Lusamine

Lusamine
Species	Human
Affiliation	Aether Foundation
Hair color	Blonde
Eye color	Green
Age	40s
Base	Aether Paradise
Relatives	Mohn (husband) Gladion (son) Lillie (daughter)
Voiced by	Unknown (2020)
Debut	Pokémon: Sun/Moon

Lusamine is the president of the Aether Foundation who is featured as an antagonist in the seventh generation games of the Pokémon series: Pokémon Sun, Moon, Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon. Her storyline differs across the two version sets, as she acts as the main antagonist in Sun/Moon, while Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon relegates her to a secondary antagonist fighting against the true main antagonist of Necrozma. She is also the mother of Lillie and Gladion, who are central supporting characters in those games.

Background

Lusamine's father was a wealthy man who had a great love for Pokémon, and he started the Aether Foundation as an organization to protect Pokémon. Lusamine eventually succeeded him as the group's president and held similar values. She was known to be very protective of Pokémon and looked after them in a motherly way. She married a researcher named Mohn, and they had two children: Gladion and Lillie. According to Lillie's account, she used to be kind and caring for her children. One day, Mohn conducted research into Ultra Wormholes which resulted in him getting lost within one, leaving behind only a weakened Cosmog and his research papers on Nihilego. This appeared to be part of the origin of her fixation on Ultra Space - a desire to find her lost husband.

Beyond that, Mohn's disappearance seemed to be the catalyst which caused the shift in Lusamine's behavior. She became cold and distant towards her children, and she only seemed to value the Pokémon that she considered to be beautiful. She kept a number of Pokémon cryogenically preserved in her trophy room to keep them perpetually safe. Under her supervision, Faba also performed unethical experiments which resulted in the creation of Type: Null as a possible weapon to battle Ultra Beasts. Gladion felt that his mother saw him and Type: Null only as ornaments who were only supposed to dress and act the way she wanted. He eventually ran away from Aether Paradise with Null two years prior to the seventh generation games.

Lusamine focused the Aether Foundation's efforts on the objective of reaching Ultra Space by opening Ultra Wormholes. Her exact motives in this differed from version to version, as detailed below. She planned to use the Cosmog in an experiment to open the Ultra Wormhole, an experiment that would most likely kill the creature. Lillie railed against this, as she had grown attached to Cosmog and nicknamed it Nebby. This led to the opening scene of the seventh generation games, in which Lillie stole Cosmog, and they escaped from Aether Paradise with Cosmog's power. Lusamine would later express resentment for her children due to them leaving her. Three months passed after Lillie's escape before the main narrative of the game began.

Aside from being seen on a magazine cover early in the games, Lusamine was first seen when Elio/Selene and Hau were brought on a quick tour of Aether Paradise as a reward from Faba for saving him from Team Skull members on Akala Island. The young trainers met Lusamine, who presented herself in a warm and friendly manner. Hau mentioned Lillie's name at one point, unaware of the connection. At this point, Lusamine seemed surprised for a moment, but she did not press on the matter and mentioned that children would be better if they listened to the adults around them. This meeting was disrupted by the spontaneous formation of an Ultra Wormhole, from which Nihilego surfaced. The Ultra Beast posed a threat, so Elio/Selene was able to defeat it in a battle, and it promptly disappeared. Lusamine was left feeling that she needed that Pokémon and told them some of the basics about Ultra Beasts before sending them on their way.

At some point, Lusamine forged an arrangement with Guzma and Team Skull. She had them capture Lillie and Cosmog for her. Once they were brought to Aether Paradise, she brought Cosmog to her trophy room where she would initiate the process to open the portal. Elio/Selene showed up and battled Lusamine. Regardless of whether the battle was won or lost, Lusamine was still able to open the Ultra Wormhole and disappeared into it. From there, her story diverged completely across the two version sets.

Sun/Moon

In Sun/Moon. it was shown that Lusamine considered Ultra Beasts to be the most beautiful Pokémon of all. Her desire to reach Ultra Space was a self-centered one, as she sought to place Ultra Beasts under her protection and add them to the family of Pokémon that she cared for. She did not seem to be concerned with any destruction that the Ultra Beasts might unleash upon Alola upon unleashed.

After opening the Ultra Wormhole, she entered an area of Ultra Space where she encountered Nihilego. It fused with her by attaching itself to her head and filling her with its toxins. In this form, Lusamine felt that she had found her true paradise, where the love between her and Nihilego were the only thing that existed. Elio/Selene and Lillie arrived to confront her eventually, and she was outraged. She continued to disparage Lillie for getting in her way and defying her, and she told her that she was not beautiful enough to be worthy of her love. Lillie stood up to her and called her terrible, but Lusamine defied that by trying to compare her actions to Elio/Selene removing unwanted Pokémon from their party. Lusamine proceeded to use her own Pokémon to battle Elio/Selene once again. After she was defeated, Nihilego separated itself from her, and she collapsed. In her dazed state, she asked Lillie when she had started becoming beautiful.

