Lysandre

Lysandre
Species	Human
Affiliation	Team Flare
Hair color	Red
Eye color	Gray
Base	Lysandre Labs
Relatives	AZ (ancestor's brother)
Voiced by	D.C. Douglas (2021)
Debut	Pokémon X/Y

Lysandre is the leader of Team Flare who was featured as the main antagonist of Pokémon X and Y. Obsessed with the idea of a truly beautiful world, he attempted to use the power of an ancient weapon to wipe out most of the world's population.

Background

Lysandre was the descendant of the younger brother of AZ, the ancient king of the Kalos reason who lived 3000 years ago. He learned under Professor Sycamore and sought to help usher in a bright future for the Kalos region. He founded his own company, Lysandre Labs, which created an advanced communication device known as the Holo Caster. He was known to put some of his profits towards supporting trainers and Pokémon. He was fixated on the concept of beauty and of making the world into a beautiful place. However, the world was filled with a lot of 'ugliness' as well, including selfishness and conflict. Although Lysandre initially tried using his company to help the world, he felt that things would only get worse as the populations of people and Pokémon continued to grow.

Because of that, he began secretly pursuing an agenda to wipe out most of the world's population. His plan revolved around the ultimate weapon that the ancient king AZ had used to stop the terrible war years ago. He considered the usage of the weapon to be terrible, but at the same time, he saw the value in the king using it to "wash the world clean of the era's filth". He sought to use the weapon in the same way in the present day. Lysandre secretly founded and ran an organization called Team Flare, which carried out criminal operations to work towards Lysandre's ultimate goal. Apparently, Lysandre was going to wipe out everyone except for the members of Team Flare, and they would then work to make the world truly beautiful. He even planned to wipe out all Pokémon, in order to prevent them from being used for crime and warfare, even as the thought of it made him cry.

Team Flare's operations were conducted in two different bases. One was the hidden Lysandre Labs complex in Lumiose City. Its entrance was hidden within his own cafe, the Lysandre Café. The other base was Team Flare's Secret HQ, which was located beneath Geosenge Town, where the ultimate weapon was buried. As he formed his plans, he had his minions spy on Holo Caster calls in order to collect information.

X/Y

During the events of X and Y, he initially appeared in the lobby of Sycamore's laboratory. He introduced himself to Calem/Serena, who was the latest trainer to receive a Pokédex from Professor Sycamore. Lysandre considered the trainer to be a 'chosen one' who had the power to change the future. Shortly afterwards, he was seen in a conversation with the actress/champion Diantha by Café Soleil. Lysandre tried to talk to her about the virtue of everlasting beauty, but she did not see the appeal of the concept, as she looked forward to playing older roles. He still referred to her as an ideal that all of mankind should strive to live up to. Calem/Serena later met him again at Lysandre Café, where he was with Professor Sycamore. They talked about Lysandre's noble heritage, his faith in beauty and his worries about the world's future, as well as his feelings about the ultimate weapon. Lysandre thanked the young trainer for listening to him by giving them a King's Rock. Afterwards, Lysandre called Calem/Serena over the Holo Caster twice to commend them on their progress in learning about Mega Evolution and communicated his hopes that he could count on them to help make the world beautiful.

At the same time, Team Flare was taking steps to set their plans into motion. Some members had taken over the Kalos Power Plant and took energy from it to use for the weapon. Others went to steal fossils to provide more funds for their scheme. Team Flare members also attempted to take over the Poké Ball Factory in order to obtain Poké Balls for use in capturing Pokémon to power the weapon. There were also Team Flare members who agitated an Abomasnow at the Frost Cave and made it release a blizzard as a test of its energy. Calem/Serena was able to foil most of Team Flare's plots, but they still obtained enough energy from the power plant to use for the ultimate weapon. Lysandre's men were also able to capture a Legendary Pokémon for their project: Xerneas in X or Yveltal in Y. Lysandre was going to drain the life force of the Legendary Pokémon to power his weapon. He also managed to capture AZ and took the key to the ultimate weapon from him, although he seemed to consider it only a coincidence that he had the same name as the ancient king and had the weapon's key on him.

