Ghetsis

Ghetsis as seen in Black and White.
Ghetsis
Real Name	Ghetsis Harmonia Gropius
Species	Human
Affiliation	Team Plasma
Hair color	Gray-Green
Eye color	Red
Height	6'6"
Base	N's Castle
Relatives	N (adopted son)
Voiced by	Mick Wingert (2021)
Debut	Pokémon: Black/White Versions

Ghetsis is the true leader of Team Plasma who acts as the ultimate antagonist in both installments of the fifth generation games of the Pokémon series, Black/White and Black 2/White 2. Originally known as one of Team Plasma's Seven Sages, he actually controlled Team Plasma by manipulating his adopted son N, who was considered the king of Team Plasma, and he propelled the games' events. He once more controlled Team Plasma from the shadows in the sequel, where Colress and the Shadow Triad acted as his figureheads.

Background

Ghetsis has always had a talent for manipulating the minds and hearts of others to his own ends, and he sought power to dominate the world of Pokémon. At one point, he tried to become a hero of Unovan legend to obtain one of Unova's two legendary Dragon-type Pokémon, Reshiram and Zekrom, but this attempt failed. He spent some time traveling around the world, accumulating knowledge and gathering like-minded people. It is uncertain if he founded Team Plasma, but he basically took control of it. To the public and most of Team Plasma itself, this group had the altruistic motive of permanently separated all Pokémon from their Pokémon trainers so that Pokémon could develop on their own. Ghetsis's true purpose was to manipulate and force the world into giving up all of their Pokémon, so that only Team Plasma would be left with Pokémon in the end, which they would then use to oppress the masses. In order to build the hidden castle in which Team Plasma was based, they overworked Pokémon that they had stolen from others in secret.

Within Team Plasma, Ghetsis's official role was as the leader of the Seven Sages. He also had three mysterious ninja-like henchmen known as the Shadow Triad whose lives he had apparently served in the past, so they reported directly to him. The other Six Sages were other old men who admired him, although many of them were also victim to his manipulations. Their purpose was to look after the king of Team Plasma, N, who Ghetsis had discovered in a forest and raised as his son. Ghetsis intentionally sabotaged N's growth by keeping him isolated within a room of his castle for most of his life, strictly limiting his contact with humans and traumatizing him by sending him only Pokémon that had been used, mistreated and abused by humans. This was to condition N into believing that all Pokémon trainers were bad, so that he would believe fervently in Team Plasma's doctrine. Because N was still innocent and possessed strong ideals, Ghetsis's ultimate goal was to mold N into being the hero to awaken the Dragon-type Pokémon so that his plans for conquest could go into motion.

Black/White

In Black and White, Ghetsis was first seen at Accumula Town, where he was running a Team Plasma rally in which he gave a riveting speech about Pokémon liberation that caused the locals to think things over. He later deployed agents to Nacrene City's museum to steal the skull of a Dragon-type Pokémon that he believed to be Reshiram or Zekrom, but he sent the sage Gorm to call it off when their research showed that it was a different skull. Ghetsis next turned up at Castelia City, where Bronius and other Plasma grunts were holed up at a building near the local Pokémon gym while grunts were sent out to steal Pokémon. This attracted the ire of Burgh and Iris as well as Hilbert/Hilda and Bianca after one grunt stole Bianca's Munna. The four of them were able to track down and confront Ghetsis and Bronius at the building. Burgh admitted that he had heard Ghetsis's speech at Accumula and questioned his right to have Pokémon, but this ultimately resulted in he and his Pokémon becoming closer. Ghetsis commended Burgh for his intelligence, claiming that he admired intelligent people, and he also admitted that there was something touching about the relationship about a Pokémon and its trainer. He had the Pokémon returned to Bianca without any battle, and Team Plasma departed from the city. Ghetsis became more focused on the goal of finding the legendary Pokémon and winning or manipulating the hearts and minds of Unova's people.

