Lucas (Pokemon)

Lucas as seen in Pokémon: Diamond and Pearl Versions
Lucas
Species	Human
Hair color	Black
Relatives	Player Character Johanna (Mother) Rival Character Rowan's Assistant (father) Grandfather, Mother, Sister
Voiced by	Griffin Puatu (2022)
Debut	Pokémon: Diamond/Pearl Versions

Lucas is the main male character of Pokémon: Diamond, Pearl and Platinum Versions, as well as the Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl remakes. Depending on the gender chosen by the player at the beginning of the game, Lucas will assume the rule of either the player character or the secondary rival character, with the female character filling the other role. Dawn is the alternate female lead.

Background

Playable Character

Lucas lived in Twinleaf Town with his mother. He had an energetic best friend, Barry, and they often took part in mischief together. At the beginning of the fourth generation games, Barry coerced him into coming up to Lake Verity in search of rare Pokémon. While there, they overheard Professor Rowan and his assistant Dawn. After they left, they noticed that Rowan had accidentally left behind his suitcase. No sooner did Lucas and Barry retrieve the suitcase, then they wee attacked by wild Pokémon and forced to "borrow" a Pokémon (either Turtwig, Chimchar or Piplup) from Rowan's briefcase to defend themselves with. Dawn promptly returned and retrieved the suitcase, before leaving to report Lucas and Barry's actions to the professor. The professor confronted them shortly afterwards and then left after simply inviting them to visit his lab. Returning home, his mother gave him some Running Shoes and told him who the professor was. Lucas then visited Rowan's laboratory in Sandgem Town. There, Professor Rowan not only forgave Lucas and Barry for using his Pokémon but let them keep the Pokémon. However, he also appointed a special task for Lucas by giving him a Pokédex and asking him to record data on all of the Pokémon found in Sinnoh. In Platinum, there was an alternate sequence of events in that Rowan's suitcase was not lost, thus keeping Lucas and Barry from borrowing his Pokémon, and they instead followed Rowan to Sandgem Town, where he freely decided to give them Pokémon due to their dedication.

After telling his mother what had happened and receiving a journal as a present, Lucas set out to begin his Pokémon journey. He traveled across Sinnoh, challenging and defeating the eight Pokémon gym leaders while collecting various Pokémon. He met up with Barry multiple times, and they battled often to measure each other's progress. Lucas met a variety of other trainers along the way, such as the helpful veteran trainer Cynthia. He also had a variety of run-ins with Team Galactic, the mysterious criminal organization that was terrorizing Sinnoh, and he often had Dawn or Barry's help in fending them off. This all culminated in the Galactic Boss Cyrus summoning Dialga, Palkia or Giratina (depending on the version) from atop Mt. Coronet using the three mirage Pokémon. In the first two instances, it was over when Lucas defeated or caught the legendary Pokémon that was summoned. In the latter instance, Lucas then entered the Distortion World with Cynthia, where he eventually defeated Cyrus again and defeated or captured Giratina.

After having collected all eight gym badges and defeated Team Galactic, Lucas traveled to the Pokémon League and battled Sinnoh's Elite Four. He defeated them and their champion, Cynthia, at which point she registered him and his Pokémon in the Hall of Fame. Afterwards, he received an updated Pokédex and several new items such as a Pokéradar for use in catching more Pokémon. He also gained access to the Battle Zone, where he could embark on further adventures and continue to build up his Pokémon team.

Rival Character

Lucas's Platinum costume.

Lucas lived in Sandgem Town with his family. His father was an aide to Professor Rowan, so Lucas naturally came up to also serve as an assistant to Rowan. At the beginning of the game, Lucas helps Professor Rowan with his research at Lake Verity and retrieves the briefcase when he leaves it behind, while noticing Dawn and Barry's "borrowing" of Professor Rowan's Pokémon. After Professor Rowan enlisted them into helping with the Pokédex, Lucas gave Dawn a tour around town and suggested that she tell her mother before leaving on the journey. He also demonstrated how to catch Pokémon and gave Dawn several Pokéballs.

At Jubilife City, Lucas showed Dawn to the Trainer's School. Later on, Lucas and Professor Rowan were attacked by Team Galactic members at the city's northern entrance, and Dawn teamed up with Lucas in fending them off. Lucas then came to Dawn by the Cycling Road with more gifts, in the form of Vs. Seeker and Dowsing Machine applications for her Pokétech. In Veilstone City, Lucas's Pokédex was stolen by Team Galactic grunts. He called for Dawn's help and together they defeated the grunts. Professor Rowan later assembled Dawn, Lucas and Barry together at Canalave City's library to discuss the mysteries of Pokémon evolution. However, at that moment there was an explosion reported at Lake Valor. Everyone split up to investigate, with Lucas going with Rowan to examine Lake Verity. There they managed to fend of the Team Galactic members with some help from Dawn.

