Pokémon Black 2 and White 2/Characters
For characters from the previous games, see here.
For Unova Pokémon, see here. Additional Pokémon are included, but the extent is unknown at this time.
Late Arrival Spoiler Warning: This page contains unmarked spoilers from Black and White, so caution is advised.
Main characters
Nate
Voiced by: Miyu Irino (promo)
- Anime Hair: Much bushier than previous protagonists, but this could be due his visor making it stand up.
- Brown Eyes
- Curtains Match the Window
- Expy: His design is very similar to Hilbert's.
- Nice Hat: Aversion; despite it being traditional for male protagonists to have a hat, he instead has a Nice Visor.
Rosa
- Blue Eyes
- Expy: Her design is somewhat reminiscent of Hilda's.
- Hair Decorations
- Nice Hat
- Odango Hair
- Proper Tights with a Skirt: A first for female player characters.
- Tights Under Shorts: It's unclear whether she's actually wearing a skirt or a skort/pair of culottes instead.
- Rapunzel Hair
- Schrödinger's Player Character: She doesn't appear in the promo, and most of the prerelease material has focused on the male protagonist.
Hugh
Voiced by: Junko Minagawa (promo)
- Anime Hair: One of the most notable examples in the series' history.
- Anti-Hero Substitute: To Cheren and Bianca, though they're still around.
- Expy: Pretty much all the rivals up to this point in the series have some representation in him. He apparently takes some design cues from Silver and Cheren while his personality thus far seems to echo the ambitious drive shown by Barry and Blue.
- Fan Nickname: Of a sort. After a demo on Pokemon Smash! had the girl playing the game naming the rival "Hihihiroshi" as a joke, some fans thought it was the rival's official name. Even after the misunderstanding was cleared up, fans have adopted the silly name until the official name arrives.
- Hot-Blooded: He is apparently passionate for Pokémon battles.
- The Stoic: He's pretty subdued otherwise though.
- The Rival
- Real Men Wear Pink: Oddly enough, his Xtransceiver is pink, which contrasts with the red and yellow ones the male and female protagonists possess, respectively.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: Not evil, but seems to be darker than more recent rivals, excluding Silver.
- You Gotta Have Blue Hair
Gym Leaders
Cheren
Voiced by: Ryohei Kimura (promo)
Hilbert/Hilda's rival, who has since gone on to become a Normal-type Gym Leader. He is the first Gym Leader fought, giving out the Basic Badge. For tropes pertaining to his appearance in the previous games, see here.
- Black Eyes
- Childhood Friends: With Bianca.
- Curtains Match the Window
- Expository Hairstyle Change
- Idiot Hair
- Sharp-Dressed Man
- The Glasses Come Off: He apparently stopped wearing his glasses in-between games.
- Luminescent Blush: It's natural blush, not triggered.
- Non-Elemental
- Warmup Boss: He's the first Gym Leader, even using a Patrat on his team.
Roxie (Homika)
A punk rocker specializing in Poison-type Pokémon. Her gym is in a music club. She is the second gym leader fought.
- Adaptational Badass: An early Leader in the games, eighth and final Leader in the anime.
- Blue Eyes
- Early-Bird Cameo: Homika will make her debut in the anime about a week before Black 2 and White 2 are released, presumably both for advertising purposes.
- Hair Decorations
- Nobody Loves the Bassist: Subverted. The bassist is the Gym Leader!
- Poisonous Person
- The Rock Star
- The Southpaw: She plays the bass with her left hand.
- White-Haired Pretty Girl
- Youthful Freckles
Marlon (Shizui)
A swimmer specializing in Water-type Pokémon.
- Anime Hair
- Big Brother Mentor: He's described to be like this to the protagonist.
- Blue Eyes
- Making a Splash
- Memetic Outfit: His Tan Lines.
- Mr. Fanservice
- Walking Shirtless Scene
- Walking Swimsuit Scene
- You Gotta Have Blue Hair
Elesa (Kamitsure)
Voiced by: Miyuki Sawashiro (promo)
For tropes pertaining to her appearance in the previous games, see here.
- Bare Your Midriff
- Blue Eyes
- The Coats Are Off: She does it in her battle against the protagonist in the trailer.
- Cool Horse: Her Zebstrika is still around.
- Cool Shades: Her headphones now have these built in.
- Dye Hard: Appears to have dyed her hair black in the two years between Black and White and the sequels. That, or this is her natural color.
