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aka: Pokemon Villain Team Plasma

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WARNING: Major spoilers for Pokémon Black and White and Pokémon Black 2 and White 2 follow. Read at your own risk.


Team Plasma

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In General

    General 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/plasma_logo_4.png

"Now, ladies and gentlemen, Pokémon are different from humans. They are living beings that contain unknown potential. They are living beings from whom we humans have much to learn. Tell me, what is our responsibility toward these wonderful beings called Pokémon? That's right! We must liberate the Pokémon! Then, and only then, will humans and Pokémon truly be equals."
Ghetsis Harmonia

The fifth villainous team in the franchise, Team Plasma acts as the antagonists of the Unova games. In Pokémon Black and White, it seems at first glance that their cause is noble; liberate Pokémon from cruel Trainers, by force if necessary. However, their definition of "cruel Trainer" is rather... all-encompassing, and under the guidance of the Seven Sages and their king, N, the group seeks to convince all of Unova to release their Pokémon through speeches, criminal acts, and the revival of the Legendary Dragon Pokémon used by the founders of the region.

Two years later, and the team has split into two factions; one that has pulled a Heel–Face Turn and remains loyal to N and his ideals, and another that stands by the will of Ghetsis — one of the Seven Sages, N's father, and the true mastermind behind Team Plasma. This group, "officially" led by the mysterious scientist Colress, has dropped all pretenses and seeks nothing less than total domination, and to do so, they've acquired Kyurem — a third Dragon Pokémon created when Zekrom and Reshiram split apart.


Tropes that apply to the organization as a whole:

  • Animal Wrongs Group: In spite of their whole "we want to liberate Pokémon" thing, they're total tools. Literally the first thing you see an Plasma grunts do after their initial campaign in Accumula Town is kick the snot out of a Munna to get its Dream Mist.
  • Anti-Magical Faction: Replace "magical" with "Pokémon training" and you've got Team Plasma in a nutshell. They are of the "hypocritical" flavor, as detailed below.
  • Brooklyn Rage: Being based in Pokéverse's New York City makes Team Plasma this trope in spades. Though some grunts have explicitly shown this behavior, as of the sequel, not all of them are stereotypical examples.
  • Church Militant:
    • Old Team Plasma uses a holy knight aesthetic.
    • New Team Plasma, on the other hand, subvert this trope completely in favour of a more pirate aesthetic.
  • Contrasting Sequel Antagonist:
    • Previous evil teams like Team Aqua, Team Magma and Team Galactic tend to have their goals having far-reaching, apocalyptic consequences to humanity. Team Plasma (the Old Team Plasma, that is), on the other hand, is the opposite. They are slightly farther off from their predecessors' omnicidal goals, being that they are an Animal Wrongs Group wanting to "liberate" Pokémon from human control, despite the hypocrisy their behaviours show otherwise, up until the tail end of the story where Ghetsis reveals his true intentions to be anything but.
    • They're even more contrasted in the sequel Black 2 and White 2, being the first evil team organization in the series to be explicitly under Enemy Civil War between the Old Team Plasma loyal to N and New Team Plasma loyal to Ghetsis, unlike previous evil teams who are still in one piece and are still unified.note 
  • Dark Is Evil:
    • They usually use Dark types (Purrloin, Scraggy, Sandile lines). Black 2 and White 2 would expand it to the Pawniard, Denio, Sneasel, and Drapion lines.
    • New Team Plasma and its leader Ghetsis embody this trope fully in the sequel, with Grunts wearing black-coloured outfits resembling paramilitary organizations. Ghetsis also ditched his Sage outfit in favour of black-coloured clothing with a Black Cloak. Like all else, they're more open in their villainy and are blatant terrorists desiring to conquer Unova, after their true intentions were outed in the previous game.
  • Enemy Civil War: Engaged in this by the sequel. They have split into New Team Plasma, which has fully embraced Ghetsis' terrorist agenda, and Old Team Plasma, who have reformed into a genuine Pokémon rights organization under N's leadership.
  • Evil Redhead: The grunts are red-haired and antagonistic, though they aren't all necessarily evil.
  • Greenwashed Villainy: Team Plasma manages to combine this with Eco-Terrorist. They're initially introduced as an Animal Wrongs Group willing to fight civillians with the motive of liberating Pokémon from human control, but all of them (save for the movement's leader, N) are shown to be just as abusive as what they're claiming to be against. Ghetsis, the true leader of Team Plasma, is later revealed to be using Pokémon liberation as a front to give himself access to all of their power, while leaving the general public helpless. Subverted in Pokémon Black 2 and White 2, where the genuine believers in the cause split off into a more benign version while Ghetsis' remaining followers don't even bother with the pretense.
  • Heel–Face Turn:
    • 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 and start having doubts about their plan to release all Pokémon.
    • One can locate a man in Opelucid City who was a former Team Plasma member who performed one of these at some point.
    • On Victory Road in Black 2 and White 2, one of the female Backpackers, Mae, is revealed to be a former member of Team Plasma, even casually reminding Nate/Rosa of her battle with Hilbert/Hilda two years prior.
  • Hypocrite: One of the grunts explicitly 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 Pokémon because they've grown attached to them or because they view their use as necessary for the time being. Though this only applies to those genuinely believing in their ideology.
  • 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 and it hardly hinders their goals.
  • Kick the Dog: 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.
  • Knight Templar: A lot of their members are convinced that forcing trainers to release Pokémon is the only way to ensure that none will ever be abused again. Those members drop this aspect once they split off from the other Plasma members.
  • Large Ham: "PLASMAAAAA!" in a Brooklyn Rage fashion.
  • 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" Pokémon, 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, though some of the members are genuinely interested in protecting Pokémon such as N and various grunts. At least in the first game this applies, in the sequel they ditch this aspect while the good members keep it but are genuinely good this time around.
  • 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. Plasma also plays a part in both lightning and fire, which conveniently applies to the dragon they're trying to control in either version.
  • 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!
    • Subverted with a grunt in N's Castle who states that her Pokémon has grown to love her... but she doesn't understand that because she just considers it a tool to be used. She doesn't appear to be actively cruel to the Pokémon, just indifferent.note 
  • Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: N's decision to let Hilbert/Hilda obtain the Light/Dark Stone unopposed and the rest of Team Plasma upholding that decision ultimately leads to their initial downfall, as it allowed Hilbert/Hilda to re-awaken the other Legendary Dragon and defeat N and Ghetsis.
  • Poisonous Person: They use Poison types in battle, initially consisting of the Trubbish line, but by the time of Black 2 and White 2, it has expanded to the Grimer and Koffing lines, Golbat, Seviper, and Skourpi line, as well as the Venipede and Foongus lines.
  • Tautological Templar: Of course they're doing the right thing; they're Team Plasma, the liberators of all Pokémon. Not all of them think this way, but this is their general ideology.
  • 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 hypocritical jerkasses who are fully aware of Ghetsis' true intentions.
  • Western Terrorists: An American Animal Wrongs Group based in the Pokéverse equivalent of New York City hellbent on spreading the message that training Pokémon is wrong.

    Old Team Plasma 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/team_plasma_grunts_bw.png
Team Plasma Grunts in Black and White

"More accurately, we're former members of Team Plasma. Because of the incident two years ago, we started taking care of the Pokémon that were separated from their Trainers as a way to atone for our misdeeds."
Tropes that apply to the old Team Plasma as a whole:

  • The Atoner: Old Team Plasma is made out of former Plasma members who truly care about Pokémon and left the group to create a new group to make up for their crimes.
  • Big Damn Heroes: During the climax at the Giant Chasm, they show up to help hold off New Team Plasma's forces so that the player and Hugh can enter the Plasma Frigate.
  • Church Militant: They even operate out of a building that looks like a church this time!
  • Contrasting Sequel Antagonist: Unlike many Grunts of evil organizations from previous games who use a diverse array of Pokémon from other regions, the Old Team Plasma Grunts only use Pokémon that are found within Unova. Even after the post-game, the three Old Team Plasma grunts you battle in Relic Castle and Chargestone Cave still have Unovan Pokémon, despite the player having the National Pokédex.
  • Dark Is Not Evil: They still have their Dark Pokémon, and they're dedicated to atoning for the crimes committed under Ghetsis' leadership.
  • Heel–Face Turn: Made up of the members who did this in Black and White.
  • Hero with Bad Publicity: They want to do good, but owing to their bad crimes, they don't exactly have a great reputation.
  • Light Is Good: Most of the members still wear knight outfits after they left Team Plasma, but this time their outfits are true to their goals.
  • Reformed, but Rejected: Zigzagged. While Clay and Driftveil City are willing to give them a chance, Hugh has a hard time forgiving them.

    New Team Plasma 
Tropes that apply to the new Team Plasma as a whole:
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/team_plasma_grunts_b2w2.png
Team Plasma Grunts in Black 2 and White 2
  • Armies Are Evil: Their uniforms are much more reminiscent of a paramilitary organization this time around, and they're villains.
  • Blatant Lies: Even though their schemes of conquest had been exposed two years ago, some members still claim they fight for the rights of Pokémon. Although it may not be lies from their point of view...they simply believe it's for the Pokémons' own good that they only be used by people who can use them "properly".
  • Card-Carrying Villain: Most of their members are much more upfront about the organization's evil ambitions this time. At least one of them admits that they used to be in Team Galactic.
  • Contrasting Sequel Antagonist:
    • To the Old Team Plasma. Old Team Plasma ostensibly had good intentions and were dressed up in white knight outfits. The New Team Plasma on the other hand are upfront about their villainy, wear black, and have paramilitary and pirate motifs, further distancing themselves from their former cohorts. Unlike Old Team Plasma whose array of Pokémon are limited to Patrat, Sandile, Scraggy, Purrloin and Trubbish including their evolutions; the New Team Plasma use non-Unova Pokémon alongside Unovan Pokémon, with typing including Poison, Steel and Dark-types.
    • They also contrast Team Rocket from Red and Blue. Both are criminal organizations who want to capture rare Pokémon for profit and at some extent experiment on them (in one instance killing a Marowak), but while Team Rocket failed to capture a legendary Pokémon to further their goals and are considered Mundanger by series' standards, the New Team Plasma with Ghetsis and Zinzolin's help manage to capture Kyurem, a legendary Pokémon, and nearly successfully freeze Opelucid City and Unova in its entirety had they not been stopped by the player.
  • Cool Airship: The Plasma Frigate, which holds Kyurem captive.
  • Dark Is Evil: Contrasting with the Light Is Not Good design of the previous team, New Plasma wear dark outfits but remain as evil as evil.
  • Evil Costume Switch: Their turn to open terrorism coincides with a uniform switch from Church Militant gear to Dark Is Evil paramilitary gear.
  • Evil Is Deathly Cold: They control the part Ice-type Kyurem and are villains.
  • Evil Redhead: The grunts are redhaired and all villains.
  • Fantastic Terrorists: The most blatantly terrorist-like evil team in the series, using violent force to achieve their goals.
  • Helpful Mook: At least one will encourage you to rest on the Frigate.
  • I Just Want to Have Friends: At least a few members didn't join up to be evil, but instead had nowhere else to go.
  • No Mouth: The grunts and the Shadow Triad have their mouths concealed behind their masks.
  • Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: New Team Plasma is the faction of Team Plasma who never truly cared about Pokémon rights to begin with and have dropped all pretense of such to focus on the violent conquest of Unova.
  • One Note Chef: The Plasma Frigate's cook serves only bread.
  • Pirate: They went from medieval knights out on an honorable cause to malicious and thieving classical pirates.
  • Renegade Splinter Faction: To N's Team Plasma, they entirely follow Ghetsis' world domination ideals, as opposed to the original Team Plasma's ideals who want to liberate Pokémon.
  • Ruthless Modern Pirates: Due to the Pirate motif, their use of modern technology and merciless demeanor, they qualify.
  • Terrorists Without a Cause: This group of Team Plasma has members who don't follow the false ideology of Team Plasma, only members who want to take over Unova through violent force.
  • Villains Out Shopping: If the PC stars in enough good movies at PokéStar, a New Team Plasma grunt can become a fan of him/her and a regular movie-goer.

