover that he isn't.
Classic Villain: Representing Pride/Ambition. Fits all of the criteria except a Karmic Death, but he still ends up being given a karmic punishment, via losing all of the support he had sans the Shadow Triad and having the plan he took years to make be completely destroyed.
Complete Monster: Invoked in-universe, when Cheren and Alder point out that he's the "freak without a human heart", not N. And given his portfolio, that's more than an accurate assessment of Ghetsis.
Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: What allows The Hero to be the Spanner in the Works for his plan was Ghetsis never believing that they might be pure of heart enough to awaken the other Legendary Pokemon. He also didn't take the Power of Friendship into account, whether it be between humans and Pokemon or between The Hero and N, both of which factored into his downfall. He even outright says that he thinks everyone considers Pokemon tools to use as they see fit, which he himself believed. Because of this, he allowed N to interact with other people, gaining friendships and seeing the friendships between trainers and their Pokemon, which got him questioning Team Plasma's beliefs in the first place, directly leading to Ghetsis' downfall.
Because of this trope, his plan may have been doomed from the beginning, as the Team Plasma Grunts encountered in N's Castle and the people encountered in the post game show that the bond between humans and Pokemon was far stronger than Ghetsis believed and just N's victory may not have been enough to break it. Gorm of the Seven Stages points this out when he is arrested in the post game.
Evil Chancellor: Certainly has this vibe. Team Plasma's king talks about how Ghetsis acts as his "adviser" of sorts and gathered many of the elements that make up Team Plasma, including the Shadow Triad. Of course, he has other motives and is really The Man Behind the Man.
Evil Laugh: He gives one near the end as he taunts N for failing him.
Also his rants about how trainers abuse Pokemon, when he himself only views them as tools. This was all part of his plan to take everyone's Pokemon except his own, though.
It's All About Me: Near the end, he even goes on a huge tangent over this. "I AM PERFECTION!"
Jerkass Has a Point: After hearing so many legendary Pokémon being referred to as "gods", it's actually kind of nice to hear someone, no matter how loathsome, say "A Pokémon, even if it's revered as a deity, is still just a Pokémon!"
Karma Houdini: Subverted in that he escapes prison, but the plan he's been working on for years has been thwarted, and he's left with nothing now. And if his Villainous Breakdown is any inclination, he may have lost his sanity as well. However, he seems to be plotting a comeback.
Kick the Dog: As if using and abusing his own son wasn't bad enough, what he says to N towards the end of the game is downright cruel and heartless.
Knight of Cerebus: Would you like a nice cup of horrific child abuse to go with your cute monster battling?
Meaningful Name: One possible romanization, "Goetis", of his name in the Japanese version ties in fairly well with his position as one of the Seven Sages (derived from the Greek word 'goeteia,' meaning 'sorcery') and his goal of reviving one of the legendary dragons ('Goetia' is the art of summoning angels or demons, and is the title of one of the most famous books on the subject - keep in mind that Reshiram has a somewhat angelic appearance and Zekrom is somewhat demonic).
Sanity Slippage: After N is defeated, Ghetsis grows more and more insane as the final showdown with him goes on. By the end, he's a ranting lunatic in disbelief that his "perfect plan" has been destroyed.
Smug Snake: In terms of planning, he's a brilliant Chess Master. But in terms of attitude, he's totally this, especially when his plans fall apart.
This Cannot Be!: After N is defeated, Ghetsis is left unable to grasp what just happened and that his plan is ruined. Him trying to beat the player may be considered denial over his perfect plan failing. After he himself is beaten, he really gets into this trope, ranting about how he can't have lost and is "perfect".
Villainous Breakdown: Reduced to inefficient, pathetic, megalomanic raving after being defeated.
He's already starting to break down even before his defeat- he's clearly gone mad after N loses to you and his challenging of you can even be taken as being in denial over his "perfect plan" failing. Even after he himself is defeated, he can't believe his plan has failed so completely.
Well-Intentioned Extremist: Or so he seems at first. He really just wanted to make Pokémon illegal for everyone but himself, so he could take over Unova.
Concordia and Anthea (The Goddesses of Harmony and Love)
Advertised Extra: Both appear in the intro despite not appearing until much later on. This misled some fans into thinking they'd have much bigger roles.
