Pokémon Diamond and Pearl/Characters

For the Pokémon introduced in these games, refer to this page.

For characters from seasons 10-13 of the anime, refer to this page.

Lucas/Dawn (Kouki and Hikari)



 * Adorkable: NPC Lucas has shades of this.
 * Awesome Backpack: Storage limit? What storage limit?
 * Badass Adorable: A dragon that has control over time? A beast that can expand space? A creature from a world separate from ours with control over antimatter? The creator of the universe? NO PROBLEM!
 * Took a Level In Badass: As a norm in every Pokémon game. Even capturing Dragons of space, time, and antimatter, and even GOD (aka Arceus).
 * Blue Eyes
 * Curtains Match the Window
 * Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: The Arceus Event if you accidently take him out with a Fighting Type.
 * Exposed to The Elements: Dawn, especially since Sinnoh's supposed to be the cold region.
 * Hair Decorations: Dawn's clips.
 * Hair Color Dissonance: There's confusion about their hair color. Sugimori drew it a navy blue (or arguably black with blue hints) type color in their main artwork, but everything else except for Pokémon Special has them with a lighter hue.
 * Little Miss Badass: Dawn.
 * Love Interest: They play a subtle version of this role with each other.
 * Mini Dress of Power: Dawn. There is some minor confusion about whether it's really a dress or just a coat, though many would be more comfortable with the dress idea.
 * Judging by the anime, she's wearing a minidress in Diamond and Pearl and a coat over that minidress that happens to be the exact same shape and size in Platinum.
 * Missing Mom: As an NPC, though fanon has the female scientist in Rowan's lab as their mom.
 * Disappeared Dad: As the player character.
 * Nice Hat
 * Scarf of Asskicking: Regardless of version or gender, the scarf is always there. Candice really likes it.
 * Strong Family Resemblance: Dawn is basically Johanna ten or twenty years younger, with long hair.
 * Lucas's hair and eye color matches Johanna as well, albeit not the same shade.
 * Theme Naming: Both their American names have to do with light- Lucas comes from the Latin "lux," which means "light," and Dawn comes from the time of day the sun rises. Works in Japanese too - the "kou" in Kouki and "hikari" can refer to the character for "light".
 * Tsundere: Dawn as a NPC. Type B.
 * You Gotta Have Blue Hair
 * Zettai Ryouiki: Dawn is Grade B.

Barry (Jun)
""Thud!!""
 * Adorkable: Why female fans love him.
 * Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: After barging into your room in Platinum, he then notices your new laptop.
 * Catch Phrase: "What was that about?"
 * Character Development: As the story goes on, he becomes more patient and less hasty. He also becomes better at creating strategies and learning from his losses.
 * Crash Into Hello: Your rival's normal way of greeting you. Lampshaded during one of your mid-game encounters with him, where.
 * Crash Into Hello: Your rival's normal way of greeting you. Lampshaded during one of your mid-game encounters with him, where.


 * Fighting Your Friend: Basically, what you do with him. It defines your relationship.
 * Friendly Enemy: Well, not ENEMY, but rival, yeah.
 * Generation Xerox: He looks and acts like his father, right down to the Crash Into Hello.
 * Heroic BSOD: The events at Lake Verity/Acuity send him into one, and it takes the poor kid a while to snap out of it.
 * Hot Blooded
 * Keet
 * The Rival
 * Scarf of Asskicking
 * Schedule Fanatic: Times everything you do!
 * That...that doesn't sound right...
 * Strong Family Resemblance: With Palmer.

Professor Rowan (Dr. Nanakamado)

 * Badass Mustache
 * Badass Labcoat: Rowan doesn't just But Thou Must you into submission -- he actually threatens you with unending ellipses until you say yes.
 * Death Glare: Presumably what the menacing ellipses are meant to represent.
 * Jerk With a Heart of Gold: In-game, Barry finds him intimidating at first. However, he turns out to be pretty friendly.
 * Sweet Tooth: The fridge in his lab is filled with sweets.
 * Theme Naming: Like all the Pokemon professors, he named after a tree.

