Character ages in Pokémon Games

[RC821]

Well, to be fair, AZ got hit with immortality so I just assume/headcanon that the immortality also slows down the physical aging a lot.

Cause you know, at that age AZ should be a walking corpse, basically.

As for the protagonists except for Red, Hilbert, Hilda, Elio and Selene, we don't know.

 

[BackSet]

Long post incoming!

Spoiler: Long Post

I tend to just go with whatever age suits my fancy. I'm not the biggest fan of the "child hero" trope (where child is anyone younger than 12-13) maybe because I'm in my teens and want my Edgy Teen Protagonist!

Of course, I still pinpoint Red at around 11 and as of Sun and Moon I'd say he's his 20s.

Most of the other protagonists I'd pin at various ages of teenage-dom. Both Brendan and May are somewhere in their teens in my opinion (although that's probably influenced by an old fanfic protagonist of mine who I repurposed for a roleplay recently as a 17 year old who just happens to look like ORAS May).

I would definitely pin the SM/USUM protags at 11 because that's already canon. The SwSh protagonists are somewhere in their teens mainly because I have this head canon of Victor and Gloria being pen pals with Calem and Serena respectively who I'm pretty sure are canonically in their teens and if not I pin them in their teens.

I admit that I would pin Ethan at around the same age as Red was during Red and Blue so there is that.

Brock is an adult regardless of what the anime says because screw canon.

Misty... er... I can't really pin an age for her so I just never adress it.

Lt. Surge is somewhere in his 30s-40s probably.

Professor Oak is... old, I guess.

Both Guzma and Kukui are in their 20s maybe early 30s (Guzma dyes his hair, obviously).

Lillie and Gladion... Lillie is somewhere around the protag's age, obviously, and I think I pin Gladion at around 15 (are they canonically twins?) Oddly specific for me but whatcha gonna do.

Rowan is also old. Maybe older than oak.

Aurea Juniper is in her 20s maybe early 30s with Cedric also being just old.

Sycamore is in his late 30s, actually.

Birch is probably around his late 40s early 50s.

Magnolia is old. About as old as Rowan if we consider Rowan older than Oak.

Sonia is probably around her late 20s and Leon is in his early 30s already.

Opal is canonically 88.

Hop, Bede, and Marnie are around the same age as the Galar protagonists (reminder, I think the galar protags are in their teens).

Cynthia has always been in her early 40s for me. No idea why. Same with Diantha, who's not much older than Sycamore in my mind.

Hau is quite obviously 11.

Plumeria is in her 20s

Lusamine and her husband are in their 40s for obvious reasons.

Lysandre is in the same range as Diantha and Sycamore.

Professor Burnet is around the age of her husband.

The Masked Royal who is absolutely not Kukui is the same age as Kukui which does not mean he is Kukui. He is not Kukui.

Cyrus is definitely in his late 40s.

Honestly, let's just say that every important character in Team Aqua and Magma is in their 40s.

Silver is a teenager and Giovani is in his late 40s or maybe even early 50s.

As for Mr. Ketchum, the protagonist of the anime... if I write a fic about him, he's 15. Screw! Canon!

 

[Tood]

Rowan is also old. Maybe older than oak.

Birch is probably around his late 40s early 50s.

Cyrus is definitely in his late 40s.

These three have canon ages: Rowan is 60, Birch is 35, Cyrus is 27 (No idea what he did to look so bad)

I've assumed that most of the protagonists are 11-12 years old, aside from the gen 5 and 6 ones, who look more like they are in their mid-teens. I assume the same for the corresponding rivals, too. Also, Giovanni and Koga strike me as the kind of people who had their children in their mid-thirties, whereas Birch and Norman seem like they were fairly young when May/Brendan were born.

 

[Esserise]

We got a live one: Opal in SwoShi is 16 88 (and took over the Gym from her mom when she was 18)

 

[BackSet]

These three have canon ages: Rowan is 60, Birch is 35, Cyrus is 27 (No idea what he did to look so bad)

That makes so much more sense. Except Cyrus. I think I get his motivation now. He turned to evil because of whatever happened to him to make him look 40.

I think I'll still go with Rowan as just Old. Funnier that way.

 

[RK9]

I've assumed that most of the protagonists are 11-12 years old, aside from the gen 5 and 6 ones, who look more like they are in their mid-teens. I assume the same for the corresponding rivals, too. Also, Giovanni and Koga strike me as the kind of people who had their children in their mid-thirties, whereas Birch and Norman seem like they were fairly young when May/Brendan were born.

As far as protags go, I feel we left the 10-11 mark a while ago with the exception of SM.

Basically what I think:

Hilda and Hilbert: 16
Nate and Rosa: 14/15
Serena and Calem: 18/19 (Emma is 16 and adresses you in a way that implies you are older than her and at least of adult age.)
Elio and Selene: 11
Gloria and Victor (And by default Marnie, Bede and Hope): 13 - 15 range.

 

[Sakuraa]

I generally go with the Pokemon Adventures manga for my age ranges for the main protagonists, unless we get official confirmation within the games like with Sun and Moon. I generally regard them as all being around the same age. Iirc, only the BW protagonists were officially confirmed to be older than past protagonists.

