Drayden

"The Spartan Mayor"
Drayden
Species	Human
Hair color	White
Eye color	Brown
Base	Opelucid City
Debut	Pokémon: Black/White Versions

Drayden is the gym leader of Opelucid Gym who appears as one of the final Gym Leaders of the Unova region in the fifth generation games of the Pokémon series: Pokémon: Black and White Versions as well as the sequel games. Within the initial set of games, he is the eighth and final Gym Leader, but he is only battled in Black, with Iris fighting in his stead in White. In both Black 2 and White 2, he is instead the seventh gym leader to be faced. He specializes in Dragon-type Pokémon.

Background

Drayden described himself as a mayor who gave his all to develop Opelucid City and as a Pokémon trainer who merely sought greater strength. He was an expert in Dragon-type Pokémon and was well-versed in their lore, having studied them abroad when he was younger. He also safeguarded the DNA Splicers, an artifact related to the legendary Pokémon that was passed down his family. His gym was designed to resemble the legendary Dragon-type Pokémon Reshiram and Zekrom, and the gym contained a maze of moving dragon pieces which had to be moved with switches to advance onwards.

In his old age, Drayden began to seek someone who could show him a brighter future and traveled the world as part of this search. He found this in the form of the young girl named Iris, who he found in a remote area known as the Village of Dragons. He trained her as his apprentice, so that she could eventually take his place as gym leader. Iris came to refer to him as her grandpa.

Black/White

In Black and White, Hilbert/Hilda and Alder met up with Drayden and Iris following a Team Plasma rally that Ghetsis had held. Both of the Dragon-type trainers were agitated by the meeting and spoke out against Team Plasma's philosophies. Drayden reasoned that if Pokémon wanted to leave their trainers, they would do so, because capturing a Pokémon did not mean capturing its heart. At Alder's request, they brought Hilbert/Hilda back to their home to tell them everything they knew about the story of Reshiram and Zekrom, as Hilbert/Hilda needed help awakening one of the two from a stone in that trainer's possession. Drayden recited the legend with Iris, but admitted that he did not know how to awaken the legendary Dragon-type. In White, he remained in his house and sent Iris to the gym to battle Hilbert/Hilda.

In Black, Drayden invited Hilbert/Hilda to his gym for a challenge as a consolation for not having the answers they sought. He wondered if Hilbert/Hilda could, like Iris, show him a bright future. Hilbert/Hilda defeated Drayden in the following battle. In the aftermath, he felt an intense feeling flooding through him, which he could not really describe. He was grateful that they could meet and battle, and he awarded the player trainer with the Legend Badge and TM 82: Dragon Tail. Drayden urged the trainer to go ahead to the Pokémon League following Alder, as he knew Alder's strength but not the depths of N's power. He was also beaten by Cheren and Bianca shortly afterwards.

In both versions, Bianca contacted all the gym leaders when N's Castle arose at the Pokémon League. Both Drayden and Iris went with the other gym leaders regardless of the version, and they all arrived in time to hold off six of Team Plasma's Seven Sages while Hilbert/Hilda went ahead to face N. In White, he returned to his home and would tutor the move Draco Meteor to any of the player trainer's compatible Pokémon who had reached a high level of happiness.

Black 2/White 2

At some point over the following two years, as depicted in a Memory Link flashback, Alder chose to step down as champion of the Unova Pokémon League and chose Iris to become the new champion. He also called upon Drayden to help him with his special training, in order to give Iris the greatest challenge possible. She ultimately managed to defeat Alder and earn the championship. Afterwards, Drayden reminisced about their past before talking to her about her new role and gave her new clothes to wear as champion, while providing her with some advice to follow in her new role.

In Pokémon: Black and White Versions 2, Drayden was the only gym leader who could be faced at Opelucid Gym. He was challenged and defeated by Nate/Rosa, and so he gave them the Legend Badge and TM 82. In addition, Professor Juniper had asked him to tell the trainer about the legendary Dragon-type Pokémon, and so he told them the story of Reshiram, Zekrom and Kyurem, while theorizing about the possibility that Kyurem might just be a husk. He also told them about the DNA Splicers and assured them that they were stored safely away.