Leadership

    N 

N (N enu) / Natural Harmonia Gropius (ナチュラル・ハルモニア・グロピウス nachuraru harumonia guropiusu)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/n_b2w2.png
"King" of Team Plasma
"The cries of the suffering Pokémon filling that room... The borderline between Pokémon and humans... I exist on that line. I live in the margins between everyone, so I will save them! I will change the world!"

Ghetsis's adoptive son, who was raised alongside abused Pokémon. Though a kind man by nature, N has been manipulated by Ghetsis into partnering with Reshiram or Zekrom to create a world where Pokémon live separately from humans. After learning that this is a huge lie, N departs Unova. He returns in Black 2 and White 2 as an ally to the protagonist.


  • Abusive Parents: His adoptive 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.)
  • Affably Evil: In the first Black and White games where he was the King of Team Plasma, technically putting him as this. He drops the "evil" bit after losing to the Player.
  • All-Loving Hero: Thinks himself as this for Pokémon. Becomes this in the sequels.
  • Ambiguously Bi: He gets a good amount of Ship Tease with the player character in Black and White regardless of gender, and claims he wants to "tell them how he feels" upon getting the chance to meet them yet again.
  • Ambiguously Evil: He's good, but VERY misguided.
  • Anti-Villain: He never does anything that he hasn't been led to believe is for the greater good, and when he realizes that he's been deceived he quickly pulls a Heel–Face Turn.
  • Awesome Moment of Crowning: The focus of the opening sequence before the first games' title screen is him being crowned King of Team Plasma.
  • Back-to-Back Badasses: With Hilbert when they team up in Masters.
  • Bad Bedroom, Bad Life: His childhood bedroom is covered in immature toys, Pokémon claw marks, and the music sounds like a creepy music-box. This communicates to the audience how he not only has an innocent and childlike mind, but that Ghetsis was conditioning him and abusing him all his childhood, never letting him experience the real world in an effort to keep him pure and easily manipulated.
  • Benevolent Boss: Even when he was the antagonist, he treated his Pokémon with respect and kindness, and when he said that he doesn't want to keep Pokémon trapped in Poké Balls or "enslave" them for battle? He meant it. All of the Pokémon he catches for battle are released once they serve their purpose and when you catch them in the sequel, all of them are at maximum happiness, showing that he was nothing but kind to them. In addition, while he generally looked down on his fellow humans while he was "King of Team Plasma", he treated members of Team Plasma with respect and would even hold the line to let them get away when in trouble.
  • Big Bad Friend: Though more along the lines of Obliviously Evil Big Bad friend as opposed to the more classic version of the trope.
  • Big Damn Heroes: He and his dragon save you as Ghetsis is about to have Kyurem freeze you with floating icicles! However, Kyurem then absorbs N's dragon.
  • Black-and-White Insanity: He views humans (save for those who share 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."
  • 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.
  • Breakout Character: Like Cynthia, N is one of the most beloved Pokémon Trainers in the series, and was praised as one of the highlights of the Unova games. His mainline anime appearance was much publicized, and he went on to get a generous amount of merchandise and marketing, including a Nendoroid figure.
  • Break the Cutie: Finding out his cause was essentially a lie, then abused further by his dad.
  • But Now I Must Go: At the end of the first set of games. 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.
  • The Chosen One: He was engineered to be this.
  • Conveniently an Orphan: Given Anthea and Concordia's backstory on him. He was abandoned in a forest at a young age, and raised by a Zorua, Woobat, and Darmanitan. N was later taken in by Ghetsis, who claimed to be his father.
  • Create Your Own Hero: He allows Hilbert/Hilda to obtain the Light/Dark Stone and re-awaken the opposing Legendary Dragon to become the next Hero of Truth/Ideals, mainly to see if his Ideals/Truth can truly overcome their's. It ultimately leads to his downfall.
  • Creepy Child: Or rather, Creepy Manchild. His theme plays no small part in this.
  • Curiosity Is a Crapshoot: N was raised to believe humans are needlessly cruel to Pokémon in an attempt by Ghetsis to mould the boy into a Puppet King. Then he meets the player character, whose starter suggests otherwise. The more the two interact, the more N starts wondering whether his worldview is right, and the more Ghetsis' plot starts to collapse in on itself. By the end, N realizes the player character's ideal is correct and forfeits his operations, and the resulting proverbial black hole takes the Plasma scheme and what remains of Ghetsis' sanity with it.
  • Dark Is Not Evil: He's the leader of Team Plasma and his most iconic Pokémon is a Dark type, but N is a good person at heart and truly does want what's best for Pokémon.
  • Dead Alternate Counterpart: Heavily implied that Rainbow Rocket Ghetis killed N in his timeline, given his stated control over Unova and Reshiram/Zekrom.
  • Depending on the Artist: His eye color tends to change between blue and green (as shown in the picture above). His game depictions seem to show him as blue eyed, while in his official artwork, he's green-eyed.
  • Dramatic Irony: For once believing that Pokémon should be exonerated from humans, he failed to realize his own Pokémon like him just as much as any other trainer and their Pokémon but would be heartbroken to be separated.
  • The Dragon: Though he didn't realize it, he was a pawn of Ghetsis in the first Black and White.
  • Dragon Tamer: Depending on the game, he manages to awaken either the Electric/Dragon Zekrom in Black or Fire/Dragon Reshiram in White, and uses them in battle.
  • Earthy Barefoot Character: As a kid. Though he stops going barefoot as an adult, he's still earthy.
  • Ermine Cape Effect: Downplayed - He wears a beige robe in his crowning during the cinematic preceding the title screen. However, he is always seen wearing normal clothes
  • Evil Counterpart: Downplayed, but he serves as one to the main characters of basically all Pokémon games. Check out his hat — it's the same design of cap as Red's classic cap, but in black.
  • 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, and thinks that he and the protagonist could be once humans and Pokémon are separated.
    N: [after Zekrom/Reshiram fails to appear] How disappointing. I actually kind of liked you a little.
  • Foe Romance Subtext: With the player character, whom he's implied to develop feelings for.
  • Foil: To the typical Pokémon protagonist. He's still learning about the world, just like how Pokémon protagonists venture out as children as a Coming of Age Story, but N is an adult whose worldview has not been allowed to mature due to his extremely sheltered upbringing. He forms bonds with his Pokémon, something that's almost inevitable for most players, but while the player builds it up with their team over the course of a game, N immediately befriends his Pokémon and lets them go after. He trains a legendary Pokémon, a trait usually exclusive to the protagonists, but it's the legendary featured on the version that the player isn't using, and he uses it on the pretense that he's The Chosen One as opposed to trainers usually being not particularly special. And he's a Talkative Loon Motor Mouth as opposed to a Heroic Mime. To cement this all, his design loosely borrows elements from previous generations' player characters — the most prominent inspiration being his ballcap, an accessory that's almost universal for male player characters.
  • Freudian Excuse: He was raised by abused Pokémon all his life with little interaction with other humans, therefore that's why he hates humans (his "father", "sisters", and subjects in Team Plasma aside) 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.
    • The sequels drive the point home even further. Whenever the player catches one of his Pokémon, it starts out with max happiness. They were with N for a very brief period of time, but he still managed to be incredibly kind to them.
  • Gilded Cage: He has a very nice room; sadly, it was the extent of his contact with humanity 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.
  • Guest-Star Party Member: Only in the sequels in the post-game while exploring his demolished castle, but even then, there are no wild Pokémon to fight while he follows you to the main chamber.
  • The Heavy: N's not quite the Big Bad of Pokémon Black and White—that would be Ghetsis—but most of the conflict in the game happens because of him. At the very end, he learns that he was just a pawn for Ghetsis, and rethinks his life.
  • Heel–Face Turn: Implied to do this at the end. Confirmed in the sequels.
  • 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 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.
  • Heroic BSoD: Considering N's usual Motor Mouth tendencies, his uncharacteristic silence when Ghetsis reveals the truth about Team Plasma is heartbreaking. He recovers a little once you defeat Ghetsis, but flees Unova because he can't stand to face you afterward.
  • Hero with Bad Publicity: Old Team Plasma is not seen all that positively, but there doesn't seem to be any negativity towards N.
  • Hold the Line: His battle with you in Nimbasa City is explicitly this for two unnamed Plasma Grunts so that they may get away after their loss.
  • Hypocrite: While certainly not of the kind to abuse Pokémon the way some Plasma Grunts do, N fails to realize that the nature of his plan to stop Pokémon suffering by separating them from humans is hypocritical, because it would bring more suffering to both parties. Thankfully at the end, he seems to realize this when he comments on how he ultimately failed to understand both Pokémon and people and compliments you for being the better person.
  • Interface Screw: A very minor example. N's speech always appears at the game's fastest possible text speed, no matter what the speed is set to. If you set it to the highest speed, it'll appear even faster. Cheren even lampshades this in the first game; the first thing he says when the two of you meet N is "Slow down. You talk too fast."
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Comes off as a jerk on a number of occasions but his goals are well meaning and he really does want to become your friend. After turning good, he becomes a straight up Nice Guy.
  • King Incognito: He's the king of Team Plasma, but he also dresses like a regular trainer.
  • Large and in Charge: At 1.80 m (5'11" ft) tall, he's a head taller than most of the other characters. In Masters, the guy is about two heads taller than Hilbert or Hilda.
  • Leitmotif: N's theme is a creepy musical box style theme (more blatant in the version used for his room) that underscores his creepiness.
  • 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: 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 both extremes in each version: in Black, he has Zekrom; in White, he has Reshiram. However this becomes...
  • Light Is Good: After his Heel–Face Turn.
  • Long-Haired Pretty Boy: Given his background, it's probably Barbarian Long Hair that he's chosen to style rather than trim.
  • Mad Mathematician: He even says he's trying to "solve the equation to change the world." Confirmed to be one by Word Of God. In the sequel, his thoughts have more of a focus on chemical reactions... which are also expressed as equations, in a way.
  • Manchild: His odd mannerisms and the toys in his bedroom hint at this. Not played for laughs, though. Considering his childhood...
  • 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, such as Ghetsis!
    • 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 his foster sister Concordia, who was Harmonia's Roman counterpart in myth.