Leaf/Red: 11
Krystal/Lyra/Gold: 11-12
May/Brendan: 10-12
Dawn/Lucas: 11-12
Hilda/Hlbert: 14
Rosa/Nate: 12
Serena/Calem: 12
Seline/Elio: 11
Gloria/Victor: 12

 

[prog rocker]

These three have canon ages: Rowan is 60, Birch is 35, Cyrus is 27 (No idea what he did to look so bad)

That makes so much more sense. Except Cyrus. I think I get his motivation now. He turned to evil because of whatever happened to him to make him look 40.

I think I'll still go with Rowan as just Old. Funnier that way.

Stress really ruins your appearance. Just look at any restauranteer and try to tell me their ages just by looking at them.

 

[Gretnablue]

If I'm not mistaken, Oak is way younger in the games then he looks, around his mid 40s?

Also Wally is ten in Ruby and Sapphire (which makes it weird they don't seem to have aged by Sun and Moon).

 

[BackSet]

I generally headcanon Walley at 14 anyway because, again, not fond of the child hero trope (and, again, it may just be due to me wanting my edgy teen protagonists. Sue me.)

I ignore canon a lot.

 

[Silktree]

Elio and Selene: 11

I know that this is a natural assumption since you're supposed to take the island challenge at that age, but those two had just moved to Alola when they started. Would they really be deprived of this opportunity just because of their age?

It's worth noting that Elio is confirmed to be 1.5m, just a little shy of Brendan and May (1.52m) who are said to be 12 in ORAS. At the very least, I'd say that they're closer to 12 than 11.

 

[prog rocker]

I know that this is a natural assumption since you're supposed to take the island challenge at that age, but those two had just moved to Alola when they started. Would they really be deprived of this opportunity just because of their age?

Considering you can see adults taking part in the island challenge in USUM, I guess 11 is just the earliest age in which you could take part of it.

 

[RK9]

Okay so what I think the ages are of the other 'important' trainers in SwSh:

Milo: Mid to late 20s
Nessa: Early 20s
Kabu: Early to mid 50s (I find this one a bit tricky)
Bea: 16
Allister: 13
Opal: 16 88
Gordie: Late 20s, early 30s
Melony: Late 40s, early 50s
Piers: Mid to late 20s
Raihan: Early 20s
Sonia: Early 20s
Leon: Early 20s
Rose: In his 30 or 40s
Oleana: Early 30s
Gloria, Victor, Bede, Marnie and Hop: 13 to 15 range as mentioned before.
Magnolia: In her 70s.

The designing makes it a bit hard for the exactly pinpoint Kabu and Piers' ages.

 

[PkmnTrainerV]

Sonia is probably around her late 20s and Leon is in his early 30s already.

Weren’t Sonia and Leon supposed to be rivals/childhood friends or something? They’d be nearly the same age in thay case

It's worth noting that Elio is confirmed to be 1.5m, just a little shy of Brendan and May (1.52m) who are said to be 12 in ORAS. At the very least, I'd say that they're closer to 12 than 11.

Well, there’s a lot of variation in height specially during that age. You could get an 11 year old who's taller than a 13 year old, so a .02m difference isn’t really an indicator of age. Puberty does weird things to people.

 

[Silktree]

Well, there’s a lot of variation in height specially during that age. You could get an 11 year old who's taller than a 13 year old, so a .02m difference isn’t really an indicator of age. Puberty does weird things to people.

Maybe, but I've always assumed that these characters are supposed to be around average height (for Japan, at least except for some generations) relative to their ages. Recent player characters are just default avatars, after all. So why make them taller than average (for 11 year olds) by 6cm?

 

[PkmnTrainerV]

Maybe, but I've always assumed that these characters are supposed to be around average height (for Japan, at least except for some generations) relative to their ages. Recent player characters are just default avatars, after all. So why make them taller than average (for 11 year olds) by 6cm?

Height isn’t really anything more than flavour text too, since ORAS still had the pseudo chibi style. I don’t think height is an appropriate marker to determine an age, specially using averages at such ages which show a lot of deviation from averages at times.

Charizard's supposed to be rideable but is shorter than most humans, and would be an awkward fit for most children, too if we take Pokémon heights.

Maybe you’re supposed to just imagine them somewhere around early teens with the exact age dependent on you, since they’re blank slates.

 

[Silktree]

If they were dependent on just about any of us here, they'd be at least 20. Calem and Serena came pretty close, apparently.

 

[PkmnTrainerV]

Victor/Gloria are ideal to me. I'll gladly take subsequent characters being mid-late teens. And that’s probably the best deal the 20+ folk'll ever get probably.

 

[Esserise]

Kabu: Early to mid 50s (I find this one a bit tricky)

fwiw he strikes me as about 50 too, he's just also still in shape

Well, there’s a lot of variation in height specially during that age. You could get an 11 year old who's taller than a 13 year old, so a .02m difference isn’t really an indicator of age. Puberty does weird things to people.

My 13-year-old brother is taller than me and I'm twice his age, lol

 

[PkmnTrainerV]

My 13-year-old brother is taller than me and I'm twice his age, lol

Being taller than my 8 years older brother before I finish puberty is fun. Who's the bigger one now?