Afterwards, Lusamine was left in an unstable condition, while Gladion was appointed acting president of the Aether Foundation. It was unclear if Lusamine's condition was caused by the Nihilego's neurotoxins, an effect of the fusion or the strain of the Z-Power. Lillie looked after her at Aether Paradise and also tried to help her see the error of her ways, although it was implied that it would be a gradual process. Ultimately, Lillie decided to travel to Kanto after hearing about Bill, an inventor who once combined himself with a Pokémon in an experiment gone wrong. She hoped that Bill's Teleporter and Cell Seperation System would be able to free her from Nihilego's lingering effects so that she could properly recover. And so Lilliet took Lusamine with her on her journey to Kanto, and it was unknown what happened beyond this.

Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon

In the Ultra games, Lusamine's story was revised to give her a more altruistic purpose and a redemption. While she was still shown to be cruel towards her children, her research into Ultra Space was actually prompted by the arrival of the Ultra Recon Squad. They were a group of people who hailed from another world in Ultra Space and came to Alola to warn Lusamine about the coming threat of Necrozma. Thus, much of Aether's research into Ultra Beasts and battling them was done in conjunction with the Ultra Recon Squad to prepare for Necrozma, including the development of the Beast Balls. Despite working with them, Lusamine felt that she was the only person who could properly handle the mission. So once the Ultra Wormhole entered, only she and Guzma went through to battle Necrozma. They were both soundly defeated and were ejected from Ultra Space, coincidentally landing at Poni Island's Altar while Elio/Selene and Lillie were there with Nebby (which had evolved into [{Solgaleo]] in Ultra Sun or Lunala in Ultra Moon). She attempted to urge them to retreat and recognized Lillie's kindness at the same time. After Ultra Necrozma was defeated, she admitted that Lillie was right in her actions and gave some Beast Balls to Elio/Selene now that she felt she could trust them with that technology. Lusamine then had Lillie help her bring Nebby back to Aether Paradise to care for it due to the light that it had lost. She later bid farewell to Gladion when he set off for Kanto to train.

At the beginning of the Episode RR storyline, Lusamine made a television broadcast to tell the public about the end of the threat of Necrozma and the Ultra Beasts. This was disrupted by a new Ultra Wormhole which was opened intentionally by Team Rainbow Rocket. The power of the Wormhole was able to transform Aether Paradise into Team Rocket's Castle, and Lusamine was held captive by them. Giovanni used the power of an unspecified Ultra Beast to render her unconcious, and this would apparently also eventually brainwash her into becoming his loyal servant. Elio/Selene defeated him before it was able to come to that. Aether Paradise was restored to normal, and Lusamine thanked Elio/Selene after she woke up. She then demoted Faba due to the role he played in helping Giovanni.

Lusamine ultimately felt remose for her actions as a mother and as president of the Aether Foundation. She ultimately endeavored to pour her love into protecting Pokémon and her children with pain while also being strong enough not to interfere where she should not. She considered this to be a beautiful kind of love. Lusamine could also take on the Elite Four and appear as a Title Defense opponent for Elio/Selene on the first day of every month. After defeating Gladion in a Title Defense battle, a special event would be unlocked in which the amnesiac Mohn visited the Aether Paradise and met with Lusamine. As they conversed casually, he admired Aether Paradise, and learned that he was running the Poké Pelago which offered space for Pokémon that would normally be confined to PC boxes. This addressed one issue Lusamine had with the treatment of Pokémon, and Mohn suggested that they could work together in the future on expanding the Poké Pelago. She did not let him know that she knew him and merely confirmed that his memories were gone by asking him if this was his first visit to Aether Paradise before he left. Gladion witnessed her seeing him off, and Lusamine assured him that she was fine with leaving things like that because of the way Mohn smiled.

Pokémon Roster

Lusamine uses the following Pokémon in battle:

• Clefable
• Lilligant
• Mismagius (Sun/Moon)
• Lopunny (Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon)
• Milotic
• Bewear

She also has a number of Pokémon frozen in her trophy room: Pikachu, Slowpoke, Magmar, Snubbull, Drifloon, Rowlet, Litten, Popplio and Pyukumuku. Lusamine also spent some time merged with Nihilego in Sun/Moon, but she did not actually own it, nor did she use it in battle.

In Other Pokémon Games

In Pokémon Masters EX, Lusamine appeared as a playable trainer who was initially made available with the Ultra Beast Pheromosa as her sync partner. They were added to the game in September 2020 and could be unlocked at random through the game's Sync Pair Scout feature. A Sygna Suit varient of Lusamine paired with the Dusk Mane form of Necrozma was also made available through the Sync Pair Scout during limited time periods starting in November 2021, with Dusk Mane Necrozma being able to transform into Ultra Necrozma by using a sync move. When fought as an opponent, she could also sync with Bewear or Clefable. Her appearance in this game follows the Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon version of events, as she refers to her past efforts against Necrozma and works at being a better mother to her children.

