• Common speculation, although the presence of GARY MOTHERFUCKING OAK suggests otherwise. Oak is one of two male adults in Pallet Town in the games (the other one is "Technology Is Incredible Guy") and the only major male adult in Pallet in the anime. This is enough evidence to make it one of the top 2 theories of the identity of Ash's father.
  • How does Gary's existance suggest that? Gary is hiss grandson, not his son, so it is not unplausible
  • The shippers have not failed to notice that Delia and Professor Oak spend a lot of time together. There's even a few moments where Oak-Gary-Ash-Delia could be seen as a family. (The best being a flashback in an AG episode where they are shown in a very similar manner to Norman-May-Max-Caroline.) The question is at what point they got together.

• The other main Ash's father theory.
• The Evil Overlord is always somebody's father; if The Hero has no father, somebody who's been around since the beginning always turns out to be his father. According to the American stage musical, Giovanni and Ash's mother once dated. Members of Giovanni's organization are obsessed with following Ash; why the interest? Early in the series, Giovanni constantly stayed in the shadows; it seemed like The Reveal was coming. But when he stepped out, he was just this guy. Perhaps he changed his appearance before his son came to challenge him for the Earth Badge. They eventually did use the Evil Overlord father plot, with Giovanni being revealed as the father of the Rival from Gold and Silver (they don't get along), which ties in with the "Ash's father really gets around" theory.
• It was done well in the Pokemon Adventures manga (the rival from Gold and Silver being his son); the kid eventually does (sort of) get along with him. Or at least acknowledges the relationship. The anime version would be silly and camp.
• Giovanni also has Jessie, James, and Meowth following Ash around (or at least he doesn't actively call them off) on a regular basis for years on end when they clearly are never going to succeed. Why? Because they also have a vested interest in keeping Ash alive and safe, and they routinely report back to the boss about his progress. Unbeknownst to them, Giovanni is using them to spy on Ash and possibly protect him in their own incompetent way. Since even they don't know their true purpose, there's no chance of them accidentally spilling the beans to Ash and giving up the whole game.
• Jossed. According to a scientist in the FRLG afterstory, Giovanni's kid has red hair.
  • Giovanni's son is Silver from G/S/C/HG/SS.
  • Still could be in play. The Anime isn't known to follow the plots of the games exactly (for example, in the Johto arc, Giovanni was clearly still in charge of Team Rocket). If the show did follow the games to the letter, then Ash would have met Giovanni by now and be training in Mt. Silver.
• Anyway, Giovanni and Ash have met, though Giovanni doesn't remember this thanks to Mewtwo's mindwipe. You'd think Giovanni would have revealed it then.
  • Ash was behind Onix at the time. It's debateable whether that even counts as meeting each other. (Though with Best Wishes now...)
    • As it stands, Ash and Giovanni have never actually *met*. Anytime they are supposed to meet, one thing or another makes it not happen - the major incident being when Ash went to the Gym to challenge for a badge, Giovanni had to suddenly leave beforehand.
• If Nintendo springs it late, wouldn't be with a more current evil person, like N?
  • N is an Anti-Hero, not evil. And too young to be his father. Also, does N know what sex is in the first place?
• Giovanni could have more than one kid. Also, it seems to fit Giovanni in the games as well. This troper always found him to be somewhat afably evil where the main character was concerned. Perhapse he was hoping that Ash would defeat him, and then take over the family business?
• In some media Giovanni IS Ash's confirmed father, granted the media was Pokemon the Musical, but is stated by no less than two characters, in song non the less.
  • Actually, according to the synopsis of Pokemon Live from T Rs Rockin':
  Delia tells Professor Oak about her less-than-perfect life in the past and her acquaintance with Giovanni. When she was a teenager, she used to hang out with a crowd of bad kids. One of her friends back then was starting up a gang that later became Team Rocket. She straightened her life out once she met Ash's father, and became the upstanding woman she is now.
• Not only is Giovanni Ash's father, but he wants his son to succeed him as boss of Team Rocket and Viridian City Gym Leader. See my WMG on the main anime section for more details.

• Surprisingly for a one-shot, this Silver (not to be confused with the Lugia, the Johto rival, or the rival's various manga incarnations) is a common candidate, simply because he mentions he's heard of Ash. For some reason, Max doesn't get the same theories applied to him.
  • In addition to this Silver is Giovanni's older brother who named his son after Silver.
  • Well, Max just watched the Silver Conference. (And he got Ash's name wrong in his debut episode anyway.) Ash's name clearly means something to Silver and the episode spends a lot of time using Ritchie to show how similar Silver is to Ash.
  • Not just any one-shot... the last one of the Chronicles era. Why would they let this one air if it didn't have any significance?