Looker (Handsome)

 * Badass Longcoat
 * Funny Foreigner: His manner of speech suggests he is not a native speaker of the language, and he's certainly an unusual fellow.
 * The Gambler: After the main scenario, he can be found at the Game Corner playing slots.
 * You can also see him there before you fight Maylene, though he claims it's because he's looking for Team Galactic.
 * Interpol Special Agent
 * Known Only By Their Codename
 * Leitmotif: Has his own disproportionately epic theme music kick in whenever he rushes onscreen.
 * Master of Disguise
 * Police Are Useless:

Partners

 * Color Coded for Your Convenience: Cheryl, Mira, Riley, Marley, Buck.
 * Curtains Match the Window: Though only partially for Buck.
 * Fan Nickname: The Stat Trainers, due to the fact that their Pokémon tend to be excel in a specific stat.
 * Theme Naming: All of them are named after grains, though some are more obvious then others (to wit: Cereal, Millet, Rye, Barley, and Buckwheat).

Cheryl (Momi)

 * Cool Big Sis
 * Green Eyes
 * Hit Points: Her stat specialty.
 * Nice Girl: At least implied; she has a Chansey, which evolves though happiness, and gives you the Soothe Bell after you help her through Eterna Forest.
 * You Gotta Have Green Hair: A forest-green shade, too.

Mira (Miru)

 * Badass Adorable: You first find her lost in a cave with a powerful Psychic Pokémon as her partner.
 * Hair Decorations
 * Girlish Pigtails
 * Third Person Person
 * Tights Under Shorts
 * Token Mini-Moe
 * Squishy Wizard: Her team specializes in the Special Attack stat. (Many of them aren't that fragile, but power is always their first priority.)
 * You Gotta Have Pink Hair

Riley (Gen)

 * Badass in A Nice Suit
 * Battle Aura
 * Blue Eyes
 * Bishonen
 * Expy: of Sir Aaron from the 8th Pokémon movie.
 * Glass Cannon: His team specializes in the Attack stat. (Many of them aren't that fragile, but power is always their first priority.)
 * Nice Hat: His fedora is a nice touch when he's dressed as a Badass in A Nice Suit.
 * Sharp Dressed Man
 * Tall, Dark and Handsome
 * You Gotta Have Blue Hair

Marley (Mai)

 * Ascended Extra: Takes part in the Shaymin event in Platinum.
 * Elegant Gothic Lolita
 * Hair Decorations
 * Foreshadowing: When talked to, she mentions "the Pokémon among flowers." This is referring to Shaymin, a Pokémon that wasn't available in a legit way until a while after Diamond and Pearl's release.
 * Fragile Speedster: Her team specializes in the Speed stat. ((Many of them aren't that fragile, but quickness is always their first priority.)
 * The Quiet One
 * The Stoic: Manages to be more effective at this than CYRUS.

Buck (Baku)

 * Fiery Redhead
 * Hot Blooded: He is the younger brother of Flint, after all.
 * Stone Wall: His team specializes in the Defense stat.

Roark (Hyouta)
Oreburgh Gym Leader--Call me Roark the Rock!


 * Badass Adorable
 * Bishonen
 * Dishing Out Dirt
 * Meaningful Name: Roark "the Rock" speaks for itself.
 * Megane-kun
 * Nice Helmet
 * "Well Done, Son" Guy: His father Byron wanted Riley to be the Gym Leader instead of Roark.
 * White Gloves

Gardenia (Natane)
Eterna Gym Leader--Master of Vivid Plant Pokémon!


 * Bare Your Midriff
 * Genki Girl
 * Green Eyes
 * Green Thumb
 * Lovable Coward: She's afraid of the Old Chateau and the ghosts said to lurk within.
 * No, she isn't. She just has important Gym Leader stuff to do.
 * Meaningful Name
 * Turtwig Power

Maylene (Sumomo)
Veilstone Gym Leader--The Barefoot, Fighting Genius!


