Player character

A player character in the world of Pokémon is the protagonist of the games. Remarkably silent, player characters are the avatar of the player; it is left up to the latter to "fill in" what they imagine the character is feeling, thinking and acting, thus immersing the player within the world of the game.

Red's Pokémon journey, unfolding

Philosophy

The player character is a critical part of the Pokémon games' core. Set in an approximate background, player characters are effectively the players themselves, giving the latter the opportunity to add in their details, color the journey with their views and personality and co-exist with other players. Concurrently, they are the hero of the said myth, the one person to take part on the main events of each game. This twofold nature of the player character gives players the opportunity to choose from several alternatives and distinguish themselves from one another, while at the same time the adventure of the protagonist of the game unfolds, with the several details not being set or standard. Ultimately, the events of the game progress with the player assuming the protagonist's role, while all at once finding themselves in the world of the game as a unique entity.

Main series

Gameplay

The player characters of the main series games

In the main series games, the player characters are Pokémon Trainers beginning their Pokémon journey. They start their journey in their hometown by getting a starter Pokémon, a Pokémon that appears very early in their native region's Pokédex, and is of the Grass-, Fire-, or Water-type. The region's native Pokémon professor will always give them this, as well as a Pokédex. Starting in Pokémon Crystal, players can also choose their character's gender. Usually, they have rivals who begin their journey at about the same time. Players take part in several events, and meet a great number of Pokémon and people during their adventure. A common target is to conquer a Pokémon League's eight Gym Leaders and Elite Four, and become the Champion. Several additional sidequests occur during and after each game's main plot.

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 the Generation IV remakes, 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).

Characters

R G B Y FR LG	G S C HG SS	R S E	D P Pt	B W	B2 W2
File:FRLG Red.png	File:HGSS Ethan.png	File:E Brendan.png	File:Pt Lucas.png	File:BW Hilbert.png	File:Spr B2W2 Kyouhei.png
Red	Ethan	Brendan	Lucas	Hilbert	Kyouhei

FR LG	C	HG SS	R S E	D P Pt	B W	B2 W2
File:FRLG Leaf.png	File:C Kris.png	File:HGSS Lyra alt.png	File:E May.png	File:Pt Dawn.png	File:BW Hilda.png	File:Spr B2W2 Mei.png
Leaf	Kris	Lyra	May	Dawn	Hilda	Mei

Side series games

Stadium series

Three unnamed player characters appear in Pokémon Stadium series. Japanese-only Pokémon Stadium featured one male character, whose design was likely based on Red. However, for the sequel a brand new male character was created. This player was also in 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. Like the main series player characters, these three remain silent throughout the games.

Stadium (JPN)	Stadium (ENG) & Stadium 2	Stadium 2
	File:S S2 Player Boy.png	File:S2 Player Girl.png

Orre series

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 in Pokémon Colosseum and Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness who are called to defeat Cipher and free all of their snagged Pokémon from their Shadow state.

Colosseum	XD
	File:Michael.png
Wes	Michael

Spin-off games

Card GB series

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

TCG1 & TCG 2	TCG 2

Mark	Mint

Ranger series

In the Pokémon Ranger series, Solana, Lunick, Kellyn, Kate, Ben and Summer 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.

Ranger	Shadows of Almia	Guardian Signs

Lunick	Kellyn	Ben

Solana	Kate	Summer

Mystery Dungeon series

Main article: Starter Pokémon

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.

PokéPark series

Pikachu's Adventure & Wonders Beyond	Wonders Beyond	Wonders Beyond	Wonders Beyond

Pikachu	Snivy	Tepig	Oshawott

Rumble series

Main article: Starter Pokémon

Pokémon Conquest

Conquest

Hero	Heroine

Other games

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.

Snap	Trozei
File:Toddsnap.png	File:Lucy Fleetfoot trozei.png
Todd Snap	Lucy Fleetfoot

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, as both Misty and Brock are characters native to Generation I. Likewise, at the beginning of the Diamond & Pearl series, Dawn joined Ash. Alternatively, in the Black and White series, Hilda was not present. Instead, Iris, a Gym leader from the Black/White games, 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.

Ash and his friends have also encountered several player characters from the side games. Todd Snap was the first, and a special case, as he originated in the anime before appearing in Pokémon Snap. He joins the group for a few episodes at two points in the anime: once during the Indigo League and once during Johto League Champions. The others, Solana, Kellyn and Ben are all Pokémon Rangers that Ash and friends assisted in rescuing and protecting Pokémon.

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. Ethan also appears with a second counterpart at the beginning of Zoroark: Master of Illusions.

Neither of the Generation V player characters have yet been seen in the anime.

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 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 different character from Kris, rather than a 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

Most of the male characters that Ash, the main character from the Pokémon anime, has encountered have been from side games, like Pokémon Ranger. Only one counterpart of a male player character has met Ash, in the thirteenth movie.
Red's dialogue during his appearance as a NPC in Gold, Silver, and Crystal and their remakes, reflects the games' player characters' status as silent protagonists.
The list of default names per gender generally repeats* from game to game. Exceptions to this are character-specific names, which are names unique to a character, usually references to the title or aspects of the game.
Until Generation V, the given Japanese names of the male player characters in the main series games (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

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.