• there two explanations to this depending on the timeline
  • the first possibility: Ash was an early attempt to get the legendary. He realized he was part of an Evil Plan at a very young age. So he ran away and became adopted. N was a more heavily sheltered attempt at what ash was going to be. He was never even shown outside the castle because team plasma feared he too would sence that he is an Unwitting Pawn.
    • It could run further. Ghetsis realised that, while he may sucseed in ruling Unova, the existence of other legendaries would threaten more ambitious plans. When travelling to the Orange Islands, he discovered the story of a chosen one. Ash is an experiment, so that he can use The Chosen One as an Unwitting Pawn. Genetic experiments were probably added as well. The ultimate purpose was to create someone capable of befriending legendaries, so he can use them. Ghetsis may not even need to be the biological father-enough genetic experiments and other tech, and Ash will be his tool. Many other "heroes" have been fashioned like this. It could explain the whole "What happened to A-M" thing. Ash is Ghetsis' Unwitting Pawn and Manchurian Agent.
  • the second possibility: after N rides away on his legendary dragon, Getsis realizes that N will never return to team plasma's side. He tries to carry out his pan again to obtain kyurem, or some other legendary, and he does so by giving birth to ash. Still, is caught again and sent to jail. Ash is adopted in the kanto reigon and forgot about team plasma over time. The anime takes place a few years afterwards.
  • Perhaps this is the reason that Delia never mentioned much about Ash's father: how would you like the fact that your son came from the loins of a freak without a human heart?!

• He always is better than Ash, and Ash wanted to prove to Gary he can be better.

• Ash knows 'Aura', likes Aaron's Lucario and is the Chosen one.
  • Ash's mother and Ash look (almost) nothing alike with black hair, brown hair combo.
• Ash aims to be Pokemon Master to presumably find his father.
  • Bill, Pokemon researcher in the game, transforms into a Pokemon so it's possible.
• Ash is immune to Pikachu's attacks and is temporarily transformed into a Pikachu, so the same could apply to his father.
  • So in conclusion, Ash's father might be a psychic at Sabrina's gym who accidentally fell into Team Rocket's merger and became a Pikachu or Lucario?

Pretty convincing woman, isn't she? The reason she appears younger then him is because she and some other person used a wishing stone.

• Or, alternatively, she's just a crossdresser. Her Les Yay with Zoey is him coming onto the the loli.

It explains Ash's prophetic role in the second movie - three orbs will only light up when he holds them. Lugia could have magically caused a virgin birth (or caused an unfertilized egg to hatch); more likely, he took a human disguise and romanced a young Delia. Mr. Ketchum is only mentioned briefly by Ash's mom, with no real detail. (Specifically, Delia told Ash how long it took his father to get from Pallet Town to Viridian City). This could've been something she made up to comfort him or one of the few vague comments Lugia mentioned in the short time she got to know him. Alternatively, she could be under the impression that another man is his father (which gels nicely with the Giovanni and Prof. Oak theories). The same theory could apply to any of the other legendaries; but Lugia has the most relevance to Ash's supernatural qualities, and is seemingly the most intelligent.

• Notably, the fifth Pokemon Movie just happens to feature a female Legendary Pokemon (Latias) who can take a human form... and she just happens to get a crush on Ash. She even gives him his (presumably) First Kiss.
• Also, when Ash's father is mentioned, it is immediately before Ash notices the plaque of legendary Pokemon on the wall, specifically in the second episode. "Pokemon Emergency".
• Alternatively, Lugia could have done this in the past and created human descendants, from one of whom Ash is descended. That would explain why there are a bunch of Ash look-alikes running around- they are also Lugia's desendants. We can still have the Giovanni-is-Ash's-father theory in play. Or the Professor Oak-is-Ash's-father theory, if you're into that sorta thing.

He was brought from the past by Celebi and left on Delia's doorstep. It's the reason why their Aura is so similar. Delia just lied about his father because she had no idea either.

• Alternatively, Ash is Aaron reborn.
• Or, Aaron slept with someone (Queen Rin maybe? They seemed close...) shortly before going to the Tree of Beginning; the resulting offspring is Ash's distant ancestor. If his partner WAS Queen Rin, she probably gave birth to twins; one twin became the kingdom's heir, and the other twin was Ash's ancestor, making Ash and Queen Ilene distant relatives. And, Aaron probably did this on purpose, the rascal. After all, he left his gloves behind before he died; he probably thought they'd be needed in the future, and there'd have to be somebody to wear them, right?
• Pikachu is a distant relative of Lucario because of their similar relationships to their trainers. In a world with Hot Skitty-on-Wailord Action, this is quite logical.
  • Well, both are in the ground egg group, this last part is extremely possible

Ash just got into bleaching his hair when he lived with Birch in the 3rd Gen game continuity instead of staying with Delia like the anime/Yellow continuity.

It's only assumed he's around the same age as Ash. Really, he's a shameless womanizer, so it's not like it's crazy. He's all too eager to go on an adventure with Ash, too.

• Jossed. Word Of God says he's 15.
  • Considering that Ash has been 10 for a few years, I wouldn't be surprized if Brock has been 15 for a while, too.
• Of course, if Ash could be his own father, presumably Brock could have used similar methods to romance a young Delia....
• Also, the dad-runs-a-gym bit is used in Ruby and Sapphire. For the first six or so seasons, Brock acts more like Ash's "cool dad" than his friend. (After that point ...)
• Alternately: Brock is Ash's half-brother. Brock's mom also really did die, but he'd identified with his (second) stepmother enough later in the series to accept her as his actual (but not birth) mother. Delia and Brock's father may or may not have been married.

Because somebody has to be.

It shapeshifts, it's protective of him, and, again, somebody has to be. (Also solves for "Mew is Ho-Oh and Ash's Guardian" and why Ash went all incandescent - with a lot of pink, like Mew's energy field - from the Pokemon tears in the 1st movie, and now seems to be immortal.)