 * Battle Aura: Lucario.
 * Big Eater
 * The Cameo: Can be found stuffing her face at a food-eating competition in HeartGold and SoulSilver.
 * Cute Bruiser
 * Does Not Like Shoes: In Platinum, you encounter her walking all the way to Snowpoint without shoes or any appropriate clothing. This is apparently related to her training.
 * Faux Action Girl: Not that she's not a good fighter, but her reputation of being tough seems overblown by the time you battle her.
 * To be fair, though, she does have the highest leveled Pokémon in the Battleground rematches.
 * Foot Focus: Both her official art and VS Sprite in Platinum. Related to Does Not Like Shoes above.
 * Freeze Sneeze: That's what you get for walking from Veilstone to Snowpoint without so much as putting on shoes.
 * Genius Bruiser: Heavily implied to be this, or at least a rough equivalent.
 * Little Miss Badass
 * Meaningful Name: Maylene = Melee
 * Name's the Same: She and a Kimono Girl from Gold and Silver had the same Japanese name. The Kimono Girl's name changed to Komomo in the remakes, possibly because Maylene makes a cameo.
 * In a roundabout way, there's also the fact that her German name is Hilda....
 * Parental Neglect: Mentions in Platinum that her dad is a gambling addict. You can also see him in the Game Corner.
 * Romantic Two-Girl Friendship: Is this or Heterosexual Life Partners with Candice, although the Les Yay between the two is undeniable.
 * You Gotta Have Pink Hair

Crasher Wake (Maximum Mask)
Pastoria Gym Leader--The Torrential Masked Master!


 * The Cameo: Makes several in HeartGold and SoulSilver.
 * Cool Mask
 * Insistent Terminology: Wake Crasher Wake!
 * Large Ham: While most Gym Leaders are relatively subdued individuals who try to demonstrate the versatility of their element of choice, Wake's a Hot Blooded masked wrestler who insists on always adding "Crasher" before his name. In Platinum, if you refuse to fight him at the Top Trainer Cafe, he will sing his theme song. And on the TV from time to time, it will describe him fighting wrestling matches. He even shows up a few times in HeartGold and SoulSilver, first giving you the three Sinnoh starter masks (which he appears to force on you, commending your love of masks), and later on the bridge to the Safari Zone, where he goes off on a rant about how cool waterfalls are.
 * Making a Splash
 * Mask Power
 * Meaningful Name: A wake is also the set of triangular waves left by something traveling through water (a boat, etc.). Also sounds similar to "crashing wave".
 * Shirtless Scene: He never even wears a shirt, even when traveling away from home to Johto as seen in HeartGold and SoulSilver.

Fantina (Melissa)
Hearthome Gym Leader--The Alluring, Soulful Dancer!


 * Blackout Basement: Her gym in Platinum.
 * Curtains Match the Window
 * Funny Foreigner
 * Genki Girl
 * Gratuitous English: Japanese and French versions.
 * Gratuitous French: Almost everywhere but the Japanese and French versions.
 * Meaningful Name: Fantina = Phantom.
 * Nightmare Fetishist
 * Odango: What is that bulbous monster attached to her scalp? Oh, wait, that's her hair.
 * Pimped-Out Dress
 * Shout Out: "Never give up, never surrender!"
 * Soul Power
 * You Gotta Have Purple Hair

Byron (Tougan)
Canalave Gym Leader--The Man with the Steel Body!


 * Badass Beard
 * Badass Cape
 * Extra Ore Dinary
 * Hot Blooded
 * Large Ham
 * Meaningful Name: Byron = Iron.
 * Perma Stubble
 * Sleeves Are for Wimps
 * You Gotta Have Purplish-Red Hair: He even has purplish-red stubble to go with it.

Candice (Suzuna)
Snowpoint Gym Leader--The Diamond Dust Girl!

""Candice is on fire! I'm blazing hot! Hot enough to melt Ice-type Pokémon! I need a battle to cool me down! OK! I'll show you how good Candice can be! I mean, how good my Pokémon can be! Awww! That's it! I'm going to train so I can throw a Focus Punch myself!""
 * Brown Eyes
 * Bow Ties Are Cool
 * Exposed to The Elements
 * Genki Girl
 * Girlish Pigtails
 * Heterosexual Life Partners: Seems to be this with Maylene, though their heterosexuality is debatable. Changed to Zoey in the anime.
 * Hot Blooded: Despite her main type.
 * An Ice Person
 * Magic Skirt: It's practically shorter than Dawn's. This seems like a health hazard when you consider that she lives in Snowpoint.
 * Meaningful Name: Candice.
 * Third Person Person:

Volkner (Denzi)
Sunyshore Gym Leader--The Shining, Shocking Star!