    • And if the names are seen as musical, Natural can also refer to a note that is neither sharp nor flat, as N himself is neither one thing nor another.
  • 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.
  • Motor Mouth: When you first meet him, Cheren notices this immediately. His speech itself isn't out of the ordinary in terms of spacing - in fact, he uses ellipses frequently - but the text types out a notch faster than usual, even if your text speed setting is at the maximum.
  • Musical Theme Naming: Natural, after the accidental symbol, and Harmonia, which is the Greek rendering of harmony.
  • My God, What Have I Done?: After the final battle with him, he begins to feel bad for what he put everyone through.
  • Nice Guy: He becomes this after his Heel–Face Turn, where he even tries to convince the broken down Ghetsis to be a good guy, despite him repeatedly throwing insults at N.
  • Noble Demon:
    • 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. He even catches a new Klinklang for his final fight rather than keeping the Klink he used at Chargestone Cave.
    • 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 distrusts and dislikes most humans, he makes an exception for 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.
    • In the sequels, his Pokémon from the original games start out with maximum happiness when the player encounters them in the wild and catches them.
    • He offers Ghetis a Last-Second Chance despite the way he was treated by the man.
  • Noble Top Enforcer: Unlike Ghetsis, N genuinely believes in the cause of helping Pokémon.
  • No Social Skills: Owing to his being isolated from most humans. The only humans he gets along with before he meets the protagonists are well, Team Plasma. He gets a bit better in the sequels.
  • No True Scotsman:
    • A victim of this In-Universe. Some of New Team Plasma are adamant that he not be considered part of the organization in the first place.
    • N himself inverted this trope in the first game, wherein he seemed to hate all humans except the ones who claimed to agree with him.
  • Obliviously Evil: He's an Unwitting Pawn.
  • 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."
  • One-Letter Name: The Death Note jokes started popping up quite early.
  • Optional Boss: Challengeable in Black 2 and White 2's post-game, which allows you to capture his dragon in a roundabout method. After you catch (or knock out) both his dragon and Kyurem, he appears near Nimbasa's Ferris Wheel on Fridays, where you can ride on the wheel and have additional battles with him.
  • The Only Believer: With The Reveal that Plasma's goals were just a sham perpetrated by Ghetsis, this seemed to be the case. However, the sequel shows that about half of Team Plasma and at least one of the Seven Sages agreed with N's ideals and left Ghetsis behind.
  • Painting the Medium: The speed that his text displays at is set to be at Fast speed. If player has set Fast speed in options, his text displays even faster. This is because he talks fast in-universe, according to Cheren's first dialogue with him.
  • Pre-Final Boss: His final battle in Black and White is the second-to-last battle in the game. It's after his defeat that Ghetsis starts giving N a verbal thrashing for his failure, then battles the protagonist himself.
  • Puppet King: Ghetsis is just using him as an Unwitting Pawn to ensure that only he may control Pokémon and rule over Unova with an iron fist.
  • Pure Is Not Good: Concordia 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 Wolves:
    • 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.
    • He says he used to live in the wild alongside Pokémon before being adopted by Ghetsis, who claimed to be his father.
  • Rank Scales with Asskicking: While N is ultimately an Unwitting Pawn of Ghetsis, he's still an extremely powerful trainer. Duing the climax he curbstomps both the Elite Four and Alder with room left over to give the player one hell of a battle.
  • Rebel Leader: Seems to lead the old Team Plasma's efforts against the new Team Plasma, though Rood seems to be like a non-villainous Dragon-in-Chief.
  • Reflectionless Useless Eyes: His non-reflective eyes are the first sign that his worldview is distorted.
  • Reformed, but Not Tamed: A positive example of this trope. Even after his Heel Realization and subsequent rethinking of his worldview, N isn't going to let go of his desire to create a world where Pokémon are truly free. He just won't go to extreme measures to see this world come true, knowing it can only be achieved gradually and with cooperation from both humans and Pokémon.
    "Someday... Pokémon and humans will be bound together without Poké Balls. They will simply trust and help one another. Make that kind of world."
  • 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.
  • Royals Who Actually Do Something: He's a fighter first and foremost, and a king second.
  • Sanity Slippage: Temporarily goes into nigh-insanity during the final battle, since he KNOWS deep in his heart that he's probably wrong, 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 entire life is a lie would shake anyone up. He gets better after being defeated, just as Ghetsis gets MUCH worse.
  • Sheltered Aristocrat: The third kind, especially with the emphasis on innocence.
  • Ship Tease:
    • With the player character (even when playing as Hilbert). He develops a powerful fascination with them after realizing that they don't fit the mold of a Pokémon trainer as he had been raised to see it, they're instrumental in bringing about his Heel–Face Turn and he states that he wants to "tell them how he feels" in the sequel.
    • In the "Ideal Formula" event in Pokémon Masters, his interactions with Hilbert are loaded with subtext on both sides. Hilbert is very insistent on meeting him again and talking to him, while N wants to do the same and later tries to rescue him when he, Hilda and Cheren are kidnapped. The event ends with them standing on the beach together, watching the waves as N notes how Hilbert changed him for the better and Hilbert finally tells N that he is a little peeved that when they last saw each other, N left without letting him say goodbye—N promising he won't run off a second time in response. Oh, and the game's official Twitter account released THIS artwork to promote the event.
  • Signature Mon:
    • Zekrom and Reshiram, of course.
      • All the various manga series depict N with Zekrom. Masters and Pokémon Evolutions also depict him with Zekrom.
      • He is paired with Reshiram in regards to his Nendoroid figure, the main anime, Pokémon Generations, and in the "Gotcha!" music video. The second anniversary of Masters also creates a new Sync Pair for him and Reshiram.
    • Zoroark is highly associated with him, thanks to the game's intro and being able to get N's Zorua from Rood in B2/W2.
  • Sliding Scale of Anti-Villains: Somehow, all four types to an extent.
  • Small Name, Big Ego: A literal small name, 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.
    • In B2/W2, he states that he wishes to use this ability to become a mediator between humans and Pokémon.
  • Starter Villain Stays: You face N very early on in the game as your first antagonistic fight, with it later being revealed he's the head of the evil team of the game. Sort of.
  • Strange Minds Think Alike: Shares a vision of Pokémon living in happiness with Archie, his father trying to thrash that goal.
  • Strong Family Resemblance: With Ghetsis... except, in the sequels, it's confirmed that he was a feral orphan as a toddler and Ghetsis took him in by claiming to be his father.
    • Although Ghetsis is very theatrical, putting emphasis on subtly building himself up, so staging a miraculous "rescue" of a kid he already knew was there (who happens to look exactly like him) is very much in his wheelhouse.
  • Talks Like a Simile: He will occasionally dabble in using mathematics equations and chemical reactions as a simile or metaphor for what he is doing, or to describe something. He even chalks up the events of Black and White as a very difficult equation that he is in the process of solving.
  • Talkative Loon: Comes off as this, especially early on when you know nothing about him.
  • Troubled, but Cute: More deluded than troubled, but he still fits.
  • Tyke Bomb: Ghetsis was extremely careful/shrewd about making N into his tool to control Unova from childhood. N doesn't even realize it until the end of the main story.
  • Übermensch: He was engineered by Ghetsis to become one so that he can befriend one of the legendary dragons.
  • Uncatty Resemblance: A sort of inverted version: his pale clothes and seafoam green ponytail contrast to his Signature Mon Zoroark's dark fur and crimson ponytail.
  • The Unreveal: With the revelation that Ghetis is not his birth parent, there comes the question as to who N's actual parents are and what happened to them, but this goes untouched upon, and he was mainly Raised by Wolves until Ghetis came along anyway.
  • Unwitting Pawn: To Ghetsis, who was just using him to make Pokémon illegal for everyone but himself.
  • Varying Tactics Boss: He is faced five times in Black and White, but unlike most other Recurring Bosses in the series, which simply have their Pokémon from previous battles grow stronger and evolve while gradually adding new ones, N uses completely different Pokémon in battle each time (due to releasing them after each battle). The fact that he also uses the legendary opposite to the mascot legendary for the last battle as unofficial Champion and Pre-Final Boss is icing on the cake.
  • 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.
  • Walking Spoiler: At one point, 50% of this page was spoilered because he is not the true leader of Team Plasma.
  • Weather of War: As a Superboss in Black and White 2, N cycles through four different weather teams that are used on the four different seasons. His leading Pokémon will always have an ability that automatically initiates the weather he needs.
  • Well-Intentioned Extremist: Major emphasis on "Well-Intentioned." He wants to separate humans and Pokémon so that the latter can no longer be abused; it's just that his understanding of the world has been deluded by Ghetsis that he takes extreme measures.
  • What Happened to the Mouse?: His alternate world counterpart in Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon—Ghetsis mentions him, but we never find out what happened to him when Ghetsis took over and then joined Team Rainbow Rocket. Considering what Ghetsis was planning to do to him in the main timeline, it raises some very chilling and tragic implications for his welfare.
  • Wild Child: Was raised by Pokémon until Ghetsis brought him in.
  • Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: Ghetsis' manipulation of N caused him to try to create a world without Pokémon.
  • Wrong Genre Savvy: By design. To make him a Tyke Bomb, Ghetsis convinced him he had to summon the legendary dragon and recreate the story of the hero who founded Unova, which will give him the power needed to stop the perceived exploitation of Pokémon.

    Ghetsis Harmonia (G-Cis Harmonia) 

Ghetsis Harmonia Gropius / G-Cis Harmonia Gropius (ゲーチス・ハルモニア・グロピウス geeshisu harumonia guropiusu)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ghetsis_bw.png
Black 2 and White 2
"We shall bring back the hero and that Pokémon to Unova once again! If we can win people's hearts and minds, we can easily create the world that I—I mean, Team Plasma—desires!"
Voiced by: Sho Hayami (JP, Pokémon Generations), Patrick Seitz (EN, Pokémon Generations), Hikaru Hanada (JP, Pokémon Masters), Mick Wingertnote  (EN, Pokémon Masters), Takehito Koyasu (JP, Pokémon Evolutions), Armen Taylor (EN, Pokémon Evolutions)

The true leader of Team Plasma, who aims to have N "liberate" all Pokémon from their Trainers so only he can use them. Two years later, he has captured Kyurem, the third Dragon left over from Reshiram and Zekrom to freeze Unova as vengeance for his failed "near perfect" plan.


