Dawn

Dawn as seen in Pokémon: Diamond and Pearl Versions
Dawn
Species	Human
Hair color	Black Variable (BDSP)
Eye color	Dark Blue (Diamond/Pearl) Gray (Platinum) Variable (BDSP)
Height	4'6"
Weight	75 lbs.
Relatives	Akari (NPC) (possible ancestor) Player Character Johanna (Mother) Rival Character Rowan's Assistant (father) Grandfather, Mother, Sister
Voiced by	Kimberley Anne Campbell (2020)
Debut	Pokémon: Diamond/Pearl Versions

Dawn is the main female character of Pokémon: Diamond, Pearl and Platinum Versions. as well as the remakes Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl. Depending on the gender chosen by the player at the beginning of the game, Dawn will assume the rule of either the player character or the secondary rival character, with the male character filling the other role. Lucas is the alternate male lead.

Background

Playable Character

Dawn lived in Twinleaf Town with her mother. She had an energetic best friend, Barry, whom she often engaged in shenanigans with. At the beginning of Diamond/Pearl/Platinum, Barry coerced her into coming up to Lake Verity in search of rare Pokémon. While there, they overheard Professor Rowan and his assistant Lucas. After they leave, they notice Rowan had accidentally left behind his suitcase. No sooner did Dawn and Barry retrieve the suitcase then they were attacked by wild Pokémon and forced to "borrow" a Pokémon (either Turtwig, Chimchar or Piplup) from Rowan's briefcase to defend themselves with. Lucas promptly returned to retrieve the suitcase, before leaving to report Dawn and Barry's actions to the professor. The professor confronted them shortly afterwards and then left after simply inviting them to visit his lab. Returning home, her mother gave her some Running Shoes and told him who the professor was. Dawn then visited Rowan's laboratory in Sandgem Town. There, Professor Rowan not only forgave Dawn and Barry for using his Pokémon but let them keep them as well. However, he also appointed a special task for Dawn by giving her a Pokédex and asking her to record data on all of the Pokémon found in Sinnoh. In Platinum, there was an alternate sequence of events in that Rowan's suitcase was not left behind, thus keeping Dawn and Barry from borrowing his Pokémon, and they instead followed Rowan to Sandgem Town, where he freely decided to give them Pokémon due to their dedication.

After telling her mother about this and receiving a journal as a present, Dawn set out to begin her Pokémon journey. She traveled across Sinnoh, challenging and defeating the eight Pokémon gym leaders while collecting various Pokémon. She met up with Barry multiple times, and they battled often to measure each other's progress. Dawn met a variety of other trainers along the way, such as the helpful veteran trainer Cynthia. She also had a variety of run-ins with Team Galactic, the mysterious criminal organization that was terrorizing Sinnoh, and she often had Lucas or Barry's help in fending them off. This all culminated in the Galactic Boss Cyrus summoning Dialga, Palkia or Giratina (depending on the version) from atop Mt. Coronet using the three mirage Pokémon. In the first two instances, it was over when Dawn defeated or caught the legendary Pokémon that was summoned. In the latter instance, Dawn then entered the Distortion World with Cynthia, where he eventually defeated Cyrus again and defeated or captured Giratina.

After having collected all eight gym badges and defeated Team Galactic, Dawn traveled to the Pokémon League and battled Sinnoh's Elite Four. She defeated them and their champion, Cynthia, at which point she registered her and her Pokémon in the Hall of Fame. Afterwards, she received an updated Pokédex and several new items such as a Pokéradar for use in catching more Pokémon. She also gained access to the Battle Zone, where she could embark on further adventures and continue to build up her Pokémon team.

Rival Character

Dawn's Platinum costume.

Dawn lived in Sandgem Town with her family. Her father was an aide to Professor Rowan, so Dawn naturally came up to also serve as an assistant to Rowan. At the beginning of the game, Dawn helped Professor Rowan with his research at Lake Verity and retrieved the briefcase when he left it behind, while noticing Lucas and Barry's "borrowing" of Professor Rowan's Pokémon. After Professor Rowan enlisted them into helping with the Pokédex, Dawn gave Lucas a tour around town and suggested that he tell his mother before leaving on the journey. She also demonstrated how to catch Pokémon and gave Lucas several Pokéballs.

At Jubilife City, Dawn showed Lucas to the Trainer's School. Later on, Dawn and Professor Rowan were attacked by Team Galactic members at the city's northern entrance, and Lucas teamed up with Dawn in fending them off. Dawn then came to Lucas by the Cycling Road with more gifts, in the form of Vs. Seeker and Dowsing Machine applications for his Pokétech. In Veilstone City, Dawn's Pokédex was stolen by Team Galactic grunts. She called for Lucas's help and together they defeated the grunts. Professor Rowan later assembled Lucas, Dawn and Barry together at Canalave City's library to discuss the mysteries of Pokémon evolution. However, at that moment there was an explosion reported at Lake Valor. Everyone split up to investigate, with Dawn going with Rowan to examine Lake Verity. There they managed to fend of the Team Galactic members with some help from Lucas.

