This article is about the Elite Four member. For the member of Team Rocket with the same name in Japanese, see Proton.

Lance
ワタル Wataru
HeartGold SoulSilver Lance.png
Art from HeartGold and SoulSilver
Gender Male
Eye color Brown
Hair color Red
Hometown Blackthorn City (games, anime)
/Viridian Forest (Adventures)
Region Johto
Relatives Clair, Dragon Clan Elder
Trainer class Elite Trainer, later Champion
Generation I, II, III, IV
Games Red, Blue, Yellow, Gold, Silver, Crystal, FireRed, LeafGreen, HeartGold, SoulSilver, Stadium, Pokémon Stadium 2
Elite Four of Indigo Plateau
Champion of Indigo Plateau
Specializes in Template:Type2s
Anime debut Talkin' 'Bout an Evolution
English voice actor Wayne Grayson
Japanese voice actor Susumu Chiba

Lance (Japanese: ワタル Wataru) is a master Template:Type2 Trainer, a member of the Kanto Elite Four in Generation I and Generation III and the League Champion in Generation II and Generation IV.

In the games

 
Art of Lance from Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen

In Generation I and the Generation III remakes, Lance is the fourth and final member of the Elite Four. He must be defeated before facing Blue, the League Champion. By the Generation II games, he has proceeded to become League Champion.

He raises Template:Type2 Pokémon, which are both hard to catch and raise, but he prefers the superiority of Dragon-type Pokémon, believing them to be virtually indestructible.

Known as a cool and heroic Trainer, Lance has a large fan-following. Lance also seems to have a liking for capes, as he is often seen buying identical capes at the Celadon Department Store.

Lance's grandfather is the elder of a famous clan of Dragon masters. Clair is his cousin, and his hometown is Blackthorn City.

Lance appeared at Mahogany Town to help the player fight Team Rocket in Johto. Lance rewards the player with the Whirlpool HM for helping him put an end to Team Rocket's sinister plans.


Fame Checker

This is a list of the Fame Checker's information on Lance in Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen.

Pokémon League - Lance
  • What does this person do?
"I lead the ELITE FOUR. You can call me LANCE the dragon TRAINER."
Pokémon League - Lance
  • Favorite kind of Pokémon?
"You know that dragons are mythical POKÉMON. They're hard to catch and raise, but their powers are superior. They're virtually indestructible. There's no being clever with them."
Saffron City - Woman
  • What is this person like?
"He stands for justice! He's cool, and yet passionate!
He's the greatest, LANCE!"
Celadon Dept. Store - Girl
  • "We have a customer, LANCE, who occasionally comes. He always buys capes.
I wonder... Does he have many identical capes at home?"
Indigo Plateau - Pokémon Journal
  • Family and friends?
"LANCE's grandfather is thought to be the elder of a famous clan of dragon masters."
Indigo Plateau - Kid
  • Family and friends?
"From what I've heard, LANCE has a cousin who's a GYM LEADER somewhere far away."
Message from <sc>Lance
  • From: Lance
  • To: [Player]
"I'm considering going back to my hometown. I want to retrain my DRAGON-type POKÉMON and strengthen them.
I'd like to invite you to my hometown someday."

Pokémon

This listing is for Lance's Pokémon in the video games in which he has appeared.

Pokémon Red, Green and Blue



Pokémon Yellow



Pokémon Gold, Silver, and Crystal



Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen

First battle



Second battle



Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver

Tag battle with player in the Team Rocket HQ



First Battle



Second Battle



Tag battle with Clair



Pokémon Stadium

Round 1



Round 2



Pokémon Stadium 2

In Pokémon Stadium 2, Lance is the champion, who is fought at the end of the Elite Four. As the player must use the same Pokémon that it used against the Elite Four, Lance is extremely difficult to defeat with Rental Pokémon, but not impossible (due to the element of chance). Once Lance is defeated, the player can battle any gym leaders in the Kanto region at any time.