"Volkner: Flint's fascination with fire-types comes from his name. Someone once told him a flint was used to start a fire, and that was it."
 * The Ace: Though a bit character, he has elements of this. He hadn't had a good match in a long time before you showed up, to the point where he was about ready to resign as gym leader and take on the Elite Four. On top of this, he got so fed up in his boredom that he took on an extremely outlandish project to remodel his gym and ended up blacking out all of Sunyshore City. Where most of the walking space is made out of solar panels.
 * Deadpan Snarker: He acts like this to Flint, if the chat at the player's villa is any indication:

"Volkner: My relationship to Flint? There's no love lost, that's for sure."
 * Distaff Counterpart: Elesa is this to him.
 * Mr. Fanservice: If his description on his gym is anything to go by, this is very deliberate.
 * Gadgeteer Genius: He apparently built all the obstacles in his gym by himself.
 * Heterosexual Life Partners: With Flint.
 * Meaningful Name: Volkner sounds like "Volt".
 * Shock and Awe
 * Red Oni, Blue Oni: Blue to Flint's red.
 * Troubled but Cute: Though ultimately more cute than troubled, he still fits.
 * Vitriolic Best Buds: With Flint.

Team Galactic

 * Curtains Match the Window: All Galactic members have matching hair and eye colors.
 * Five-Bad Band:
 * Big Bad - Cyrus
 * The Dragon - Saturn
 * The Brute - Jupiter
 * Dark Chick - Mars
 * Evil Genius - Charon
 * Mini Dress of Power: The female Grunts wear these.
 * Stellar Name: Team Galactic's admins are named after planets, their leader's name means "sun", and Platinum's newly added member is named from one of Pluto's moons. (Or just named from Pluto in Japanese)
 * You Gotta Have Blue Hair: All grunts, Cyrus, and Saturn.

Cyrus (Akagi)
Team Galactic's leader. He despises emotions, feeling that they are "weak and incomplete", and wishes to purge them from the universe. To do that, he intends to destroy the universe with the power of Dialga and/or Palkia, and then remake it with himself as God. Needless to say, he's batshit insane. You need to stop him. Never mind that you're eleven.