  • Abusive Parents: Not actually N's biological father, but purposefully isolated him from others to condition him for the role as King of Team Plasma. It's also implied that he was going to dispose of N once the plan to separate people and Pokémon was completed.
  • Ambiguously Related: In the postgame for Black and White, Ryoku of the Seven Sages offhandedly mentions that he's not sure whether or not Ghetsis is actually N's father. Black 2 and White 2 confirm that there's no blood relation, Ghetsis merely "adopted" poor N. But more than a few fans have wondered why two men who aren't related look so much alike...
  • Archnemesis Dad: Towards to N during Black 2 and White 2.
  • Ax-Crazy: By Black and White 2, where he wants to freeze over the entire region - and you!
  • Badass Longrobe: He wears one in Black 2 and White 2, replacing his old outfit.
  • Bad Boss: In Black 2 and White 2, his Hydreigon knows Frustration, a move that gets stronger the more the Pokémon dislikes its trainer. Contrast with former villainous team leaders who tend to have a Crobat in their team near the end, a Pokémon that only evolves if it likes its trainer.
  • The Bad Guy Wins: The Rainbow Rocket Ghetsis is the only one of the alternate villains to have 100% won in his universe with no drawbacks, while the other leaders have questionable fates.
  • Bad People Abuse Animals: Frustration is a move that gets stronger the more its user hates its trainer. Ghetsis' Hydregion can use it at maximum power. Do the math.
  • Big Bad: The main villain of the Unova duology.
  • Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: In Black and White, he seems to be a good, understanding person regardless of being on the opposing side. And then you progressively discover that he's anything but that.
  • Black Cloak: In the sequel, he ditches his initial outfit for a dark cloak.
  • Brooklyn Rage: The main villain of a region based on New York.
  • The Chessmaster: How does he plan on taking over the world? By using the actions of the previous evil teams and the compassion people have for Pokémon to convince them that humans and Pokémon need to be separated. Once that's done, he'll dispose of N and be the only one with Pokémon left and it'll be a easy takeover.
  • 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 save the Shadow Triad and having the plan he took years to make be completely destroyed in the first pair of games, and becoming an insane non-functioning Brooklyn Rage vegetable in the sequels.
  • Climax Boss: Gets demoted to this in Black 2 and White 2. He's fought before the player reaches Victory Road at the end of Plasma's arc.
  • Cold-Blooded Torture: Does this to Kyurem to make it comply with terrorizing Unova. He also plans to do it to the player character.
  • Combat Pragmatist:
    • In both of his fights he starts off with Cofagrigus, which will try to wear down your Pokémon by inflicting them with Toxic Poison and using Protect every other turn to avoid damage while your Pokémon rack up Poison damage. In Black 2 and White 2 it's holding the Leftovers item to ensure it takes you longer to KO it.
    • When he's confronted by the Player Character at the Giant Chasm in Black 2 and White 2, he immediately tries to have Kyurem freeze them instead of having a Pokémon battle.
  • The Computer Is a Cheating Bastard: His Hydreigon is Level 54 in Black and White and Level 52 in Black 2 and White 2. Zweilous doesn't evolve into Hydreigon until Level 64.
  • Contrasting Sequel Antagonist:
    • To Cyrus. While the Team Galactic boss genuinely thought he knew what was best for the world, Ghetsis's claims of having good intentions are nothing more than a façade. Cyrus' motivations are a result of his Freudian Excuse of being treated as a loner from his peers during childhood, while Ghetsis doesn't excuse his own motivations as he uses his son N for his agenda and instead uses his "liberation" motive to grasp control over the people of Unova.
    • To Giovanni. Both are abusive fathers to their son who are known for their uncaring and selfish parenting, who pursue goals of world domination, as well as being driven insane after being defeated by the player character. But while Giovanni is an Affably Evil crime lord who is affable to the player and even congratulates the player for his victory against him, Ghetsis is Faux Affably Evil who is brutally antagonistic to the player and even attempted to kill him/her with his Kyurem inside Giant Chasm. There's also the matter of how they reacted to their defeats. In Giovanni's case, he recovers from his loss at the hands of Ethan/Lyra during HGSS, as shown in B2W2, and is seen to be in a mentally functioning state. Ghetsis, on the other hand, flies into a rage and he later goes into a violent mental breakdown after being defeated by Nate/Rosa, causing the Shadow Triad to take him away after being broken into a vegetable.
    • He is also this to himself as of Black 2 and White 2. Unlike Ghetsis in the prequel who has longer hair, is dressed in a Sage robe and comes off as well-meaning and polite before unveiling his true colours to the player, Ghetsis in the sequel is immediately evil, has a short hair and a cane to his hand and dresses in dark clothing to cement his full transition into a black-hearted villain.
  • "Could Have Avoided This!" Plot: An In-Universe example. During Black 2 and White 2, Ghetsis mentions that if N had fully become the King of Team Plasma, Unova would not have to suffer its icy fate and remain beautiful. Of course, as Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon shows, Unova DOES remain beautiful but with Ghetsis ruling it with an iron fist and everyone's Pokémon.
  • Crazy-Prepared: A subtle example in Black and White, but if one takes a look at his Hydreigon's moveset, it has a super-effective attack for all of the Pokémon used by N in his battle against the playernote , a rather chilling display of the fact Ghetsis was fully prepared to take down N by force if the player character were to be defeated by him.
  • Crystal Prison: He attempted to invoke the icicle variant on you in the second game in order to create an Ironic Hell in which you'd be forced to watch his plans unfold, unable to do anything as you slowly freeze to death. Luckily, N comes to save the day. Masters has him do this to Tornadus during the Villain Arc.
  • Dark Is Evil: Half of his team is Dark- and Ghost-types, especially his most iconic mon, Hydreigon. In Black 2 and White 2, his colorful robe from the original Black and White is replaced with a mostly black one.
  • Despotism Justifies the Means: His plan must end with him in charge of Unova. He will settle for nothing less.
  • Devilish Hair Horns: Making him look like The Devil incarnate, especially in Black 2 and White 2 when combined with his Black Cloak.
  • Diabolical Mastermind: His plan for world domination was ridiculously successful solely because he was able to lead what was essentially an N.G.O. Superpower, all while convincing everyone that they were a harmless group of eccentrics.
  • Dragon-in-Chief: As the leader of the Seven Sages, he serves as this towards N. Subverted in that he was manipulating N the entire time so he could take over Unova.
  • Dragon Tamer:
    • Ghetsis, the main villain of the Unova duology, has as his ace and strongest Pokémon the Dark/Dragon-type Hydreigon, who he is implied to have also abused since in Pokémon Black 2 and White 2 it can use a max powered Frustration, a move that gets stronger the more the Pokémon hates its trainer.
    • In Black and White 2 he manages to take control of the Dragon/Ice-type Kyurem and has it fuse with either Reshiram or Zekrom, depending on the version, to take on the player. Masters retains this.
    • In Ultra Sun and Moon apart from his Hydreigon he also uses either Zekrom (Ultra Sun) or Reshiram (Ultra Moon) as his last Pokémon.
  • The Dreaded: Has become this by the sequel, where everyone knows how bad he is. Even his Hydreigon is implied to be afraid of him.
  • 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 Pokémon. He also didn't take the Power of Friendship into account, whether it be between humans and Pokémon or between The Hero and N, both of which factored into his downfall. He even outright says that he thinks everyone considers Pokémon 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 Pokémon, which got him questioning Team Plasma's beliefs in the first place, directly leading to Ghetsis' downfall.
  • Evil Chancellor: N 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 in Front of the Man.
  • Evil Cripple: Ghetsis is rarely seen using the right side of his body. In the cinematic opening of Black and White, his right arm is briefly shown to be discolored, implying he might be scarred or injured. His in-game battle expressions and official artwork would seem to imply that the right side of his face is paralyzed, as well. This becomes more apparent in Black 2 and White 2, where his body appears incredibly frail, he's taken to using a cane, and his battle sprite animation shows he has to stop to breathe when he slams the cane down.
  • Evil Is Deathly Cold: He controls Kyurem, an Ice-type legendary, in Black 2 and White 2. "Deathly cold" is literal since he wants to use its ice power to put the Unova region under a fatal freeze, hoping to extort power and control from the terrified masses when the suffering becomes too great. He also tries to attack the hero with the freezing power of Kyurem's Glaciate attack.
  • Evil Laugh: He gives one near the end as he taunts N for failing him.
  • Evil Makeover: In Black 2 and White 2, since everyone now knows what he's truly like, he changes his appearance to look more like a dark lord.
  • Evil Overlord: What he is to an extent, and later aspires to be. His look in Black 2 and White 2 is meant to invoke the typical dark lord, if not The Devil.
  • Evil Virtues: Patience and Diligence, especially. Ghetsis' plan revolved around years of molding a figurehead for a cult, amassing and indoctrinating six orphans and six philosophers (N, Anthea, Concordia, the Shadow Triad, and the other Sages), and gradually propagandizing an entire region. Considering his plan fell apart at the very last moment as soon as he rushed it, no wonder he snapped.
  • Eye Motifs: His cloak in both games of the Unova duology are covered in eyes.
  • Fate Worse than Death: By the end of it all, the events of two games and his ensuing failures causes Ghetsis to go so insane, he is effectively reduced to a non-functioning, gibbering vegetable.
  • Faux Affably Evil: In the first game, he pretends to be well-meaning when his true motives are anything but. He drops this facade in the sequels. In the Japanese version, his speech is unfailingly polite, even when he's no longer pretending to be good, up until his Villainous Breakdown.
  • Final Boss: The last fight in Black and White before the credits, and the first time that someone other than the Pokémon League Champion has had this position in the main series.
  • Freudian Slip:
    • A few times in the game, while talking about his plans, he says "I- I mean, Team Plasma", hinting at his true nature.
    • At the climax of Black 2 and White 2, he makes his intentions perfectly clear by notably reversing and fixing the slip that he made several times in the originals:
      "The terrified people and Pokémon will bow at Team Plasma's... no... at MY feet!"
  • Gameplay and Story Integration: In Black 2 and White 2, his Hydreigon knows Frustration, whose power is determined by how much the Pokémon dislikes its Trainer, and uses it at full power. Given that Ghetsis is a heartless megalomaniac, this is entirely appropriate.
  • Gameplay and Story Segregation: In Masters, he is able to use sync moves (which are said to require a bond between a Pokémon and trainer) despite being every bit as villainous as he is in the mainline games, and even says in one bit of dialogue that he considers his Kyurem to be more of a tool than a partner. This contrasts with Lear, who similarly considered his Pokémon to be tools and rejected friendship, making him unable to use sync moves despite lacking any truly villainous ambitions.
  • Good Colors, Evil Colors: After being defeated in Black and White, the Purrloin is out of the bag and he now dons a black robe to show just how evil he is. N still continues to wear primarily white and gray.
  • Handicapped Badass: He may be an irredeemable asshole with a nasty limp, but he's a very powerful trainer. Entire teams have been destroyed by his Hydreigon and the rest of his team is very strong, as well.
  • Hate Sink:
    • Between his condescending attitude toward his adoptive son N, his total disregard for Pokémon sentience, and his general megalomania, he is one of the most despicable antagonists in the entire series alongside Volo. Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon shows this very plainly, as among all the past villains brought in, he is the only one with no decent qualities and the only one who refuses to accept his defeat, opting to threaten murder on a child instead.
    • To give how much of a bastard he is, your own Pokémon in Black 2 and White 2 hate him for forcing N's Legendary dragon to fuse with Kyurem, with Ghetsis himself noticing that they're shaking in rage from their Poké Balls. It already says a lot about him that your own Pokémon hate this guy.
  • Hijacked by Ganon: Played with. In Black 2 and White 2, he is revealed to be the Big Bad rather than Colress. However, Colress is fully aware of Ghetsis's true role in Team Plasma from the beginning and never actually cared about Team Plasma's ambitions.
  • Hypocrite:
    • Calls N a freak without a human heart when this really applies to him. This gets noted by Cheren and Alder.
    • His rants about how trainers abuse Pokémon, when he himself only views them as tools. This was all part of his plan to take everyone's Pokémon except his own, though.
  • I Am the Noun: During his Villainous Breakdown in Black and White, he goes on a short rant which includes declaring himself to be perfect.
    Ghetsis: "I AM PERFECTION!"
  • Iconic Item: His red monocle. If concept artwork is to be believed, it's there because his right eye is missing or heavily damaged.
  • I Have No Son!: When N loses to the player character, Ghetsis publicly disowns him. Devolves into That Thing Is Not My Child! in the sequel. Played with in that the sequel reveals that N really isn't Ghetsis' son, though he did raise him.
  • Insane Equals Violent: Played with. He's not really the healthiest guy mentally and is plenty violent, but his Sanity Slippage turns him into a vegetable.
  • Insane Troll Logic: How he "justifies" his endgame. He sensibly points out that Pokémon and humans have endless potential together... and then uses that as the reason that he, and he alone, should wield Pokémon. Alder calls him out for it.
    Alder: You fool! That's a ridiculous idea!
  • It's All About Me: His spiel about Pokémon liberation is only a front to ensure that he is the only person in Unova with Pokémon, so that he can rule over the region. Near the end, he even goes on a huge tangent over this.
    Ghetsis: "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!" It still is dampened by being Right for the Wrong Reasons, considering he views Pokémon, or anything else for that matter, as tools for him to use. Given his attitude, he likely would easily be saying this about Pokémon that are not just revered as deities, but indeed deities, like Arceus. It only serves to highlight his disregard for any other life than his own.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: Ghetsis only takes in N for his master plan and his claim of being for Pokémon liberation was an excuse for him to be the only one allowed to use Pokémon.
  • Karma Houdini Warranty: While he manages to escape prison, 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. After the events of Black 2 and White 2, he is never apprehended but is still reduced to what is basically a vegetable.
  • 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. Then there is all the suffering Kyurem has to be put through in the sequel with the implied abuse of his Pokémon.
    • When N offers him a Last-Second Chance in Black and White 2 after Kyruem and his team is defeated by the player, Ghetis rebukes the claim by telling N to shut up and That Thing Is Not My Son. Fittingly, it's after this that he turns into a vegetable.
    • Pokémon Masters has him pretend to have changed his ways just to get N's Zekrom out to force a fusion, though that doesn't work when Giovanni turns on Ghetsis. N then goes ahead and decides to side with Ghetsis with the excuse that he wants to protect Kyurem, but even after aiding Ghetsis in his escape, all Ghetsis can do as "thanks" is to gloat how N is still a tool for him.
  • Lack of Empathy: Most of the other major villains of the series (with only a few exclusions), are trying to do something revolutionary, change the world, or fix a problem they see on the horizon. N, although not a villain, genuinely believes in the morals espoused by Team Plasma. Ghetsis, on the other hand, genuinely doesn't care. He manipulates extremists to his own end of controlling the world, is more than willing to hurt anyone in his way, and is so narcissistic in his goals that he doesn't even bother justifying them. In an alternate future from Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, he succeeds in his goals, and the way he talks lacks any caring towards the damage he has done. He is one of the only villains who doesn't justify his evil acts, he gloats about it.
  • Large and in Charge: Even more so than his 'son', Ghetsis is six and a half feet tall, and judging by the huge metal ornament he carries around his neck in B/W probably very well-built.
  • Laser-Guided Karma: He more than earned his Fate Worse than Death of being reduced to a gibbering vegetable following his failure in Black and White 2.
  • Leitmotif:
    • Team Plasma Sage Encounter, though heard with the other sages, is predominantly used with Ghetsis and has an ominous tone that seems to fit him the most.
    • His battle theme really lives up to his Meaningful Name. It's completely different from any other theme in the series, consisting of almost nothing but heavy, oppressive drumbeats... then it's joined by a chorus chanting his name in low, menacing tones. Really brings across the sheer evil of the character.
    • His Black 2 and White 2 theme is made up of the same sounds, but much faster-paced and disorganized, to reflect his diminishing sanity.
  • Light Is Not Good: He was as one of the Seven Sages in Black and White, along with some gold and white on his original outfit.
  • Luke, I Might Be Your Father: Inverted for the trope: The game makes it clear that Ghetsis and N are father and son up until the post-game of Black and White, where one of the former Plasma Sages makes a comment where he doesn't even recall how N came into play, thus implying that N might not even be Ghetsis' son (not his biological son, at least). Black 2 and White 2 also seems to confirm that they aren't related.
  • The Man in Front of the Man: In Black and White. Even though N is the official leader of Team Plasma, Ghetsis is revealed to have been using him merely as an Unwitting Pawn for his own plans. He holds a similar position over Colress, the new technical leader of New Team Plasma, in the sequels. However, unlike N, Colress is fully aware that Ghetsis is the one that's truly in charge. In Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, he intends to become this to Giovanni.
  • Man of Wealth and Taste: Subverted. He speaks like a gentleman, lives in a literal castle and leads a group that consists of six philosophers. His gentlemanly demeanor, however, is skin-deep, the castle is destroyed and by the sequel, only one of his six philosophers wants anything to do with him.
  • Manipulative Bastard: Very much so. It's more pronounced the first games than the sequel where everyone, except for a select few, were unaware of his true intentions. He tricks N into thinking that Pokémon as a whole are unhappy with humans for his master plan.
  • Meaningful Name: "Goetis," one possible romanization 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). It's also confirmed that his name is derived from G and C-sharp, a tritone of musical notes that express disharmony and famously have Satanic connotations. Given his design, this makes all too much sense.
  • Mundane Utility: And if his pre-battle animation in Black 2 and White 2 is anything to go by, his mind control staff is also an actual walking stick.
  • Musical Theme Naming:
    • He's named after the G and C-sharp (or "Cis") timpanis of his battle theme, with "G-Cis" at one point being his first name. G and C-Sharp on a piano are a tritone, which is dissonance, an unstable harmony.
    • In medieval times, the tritone was called the Diabolus en Musica, the Devil in Music. Considering Ghetsis' role, it's quite apt.
  • Mysterious Past: We never learn exactly what his past is or why he feels it's his destiny to rule the world. The only real hints offered are in Black 2 and White 2, with Zinzolin revealing that he had a personal interest in the Abyssal Ruins, which are the burial grounds to an ancient king, whom he and/or N could potentially be descended from.
  • Narcissist: Cares for nothing but himself, because he is supposedly "perfection".
  • No-Nonsense Nemesis: For all his many faults, Ghetsis does not screw around. In Black and White, his team is designed specifically to take down N's team. In Black and White 2, Ghetsis embodies this even more so. He attempts to outright kill the player character and has a device that disables Poké Balls to prevent the player from capturing Kyurem.
  • Noodle Incident: Sometime in the past, he seems to have sustained some kind of brutal injury that left him with damage to his right side - his right eye is hidden by a monocle, his right arm is disfigured or hidden, and he seems to have difficulty moving the right side of his face. What happened to cause those injuries is not known.
  • Not So Similar: Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon and Pokémon Masters all go into his similarities with Giovanni; ambitious, cold, cunning, and almost gleefully evil crime bosses. However, Masters shows that even the Rainbow Rocket version of Giovanni, who has fewer of the original's Noble Demon traits, has some degree of morality, especially in regards to his son despite abandoning him as a child. In contrast, Ghestis frequently calls his adopted son a subhuman freak of nature. Silver (Giovanni's son) takes note of this difference when the two Team leaders briefly team up and manages to find Ghestis even more loathsome than his own father.
  • Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: He claims to believe that separating Pokémon and humans would be best for everyone involved. This is a lie; in reality, he just wants to make it so that he has full control of all trainer Pokémon so he can Take Over the World.
  • Obviously Evil: There are some telltale signs in his Black and White design, and then all ambiguity is thrown out with his Black 2 and White 2 design. Also, his team in both games consists of Pokémon that according to their respective Pokédex entries, are very violent, aggressive, and sadistic, and none of them look like anything a hero would use. It's also canon that his signature Pokémon, Hydreigon, is an Ax-Crazy Omnicidal Maniac.
  • Offing the Offspring: It's hinted that he was planning to kill N after he had fulfilled his role. In Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, as with the other villains also coming from universes where they won, this Ghetsis, by virtue of controlling Reshiram/Zekrom, is implied to have done so.
  • Olympus Mons: An alternate Ghetsis succeeds in controlling Reshiram/Zekrom before being pulled into the world of Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon and uses it as his ace Pokémon. It is unknown if Ghetsis took the dragon from N or if he sought it out himself. In Masters, he uses Kyurem instead.
  • Pet the Dog: Offscreen, he apparently saved the Shadow Triad's lives somehow, which is way they have Undying Loyalty to him. Unlike his taking in of N, Anthea and Concordia, it isn't stated or implied that he did so with an ulterior motive in mind.
  • Poison Is Evil: Along with the aforementioned Hydreigon, the most evil character in the story has two deadly-strong Poison-types - a Drapion and a Toxicroak - in Black 2 and White 2, and his Cofagrigus in all versions will try to stall out opponents using the Toxic-Protect-spam strategy.
  • The Power of Hate: His ace, his Hydreigon, has a fully powered Frustration, a move that gets stronger as the Pokémon it uses likes its trainer less.
  • Psychological Projection: He seems to seriously believe that everybody in the world is secretly just as bad as he is. The fact that he's wrong is basically what ruins his Evil Plan.
  • Pre-Final Boss: During Episode: RR in Ultra Sun and Moon, he's the penultimate boss before Giovanni.
  • Rage Breaking Point: He's already furious by the time of his defeat in Black and White 2 but when N tries to give him a Last-Second Chance, Ghetis flies off the handle so badly that it becomes his breaking point mentally.