After Lucas defeated Team Galactic's boss Cyrus, Dawn and Rowan encouraged him in his battle with the legendary Pokémon, congratulating him afterwards. Afterwards, Dawn stayed in Sandgem Town where she continued to give advice to Lucas when he visited, and she could also be challenged to battles on weekends in Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl. In Platinum, she would also come to visit Lucas's villa either on random days or after he bought the sofa, exclaiming jealousy of him and also that they have similar tastes.

Pokémon Roster

As the rival character, Dawn utilizes the following Pokémon:

• Turtwig/Grotle, Chimchar/Monferno, Piplup/Prinplup - Dawn's starter Pokémon is whichever one was not chosen by Lucas or Barry. This Pokémon will have a type disadvantage to the player character's starter Pokémon. Dawn first uses this Pokémon in the Pokémon catching tutorial, and it evolves by the Veilstone City double battle.
• Clefairy
• Kadabra

The latter two Pokémon are only used in the Veilstone City double battle.

For battles in Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl, shes uses the following Pokémon initially, in addition to her fully evolved starter:

• Wormadam: Her Wormadam has a different cloak in each version of the team (Plant if she has Empoleon, Sandy if Infernape and Trash if Torterra).
• Magmortar: She will use this Pokémon if she does not have Infernape.
• Tangrowth: She will use this Pokémon if she does not have Torterra.
• Milotic: She will use this Pokémon if she does not have Empoleon.
• Froslass
• Clefable

After the Elite Four has been beaten ten times, she starts using completely different teams, with the only constant being her fully evolved starter.

• If her fully-evolved starter is Empoleon (with the player's starter having been Turtwig), her team will also contain Togekiss, Bellossom, Mamoswine, Typhlosion and Lopunny.
• If her fully-evolved starter is Torterra (with the player's starter having been Chimchar), her team will also contain Crobat, Arcanine, Mr. Mime, Blastoise and Lickilicky.
• If her fully-evolved starter is Infernape (with the player's starter having been Piplip), her team will also contain Honchkrow, Gorebyss, Froslass, Sceptile and Ambipom.

In Other Pokémon Games

In Pokémon Battle Revolution, Dawn could appear as the player's avatar in DS Battle multiplayer if the player was connected with a Diamond/Pearl/Platinum or HeartGold/SoulSilver game in which the player had chosen the female protagonist. In Pokémon Go, the parts of Dawn's outfit were made available as free Style options to commemorate the release of Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl.

Pokémon Masters EX

In Pokémon Masters EX, Dawn and Turtwig were available as a playable sync pair that could be recruited at random through the game's Sync Pair Scout feature after being added to the game in May 2020. Dawn's Turtwig could evolve into Grotle and then Torterra through sync pair stories in which she battled Hau and Plumeria, respectively. Several variant versions of Dawn were later made available through the Sync Pair Scout during limited time periods: a Palentine's 2021 variation (where Dawn wore a dress with an apron) paired with Alcremie that was first made available in Feburary 2021, a Sygna Suit variant paired with Cresselia that was first available in February 2022 and a New Year's 2023 variant paired with Sensu Style Oricorio that was first available in January 2023. It was also possible to unlock Wormadam (in its Plant Cloak) as an alternate partner for Dawn by reaching Friendship Level 100 with her in the Trainer Lodge after she became available there in January 2023. In this game, Dawn was portrayed as the protagonist character, while Lucas was portrayed as the friendly rival.

Within the game's Main Story, she was featured in the Sinnoh chapter of the Villain Arc, where she worked with Lucas, Cynthia, Barry and others against Team Galactic. After Cyrus used Darkrai to trap much of the populace in nightmares, she donned a Sygna Suit and used Cresselia to save many of them. She also used Cresselia's help to pull Cyrus out of Darkrai's nightmare and helped to influence him to reconsider his plans. She was also featured in the Story Event "The Star of the Contest", where she took part in a sync pair contest along with Scottie/Bettie, Fantina and Wallace. Dawn ultimately won the contest, with Scottie/Bettie coming in second place. She appeared in her Palentine's outfit in the "Baking Buddies" event, in which she worked with Serena to prepare sweets that they gave out to their friends. She was also featured in the Story Event "Gather Up! New Duo", where she formed an idol duo with Lisia at a new year's live event at Valerie's suggestion, sporting outfits that were prepared by Valerie herself. In the Story Event "Travelers from a Distant Land", Dawn and Lucas investigated a space-time distortion and met Irida and Adaman, who initially confused them with Akari and Rei. She helped Irida and Adaman to adjust to Pasio, and she fought alongside them in a battle against Nemona's team in the Story Event "We Should Battle!". In the Story Event "Together in an Unknown Land", Dawn and Lucas finally met Akari and Rei while investigating another space-time distortion. Dawn and Barry later watched Rei train and commended him in his progress in adapting to Pasio. Later on, Dawn fought alongside Rei and Adaman in a battle against Lucas, Akari and Irida, with Lucas declaring that he was working on catching up to her and becoming a worthy opponent for her.