""Why should I run and hide from the world and have to wait quietly? My aim is to rid our world of the vague and incomplete thing we call spirit. By freeing ourselves of that, our world can be made complete. That is my justice! No one can interfere! I won't lose! Not to that shadowy Pokémon! Not in any worthless world!""
 * Abusive Parents: It's implied that his parents were at the very least severely emotionally neglectful, and the situation was so bad that his grandfather considered taking him away from them. He didn't go through with it though, and he's regretted that decision ever since.
 * A God Am I: More pronounced in Diamond and Pearl than in Platinum (In the latter game, he fixates more on the new universe itself rather than the fact that he'll be a god ruling over it.)
 * Badass Bookworm: Just listen to him lecture you about genes. He's studied a lot.
 * Bad Boss: Made explicitely clear in Platinum. Granted, it only really kicks in as part of his overall plan, since everyone but him would die anyway; before then, his primary form of punishing his agents was to take away their Pokémon.
 * Big Bad
 * Big Eyes Little Eyes: He has some of the biggest eyes of any of the main villain bosses.
 * Good Eyes, Evil Eyes: They still look pretty evil, though....
 * Blow You Away: He does seem to have a predilection for Flying-type Pokemon, and his mascot is a Honchkrow....
 * Blue Eyes
 * Broken Ace
 * The Chessmaster
 * Chekhov's Gunman: In Diamond and Pearl, he is first seen when you first visit Mt. Coronet, but you don't find out who he actually is until the end of Team Galactic's Hideout. In Platinum, he's introduced even earlier (in the first twenty minutes of the game, no less), but you also find out who he is earlier.
 * Cry for The Devil: His backstory. Especially since you hear it from someone who had a chance to help him when he needed it, but... didn't, and now it's too late.
 * Dark Messiah: Seems to see himself this way, at least in Platinum.
 * Death Glare: Possibly, his default expression- certainly his most famous.
 * Early Bird Cameo: In Platinum, his very first appearance is when you and your rival first come to Lake Verity soon after obtaining your starters - he monologues (though somewhat intended for Mesprit to hear) about how he'll capture the Lake Trio as part of his plans
 * Freudian Excuse: See Abusive Parents and Cry for The Devil above.
 * It's All About Me: And NOT in the standard way like Charon. He genuinely sees himself as alturistic, but in Platinum he reveals that he sees Team Galactic as tools for achieving his ends, that only he will claim power as a god, and "making the world a better place" will depend only on what he views as being better for everyone, which turns out to be a world devoid of spirit.
 * Karma Houdini: Cyrus is the only Big Bad in the main series who doesn't reform or otherwise get punished for his actions. At least in Platinum, he suffers a brief raging breakdown due to his plan being foiled in a way that he can't repeat it the same way again; in Diamond and Pearl, he just shrugs his defeat off and vows to start anew. And even in Platinum, while he is last left in the Distortion World, it's not like he's trapped there: he's clearly staying there by choice in order to unlock more of it's secrets.
 * Knight Templar: He believes his terrible, destructive plan to be in the entire world's best interest.
 * Kubrick Stare: He gives you a pretty good one in the intro of Platinum.
 * Light Is Not Good: If you consider that he's named after the sun....
 * Manipulative Bastard
 * Meaningful Name: His Japanese name, Akagi, can be read as "red future." His American name, Cyrus, comes from the Persian "Kuros," meaning "sun." This ties into Galactic's Stellar Name pattern as well as the fact that the Commanders "revolve" around him.
 * Misanthrope Supreme: Prefers the company of machines to humans or even Pokemon.
 * Morality Pet: One of his Pokémon is a Crobat, which only evolves if it really, really loves its owner.
 * Name's the Same: Shares his name with a random Ranger in the Battle Tower.
 * And a Quagsire in Magical Pokémon Journey. And a character of the day from Johto.
 * Nietzsche Wannabe: To him, "useless emotions and sentimentality are products of the weak and incomplete human heart."
 * Not So Stoic/Sanity Slippage: Very much so in Platinum, once you get him inside the Distortion World. Just before battling Giratina, you battle him, and here is what he says:

""That Pokémon... That shadowy Pokémon was captured/defeated?! Your doing so means that this irrational world will remain in existence! Does that make it impossible for me to create a new world? Even if I made new Red Chains, the new world can't be made! Why?! What compels you to protect the two worlds? Is spirit, a vague and incomplete thing, so important to you?! Silence! Enough of your blathering! That's how you justify spirit as something worthwhile?! That is merely humans hoping, deluding themselves that they are happy and safe! The emotions broiling inside me... Rage, hatred, frustration... These ugly emotions arise because of my own incomplete spirit!""
 * And then after you defeat him and capture/defeat Giratina:

""...Enough. We will never see eye to eye. This, I promise you. I will break the secrets of the world. With that knowledge, I will create my own complete and perfect world. One day, you will awaken to a world of my creation. A world without spirit.""
 * And then immediately after that, there's his abrupt return to his stoic self. Very abrupt return.


 * Omnicidal Maniac: Hoo boy. He regards the world as incomplete, so he plans to destroy it?
 * Destroy it to build it again, so basically it was just in the way.
 * Recurring Boss: Only two battles in Diamond and Pearl are upgraded to three in Platinum. His team also Took a Level In Badass.
 * Translation Correction: In the Japanese version, Cyrus's name means "red castle/tree/future", breaking the Theme Naming of his team. Every translation except the Korean version gives him a name meaning sun or naming him after a sun god.
 * Troubled but Cute: More troubled than cute, but still fits, at least in Platinum.
 * Villainous Breakdown: See Not So Stoic and Sanity Slippage.
 * Visionary Villain
 * Well-Intentioned Extremist: Such an extremist that he falls into Omnicidal Maniac territory, but his intentions were always well-meaning in a (very) twisted way. What pushes him over to true evil is the horrific actions he's willing to take and the self-centered views he has on how a "pure" universe should be.
 * Younger Than They Look: He's 27. Possibly justified by the extreme degree of overwork and stress he's put himself through since he was a child, as his grandfather explains.