  • Red and Black and Evil All Over: In the sequel he's wearing mostly black save for the red of his monocle.
  • Red Eyes, Take Warning: As well as a red monocle. Also the two eyes on his robe in the first game. Applies to a good few of his Pokémon too, such as Cofagrigus, Eelektross, Seismitoad, and of course, Hydreigon itself. Interestingly, said Pokémon are the four he uses in both appearances.
  • Red Right Hand:
    • If concept art is anything to go by, his right eye is either severely damaged or missing entirely. He wears a monocle to cover it.
    • It's also indicated that his right arm is disfigured. The game developers have said that both injuries occurred in a Pokémon attack sometime in the past (oddly enough, in the original games' opening, the only time his right arm is shown, it's discolored).
  • Redemption Rejection: His response to N asking him to change his evil ways is to scream at him hysterically, hurling abusive insults all the while, at which point Ghetsis' mind snaps and he goes full-blown insane.
  • Sadist: In addition to having zero remorse for any of his actions, he also gets joy from seeing others break down in despair and hopelessness when he wins.
  • Sanity Slippage:
    • After N is defeated in Black and White, 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.
    • He flat out loses it when his plan is foiled again in Black 2 and White 2. N attempts to convince him to turn to the side of good, but Ghetsis's response is to repeatedly order him to be silent and to stop talking to him in "human language," and to go and talk to Pokémon instead. He loses it so hard that the Shadow Triad remove him from the cave, recognizing that it's over. You can battle the Shadow Triad in the post game, and they state that, since Ghetsis's loss, he'd been utterly unable to function. The events of the two years, with the actions of the protagonists, the failures and betrayals of N and Colress, and the failure of his life's work, has utterly broken him.
  • Satanic Archetype: He has Devilish Hair Horns, extremely manipulative, has zero empathy, and other evil traits befitting to your typical Evil Overlord.
  • Self-Disposing Villain: After being thwarted in the sequels, the Shadow Triad tell you he's gone completely catatonic.
  • Seven Deadly Sins: Let's see...
    • He wants everyone's Pokémon for himself, and the more Pokémon he has, the more power he will wield as a result. (Gluttony)
    • He's incredibly arrogant, doesn't care for anyone other than himself, never treats a single Pokémon of his own with love and trust and instead only thinks of them as tools for domination, and will not allow anything to stand in the way of his goals. He also can't accept defeat. (Pride)
    • He makes it look like he wants everyone to reconsider their relationships with their Pokémon and release them so that both humanity and Pokémon can be free, when in fact he really wants to have their Pokémon for himself. In Black and White 2, he instead has his minions steal Pokémon from their trainers. (Greed)
    • He mainly has those affiliated with him and Team Plasma do all the work for him. He even knew that he himself couldn't become a hero of legend due to his reviled reputation, so he emotionally manipulated N as a way of preparing him for that purpose. (Sloth)
    • He gleefully and happily admits to enjoying seeing people break down in states of despair and hopelessness and seeing the looks on their faces when they lose all hope, which is something he always lusts for. (Lust)
    • He wants to make Pokémon illegal for everyone else and become the only one allowed to have and use Pokémon, when in fact Pokémon should be for everyone to use. And for what reason would he want to do so? Selfishness, of course. (Envy)
    • He battles the player in a rage out of denial over the fact that his plans, calculations and careful schemes are failing. He also tries to have Kyurem kill the player by freezing them alive with Glaciate. When N attempts to reason with him, he violently rejects the compassion shown by him. (Wrath)
  • Signature Mon:
    • His most powerful Pokémon is his Hydreigon, which has moves of four different types that all take advantage of its sky-high special attack. Its level was reduced in the sequels and it uses physical attacking moves instead of special moves, but it's still his strongest Pokémon. And even though it's his highest level Pokémon, it's still at least ten levels lower than when it normally evolves. While he still uses Hydreigon in Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, Ghetsis replaces it with Reshiram (Ultra Moon) or Zekrom (Ultra Sun) as his ace in Generation VII.
    • He also leads with a Cofagrigus in each version of his team.
    • In Masters, he is paired up with Kyurem.
  • A Sinister Clue: His official art and battle sprites always show him with his left hand outstretched. He almost never shows his right hand. The introductory video for the originals shows that his arm is discolored and dark. In the sequels, he mentions that he is going to take the player down with his "own hand" in singular, instead of "hands" in plural, possibly indicating that he could have lost his right arm sometime after N's crowning, though Generations depicts him as having two hands.
  • Sinister Minister: He very much looks like a priest or pastor of a church. He even goes around holding public sermons where he preaches about what should be done between humans and Pokémon.
  • Sinister Surveillance: His control room on the Plasma Frigate certainly gives off this sort of vibe. The fact that it's a bunch of static indicates the player character or Hugh might have been destroying the cameras while storming the Frigate.
  • Slasher Smile: Just to show you how massively pissed and insane he's become, this is now his pre-battle expression.
  • Smug Snake: In terms of planning, he's a brilliant Chessmaster. But in terms of attitude, he's totally this, especially when his plans fall apart. Subverted by the end of his role in Black and White 2, as he's now too insane to really have any ego.
  • The Sociopath: He is only interested in himself and his goals, has no regard for others, and uses superficial charm to mask his real plans, complete with frequent lying.
  • Staff of Authority: It doubles as a Mind-Control Device that allows him to control Kyurem, as well as a Poké Ball jammer, which he uses to prevent the player from capturing Kyurem for themselves during their encounter in the Giant Chasm.
  • The Starscream: In Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, he plans to turn Giovanni into a puppet ruler and take control of Team Rainbow Rocket for himself.
  • Straw Hypocrite: His attempts to separate humans and Pokémon aren't born from his claimed good intentions, but from a desire for world domination.
  • Straw Nihilist: He believes that concepts like family and ideals are all nothing but lies, at best. To him, the only worthwhile goal in life is to try and pursue grandeur for yourself, no matter what it costs.
  • Strong Family Resemblance: With N. In Black 2 and White 2 it's subverted since it's revealed that Ghetsis adopted N, although to be fair N doesn't know where he came from and there's enough to fan-wank that Ghetsis is his biological father, who temporarily abandoned him on purpose.
  • Symbol Motif Clothing: Both of his outfits feature giant eyes.
  • Take Over the World: His ultimate goal. He states he wishes to "rule the world utterly" and calls himself "the perfect ruler of a perfect new world." Taken to new extremes in Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, where he wants to rule ALL worlds and rule over all existence.
  • Took a Level in Dumbass: Subtle, but present in his Hydreigon's moveset in Black and White 2, though this could easily be justified as a result of his Sanity Slippage:
    • In Black and White, it had a purely special moveset and seemed to be built to counter N's entire team. In the sequels, however, all of its moves run off its inferior physical Attack stat.
    • His Hydreigon's new moveset has nothing to hit Steel-Type Pokémon with for anything more than resisted damage, unlike before, where it had Fire Blast and Focus Blast for them.
  • Took a Level in Jerkass: Shown outright, but also again implied by his Hydreigon's moveset, now knowing "Frustration" where it didn't before, the move being more powerful the more a trainer does things a Pokemon dislikes. Additionally implied by his only retaining the most brainwashed or loyal of his subordinates, inspiring far fewer people to stay.
  • 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."
  • Viler New Villain: It is notable that the previous main series villains have something sympathetic about them. Giovanni appears to care somewhat about the members of his team and takes his defeat gracefully. Archie and Maxie are Affably Evil plus reform after they see the error of their ways. Cyrus is a Well-Intentioned Extremist with a sympathetic and tragic backstory. Ghetsis has no redeeming qualities whatsoever and no known reason for being as evil and sadistic as he is, other than the fact that he is an egotist who believes he and only he deserves unlimited power.
  • Vile Villain, Saccharine Show: Unlike the rest of Team Plasma, his abusive nature is played dead seriously, and he's much nastier than any previous villainous team leader. Would you like some horrific child abuse to go with your cute monster battling? Or perhaps a dessert of an attempted freezing alive of the protagonist?
  • Villainous Breakdown:
    • He starts 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.
    • After you beat White/Black Kyurem, he gets so frustrated that his battle animation shows him stamping his cane several times until he slams it so hard, it plants into the ground. Afterwards he starts absolutely raving at you and N, panting from loss of breath and possible heart failure once he's done.
      "How can this be? I'm the creator of Team Plasma! I'm perfect! I'm the absolute ruler who will change the world! And I've lost to some unknown Trainer not once, but TWICE?! I can't accept this! This isn't possible! I can't be bested by fools who can't even use Pokémon correctly!"
      "Shut your mouth! Shut up! Shut up! Shut UP! Don't talk like a person, you freak! No real person could talk to Pokémon!"
    • In Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, he is from a reality where he never had his original breakdown. When defeated, he has it, almost word-for-word, with some new additions for good measure.
      "Myah-ha-ha! No, no, no, no, no! You don't get it, do you? I can't be defeated! I won't be! IT. CANNOT. BE. ALLOWED!"
  • Walking Spoiler: In addition to not being revealed to be the true leader of Team Plasma until the end of Black and White, at least 65% of his sheet was marked prior to Black 2 and White 2.
  • What Measure Is a Non-Human?: As he views Pokémon as mere tools, he considers N a freak for his empathy towards Pokémon, tortures Kyurem into his personal WMD, and upon noticing your Pokémon trembling in their Balls as he pits you against Black/White Kyurem, he briefly identifies it as anger before brushing off the concept that Pokémon can feel emotions.
  • Would Hurt a Child:
    • In Black 2 and White 2, he tries to freeze the protagonist solid. In the originals, his dialogue before the battle against him suggests that he'll eliminate the Player Character to silence him/her from revealing that N lost the fated battle.
      "In order to rule this world utterly, in order to manipulate the hearts of people who know nothing, I will have N be the king of Team Plasma. But, for that to work, you—since you know the truth—You must be eliminated!"
    • In Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon he takes Lillie as a hostage and unambiguously threatens to kill her if the player character doesn't surrender to him. What's worse is that this happens after a battle where all of his Pokémon have been knocked out, so he pretty clearly means to murder the girl with his bare hands.
  • Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?: Averted for the first time in the main series. Thankfully, N saves you in the nick of time. Then played straight again. After fusing Kyurem with N's dragon, Ghetsis could have ordered it to attempt to freeze the player character again, which should have succeeded this time. Instead he has it battle the player character, giving him a chance to defeat and unfuse Kyurem, foiling Ghetsis' plans.
  • You Monster!: Cheren and Alder point out that he's the "freak without a human heart," not N.

