Falkner

The Elegant Master of Flying Pokémon
Falkner
Species	Human
Hair color	Black
Base	Violet City
Debut	Pokémon: Gold Version/Pokemon: Silver Version

Falkner is the first gym leader encountered in Pokémon: Gold, Silver, Crystal, HeartGold and SoulSilver Versions.

Background

Falkner was the gym leader of the Violet City Pokémon gym. He inherited the gym and his bird-type Pokémon from his father, who left to travel on the road. He was sensitive about the bird Pokémon he raised and did not like insults involving how easily they could be defeated by electric attacks and so he tried to prove the worth of bird Pokémon. The Violet gym has a plain design in the original games, but in HeartGold/SoulSilver, Falkner and his trainers are located in the roof's rafters, which also contain transparent walkways.

In Gold, Silver and Crystal (as well as HeartGold and SoulSilver), he was eventually challenged and defeated by Gold. Upon his defeat, he surrendered the Zephyrbadge as well as TM31: Mud-Slap (or TM 51: Roost in HeartGold and SoulSilver). He vowed to continue training to become the greatest bird master. In HeartGold and SoulSilver, he would appear on the fourth floor of Celadon City's department store on Mondays, where he would argue with Janine about which of their fathers was the better trainer. If Gold agreed with him that his father was better than Koga, he would exchange numbers with Gold in order to talk more about his dad. Calling him on Saturday mornings would cause him to appear at the Fighting Dojo in Saffron City, where he could be challenged to a rematch.

Pokémon Roster

In the original games his only Pokémon are a Pidgey and a Pidgeotto.

For the rematches in HeartGold and SoulSilver, he has the following roster:

• Staraptor
• Noctowl
• Swellow
• Honchkrow
• Pelipper
• Pidgeot

Other Games

Falkner appears as the first opponent in the Gym Leader's Castle of Pokémon Stadium 2. In this game his line-up instead contains a Pidgeot, Farfetch'd, Noctowl, Delibird, Fearow and Togetic in R1, or a Charizard, Pidgeot, Dodrio, Zapdos, Gligar and Skarmory in R2.

Falkner appears in Pokémon Puzzle Challenge as the first opponent, using a Pidgey in battle.

Other Appearances

• He appeared in one episode of the Pokémon anime which depicted Ash Ketchum's battle with him. He was shown as yearning to be as close to bird Pokémon as he could, to the point of riding around on a glider. His roster shown was a Hoothoot, Dodrio and Pidgeot.
• Falkner makes several appearances throughout the Gold/Silver/Crystal arc of the Pokémon Adventures manga. He is initially shown to be a police officer who is unfamiliar with Pokémon but begins training with them to succeed his missing father as gym leader. Gold is able to give him helpful advice when they meet, and later chapters show him to have passed his gym leader's test. In the competition between Kanto and Johto gym leaders, Falkner is paired against Janine, who is similarly a new gym leader seeking a missing father, and Falkner wins by default after Janine retreats due to seeing her father among the audience. A character who seems to be his father also appears in one chapter meeting with Chuck.

Trivia

• Falkner's name can mean "falconer", as in a trainer of falcons.