N

N
Species	Human
Affiliation	Team Plasma
Hair color	Green
Eye color	Green
Base	N's Castle
Relatives	Ghetsis (possible father)
Debut	Pokémon: Black and White Versions

N is the rival character of Pokémon: Black and White Versions who is also the king of Team Plasma. He is one of the game's primary antagonists, but this turns out to be due to Ghetsis's manipulations.

Background

N was brought up by Ghetsis to act as the heir of Team Plasma. He was kept in a very childish playroom within his castle that served as his entire world. He seemed to have limited contact with other humans, such as a Athena and Concordia, who provided a nurturing presence. In order to make him believe in Team Plasma's goal of liberating Pokémon from human trainers, Ghetsis often sent Pokémon to spend time with N. All of these Pokémon were used or abused in some way and had bad memories of people. N considered himself to have been raised by these Pokémon and from them gained an ability to communicate with Pokémon. He was able to get along with Pokémon much better than with people. N was said to have a pure and innocent heart, but this also helped him to be more dangerous.

The time came when N was crowned the king of Team Plasma. As Ghetsis and the other Seven Sages decided, their goal was to have N become the hero to awaken one of the two legendary Dragon-type Pokémon of Unova - either Reshiram or Zekrom - and use it to establish control over Unova after defeating the Pokémon League. N could then use a combination of authority, and inspiration to make all of Unova's trainers give up their Pokémon, which would then be separated from people forever. He hoped to accomplish all of this without force and without hurting others. He then traveled around Unova as Team Plasma sought a way to revive the legendary Pokémon.

N first met Hilbert/Hilda at Accumula Town in the aftermath of a Team Plasma rally. He tried to talk to Black/Whit's Pokémon, only to be surprised and confused when the Pokémon apparently told N that they were happy to be with their trainer. After being defeated, N tried to tell them that Pokémon could never come perfect beings in Pokéballs and left. This encounter had placed the seeds of doubt in N's mind,. They met again at Nacrene city, where N told Hilbert/Hilda about his desires to see the truth of Pokémon inside Pokéballs, the ideals of how trainers should be and a future where Pokémon have come perfect. He then fought the trainer to see if they could see the same future as him. After losing again, N saw that his friends weren't strong enough and that his equation for saving the world was incomplete, so he would need the power of the legendary Pokémon. N also met with Hilbert/Hilda at Nimbasa City's amusement park, where he had them ride the ferris wheel with him. During this ride, N confided in them that he was the king of Team Plasma and told them about the group's aspirations. He said that he saw a future that he must change, so he endeavored to defeat the Pokémon League's champion and become unbeatable.

At Chargestone Cave, N encountered Hilbert/Hilda and mused about how this would be a perfect place if it were not for people. He told them about how he had Ghetsis's Shadow Triad look into Hilbert/Hilda as well as their friends Cheren and Bianca to learn about them. They had learned that Hilbert/Hilda is a neutral presence, which meant that Ghetsis would want to see the type of trainer they really are. N remarked about how gray the world was and so swore to split things up so that black and white would be distinct so that Pokémon could become perfect beings. He was defeated again and realized that he could not pursue his ideals through something as worthless as a battle. N would find a different way of befriending the legendary Pokémon. Before he left, Professor Juniper arrived, and N attempted to tell her off for her creation of the Pokédex, which he considered disgusting for the way it split Pokémon into categories as an attempt to understand them. Juniper tried to explain her point of view, but refused to tolerate the existence of a world in which people treating Pokémon however they wanted led to Pokémon suffering.

N also ran into Hilbert/Hilda outside Mistralton City's Pokémon gym, where he lamented how trainers only really used Pokémon for battles, and he called the Pokémon gyms competitions that only increased the Pokémon suffering. He then analyzed Hilbert/Hilda and their relationship with their lead Pokémon, admitting that their relationship was good and that if everyone treated Pokémon that way, he would be able to watch over the future of Pokémon without separating them from people. As it was, Ghetsis was looking into the Light and Dark Stones which contained the two legendary Dragon-type Pokémon, so that he could change the world without force. N also admitted that the idea of people like Hilbert/Hilda being separated from their Pokémon did break their heart a little. Soon afterwards, N went to Dragonscale Tower when Team Plasma discovered that one of the stones was kept there. N made his way to the top of the tower and awakened Zekrom from the Dark Stone (in Black) or Reshiram from the Light Stone (in White) when it recognized him as a hero. Hilbert/Hilda arrived at this moment, and N explained his plans to use the dragon to defeat the Pokémon League, which would make it the last Pokémon to hurt others. However, he also suggested that Hilbert/Hilda try to find the other Dragon-type, become a hero as well and use it to stop him if they believed so strongly in their Pokémon, as he foresaw a future in which Hilbert/Hilda used that Pokémon to interfere with his formula for changing the world.

