Cilan

"Triple Trouble!"
Cilan
Species	Human
Hair color	Green
Eye color	Green
Base	Striaton City
Relatives	Chili, Cress (brothers)
Voiced by	Unknown (2022)
Debut	Pokémon: Black/White Versions

Cilan is one of the three gym leaders of Striaton City's Pokémon gym who collectively count as the first gym leader who has to be battled within the Unova Region, acting as a potential opponent in Pokémon: Black and White Versions. Cilan specializes in grass-type Pokémon.

Background

Cilan, along with his brothers Chili and Cress, became the gym leaders of the Striaton Gym together. They were also chefs, and the gym doubled as a restaurant. Cilan was the one who spoke to challengers the most, but at the same time he was very shy and soft-spoken, often stuttering as he spoke. The three of them each specialized in a type that was part of a triangle which matched the traditional starter Pokémon types. Rather than forcing challengers to battle all three of them, the brothers would see which starter Pokémon that the challenger had, and then the challenger would have to face the brother who had the type advantage against them. Victorious challengers would earn the Trio Badge.

In Pokémon: Black and White Versions, Hilbert/Hilda faced Cilan if they had chosen Oshawott as their starter Pokémon. After Hilbert/Hilda defeated him or one of his brothers to earn the Trio Badge, Cilan then presented them with TM 83: Work Out and emphasized that they were only novice gym leaders. They were later beaten by both Cheren and Bianca.

The three brothers were presumably present when the gym leaders had a meeting about Team Plasma. Bianca later went around gathering all of the gym leaders when N's Castle arose at the Pokémon League, but she went to Striaton last, and the brothers wound up being the only gym leaders who did not make it in time to take part in the battle.

In a Memory Link flashback from Black and White 2 set one year after the events of Black/White, it was shown that the brothers were troubled by their failure to fight Team Plasma. Cilan did not think that they should get hung up over it, but then the Shadow Triad suddenly appeared and defeated all three of them in battle. In the wake of this defeat, they realized that they only made one full-fledged trainer together. They decided to resign as gym leaders and train from the ground up so that they could each become powerful trainers in their own right. The gym was converted into Striaton Restaurant, where they continued their training.

In Black 2 and White 2 (one year after their resignation), they could be found at the restaurant, where the player could team up with any one of the brothers against the other two in a Multi Battle on a daily basis. Cilan also competed in the Pokémon World Tournament, taking part in the Unova Leaders, World Leaders and Type Expert Tournaments.

Pokémon Roster

In Black and White, Cilan uses Lillipup and Pansage in battle. For double battles in Black 2 and White 2, his roster consists of Maractus, Ferrothorn and Simisage.

For battles in the tournament, his roster could include Simisage, Ferrothorn, Jumpluff, Whimsicott, Lilligant and either Maractus (in the Unova Leaders Tournament) or Serperior (in the World Leaders and Type Expert Tournaments).

In Other Pokémon Games

In Pokémon Masters EX, Cilan and his brothers have made appearances in some of the games' events, with Pansage being shown as Cilan's sync partner. Cilan initially appeared with his brothers in the "Curious Tea Party" Costume Event, in which they had recently arrived at Pasio and were excited about the tea party being held by Sonia. They presented a challenge as part of the tea party. The brothers also appeared in "Trainer Files: Akala Passion", in which they worked together to prepare specialty tea for Lana, Mallow and Kiawe, which inspired Mallow to work with her friends on a dish.

Other Appearances

Other Media

• Cilan appeared in the Pokémon anime as one of Ash's companions for the Unova-based series following the departure of Brock. Cilan first appeared with his brothers in a two-part episode where he invited Ash to the cafe/gym after being impressed by his Pokémon. Ash wound up having to fight all three of them for the Trio Badge. Cilan acted as judge for the first two rounds and was the last of the brothers to battle Ash. After he was defeated, Cilan decided to accompany Ash. He has been shown to specialize in being a Pokémon Connoisseur, which means he can read the connections between people and Pokémon. This version had more eccentricities: he had a love of acting and dressing like a detective, and he also had strong fears of the paranormal and of Purrloin. He was also shown as a big fan of trains who idolized Ingo and Emmett. At the end of the series, Cilan accompanied Ash back to Kanto and then left to pursue fishing competitions in other regions. Since then he's appeared in several special episodes teaming up with other companions of Ash: first with Brock in Johto and then with Clement and Bonnie in Kalos. He made some cameo appearances in Pokémon Journeys, listening to Team Rocket's radio show and watching Ash's championship battle against Leon alongside Brock and Alexa, before making a full appearance in one of Ash's farewell episodes. In that episode, he met with Ash, Brock and Misty in the Galar region and tried bringing Brock to Glimwood Tangle to cheer him up, which incurred the wrath of a Hatterene. After the conflict was resolved, Cilan returned to Unova to take part in a culinary competition being hosted by Ingo and Emmett.
• In the Pokémon Adventures manga, the Striaton trio appeared early in the Black/White arc. Black, Cheren and Bianca wound up taking on the three gym leaders in a triple battle. Although Cilan was able to hold his ground, the other team were able to use the leaves on Pansage's head to revive two of their fallen Pokémon, which resulted in their victory over the gym leaders. The brothers later battled the Shadow Triad and were overwhelmed until Keldeo suddenly saved them. The Shadow Triad turned their sights on Keldeo, but this attracted the attention of Cobalion, Virizion and Terrakion, who sent both the brothers and the Shadow Triad flying. The brothers later had a minor appearance in the Black 2/White 2 arc helping with damage control.

Trivia

• His English name is a play on "cilantro". His Japanese name is Dent, in reference to dent corn, as each of the brothers were named after a type of corn.