- Everything's Nuttier With Flying Squirrels: Emolga. She still uses at least one.
- Hair Decorations
- Ms. Fanservice
- Naked in Mink: What it seemed like she was in the promotional trailer, until she ripped off her coat to reveal the outfit underneath. She's still very Pretty in Mink though.
- She's Got Legs
- Stripperiffic
- Shock and Awe
Skyla(Fuuro)
For tropes pertaining to her appearance in the previous games, see here.
- Blow You Away: Besides still specializing in Flying-types, it's now literal: her Gym is full of strong winds that blow people away.
- Fiery Redhead
- Hair Decorations
- Wind from Beneath My Wings
Other characters
Bianca (Bel)
Voiced by: Ayana Taketatsu (promo)
Hilbert/Hilda's rival, who has since gone on to become an aide for Professor Juniper. She delivers the game's starting Pokémon to the new player character and their rival. For tropes pertaining to her appearance in the previous games, see here.
- Childhood Friends: With Cheren.
- Expository Hairstyle Change: It's gotten longer, apparently to make her look older.
- Girlish Pigtails: They aren't really pigtails, but the swept-up parts of her hair seem to evoke this.
- Green Eyes
- Hair of Gold
- Meganekko: For some reason, she gained glasses between the two years. People joke that she stole them from Cheren, or at least received them from him in some manner.
- Moe Stare: Similarly to the last game, her official art has her giving one.
- Nice Hat: Now with a ribbon on the side.
Brycen (Hachiku)
The Gym leader of the Icirrus Gym and former movie star. He has since gone back to acting in Pokewood and it is currently unknown if he's an actual opponent. For tropes pertaining to his appearance in the previous games, see here.
- An Ice Person
- Black Eyes
- Cool Mask
- Fashionable Asymmetry
- Slasher Smile: He plays a villain in Pokewood, sporting one of these.
- Warrior Monk
- You Gotta Have Blue Hair
N / Natural Harmonia Gropius
Voiced by: Hiroshi Kamiya (promo)
The former leader of Team Plasma has gone missing with his dragon (Zekrom in Black, Reshiram in White) during the Time Skip. For tropes pertaining to his appearance in the previous games, see here
Team Plasma
Colress (Achroma)
Voiced by: Junichi Suwabe (promo)
A mysterious researcher, studying Pokémon strength. Very little is known about him.
- Affably Evil: He's more concerned about bringing out the strengths of Pokémon rather than Team Plasma's plan, he's pretty friendly in a genuine way, and he also helps you out quite a few times, when it might be not in his best interest to do so.
- Anti-Villain: His concerns over making scientific discoveries about Pokémon rather than Team Plasma's ambitions plant him into Type I and III territory.
- The Atoner: He appears near the P2 Laboratory after the League, regretting his actions, stripped of his Plasma affiliations and looking to make amends. He gives the player another Master Ball after he is beaten.
- Badass: He's easily one of the toughest trainers in Unova.
- Blondes Are Evil
- Bonus Boss: You can challenge him each day.
- Color-Coded for Your Convenience: Black, white and blue are Team Plasma's colors. Not that it implied anything.
- Astonishingly Appropriate Appearance: His hair and clothing resemble Team Plasma's emblem.
- Dragon-in-Chief: He works for Ghetsis as Team Plasma's new boss.
- Even Evil Has Standards: He claims he actually couldn't stand Ghetsis and only worked with his for his resources.
- Evil Counterpart: In a way, he's this to the main games' Pokémon Professors (Oak, Elm, Birch, Rowan and Juniper). Like them, his goal is discover a truth behind Pokémon (in his case, strength). However, while the Professors are genuinely nice people whose main method of research is the Pokédex, Colress is willing to do whatever it takes to further his research, up to and including siding with Team Plasma. He wises up in the post game, though.
- Evil Genius: As Team Plasma's top researcher.
- Evil Mentor/Treacherous Advisor: Played with; he helps out the PC from time to time but only for his cause of making scientific discoveries, a goal that made him join Team Plasma, albeit as a member who doesn't care about their ambitions.
- Eyes of Gold
- Fan Nickname: Evil Elm. Or Professor Wesker due to both being evil creepy-eyed glasses-wearing scientists with slicked-back blonde hair and a long coat, or sometimes Internet Explorer due to his hair style resembling the IE logo (If you switch the colors of the two different parts).