Ghetsis later turned up in Driftveil City after Zinzolin and a portion of Team Plasma had been taken prisoner by the local gym leader Clay. Ghetsis negotiated with Clay about their release outside Clay's gym and ultimately coerced Clay into letting them leave with him by talking about all of the other agents he had hiding nearby. N later told Ghetsis about the trainer he had developed an interest in, Hilbert/Hilda. Ghetsis had the Shadow Triad look into the backgrounds of that trainer and their friends to see what kind of people they are. They determined that Hilbert/Hilda was ultimately a neutral presence, which Ghetsis considered a good thing, and he apparently wanted to see what kind of trainer this person really was. At some point, Team Plasma also found that Reshiram and Zekrom had respectively been sealed away into Light and Dark Stones, so the group began searching for one of the stones. This search led them to siege Dragonscale Tower, which had one of the stones at its top (Zekrom's Dark Stone in Black and Reshiram's Light Stone in White). N was successful in finding the stone there, and that Dragon-type Pokémon acknowledged him as a hero. N did not begin an attack on the Pokémon League yet, as he claimed that he wanted Hilbert/Hilda to find the other Dragon-type so that the two heroes with the two dragons could clash like in olden times.

Ghetsis then traveled to the Relic Castle with Ryoku in search of the other stone, and he brought more Team Plasma grunts to test Hilbert/Hilda's power when they pursued him along with Cheren and Alder. He congratulated Hilbert/Hilda for being chosen by N as a worthy opponent and told them if that if the trainer did not find the other stone, than N's Dragon-type Pokémon would be used to steal all the world's Pokémon. Ghetsis also tried to tear down Alder's resolve by bringing up his past and pointing out how powerless he is compared to N, as he loved the moment when people lost hope. Team Plasma then retreated from the ruins. Ghetsis and the Shadow Triad later cornered Hilbert/Hilda on the Tubeline Bridge after the trainer had found the other stone. Ghetsis taunted the trainer by telling them that the stone would not acknowledge them as a hero, contrasting them to N who was brought up to be chosen as the hero by Reshiram or Zekrom. He considered N's idea of the battle between the Dragon-types, as well as Hilbert/Hilda's attempt to revive the opposing Dragon-type, to be unnecessary. He then delivered another speech at Opelucid City.

His plan finally went into motion when N used his Dragon-type Pokémon to fight his way through the Elite Four and defeat the champion, Alder. Ghetsis then had N's Castle rise from the ground above the Pokémon League, as a symbol of the new order. N was to make an announcement as champion for the people of Unova to give up their Pokémon, but he awaited his challenge from Hilbert/Hilda first. Hilbert/Hilda was able to awaken the other legendary Dragon-type Pokémon and then capture it in the nick of time, and with it the trainer was able to defeat N. Ghetsis then stepped out, disappointed, and he lashed out at N with a variety of insults. He considered N to be unworthy of the Harmonia name as well as calling him a "freak", a "warped, defective boy" and stupid for losing to Hilbert/Hilda. In the process, he also plainly mentioned his true intentions for Team Plasma. As N needed to retain his image as champion, Ghetsis then decided to battle and silence Hilbert/Hilda himself so that there would be no proof of N's defeat. Even though Hilbert/Hilda had one of the legendary Dragon-types, Ghetsis did not consider them to be a threat, because in his eyes, a Pokémon was just a Pokémon in the end. Ghetsis wound up losing this battle and proceeded to panic, as he had considered himself to be perfect.

Alder and Cheren then escorted Ghetsis away, presumably so that he could be arrested. They did not make it far before the Shadow Triad arrived and rescued Ghetsis. Team Plasma was ruined, and the Six Sages were arrested one-by-one by Looker, who was also hunting for Ghetsis. The Shadow Triad were the only minions that he had left. Ghetsis left on his own shortly afterwards to parts unknown and ordered the Shadow Triad not to follow him. He left them with the Adamant, Lustrous and Griseous Orbs and instructions to pass them on to Hilbert/Hilda.

