Elite Four

The Elite Four (Japanese: 四天王 Four Heavenly Kings) are four Pokémon Trainers who are regarded as the toughest in their regional Pokémon League, short of League Champion. Those who challenge the Elite Four must have achieved all eight Badges from that region and face all four and the current Champion consecutively without losing to any of them.

One group resides on Indigo Plateau in Kanto, and are considered the best trainers in both Kanto and Johto; another is in Ever Grande City in Hoenn; and the last known one is in the unnamed Pokémon League in Sinnoh.

Kanto/Johto Elite Four

Generation I and III

In the Generation I games Pokémon Red, Blue, and Yellow, and their Generation III remakes, the Elite Four at the Indigo Plateau consists of:

Member Japanese	Type	Teams
		Red	Green	Blue	Yellow	FireRed and LeafGreen
						After Kanto	After Sevii
File:FL Lorelei.png Lorelei カンナ Canna	Ice
File:FL Bruno.png Bruno シバ Shiba	Fighting
File:FRLG Agatha.png Agatha キクコ Kikuko	Ghost
File:FL Lance.png Lance ワタル Wataru	Dragon
File:FL Blue.png Champion Blue グリーン Green	Various

Generation II an IV

In Generation II and Generation IV, the Elite Four at the Indigo Plateau consists of:

Member Japanese	Type	Teams
File:WillGSCsprite.png Will イツキ Itsuki	Psychic
File:KogaGSCsprite.png Koga キョウ Kyō	Poison
File:BrunoGSCsprite.gif Bruno シバ Shiba	Fighting
File:GSC Karen.gif Karen カリン Karin	Dark
File:LanceGSCsprite.png Champion Lance ワタル Wataru	Dragon

Hoenn Elite Four

Generation III

In Generation III, the Elite Four in Ever Grande City consists of:

Member Japanese	Type	Teams
		Ruby	Sapphire	Emerald
File:E Sidney.png Sidney カゲツ Kagetsu	Dark
File:E Phoebe.png Phoebe フヨウ Fuyō	Ghost
File:E Glacia.png Glacia プリム Prim	Ice
File:E Drake.png Drake ゲンジ Genji	Dragon
File:RS Steven.png Champion Steven ダイゴ Daigo	Steel
File:E-Wallace.png Champion Wallace ミクリ Mikuri	Water

Sinnoh Elite Four

Generation IV

In Generation IV, the Elite Four at the Pokémon League consists of:

Member Japanese	Type	Teams
		Diamond	Pearl	Platinum
Aaron リョウ Ryou	Bug
Bertha キクノ Kikuno	Ground
Flint オーバ Ōba	Fire
Lucian ゴヨウ Goyō	Psychic
Champion Cynthia シロナ Shirona	Various

In the anime

File:Sinnohelitefour.jpg

The Sinnoh Elite Four in the anime

Ash and his friends often meet the members of the Elite Four, who then impart them with battle strategies. So far, Ash has only met the complete Kanto group, meeting Lorelei in The Mandarin Island Miss Match, Bruno in To Master the Onixpected, Agatha in The Scheme Team and Lance in Talkin' 'Bout an Evolution. Ash has also met Koga in The Ninja Poké-Showdown, though merely for the Fuchsia Gym Badge, Steven in A Hole Lotta Trouble!, Drake in Vanity Affair, Wallace in Our Cup Runneth Over!, Lucian in An Elite Meet and Greet!, Cynthia in Top-Down Training! and Aaron in A Trainer and Child Reunion!.

It has been hinted by Lucian in An Elite Meet and Greet! that when a trainer wins their respective region's Conference Tournament that they can participate in the Elite Four Challenge, fighting the four members of that region's Elite Four, and then possibly the Champion as well.

Trivia

• As of Generation IV, Champion Lance has the lowest average level, and Champion Cynthia has the highest average level in the player's first battle with them. Coincidentally, they are the only members of the Elite Four that Ash has encountered more than once, and appear as champions contemporaneously due to HeartGold and SoulSilver occurring at the same time as Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum.
• The levels of the Johto Elite Four are considerably the lowest of the Leagues, having levels under 50 (apart from Lance), while the Kanto, Hoenn and Sinnoh have levels higher than 50/60. This is due to the accessibility of Kanto after the defeat of the Elite Four.
• In Platinum, the highest-leveled Pokémon of Bertha, Flint, and Lucian (Rhyperior, Magmortar, and Gallade respectively) match the final Pokémon that the Sinis Trio uses from Pokémon Ranger: Shadows of Almia, in that same order.
• The Elite Four of Sinnoh are the only Elite Four whose names follow each other alphabetically, not counting Cynthia.
• The Sinnoh Elite Four is also the only Elite Four to not include a Dragon-type trainer, including the Champion (although Cynthia does use a single Garchomp). Since there is also no Dragon-type Gym Leader in Sinnoh either, it is the only region without a notable Dragon-type Trainer. However, prior to unlocking the National Dex, the only Pokémon usable by a such a Trainer, assuming they would stick to only Dragon-types, would be Garchomp and its evolutionary line. In Platinum, it would also include Altaria.
• Though multiple Trainers in the Elite Four use the same type as another Elite Four Trainer, only Fighting and Dragon have appeared multiple times used by the same Trainers (as Lance and Bruno are in the Elite Four of Kanto in all four generations).

In other languages

• Chinese: 四天王 (Sìtiānwáng)
• French: Conseil 4
• German: Top Vier
• Italian: Superquattro
• Korean: 사천왕 (Sacheonwang)
• Polish: Elitarna Czwórka
• Portuguese: Elite dos Quatro
• Spanish: Alto Mando

This game character article is part of Project CharacterDex, a Bulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on each character found in the Pokémon games.