It's not that Farfetch'd, considering Mew can shapeshift, and Lugia is supposedly Ash's father but has not been shown to change shape. Has anyone ever actually seen Mew and Delia in the same screen? Plus, the Mr. Mime is there to suppress her psychic powers while in human form, not just as a housekeeper.

Lugia somehow fathered Sir Aaron, some of his desendants left his homeland at some point, Ash and his father are direct desendants of these people, and Richie and all the people who look like Ash are offshoots of the line. The reason they all still look alike is because of the power of Lugia in their bloodline or something. If Giovanni is Ash's father and a desendant of Lugia, he may be Trying To Take Over The World because he sensed that he was more powerful than ordinary humans somehow. So Lugia -> Sir Aaron -/-> Giovanni -> Ash.

• Slightly Jossed; Giovanni's kid has red hair. I know this because I played the FRLG games.
• "Giovanni's kid has red hair" only means that Ash has a brother — possibly Ritchie.
• Just because they said that in the games does not mean it applies to the anime. The anime, the manga, and the games are all separate continuities.

OK, he has recently appeared in the anime, just HAPPENS to look exactly like Aaron (who, himself, looks like a grown up-version of Ash and has the same aura as him); he trains a Lucario (like Aaron) and, oh look! He's an AURA GUARDIAN! And probably the last one too! Hmm... Wait....Who's the other human character, who's been seen using Aura-powers three times? Oh, right, THAT'S ASH!

Either Delia is based on Oak's long-dead wife's image, so it got more and more difficult to not think of her as an attractive female human as time went on. That, or he has to stay close to keep her from overworking herself living in human form 24/7.

• ...I think I'm going to go cry in a corner now.

Prove me wrong, bitch.

• It does seem like teaching one to catch Pokemon would be something of a paternal duty, hardly something one would learn from a random guy off the street.
• Clearly he isn't Ash's father. Ash's last name is Ketchum, whereas Old Man Weedle's last name is Weedle.
  • Does he have to have the same last name to be his father?
• KETCHUM!?
  • Does he even exist in the anime's continuity?
• Alternatively, Old Man Weedle is Ash's grandpa.

Delia would rather not let Ash know that she's into that sort of thing, so she made up Ash's "real" father to throw Ash off. How, exactly, being half-Pokémon affected Ash is something that I'm not even going to bother speculating.

• This does explain how Ash is still alive. It's the barrier move that he inherited from his father being used instinctively.
  • It also explains why Ash hasn't grown older in ten years: evolution. One day, Ash will suddenly become a teenager like if he was a Sim.
  • Or just being half-Pokémon in general gives him better strength/endurance. This troper likes this theory anyway (as well as the "evolving into a teenager" joke) mainly because it's just funny and explains why we never get anything about Ash's dad besides that one reference at the beginning of the series.

Togepi told her, because it's some sort of time-and-space traveler as implied in the Togetic episode. That's the real reason she left at the end of the Johto saga.

• So... Misty would technically be Ash's grandma then? That's a pretty good reason for leaving.

C'mon, Ash's The Chosen One in so many prophecies... Also, he already revived dead Pokemon. What Do You Mean, It's Not Symbolic??

• That's right. Ash is Jesus.
  • That also explain why he had met so much legendaries.
    • If that wasn't enough, Ash "Died" and was "Reborn" in the first pokemon movie by water (tears, but whatever). How much more Christian symbolism do you need here?

She was originally a guy who's name was Dell Ketchum. A long time ago, Dell made a Missingno pregnant and that's how Ash was born. Since Missingno is super glitchy, it accidentally turned Dell into a woman after Ash was born. After that, Dell decided to go by the alias of Delia Ketchum.

• But if we go by the original name, Hanako, things get pretty complicated...
  • Hanahiko.

And he's sick of everyone saying Giovanni is.

• Cyrus slept with Delia?! That's absurd. Of course, that wouldn't stop him from being a sperm donor(he would've been only 17 at the time, and probably still coming to grips with puberty.)

This is why Ash becomes a Pikachu when transformed into a Pokémon. Also, Viridian City, where Delia said Ash's father went, is where Red catches Pika.

Latios and Latias can disguise themselves as humans in the anime. It's a lot more plausible than Lugia being Ash's father, anyway. Of course, that mean's it's quite possible Ash fell in love with his aunt.

Ho-oh has resurrected Pokemon in the past. Ash has died and come back to life. Obviously, Ho-oh is watching over his son and bailing him out every once in a while. Ash seeing it in the first episode was no coincidence: Ho-oh wanted to be there to see his son start his Pokemon journey.

• Also, Ho-oh is a Phoenix. Ash is... Ash. As in, the first stage of a Phoenix's life.
• Also also: I believe Ho-oh appears once each series - Ho-oh is watching over his son.
• This is why Ash is the chosen one and such, as he is part legendary
• And the Ash is eternally 10, Ho-oh and others must be immortal or live for a real long time. Thus Ash would age at a much slower rate than everyone else.

In the games, Lance has battled using Pokemon which cannot exist. In the anime, Ash has used attacks that don't work as shown, and in the games, Ash has captured Olympus Mons. Like father, like son?

• ASH IS NOT IN THE FREAKING GAMES! Except for Puzzle League. By the way, no game protagonists have canonically captured a legendary (Stadium series excluded.)
  • Get 152 Pokemon in GSC and call Prof. Oak. I'll wait.

