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Pokemon as a franchise has grown exponentially since the debut of the original Pokemon games back in 1996. Excluding the upcoming Pokemon Scarlet and Violet games, there are now a total of 22 mainline entries that exist in the Pokemon franchise. With such a huge collection under its belt, the franchise has introduced players to many lovable monsters and relatable characters over the years. However, not every character that Game Freak has created has been a jolly one.
Pokemon games are known for being charming and easy going for the most part, but every once in a while players will encounter an extremely ruthless character pursuing an extravagant ambition. Characters such as these will do anything to see their goals become a reality, and will not care of the consequences of their actions in the least. This list has highlighted some of the most ruthless characters that players have come across in the mainline Pokemon games.
5 Silver
Pokemon Gold & Silver and consequentlyPokemon HeartGold & SoulSilver are widely regarded as two of the best games in the franchise, and for good reason. On top of giving players not one, but two regions (Jhoto and Kanto) to explore, they also introduced the darkest rival in the series to date, that being Silver. Players first meet Silver outside of Professor Elm's lab where he pushes the player away upon interaction. After the player chooses their first Pokemon, Silver then proceeds to steal one of Professor Elm's remaining two starters.This however only marked the beginning of Silver's messed up antics as he continued to display his ruthless and abusive behavior throughout the Johto games.
Silver is initially shown to have a rough and heartless nature. His ultimate goal was to prove his strength by taking down all weak trainers in his path. He also bore a strong hatred towards Team Rocket and considered them to be worthless. This hatred stemmed from the fact that he was abandoned by his father Giovanni, leader of Team Rocket, after he went into seclusion following his defeat at the hands of Red. Fortunately, Lance is able to correct Silver's way of thinking after defeating him in a Pokemon battle.
4 Cyrus
Cyrus is the maniacal leader on Team Galactic in the Generation IV Sinnoh games. Cyrus was once a good person, but after being rejected by his parents for not living up to their expectations he grew indifferent to people. He started considering emotions as only a means of instigating conflict, and thus wanted to destroy the Universe and create one without emotions. His rejection of emotions is what ultimately ended up making him so ruthless in his endeavor.
He truly believed that to end the suffering and the fighting in the world, emotions must be eliminated from it. Cyrus is shown to be very persistent in his efforts to achieve his dream throughout the games, as even after being defeated by the player in the distortion world, he hints at someday returning and making his dream come true.
3 Lusamine
Players are first introduced to Lusamine in Pokemon Sun & Moon and Pokemon Ultra Sun & Ultra Moon as the President of the Aether Foundation. On the surface it appeared as if Lusamine was a caring and gentle person, but upon further progression in the games, her true vile nature is soon revealed. Lusamine became obsessed with the power of the Ultra Beasts, and in the wake of this obsession ended up descending into a dark path. The evidence of Lusamine's ruthless nature is shown through her collection of frozen Pokemon, which she supposedly made to preserve the Pokemon for "eternity".
Throughout the games she continues to belittle her children and not give a damn about their opinions and ambitions. Though Lillie and Gladion try their best to reason with their mother, to bring her back to her senses, she continues to reject them and ends up going mad. She becomes obsessed with the Ultra Space and ends up merging with an Ultra Beast, Nihilego, claiming that the beast is all she cares about. In the end, Players end up defeating Lusamine, and she is shown to be slowly correcting her ways with Lillie's help.
2 Giovanni
While team rocket may not sum up to be the most ambitious team in the Pokemon franchise, the same however does not hold true for its leader Giovanni, the original antagonist of the series. Giovanni is a power-hungry, greedy and self-centered villain obsessed with collecting rare species of Pokemon and using them to take control of the world. Giovanni successfully created Mewtwo by genetically modifying the DNA of the mythical Mew. He then proceeded to use Mewtwo to fulfill his villainous ambitions. Though being defeated in the games by the hands of Red, Giovanni did not stop scheming to spread chaos in the world. After being defeated, he ends up abandoning his son and goes into hiding to think of his next goal.
With the original Pokemon Red & Blue, Giovanni has made many appearances in other games as well. In Pokemon Ultra Sun & Ultra Moon, an alternate version of Giovanni is seen trying to take control of the Multiverse by enlisting the aid of alternate versions of other evil Team Leaders. He goes onto create and lead Team Rainbow Rocket, with the purpose of taking control over all other worlds using an army of Ultra Beats.
1 Ghetsis
If there is anything that Pokemon fans can agree on is that Pokemon trainers don’t often make the best of fathers. Joining the ranks of Giovanni we have Ghetsis, the leader of Team Plasma and the main antagonist of Pokemon Black & White. Ghetsis manipulated not only the members of Team Plasma and the masses, but also his adoptive son N for his own purposes. Contrary to many speeches Ghetsis makes in the games, he is a cruel dictator who only views Pokemon as tools.
In Pokemon Black & White he used N to bring out the Legendary Dragon Pokemon (Zekrom or Reshiram), and upon N’s defeat by the hands of the player, proceeded to discard him away. He then revealed that his true goal was to be the only person alive in control of Pokemon. In the sequel games, Pokemon Black 2 & White 2 Ghetsis goes on to become a complete maniac going as far as attempting to annihilate the player with the aid of Kyurem, but in the end, is defeated by the Player. Ghetsis is truly the most ruthless villain seen in the Pokemon franchise up till this point. He bears compassion for no one but his own vile self.