** They are also, along with Wally, the only rivals in the [[main series]] that the player cannot name.
** They are also, along with Wally, the only rivals in the [[main series]] that the player cannot name.
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** Brendan is the only male [[Playable Character]] from the main series games who doesn't make an appearances in the [[Generation IV]] games, with [[Ethan]] and [[Red]] appearing in [[Heartgold & Soulsilver]] and [[Lucas]] appearing in [[Diamond & Pearl]] and [[Platinum]].
Brendan (Japanese: ユウキYūki) serves as the rival in Pokémon Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald, if the player choose to play as the female character. He is also the male choice in the games, but Brendan is never among the default names for the character.
Brendan starts his journey moving from his home in Johto to his new home in the town of Littleroot in Hoenn. After saving Prof. Birch from a wild Pokémon, he is given one of the three starters of the Hoenn region. Brendan develops a close bond with May, and eventually Wally, who both act as his rivals. Brendan goes on to gather the eight badges of Hoenn, stop the plans of Team Aqua and Team Magma and conquer the Pokémon League all before going off to face the Battle Frontier.
He is given a much bigger task than both Red and Gold, as he has to save the world from either flooding, drying up, or both depending on the game.
Pokémon
In the games he appears in, Brendan battles with the following Pokémon. Unlike other rivals (excluding May), Brendan never evolves his starter Pokémon into its final form.
Like in the games, he has the starter Pokémon that weakens May's. It is unknown if his relatives are the same as that of the games, where, as May is Norman's daughter (as the player is), Brendan would be Professor Birch's son. Brendan seems to be a competitive battler, as his cameos suggest he spends time in Battle Towers.
In his third appearance he was seen battling against Lucas, Dawn's male counterpart, much as May faced off against Dawn in the Wallace Cup. Unlike May, however, Brendan was still wearing the same outfit he had been previously, based on his clothes from Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire, rather than from Pokémon Emerald.
Pokémon
The following are Brendan's known Pokémon in the anime:
The English default names for Brendan include Landon in Ruby (as a reference to Groudon) and Sean in Sapphire (as a reference to Kyogre). The same holds true for two of his Japanese default names, Rikuya and Kaito. Riku (陸) and kai (海) mean land and sea, respectively.
It's to be noted that, in their respective languages' Emerald, the names relating to the "sea" aspect found in Sapphire are not in their default list of names. This also holds true for games outside the Japanese and English language versions.
As the player, neither Brendan nor his female counterpart May are native to the Johto region.
In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Pikachu wears Brendan's Emerald headband similar to Red's hat as an alternate costume. Also the Pokémon Trainer has an alternate costume with a similar color scheme as Brendan's Emerald outfit.
There is a large amount of confusion and debate amongst the fanbase concerning Brendan's hair. Brendan's manga counterpart, Ruby, has black hair in a similar style to Norman's and merely wears a white hat. Several pieces of official art and sprites vary in this depiction, though many claim specific images as concrete evidence that he is indeed wearing a hat, albeit a very unique one. Particularly the appearance of black side burns in the Emerald art, and distinctly black hair appearing on the backside of his head from under the colored band in his game backsprites. Outside of the manga, it is not explicitly stated whether it is a hat or hair.
Curiously, Lucas's and Dawn's Platinum artwork feature them holding a Repeat Ball, causing this situation to happen with two player characters in the third version of two consecutive generations.
As the player character (along with May), they are the only set of player characters that have both a mother and a father in the games. As a rival, this trait is shared with Barry.
As the rival, Brendan, along with May, are the only rivals to wear any sort of headgear.
They are also, along with Wally, the only rivals in the main series that the player cannot name.