As his plan reached its final stages, Lysandre made a Holo Caster announcement where he revealed himself as the leader of Team Flare and announced his plans to wipe out the world's populations. Shortly afterwards, Calem/Serena was able to find the hidden entrance to Lysandre Labs and confronted him. Lysandre asked the trainer what side they would choose and attempted to battle them. After being defeated, Lysandre saw that the trainer had chosen to oppose him. He tried to explain his motives and retreated to a basement area of the labs while challenging the trainer to stop the weapon. He talked to the trainer again by AZ's cell and then left for the headquarters at Geosenge once the ultimate weapon was finally activated. Calem/Serena followed him there, and Lysandre battled them in order to buy more time for the ultimate weapon. Despite his efforts, Calem/Serena was able to defeat him once again and made it to the chamber where the Legendary Pokémon was being held, with help from Serena/Calem and Shauna. They were able to free the Legendary Pokémon, which prevented the ultimate weapon from firing. After taunting the Legendary Pokémon for being reliant on a human's help, Lysandre attempted to attack the trainer once more time in a last-ditch effort to reclaim that Pokémon. For this battle, he wielded a Mega Ring and the power of Mega Evolution. He also had some equipment that included a visor and several floating insect-like machines that were tethered to him.

Lysandre was defeated one last time. However, he saw that the ultimate weapon had still absorbed enough energy from the Legendary Pokémon to be fired off one more time and decided to activate it, in hopes of using it on himself as well as Calem/Serena and their companions. The intended usage differed based on the version; in X, he was going to use it to give them eternal life, so that they would feel the agony of waiting forever for the world to become beautiful. In Y, it was implied that he was simply going to use the weapon to destroy them all. Regardless of the version, the end result was the same: Calem/Serena and their friends were able to safely escape from the range of the weapon's blast, and it caused a cave-in that seemed to bury the secret base. Lysandre's ultimate fate was left unknown, as he was never seen again. Professor Sycamore later expressed regret that he did not attempt to set Lysandre onto a better path, but he also felt that by stopping Team Flare, Calem/Serena had saved Lysandre.

Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon

In Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon, Lysandre appeared as one of the antagonists who were faced in the game's Episode RR scenario. This was another version of Lysandre, who hailed from a world in which he had won the conflict of X'/Y. Giovanni had pulled him from that timeline, along with alternate versions of other evil team leaders, to act as part of Team Rainbow Rocket. He was pulled from his world right after he had activated the ultimate weapon. Once Elio/Selene met him, he presented them with two buttons to choose: one that would open the path forward and the other that would activate the ultimate weapon, which would ultimately destroy the world. Regardless of the player's choice, the first button would activate the weapon. He told them that the other button would deactivate it, but he chose to battle them in order to buy time for the weapon. Lysandre was defeated by Elio/Serene and then allowed them to press the other weapon. He then briefly had an epiphany in which he wondered if he would have chosen a different path if his world had a trainer like them. But he quickly dismissed the idea and doubled down on his belief that he must create a beautiful world, even it was with only a portion of the old world. Like the other team leaders, he was ultimately sent back to his original timeline by Colress.

Pokémon Roster

In X/Y, Lysandre uses the following Pokémon in battle:

• Mienfoo/Mienshao: This Pokémon evolves before the second battle.
• Murkrow/Honchkrow: This Pokémon evolves before the second battle.
• Pyroar
• Gyarados: He Mega Evolves his Gyarados during the final X/Y battle and the Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon battle.

In Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon, his roster is the same as his final roster from X/Y, except that he also has one of the Legendary Pokémon on his team (Xerneas in Ultra Sun or Yveltal in Ultra Moon).

In Other Pokémon Games

In Pokémon Masters EX, Lysandre was featured with Yveltal as a playable sync pair that could be recruited at random through the game's Sync Pair Scout feature during limited time periods starting in February 2021. A Sygna Suit variant of Lysandre paired with Volcanion was also made available during limited time periods starting in February 2023. He has also been seen using his Honchcrow.

He was featured in the "Give and Take" Legendary Event, in which Lysandre came to Pasio after hearing reports of a Xerneas sighting. He wanted to obtain Xerneas for himself in order to keep it out of the hands of humans. Once he found Xerneas, he also found Professor Sycamore, Serena, Calem and Scottie/Bettie. They were able to defeat his Honchkrow in battle, but he then revealed that he had Yveltal. Yveltal was able to defeat them and started to drain the life of everyone on the island, until Xerneas interfered and chose to partner with Sycamore. Lysandre and Sycamore were evenly matched with their Legendary Pokémon, and Lysandre then revealed his next failsafe: he had hidden a weapon elsewhere that would destroy Xerneas and all of Pasio. He attempted to activate it, only to find that it had been disarmed by Clemont and his friends, as Sycamore had taken precautions of his own. Lysandre ultimately decided to retreat, and he recognized that Sycamore had been chosen by Xerneas. He warned him that he would go after the professor again if he ever strayed from his path. He also made a brief appearance at the end of the event "Neo Champion: Leaders of a New Era", in which he seen watching with amusement, alone and from a distance, as Calem and Serena were both crowned as Neo Champions at the end of a tournament.

