Character Clarification

First blog post! Right- I thought I would open with a discussion of Natural Gropius Harmonia, more commonly referred to as N. Now, N is certainly one of the more controversial characters in the franchise, if not the most. It is a character's quirks and problems that make them exciting- so I will go over a good deal of that. Let's start with the basics, shall we?

Who is Natural?

A picture of N and Zekrom that I was fond of.

N is the villainous team leader in Black and White, and an experienced PkMn Trainer in Black and White 2. He is partnered with Zekrom (Reshiram) in a pursuit for his ideals. He has very strong, formulated feelings and opinions, but is extremely open-minded, however. He travels the region in search for Hilbert or Hilda, and eventually gives his most beloved Pokémon away to Nate or Rosa, convinced that it is in better hands as Nate/Rosa goes on to fuse it with its original body, Kyurem. He is the adopted son of Ghetsis, and is the adopted brother to Anthea and Concordia. He grew up with Pokémon, isolated from people, and therefore can talk to Pokémon considerably better than he can people. He is shrouded in mystery, and not much else is known about him.

The Good, the Bad, and the Funky

The Good

N is a very compassionate and open-minded character. He is known to, "hear the voices of Pokémon,"although this concept is nearly abandoned after the first few battles. He is strong in times of down, and is known to develop deep bonds with the people and Pokémon he loves. He can clearly distinct black and white and is not one to easily fall for the murkiness of the grey (pun intended). Overall, he's a pretty interesting character with a good amount of good qualities (no matter how hard you have to look for them).

The Bad

As good of a character as N is, he would not be nearly as interesting without his quirks. He is extremely easy to manipulate, as made evident by Ghetsis' attempts to use him as king to make himself innocent. He is also not the best communicator, because he grew up with Pokémon, and actually speaks to them better than humans.

The Funky

Let's get to the heart of the matter- what should the true interpretation of this character be? Is he just a stupid child that can speak to Pokémon and wears his heart on his sleeve, as Ghetsis implies? Or is he really something else, that cannot be expressed because of the antisocial veil he wears? I love N. I really do. Alas, my answer is the one I do not want to believe, and that is the first one. N means good in his heart, he really does- it just so happens that he was unfortunately placed in the wrong place in the wrong time, and as a result, produced the Natural that we know and love. He is- let's face it- simply a child who can speak to Pokémon. Nothing more. Yes, he was the hero recognized by Zekrom (Reshiram), but there is no specific reasoning for this- heck, Hilbert was a hero as well, and he doesn't even have a set personality; if he did, he would be able to talk. In sad conclusion, the crazy old man was correct- N really is just a sad little boy who can talk to Pokémon. An awesome sad little boy, at that- he will remain to be my favorite character ever.

Character Interaction

Hilbert/Hilda (for convinence, referred to as Hil)

N appreciated Hil, I believe. Constantly, he was trying to talk a little sense into them, to see things from their perspective, to help them out. There was a really good thing going- particularly the Ferris Wheel moment. That scene was an extreme for character-to-character development, and personally one of my favorite moments in the game. Additonally, he continues to pursue Hil during BW2, obviously unsatisfied with their goodbye. He missed them!

Ghetsis

Ghetsis and N had a very interesting relationship. It was much more than father-son thing going on. Originally, they N cared for him, although the feeling was not returned. Ghetsis was using N as a tool the whole time, and when N found this out, he was angry- he's very good at concealing his feelings, apparently. However, he made it obvious that he and Zekrom (Reshiram) had been keeping an eye on him, and were ready to spring into action the second that he fouled up.

Nate/Rosa (referred to as Grey for convenience)

The relationship between these two was something odd. Their meetings were short and few, and for the majority of them, N simply preached his philosophy to Grey, bringing up the occasional reference to Hil (which you cannot deny kept us all on our seats). Scenes such as the ferris wheel and the Castle made it obvious that N did, nonetheless, see the same glimmer in Grey's eye that he had seen in Hil's.

Aurea Juniper

These two only met once- yet I found the situation interesting enough to record. There was extreme friction- it was as if N didn't have any tolerance for the woman at all. He virtually exploded on her, and it was one of the few times that he was close-minded. Aurea usually saw N as an emotional, unappreciative child. Close enough.

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Well, that's it. 'Till next time, I'll be off. Be safe and find the muffin button.