Final question for today. What about N? :]
Oh man. This one is a more complicated answer, because I actually do have concrete characterization for N due to my novelization of Black Version, Reversi.
The first thing to get out of the way is that while Black&White (and probably Black2&White2, but I’ve yet to finish Black 2 because I need to re-finish Black first, and that’s on hold because of Reversi—it’s complicated) have my favorite narrative out of all of the Pokémon games, they could have been much more than they were. Partly due to the fact that these games have to be accessible to children, and partly because there just wasn’t enough time to get into all of the complicated moral issues that were raised by simple virtue of having the “evil team” say they were promoting pokémon welfare, the story ended up following a strict dichotomy that painted Plasma as the Bad Guys and all other trainers as the Good Guys despite the fact that it’s very likely that there are trainers who abuse pokémon out there (just look at Damian from the OS of the anime), and even though I’m sure there were members of Plasma who did genuinely care about pokémon welfare, like N.
To this end, I feel that N’s characterization in much of the fandom (and potentially the games themselves, though again, I haven’t beaten Black 2 yet) ends up following a similar dichotomy. Aside from those that want to make him the Hot and Sexy Bishounen Prince™, many people want to make him a manchild who is completely incapable of taking care of himself/acting like the nineteen year old he actually is. They woobie-fy him to the point of absurdity, blaming Ghetsis for literally everything while letting N completely off the hook.
I really, really despise this characterization.
N, like Alan, is a complex, compelling character largely due to the fact that he was manipulated and used. While Alan is being manipulated and used by Lysandre, N was manipulated and used by Ghetsis. The difference is, N was raised by Ghetsis for this specific purpose, and to that end he was kept isolated and sheltered from humanity. There were very few humans that N was allowed to interact with—namely, Ghetsis, the Shadow Triad, the Seven Sages, and Concordia and Anthea (his sisters). Due to this, N has a very skewed view of humanity and pokémon; he sees pokémon as innocent creatures that are used and abused by humanity, while he sees humans (save for those he personally knows) as being evil, malicious creatures who use pokémon for their own personal gain. This is how N’s worldview has been shaped, and at the start of Black/White this is the frame of mind that informs his actions and decisions.
Now, it should be noted that Concordia and Anthea do tell you a little bit about N when you see them in the castle near the end of Black/White. Specifically, they say this:
ANTHEA: “Trainers battle to practice their skills and to grow in experience, but never to hurt their Pokémon. My lord N has realized this, deep down in his heart … but he has spent too much painful time here in this castle to admit it …“
CONCORDIA: “I am Concordia. I give peace and comfort to N. N has been separated from people since he was young. He was brought up with pokémon … pokémon that were betrayed, mistreated and hurt by bad people. Ghetsis deliberately brought only those poor pokémon closer to N. N was touched by their plight, and started pursuing ideal/the truth, thinking only of pokémon. N’s heart is pure and innocent. But there is nothing more beautiful and terrifying than innocence.”
People like to take that last line to cement their belief that N is essentially a man-child, along with the fact that N’s room is filled with toys. Their belief is, somehow, that N himself plays with the toys even now that he is nineteen years old. However, I disagree that any of this is evidence to the fact that he essentially has the mentality of a child, for a few reasons:
While it is true that children often think in terms of rigid dichotomies, children are not the only people who do. There are plenty of adults who think in terms of rigid dichotomies, who refuse to see things in shades of grey, and examining practically any politician will show you as much (at least until they flip to the opposite position depending on what the polls say). Hell, honestly, pick any Discourse™ post here on Tumblr and you’ll see much of the same rigid, “us vs. them” mentality that N exhibits. His dialogue, form of speech, and passion for what he fights for isn’t childlike in the slightest.
If you examine the toys, it does remark that they’ve been played with recently, but there are also descriptors that mention things like claw and teeth marks. More than likely, N’s pokémon are the ones playing with the toys, and if he plays with them? That doesn’t make him a child! I play with Morgan and her toys all the time. It’s called being good to your animal companions, not being a child, for god’s sake.
“N’s heart is pure and innocent. But there is nothing more beautiful and terrifying than innocence.” First of all, I love that last line, and always have. Second of all, Concordia is biased as hell given that she helped raise N as his elder sister, so of course she is going to see him as pure and innocent. Anthea is likely to do so as well, because look at her: She mentions the painful time he’s spent in the castle, and while I do believe her that it was painful, it’s clear that she’s fully sympathizing with N and isn’t likely to call him out on any nonsense/see him as being anything but Right. Both Concordia and Anthea are going to feed into what N wants because they sympathize with him, and are likely to see him as pure and sweet because they still remember the little boy who bawled his eyes out when he had to watch a caterpie die. Lastly, children do not have the corner market on innocence. Innocence can mean a lot of things. Someone can be innocent because they are naive. Someone can be innocent because they have pure intentions. N, much like Alan, really wants to do the right thing. He wants to do good. His heart is pure in this regard. But that doesn’t mean he’s a child. It doesn’t mean he has the mentality of a child, nor does it mean that he is actually innocent when he inadvertently leads to the crisis that Unova ends up facing. “The road to hell is paved with good intentions,” and all that. Concordia isn’t saying that N is literally a child (and she’s biased even if she does see him that way, considering). She’s saying that he means well and that he wants to help, but that his desire to help and his tunnel vision focus on that ends up causing extraordinary damage (hence the “more terrifying” addition to her statement).