Well, nobody ever questions Gary's parents, do they? At least Ash has a mother, Gary only has his grandfather, even though it hasn't been mentioned if ol' Sammy Oak even HAS children. Just toss a Celebi into the mix, and we have an older Ash going back to before he was born, impregnating Gary's mother, and leaving soon after. Gary is born at roughly the same time as Ash, but unfortunately, his mother dies soon after. Delia finds the young Gary, but with no room to look after him in her own house, takes him to the professor, who raises him as his grandson.

No stranger than anything else here...

• The name is Butch!

Identical Grandson covers almost everything. Gary's father is the Professor Oak that Ash knows, Brock from the game is Flint's elder brother, Misty from the game was an only child and later mother of four. Other characters simply don't age much, because they already looked old and possess great longevity, because they're not human or get replaced by duplicates (the Joys and Jennies, plus the Team Rocket whiteshirts), or have some metaphysical problem that de-ages them like Sabrina appears to have.

• Or, Celebi sent Red back 10 years so he could get Delia pregnant, then he took him back to his own time. Someday Ash will finally climb to the top of Mount Silver and meet him.
  • Time travel isn't necessary. Red is probably much older in the anime universe.

Why not?

• Wobbuffet. What, you didn't get the pun?

I can't believe we missed that one.

Could easily be Lucas though, considering the craziness of these theories.

• Or Red, Ethan, Lunick…

who was made by mixing Lugia, Ho-oh, Mew and Arceus together, and then transformed into a girl to be impregnated by Proffesors Oak and Birch, as well as Aaron, Giovanni, Riley, Rick Astley, Hitler, Cyrus, Winston Churchhill, Pikachu and Lance, and then gave birth to himself, went back in time to become every human every born, then gave birth to Latias, who he later impregnated with himself, and the fetus was an adoption agency through which Ash was adopted, as well as Brock and Misty, and grew up to be a red Nurse Joy. And by the way, he is also the pokemon universe's equivalent of atoms.

• Out of all the explanations on this page, this one somehow makes the most sense, even if it is a bit convoluted.
  • No, no, no! It didn't make sense in the least.

Makes as much sense as the stuff above:

• Ash is sent back in time, and wanders around. He finds an attractive woman and settles down with her after a while. Later, he gets in a car accident with a Celebi who, now pissed, sends him back in time again. The process turns him into a woman and wipes his memory. Confused and dazed, an attractive man takes care of her, and helps her gain a normal life. She and this man fall in love, and she soon becomes pregnant. After giving birth, the memories come flooding back, and she realized that she boinked Hermself. Then she checks her name and finds out that she took the name Delia, which means that she gave birth to herself. She keeps quiet about it to keep the timeloop stable. When she is a little old lady, she bumps into Celebi again, who is holding a grudge. She then gets sent back and turned into a Pikachu. She is confused for a bit (and hilariously shocks her past self), but eventually adjust and accepts her fate as her/his/its own Pikachu.

• In a recent episode of the anime, we see Volkner as a child, when he and Flint drove off a poacher. Ash is battling Flint, Volkner is sitting there with his Raichu, bored out of his mind with Pokémon battling, and there's also a local cafe owner. When Flint's Infernape completely dominates two of Ash's Pokémon, Ash sends out his Pikachu. What follows shows off Ash's and Pikachu's Determinator aspects, with flashbacks to Volkner and his Pikachu (now that Raichu) battling that poacher (who is now that cafe owner). Volkner's actions and moves were the same as Ash's. At some point, either Volkner must have vacationed to Kanto or Delia to Sinnoh, where they had a wild one night stand and Delia got pregnant.

• 'Nuff said.
  • Nice theory you got there. Well, Pallet Town can only have so many people. Most of the other guesses involve people outside Kanto. She's been with more people while drunk than any Troper will be sober.
    • I like this theory. It makes sense. She remembers that the guy told her how long it took him to get to Viridian City, but nothing else about him, thus why she never tells Ash about him.

By this time, he's been fighting Pokémon Battles for decades, and capturing Darkrai and Latios is a clear symbol of his prowess, not to mention he won a battle where type was against him.

• You claim frikkin Tobias is Ash's father? That's an insult.
  • I beg to differ. I like this theory. I hope it's true.
    • Until they give him more of a character, I hope it's false.

Remember in Movie 3 where you had a picture of Ash as a kid, and alas, no father? Excluding Professor Oak, Spencer Hale might as well be Ash's father. Some time after Ash's birth, Spencer and Delia broke up. What she said about Ash's father's Pokemon training days means Spencer was a trainer back in the day.

• Ummm... Then what about Spencer Hale's wife?
  • She's his second wife. At some point, Spencer divorced Delia and fell in love with his current wife. Or there was an affair. If it's the latter, it would explain why we haven't found out who Mr Ketchum is.
  • Or alternatively, they had a romantic fling before Spencer met his wife (Ash is four or five years older than Molly, after all), and then after Spencer left Pallet Town, Delia found out she was pregnant, had Ash, and never told Spencer about it. After Spencer met his wife, Delia might not have wanted to get between them and kept the identity of Ash's father a secret. Further evidence of Spencer as Ash's father is the photograph of teenage Delia with Spencer and Professor Oak (the one that was hanging on the refrigerator behind the photo of Ash and Delia with the whole Hale family).

He did say he was a wandering bard, which means his hometown could be potentially anywhere. It also explains where the black hair came from.