Black 2/White 2

Over the next two years, Team Plasma was believed to have disbanded, but it suddenly resurfaced during the events of Black 2/White 2. Ghetsis controlled the organization in secret, while Colress, Zinzolin and the Shadow Triad acted as its public leaders. He set a new plan into motion to use the power of the third Pokémon of that Legendary Dragon set, Kyurem, to freeze over Unova and gain control over the terrified masses. Team Plasma succeeded in capturing Kyurem and began freezing parts of Unova. The Shadow Triad also succeeded in stealing DNA Spicers for him, which would be useful if he met one of the other Legendary Dragon-type Pokémon.

A new trainer, Nate/Rosa, stood opposed to Team Plasma's plans. They defeated Colress on the Plasma Frigate, and he then allowed them to see Ghetsis, because he was curious to see who would win. Ghetsis was frustrated with Colress for prioritizing his research and denounced him. He then revealed his ambitions to Nate/Rosa and retreated, while leaving the trainer to deal with the Shadow Triad. Ghetsis traveled to the Giant Chasm, as it was where Kyurem's power originated and was at its strongest. He was ready to initiate the final stages of his plan when he was interrupted by Nate/Rosa and N. N was accompanied by his own Legendary Dragon (Kyurem in Black 2 or Reshiram in White 2), but Ghetsis counted on that. He used the DNA Splicers to revert that Pokémon into its stone form and then had Kyurem merge with the stone in a process known as Absofusion. This turned Kyurem into Black or White Kyurem. Ghetsis proceeded to mock N for defying him and told him that Unova would have been left in a better state if he had allowed them to accomplish Team Plasma's original plan with him as the king. Ghetsis proceeded to unleash Black/White Kyurem on Nate/Rosa. He was confused and irritated that Nate/Rosa's Pokémon seemed to be trembling with rage within their Poké Balls, as he still felt that Pokémon were tools that were incapable of emotion or thought.

As the trainer battled Black/White Kyurem, Ghetsis used his cane to emit a signal that prevented Nate/Rosa from capturing Kyurem with a Poké Ball. Nate/Rosa was still able to defeat Black/White Kyurem, which caused it to unfuse and to become free from Team Plasma's control. Ghetsis was frustrated to realize that he would have to recapture Kyurem and proceeded to battle Nate/Rosa himself. After losing again, Ghestis broke down and verbally lashed out at the trainers who opposed him, calling Nate/Rosa "some random trainer from who knows where" and calling N a freak. The Shadow Triad proceeded to make him retreat. All that was known of Ghetsis's status afterwards was that he had ended up in a state where he could not do much of anything anymore.

Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon

Within the Episode RR scenario of Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, Giovanni pulled leaders of other villainous organizations from different realities in which they had succeeded in their plans and recruited them into Team Rainbow Rocket. This included a version of Ghetsis who had succeeded in getting one of the Legendary Dragon-type Pokémon (shown as Zekrom in Ultra Sun or Reshiram in Ultra Moon). Ghetsis felt that the reason he was sent to this world was to travel between worlds and free the Pokémon in each world while consolidating all the worlds' power for himself. He found the other team leaders to not be very useful, but he did see potential in manipulating Giovanni and setting him up as a king. This would be much like he did with N, but he now saw humans with predictable emotions as being easier to control than "a freak without a human heart".

Within the storyline, Ghetsis was the last team leader who Elio/Selene had to battle before facing Giovanni. He realized that Lillie was the daughter of the president of the Aether Foundation, who was being held past that room, and he refused to let any of them proceed to find her. After Ghetsis was defeated by Elio/Selene, he was again shocked at having been defeated by a random trainer from parts unknown. In a rage, he proceeded to attack Lillie and held her hostage. He tried to make Elio/Selene give up all of their Pokémon, even as he noticed that the Poké Balls were shaking with rage. Colress proceeded to intervene. Ghetsis was surprised, because he felt that Colress had no reason to intervene with his plans, even if he was from another world. Colress assured Ghetsis that he hated him and used a device to send him back to his original world.