- There's also the random comparison to Wheatley, due to his love of science and a passing resemblance to Stephen Merchant.
- Friendly Enemy: Is actually more of an ally than an enemy in most of the times he's encountered.
- For Science!: The reason he joins Team Plasma, even if their plan risks destroying the Unova region. His concern for studying the strength of Pokémon is greater than his concern for the fate of the region. Even Ghetsis criticized him for putting his scientific research before Team Plasma's ambition. He realizes this mistake at the end and atones for it during the postgame.
- Four Eyes, Zero Soul: Subverted at the end.
- Heel Face Turn: He can be found and battled at the P2 Lab, where he says he is attempting to make up for his mistakes, and is no longer affiliated with Team Plasma.
- Hot Scientist: Not bad looking in the least.
- Idiot Hair: Only this one is dyed blue and loops back over his head.
- Anime Hair: It's really strange.
- Karma Houdini: He may be The Atoner post-game, but it's still odd he gets off with no legal consequences after nearly destroying Unova.
- Leitmotif: According to Word of God, it is meant to sound all over the place, much like Colress himself.
- Magnificent Bastard: Pretends to be an ally to manipulate your character's actions into helping further his experiments, even getting you to partake in the Mind Control of Pokemon. And despite being Team Plasma's boss, he's a Wild Card who has no loyalty to Ghetsis' cause, even letting you go derail the entire Evil Plan just to see the result.
- Meaningful Name: Chroma is Greek for Color, and is used in English to define the intensity of a color or colorfulness, while A is a prefix commonly used to denote a negative. Achroma then could mean either "colorless" or "against colorfulness/intensity". His name can also be interpreted as "Akuroma" in Japanese, which contains words or fragments of words that mean "evil", "devil", "black", and such.
- Multicolored Hair: Blond, but with an Idiot Hair that's blue and loops around his head.
- Obviously Evil
- Punch Clock Villain: He doesn't really care for the actual villainy he partakes in: only the results it gets him.
- Recurring Boss: Fought three times in the main game and then again as a Bonus Boss.
- Scary Shiny Glasses: His battle sprite animation.
- Stoic Spectacles: It fits his For Science! motif.
- True Final Boss: Defeating him on the Plasma Frigate after beating Iris brings a final closure to Team Plasma's arc. Afterwards he is a Bonus Boss that can be challenged there. However, N and Cynthia's levels remain higher.
- The Unfettered: Colress doesn't care if his actions are good or bad, he only cares about the science behind them.
Ghetsis Harmonia (G'Cis Harmonia)
N's stepfather who seems to have taken control of Kyurem. For tropes pertaining to his appearance in the previous games, see here
- Archnemesis Dad: To N
- Ax Crazy: He wants to freeze over the entire region - and you!
- Bad Boss: His Hydreigon knows Frustration, a move that gets stronger the more the Pokémon dislikes its trainer. Contrast with former villainous team leaders who tend to have a Crobat in their team near the end, a Pokémon that only evolves if it likes its trainer.
- Big Bad: Again.
- Black Cloak
- Climax Boss
- Cold-Blooded Torture: Does this to Kyurem to make it comply with freezing Unova. Also plans on doing it to the Player Character.
- Complete Monster: And far lass subtle about it now!
- Crystal Prison: He attempts to invoke the icicle variant on you in order to create an Ironic Hell in which you'd be forced to watch his plans unfold, unable to do anything as you freeze to death. Luckily, N comes to save the day.
- Dangerously Genre Savvy: When he is confronted and summons Kyurem, he challenges us to a battle right? WRONG. Instead he makes Kyurem try to freeze the player from all directions with giant icicles in an attempted murder. Thankfully N and Zekrom/Reshiram were able to pull a Big Damn Heroes just in time. However, he was savvy enough to anticipate that N's love for Pokémon would lead him and his Dragon to Kyurem, and he then forces N's Dragon and Kyurem to merge, creating Black/White Kyurem!
- When you do fight Black/White Kyurem, expecting to be able to catch it like the Legendary in the last game? WRONG AGAIN! Ghestis uses his staff-cane to prevent your Poké Balls (excluding the ones with your Pokémon in them) from working.
- Darker and Edgier: He goes all-out in vile monstrosity and villainy here.
- Dark Is Evil: His outfit screams this.
- Death by Irony: He says he takes pleasure in watching people lose all hope. In the end, his defeat makes him lose all hope and go catatonic as a result.