N actually stalled his attack on the Pokémon League in order to give Hilbert/Hilda time to find the opposing Dragon-type. His reasoning seemed to be wanting to recreate the tale of the twin heroes who battled with those same dragons due to their opposing ideals years ago. His actual private reason was that Hilbert/Hilda had made him doubt his mission so much that he wanted to give the trainer a chance to defeat him and prove that his vision of the relationship between people and Pokémon was flawed. He eventually made his way to the Elite Four and defeated them all. He then challenged and defeated Alder, the champion. N knew how Alder had wandered Unova after one of his Pokémon died of an illness and admitted he kinda liked him for that, but he refused to listen to Alder's attempts to change his mind. Hilbert/Hilda arrived just as N defeated Alder, and Team Plasma caused N's Castle to rise above the Pokémon League as a symbol of their domination. N retreated into the castle's throne room to await his challenge from Hilbert/Hilda. Only after that would he issue his command as champion for the trainers to release their Pokémon.

Hilbert/Hilda soon reached N's throne room, but N was disappointed that Hilbert/Hilda had found the other dragon-type's stone but not yet awakened it. N realized he might have been wrong about Hilbert/Hilda and gave them a chance to run away. But at that moment, the trainer's stone finally reacted and awakened as the other Dragon-type Pokémon, Reshiram (in Black) or Zekrom (in White). N waited patiently while Hilbert/Hilda actually caught the Pokémon, healed his Pokémon afterwards as a sign of honor, and then they finally battled. The battle ended with N's defeat and his realization that Hilbert/Hilda's feelings truly were stronger than his. He pondered what it meant for there to be two heroes at the same time and began to realize that the true formula for changing the world laid in accepting different ideas instead or rejecting them. Ghetsis then shunned N for losing, dismissing him as unworthy of the Harmonia name and openly called him a number of insulting names, including referring to him as a "warped, defective boy". Ghetsis battled Hilbert/Hilda at this point to silence them so no one in the world would know of N being defeated, and he openly admitted to having manipulated N. Team Plasma was truly planning to keep their Pokémon for use in oppressing the masses.

N watched as Hilbert/Hilda defeated Ghetsis as well. Alder and Cheren then took Ghetsis away while N was left with Hilbert/Hilda. N confided all the changes that Hilbert/Hilda had inspired in him over the course of the games, realizing that he did not really understand his beliefs and could not measure up to them. N then departed from Unova, riding atop Zekrom/Reshiram in order to decide what he should do next. He asked Hilbert/Hilda to carry on his dream for him and make it a reality. Later on, Looker sought N and left to investigate a sighting of him with a Dragon-type Pokémon in an unspecified faraway region.

Pokémon Roster

Although they may not count as his Pokémon, the opening cutscene shows N as a child with a Zorua, a Darmanitan and a Woobat. Within the actual game, N always has a different roster of Pokémon each time the player meets him which usually consists of Pokémon from the local area, giving the implication that he is constantly catching Pokémon and releasing them soon afterwards, which matches his ideals.

• First Battle (Accumula Town): Purrloin.
• Second Battle (Nacrene City): Pidove, Timburr and Tympole.
• Third Battle (Nimbasa City): Sadile, Scraggy, Darumaka and Sigilyph.
• Fourth Battle (Chargestone Cavern): Boldore, Ferroseed, Joltik and Klink.

Only in the final battles does N have a full Pokémon roster:

• Reshiram (White) or Zekrom (Black)
• Carracosta
• Vanilluxe
• Archeops
• Zoroark
• Klinklang

At the end of the game, Reshiram or Zekrom is the only Pokémon N is known to keep, and it is unknown if he ever releases it.

Trivia

• Junichi Masuda has stated that N is named after the "natural number", a mathematical term used to describe primarily positive integers.
• N is the only main villain from the color versions to actually capture as well as seemingly keep a genuine legendary Pokémon.
• Although Ghetsis refers to N as his son, it is uncertain whether or not they are truly related as it is later shown that not even the other Six Sages were able to find this out for sure. Junichi Masuda did not confirm N's parents, but he instead raised that N believed himself to be born from Pokémon.
• Junichi Masuda has revealed various tidbits about N through his Twitter account, some of which include his full name and possible parentage. He has additionally mentioned that N is a genius with a high average IQ above average people and could be considered a math wizard, but he is prone to "mood swings" which seems to be reflected in his occasionally erratic in-game behavior. Masuda has mentioned that N also has the ability to see the past and future of people.
• The object on N's belt seems to be a Menger spone or a Void Cube, the former being a geometric figure while the latter is a puzzle similar to the Rubicks Cube. Both of these supplant N's connection to mathematics.
• Interestingly, he is able to fight though the Elite Four and the champion without having earned any known badges, mostly likely due to the force of Zekrom/Reshiram.