Pokémon Roster

In Black and White, Ghetsis uses the following Pokémon in battle:

• Cofagrigus
• Bouffalant
• Seismitoad
• Bisharp
• Eelektross
• Hydreigon

In Black 2, and White 2, he uses a similar roster, except that Bouffalant and Bisharp have been replaced by Drapion and Toxicroak. He also had Kyurem under his control temporarily.

For Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, his roster contains four of his Pokémon from Black/White (Cofagrigus, Bouffalant, Bisharp and Hydreigon) as well as one of the Legendary Pokémon that he sought (Zekrom in Ultra Sun or Reshiram in Ultra Moon).

In Other Pokémon Games

In Pokémon Masters EX Ghetsis (with his Black 2/White 2 design) appeared with Kyurem as a playable Sync Pair that could be recruited by playing the Legendary Event "Father or Foe".

Within "Father or Foe", Ghetsis and Kyurem had suddenly been brought to Pasio by one of Hoopa's rings. Separated from Team Plasma and his other resources, Ghetsis forged an alliance with Giovanni instead. As part of their plan, Ghetsis appeared before N. He claimed that he had reformed and wanted to live life as a normal trainer now. He also offered to truly be a father to N. N later met with Ghetsis to give him an answer, and he ultimately decided that they would have a Pokémon battle. N felt that he would be able to tell through battle whether Ghetsis's heart really has changed. After N sent out his Zekrom, he and Giovanni set their plan into motion to immobilize it. The ruse was all for the sake of obtaining Zekrom, so that Ghetsis could fuse it with Kyurem. However, Giovanni double-crossed Ghetsis by disrupting the fusion process. His real plan was to take Kyurem and Zekrom for himself before Ghetsis could betray him. Ghetsis also brought in some Team Break members to help him in the battle against Giovanni, but they were defeated. Ultimately, it was N and Nate who helped Ghetsis to fend off Giovanni, for the sake of protecting Kyurem. Afterwards, Ghetsis assured them that he was incapable of change and that he still saw N the same as he always did. N still decided to let him go for now, but with the promise that he would take him down if he ever set a plan into motion against the people of Pasio.

Other Appearances

Other Media

• In the Pokémon anime, Ghetsis was featured as the main antagonist during the second season of the Unova-based series. He was once more the leader of Team Plasma and conducted operations with Colress. In this version, he had raised N for part of his life, but Anthea and Concordia later escaped with N while Team Plasma was being attacked by Reshiram after an attempt to summon it backfired. Throughout his appearances, Ghetsis sought both to retrieve N and control Reshiram. In the finale of the arc, Ghetsis was able to place Reshiram under his control until Ash's Pikachu freed it. Ghetsis was then placed under arrest, along with Colress and his other followers.
• In the Pokémon Adventures manga, Ghetsis was featured as the main antagonist of the Black/White and Black 2/White 2 arcs. His role was largely similar to the role he played in the games. One of the main differences was that Ghetsis was depicted as being more openly and physically abusive of N.
• Ghetsis was featured in an episode of Pokémon Generations, which adapted part of the events that transpired at the Giant Chasm in Black 2/White 2. This includes his confrontation with N and his usage of the DNA Splicers to fuse N's Legendary Pokémon (Reshiram in this version) with Kyurem. The episode ended with Hilbert arriving to confront him.
• In Pokémon Evolutions, Ghetsis was featured in the fourth episode. In that episode, Ghetsis narrated and talked about his plan as several scenes were shown, including his first meeting with N and N's crowning as well as several scenes from Black/White, ending on Hilda facing off with N at the end of Black/White.

Trivia

• His name in Japanese was made from a combination of "G" and "Cis", which are the pitches of the timpanis used for his main battle theme. His English version is one interpretation of the Japanese name's romanization.
• It has been noted that Ghetsis seems to have some problems with the right side of his body. His right arm is almost always concealed and appears to be darker than the rest of his body when visible during the opening cutscene of Black/White; the right side of his mouth seems to have some difficulty moving as seen in his sprite's animations; and he has an eyepiece over his right eye. Concept art of Ghetsis has shown him with a scar around his right eye.