Round 1



Round 2



Quotes

File:LanceRB.png File:YellowLance.png File:LanceGSCsprite.png
Lance's sprite from
Generation I
Lance's sprite from
Pokémon Yellow
Lance's sprite from
Generation II
File:FL Lance.png File:LanceHGSS.gif  
Lance's sprite from
Generation III
Lance's sprite from
Generation IV
Lance's back sprite from
Generation IV
   
Lance's VS sprite from
Generation IV
Lance's artwork from
Pokémon Stadium/2

Pokémon Red, Blue, Yellow, FireRed, LeafGreen

"Ah! I heard about you, <player>! I lead the Elite Four! You can call me Lance the Dragon Trainer! You know that dragons are mythical Pokémon! They’re hard to catch and raise, but their powers are superior! They’re virtually indestructible! Well, are you ready to lose? Your League challenge ends with me, <player>!"
"That’s it! I hate to admit it, but you are a Pokémon master!"
"I still can’t believe my dragons lost to you, <player>! You’re now the Pokémon League champion! …Or, you would have been, but you have one more challenge ahead. You have to face another Trainer! His name is… <rival>! He beat the Elite Four before you. He is the real Pokémon League champion!"

Pokémon Gold, Silver, Crystal

"I’ve been waiting for you. <player>! I knew that you, with your skills, would eventually reach me here. There’s no need for words now. We will battle to determine who is the stronger of the two of us. As the most powerful Trainer and as the Pokémon League Champion… I, Lance the dragon master, accept your challenge!"
"…It’s over. But it’s an odd feeling. I’m not angry that I lost. In fact, I feel happy. Happy that I witnessed the rise of a great new Champion!"

Pokémon Stadium 2

"It looks like even the Elite Four couldn't stop you. I'm your last opponent in the Johto Castle!"
"I am still the Champion. I won't hold anything back."
"I've been waiting for you. Allow me to test your skill."
"Hyper Beam!"
"It's all over!"
"Dragonite for the win!"
"That's it. Come back!"
"Ow, bad news!"
"I concede defeat. You might have what it takes to prevail over KANTO's GYM LEADERs."

In the anime

 
Lance in the anime
File:Lance Disguised TR.jpg
Lance disguised as a Team Rocket Grunt

Lance is a Pokémon Trainer famous in the Pokémon League. He is a member of an organization called the Pokémon G-Men.

Lance's first appeared in Talkin' 'Bout an Evolution. When Team Rocket started up an evil scheme at the Lake of Rage, Lance showed up to investigate. He met Ash, Misty and Brock there, saving the children from some formidable Rocket Grunts. Ash wanted to help Lance in his mission, but Lance said it was too dangerous.

Team Rocket was trying to investigate the properties of a Template:Shiny2 Gyarados so that they could learn how to force Pokémon to evolve. Lance was able to destroy Team Rocket's machine and blow up their laboratory. Ash was able to calm the Red Gyarados at first, but it continued to go berserk. Finally, Lance caught it to keep it from destroying Mahogany Town.

Lance later appeared again in Gaining Groudon and The Scuffle of Legends, where he helped stop the rampage of Kyogre and Groudon.

Pokémon

This is a list of Lance's known Pokémon:

 
Dragonite
Main article: Lance's Dragonite

Dragonite is Lance's main Pokémon. In addition to battling, he also uses it to fly around. In Talkin' 'Bout an Evolution and Rage of Innocence, Dragonite helped Lance stop Team Rocket. It was also used to help him battle against TRTyson ([[{{{2}}} (move)|{{{2}}}]])'s two Fearow at the same time, as well as to help Lance capture the Red Gyarados that was on a rampage at Mahogany Town.

It also appeared in The Scuffle of Legends where it helped Lance and the others to stop the legendary battle between Kyogre and Groudon.

Debut Talkin' 'Bout an Evolution
Voice actors
Japanese Katsuyuki Konishi
English Katsuyuki Konishi
Lance's Gyarados
Gyarados
Main article: Red Gyarados

After being forced to evolve by an experiment of Team Rocket, this Gyarados went rampage around until Lance managed to capture it. It was later used to stop the battle between Kyogre and Groudon.

Debut Talkin' 'Bout an Evolution
Voice actors
Japanese Unshō Ishizuka
English Unshō Ishizuka
 
Gyarados
Not much is known about Lance's other Gyarados. Its only appearance was in Marina's fantasy in The Legend of Thunder!.
Debut The Legend of Thunder!

