Silver

Silver in Pokémon: HeartGold and SoulSilver Versions.
Silver
Species	Human
Hair color	Red
Relatives	Giovanni (father)
Debut	Pokémon: Gold Version/Pokemon: Silver Version

Silver is the rival character of Pokémon Gold, Silver, Crystal Versions, HeartGold and SoulSilver Versions.

Background

Silver's background is shrouded in mystery. He was Gold's age, but he was a very cold-hearted trainer who dreamed of being the best Pokémon trainer while treating his Pokémon as weapons of war. Silver despised the weak, Pokémon and trainers alike, and sought strength above all so that he could wipe out the weak.

Within Gold, Silver and Crystal, Silver got his first Pokémon when he broke into the lab of Professor Elm and stole it. As he passed through Cherrygrove City, he met with Gold and battled him. Whether or not he lost, Silver then told Gold his name and ambition before passing along. Gold next encountered him at the Sprout Tower, where he had brutally defeated the Pokémon of the elder Li in order to receive HM 01: Flash. Li complied with the deal but warned him against dealing harshly with his Pokémon. Silver ignored his advice, called him weak and left.

Silver then confronted Gold by the gate to the Ilex Forest after hearing that Team Rocket had returned. Silver had strange hatred for Team Rocket and said that their members were all weak individually so he was eager to defeat them. After Gold claimed to have beaten the local Team Rocket members, Silver battled him to test his strength. He lost but blamed this defeat on his Pokémon being weak, and told Gold to stay out of his way so he could take down Team Rocket. They then met at the Burned Tower in Ecruteak City, where Silver was hoping to find a legendary Pokémon. Seeing Gold there, he thought Gold was also after the legendary Pokémon and battled him to see who was more worthy. After being beaten again, he said that Gold would never be able to catch a legendary Pokémon anyway and left.

Silver's original Gold/Silver art.

Gold ran into Silver as he left the Olivine Gym, finding it empty due to the gym leader Jasmine taking care of a sick Ampharos. Silver expressed frustration at this, as from his point of view a Pokémon that could not battle was worthless and weak Pokémon should just be let go. He also suggested Gold train at the lighthouse to become less weak, which coincidentally turned out to be where Jasmine was. Silver then sought to fulfill his vendetta against Team Rocket and fought his way through their base in Mahogany Town. However, he was easily defeated by Lance this time and met with Gold on his way out. He was haunted by Lance's words that he didn't love and trust his Pokémon enough.

Silver later followed Gold into the Team Rocket base at Goldenrod City and then prepared to defeat Gold so that he would not get in the way during his battle with Team Rocket. He remembered having lost to Gold before and said that was just a fluke and he would repay his debts. But Silver lost again to Gold and began to wonder if Lance was right but at the same time he remained committed to his dreams of becoming the greatest Pokémon trainer. Silver did not meet Gold again until he approached the Indigo Plateau to take on the Pokémon League challenge. Silver said it was impossible due to Gold being so much weaker than him and claimed that his Pokémon had become invincible since their last battle. This caused Silver to have a full epiphany, and he left to find out what he lacked, swearing to still become the strongest trainer and then defeat Gold.

Silver next battled Gold at the entrance to Mt. Moon. Despite another loss, Silver this time admitted defeat and demonstrated humility, leaving for further training. Afterwards he began training in the Dragon's Den every Tuesday and Thursday, but he made sure not to push his Pokémon too hard. Every Monday and Wednesday, Silver would appear at the Indigo Plateau to challenge Gold again.

Pokémon Roster

Throughout the seven battles with Silver in the game, he uses the following Pokémon:

• Chikorita/Bayleef/Meganium, Cyndaquil/Quilava/Typhlosion, or Totodile/Croconaw/Feraligatr - Silver's stolen starter Pokémon. He picks whichever Pokémon has a type advantage against the one chosen by Gold. This starter Pokémon first evolves prior to the Ilex Forest battle and then again before the Goldenrod battle (although Quilava instead evolves before the Victory Road battle).
• Gastly/Haunter/Gengar - Blue first uses Gastly during the Ilex battle. It evolves into Haunter by the Burned Tower battle and Gengar by the Mt. Moon battle.
• Zubat/Golbat/Crobat - Silver first uses this Pokémon during the Ilex Forest battle. It evolves into Golbat by the Goldenrod City battle and into Crobat only before the Indigo Plateau rematches. This seems to be a subtle acknowledgment of Silver treating his Pokémon better, as Golbat evolves through happiness.
• Magnemite/Magneton - First used during the Burned Tower battle. It becomes a Magneton by the Victory Road battle.
• Sneasel - First used during the Goldenrod City battle.
• Kadabra/Alakazam - First used during the Victory Road battle. It evolves by the Mt. Moon battle.

Other Pokémon Games

Silver appears in Pokémon Stadium 2 as the final boss of the Gym Leader's Castle in all modes. Referred to as simply the Rival, his Pokémon roster in this game consists only of the legendary Pokémon Mewtwo, Ho-Oh and Lugia.

Other Appearances

• Within the Pokémon anime, Silver has only made a cameo appearance in the Japanese opening for the Pokémon Chronicles episode "Legend of Thunder", where Jimmy (the anime version of Gold) was seen looking up angrily at Silver after Silver had defeated his Cyndaquil with a Nidoking. It is also believed that Paul, a new rival character for Ash in the Diamond and Pearl series, is based on Silver due to similar battling attitudes and somewhat similar physical appearances.
• In the Pokémon Adventures manga, Silver is originally featured in the Gold/Silver/Crystal arc after making a foreshadowing cameo in the last chapter of the Yellow arc. It is later revealed that as a child he had been captured by the Mask of Ice with Lugia and raised with other children to serve as his heartless servants. He was paired with Green, but the two were able to escape him. Afterwards they remained in contact as they sought the truths about their parents as well as seeking to bring down the Mask of Ice. He steals Professor Elm's Totodile as part of this and makes his way across Johto, while being pursued by Gold, although eventually they begin to befriend each other until they are attacked by the Mask of Ice and nearly killed. However, Entei is able to bring them to safety until Chrystal saves them, and the three unite for the final battles against the Mask of Ice and Team Rocket, with Silver taking down Will, another of children raised by the Mask of Ice. Silver reappears in FireRed/LeafGreen, where Yellow brings Silver to Viridian City to find his parents, knowing that he must have come from there by scanning the memory of the Sneasel Silver had since childhood. Giovanni is ultimately revealed as Silver's father, and although Silver is initially disgusted by this, Giovanni seemingly sacrifices himself holding Silver above burning wreckage later, with Giovanni's final fate unknown. This causes Silver to begin respecting his father. At the end of the arc he is turned into stone with the other Pokédex-bearing trainers until they are all revived by a wish on Jirachi at the end of the Emerald arc, at which point all the Pokédex trainers team up against Archie and the fake Kyogre. Out of the ten Pokédex trainers, Silver is shown to specialize in Pokémon training.

Trivia

• Like the previous rival, his name is chosen by the player. His canon name is confirmed as Silver in Pokémon Crystal, where Silver is the default name for the rival.
• Silver was first directly implied at being Giovanni's son 'FireRed and LeafGreen Versions, where a scientist mentions that Giovanni's son has red hair (and the manga adaptation of those games directly showing Silver being Giovanni's son). This was finally confirmed in HeartGold/SoulSilver.