Marshal

Marshal as seen in Black and White.
Marshal
Species	Human
Affiliation	Pokémon League (Unova)
Hair color	Yellow/Black
Eye color	Black
Voiced by	Phillip Reich (2019)
Debut	Pokémon: Black/White Versions

Marshal is a member of the Elite Four of the Unova Region who appeared as an opponent in Pokémon: Black and White Versions and their sequels. He specializes in Fighting-type Pokémon.

Background

Marshal was a trainer who used to wander all of the world's regions in pursuit of strength. One day, he met Alder, the champion of Unova's Pokémon League, and Marshal became Alder's apprentice in order to master the art of fighting. Alder taught him the importance of making strength an internal quality, and Marshal later decided to become part of Unova's Elite Four as a result. He also eventually gained the duty of representing the Pokémon League during Alder's absence. Within the Pokémon League, Marshal was housed within an industrial-looking room that also resembled a boxing ring, and it was accessed through an elevator resembling a mine shaft elevator.

Black/White

In Black and White, Marshal was initially challenged and defeated by both N and Hilbert/Hilda in the same day. Marshal had anticipated the latter match, because Alder had told Marshal about the potential he saw in Hilbert/Hilda. As Marshal believed that nothing mattered except for the results, he saw himself as just a guy who lost. He earned a respect for Hilbert/Hilda during the battle, but he also warned him that the rest of the Elite Four were tougher than he. Marshal could later be challenged to rematches, which he also looked forward to, as he relished the chance to shatter his weaknesses and improve himself. After further defeats, he would muse about there being no guarantees of winning, due to there being no true strongest Pokémon or combination. But the determination to improve was a great strength in itself, which caused Marshal to respect the trainer. He also found himself recalling the time he met Alder.

Marshal also briefly showed up in Victory Road to meet Cheren, after Alder told him about his training there. He gave Cheren an inspirational talk about finding victory in defeat through self-reflection and having surpassed one's past self. Cheren suspected him of using Alder's words, and Marshal admitted that he might have been borrowing them, but he wanted to face trainers like that. Marshal anticipated facing Cheren in the future and returned to the Pokémon League to await his eventual challenge.

Black 2/White 2

At some point within the next two years, as depicted within a Memory Link flashback, Marshal was present when both Alder and Brycen talked about stepping down from their respective posts. Marshal supported Alder's decision, as he knew that it was futile to try to argue with him about it. They talked about how much Marshal had grown since he first met Alder, and the two of them decided to have a spar to commemorate the occasion, with Brycen observing. Iris would ultimately become the new champion of the Pokémon League.

In Black 2 and White 2, Marshal initially met Nate/Rosa when they attempted to enter Twist Mountain. He barred the entrance to the area and would not let them enter because of a recent cave-in. He could later be challenged at the Pokémon League, where he had a new room that was surrounded by a giant cage and featured both he and the challenger standing on detachable halves of a Poké Ball-like fighting ring. When defeated by Nate/Rosa, he told them that he respected them because of an ideal quality that he saw in them: a heart that desired strength and strove to grow stronger. Afterwards, he could be challenged to rematches and mentioned that his Pokémon were there for him at a time when he felt ashamed two years ago. He would also still be found barring the entrance to Twist Mountain, except now he gave the trainer advice as he talked to them there.

Pokémon Roster

In Black and White, he uses the following Pokémon:

• Throh
• Sawk
• Conkeldurr
• Mienshao
• Breloom (rematches only)
• Toxicroak (rematches only)

In Black 2 and White 2, his roster is similar, except that Breloom and Toxicroak are replaced with Lucario and Medicham. When fighting in Challenge Mode, he also uses the Lucario in the initial battle, and in rematches the Medicham is replaced by a Machamp.

In Other Pokémon Games

In Pokémon Masters EX, Marshal and his Conkeldurr appeared as a playable sync pair that could be recruited at random through the Sync Pair Scout feature. When fought as an opponent, he would sometimes sync up with Throh, Breloom or Sawk instead. He also appeared as an opponent in Chapter 21 of the Main Story. In that chapter, he had formed a team for the Pokémon Masters League tournament with fellow Fighting-type trainers Bruno and Brawly, because he saw it as a new experience. The three of them fought together against Scottie/Bettie's team in the first round of the tournament's finals and were ultimately defeated. He also appeared as an opponent who Lieutenant Surge had to defeat in a one-on-one battle within a Sync Pair Story for his Voltorb to evolve. Marshal could also be battled in the Champion Stadium mode during the Unova Challenge, which replicated the Elite Four line-up from the fifth generation games.

Other Appearances

Other Media

• In the Pokémon Adventures manga, he appeared during the Black/White arc. He was first seen bringing an unconscious White to safety at Nimbasa City and easily defeating a confused Black in battle. He was also seen battling with Alder at the Battle Subway and later snapped Black out of a spell of self-pity. Marshal was also seen trying to convince Alder not to leave the Pokémon League and refereed his fight with N, which Alder lost, must to Marshal's outrage. He and the rest of the Elite Four proceeded to watch over the Pokémon League tournament and helped to fight off members of Team Plasma.

Trivia

• His English name seems to have been chosen for its resemblance to the "martial" in "martial arts". His Japanese name is Renbu, from a Japanese word that can refer to both a wax apple and practice martial arts.
• His designer has claimed that he was designed with the image of a tiger in mind, in comparison to Alder resembling a lion, and he practices street fighting.