Norman

"A Man in Pursuit of Power!"
Norman
Species	Human
Hair color	Black
Base	Petalburg City
Relatives	Wife Brendan/May (player character- child)
Voiced by	Keith Silverstein (2019)
Debut	Pokémon: Ruby/Sapphire Versions

Norman is the fifth gym leader of Hoenn who must be battled in Pokémon: Ruby, Sapphire and Emerald Versions and the remakes Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire. He is also notable for being the father of the games' player character, who can be either Brendan or May depending on the gender chosen by the player at the beginning of the game. He specializes in Normal-type Pokémon.

Background

Norman was originally from Johto, where he lived in Olivine City. He had a lifelong friendship with Professor Birch, who apparently went to college with him. Normal later married a wife and had a child known as Brendan or May. Later on, Norman moved to Littleroot Town in Hoenn, when he was chosen to become the gym leader of a gym in the nearby Petalburg City. Norman had formed a strong philosophy about Pokémon, being described as someone who lives for Pokémon, and he focused on balance. He has also remarked that his "chosen path is harsh", possibly in reference to the distance from his family that can come with his duty.

In Ruby, Sapphire, Emerald, Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, he was the first gym leader encountered by Brendan/May in their Pokémon journey. Norman was pleased to see his child beginning a Pokémon journey but refused to battle them until they were more powerful. However, he did assign his child on an errand to escort young Wally, lending him one of his own Pokémon, as he went out to catch his first Pokémon so that he could travel to Verandturf Town.

Norman finally allowed his child to challenge him to a gym battle after they had collected four badges from other gyms. Norman battled his child like any other opponent, but was defeated. He had mixed emotions about his defeat, feeling disappointed as a gym leader and proud as a father. Norman gave his child the Balance Badge and TM 42: Facade (or TM67: Retaliate in Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire). He also reminded the trainer that they should visit their mother every now and then. As for himself, he declared that he would remain in the gym and redouble his training in order to avenge his loss. In Emerald, he would later call Brendan/May up through the Match Call feature to challenge them to rematches. After being defeated, he would ask his child what their dream was, while saying that his own dream had already come true.

After his child became the Pokémon League champion, Norman was seen at their home in Littleroot Town, where he noted that Brendan/May looked stronger somehow. In Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald, he gave them an S.S. Ticket from Mr. Briney at this time and suggested they compete at Battle Tower to continue their path as a trainer. In Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire, he instead gave them a pair of tickets to a star show at the Mossdeep Space Center and suggested that they take Professor Birch's child (May/Brendan, the rival character of the opposite gender of the player) to it. The tickets were originally supposed to be used by Norman and his wife, but Norman had to cancel due to being needed at the gym. After the Delta Episode was completed, that was when Norman gave Brendan/May the S.S. Ticket from Mr. Briney. He was also part of the Eon Ticket quest; when Brandan/May showed him an Eon Ticket, he brought them to a sailor at Slateport Harbor who could take the trainer to South Island.

Norman reappeared in Black and White 2 as a competitor in the Pokémon World Tournament. He took part in the Hoenn Leaders, World Leaders and Type Expert divisions, as well as in the special download tournament called "Gathered! Gym Leader!".

Pokémon Roster

The following is Norman's primary roster in Ruby, Sapphire, Emerald, Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire:

• Spinda (Emerald only)
• Vigoroth
• Linoone (Emerald only)
• Slaking (2 in Ruby and Sapphire, 1 in Emerald)

Outside of his main roster, Norman also has a Zigzagoon that he lends to Wally. In Emerald, Norman uses the following Pokémon in rematches:

• Chansey
• Slaking (2)
• Spinda in the first rematch
• Kangaskhan (second rematch onwards)
• Blissey, (third rematch onwards)
• Tauros, (fourth rematch)

In Black 2 and White 2, the potential roster that he uses for tournament battles could include Slaking and Exploud in all modes; Spinda, Kecleon, Castform and Zangoose in the Hoenn Leaders Tournament; and Ambipom, Bouffalant, Staraptor and Sawsbuck in the World Leaders and Type Expert tournaments. In "Gathered! Gym Leader!", he uses Slaking, Bouffalant, Sawsbuck and Stoutland.

