Clair

Revision as of 05:13, 31 January 2010 by BAC510 (talk | contribs) (Yay, I can still edit.:) Barry has battled Ash twice, but 3 or 4 times if that short battle in DP140 & DP141 are counted and 5 if the confirmed battle they will have in DP163.)
If you were looking for the character of the day from Going for a Spinda, see Claire.

Clair
イブキ Ibuki
""The Blessed User of Dragon Pokémon""
[[File:HeartGold SoulSilver Clair.png|{{{size}}}]]
Art from HeartGold and SoulSilver
Gender Female
Eye color Blue
Hair color Light blue
Hometown Blackthorn City
Region Johto
Relatives Lance, Dragon Clan Elder
Trainer class Gym Leader
Generation II, IV
Games Gold, Silver, Crystal, Stadium 2, HeartGold, SoulSilver
Leader of Blackthorn Gym
Badge Rising Badge
Anime debut Beauty is Skin Deep
English voice actor Megan Hollingshead
Japanese voice actor Yūko Mita

Clair (Japanese: イブキ Ibuki) is the Gym Leader of Blackthorn City's Gym, known officially as the Blackthorn Gym. Her specialty is Template:Type2 Pokémon, and she gives the Rising Badge to Trainers who defeat her. Her cousin is Lance.

In the games

Clair appears in Pokémon Gold, Silver, Crystal, HeartGold, and SoulSilver as the Leader of the Blackthorn Gym. She is the eighth and final Gym Leader to be met in the Johto region, and defeating her will allow Trainers to advance to the Indigo Plateau. Known as "The Blessed User of Dragon Pokémon", Clair is descended from a long line of Dragon-type Trainers including her cousin, Elite Four member Lance, and the elder of Blackthorn's Dragon Clan.

Clair is confident of her abilities as a Trainer, and speaks of herself as "the world's best dragon master". She can hold her own against the Elite Four: her only known loss is against Lance, now the Champion. Even if the player defeats her in battle, she refuses to accept his or her talents unless they pass the "Dragon User's Challenge". The Rising Badge that victors of the Blackthorn Gym are entitled to remains in Clair's possession until Trainers have navigated the Dragon's Den and located a shrine at its center. Only then will Clair acknowledge her loss. She will also encourage the player to excel at the Pokémon League; this is mainly personal, so she will feel less upset about her defeat at the hands of a child. As well as the Rising Badge, she will also issue a Dragon Technical Machine: TM24 (DragonBreath) in Generation II; TM59 (Dragon Pulse) in Generation IV. Many of her own Pokémon know these moves in the respective generations.

The player's rival, Silver, takes to training in the Dragon's Den once the Elite Four have been defeated by the player. In this way, he is said to act as Clair did when she was young herself. She returns here from time to time, and will battle alongside her cousin against Silver and the player. She comes here every morning as well, between 6:00 AM and 10:00 AM, and will give her PokéGear phone number to the player. If called on Friday evening, she will journey to the Fighting Dojo and have a rematch with the player.

Clair makes an additional appearance in Pokémon Stadium 2's Johto Gym Leader Castle. This is the only appearance she makes where she uses Pokémon that are not draconian in origin.

Pokémon

This listing is of Clair's Pokémon in the video games she has appeared in.

Pokémon Gold, Silver, and Crystal



Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver

First battle



Second battle (rematch)



Tag battle with Lance
 
Clair and Lance approaching for battle



Pokémon Stadium 2

Round 1



Round 2



Quotes

File:SpriteClair.gif File:ClairHGSS.gif  
Clair's sprite from
Generation II
Clair's sprite from
Generation IV
Clair's VS sprite from
Generation IV

Pokémon Gold and Silver

"I am Clair. The world's best dragon master. I can hold my own against even the Pokémon League Elite Four. Do you still want to take me on? ...Fine. Let's do it! As a Gym Leader, I will use power against any opponent!"

"I lost? I don't belive it. There must be some mistake... I won't admit this. I may have lost, but you're still not ready for the Pokémon League. I know. You should take the dragon user challenge. Behind this Gym is a place called Dragon's Den. There is a small shrine at its center. Go there. If you can prove that you've lost your lazy ideals, I will recognize you as a trainer worthy of a Gym Badge!"

"All right. I recognize your true power. This Badge is yours."

Pokémon Crystal

"So how did it go? I guess there's no point in asking. You did fail? ......... ...What? You passed? That can't be! You're lying! Even I haven't been approved!"

"I-I understan... Here, this is the Rising Badge... Hurry up! Take it!"

"Wait! I'm sorry about this. Here, take this as my apology."

In the anime

Clair appears in five episodes of the Pokémon anime, toward the end of the Master Quest saga: Beauty is Skin Deep, Fangs for Nothin', Great Bowls of Fire, Better Eight Than Never and Why? Wynaut!.

As Ash and company near Blackthorn City, they discover a Dratini and a Gyarados in a river. They discover that both Pokémon belong to Clair, who is following the Dratini down the river as it prepares to shed its skin. Team Rocket snatches the Dratini, however, and Clair gives chase, demonstrating her highly acrobatic abilities. Dratini escapes, and Ash fights to protect it. During the ensuing battle, however, an electric shock is headed straight for Dratini, but Clair jumps in front of it to absorb the shock. Dratini witnesses its trainer's devotion, and evolves into a Dragonair in order to put a stop to Team Rocket. Later, Clair is finally able to perform an important ritual to purify the legendary Dragon Fang. Clair then goes on to accept Ash's challenge for a Rising Badge.

File:Clair anime.jpg
Clair in the anime

Ash has the first strike, but the battle is cut short when Team Rocket steals the Dragon Fang. Ash, Clair and Team Rocket all end up in the Dragon Holy Land, where Team Rocket trick a Dragonite into helping them. Luckily, Liza and Ash's Charizard arrive to help save the day. Ash's Charizard then helps him earn him his final Johto League badge.