Lusamine has been featured in several of the game's Story Events. In "Family Ties", Lillie entered Lusamine, Gladion and herself in a family battle competition. Due to their past family friction, they have trouble working together as a team. This results in Gladion suggesting they fight seperately, and Lusamine tries to remove herself from the team entirely. Lillie tells her mother that her suggestion is selfish, as the whole purpose of this was for them to learn to work together as a family. So the three of them were able to work together to defeat the team of Norman, Brendan and Wally. In one of the following vignettes, Lusamine claims that her Pheromosa simply appeared to her out of the blue one day and decided to follow her. During the "Poké War Games" Costume Event, she provided Guzma and Jasmine with information about Ultra Beasts. She was later featured in the Story Event "The Light Devourer", in which Dusk Mane Necrozma came to Pasio. After tracking it down, while facing her regrets about how she handled the original Necrozma situation back in Alola, she was able to earn Necrozam's trust and partnership. She was consulted for her knowledge regarding Ultra Beasts and Ultra Wormholes in the "Otherworldly Visitor" and "Twin Stars Far Apart" Story Events. In the former event, she gave her blessing to Iris's bond with Nanganandel.

During the Main Story's Villain Arc, Lusamine was featured during the Alola chapter, in which she helped to fend off an outbreak of Ultra Beasts while investigating a leak within the Aether Foundation. In the process, she fought alongside Anabel and was able to determine that Ultra Beasts were drawn to her. She investigated some suspicious activity on Faba's part, but the source of the leak turned out to be a group of rogue Aether Foundation members who only liked Lusamine when she was obsessed with Ultra Beasts. Faba helped Lusamine to fight them off, and after the matter was resolved, it turned out that Faba had been looking into working for Lear. Lusamine was able to convince Faba to stay with the Aether Foundation. Afterwards, she appeared in "Paulo Interlude: The Last Evil", where she and Faba were part of a meeting that Lysandre called together with Rose and Oleana to discuss what to do regarding Paulo and Team Break. During the Final Chapter of the Villain Arc, Lusamine teamed up with Oleana against a group of Team Rocket members led by Ariana, and Malva joined in to help them.

Other Appearances

Other Media

• In the Pokémon anime, Lusamine made recurring appearances during the Sun/Moon-based series. In this version, she was not portrayed as an antagonist and instead helped Ash, Lillie and the others as a supporting character. She still had a love of Ultra Beasts, and Mohn still went missing, but this version of Lusamine remained kind and doting. She was depicted with several flaws, such as being ignorant of a childhood trauma that Lillie suffered involving Ultra Beasts and spending less time with her children after Mohn's disappearance. Her encounter with Nihilego also played out differently, as she let it capture her in Gladion's place and was reverted to a childlike state when under Nihilego's influence. Ash and his Pikachu were ultimately able to free her. Afterwards, Lusamine founded the Ultra Guardians to capture Ultra Beasts and return them to Ultra Space, and she helped conduct them in their missions with her Clefable. At the end of that series, Lusamine set off with Lillie and Gladion in search of Mohn with help from his Magaerna. This storyline was concluded in the Pokémon Journeys series, where they discovered an amnesiac Mohn living in the Crown Tundra with a Shiny Nihilego that he thought was his daughter. They were able to restore his memory and accepted the Nihilego into their family. The reunited family then returned to Alola and celebrated.
• In the Pokémon Adventures manga, Lusamine was featured as a villain in the Sun/Moon arc. She sought to make a paradise for herself and Ultra Beasts to live together, and she caught a number of Ultra Beasts. She even took Pycho's Naganadel companion with a Beast Ball and traveled to Ultra Megalopolis in search of Necrozma. She fused with Nihilego after an argument with Sun, but they were ultimately cast back to Alola while trying to battle Alola. Lillie was ultimately able to reach Lusamine by telling her that Mohn was alive, which caused her to separate from Nihilego and lose consciousness.
• In the Pokémon Evolutions series of anime shorts, Lusamine appeared during the second episode, which was based on the events of Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon. She was shown scolding her daughter at Aether Paradise while forcing the portal open, and she and Guzma were later seen falling from the Ultra Wormhole to the Altar of the Moone after losing to Necrozma.

Trivia

• Her name is the same in English and Japanese. Her name appears to be based on Balsamine, a German word for garden balsam.
• She acts as the first female main antagonist within the main Pokémon series.
• During her first meeting with Hau in all versions of the game, he expresses surprise that she is the leader of Aether, as he believes that she does not look much older than them. In correcting him, Lusamine says that she is over 40 years old. That specificity implies that her age is somewhere in the 40s.
• When battling Lusamine while she's merged with Nihilego, all of her Pokémon bear angry facial expressions with the exception of Bewear.