In Other Pokémon Games

In Pokémon Masters, Norman and his Slaking appeared as a potentially playable sync pair that could be recruited by the player. Norman was featured in Chapter 7 of the game's storyline and had been appointed as one of the Pokémon Masters League Leaders, in charge of the Patience Badge. When the player's team came to meet him, guided by Brendan (who was his son in this version), he had just defeated Paulo in a battle. Scottie/Bettie then challenged and defeated him, earning the Badge, but they were all lured into a cave-in by Team Break. They worked together to escape, at which point Norman gave a Patience Badge to Paulo as well, in order to commend his mental fortitude. Norman also decided to join Scottie/Bettie's team, in order to observe the next generation up close and to continue growing stronger. Norman also appeared as an opponent in Brendan's Sync Pair Story, where he had to be defeated in a one-on-one battle in order for Brendan's Grovyle to evolve.

Other Appearances

Other Media

• Norman made recurring appearances throughout the episodes of the Pokémon anime set in Hoenn. In this version, his wife was named Caroline, and his children were May and Max, the latter being an original character made for the anime. Within his first appearance, he defeated Ash Ketchum in a gym battle (which was Ash's first gym battle in the region) and then advised Ash that he should battle him again after beating other gym leaders. He was later featured in two subsequent episodes, the first showing him rekindling his romance with Caroline (and dispelling rumors of an affair with Nurse Joy), while the second depicted Ash defeating Norman in a gym battle. After Norman was defeated, Max stole the Balance Badge in denial of his father's defeat, until he was convinced to return it. Norman later made several minor appearances, including watching May compete at the Wallace Cup during the fourth generation episodes.
• Norman was featured in the Ruby/Sapphire arc of the Pokémon Adventures manga, where he had just become a gym leader. It was shown that years ago, when he first took the gym leader test, his son Ruby had attacked a Salamence, which proceeded to attack a lab and accidentally released Rayquaza. Norman took the blame for the accident and was suspended from taking the gym leader test for several years, while also being assigned to search for Rayquaza, which led to him becoming distant from his family. When Ruby turned away from battling in favor of Pokémon contests, Norman disapproved, as he was aware of Ruby's natural talent and wanted his help to wake Rayquaza. Ruby ran away from home after the move to Hoenn, unaware that Norman was going to allow him to compete in the contests, and Norman spent much of the Ruby/Sapphire arc preoccupied with finding Ruby, while ignoring the other gym leaders and his duties. They eventually met and battled, at which point Norman angrily allowed him to do whatever he wants. He instead wound up taking in and training Wally, and using him to awaken Rayquaza. Norman controlled Rayquaza in successfully subduing Groudon and Kyogre, but the stress on his body cost him his life. However, Celebi created a time slip that prevented Norman's death from occurring. In the aftermath, Sapphire defeated him offscreen in order to earn her last badge. Norman reappeared in the Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire arc, where he worked with Ruby in searching for and then trying to capture and control Rayquaza. Afterwards, he joined the various trainers helping with the effort to destroy Grand Meteor Delta.

Trivia

• His name is a play on the word "normal", in reference to his type specialty.
• Norman is the only father of any of the main series' protagonists to appear. He is also the only gym leader to be related to one of the protagonists at all.
• According to Emerald, it takes him 30 minutes to walk from his home in Littleroot to his gym in Petalburg.
• In the Game Boy Advance games, he also gives the player any items that are scanned into the game through the e-Reader.
• In Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire, he says that he and his wife saw the previous star show for the Litlenoid meteor shower, which was eleven years ago.