Other Appearances

Other Media

• Dawn was featured in the Diamond & Pearl episodes of the Pokémon anime as a main character, who acted as one of Ash Ketchum and Brock's traveling companions in the journey across Sinnoh. She was shown as a confident young trainer who aspired to become a Pokémon Coordinator and set out to compete in all of Sinnoh's Pokémon Contests. She was based on the protagonist version of Dawn, including having Johanna appear as her mother, but she only took part in Contests rather than the gym challenge. Her starter Pokémon was a Piplup that refused to evolve and ended up being given an Everstone to make that easier. Dawn's journey ended with her making her way to the Sinnoh Grand Festival. She lost, but she decided to continue accompanying and supporting Ash for the remainder of his gym challenges in Sinnoh, and then she stayed behind when Ash and Brock returned to Kanto, while she continued pursuing her dreams. Dawn reappeared in an arc of the Black & White series, where she traveled to Unova and took part in the Pokémon World Tournament Junior Cup. She met Ash's new friends, Cilan and Iris, and she ended up losing to Iris in the tournament. Dawn then departed to Johto, in order to compete in the Wallace Cup being held there. Dawn later made several return appearances in the Pokémon Journeys series, in which she was shown to be rechallenging the Sinnoh Contest circuit after having competed in several other regions. One episode featured an alternate version of Dawn who took part in gym battles instead of Contests and placed second in the Sinnoh Pokémon League. Dawn was also featured in a series of specials loosely based on Pokémon Legends: Arceus in which she donned a traditional outfit based on Akari's outfit from the game and helped to take on the returning Team Galactic. During the last arc of the series, it was shown that Dawn had traveled to Galar to spectate the Masters 8 Tournament with Chloe, and she attended the awards ceremony after Ash's victory.
• In the Pokémon Adventures manga, the character based on Dawn was known as Miss Platinum Berlitz. Her first name was not revealed until partway into the arc, due to Platinum having not been announced at the time. She was depicted as the heir of Sinnoh's oldest and richest family, and she initially had a snobbish attitude. She embarked on a journey to Mt. Coronet to gather the materials to make her family crest with the help of two bodyguards, who were accidentally replaced by traveling comedians Diamond and Pearl. She grew closer with them as time goes by, eventually telling them her first name when she trusted them enough. She also took on gym and Pokémon Contest challenges throughout the journey in order to experience as much as possible. She was then featured in the Platinum arc, where she worked with Looker in taking on the Battle Frontier challenges at the Battle Zone in order to gain information on the Distortion World. Her starter Pokémon was a Piplup that evolved into an Empoleon. She was associated with Uxie due to her intelligence, and her specialty as a Pokédex holder is as an Understander.

Trivia

• As a playable character, her name is chosen by the player; however, her name is automatically Dawn when she acts as the rival character, so that is assumed as her canon name, as was the case with Brendan/May in the third generation. The name Dawn was also used in the anime and Pokémon Masters EX.
• Her Japanese name is Hikari. Both versions of her and Lucas's names relate to light.
• In Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl, it is possible to customize several aspects of her appearance, like the protagonists of more recent generations. Four options are given for Dawn, which differ in terms of hair and eye color as well as skin tone.
• It is mentioned that her (as the player character) father was a great trainer and shared a relationship with Barry's father Palmer similar to that which the player character had with Barry (complete with starting their journeys being attacked by wild Pokémon at a lake with the implications of a professor being involved).
• Akari from Pokémon Legends: Arceus was designed to be nearly identical to Dawn and is named similarly to Dawn's Japanese name. Depending on the gender chosen by the player at the beginning of the game, Akari is either a friendly rival character living in Hisui or the protagonist who was transported to Hisui through a space-time distortion from an unspecified modern-day setting. In the former instance, it would be possible for Akari to be an ancestor of Dawn's. In the latter scenario, it is unclear if Akari would be related to Dawn in any way, or if their resemblance would only be a coincidence.