So with all of that said, I really despise the notion that N is an innocent baby doll who was just used by Ghetsis and had No Clue what was going on at all. N knew. N knew exactly what he was doing. N, without any trace of humor or shame or regret, straight up told the protagonist that he was the King of Team Plasma and he firmly believed this. He firmly believed that he was the one in charge of the organization that would, by his rule, free all pokémon from human control/enslavement. He believed that he was worthy of doing this, that he was intelligent enough to do this, that he was strong enough to do this, and hell, that it was his destiny to do this. Yes, Ghetsis manipulated him, but that doesn’t change the fact that N willingly led Team Plasma and willingly spearheaded Team Plasma’s goals because he genuinely believed that what he was doing was Right. He genuinely believed that. He wasn’t some little baby child being used, he fully and vehemently believed in those ideals and pursued them to the last. Unlike Alan, who had no clue what Lysandre was actually planning with regards to Zygarde and mass genocide, the only thing N wasn’t aware of was that Ghetsis had pokémon build the castle/planned to take the throne in the end, ruling with an iron fist (and his own team of pokémon). Otherwise? N knew everything every step of the way and fully planned on ruling Unova as its king. While the bad things that happened over the course of Black’s plot were by and large Ghetsis’ fault, N shares an awful lot of the blame as well. He did that. He did all of it.
So with that said, N has these characterization notes:
He is quite arrogant/confident/proud - N is quite assured of his status as the Hero of Unova’s legends/the Chosen One/a King. This is something he has believed about himself since childhood, and not only because he has had it drilled into his head by Ghetsis, the Seven Sages, and his sisters, but also because his quick and clever mind, coupled with his successes, has made him quite aware of his own capabilities (and, you know, being able to actually converse with pokémon helps). N has very high self-esteem in this regard, to the point of arrogance, which can manifest in annoyance or agitation when others question it/blow him off, particularly because he’s not used to people not treating him with reverence once they realize who he is/what title he holds.
He is extremely stubborn/set in his beliefs - N believes that he is Right, and those who disagree with him are Wrong, and he is not at all good at seeing things from the opposing side, particularly because he often equates Wrong with Pokémon Abuse. To that end, N can be extremely confrontational, often to the point of seeming hostility. While he might not actually punch someone in the face, he is not at all afraid to get into arguments/shouting matches, and his temper can push him to the point of violence if he sees a pokémon get hurt.
He can be quite selfish/jealous - He gets upset if a pokémon chooses a human other than him, or if someone he is fond of chooses to spend time with someone that isn’t him, et cetera. Again, N is fairly used to getting his way (particularly since Ghetsis made sure the members of Team Plasma treated N like a king to his face), and particularly when it comes to humans he has very few that he actually likes, and so he can be a bit jealous/possessive when he feels that a human isn’t giving him the attention he wants. That said, he doesn’t entirely know how to handle these feelings because he’s not used to feeling jealous over humans, and this can result in little mini temper tantrums as well, but more on that later.
He’s extremely brave and extremely determined - Tying into his belief that he is Always Right, N is willing to take whatever risks necessary to achieve his goal, and has so little fear he’s almost reckless. To that end, because he believes he is Right, he believes that there is no such thing is compromised and thus is determined to see things through to the end. And on that note …
He can get tunnel vision about what he wants - He doesn’t always anticipate negative consequences (read: he almost never does) because he believes he is Right, and therefore there aren’t any negative consequences. And again, he only sees his side of things and refuses to look at things from another view, which leads to him not realizing that he could actually (gasp!) be wrong. This leads to a narrow field of vision/focus, which can create more problems.
