Player character

Red's Pokémon journey is about to begin...

A player character in the world of Pokémon is the protagonist of the games, the avatar of the player. Player characters are usually remarkably silent, only able to answer yes and no to questions. This is so that the player can "fill in" what they imagine the character is thinking, feeling and acting, thus immersing the player within the world of the game.

Gameplay

Main series

The player characters of the main series games (including redesigns)

In the mainstream games, the player characters are always Pokémon Trainers beginning their Pokémon journey. While most player characters start their journey at the age of 10, the player characters in Generation V are set to be older. At the conclusion of their journey, most will have conquered a Pokémon League's eight Gym Leaders and Elite Four, and become the Champion. Later games offer additional sidequests, although the main plot of the game is propelled by the Pokémon League challenge.

Those who do the above will most often start their journey in their hometown by getting, or shortly before getting, a starter Pokémon, a Pokémon that appears very early in their native region's Pokédex, and is of the Grass-, Fire-, or Template:Type2. The region's native Pokémon professor will always give them this, as well as a Pokédex.

In Pokémon Crystal, and each game in the main series which followed it, players were also able to pick the gender of the lead, more often than not to match their own.

Aside from the standard that many of the games' player characters take in their journey, there are also several other ways in which other player characters complete their journey, such as Wes and Michael who must defeat Cipher and free all of their snagged Pokémon from their Shadow state.

To date, only one player character has reappeared from an older generation in a role other than that of the player. In Generation II and IV, when Ethan or Kris/Lyra travels to Mt. Silver and reaches the deepest point of the cave, Red is found, utterly silent as he was under the player's control. At the time of these games' respective releases, Red's Pikachu was the highest-leveled Pokémon owned by an in-game Trainer (Barry's fully evolved starter Pokémon temporarily surpassed the standard set in Gold and Silver until the release of their remakes, HeartGold and SoulSilver).

Side series

In the Pokémon Ranger series, Solana, Lunick, Kellyn, Kate, Natsuya and Minami are not Pokémon Trainers, but instead Pokémon Rangers. They use the Pokémon they have captured with the Capture Styler to help them along the way. They also have partner Pokémon that follow them wherever they go.

In the Mystery Dungeon series, players play as actual Pokémon for the first time. Unlike most other Pokémon games, the player actually talks, but is given pre-generated phrases to say to questions.

In the Card GB series, Mark and Mint do not use actual Pokémon themselves, but cards instead.

Three unnamed player characters appear in Pokémon Stadium series. Japanese-only Pokémon Stadium featured one boy character, whose design was likely based on Red. However, for the sequel a brand new boy character has been created. This player has also made it to Pokémon Stadium 2, where he was given a female counterpart. She appears when a player uses a Pokémon Crystal Game Pak with the girl chosen in the saved game.

Others

In Pokémon Snap, Todd Snap must strive for something different from Trainers. He must capture all the Pokémon on Pokémon Island — on film.

In Pokémon Trozei!, the main protagonist is Lucy Fleetfoot. All the player has to do is tap the stage and Lucy accesses it. The player then plays the stage.

Images

Main series

Handheld

Region		Kanto						Johto					Hoenn			Sinnoh
Game		R	G	B	Y	FR	LG	G	S	C	HG	SS	R	S	E	D	P	Pt
Male	Name	Red						Ethan					Brendan			Lucas
	Front	File:Red main sprite.png			File:Y Red.png	File:FRLG Red.png		File:GS Gold.png		File:C Gold.png	File:HGSS Ethan.png		File:RS Brendan.png		File:E Brendan.png	File:DP Lucas.png		File:Pt Lucas.png
	Back	File:Redback.png						File:GS Gold Back.png			File:HGSS Gold Back.png
Female	Name	No female player character				Leaf		No female player character		Kris	Lyra		May			Dawn
	Front					File:FRLG Leaf.png				File:C Kris.png	File:HGSS Lyra.png		File:RS May.png		File:E May.png	File:DP Dawn.png		File:Pt Dawn.png
	Back										File:HGSS Kotone Back.png

Console

Region	Orre
Game	Colo	XD
Name	Wes	Michael
Artwork		File:Michael.jpg

Side series

Card GB series

Game		TCG	TCG 2
Male	Name	Mark
	Sprite
Female	Name	No female player character	Mint
	Sprite		File:Mint 2.jpg

