N 's message

[Life]

Ghetsis locked him up in that room and only showed him injured, hurt pokemon that were abused for life. Iirc, N has never set foot outside that castle and all he knows is what Ghetsis taught him. He was never shown the world. Too much brainwashing, and the only other people around him were his sitters the goddesses and the grunts who worship him. I doubt the rest of the sages were allowed to say anything to N since Team Plasma operated under Ghetsis' orders. N's room never had any books, no tv, no windows, and the castle was underground until N called it at the Pokemon League. The only real human interaction N had was with Ghetsis, who clearly isn't the best parent in the world. That was downright child abuse.

I admittedly forget a fair few things on this topic and went to look on Bulbapedia, and I couldn't find anything about N not allowed to leave the castle. But obviously he was able to at some point in time, so he wasn't stuck down there forever.

I personally don't consider N to be brainwashed, if I'm being honest. What Ghetsis told him about all Pokemon being abused by trainers is obviously a downright lie, but whether or not they should all be free from trainers is merely subjective. As N was just a child, he never had any beliefs to begin with, so what Ghetsis told him is just what he thought was true. He wasn't brainwashed, lied to. ((One might say they're the same, but obviously I would say no. But as that's kind of off topic I'd rather not get in to that.)) The effect may still be the same, but I would retort again in saying that everyone is capable of free thought, and that just because you're lied to doesn't mean one cannot and will not question that belief somewhere down the line, which N eventually did.

 

[Osprey]

Ghetsis locked him up in that room and only showed him injured, hurt pokemon that were abused for life. Iirc, N has never set foot outside that castle and all he knows is what Ghetsis taught him. He was never shown the world. Too much brainwashing, and the only other people around him were his sitters the goddesses and the grunts who worship him. I doubt the rest of the sages were allowed to say anything to N since Team Plasma operated under Ghetsis' orders. N's room never had any books, no tv, no windows, and the castle was underground until N called it at the Pokemon League. The only real human interaction N had was with Ghetsis, who clearly isn't the best parent in the world. That was downright child abuse.

I admittedly forget a fair few things on this topic and went to look on Bulbapedia, and I couldn't find anything about N not allowed to leave the castle. But obviously he was able to at some point in time, so he wasn't stuck down there forever.

I personally don't consider N to be brainwashed, if I'm being honest. What Ghetsis told him about all Pokemon being abused by trainers is obviously a downright lie, but whether or not they should all be free from trainers is merely subjective. As N was just a child, he never had any beliefs to begin with, so what Ghetsis told him is just what he thought was true. He wasn't brainwashed, lied to. ((One might say they're the same, but obviously I would say no. But as that's kind of off topic I'd rather not get in to that.)) The effect may still be the same, but I would retort again in saying that everyone is capable of free thought, and that just because you're lied to doesn't mean one cannot and will not question that belief somewhere down the line, which N eventually did.

"I was shocked because that Pokémon said it liked you. It said it wanted to be with you. I couldn't understand it. I couldn't believe there were Pokémon that liked people. Because, up until that moment, I'd never known a Pokémon like that. The longer my journey continued, the more unsure I became." - quote from Black and White.

Maybe he came to question what he'd been taught, but judging by what he says in-game, this didn't start until his first encounter with a Pokemon that liked its trainer, or the Pokemon of the player character in Acumula Town. And it's one thing to just have an idea, but it's another to believe that way is the right way. Maybe the notion that Pokemon liked their trainers crossed N's mind before he really ever got to see it for himself, but just because you can conceive a thought does not mean you can really believe in it as a part of your view of the world.

All N had ever seen were abused Pokemon that hated humans, and all the adults and authority figures in his life encouraged the idea that all Pokemon were like that. He had no evidence to indicate the idea that not all Pokemon were like this until meeting the player character. Even if the idea'd come up before this, I doubt he would've had any reason to believe it.

 

[BlackButterfree]

According to GameFreak, N is 21 years old at the time of Black and White. We saw him coronated in the B/W intro, probably meaning that's when he was given the right to leave the palace. So he spent 21 years around only abused Pokémon, the Seven Sages and Ghetsis, and his sisters Anthea and Concordia who were presumably just as brainwashed as N was (although for what reason, we may never know... we didn't meet them that often nor did they show any powers like N did...)

We should be glad he saw himself as an Emma Swan type figure (I'll save everyone because we all deserve a happy ending) and not a Lysandre type figure (I'm going to ruin the whole world because I don't like it right now). He could've easily been the greatest villain in the history of the franchise if his life had turned out slightly different. I'm glad he has a pure heart. He's much more beloved and sympathetic that way.

 

[Life]

"I was shocked because that Pokémon said it liked you. It said it wanted to be with you. I couldn't understand it. I couldn't believe there were Pokémon that liked people. Because, up until that moment, I'd never known a Pokémon like that. The longer my journey continued, the more unsure I became." - quote from Black and White.

Maybe he came to question what he'd been taught, but judging by what he says in-game, this didn't start until his first encounter with a Pokemon that liked its trainer, or the Pokemon of the player character in Acumula Town. And it's one thing to just have an idea, but it's another to believe that way is the right way. Maybe the notion that Pokemon liked their trainers crossed N's mind before he really ever got to see it for himself, but just because you can conceive a thought does not mean you can really believe in it as a part of your view of the world.

All N had ever seen were abused Pokemon that hated humans, and all the adults and authority figures in his life encouraged the idea that all Pokemon were like that. He had no evidence to indicate the idea that not all Pokemon were like this until meeting the player character. Even if the idea'd come up before this, I doubt he would've had any reason to believe it.