Saturn

 * Curtains Match the Window
 * The Dragon
 * Dragon-in-Chief: Presumably takes on this role whenever Cyrus in unavailable.
 * Improbable Hairstyle/Idiot Hair
 * Locked Out of the Loop: In Diamond and Pearl, it seems. He's much more aware of Cyrus's goals in Platinum, however.
 * Took a Level In Badass: Though he's the only major Galactic member not to gain an extra battle with the player in Platinum (barring Charon), his team is still a little stronger than before.
 * Uncatty Resemblance: His hairstyle matches Mars' Purugly's ears.
 * Well-Intentioned Extremist: Not quite as extreme as Cyrus, but he does still initially want to improve the world by destroying and recreating it. The difference comes when he discovers Cyrus wants all emotion and spirit gone, something Saturn doesn't want for the world.
 * You Gotta Have Blue Hair
 * You Gotta Have Blue Hair

Jupiter

 * The Brute
 * Curtains Match The Pokémon: As well as having purple eyes and hair, her hairstyle resembles Medicham's topknot. Only problem is, no one in Team Galactic has a Medicham.
 * Dual Boss: In all three games, for her 2nd battle with you she teams up with Mars.
 * Fashionable Asymmetry/She's Got Legs: For some reason, one of Jupiter's legs is a bit more... exposed than the other.
 * For the Evulz: She doesn't seem to have the genuine desire to make the world better like Saturn or Mars, nor does she seem concerned with wealth and selfish well-being like Charon. She ultimately leaves the team after Cyrus went because without him, "it's no fun anymore".
 * Kick the Dog: How she treats your rival after defeating him.
 * Recurring Boss: Though not as much as Mars, she does quite quite a few battles out of you (two in Diamond and Pearl, three in Platinum). In all games, the 2rd battle is a Dual Boss situation (see above).
 * You Gotta Have Purple Hair
 * You Gotta Have Purple Hair
 * You Gotta Have Purple Hair

Mars

 * Curtains Match the Window
 * Dark Chick
 * Dual Boss: In all three games, for her third battle with you she teams up with Jupiter.
 * Evil Redhead: Though probably the least evil of the Galactic commanders, as she's always the most reasonable with you whenever you meet, even though a little tempermental.
 * Hair-Trigger Temper: She's easily prone to anger, and even has to talk to herself in order to calm herself down.
 * Mad Love: Implied to have a crush on Cyrus, and honestly thinks he's doing good. Though most think she'd probably be better off with Saturn, what with the aforementioned Curtains Match the Window example.
 * Mini Dress of Power
 * Recurring Boss: Mars gets the most mileage out of battling you of all the Galactice Commanders (three times in Diamond and Pearl, four in Platinum). In all games, the 3rd battle is a Dual Boss situation (see above).
 * Red Eyes Take Warning: But see Evil Redhead above.
 * Shipper On Deck: She refers to Lucas and Dawn as a lovey-dovey couple.
 * Uncatty Resemblance: Same as Saturn, but reversed. Her hairstyle resembles Saturn's Toxicroak's head... spike... thing.
 * Well-Intentioned Extremist: Says in her debut that she really wants to improve the world and is saddened that other people don't seem to understand Team Galactic's cause.
 * Well-Intentioned Extremist: Says in her debut that she really wants to improve the world and is saddened that other people don't seem to understand Team Galactic's cause.