    Colress (Achroma) 

Plasma Boss Colress / Achroma (アクロマ akuroma)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/colress_9.png
"Team Plasma said we should recognize the potential in Pokémon and liberate them from humans. I disagree. Conversely, it should be humans who bring out the hidden potential in Pokémon!"
Voiced by: Jun'ichi Suwabe (JP, promo), Tokuyoshi Kawashima (JP, Pokémon Generations), Sean Schemmel (EN, promo), Chris Niosi (EN, Pokémon Generations), Yung-I Chang (EN - Pokémon Masters), Koji Yusa (JP, Pokémon Masters)

The secondary boss of Team Plasma, a scientist who wants to study Pokémon strength. He specializes in Steel-types.

He reappears in Alola, researching the region's unique forms of evolution and powerful Legendaries.
  • Adaptational Villainy: He is a big victim of this in adaptations, more so than most other characters. In Generation V, he's an Anti-Villain who even helps the player along and encourages them and fully reforms after the main plot, but every single adaptation does away with his good qualities and portrays him as a straight-up villain. Less so in Generations than in the anime and manga, as the cold and merciless behavior he displays there is something he alludes to have displayed in the games.
    Colress: "What I desire is to bring out the entirety in Pokémon potential! If I can accomplish that, I don't care what it takes! ...If it means you have to use a merciless approach, like Team Plasma's, and force out all of the Pokémon's power, then so be it!"
  • Affably Evil: He's more concerned about bringing out the strengths of Pokémon rather than Team Plasma's plan, he's pretty friendly in a genuine way, and he also helps you out quite a few times, even when it might be not in his best interest to do so.
  • Anti-Villain: His concerns are over making scientific discoveries about Pokémon rather than Team Plasma's ambitions. He stops being a villain altogether when he comes to understand that evil ways will never bring out Pokémons' true strength.
  • Ascended Extra: He plays more of a story role in Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon than he does in the originals, helping against Necrozma and later Team Rainbow Rocket.
  • Astonishingly Appropriate Appearance: His hair and clothing resemble Team Plasma's emblem.
  • The Atoner: He appears near the P2 Laboratory after the League, regretting his actions, stripped of his Plasma affiliations as well as disbanding New Team Plasma for good measures, and looking to make amends. He gives the player another Master Ball after he is beaten.
  • Badass Bookworm: He's a scientist type and one of the strongest trainers in the game.
  • Badass in a Nice Suit: He does wear a suit under the labcoat, as shown in his concept art.
  • Badass Labcoat: Wears one over his suit. He gets a new one in Pokémon Sun and Moon and the Ultra Versions, looking something like a cross between a lab coat and a winter greatcoat.
  • Big Damn Heroes: In Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon. During the Rainbow Rocket postgame segment, he had created and used a device that sent the other members of Team Rainbow Rocket back to their own worlds, but this really plays straight when he used it on Ghetsis before he has a chance to actually follow up the threat of harming Lillie. His appearance is made more sudden when it turns out he was invisible the whole time.
  • The Cameo: He reappears in Pokémon Sun and Moon, though he doesn't have much of a role in that game other than handing the player the TM for Flame Charge and the Drives for Genesect after the player becomes the champion; when he shows up he appears to merely be traveling across the Alola region for research purposes.
  • Character Development: By the time of Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon he's gone from someone willing to work with just about anyone in order to do his experiments, despite personally detesting them, as was the case with Ghetsis, to outright calling them out and being firmly on the side of good.
  • Character Tics: He wears small computers on his arms in Pokémon Sun and Moon and has a tendency to fiddle with them when speaking to the player character.
  • Color Motif: Black, white, and blue are Team Plasma's colors.
  • The Dragon: Though not as public as Zinzolin, he's the acting Boss for New Team Plasma, serving directly under Ghetsis and commandeering the Plasma Frigate. Although he's stronger than Zinzolin or the Triad, he's not really loyal to them personally — he's really just in it For Science!.
  • Even Evil Has Standards: He claims he actually couldn't stand Ghetsis and only worked with him for his resources. And unlike Ghetsis, Colress is willing to bring out the power of his Pokémon through love and trust, especially after meeting the player character. This disdain for Ghetsis is even more apparent in the Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon Team Rainbow Rocket postgame. He even makes a point of being there personally when he sends Ghetsis back to his world, something he didn't do for any of the other evil team leaders.
  • Evil Counterpart: In a way, he's this to the main games' Pokémon Professors (Oak, Elm, Birch, Rowan and Juniper). Like them, his goal is discover a truth behind Pokémon (in his case, strength). However, while the Professors are genuinely nice people whose main method of research is the Pokédex, Colress is willing to do whatever it takes to further his research, up to and including siding with Team Plasma. He wises up in the post game, though, realizing that villainous approaches are doomed to failure and writing them off entirely.
  • Evil Genius: As Team Plasma's top researcher.
  • Evil Mentor: Played with; he helps out the PC from time to time but only for his cause of making scientific discoveries, a goal that made him join Team Plasma, albeit as a member who doesn't care about their ambitions.
  • Exposed to the Elements: Inverted. When he visits Alola, a tropical region, he wears a thick, buttoned-up coat instead of the lab coat from Gen V. However, an NPC says he mentioned having a cooling mechanism built into his coat.
  • Extra-ore-dinary: Mostly uses Steel-types. However, he also uses Beheeyem and Rotom and hands the protagonist the TM for Flame Charge in Pokémon Sun and Moon.
  • Friendly Enemy: Is actually more of an ally than an enemy in most of the times he's encountered. Of course, this is mostly because the fact that he is an enemy at all is being kept secret from you.
  • For Science!: The reason he joins Team Plasma, even if their plan risks destroying the Unova region. His concern for studying the strength of Pokémon is greater than his concern for the fate of the region. Even Ghetsis criticized him for putting his scientific research before Team Plasma's ambition. He realizes this mistake at the end and atones for it during the postgame. A character in Pokémon X and Y also mentions that he has an interest in Mega Evolution and he tells the player character this himself during his cameo in Pokémon Sun and Moon, also mentioning an interest in Z-Power. When Team Rainbow Rocket takes advantage of Necrozma's Ultra Wormholes to take over the Aether Mansion, Colress slips and states how fascinating the prospect is, only to get back on track and focus how to turn things back to normal.
  • Four Eyes, Zero Soul: Subverted at the end.
  • Gadgeteer Genius: He has developed the Colress Machines, a series of remote control-like gadgets in which each one has a single different purpose. At first, in Black 2 and White 2, there is only one machine, used to wake up groups of Crustle, but by Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, the numbering of these Colress Machines goes over one thousand, some of them being the two machines that let the player fuse Necrozma with Solgaleo or Lunala, and another one that makes Colress invisible.
  • Heel–Face Turn: He can be found and battled at the P2 Lab, where he says he is attempting to make up for his mistakes, and is no longer affiliated with Team Plasma. This carries over to his appearance in Sun and Moon, which show him as a non-villainous researchernote . This is taken further in Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, which features Colress helping the player with Team Rainbow Rocket, particularly Ghetsis.
    Colress: Oh, please. I simply despise you, Ghetsis. That's enough reason for me!
  • Idiot Hair: Only this one is dyed blue and loops back over his head.
  • Improbable Hairstyle: Most of it looks normal, except for that one lick of Idiot Hair in the front.
  • Law Versus Chaos:
    • His alignment can vary due to doing it all For Science!, but he rarely dips into chaos.
    • Discussed in Pokémon Masters, where he theorizes that Pokémon being able to tap into sync stones truly has nothing to do if the bonds are either good or bad, but rather because they strive to excel in battle all the same regardless of their alignment. This only further convinces Paulo that his twisted views on becoming stronger no matter the cost are okay in his eyes.
  • Leitmotif: This theme. According to Word Of God, it is meant to sound all over the place, much like Colress himself.
  • Lightning Bruiser: Rotom-W (post-game) is decently fast, has high Special Attack, and packs a Life Orb. Also, his Metagross can use Agility, and Klinklang uses Shift Gear to boost its stats.
  • Meaningful Name: Colress comes from the word "colorless." Meanwhile, Chroma is Greek for "color," and is used in English to define the intensity of a color or colorfulness, while A is a prefix commonly used to denote a negative. Achroma then could mean either "colorless" or "against colorfulness/intensity." Both names refer to his amoral perspective of scientific progress.
    • His name could also refer to his thematic connection with Kyurem, the legendary of Black 2 and White 2 characterized by the absence of the pursuit of truth (Reshiram) or ideals (Zekrom), simply pursuing its own goals without respect to either trait.
  • Mechanical Lifeforms: Just like the other Scientists in the series his Pokémon mostly consist of mechanical or otherwise inorganic Pokémon such as Magnezone and Klinklang.
  • Mighty Glacier: Most of his Pokémon fit this role.
  • Obviously Evil: He looks the part. His colour scheme matches Team Plasma's logo almost completely and his encounter theme sounds a bit sinister. Turns out he's The Dragon of Team Plasma. However, it also turns out that he's not good or evil, and was mostly in it For Science!.
  • Optional Boss: You can challenge him each day. In Pokémon Sun and Moon, he shows up as a random opponent every 10-winning streak at the Battle Tree and can be recruited to be part of Multi-Battles.
  • Punch-Clock Villain: He's really just with Team Plasma because Ghetsis asked him to, and because it helps him conduct his research.
  • Recurring Boss: Fought at least three times.
  • Shock and Awe: His Magneton, Magnezone, and Rotom.
  • Signature Mon: The Klink line is always his strongest Pokémon, though he also notably uses two different members of the Magnemite line.
  • Stoic Spectacles: It fits his For Science! motif as he wears glasses and doesn't emote much.
  • Super Wrist-Gadget: In Generation VII, Colress is constantly typing on a wrist-mounted computer. A soft sound as if the keytaps are producing sounds in the computer always plays when he is present.
  • The Unfettered: Colress doesn't care if his actions are good or bad, he only cares about the science behind them. He even says that destroying the world would be worth it so long as there was scientific knowledge to be gained by it.

Seven Sages

    Seven Sages in General 

The Seven Sages

Tropes that apply to multiple members:

  • Affably Evil: Barring Ghetsis, none of them are particularly cruel or spiteful despite their actions or station. Even Zinzolin remains relatively honorable post Time Skip.
  • Beard of Evil: Gorm, Rood and Giallo.
  • Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Bronius, Giallo and Ryoku don't appear in Black 2 and White 2.
  • Colorful Theme Naming: The Seven Sages are named after colors. Rood is red, Bronius is brown/orange, Giallo is yellow, Ryoku is green, (Ghetsis fits in cyan despite his name breaking the theme), Gorm is blue, and Zinzolin is purple.
  • Demoted to Extra: Gorm makes a single appearance in Pinwheel Forest during Black 2 and White 2. Save Zinzolin and Rood, the rest don't even appear at all.
  • Evil Old Folks: All of them are at least middle-aged.
  • Graceful Loser: Minus Ghetsis, they all willingly turn themselves in to Looker for questioning when you catch them in the post game. Subverted by Zinzolin, who was faking it.
  • Heel–Face Turn: All of them except Ghetsis and Zinzolin. Out of all of them, however, only Rood appears to have fully turned good. The rest seem to have ended up neutral and opted not to get involved with the drama in the sequel.
  • Irony: Only Ghetsis and Zinzolin don't have facial hair of any kind, and only they remain antagonists after Black and White.
  • Jump Scare: Gorm has made this his hobby after the events of Black and White, sneaking up on people just to spook them (With harmless, prankster-like intention, mind you).
  • Leitmotif: They share a rather foreboding encounter theme between each other in Black and White, though naturally, it ends up associated most with Ghetsis due to his prominence in comparison to the others.
  • Omniscient Council of Vagueness: A more proactive example than most. They're a group of enigmatic old men who do the scheming for the team of evil villains.
  • The Unfought: In Black and White, barring Ghetsis. Averted in Black 2 and White 2 for Rood and Zinzolin - Rood is fought once as a test of character while Zinzolin is a Recurring Boss.
  • What Happened to the Mouse?: Among them, only Ghetsis, Zinzolin, Rood and Gorm return in the sequel (and Gorm only gets a cameo). The others are not seen or mentioned and we never find out what they're up to now. Presumably, they've simply opted not to get involved with New or Old Team Plasma.

    Rood 

Sage Rood (ロット rotto)

"At that time, I believed we were on the side of justice. By serving my king, N, I was going to make a world without war. But I was conceited, and I couldn't see the unhappiness we were causing. That's why I can't let it happen again!"
Voiced by: (in Pokémon Generations) Masaaki Ihara (Japanese), Michael McConnohie (English)

One of the Seven Sages.


