Falkner: Violet City's Gym Leader, Heir to His Father's Gym

He didn't choose his type: he inherited it. Falkner runs the Violet City Gym, the first of the Johto League's eight, and awards the Zephyr Badge to those who get past it. His father held the post before him and left him his Pokémon when he stepped down. The whole character is built on that gap: a Gym Leader stationed at the very start of the journey, who battles with someone else's team and is still trying to measure up to him.

Contents

• The Johto League's First Hurdle
• A Gym, a Team and a Role Model to Surpass
• Facing Him Again After Earning the Badge
• A "Bird-Type" Gym Leader, Hang Glider Included
• In the Manga: Skarmory, a Legendary and a Tournament
• Falkner at a Glance
• Frequently Asked Questions

The Johto League's First Hurdle

Violet City kicks off Johto's official circuit. The Zephyr Badge Falkner hands out is the first of the eight that grant access to the League, which puts him up against Trainers who are still early in their journey — and shapes the entire balance of his team.

That position shows in the numbers. Compared with every Gym Leader in the series, Falkner's Pokémon in Pokémon Gold, Silver and Crystal have the lowest levels. The most visible case is his Pidgeotto, which he fields below the level at which the species is supposed to evolve.

Two other quirks set him apart from the rest of the lineup. He's the only male Gym Leader to specialize in the Flying type, and the only specialist in that type who doesn't hold the sixth Gym of his League. In Pokémon Stadium 2, he's also the only Gym Leader whose team includes no species outside his specialty.

A Gym, a Team and a Role Model to Surpass

What makes Falkner unique isn't his type but where it comes from. The Violet City Gym belonged to his father, and the Pokémon he sends into battle came from him. So the character takes up the post with a track record already in place, one he now has to carry under his own name.

The franchise's mobile game, which added him on August 8, 2021 in his Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver outfit, sums up his profile in three traits: very serious, prone to stubbornness, and driven by the ambition to become as good a Trainer as his father. There, he's paired with a Swellow by default, then with a Pidgeot and a Noctowl in other variants.

This attachment to his father even shows up in the game itself. Every Monday, you can find him on the fourth floor of the Celadon Department Store, where he comes to talk about his father with Janine — a Gym Leader whose relationship with her parent is, likewise, her main driving force.

🪶 Johto's birds have their own section: check out our Pokémon figures.

Facing Him Again After Earning the Badge

Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver allow a rematch, but only if you go through that meeting in Celadon City. First, you need to register his number in your Pokégear, which means running into him outside his Gym before you can call him.

The appointment you get then follows a narrow window: Saturday mornings at the Fighting Dojo in Saffron City, between 4:00 and 9:59 a.m. The same part of the game also has him compete in the Pokéathlon, where he can be one of the three opponents in the Jump Course — an event that fits his specialty.

Pokémon Black 2 and White 2 finally invite him to the Pokémon World Tournament, where he appears in several events, including the Type Expert Tournament and the Johto Leaders Tournament. There, he fields three Pokémon in Single Battles, four in Double and Rotation Battles, and six in Triple Battles, with a gender and Ability that change from one match to the next.

A "Bird-Type" Gym Leader, Hang Glider Included

The anime has him correct his own label. Falkner introduces himself as a Gym Leader of the "bird" type rather than the Flying type — a nuance that effectively rules out non-avian flying species, and says a lot about his bond with his Pokémon.

His training method follows the same logic. He goes hang gliding to feel for himself what his Pokémon experience in flight, rather than giving them orders from the ground. He's one of the few Gym Leaders in the original series whose training relies on his own physical condition.

The result is measured on screen: his Pidgeot reaches Mach 2. The episode devoted to him, in the anime's first series, pits him against Ash, whose Charizard gets the better of the bird.

In the Manga: Skarmory, a Legendary and a Tournament

The manga adaptation introduces him in volume 8, in the middle of training with his Flying-type Pokémon, when a wild Skarmory swoops down on the group. His team can't withstand the assault, and it's a Cyndaquil that weakens the attacker before Falkner catches it. The species leaves a lasting mark on his style: his Skarmory provide the wings from which the Poké Balls he throws like boomerangs are made.

It's Bill who comes to Violet City to deliver his summons to the Gym Leader exam, which he goes on to pass. The story then puts him in the path of three Legendaries at once: having come to arrest a poacher, he ends up battling Raikou in a storm the Pokémon whipped up, while Entei and then Suicune make their presence felt. He explains to the poacher that Suicune is searching for a Trainer, and arrests him all the same.

The Gym Leader tournament at the Indigo Plateau then pits him against Janine, who is clearly stronger and forfeits the match when she thinks she recognizes her father in the crowd. When the Masked Man attacks the venue, Falkner takes on Team Rocket, then finds himself trapped on a train with the other Gym Leaders; they overcome it and make their way back to the stadium with Morty and Whitney. Later, he guards the Gym's entrance with Chuck and Bugsy against the flood of visitors, until Silver confronts them head-on.

Falkner at a Glance

Frequently Asked Questions

• Which badge does Falkner award?
  The Zephyr Badge, the first of the Johto League's eight official badges. His Gym is in Violet City, at the start of the journey.
• Why does Falkner use Flying-type Pokémon?
  Because he took over the Gym from his father, who ran it before him, along with the team that came with it. The franchise's mobile game describes him as wanting to become as good a Trainer as his father.
• How do you get a rematch against Falkner?
  In Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver, you first need to register his number in your Pokégear by running into him on the fourth floor of the Celadon Department Store, where he goes every Monday. The battle then takes place on Saturday mornings at the Fighting Dojo in Saffron City, between 4:00 and 9:59 a.m.
• What does Falkner do in the anime?
  He calls himself a Gym Leader of the "bird" type rather than the Flying type, and goes hang gliding to understand what his Pokémon feel. His Pidgeot reaches Mach 2 there.
• What is his role in the manga?
  In it, he catches a Skarmory, passes the Gym Leader exam, battles Raikou while trying to arrest a poacher, then takes part in the Gym Leader tournament at the Indigo Plateau and in defending the venue against Team Rocket.

In short

Falkner is the Gym Leader you beat first, and that's a deliberate design choice: his Pokémon are the least experienced of any Gym Leader's. Yet the character turns this weakness into a theme, since his team isn't his own and his benchmark is still a man he has yet to match. Between the anime's hang glider and the manga's boomerang Poké Balls, each medium invents its own way for him to take to the air under his own power.