Although Clair does mention Lance in the anime, he is not her cousin like in the games; instead, she recalls that he trained under her at the Blackthorn Gym before he joined the Elite Four.

Pokémon

This listing is of Clair's Pokémon in the anime:

 
Kingdra
 
Gyarados
  
Dratini → Dragonair

Voice actors

Language Voice actor
Japanese 三田ゆう子 Yūko Mita
English Megan Hollingshead
Polish Joanna Domańska
Spanish Latin America Liliana Barba
Spain María Antonia Rodríguez


In the Pokémon Adventures manga

File:Clair and Morty.png
Clair and her Kingdra (left) with Morty and his Misdreavus (right)

Clair was initially unhappy with the lack of capable trainers wishing to battle her. Clair then traveled to the Dragon's Den where she met Suicune and battled it. Despite her efforts, she was outclassed by its tactics, and lost rather quickly, due to Suicune's use of Mist to create a reflection or illusion of itself. She then learned from the Dragon Clan Elder that the legendary beasts appear to trainers they deem worthy which is why Suicune came to Clair. She then deduced that Suicune was looking for a worthy enough trainer to be its master.

Later, at the Gym Leaders Challenge, she was to face off against Blaine. This was an important matter for her, because as Lance's cousin, she thought that Blaine would know what become of Lance after Blaine and Lance's battle at Cerise Island the year before.

During the attack by Team Rocket, which ended up with all the Gym Leaders trapped on the recently completed bullet train, she forced Blaine into fighting their duel. Blaine quickly won due to Entei's powerful attacks. Thus, the Kanto Gym Leaders claimed victory, with four wins, three losses and one draw.

Pokémon

This listing is of Clair's Pokémon in the Pokémon Adventures manga.

 
Kingdra
 
Dragonair

In the TCG

This listing is of cards mentioning or featuring Clair or her Pokémon in the Pokémon Trading Card Game.

Name Type Level Rarity Set Set no.
Clair's Blastoise   -   Pokémon VS (no English release) 46/141
Clair's Jynx   -   Pokémon VS (no English release) 47/141
Clair's Gyarados   -   Pokémon VS (no English release) 48/141
Clair's Dragonite   -   Pokémon VS (no English release) 49/141
Clair's Politoed   -   Pokémon VS (no English release) 50/141
Clair's Mantine   -   Pokémon VS (no English release) 51/141
Clair's Kingdra   -   Pokémon VS (no English release) 52/141
Clair's TM 01 - -   Pokémon VS (no English release) 111/141
Clair's TM 02 - -   Pokémon VS (no English release) 112/141

Trivia

  • Her Japanese Leader title is 聖なるドラゴンポケモン使い!.
  • When Clair is beaten in the game, she is so impressed and frustrated, she refuses to give the player the Rising Badge. Instead, she sets the player on an extra task: He or she must go to Dragon's Den and retrieve the sacred Dragon Fang. When the player has done this, Clair, true to her word, arrives and hands over the badge as well as TM24 (DragonBreath). Afterwards, she says "No, it has nothing to do with my breath." The meaning of this was somewhat lost in translation, as Clair's Japanese name, Ibuki, can be taken to mean "breath". Despite this, a pun remains, as "dragon breath" is a term sometimes used for someone who has halitosis. The joke remains in Generation IV; although she now gives out TM59 (Dragon Pulse).
  • Clair is the only Gym Leader to be seen in the anime in the U.S. before she was seen in Japan. The U.S. opening Born to Be a Winner featured exclusive clips, one of them of Clair, not shown in Japan. The opening made its debut in A Goldenrod Opportunity which aired August 18th, 2001 and Clair's Japanese debut wouldn't come until Beauty Is Skin Deep which aired on June 6th, 2002. The only other character to debut in the U.S. first was Dr. Yung.
  • Clair is one of the few Trainers to have battled Ash more than twice, although the first two official Gym battles were interrupted by Team Rocket. The other known Trainers to have battled Ash more than twice are Pyramid King Brandon, Paul, Barry, Gary Oak, Misty, and Brock.
  • Clair is the only Johto Gym Leader whose team was altered aside from level between Pokémon Gold and Silver and Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver.
  • Clair is the only Gym Leader in the rematches at the Fighting Dojo in HeartGold and SoulSilver who does not have any post-Generation II Pokémon.
  • Clair is the second Gym Leader to team up with a member of the Elite Four against the player's rival. Volkner was the first.
    • Coincidentally, both Volkner and Clair are the last Gym Leaders of their respective regions, the focal regions of even-numbered generations.
  • Clair appears as an opponent in Pokémon Puzzle Challenge. She uses a Dragonair in battle.
  • Clair is the only Gym Leader to use specialize in Dragon-types.

Names

Language Name Origin
Japanese イブキ (Ibuki) 伊吹 Ibuki, Juniperus chinensis. And Mount Ibuki. Or 息吹 ibuki, breath.
English Clair Rhymes with lair, as in lair of a dragon.
French Sandra From the word dragon.
German Sandra From the word dragon.
Italian Sandra From the word dragon.
Spanish Débora Possible relation to the Spanish word dragón or víbora (viper).
Korean 이향 Ihyang Means strange land.
Chinese 小椿 Xiǎo Chūn

External links

Gym Leaders of the Johto region
Violet Gym  
 
Falkner
Azalea Gym  
 
Bugsy
Goldenrod Gym  
 
Whitney
Ecruteak Gym  
 
Morty
Cianwood Gym  
 
Chuck
Olivine Gym  
 
Jasmine
Mahogany Gym  
 
Pryce
Blackthorn Gym  
 
Clair


  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.