Charon (Pluto)

 * Ambition Is Evil
 * Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Charon's probably one of the least sympathetic characters in the game, what with his lack of a Freudian Excuse or 'noble' goals, but that doesn't stop him from writing about how much he loves his Rotom.
 * Evil Genius
 * Evil Old Folks
 * It's All About Me: His mentality is pretty much "Screw everyone over so that I can have wealth and glory."
 * Jerkass: This guy makes no attempt to hide how self-centered and egotistical he is.
 * Mad Scientist
 * Meaningful Name: Probably unintentional, but his American name is from Pluto's moon, notably the only heavenly body used for a Commander's name that doesn't directly revolve around the sun. Charon doesn't "revolve" around Cyrus like Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn.
 * Additionally, as he's shown to be the most heartless member of the team (his goals and plans are less dangerous than Cyrus's, but with no delusions of altruism to his goal, it's for less of a "meaningful" reason), consider that he's named after either a death god or the ferryman of the underworld...and how many would have died if he'd been able to control Heatran in his quest for money and self-aggrandizement.
 * Morality Pet: Rotom. At the very least, it used to be his friend, but sadly, he seems to use it for nothing but experiments these days. He might have even abandoned it at the old chateau once it had no more use.
 * Only in It For The Money: Unlike everyone else in Team Galactic, he's not looking to create a new world. It's all about money, power, and glory for him. There are even hints that he used to be with Team Rocket, where that mindset is the norm.
 * Pet the Dog: Possibly with Rotom.
 * Shorter Means Smarter
 * Small Name, Big Ego / Smug Snake: Has Charon told you lately what an unparalleled genius he is?
 * The Starscream: Well, he has to be this, otherwise his motivation is meaningless.
 * The Unfought
 * Used to Be A Sweet Kid: His journal entry about Rotom and his toy indicate this.

Elite Four
The Elite Four are four Pokémon Trainers who are regarded as the toughest in their regional Pokémon League, short of their League Champion.

Aaron (Ryou)

 * Big Creepy Crawlies: He loves Bug-types, and wonders why most people don't love Bug-types too.
 * Curtains Match the Windows
 * Idiot Hair: So much that you start to wonder if he's compensating for something.
 * Name's the Same: Along with Lucian, he shares a name with one of the protagonists of the English release of Lunar Knights.
 * One Steve Limit: Not to be confused with Sir Aaron from the eighth movie of the anime.
 * You Gotta Have Green Hair

Bertha (Kikuno)

 * Cool Old Lady
 * Badass Grandma: She's also quite possibly the sister of Kanto's resident Badass Grandma, Agatha. Only much nicer.
 * Brown Eyes: Fitting with her choice of ground type Pokémon.
 * Dishing Out Dirt
 * Scarf of Asskicking

Flint (Ooba)

 * Exactly What It Says On the Tin: Lampshaded by Volkner, see his Deadpan Snarker entry above.
 * Fiery Redhead
 * Funny Afro: He even suggests to Volkner in Platinum that he should have his Pokémon come out of it just to freak out his opponents.
 * Heterosexual Life Partners: With Volkner.
 * Hot Blooded
 * Meaningful Name: Invoked. Once again, see Volkner's Deadpan Snarker entry above
 * Name's the Same: Has nothing to do with Brock's father from the anime.
 * Playing With Fire: He apparently chose to train them solely because of his name. This was changed from the Japanese version, where his favorite move is Overheat because it matches his name (Oobaahiito and Ooba).
 * Red Oni, Blue Oni: The red to Volkner's blue.
 * Stealth Pun: Why does he use a Lopunny if he specializes in fire types?

Lucian (Goyou)

 * Badass Bookworm
 * Badass in A Nice Suit
 * Cool Shades
 * Curtains Match the Windows
 * Hair Color Dissonance: Well...It looks...sort of blue...Or is it purple?
 * Meaningful Name: Lucian = Illusion.
 * Name's the Same: Along with Aaron, he shares a name with one of the protagonists of the English release of Lunar Knights.
 * Psychic Powers: At least with his Pokémon, because it isn't quite clear whether Lucian has them himself like most Psychic-type specialists (in contrast to how Sabrina expected Red to face her in Generation I, Lucian finishing a book as soon as the player walks into his room is merely stated to be good timing). At the very least, he's stated by an NPC to have a fondness for books on ESP, as well as books in general considering his frequenting the Canalave Library.
 * Purple Eyes: Falls squarely into the badass category, being the final Elite Four member.
 * You Gotta Have Blue/Purple Hair