Voice actors

Language Voice actor
Japanese Susumu Chiba
English Wayne Grayson
Hebrew Ido Moseri
Polish Aleksander Gawek
Brazilian Portuguese Francisco Freitas (EP235-EP236)
Celso Alves (AG097-AG098)
Spanish Latin America Enzo Fortuny (EP235-EP236)
Víctor Ugarte (AG097)
Héctor Emmanuel Gómez (AG098)
Spain Jorge Saudinós (EP235-EP236)
Miguel Ángel Garzón (AG097-AG098)


In the Pokémon Adventures manga

Lance is primarily a villain in Pokémon Adventures. As the leader of the Elite Four, he wishes to exterminate the human race, save for a few people who he deems to be kind enough to Pokémon. Apparently also from Viridian City, Lance was blessed with the powers of the Viridian Forest as Yellow was. He has the power to telepathically communicate with Pokémon, as well as heal their wounds. Lance also has the ability to control or brainwash any Dragon-type Pokémon, as well as most Pokémon similar to Dragons (such as Aerodactyl or Tyranitar).

He first appears at Vermilion before the start of the Vermilion City Surfing Competition. The Dragonair that was to be offered as a prize to the winner was actually his. He then attacked Vermilion City and destroyed it, saying he was looking for something. When Yellow came after him he tried to capture Pika to please Agatha and Lorelei but once Pikachu learned Surf he too failed. Before the battle could continue, he mysteriously disappeared.

He next appeared on Cerise Island battling Blaine and Yellow. When Blaine released Mewtwo Blaine and Yellow were able to gain the upper hand against Lance's Aerodactyl and his two Dragonair. However, due to Blaine's link with Mewto they could only battle together for about three minutes and with time running out Blaine decided to target Lance's Poké Balls so he couldn't call out any other Pokémon and would have to battle with his weakened Pokémon that were already out. He succeeded in destroying the balls only for Blaine to be knocked unconscious due to Mewtwo's time out being run too long. Lance then chuckled to himself, revealing that he had called his Pokémon out of their balls before the battle even began.

During Lance's battle with Yellow both of them were equally matched, Lance luring the battle out onto the top of Cerise Island, a volcano. Lance then once again gained the upper hand by having his Gyarados and Dragonair make green, red, and blue bubbles so they could not be detected in sunlight. Just when it seemed when Yellow was about to lose, Giovanni arrived and helped subdue Lance, using his Rhyhorn to create a sandstorm to make the bubbles visible. But this capturing only proved to be part of his plan, as he needed Giovanni's badge since it was the last badge he needed for the Badge Energy Amplifier to summon Lugia, so he lured Giovanni to the middle of the island so the Earth Badge would be automatically ripped from him and the Amplifier would automatically activate, summoning Lugia. Lance wanted Lugia to help accomplish his goals, but Yellow's Pokémon were able to drive Lugia away once they evolved and Yellow was able to channel their power into Pika's Megavolt.

This interested Lance, as he wanted to find out who Lugia's real owner was. It wasn't often that he lost control of dragon-like Pokémon.

Lance disappeared for a while, investigating Lugia and working behind the scenes. He gave Silver advice on how to defeat Team Rocket in Johto, as well as a Tyranitar. Working through Silver, Lance tried to help defeat the Masked Man.

Pokémon

This listing is for Lance's Pokémon in the Pokémon Adventures manga:

On hand

   
DratiniDragonairDragonite
  
PupitarTyranitar
  
MagikarpGyarados

 
Horsea

 
Aerodactyl

 
Dragonair
(x4)

Released

 
Lugia (temporarily had
control of, fled)

In the TCG

This listing is of cards mentioning or featuring Lance or his Pokémon in the Pokémon Trading Card Game.