However, Team Plasma proceeded to attack the city and froze the city over. Finding the ice to be unbreakable even by his Pokémon, Drayden proceeded to help Nate/Rose in fending off the Team Plasma members. He realized that they were looking for the DNA Splicers and initially succeeded in protecting them, until the Shadow Triad swiped them from him. Drayden lamented his failure to protect the DNA Splicers and stayed behind to protect Opelucid City while the others left in pursuit of Team Plasma. He wished them luck while urging them not to be too reckless. Eventually, the new threat of Team Plasma was defeated, and Drayden was relieved to notice the ice in Opelucid starting to melt.

Drayden also competed in the Pokémon World Tournament, taking part in the Unova Leaders, World Leaders and Type Expert divisions.

Pokémon Roster

In Black, he uses the following Pokémon for gym battles:

• Fraxure
• Druddigon
• Haxorus

In Black 2 and White 2, his roster is similar except that the Fraxure is replaced with a Flygon, and he also has an Altaria in Challenge Mode.

For tournament fights in Black 2 and White 2, his potential team could contain some or all of the following Pokémon:

• Haxorus
• Druddigon
• Hydreigon
• Flygon
• Altaria
• Salamence

Other Appearances

Other Media

• Drayden appeared in several episodes of the Pokémon anime. His first appearance was in a flashback in one episode which showed him meeting Iris at the Village of Dragons and defeating her in battle. In his later appearances, it was shown that he was also the principal of the Opelucid Academy and accepted Iris as a student there, though she felt homesick and later ran away, which led to her starting her Pokémon journey. After meeting her and finding out about her journey, he challenged her to a battle to see how she has improved. Iris lost again, but Drayden was still impressed. It was revealed that he knew that the journey would be better for Iris than the school and also declared that she would be the next Opelucid gym leader one day. Drayden reappeared in the Pokémon Journeys series, in which Ash and Iris battled at his gym as part of the World Coronation Series, and Drayden revealed that Iris had become the Champion of Unova. He was later seen watching Iris and Cynthia's battle in the Masters Eight Tournament.
• In the Pokémon Adventures manga, he makes several appearances in the Black/White arc. First, he is shown arguing with Brycen about the gym leaders' planned methods for dealing with Team Plasma, until Iris breaks up the argument. He is shown to be Iris's mentor and also conducts some official announcements from the Pokémon Association. After the time window to enter the Pokémon League tournament narrows, Black challenges him to a fight at the last minute and manages to win his last badge from him. Drayden proceeds to serve as an announcer for the tournament and also helps in the final battles with Team Plasma. He also appears in the Black 2/White 2 arc, where he relays some information to Cheren, having turned his gym duties over to Iris while trying to find a way to save Black.
• He appeared in two episodes of the Pokémon Generations anime which adapted different scenarios from the games. The first episode was about the Unova gym leaders battling Team Plasma at N's Castle during the climax of Black/White. The second episode focused on Drayden during the clash with Team Plasma at Opelucid City from Black 2/White 2.

Trivia

• Drayden's English name seems to have been chosen due to sounding somewhat similar to "dragon" and may also be a truncation of 'dragon den'. His Japanese name is Shaga, named after the fringed iris, which matches Iris's own Japanese name.
• In Black and White, he and Iris have the same Pokémon roster, with the only difference between the two sets being the Pokémon's gender. Drayden uses all-male Pokémon, while Iris's are all female.
• He was designed to be the oldest gym leader in the game and as a contrast to Iris, who was the game's youngest gym leader.
• His title of Spartan mayor seems to refer to the definition of Spartan as a someone who is brave or sternly disciplined.
• The National Gymquirer claims that he does 10,000 push-ups, sit-ups and squats in his training schedule.
• He claims that Poké Balls had not yet been invented when he was young.
• While he has not appeared in Pokémon Masters EX, he has been mentions several times by Iris. In her Sync Pair Story, she told the story of how Drayden gave her a Deino as a test of how well she could handle its unruly evolution, Hydreigon.