And yes, I know Nando is way too young to be Ash's father (he looks about 21). Let's just assume a Celebi pulled him back in time for a one-night stand with Delia, the same way the event Celebi did for the player character to fight Giovanni in HeartGold and SoulSilver.

• Or he's younger than he looks.

After all, Max has met Celebi before, knows a Ralts (whose final evolution without a stone can open worm holes) and has black hair. Plus, someone has to be, and this is more realistic than, say, Pikachu or Lugia.

• There's one problem here: Max didn't know Ash's name when they first met. Given you mentioned Ralts, that means you don't mean the brown-haired doppelganger either.
  • Oh I think he meant that. Makes as much sense as the others here.
  • Future Max.
    • You mean Conway?
    • Shut up about that.

When Sabrina lost her temper with her parents once and for all and turned hermother into a doll her father fled as far away as he could manage, Pallet Town. Believing his wife to be dead, nobody else seems to have doll making powers, he was found grieiving by Delia. She comforted him and the two eventually fell in love and had Ash. Ash inherited psychic power from his father but after the problems wit Sabrina his parents decided to not let him develop them, used only instictively to bond with Pokemon. Before the start of the series Ash's father learned that his first wife was still alive and left to try and help, Delia was naturally understanding and wishing him luck. When Ash gets to Lavender Town hisfather attempts to warn him off but also uses his powers to prevent Ash from recognizing him, which leads to the whole photographer misunderstanding.

This also goes a way to explain Sabrina's behavior. One wonders how she could act like that and not be punished by the law or maintain Gym Leader status, or have several students learning from her. The answer is simple; Sabrina is usually much more calm, though still cold and distant, maintaining her dual personalities. But then Ash shows up and she senses his latent psychic powers and puts two and two together and goes into a cold fury and pulls all the crazy stunts she does. Notice how, though she does grab and transform them, Sabrina never harms Misty and Brock at all while he's got them? Or how her student is little mouthy before her and Ash's match? Possible signs that she's more lenient to everyone that's not her family.

• So that would mean Sabrina is Ash's older half-sister, Ash is an Empath, they at least look similar, Ash knew how to make his sister break her terrifying demeanor... That makes some iota of sense. This Troper agrees with this theory. Even the genetic problem is solved because both Sabrina and her father have black hair like Ash does.

Probably one from one of the cities Ash hasn't been to yet..
Ash has a huge love of battling, so who could he learn that from?.
Why, someone who runs a club dedicated to the sport, of course! In other words, Don George!.
Let's say Delia was a huge battling fan back in the day. It's possible that she went to a different kind of club in Unova with one of the Don Georges, and one thing led to another....
And we got Ash!

And then Don George left! At some point. For whatever reason..
Yes, this does mean that Ash has 15+ uncles..
Shortly after Dawn was born, thier parents split up, each taking one child, and the father had a sex change.

And mother. It's complicated.

Like father like son, they share a similar outlook on life and Pokemon and Alder's starter was just as dear to him as Pikachu would be to his son. The incident when Alder lost his starter was in fact a Heroic Sacrifice on it's part, saving his boy from danger, but the grief and fear of what else could happen to Ash drove him to run away from home.

Here are the facts:

• Bulbasaur can be a giant tentacle monster.
• Thus Bulbasaur has been a giant tentacle monster.
• It's hard to enslave Chthulu.
• Chthulu is a giant tentacle monster
• Yet Ash caught Bulbasaur.
• Thus, Ash is a Memetic Badass
• His father more be even more badass.
• Chuck Norris, Mr. T and Batman are classified as pokemon, because humans don't fight outside of Kanto.
• Power Glows.
• Falkner has purple hair.
• Falkner is a gym leader.
• Falkner can fly by sheer will.
• Badass people do things like that.
• Kaiser has been (apparently) removed from continuity.
• Falkner is male.
• Fathers are male.
• Fathers lose on purpose to increase their kids self esteem.
• Falkner lost to Ash.
• Falkner is more badass than Ash.
• Ash's father must be more badass than Ash.
• Falkner is the only one suitable for being Ash's father.
  • QED

• N is just young looking.
• He's an Adult Child, and I don't think he'd know what sex is. Of course, he may have impregnated Delia simply by appearing in front of her.

It makes just as much sense as most WMG in this page.

It seems to be the most logical guess. Ash's father did live in Pallet Town with Delia, but left to become a trainer when Ash was still young/Delia was pregnant. We haven't seen him yet because he's still off on his own journey somewhere, doing his own thing.

• If that's the case, he may be a Red expy. Or Red himself

He had a brief romance with Delia, and got her pregnant. Then Delia discovered that James was a member of Team Rocket and left him, forbidding him to get close to Ash because she feared he would have been a bad example for him. Thus, Team Rockets' attempts at stealing Ash's Pikachu are actually the only way James can see his son, and that explains why they try to do that every other episode. Poor James is just trying to bond with his unaware son as much as he can.

And he's always been close by, watching over his son and telling us his story.

That's why he's never around.

Dark Willow, sometime after turning evil (as seen in S8 when Buffy travels to the future) but before the events of the time traveling, decides to try to find a more enjoyable universe, one where her friends aren't already dead. At one point she actually settles down in the Pokemon universe, it being the happiest one she could find, and actually goes normal again. She and Delia get together and using magic she creates a fetus with both their DNA. However, a Pokemon randomly kills Delia, and she freaks out. Either Dialga (as master of Time) or Arceus (as God) is a bit more understanding than Osiris was for Tara or she kicks one of their asses and captures them, forcing them to do it. However, Delia is horrified at what Willow has (re)become and due to this, she leaves, returning back to the Buffyverse.

