Brendan: The Hoenn Hero Who Becomes a Lab Assistant

The same boy can lead an entire region or stay the neighbor who files the lab's records. Brendan is the male avatar of Ruby, Sapphire and Emerald, and later of their 3DS remakes. When you play as him, he leaves Littleroot Town at age twelve to earn Hoenn's eight Badges, including the one handed out by his own father. When you don't, he becomes the son of Professor Birch, assists the researcher and waits for the player at the edge of a patch of tall grass.

Contents

• Littleroot Town: the Gym Leader's son has just moved in
• Hero on one side, lab neighbor on the other
• A team that fills out step by step
• From the white flapped hat to the Mega Bracelet
• Three movie cameos and a silent infiltration
• A canonical name the game never suggests
• Brendan at a glance
• Frequently Asked Questions

Littleroot Town: the Gym Leader's son has just moved in

Brendan didn't grow up in the region he's about to explore. His family left Olivine City for Littleroot Town to be closer to the Petalburg City Gym Leader — Norman, his father. The boy is twelve at the start of Ruby and Sapphire, and nothing about this opening feels like a calling: a house barely unpacked, an unfamiliar region, a researcher next door to go say hello to.

That neighbor, as it happens, is nowhere to be found. Professor Birch is neither at home nor at his lab, so Brendan pushes open the door to his daughter's room — May, who will become his designated opponent. The introductions finally happen on Route 101, where the scientist is being harassed by a wild Poochyena: the boy settles the matter by borrowing one of the researcher's Pokémon.

From there, things pick up speed within a few minutes of play: a first Trainer battle against his neighbor, the Pokédex handed over at the lab, then a stop at his father's Gym, where he oversees the very first capture by Wally. What follows is the program of any hero in the series: eight Gym Leaders to topple, his father included, a Legendary lurking in the Cave of Origin or perched atop Sky Pillar, and Team Magma or Team Aqua to thwart depending on the cartridge.

Hero on one side, lab neighbor on the other

Everything hinges on the moment you choose your avatar. Picking Brendan makes May the rival; leaving him to the computer turns him into Professor Birch's son, tasked with assisting the researcher in his work. So the Hoenn duo doesn't just swap the roles of opponent and hero: the character you don't pick changes families outright.

This Brendan is anything but a cutthroat competitor. He grows attached to the girl he keeps running into from one encounter to the next, usually loses their three battles on Routes 103, 110 and 119, and says he'd rather fill his Pokédex than rack up victories. The third-generation rival is a naturalist first and a rival second.

His battle spots, on the other hand, never change. He waits in the grass along the river on Route 103, on the east bank of Route 110 where beating him earns you the Itemfinder, and northeast of the bridge on Route 119 where it gets you HM02 Fly, and he blocks the entrance to the Lilycove Department Store until you beat him. Emerald adds an optional battle south of Rustboro City, offered after the Stone Badge and called off with a simple no, while the 3DS versions go as far as making him an ally, in a Multi Battle against Team Magma in Omega Ruby and against Team Aqua in Alpha Sapphire.

A team that fills out step by step

It all starts with the regional trio. Brendan starts out with one of Hoenn's three starter Pokémon: Treecko for Grass, Torchic for Fire, Mudkip for Water. When he plays the rival, the choice is no longer his — the game gives him the one whose type has the edge over the player's starter.

The rest of the roster latches onto specific milestones in the story. A Wynaut Egg picked up in Lavaridge Town, a fossil Pokémon dug up on Route 111, a Castform obtained at the Weather Institute: every stop on the journey leaves a mark on his team rather than just a line of dialogue.

The heavy hitters arrive at the end of the road. Groudon or Kyogre depending on the version, caught in their respective lairs, then Rayquaza, whose capture is at the heart of the Delta Episode exclusive to the remakes. Across all sources, the character has been linked to more than twenty species, from Swellow to Rhyperior by way of Ludicolo, Numel and Tropius.

🌿 Hoenn's starter trio has its own section: see the Pokémon starters.

From the white flapped hat to the Mega Bracelet

The base design doesn't take much: a brown-haired preteen with gray eyes, which turn blue only in the GameCube games and in the remakes' promotional short. His first outfit combines a white flapped hat trimmed in black, a red-and-orange tracksuit with black accents, fingerless gloves and a pouch hanging from his belt.

Emerald turns the look green: the hat's trim and the tops of his shoes switch to green, the sleeves get shorter, and a shoulder-strap backpack replaces the pouch. The Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire remakes dress him even lighter, in a jersey and cropped pants, with a rounded beanie. The real change is worn on his left wrist, where the Mega Bracelet takes the place of the fingerless gloves.

