Charon

Charon
Species	Human
Affiliation	Team Galactic
Hair color	Mauve
Eye color	Brown
Relatives	Choy (possible ancestor)
Debut	Pokémon: Platinum Version

Charon is the fourth commander of Team Galactic who was featured exclusively in Pokémon: Platinum Version.

Background

There are a pair of notebooks found in a special Rotom room which connect to Charon. One is a mysterious notebook which details some information about Rotom and its ability to change forms which was known to be written by Charon, being signed with his name though the last two lettes were cut off. The other notebook was an old notebook which detailed someone's past relationship with Rotom. It is unclear whether or not this notebook was written by Charon as well.

As told within that old notebook, the writer discovered the the Pokémon Rotom after witnessing it emerge from the motor of a lawn mower while playing with their favorite toy robot. They named it after the word 'motor' and befriended it, while feeling fascinated by its abilities. The two could not touch due to Rotom's electrical field, but the writer felt that they had bonded on a much deeper level. One day, the writer felt mischievous and decided to startle Rotom suddenly, but this frightened it into discharging a larger amount of power than usual, which knocked the writer out. They woke up to find Rotom gone, which horrified them. The writer spent a long time searching for Rotom and traveled far from home until they reached the town's garbage heap, where they found their old toy robot. The writer then saw that Rotom had possessed the toy robot and felt that they could understand Rotom's thoughts better than ever before. This made the writer realize that they would be friends for the rest of their lives.

Regardless of whether or not Charon was the writer who forged that bond with Rotom, he ended up as a brilliant scientist who bore evil designs. It was known that he did some amount of research on Rotom, which he detailed within the mysterious notebook. He kept most of his research on Rotom secret in order ensure that received all of the credit for it. He had special rooms hidden in both Team Galactic's Veilstone City headquarters and in a basement area of Kanto's Silph Co. (seen in HeartGold and SoulSilver), which contained devices that Rotom could use to access all of its forms, as well as his mysterious notebook. The old notebook was only found in the Veilstone City room. From the location of the second Rotom room, it could be inferred that he worked for Silph Co. at some point in the past. Charon eventually joined Team Galactic and became one of its four commanders, but he was considered to be the most junior commander due to joining after the others. Regardless, he had his own ulterior motives for acting with Team Galactic.

Charon was first seen at the Valley Windworks, where he was helping Mars in an operation that involved draining the windworks' energy. After Lucas/Dawn defeated Mars, Charon scolded her for losing to a child, but he assured her that they had enough energy that they could afford to retreat. Mars, however, was annoyed for Charon for his superior tone and giving orders despite her seniority in the group, and they soon proceeded to retreat. Charon was next seen at Team Galactic's headquarters at Veilstone, where he discussed Cyrus's vision with Saturn while Cyrus was off at Mt. Coronet. Charon claimed that the idea of a world ruled by Team Galactic would be more interesting than the new world Cyrus hoped to create, but he also claimed that he hoped that Cyrus would succeed in accomplishing his dream. Saturn seemed suspicious of him and told him that Cyrus did not need his moral support. After Cyrus's defeat and disappearance, Charon was left wondering if he should pursue an option that complemented his genius.

He ultimately took control of a remnant of Team Galactic for his own schemes after Cyrus disappeared. Mars and Jupiter agreed to follow him, but they remained obsessed with finding Cyrus, while Saturn declined to work with him. Charon brought his followers to Stark Mountain so that he could pull off an extortion scheme by stealing the Magma Stone to awaken the legendary Heatran, so that he could control the volcano's eruptions for money. However, the plan began to crumble soon after Lucas/Dawn arrived. Mars and Jupiter quit after being defeated again by them in order to look for Cyrus, and also because they did not like Charon's new Team Galactic.

Charon was infuriated by how they threw away Team Galactic after all the work they put into making it grow, which he claimed could have made them rich beyond their imagination. Charon retreated to the chamber containing the Magma Stone, still pursued by Lucas/Dawn. He then grabbed the stone and explained that they were too late to stop him, but at that point Looker (disguised as a rock) swiped the Magma Stone and called in the International Police to arrest Charon. As he was arrested, Charon attempted to claim to be senile and also tried to take cover with his position as the most junior Galactic commander.

Other Appearances

Other Media

• Charon made several appearances in the Pokémon anime's Diamond & Pearl series in episodes featuring Team Galactic, where he was shown mostly performing technical work for Team Galactic and bantering with Saturn due to his more laidback persona. He was not seen being arrested with the other Team Galactic members at the end of the Galactic arc, meaning he could have escaped. In the English dub he was voiced by Mike Pollock, known as the voice of Eggman in the more recent Sonic the Hedgehog games as well as in the Sonic X anime.
• In the Pokémon Adventures manga, Charon first appeared during the Diamond/Pearl arc, where he was initially concealed by the shadows and created the Red Chain for Team Galactic. He made his first full appearance following Cyrus's defeat, and in this version it was his device that trapped Cyrus and the legendary Pokémon in the Distortion World. Charon then acted as the main villain of the Platinum arc, where he manipulated Team Galactic's devotion to Cyrus to get into the Distortion World and attempted to control as many legendary Pokémon as possible, including Heatran and Darkrai. All of the other trainers turned on him and worked together to stop him, including Cynthia and a Rotom (which in this version was just another Pokémon that Charon desired). In the end, Charon was the only member of Team Galactic to be arrested.
• He appeared in an episode of the Pokémon Generations anime that was based on the events at Stark Mountain from Platinum. In this version, he successfully awakened Heatran, and Looker attempted to arrest him, but he was able to escape with some Galactic Grunts.

Trivia

• As all of Team Galactic follows the naming scheme of being named after planets or other celestial bodies, Charon is named after Pluto's largest moon, which could reflect his place as a subordinate to the other Galactic members. He and Cyrus are the only Team Galactic members who are named after celestial bodies that are not specifically planets. His Japanese name is Pluto, named after the dwarf planet that used to be considered an actual planet.
• He is the only Team Galactic member not to be battled in the game and is not known to have any Pokémon outside of his friendship with Rotom.
• Charon was left out of the Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl remakes. The only things relevant to Charon included in the games are the special Rotom room and the notebooks within. He was even removed from the "Team Galactic (Platinum)" wallpaper for the Pokémon Storage System, with his silhouette replaced by that of a Team Galactic grunt.
• In Pokémon Legends: Arceus, the shopkeeper named Choy bears a strong resemblance to Charon. He has the same eyes and glasses and a fuller version of Charon's hair. This implies that he might be an ancestor of Charon's. If so, that would also make Choy's wife Yui and her father Tao Hua part of Charon's ancestry as well.