Caboose was somehow sent into another dimension (or, as he tells it, "TUCKER DID IT!") and happened upon a really drunk or really high or perhaps both Delia. They had sex, resulting in a stupid, but thankfully not as stupid as Caboose, child, due to her. Church accidentally pissed off Tex (again) so she decided to get him back just to fuck with him. The teleportation also slaughtered Caboose's entire team in between The Blood Gulch Chronicles and the next season, causing the creation of the Ctrl + F + U command on Command's computers for his teamkilling.

Jack, in his pre-Doctor Who time traveling or his space traveling between Children of Earth and Miracle Day, happened upon the world of Pokemon. Jack came to nail a bunch of the mons, as they were a bunch of species he had never nailed before. One of them poisoned him or used Confusion on him, causing him to accidentally do Delia. Because of this, Ash was born and has some 51st Century Pheromones (which cause sexual attraction), which is why he always has a hot chick following him. However, Gary's parents got his DNA and cloned him, meaning that Gary has a full set of 51st Century Pheromones, which is why he has hordes of hot chicks following him.

This is a common joke answer but there's actually some potential. While Ash channels his love of fighting into Pokémon battles, he does have a lot of Saiyan aspects. The biggest clue that his father isn't human is his natural affinity for aura/ki, which we are told is not normal. He also survives far more serious injuries on a regular basis than any other characters besides Team Rocket, who can because they count as gag characters under Toriyama logic.

• Also, if you look closely, Ash◊'s hairstyle is a smaller version of Goku◊'s.

While he was rubbing his Sudowoodo to a sexy picture of Delia, his man-seed hit it and moments later, Ash was born!

• Satoshi created the Pokemon series. The Pokemon series created Red, who served as the basis for Ash. Ash is Satoshi's metafictional great-grandson.

Which would make him half Time Lord.

• It's simple, really. France was out for a stroll one day, and met Delia. To make the long story short, Delia got pregnant while France ran off to go and be... France.

• Ash and Kris(tofferson), are real Pokémon names.
  • well, in the movie, Mr. Fox does have a son named Ash.

And that explains many things about him, like why he doesn't grow old.

The truth is, Ash's father appears in the show. However, he is a Silence and thus you'll forget if you take your eyes off him. The episodes refer to Ash's father a lot, and you just forget what is said about the Silence. And its a sub-species of the Silence, who's memory power mainly affect the audience. Similarly, Gary's mother is a Weeping Angel.

That explains why he is apparently awesome enough to meet the almost every single legendary Pokemon ever. Only the son of a pony can be that cool.

• Get your ponies OFF my Pokémans.

Aang was hanging around in the spirit world and found a way into the poke world. the reason he never visits is that Katara would kill him if she knew he'd messed around with Delia.

Izzy was right about there being more than three worlds, and one was the pokeworld. Heartbroken over Sora's choosing Matt, Tai runs away and finds himself trapped in the pokeworld, rather than the Digiworld. But soon after he fathered Ash, Gennai and Kari( possesed by the spirit of the digiworld) at last tracked him down as he went on a trip to Vermillion, and brought him back to the Digiworld, as it needed saving(again). The time passing difference meant that once the digital world was saved again, everyone he had known in the pokeworld was long dead, so Tai returned home and tried to drown his sorrows by cutting off the hair Delia so loved. Think about it. Both have the same brown eyes, unruly ( spiky!) hair( although Ash's is a it more under control) and both are leader type people, but prone to being hardheaded and stupid, often racing headfirst into danger. Both are " Chosen Ones", and saved the world around the age of ten/ eleven( Ash has a birthday party just after saving the world in the second movie), and have a sort of Hero Complex. Both care very deeply for their friends, to the point of putting themselves in harm's way to save them. Both have survived massive energy attacks that by all rights ought to have killed them. Both get very, very ticked at anyone mistreating a 'Mon, hand have tempers! Both have a thing for red-heads, and a terrible sense of direction. It makes tons of sense!

He traveled throught time and space. At least sometime he ended up with Delia - and she thought Porky would go on a journey - but guess what? He just used that as a blanant lie to go back to the Nowhere Islands.

...He was a looker in his youth if Gigamix is anything to go by. Delia met hot young Wily, they got it on. Wily heads off to robotics college. Delia never heard from sexy young Albert Wily ever again.

Considering Missingno invaded his universe, something weird like this could've happened.

is Ash's Father]] Considering that we don't know about Maka's mom's history, it's possible they are siblings living in their respective homes. Or Ash and Maka are half siblings, since Spirit gets around so much.

That is why he is never seen or mentioned. It's a simpler explanation than a lot of other theories.

• No it doesn't, because we don't know who he was before death.

I mean, considering his father was only brought up in the second episode a decade back and never mentioned again, it's quite possible that either the anime writers forgot/don't consider it importent enough to ever bring up in the anime again.

Ash's friend Ritchie looks (and acts) a lot like him. In addition, Ash has been mistaken for the son of two different women he has never met before (and ended up in Marshmallow Hell in the process, though those scenes were cut from the dub.)

