Does Reshiram or Zekrom fit N more?

[Phosphene]

Like many of my posts, this was inspired by a comment I saw on another thread. Anyways, like the title says, which dragon fits the former king of Team Plasma better?

 

[WyndonCalling]

Zekrom. N's goal is to impose his ideals upon the world in the face of messy and complex truths - he's naive and absolutist. Sometimes you have to work with unpleasant facts and leverage uncomfortable truths to achieve change ('pessimism of the intellect, optimism of the will').

 

[Esserise]

Thematically, I don’t think I really lean either way. With Zekrom, you can say N is fighting for his ideals, and with Reshiram, you could argue that N is fighting for *his* truth because what is truth, exactly? Those games do a woefully insufficient job of differentiating between the concepts of truth and ideals, and I feel like the interchangeability of them between versions betrays a lack of thought put into the distinction. It’s more like they just picked two vague, philosophical-sounding words and ran with them.

Seriously, that single bit of dialogue from Zinnia during the Delta Episode (“The actions that you're taking now... Are they based on the ideals you cling to? Or are they based on actual truths? And if they are... How much of the truth do you think you know?”) is a more nuanced analysis of the two specific concepts than the whole of Black & White, and that’s coming from someone who loves BW. BW totally has it going on in a lot of other thematic departments, but the whole truth/ideals hoo-hah is just buzzwords.

Aesthetically, though, I would probably say Zekrom. Not only does its black color pair well with N’s lighter attire, but I’ve always thought N had a sort of modern, slightly trendy look to contrast the antiquity of Team Plasma’s Renaissance Faire getup. So having the younger, modern-looking dragon continues that contrast. Indeed, I also happen to think Reshiram is a better aesthetic match for Ghetsis.

 

[R1ke]

Going off pokemon generations, I said Reshiram. Reshiram also looks like the more gentle one of the two, which I think matches N's more compassionate/empathetic personality better. Their colour schemes match as well.

 

[RK9]

The story luckily works in such a way that an argument can be made for both.

Ghetsis shows N a fabricated truth, while the protags ideal world is one where Pokemon and people work and live together in a world and N, upon becoming his 'own' person learns the truth by himself, which is why Reshiram partnered to it since N, deep within, always sought truth. Whether the truth Ghetsis showed him was a real truth.

Meanwhile, it's also so that he wants to build an ideal world, which for him is one where Pokemon and humans are seperated. The protagonist, however, knows of a different truth, the one where both work together and sets out to show N that truth. Learning of that truth, N sets out to create an ideal world, but now one received through his new perception.

I personally always pair him with Zekrom but I can understand why some pair him with Reshiram if it's for good reason.

Reasons like "they look pretty together" and all that yada is just stuff I immediately dismiss as far as that goes.

 

[Silktree]

As I see it, N is more about ideals. It shouldn't have been hard to see that most Pokemon already co-existed with their trainers perfectly well (Game Freak didn't bother to show us counter-examples aside from, well, Ghetsis and some of his followers), but he rejected that truth until he lost. There was no nuance about the lack of absolute truth, either.

Reshiram wanting N to learn the truth is a plausible interpretation, but it's a bit weak. As of B2W2, N still believes that Poke Balls are bad, but I guess we aren't supposed to care?

 

[Morningstar]

Way I see it, this depends on how one Interprets N and the Dragons as characters. Specifically whether or not you think N values Truth or Ideals more. I imagine that which version you played is a factor but even then I think the case could be made that both dragons still match his character equally and perfectly.

 

[Daenerys]

I consider Reshiram to be the most majestic looking out of the tao duo/trio, so I think it suits N's look a lot more than Zekrom.

 

[Stellarquake]

Reshiram seems more pure so I think it suits N's pureness of heart more than Zekrom does.