Stadium series

Game		Stadium (Japan)	Stadium	Stadium 2
Male	Image		File:S S2 Player Boy.png
Female	Image	No female player character		File:S2 Player Girl.png

Ranger series

Region		Fiore	Almia			Oblivia
Game		Ranger	Shadows of Almia			Guardian Signs
Male	Name	Lunick	Kellyn			Natsuya
	Front					File:Lol Natsuya f.png
	Back					File:Lol Natsuya b.png	File:Lol Natsuya b w.png
Female	Name	Solana	Kate			Minami
	Front					File:Lol Minami f.png
	Back					File:Lol Minami b.png	File:Lol Minami b w.png

Mystery Dungeon series

See: Starter Pokémon

Others

Game	Snap	Trozei
Name	Todd	Lucy
Image	File:Toddsnap.png	File:LucyFleetfoot.gif

In the anime

In the anime, five of the player characters have been given major roles, three of them in the main anime series. Ash and Ritchie represent Red (their game counterpart), being based on him in appearance as well as basic history. At the beginning of Advanced Generation, May was introduced in order to better represent Generation III to viewers, as both Misty and Brock are characters native to Generation I. Likewise, at the beginning of the Diamond & Pearl series, Dawn joined Ash.

Jimmy and Marina appeared in The Legend of Thunder! special, taking a similar role to Ash and his companions, fighting Team Rocket members to protect legendary Pokémon. While the protagonists of Generation II were not represented in Ash's party, these two filled the roles as the anime counterparts to Ethan and Kris.

Lyra appears in An Egg Scramble!, and joins the group for a brief time.

So far, Brendan has only made a few select cameo appearances at the begin of some of the movies, while Lucas made a cameo at the beginning of Giratina and the Sky Warrior battling Brendan.

In the manga

Most of the characters in Pokémon manga are based on player and rival characters from the main series, with Red being based on his game counterpart. This is also the case for his two fellow Kanto Pokédex Holders, and the same applies for nearly all other main characters in the series; Gold, for example, is based on the then-unnamed player character Ethan. However, because the Yellow version, the fourth installment to the first generation, gave no additional protagonists, Yellow was created, revealed to have been the girl Red rescued in the Viridian Forest before his battle with Giovanni. Emerald is another cognate case, as in the entirety of Generation III, only two player characters were given. Wally, the closest thing to a third main character, was dropped in favor of this new character designed entirely from scratch. As of the DP and Platinum chapters, only the first ten main characters have met each other, as none of the Sinnoh Dex Holders have ventured out of their region.

Additionally, though Lyra is almost universally accepted as a completely different character, rather than a new redesign like Ethan, Crystal has appeared wearing her clothes to serve as a counterpart, rather than introducing a second Johto female protagonist for the HeartGold & SoulSilver arc.

Trivia

• None of the male player characters from the main series (or their counterparts) have encountered Ash, the main character from the Pokémon anime. Ash has only met male characters from side games, like Pokémon Ranger.
• Red's dialogue during his appearance as an NPC in Generation II and Generation IV references the Pokémon games' player characters' status as silent protagonists. His dialogue with the player character(s) of those games consists only of ellipses and an exclamation point when he is defeated.
• Leaf is the only player character from the handheld games so far not to appear in the anime either through a cameo or a counterpart.
• All player characters of the same gender have had the same list of default names since Generation III, with the exception of game-specific names such as Landon and Sean (for Brendan) or Terra and Marina (for May). The game-specific names have always been related to the title or aspects of the game.
• In the main games, the given Japanese names of the male player characters (as NPCs) all end in ki (キ). This excludes Red's appearance in Generations II and IV, as he is not a player character during the games when he is an NPC. Inclusively, Lunick's Japanese name also ends in ki.

Player characters
Core series Red • Leaf • Ethan • Kris • Lyra • Brendan • May • Lucas • Dawn Hilbert • Hilda • Nate • Rosa • Calem • Serena • Elio • Selene Chase • Elaine • Victor • Gloria • Rei • Akari • Florian • Juliana Side series Wes • Michael • Nate • Cyndy Spin-off games Mark • Mint • Todd Snap • Lucy Fleetfoot Lunick • Solana • Kellyn • Kate • Ben • Summer Hero • Heroine • Tim Goodman • Scottie • Bettie