• This could be counted as more proof towards the Lugia theory, as the anime's Lugia-centric arc features a reunion between Ash and Ritchie. Considering the importance of the movie's Lugia and the rigamarole required to get him into the action, it seems awfully strange for not one but two of them to suddenly appear when Ritchie comes around.
  • Or the Lugia-is-their-common-ancestor theory.
  • Yes, but the anime version portrays the adult Lugia as less intelligent than the Lugia of the movie (if you take the Lugia-as-common-ancestor theory, that one would be the more likely candidate, with the whole Chosen One thing). Silver (the Lugia, not the guy from the Most Common Guesses folder) gets a pass (only a child, natch), but will probably grow up similarly. Then again, powerful psychic types shouldn't act like bloody idiots, so maybe we can all pretend that the adult Lugia never acted that idiotically.
    • Or they could be mundane Pokemon who are simply identical in appearance, and most power, to Lugia. Created either as a failsafe, should the "real" Lugia fall, or to be representatives to humans. Kind of like the Dour and Fairies in Atelier Iris. Identical physically, but the former are near divine entities, and the latter a regular, albeit fairly magical, race.
    • Or they could also be descendants of the movie Lugia. Perhaps when movie Lugia mates with a human, the offspring is a human (so that the human doesn't go through certain complications while giving birth), and when he mates with a Pokemon, the offspring is a less intelligent Lugia (possibly for the same reasons, considering that Pokemon do not give live birth).

From what we've heard about Ash's father, he sounds like he was exactly like Ash. So when he's older, he uses some time travel, and gets into a relationship with a girl in the past. Oedipal.

• For extra help, he's made friends with Time Lord Dialga, Space Lord Palkia, Antimatter Lord Giratina, Arceus himself, and at least two Celebi. He has the means for it.
  • Your logic ensures a Time Paradox. He could be naming his child Ash, who then names his child Ash, and so on, the same applying to other recurring characters. The generation gap could be larger than we think. And yet technology wouldn't have advanced either, but who cares?

Similar reasons and methods to Ash being his own father, but the extra generation between allows Delia to contribute genetically and lowers the squick factor slightly. And if Ash is his own paternal grandfather, that would explain why he is both the Chosen One and relatively stupid.

Due to time travel abuse, every single person ever to exist in the Pokemon universe is Ash Ketchum. This is a result of a Missingno, a bunch of gender bending and immortality. Hence why Pokemon history is detailed, yet no-one knows where people came from.

And therefore will continue saving it at the age of ten for all time.

• And once he's done saving the world, he will lose everything in the journey, even his own freedom as he is re-absorbed by the earth itself because his purpose has been served and he is now useless, cuing one of the most depressing endings to an anime ever. And then he'll be revived in the 856th movie to combat the forces of Chaos. Because Ash is really Jesus, who is really the Emperor.

Face it, it makes as much sense as anything else here.

• No, you aren't. Darth Vader is. And Ash would be Luke Skywalker. It would make sense, taking in consideration Anakin's IQ...
• Wait, that means you banged Delia. You lucky son of a bitch!
  • Even Pikachu wants Delia. Source: The third movie, where' he is shown RUBBING HER BREASTS.
• No, I am Ash's father!
  • I'm Ash's father, and so's my wife!
  • No, I'm Ash's father!

Yes, it's me, Delia Ketchum. And I'm here to answer this once and for all:

• I know I'm a Hot Mom. And that you show a lot of Perverse Sexual Lust. I don't know whether to feel creeped out or proud.
• I am a troper. I like to post crazy theories, especially surrounding the identity of my boy's daddy.
• Guess what-I'm never going to reveal his identity. It's more fun to screw around with your minds, anyway. In fact, it gets me hot. Psyche! Like I'd tell you that!
• Tell Ash he needs new underwear.

He's just like Anakin, but without all the dark side struggling. Yet.

• Then how come his mother specifically mentions his father?
  • Simple. So nobody suspects anything.
• Alternatively, his mother is his father. And it won't be retconned.
  • Or he must have humiliated someone who shares his father. Now who has Ash beaten in a Curb-Stomp Battle? We've got potential candidates for half-brother on the father's side.
• Ash doesn't need a father-Delia have a child all by herself.

He is actually a Pikachu trapped in a human's body. He had Laser-Guided Amnesia and cannot remember anything (kind of like reverse Mystery Dungeon). Last time he turned into a Pokemon, he became a Pikachu (it all makes sense now). Ash's Pikachu is his true father.

...and he is Ash's real father, stuck inside another body. This tranformation happened before Ash's supposed Laser-Guided Amnesia, so he can't remember a thing. The real reason Pikachu wouldn't listen to Ash in the first episode is because the transformation was Ash's fault. Later in the series, Pikachu grows closer to Ash as he begins to forgive him.

• Or maybe, that was Pikachu's way of trying to say "ASH YOU IDIOT, I'M YOUR FATHER NOW GET ME OUTTA THIS DAMN BODY!" Unfortunately, his son is dense so now Pikachu is resigned to just accept his Pokemon status and keep Ash safe that way.

In HG/SS Red's mom has Black hair. Delia has Brown hair.
Ash has black hair. Red has brown hair.
Make of that what you will.

• Okay, this one makes sense when you think about it.

Ash himself is totally just a human, though. One mother, no father, no ditto-Pikachu-missingno parthenogenesis. ...By "sexless, omnipotent force", I just described Mewtwo and Arceus, didn't I?