Cynthia (Shirona)

 * Action Girl: The first female Champion.
 * Adventurer Archaeologist
 * Ascended Extra: Since Gen III, the series has gone way off the Non Linear Sequel scale - Characters from previous "generations" are assumed to be far away, and barring some stray cameos here and there, you're lucky to even hear about them. Cynthia has been in every game since her introduction, including Updated Rereleases of older games.
 * Badass Longcoat
 * Badass Long Hair
 * Big Good: Sort of. She ends up not even having to act in her capacity as such, though, because you're just that awesome.
 * Boss Banter: During battle she occasionally lets you know she's having a lot of fun.
 * Bonus Boss: In Black and White.
 * Brilliant but Lazy: Her place is a jumbled mess of research papers and she'd rather leave saving the world to underqualified preteens. She's also by far the most powerful trainer in the region (not counting that part later in the game where the player character inevitably undertakes a marathon of Level Grinding and achieves godhood).
 * Cool Big Sis: She's an older sister, and she acts like this to you.
 * Combat Stilettos: Has them in her Sugimori art...
 * Depending On the Artist: But her sprites give her flat shoes.
 * Hair Decorations
 * Fighting Your Friend
 * Forgot About Her Powers: In Platinum. You're battling Cyrus, the fate of the world hangs in the balance, and she just stands there. Sure, she has faith in you and would obviously step in if push came to shove -- and perhaps she thinks you need the challenge -- but it's still sort of cruel given that you're an eleven year old kid.
 * Graceful Loser: Up to the battle, she does the usual "I see the strength in your heart and accept the challenge" bit that nearly all powerful trainers in the series seem obligated to recite by contract, but as the battle progresses, she gradually stops bothering, and her response when you beat her is basically a "Yay for you!".
 * Gray Eyes: Fits the mentor part of the first type, minus the dying.
 * Hair of Gold
 * Leitmotif: Two of them; one during the dialog before battle and the other during battles. She keeps both across generations, promoting them from normal Final Boss themes to this. Her introductory theme can be heard any time in Platinum if one's villa has a piano.
 * Peek-a-Bangs
 * Rapunzel Hair
 * Womanin Black: Although the anime makes it more of a slightly dark gray.

Frontier Brains
Elite Trainers who each preside over a Battle Frontier Facility who award prints to those who show true skill and battle prowess. They also appear in HeartGold and SoulSilver in the same roles.

Tower Tycoon Palmer (Kurotsugu)

 * Badass Longcoat
 * Blonde Hair
 * Crash Into Hello: Must be hereditary...
 * Generation Xerox: His son takes a lot after him, and there's the fact that he and the player's father became trainers the exact same way the player and Barry did.

Castle Valet Darach and Caitlin (Kokuran and Cattleya)

 * Battle Butler: Darach.
 * Berserk Button: Much like Sabrina, Caitlin has psychic powers of her own; she is the real Frontier Brain, but you don't battle her because she can't control her powers, which go berserk every time she loses.
 * Bodyguard Crush: A minor character in the Battle Castle mentions that Darach has feelings for Caitlin, but doesn't show it.
 * Global Currency Exception: Castle Points instead of the usual Pokémon Dollars or even Battle Points.
 * Hair Decorations: Caitlin.
 * Fighting Your Friend: Arguably fighting against Darach - he aids you in the Castle immensely until you reach the end of the third consecutive set of battles, in which you must fight him.
 * Rapunzel Hair: Caitlin, although
 * The Ojou: Caitlin.
 * The Unfought: Caitlin
 * The Ojou: Caitlin.
 * The Unfought: Caitlin

Hall Matron Argenta (Kate)

 * Cool Middle-Aged Lady
 * Cool Shades
 * You Gotta Have Purple Hair

Factory Head Thorton (Neziki)

 * Gadgeteer Genius
 * Nice Hat: Or maybe it's his hair...
 * Shorter Means Smarter

Arcade Star Dahlia

 * Ambiguously Brown
 * Bare Your Midriff
 * Genki Girl