An extra wardrobe is set aside for Contests. He shows up bareheaded, with two locks dyed yellow and red, a red jacket and red boots, and a Mega Cuff on his arm. The power, though, can't be bought: it comes from Southern Island, where Steven Stone hands him a Key Stone set in a bracelet.

Three movie cameos and a silent infiltration

No episode of the TV series tells his story. On screen, Brendan exists only through three appearances lasting a few seconds, always at the opening of a feature film, always in a battle facility and always in his original outfit: a Double Battle against a young woman, in which his Shiftry takes a Spark while his Aggron freezes a Solrock; a battle in which his Swampert faces Rebecca's Tyranitar; and a last one in which his Rhyperior crosses paths with the Magmortar of Lucas.

Pokémon Generations gives him a real role, but not a single line. In his sixth-generation outfit, he infiltrates the Team Magma Hideout and sweeps through the Grunts one by one with his Sceptile, until Admin Courtney holds him off long enough for Maxie to escape aboard the submarine stolen in Slateport City. Another episode shows a Trainer in a Magma Suit, possibly him, catching Deoxys with the help of Mega Rayquaza.

The remakes' promotional short remains the only film in which he's the star. In it, he's dragged out of bed by his Treecko, battles a Youngster in a clearing, challenges Steven Stone at the Pokémon League, then goes Soaring in the Sky on Mega Latios while May rides Mega Latias. The mobile game has featured him since launch, with several outfits, a starter sync pair with Treecko that goes all the way to Mega Sceptile, and a team skill called "Hoenn Family" that he shares with his father.

A canonical name the game never suggests

Like every main-series protagonist, Brendan can be renamed when you start the game. His canonical name, the one he goes by as the rival when you play as May, is precisely the one missing from the list shown on the intro screen. In the French version, that list opens with Thierry in Ruby and Emerald and with Martial in Sapphire: a nod to the land (terre) on one side and the sea (mer) on the other.

The full list works as a safety net, meant for the player who leaves the field blank or types nothing but spaces. Thomas, Daniel and Seb round out the core set, and Emerald adds sixteen backup names, from Alec to Thibaud, the first borrowed from the hero of an animated miniseries. The English and Italian editions throw in two extra names that, in French, belong to members of Sinnoh's Elite Four.

The character has even gone by names that never stuck. Japanese screenshots of Emerald called him Rald, and the remakes' official website called him Orlando, before his original name was restored there; French-speaking players, for their part, simply call him "Rubis" (Ruby). The print adaptations add to the confusion by renaming him, in turn, Ruby, Rald, Brendan or Rubis — the last of these, at odds with his Gym Leader father, winning all twenty of Hoenn's Contest Ribbons in eighty days, at age eleven.

Brendan at a glance

Frequently Asked Questions

• Is Brendan the hero or the rival in Ruby and Sapphire?
  Both, depending on the avatar chosen at the start. Played by you, he's the hero of Hoenn and May becomes his rival; left to the computer, he becomes Professor Birch's son, assists the researcher and battles the player on Routes 103, 110 and 119.
• What is Brendan's starter Pokémon?
  Treecko, Torchic or Mudkip, Hoenn's three starter Pokémon. When he's the rival, the game gives him the one whose type has the edge over the player's starter.
• Why do French-speaking players call him "Rubis"?
  His canonical name isn't among the names offered on the intro screen, which in the French version opens with Thierry in Ruby and Emerald and with Martial in Sapphire. French-speaking fan communities got into the habit of calling him Rubis, the French name of Ruby.
• Does Brendan appear in the anime?
  Not in the TV series, where he has no episodes. He makes cameos at the start of three feature films, always in a battle facility, and he has a silent role in Pokémon Generations, where he infiltrates the Team Magma Hideout with his Sceptile.
• What is the connection between Brendan and Norman?
  Norman is his father. As Petalburg City Gym Leader, he's the reason the family moved to Littleroot Town, and Brendan has to beat him like any other Gym Leader to keep collecting Badges.

In short

Brendan combines roles the series usually splits among separate characters: playable hero, rival lying in wait in the grass, lab assistant and Gym Leader's son. The remakes added Mega Evolution, Pokémon Generations a dialogue-free infiltration, the manga four more names, and the mobile game a team skill shared with his father. For a boy the title screen lets you rename, that's a lot of stacked identities.