- Despotism Justifies the Means: His plan must end with him in charge of Unova. He will settle for nothing less.
- Diabolical Mastermind
- The Dreaded: Since everyone now knows what he truly is.
- Evil Is Deathly Cold: "Deathly cold" literally. He controls Kyruem and uses it's ice power to put the Unova region under a fatal freeze, hoping to extort power and control from the terrified masses when the suffering becomes too great. He also tries to kill the hero with the freezing power of Kyurem's Glaciate attack.
- Evil Makeover: Now that everyone knows how he's like, he's ditched his old attire in favor of dressing like...well, The Devil.
- Evil Overlord: What he strives to be, hence the new look.
- Fate Worse Than Death: By the end of it all, the events of two games and his ensuing failures causes Ghetsis to go so insane, he is effectively reduced to a non-functioning, gibbering vegetable. There could be no fate more fitting.
- Horned Hairdo: Fitting for The Devil incarnate.
- It Got Worse: Forget manipulating other people into befriending legendaries, now he personally commands one!
- Jerkass: He hasn't changed one bit.
- Knight of Cerebus: He has Kyurem physically attack the protagonist, attempting to either freeze him/her alive or to death.
- Luke, I Might Be Your Father: His son may not be related to him by blood after all. Anthea and Concordia, and Ghetsis himself, reveal to the player that N was raised in a forest by Pokémon, and later taken in by Ghetsis. In the post-game, when the player meets with N in the ruins of his castle, he talks more about how he and Ghetsis met if the player goes into his room.
- The Man Behind the Man: To Colress.
- Obviously Evil: DUH.
- Paint It Black: He ditched his tower cosplay for a jet black attire.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: And his red monocle got even more menacing, it's edges being black instead of white now.
- Redemption Rejection: His response to N asking him to change his evil ways is to scream at him to SHUT UP!, hurling abusive insults all the while, at which point Ghetsis' mind snaps and he goes full-blown insane.
- Sanity Slippage: He's on the verge of total Ax Crazy insanity in his entire screentime.
- Sinister Surveillance: His control room on the Plasma Frigate certainly gives off this sort of vibe. The fact that it's a bunch of static indicates the player character or Hugh might have been destroying the cameras while storming the Frigate.
- Slasher Smile: Just to show you how massively pissed and insane he's become, his pre-battle expression is this.
- Smug Snake: Subverted by the end, as he's now too insane to really have any ego.
- The Sociopath: Oh good Arceus...
- Staff of Authority: It doubles as a Mind-Control Device that allows him to control Kyurem, as well as a Poké Ball jammer, which he uses to prevent the player from capturing Kyurem for themselves during their encounter in the Giant Chasm.
- Take Over the City: Though he still wants world domination, he focuses on just the Unova region this time.
- Villainous Breakdown: He absolutely loses it when his plan is foiled. N attempts to convince him to turn to the side of good and treat his Pokemon better, but Ghetsis's response is to roar and him and repeatedly order him to be silent and to stop talking to him in "human language", since he can only understand Pokemon. His mind snaps and he starts heaving for breath and almost suffering heart failure. The Shadow Triad remove him from the cave, recognising that it's over. In the post game, they state that since Ghetsis's loss, he went catatonic, unable to function anymore. The events of the two years, with the actions of the protagonists, the failures and betrayals of N and Colress, and the failure of his life's work, has utterly broken him.
- Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?: Averted for the first time in the main series. Thankfully, N saves you in the nick of time.
- Would Hurt a Child: He attempts to murder the Kid Hero by freezing him/her to death, or possibly freezing them alive. Either way, he intends to have the child be physically harmed and out of the way.
- You Gotta Have Green Hair
Sage Zinzolin
The only sage who still serves Ghetsis within the new Team Plasma
- An Ice Person: This hasn't changed.
- The Heavy: Acts as this for Colress and Ghetsis.
Shadow Triad (Dark Trinity)
One is voiced by: Akira Ishida (promo)
Three Ninjas from the previous games. For tropes pertaining to their appearance in the previous games, see here.
- Ambiguous Gender: No more! With more focus placed on them, they have been shown to be distinctly male.
- Fetish Fuel Station Attendant: Let's see...Ninja's? Check. Badass White-Haired Pretty Boys? Check. Skin tight ninja garb? Check.
- Ninjas
- Terrible Trio
- Villain Teleportation
- White Haired Pretty Boys