You bring up reasonable points, however, I just can't bring myself to believe the same as you, sorry. :\ In my mind, N always had the power disagree with what he was being shown, even if it was being heavily enforced. I'll have to end my side of the discussion at that as I think arguing over our different perspectives will be quite cumbersome.

 

[Osprey]

You bring up reasonable points, however, I just can't bring myself to believe the same as you, sorry. :\ In my mind, N always had the power disagree with what he was being shown, even if it was being heavily enforced. I'll have to end my side of the discussion at that as I think arguing over our different perspectives will be quite cumbersome.

'Kay then, deal. I think another part of N's message is that people can part ways with different opinions without hating eachother. Guess this can be an example of that.

 

[PiccoloX]

It doesn't help N's reasoning for being in the Anime when Ash never answered his question about why he made Pokemon fight. Personally, the concept of how the Pokeball is designed seems way too much like brainwashing to me. It's already been shown that if a Pokeball is destroyed the Pokemon wonder off confused.

Wether Ash "makes" them fight is questionable, but if the Pokeball is a brain washing item then it may be true that he "wants" them to fight.

 

[Dani Bre]

N's message shows that battling and capturing Pokemon is not for everyone. It's very PETA based. I personally believe in Pokemon and real life, not everyone is going to agree with certain basis. I believe putting that into the game was a good move. It shows that not everyone basically enslaves creatures and force them to battle lol. It shows how every story has two sides. The kid who wants to strive to be a master and the person who believe Pokemon should be free. I believe the next generation after XY should have something similar to that. I would love to see more people follow in N's footsteps it would give another draw to it.

 

[Muur]

And yet the Pokemon attack you for you to catch them.

It's said Pokemon like battling.

N's point is fair but battles are said not to harm Pokemon, hence them 'fainting'.

 

[Lufenium]

IIRC, N also battled you in his attempts to understand you and understand why you make the choices you make, especially considering the player's position as someone who would go on to capture the legendary Pokemon that opposes N's.

 

[Lysson]

Depending what version you play his message can be interpretated differently:
In White it is the truth that Pokemon and humans should be seperate as Reshiram has chosen him
In Black it is just his mere ideals as Zekrom has chosen him.

Personally I think Pokemon may actually like to fight as children will have play fights and people do boxing for fun. But I think it depends on the Pokemon. If Pokemon was real I'm not sure if I would battle... probably only if my Pokemon actually wanted to but I'd treat them like I'd treat a person.

 

[Daemul]

Tbh, as I've gotten older some aspects in Pokemon have began to bother me, most notably Pokeballs, like seriously, what is the point of them? We're told that before they were introduced Pokemon would just travel alongside their Trainers normally, so why were they invented? It doesn't seem like there was a need for them at all. You could just have the Pokemon travel alongside their Trainers and nothing would change, and it would actually be safer for everyone involved. I mean, I can understand the technical reason for their introduction in that the Gameboy wouldn't have been able to handle you walking around the game world with all your Pokemon following you, and they kept this in the anime for some consistency, but surely the handheld tech is advanced enough for this to change, and the anime along with it?

I guess the upside is that Pokemon Trainers are usually the only ones who are seen using Pokeballs, non-trainers in the game and anime seem to not use them at all and they just hang about normally with their Pokemon, which is something I wish the Trainers would do, but oh well, maybe one day.

Other aspects that bother me are game specific, and those are the PC, which makes no sense to me at all, and breeding, which has very different motivations behind it than it's counterpart in the anime, but I need to go to bed so I can't write a full essay about them now.

 

[Rick]

We keep them in Pokeballs, but they can go out whenever they want. It happened quite a lot in the anime. But the Pokeball that stores it simulates the habitat of that Pokémon so that it feels confortable in it, so they usually don't go out for no reason.
As for battling, the Pokémon is not forced to abey their trainers. They do it because they're willing to do that, we assume that fighting is "coded" in their DNA since some of them actually like to fight to get stronger.
We force them to forget moves because the games only let us choose 4 for a matter of balance. You wouldn't need to feed them CD-Roms otherwise.

 

[Serverus Snope]

Depending what version you play his message can be interpretated differently:
In White it is the truth that Pokemon and humans should be seperate as Reshiram has chosen him
In Black it is just his mere ideals as Zekrom has chosen him.

Is it the truth? Or is it because N is so adamant about what he thinks is the truth? Reshiram isn't some omniscient deity, so how would it know what is actually true?

 

[Pandora]

The manga N and game N are quite different.

If following the manga line, I think N, has some certain points, but the means he wants to do this are wrong. It is like a dictatorship. The way he behaved, resembles the same as if someone tries to force me to separate myself from my pets because there are owners who do not take good care of their dogs. Or because there are traffic of animals in Africa. Or if someone solve abolish marriage because people can eventually get divorced.
But in the manga, it is said that their nature is primary fight. There may be those who prefer singing, dancing, performing, but they were made to fight. Its just that some have more talent and others dont.

And following the line of the original N, of the games; hes quite hypocritical and I can even say naive. He was someone genuinely alienated, who was raised to believe that people were evil.





Of course, comparing pokemons with real animals, the last ones have no way to communicate, but just as there are bad people, there are good people. The way to solve this in real life would be through legislation. But I believe that in the pokemon universe, pokemon being much more powerful than people has ways to manifest, and most of them are not really so passive. They are more autonomous than animals in real life.

And I think that Pokemon have a certain option to follow the trainers or not, I believe that somehow the trainer becomes friend of pokemon. pokeball is just their home, where they sleep and relax and travel when tired. If its really injured or mistreated, they could run away or turn against those who abused it.