After Dawn defeated Team Galactic's boss Cyrus, Lucas and Rowan encouraged her in her battle with the legendary Pokémon, congratulating her afterwards. Afterwards, Lucas stayed in Sandgem Town where he continued to give advice to Dawn when she visited and could also be challenged to battles on weekends in Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl. In Platinum he also visited Dawn's villa either on random days or after she bought the sofa, at which point he would exclaim jealousy of her and say they have similar tastes.

Pokémon Roster

As the rival character, Lucas utilizes the following Pokémon:

• Turtwig/Grotle, Chimchar/Monferno, Piplup/Prinplup - Lucas's starter Pokémon is whichever one was not chosen by Dawn or Barry. This Pokémon will have a type disadvantage to the player character's starter Pokémon. Lucas first uses this Pokémon in the Pokémon catching tutorial, and it evolves by the Veilstone City double battle.
• Clefairy
• Kadabra

The latter two Pokémon are only used in the Veilstone City double battle.

For battles in Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl, he uses the following Pokémon initially, in addition to his fully evolved starter:

• Mothim
• Magmortar: He will use this Pokémon if he does not have Infernape.
• Tangrowth: He will use this Pokémon if he does not have Torterra.
• Milotic: He will use this Pokémon if he does not have Empoleon.
• Gallade
• Clefable

After the Elite Four has been beaten ten times, he starts using completely different teams, with the only constant being his fully evolved starter and a Rotom that is in a different form for each version of his team.

• If his fully-evolved starter is Empoleon (with the player's starter having been Turtwig), his team will also contain Gliscor, Cradily, Glaceon], Heat Rotom and Tauros.
• If his fully-evolved starter is Torterra (with the player's starter having been Chimchar), his team will also contain Dusknoir, Flareon, Cranidos, Wash Rotom and Dunsparce.
• If his fully-evolved starter is Infernape (with the player's starter having been Piplip), his team will also contain Absol, Kabutops, Espeon, Mow Rotom and Porygon-Z.

In Other Pokémon Games

In Pokémon Masters EX, Lucas was added to the game as a potentially playable character in January 2022. He was paired with Dialga as a sync partner, and they could be unlocked at random through the game's Sync Pair Scout feature during limited time periods. In this game, Lucas was portrayed in his role as the non-player character, while Dawn was treated as the fourth generation protagonist. In the Main Story, he was featured during the Sinnoh chapter of the Villain Arc, in which he helped Dawn in the others in battle against Cyrus. He was able to forge a bond with Dialga due to his determination to save it from Cyrus.

Other Appearances

Other Media

• Lucas makes a cameo appearance in the opening for the eleventh Pokémon anime movie, where he is seen battling with Brendan.
• In the Pokémon Adventures manga, the character of Diamond (known as Dia for short), a main character in the Diamond/Pearl arc, was based off of Lucas. In this version, Diamond and Pearl are a pair of comedians who wind up acting as bodyguards to Miss Platinum Berlitz after a mix-up. He was known for being laidback and gluttonous, and he was often accompanied by a Munchlax. The Sinnoh starter Pokémon he received was Turtwig.
• In the Pokémon Evolutions miniseries, he appears in the fifth episode. That episode portrayed events from the fourth generation games from Barry's point of view. Lucas was portrayed in the role of the protagonist, and his starter Pokémon was shown as a Chimchar that evolved into Infernape. Like many of the protagonists of this miniseries, he was portrayed silently and with details of his facr obscured.

Trivia

• Like all playable protagonists, his name is chosen by the player. The name Lucas is assigned to him when he is a non-playable character and has been used in other materials such as Pokémon Masters EX.
• The name "Lucas" is derived from 'lux', the Latin word for 'bright'. His Japanese name is Kouki, which means "brilliance". Both of his and Dawn's names refer to light and brightness.
• Seemingly in homage to previous generations, Ash is included as one of the default names in the games (as well as his Japanese name, Satoshi, in the Japanese version). Similarly, Gary/Shigeru appears as one of the default names for Barry.
• In Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl, it is possible to customize several aspects of his appearance, like the protagonists of more recent generations. Four options are given for Lucas, which differ in terms of hair and eye color as well as skin tone.
• It is mentioned that his (as the player character) father was a great trainer and shared a relationship with Barry's father Palmer similar to that which the player character had with Barry (complete with starting their journeys being attacked by wild Pokémon at a lake with the implications of a professor being involved).
• In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, one of the Pokémon Trainer's alternate costumes has a color scheme based on the color scheme of Lucas's outfit from Diamond/Pearl.