Within the Main Story, Lysandre was featured during the Kalos chapter of the Villain Arc, in which some Team Flare members went rogue and started attacking people on Pasio against Lysandre's orders, as they were traitors seeking to steal information on a powerful Team Flare weapon. Lysandre had Malva work on finding the rogue members, while he trained with Yveltal and his newly-acquired Volcanion. He had a run-in with Professor Sycamore and the young Kalos trainers, during which he assured them that he was not currently seeking to cause trouble on Pasio. He also talked about his admiration of Volcanion, because it wielded incredible power that could destroy civilizations, but it chose to hide in the steam. Lysandre clarified that he did not wish to use its power for his own ends and that he would only use it against "foolish humans" who "polluted the world with their filth". Shauna attempted to help him see the value of working together with others to protect the world instead of destroying it, and Lysandre was left wishing that all of humanity was as purehearted as the young Kalos trainers. He considered Pasio to be beautiful and did not want it to be destroyed, and he resolved to keep his hopes high. It ultimately turned out that the Team Flare traitors were disguised members of Team Rocket. Lysandre and Malva tracked down all of the Rocket Grunts and subjected them to some unspecified punishment after shrouding them in Volcanion's mist. During "Paulo Interlude: The Last Evil", Lysandre called together a meeting with Lusamine, Faba, Rose and Oleana to discuss a course of action to take against Paulo's incarnation of Team Break. In the Final Chapter of the Villain Arc, Team Rocket usurped Paulo's Team Break as the true enemy. Lysandre and Rose showed up at one point to provide N and Colress with help against a group of Team Rocket members.

Other Appearances

In Other Media

• In the Pokémon anime, Lysandre was featured as a major antagonist during the last season of the Kalos-based series, which was called XYZ, after first appearing in the Mega Evolution specials, in which he manipulated a young trainer named Alain to learn more about Mega Evolution. In this storyline, Lysandre's plan was centered around Zygarde and a Giant Rock that was charged with Primal energy, rather than Xerneas/Yveltal and the ultimate machine. Lysandre was ultimately caught in the blast of Zygarde's Core Enforcer, seemingly killing him. As in the games, his ultimate fate was left unclear.
• Lysandre was featured in one episode of the Pokémon Generations anime, which depicted him in several settings, such as announcing the Holo Caster, his talk with Diantha, being interviewed by reporters and commanding Team Flare at their secret headquarters.
• In the Pokémon Adventures manga, he was featured as the main antagonist of the X/Y arc. He initially captured Xerneas to power the ultimate weapon. In this version, after being defeated at Geosenge, he relocated to the Pokémon Village and tried using the Pokémon there as power sources, which brought the ire of Mewtwo. He also stole Zygarde to use, but Zygarde broke apart while the other Legendary Pokémon went dormant, and Lysandre fell to his death. Unlike the other versions, his death in this manga was explicit.
• Lysandre was featured in the third episode of the Pokémon Evolutions anime shorts, which adapted the climax of Pokémon X. Lysandre was depicted trying to use his Mega Gyarados to retrieve Xerneas from Calem, only to be soundly defeated. As in the game, he attempted to use the weapon to curse Calem and his friends with eternal life, and he was not seen after the lair collapsed. The episode ended with Malva sharing a Holo-Cast of Lysandre making a speech during his more optimistic days. The episode also featured flashbacks showing him conversing with Diantha and Sycamore.

Trivia

• His Japanese name is Fuladari, which refers to fleur-de-lis, a type of symbol for French heraldry that is also the French word for the lily flower. His English name of Lysandre may also reference the last part of fleur-de-lis and is the French form of a name that means "liberator".
• One character found in Snowbelle City claims to have been an old friend of Lysandre. He reflects on how Lysandre changed over time and considers it to be ironic.