Name Type Level Rarity Set Set no.
Lance's Charizard   -   Pokémon VS (no English release) 97/141
Lance's Gyarados   -   Pokémon VS (no English release) 98/141
Lance's Aerodactyl   -   Pokémon VS (no English release) 99/141
Lance's Dragonite   -   Pokémon VS (no English release) 100/141
Lance's Ampharos   -   Pokémon VS (no English release) 101/141
Lance's Kingdra   -   Pokémon VS (no English release) 102/141
Lance's TM 01 - -   Pokémon VS (no English release) 128/141
Lance's TM 02 - -   Pokémon VS (no English release) 129/141

Trivia

  • Lance has battles with two illegal Pokémon: the Aerodactyl that knows Rock Slide that he uses in Gold, Silver, and Crystal, and the Dragonite that knows Barrier that he uses in Red and Blue. Furthermore, all his Dragonite from Generation II, as well as in the double battle against Team Rocket and the first battle against him in the Pokémon League in Generation IV, are underleveled.
  • It is interesting to note that as of Pokémon Yellow Lance has red hair, while a card depicting him in Monopoly: Pokémon Edition shows artwork of him with purple hair. This is probably due to the fact that the board game was made before Yellow was released and his sprite in Red and Blue is grayish-blue in color.
  • Though his type theme is Dragon Pokémon, in Generation II, only three of his Pokémon are actually of the Dragon type; all of them Dragonite. Interestingly, all six of his Pokémon have Flying as their secondary type.
  • Lance, Bruno, and Koga are the only members of the Elite Four who have appeared in all four generations.
    • Although, in Generations I and III, Koga was a Gym Leader.
  • Lance is the only member of the Johto Elite Four who on the second time through, still does not have a team of only his type, with Charizard and Gyarados not being Dragon-types.
  • In the rematch battles in HeartGold/SoulSilver, Lance uses every Template:Type2 pseudo-legendary. He also uses Tyranitar, another pseudo-legendary, in Pokémon Stadium 2 (both Round 1 and 2). This means that Lance has used every pseudo-legendary other than Metagross, making him the Trainer who has used the most pseudo-legendaries in the series thus far.
  • Lance is the only Trainer the player can battle with in a double battle (Team Rocket HQ), against in a double battle (Dragon's Den), and against in a single battle (as Champion) so far.
  • Despite taking place three years later, Lance's Pokémon are at a lower level in Generation II than they were in Generation I. The same thing happens to Bruno.
  • Lance is the only Champion so far to not use a Template:Type2 Pokémon.
  • In the rematch battle in HeartGold/SoulSilver, all of his Pokémon have a quadruple weakness to either the Rock, Ice or Electric-types.
  • Lance appears as an opponent in Pokémon Puzzle Challenge. He uses a Dragonite in battle.
  • The tag battle with him against Team Rocket Executive Ariana and a Grunt can be seen parallel to the tag battle the player has with Steven Stone in Pokémon Emerald against Team Magma leader Maxie and Admin Tabitha, in the sense that the player teams up with a Champion to defeat two members of an organization (although Steven is not the Champion in Emerald, he has this title in Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire).

Names

Language Name Origin
Japanese ワタル (Wataru) 綿 wata, cotton. 渡る Wataru means crossing.
English, Italian, Spanish Lance Possibly from a lance, used by knights, who fought dragons in legends and fairy tales.
French Peter Could also be derived from petard, a medieval weapon.
German Siegfried Reference to a Nordic hero that killed a dragon called Fafnir.
Korean 목호 (Mokho)
Chinese (Taiwan) 小渡 (Xiǎo Dù) From 渡る Wataru.
Chinese (PRC) 渡 () From 渡る Wataru.

External links

Template:Elite Four of Kanto

Pokémon Champions
Core series BlueLanceRedStevenWallaceCynthiaAlderIrisDianthaTraceLeonMustardPeonyNemonaGeetaKieranDraytonMost player characters
Masters EX BlueLanceRedStevenCynthiaAlderIrisDianthaLeonScottieBettieAshNemonaGeetaCalemSerenaMarnieBedeHopLeafNateRosaSilver
Other
spin-offs
Ronald (TCG GB)Mark (TCG GB)Mint (TCG GB)Glenn (Pokkén)
Anime LanceCynthiaWallaceAlderDianthaStevenAsh KetchumLeonIrisNemona
Other animation Blue (Origins)Red (Origins)Calem (Generations)Edgar Troy (PttP)Ava (PttP)
Adventures Professor OakRedSidneyPhoebeGlaciaDrakeStevenWallaceCynthiaAlderIrisDianthaLeonMustardPeonyNemona
Other manga Shigeru (Zensho)Satoshi (Zensho)Rald (Battle Frontier)



  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.