All of that being said, though, N was sheltered for a great deal of his life. He was kept isolated from humans and human culture, which means that when he is finally let out to the surface world, he experiences many things for the very first time. Things like television, museums, comic books, literature, music … all of that is new to him, and so he does react with wonder to a lot of it, sort of like he’s experiencing a foreign (or even alien) culture. To that end, a goofier, lighter side can be brought out of him, particularly when he’s not faced with what he feels is a Pokémon Rights issue. Things such as:
He’s EXTREMELY socially awkward - This boy has literally zero social skills. In my novelization, when he first meets Lea (the protagonist, using the name Whitlea from the U.S. Black/White Mall Tour), he ends up staring rather intently at her chest. Cheren gets pretty upset about this, thinking that N is being a creep, but he isn’t—well, not intentionally, anyway. He stares at Lea’s chest because she stores her pokéballs in her sports bra because … well, because she’s Lea, it’s often best not to try and unpack her “logic.” Regardless, N doesn’t realize that this sort of thing could be construed negatively. He doesn’t understand why that’s socially unacceptable, when all he’s doing is looking at her pokéballs/pokémon. His concept of personal space (at least when it comes to others) is low. He talks down to people. He’ll hold conversations which seem one-sided until he suddenly flips the switch. He’ll get confrontational with people he doesn’t know, he’ll show open amazement at things like televisions and question what a comic book is because he’s never seen them before … you get the idea. He’s fluent in the language and highly intelligent, and he can catch on rather quickly, but because he was never socialized or introduced to things normally present in human society it’s all very new to him at first (as the hipsters in Nacrene City found out when they introduced him to the Pokémon world’s version of Doctor Who, oh boy).
He’s extremely curious - Tying into the above, N is always asking questions, examining things from very up-close, and basically laser-focusing in on things that interest him to learn more about them/get the answers he seeks. He’s very bouncy and kinetic, to this effect; constantly fidgeting or moving around, circling things from all angles. It fits in with his rapid speech patterns. He forms opinions rather quickly, but he’s constantly wanting to examine things and learn all that he can, and doesn’t take “no” for an answer when it comes to learning something new.
If he gets attached, he gets attached - N feels very strongly about everything. Pokémon, things, and even people, when he finds people he gets attached to. Hence, he can get jealous and pissy when someone he’s attached to decides to bugger off somewhere else/is angry with him. Think back to Black/White, when he makes that thinly veiled threat about Cheren and Bianca in Chargestone Cave, and then acts pissy and hostile toward the protagonist at the end of it because the protagonist doesn’t agree with him. That sort of behavior factors into his characterization.
But as mentioned, he feels very strongly about EVERYTHING - When N is angry, he is angry. When he’s happy, he’s happy. When he’s despaired, he’s despaired. N doesn’t do halfway when it comes to social issues, but he also doesn’t do halfway when it comes to emotions. This doesn’t have much to do with being sheltered, though; this just has to do with being him. He has a very mercurial temperament, and it is strong in all shapes and forms, hence why his reaction to the events of Black/White’s plot is literally to just NOPE RIGHT THE HELL OUT OF THE REGION BECAUSE HE LITERALLY CANNOT HANDLE HOW HORRIBLE HE FEELS ABOUT EVERYTHING. In other words, N has literally zero chill.
There are a few other random notes I have for him here and there as well, such as the fact that he is absolutely, 100% vegan, and is one of those vegans that gives other people grief for not being vegans (this actually happens in a scene in Reversi, and Lea basically tells him to stfu). He ends up really, really loving the Pokéworld’s version of Doctor Who and tries to emulate the Tenth Doctor, glasses and all. When he was younger, he called Concordia “Cordy” and Anthea “Anthy,” but he hasn’t done that in a very long time. The Shadow Triad frustrate him because he thinks they act like babysitters, which he does not need because he is nineteen years old. (Meanwhile, they’re frustrated because he makes their job harder and they Do Not Want to upset Ghetsis.) No matter how many years he spends with the rest of humanity he will never understand all of Lea’s pop culture references and slang, and that is okay.
Well, maybe that last bit wasn’t important.
Essentially, how I see N is that he very obviously isn’t a villain, but he’s also not a woobie baby child, either. He is a nineteen year old boy who was raised as a King, and who very firmly believes that he is a King, and that he is Right, when really he is Not Right, at least not entirely. Because while Game Freak had to stick everything in the rigid dichotomy where he was just Wrong, my novelization, Reversi, examines the idea that N was Right in Some Cases, and Wrong in Others, and that things really are not as rigid as they appear. Some trainers are bad, and in that Team Plasma kind of had a point. Where Team Plasma went wrong (aside from Ghetsis’ true motivations and all of the abuse behind the scenes, of course) is that you can’t paint all trainers with the same brush, good or bad, just as you can’t do that with pet owners in the real world. Some people abuse animals. Others treat them with love and care. The important thing to do is take animals away from those who hurt them, and put them in the hands of those who will care for them. So, yes, the Nuvema Trio and Blair clearly all love their pokémon. And yet, Reversi shows some trainers who very obviously do not. It’s not rigid either way, and likewise, N is neither Right nor Wrong. He’s just human.
… anyway, this was an absurdly long post, bUT YOU KNOW WHAT, I’VE SPENT A LOT OF TIME WITH THE UNOVA CREW, SO THIS IS WHAT ENDS UP HAPPENING, THIS IS THE BOX YOU OPENED, FRIEND.
But yeah, tl;dr I can’t stand most characterizations of N I see, so I just … stick to my own story/’verse and leave it at that.