A perfectly healthy if slightly Idiot Ball-happy child forming out of random elemental dust and energy combining in just the right way? A bit unusual, but nothing wrong with that, now.

• See two WMGs above.

This goes along with the above theory that Ash and his varous lookalikes all have the same father. Ash seems to be getting a girl in every region. So he will end up with a kid with Misty in Kanto, a child with May in Hoenn, a child with Dawn in Sinnoh, and a child with Iris in Unova.

• Delia and Dell simply couldn't have kids.
  • Delia couldn't have kids because she didn't have a husband, couldn't get a fertilization treatment, and didn't want to have sex/have someone's baby out of wedlock or marry a guy just for the kid.
• That makes the most sense to me. @Tropers/sabrinadiamond

Delia named him after her now-late wife/husband/girlfriend/common-law spouse.

Hence the Pokessiah powers. Delia was immolated in a cult ritual decades before the series against her will. However, the flames developed a conscience and sparks flew between them. 10 years and 9 months before the series began, Delia's spirit created a new body exactly like her old one. The remains of Delia's original body fertilized her new one. The child's name? ASH.

And that is why he's never mentioned again after the second episode; he got erased from existance, and the only explanation as to why Ash would still be around is the same as Amelia Pond's.

Specifically, through parthenogenesis. Well, we've never heard a hint of the real father, so chances are that Delia had an immaculate conception. While I wouldn't agree that he's the spitting image of his mother, at least it isn't as far-fetched (no pun intended) as all the ones above.

• No. That is not what an immaculate conception is. The immaculate conception refers to Mary's birth, not Jesus'. Mary was born without original sin, and was thus "pure enough" to give birth to the Son of God. (I don't even believe in original sin, but I went to Catholic school and decided I'd make up for people calling me names by learning more about their religion than they did.)

That's right. Delia Ketchum put a roofie in the beer you were drinking at that wild party you went to back in the eighties. She then proceeded to do things to you for only one purpose and one purpose only. Thus, nine months later, the world was given the fatherless Pokémon Master. However, I'm not sure how he became perpetually ten...

• Jossed, I'm only ( almost) sixteen. I never drank beer, lest I'd be thrown in the slammer.
  • I don't care, I had sex with Delia.
• Yeah, I'm just a kid/sterile/hate women! Makes less sense than the other guesses here.
• I'm a woman!
  • And Delia is Delia.
• But, I'm gay
  • Like she cares.

It would be not only a giant twist, but explain why Ash looks nothing like his mother.

• Giant twist, my ass. Perfectly reasonable, compared to the convoluted guesses in this page.

That is to say, anyone can be Ash's father. Every episode, the identity of Ash's father changes. One day it will be Giovanni, and another it'll be Arceus. Hence why Ash is eternally 10: his father is the living embodiment of Negative Continuity. This makes Ash a Humanoid Abomination, warping the laws of time so that he never ages. Or anyone else in the vicinity.

Yes, everyone. Literally, everyone. The truth is Delia is an Eldritch Abomination who's also a giant slut. A decent individual, but a cosmic slut nonethless. One day, to allieviate her libido, she had sex(or at the very least pollinated) with everything, in every universe, at every point of time and space. Ash was the result. His father is almost never mentioned because it's a redundant title.

You heard me.

That would explain why a stay-at-home mom somehow manages to pull together the money and resources to support herself and a child for ten years.

• Huh...that's a funny way of getting the saviour of the planet. And very Fetish Fuel-oriented. I'm saving my money and getting myself decent, then breaking the fourth wall down. Reality will not stop me...
  • Jossed: Ash's mom runs the only resturant in Palllet Town, that is where her money comes from.

Which is why we've never found out his identity. The answer is either connected to 42, or 42 was an incorrect answer(Deep Thought never knew the Question, so how the hell could it do anything other than guess.) The reason why we've never been able to find out the identity of Ash's father is because, when we do, the universe is destroyed and replaced by something even more complex. This has probably occured with the other theories above. If its connected to 42, then it may refer to a character that appeared in the 42nd episode, the 42nd character that appeared, even someone named 42. If its not 42, then, by now, only the likes of an Eldritch Abomination would come close to calculating the identity of Ash's father.

Don't question my logic.

That is, the most impossible and unlikely candidate for Ash's father, is Ash's father.

• Which means, of course, that Ash's father was a ukulele.
  • No, Ash's father was a uranium-composed didgerdoo stuck in the nostril of Skeletor. On a Tuesday. Yes.
  • Ash's father is Skeletor
  • FOOL! You'll never guess, since it's always going to be stranger. Wait, does that mean Ash's father is the number infinity?

And is probably dead. Ash has lighter skin than Brock and Iris, but slightly darker skin than most people people in poke-Japan. He's also traveled through at least six regions before turning however old he is now, which probably isn't normal by pokemon world standards, and traveling is part of Roma culture even when they aren't fully nomadic. And Ash has black hair. If you want to want tho get into stuff which really shouldn't be hereditairy, the police keep accusing Ash and freinds of random things they didn't do. They also tend to get into trouble for unknowingly trespassing.

What?! It's plausible!!!

But she got busted for toying with a sperm sample. And that's how Ash was born...

Take a good look at Batarou. Take a good look at Ash. I caught on to this resemblance the first time I watched an episode of Jubei-Chan.

Yes, I know this sounds crazy.