It’s been awhile since I’ve done one of these Character Salute posts. But I feel like doing one this week due to a special coming event. So for this Character Salute I’ll be covering the original leader of Team Plasma, N.
N is certainly one of the most unique villains I’ve come across in fiction. When you get down to it, N isn’t really evil at all. He legitimately cares about Pokemon and sees them as his friends. It’s just that N’s methods for helping Pokemon were a bit too extreme. Of course much of this has to do with N’s upbringing. In the beginning, N was an orphan raised in a forest by Pokemon until he was one day found and adopted by Ghetsis, the true evil mastermind behind Team Plasma.
Ghetsis groomed N to become the “king” and figurehead leader of Team Plasma, and was convinced that humans only abused and enslaved Pokemon. Thus, N began his crusade to try and create separate worlds for Pokemon and humans. It’s a real shame that N hasn’t appeared in the anime. He’d make an interesting opponent for Ash (even though Ash has pretty much become a caricature of himself). But then, I’m getting a little ahead of myself. One other thing I’ll mention about N before moving on is his full name, Natural Harmonia, Gropius. If I had a name like that, I’d probably just call myself by a letter too.
In the Games: In the original Black and White, the player has a few encounters with N early in the game. And eventually N reveals that he is the leader of Team Plasma. Towards the end of the game, N revives one of the two game mascots, Zekrom in Black, and Reshiram in White. Then, just as the player is about to challenge the Unova champion, Alder, N’s Castle docks itself to the Pokemon League building and then the player has to challenge N using the opposing legendary dragon. You know I find this to be a pretty good twist that the main villain of the game is face during the Elite Four rather than before it. Plus N is the only main villain to actually use a Legendary Pokemon in battle (though I guess Ghetsis controlling Kyurem in Black 2/White 2 also counts).
Anyway, once N is defeated, he begins to realize that what he was doing was wrong. Then Ghetsis shows up and reveals that he is the true mastermind behind Team Plasma, and that his real goal was to make it so that he was the only human on the planet with Pokemon, and thus become absolute ruler of the world. Once Ghetsis is defeated, N will apologize for all that he has done, and then fly off on Reshiram/Zekrom to find a new path. N returns in Black 2 and White 2 to help the player stop Ghetsis and save Kyurem. Later on, he’ll give out the HM for Waterfall. Then, once the Elite Four have been defeated, N can be fought at the ruins of his castle, and when beaten will give the players the Light Stone/Dark Stone, depending on the version. After that, once all of N’s previously released Pokemon are captured or defeated, N can be fought once every season at his castle.
He Is Coming: So I mentioned before that N has yet to appear in the anime. That’s going to change in a month or so. During the last episode of the Pokemon anime to air in Japan, they aired a promo for something called Episode N. At the moment, there isn’t much known about this event, other than the fact that N is going to show up. It is known however that it’ll take place after the Unova League episodes, and that it’s probably going to be a major story arc. I’d say, better late than never, but then look at what the anime has become.
That wraps it up for this Character Salute. I’m not sure at the moment if I’ll do another one next week or not, but I do have a few ideas. So until then, stay tuned.