  • Ascended Extra: In Black 2 and White 2, he has more distinctive focus and characterization, and even battles the player once. He and Old Team Plasma also hold off some of New Team Plasma's forces, allowing you to enter Plasma Frigate to stop Ghetsis.
  • The Atoner: Actively takes this role in the sequel, and even accepts liability when he's blamed for things he didn't personally do (such as when Hugh loses it at him).
  • Big Damn Heroes: In a manner similar to the Gym Leaders in B&W, he holds off New Team Plasma's forces to allow the player and Hugh entry into Plasma Frigate during the climax.
  • Chekhov's Gun: You remember that Zorua you see with N in the intro of the first game? Well, Rood gives you that Zorua and informs you about Memory Link, which is used for various features, particularly a flashback of N releasing the Pokémon he used against the previous protagonist.
  • Cool Old Guy: In Black 2 and White 2.
  • Eyes Always Shut: His character model.
  • Foreshadowing:
    • In the first BW games, he outright stated that he wanted to see N confront Ghetsis. This happens at the end of Black 2 and White 2.
    • He stated that if N learned to understand people better, he'd like for him and those who are still loyal to him to gather together again, which is exactly what happens in these games.
  • Heel–Face Turn: After the events of Black and White, he's actively opposed to the New Team Plasma (which includes his former colleague Zinzolin) and seems to lead Old Team Plasma in N's stead.
  • Ironic Name: In Black 2 and White 2, he leads Old Team Plasma in atoning for their former misdeeds, which isn't a very rude thing to do at all.
  • The Lancer: In Black 2 and White 2, he is N's number two in Old Team Plasma, and runs the show when N isn't around.
  • Meaningful Name: His name in every language means "red."
  • The Unfought: In the first game(s). Averted in Black 2 and White 2 despite his Heel–Face Turn, although you only battle him once.

    Zinzolin (Vio) 

Sage Zinzolin / Vio (ヴィオ vio)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/zinzolin.png
"It's bitter cold. I'm shivering. I'm suffering, but I'm alive! It's what the essence of life feels like! It's proof of my existence!"
Voiced by: (in Pokémon Generations) Tomoyuki Shimura (Japanese), Steve Staley (English)

One of the Seven Sages. Joins New Team Plasma in Black 2 and White 2.


  • Ascended Extra: In Black and White, Zinzolin was just one of the Seven Sages and didn't get much to do. His role was greatly expanded in Black 2 and White 2, where he's one of the biggest players of Team Plasma and a recurring opponent.
  • The Brute: He was demoted to this when Ghetsis appointed Colress as Plasma Boss (not that he seems to mind). He still functions as a major administrator, as well as commander of the Mook forces.
  • Co-Dragons: Along with Colress in Black 2 and White 2, he is Ghetsis' right-hand man. Unlike Colress who joins Ghetsis with his intentions being all about science and is revealed to be never loyal to his cause, Zinzolin serves his role as the public face of New Team Plasma for most of the game, but he's covering for actually a cover for Ghetsis, who is the true face of evil. He and the Shadow Triad are more actively behind Team Plasma's operations in Black 2 and White 2 than Ghetsis, while Colress acts as the acting leader of New Team Plasma and spends mostly in the background inside the Frigate until the climax. Zinzolin, on the other hand, is the most-fought antagonist in the game (with the fights being geared more towards the story's later stages).
  • Even Evil Has Standards: He is appalled by his own actions after finally seeing Ghetsis for what he really is at the end of B2W2.
  • Evil Costume Switch: Well, Eviler Costume Switch. He ditches his robes for a more militaristic outfit as part of the new Team Plasma. He switches again back to his old robes when you meet him at Undella Town during the post-game.
  • Evil Is Deathly Cold: Most of his team are Ice-type. Ironically, he cannot stand the cold.
  • Eyes Always Shut: His character model.
  • Face–Heel Turn: It was indicated in the first game(s) that he'd gone straight, like the other five "lesser" sages, so if he'd ever been a "Face," it didn't last long.
  • Foil: To the scientific-minded Colress, as they are both Ghetsis' Co-Dragons. Zinzolin is a heavyset man who is The Brute while Colress is a Lean and Mean man who is an Evil Genius. Their Pokémon types also contrast. Zinzolin uses Ice-type Pokémon who heavily leans to physical attack and defense, while Colress uses Steel-type Pokémon (except Beheeyem), which are super effective against Ice-type, with him leaning more heavily to special attack and defense.
  • Foreshadowing: Some of his lines from the previous games make more sense in the context of his role in this game, such as his fascination with Ghetsis.
  • Heel–Face Turn: He makes a more certain one after Ghetsis' final defeat, perhaps for good this time.
  • An Ice Person: Primarily uses Ice-type Pokémon in battle.
  • Irony: Zinzolin in the post-game in Black and White hid in the Cold Storage south of Driftveil, where you first met him, and both times complained constantly of the cold. And in Black 2 and White 2, all of his Pokémon are of the Ice type. Plus, while he still complains of the cold, he has grown to embrace it, even calling it the "essence of life".
  • Kick the Dog: When he learns why Hugh's so invested in fighting Team Plasma, he dismisses his grudge as insignificant.
  • Leitmotif: In Black 2 and White 2, he gets a slower and more militaristic arrangement of the Seven Sages' theme from the previous games.
  • Meaningful Name: His name in every language is some variant of "violet."
  • Recurring Boss: He's battled a total of four times during the game - of all antagonists in the main series, only N in the first B&W games is fought more (at five times).
  • Signature Mon: Weavile.
  • Tag Team: Half of the battles against him involve him teaming up with a New Team Plasma Grunt and the player teaming up with Hugh.
  • The Unfought: Present in the first game. Averted in the second.

Other Members

    Shadow Triad (Dark Trinity) 

The Shadow Triad / The Dark Trinity (ダークトリニティ daaku toriniti)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Shadow_Triad_B2W2_Trailer_8575.png
"We, the Shadow Triad, have always been and will always be the loyal servants of Ghetsis. And Ghetsis's ambitions will never cease!"
One is voiced by: (in promo) Akira Ishida (JP), Jason Griffith (EN), (in Pokémon Masters) Ben Balmaceda (EN), Takaaki Torashima (JP)

  • Ambiguous Gender: In the original games, where they are briefly referred to as male at one point and one point only. The sequels make it clear they're male.
  • Badass Crew: They're all pretty good fighters. Whether they have superpowers or some form of martial arts combined with technology isn't clear.
  • But for Me, It Was Tuesday: Darkly subverted in regards to the stolen Purrloin of Hugh's sister, since they remember it all too well and it has evolved into a Liepard during its time in their captivity.
  • Combat Pragmatist: They each have two Pawniard which later evolve into Bisharps, and one of them also has an Absol, a Pokémon which is often regarded as a bad omen. They also have the ability to stun people and teleport away.
  • Deadpan Snarker: One of them will occasionally give the player some dry remarks at their expense.
    "Aww. How unlucky. I don't happen to be the one holding the DNA Splicers. I was just buying time for the others to escape. Cheerio, bye-bye, whatever."
  • "Could Have Avoided This!" Plot: In-Universe, they describe that if Ghetsis's first plan of Unova domination had succeeded, many Pokémon would've been saved and he wouldn't have to use Kyurem to freeze Unova over.
  • Elite Mooks: Much stronger than most of the Grunts.
  • Evil Counterpart: They're essentially evil versions of the Striaton triplets, and they even fought against them shortly after the events of the first games.
  • Helpful Mook: When you go into N's castle, one of them tells you that you can heal your Pokémon and even access your PC.
  • Ninja: An entire trio of ninjas working for Team Plasma.
  • Not So Stoic: They are very upset about Ghetsis's vegetative breakdown induced by your victory over him, and attempt to avenge him by battling you in Icirrus City.
  • Optional Boss: You can challenge them after beating the Elite Four. They will battle you in Single, Triple, and Rotation battles once every season.
  • Pet the Dog: Despite their loyalty to Ghetsis, there are times in which they (briefly) bury the hatchet against Team Plasma's enemies.
    • They give Hugh back his sister's Purrloin, now evolved into a Liepard after they're beaten again aboard the Plasma Frigate.
  • Psycho Supporter: The three of them are loyal to Ghetsis unconditionally since he once saved their lives.
  • Recurring Boss: In Black 2 and White 2.
  • Signature Mon: Accelgor, Absol, and Banette, one for each. Their other Pokémon are all Pawniards, which later evolve into Bisharps by the time of their rematches in Icirrrus City once every season.
  • The Stoic: All three of them don't emote much.
  • Undying Loyalty: They are the only ones who still support Ghetsis in the end, because he had apparently saved their lives in the past.
  • The Unfought: In the original games. Averted for the sequel.
  • White Hair, Black Heart: Every single one of them has white hair. They're all messed up in the head, too.

    Anthea and Concordia (Verbena and Helena) 

Anthea and Concordia / Verbena (バーベナ baabena) and Helena (ヘレナ herena)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/anthea_and_concordia.png

  • 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. Even as members of Old Team Plasma in the sequel, they don't have much of a role in the game's plot.
  • All There in the Manual: In the Japanese version of the games they're only ever referred to by their titles, Goddess of Love and Goddess of Peace. Their actual names, Verbena and Helena, were only revealed in the anime and manga adaptations.
  • The Artifact: A widespread Urban Legend of Zelda is that they were initially planned to be more relevant to the story. If this is true, it would have been cut out very early, as no code in the files suggests this.
  • Conveniently an Orphan: They were taken in by Ghetsis in order to help look after N.
  • Cool Big Sis: Unlike Ghetsis, they really do love N, but don't always know what to do with him.
  • Hair Antennae: Concordia's hairstyle looks like a rabbit's ears.
  • Hair Color Dissonance: Although the intro of B/W and B2/W2 artwork make it clear that Anthea has pink hair, her overworld sprites in the former give her purple hair instead. This was corrected for the sequel.
  • Healing Hands: Anthea heals your Pokémon.
  • Heel–Face Turn: Though they weren't ever evil to start with, especially now seeing as they reveal they follow N and not Team Plasma, since they were orphans adopted by Ghetsis to serve as N's surrogate older sisters. They would later join Old Team Plasma.
  • Helpful Mook: They heal your Pokémon, give information on N, express pity for the poor guy, and generally aren't really evil at all.
  • Meaningful Name:
    • Concordia means "harmony" in Latin and was the Roman Goddess of Harmony.
    • Anthea is an epithet for the Greek goddess Hera.
    • Their real names in the Japanese version are named after flowers that represent "tender love" and "peace and wisdom."
  • Ms. Exposition: Concordia, who reveals N's backstory after many hints have been dropped throughout the game.
  • Nominal Importance: Inverted. They appear in the intro of Black and White, have completely unique designs and very different names. They are nonetheless irrelevant outside of some small exposition in both games, and many forget about them entirely.
  • Punch-Clock Villain: Their loyalty to Team Plasma is little more than an extension of their loyalty to N.
  • Rose-Haired Sweetie: Anthea has pale pink hair and is a sweet, loving older sister to N.
  • Satellite Character: They serve as N's, although the fact that they're his surrogate older sisters most likely makes this an intentional case.
  • The Unfought: It's not even known if they have Pokémon, although they do in some adaptations.

Alternative Title(s): Pokemon Villain Team Plasma

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