Tabitha: the Team Magma Admin Who Ends Up Doubting

He's the right-hand man who ends up asking questions. A Team Magma Admin, Tabitha carries out across Hoenn whatever he's told by Maxie, from stealing a meteorite all the way to the entrance of the Seafloor Cavern. For a long time, the character was little more than a wall to get past three times. The remakes gave him an age, a former employer and, at the worst possible moment, second thoughts.

Contents

• A role that changes from one cartridge to the next
• The meteorite, Mt. Chimney and the Team Magma Hideout
• Twenty-seven, a past at Devon and a made-up title
• After the catastrophe, a useful supporting role
• Camerupt, Mightyena, Golbat: a team without a Legendary
• Harlan, then Tabitha: one man, three names
• The Three Fires: the Blue Orb costs him his sanity
• Tabitha at a glance
• Frequently Asked Questions

A role that changes from one cartridge to the next

His place in the story depends entirely on the version. In Sapphire, you only cross paths with him at Meteor Falls and then at the Seafloor Cavern, and he never weighs on the plot: the story's real threat comes from elsewhere.

In Ruby and Emerald, his standing changes. He blocks the player's path every time they come to foil one of the organization's plans, which makes him the recurring opponent Team Magma sends in ahead of its leader.

The remakes Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire go further and completely redesign his look, as they do for Courtney, for Shelly and for his counterpart on Team Aqua. The faceless lieutenant becomes a recognizable character.

The meteorite, Mt. Chimney and the Team Magma Hideout

His whole mission comes down to a single object. Tabitha snatches the meteorite found at Meteor Falls from Professor Cozmo, right in front of the player, who has come to the rescue with Brendan or May. He loses the double battle, orders a grunt to grab the stone anyway, and takes off — though not before Team Aqua mocks him on the way out.

What follows is a string of locations. He is caught up with at Mt. Chimney, where the organization plans to combine its scientific know-how with the volcano's energy to awaken an ancient Pokémon, then deep inside the Team Magma Hideout — the one near Lilycove City in Ruby, the one Emerald only unlocks once you have the Magma Emblem in hand.

His final battle isn't even his own anymore. You face him in a double battle, with Maxie at his side, on the day the organization comes to siphon off the fuel stored at the Mossdeep Space Center — to the very end, the henchman remains a mere prop in the plan.

Twenty-seven, a past at Devon and a made-up title

The remakes finally give him some personal details. Tabitha is twenty-seven and used to work for Devon Corporation, in other words for the region's biggest industrial company: the volcano fanatic came from the private sector, not from the fringes.

He introduces himself to the player with a rank that didn't exist before him, which the French version calls "Bras Droit Supérieur en Chef" (roughly, "Supreme Chief Right-Hand Man"), a post he claims had to be invented in the revamped organization to do him justice. The bragging has a flip side: he flies into a rage when a kid, Wally, politely lumps him in with the elderly.

Then comes the Seafloor Cavern, and the tone shifts all at once. He begs his leader to give up, on the grounds that the Legendary will indeed put an end to the world as it exists, but without delivering the promised fresh start — the objection comes from the most zealous of his men, not from an opponent.

After the catastrophe, a useful supporting role

The organization's downfall plays out right in front of him. Zinnia steals Maxie's Key Stone right inside the hideout, leaving Tabitha to fume that people keep strolling in and out of their base as they please. Maxie, now unable to Mega Evolve, then orders him to hand the player a Cameruptite — and it's Tabitha who explains what to do with it: give it to a Camerupt.

The mobile game Pokémon Masters continues his story. When Groudon and Kyogre run wild there, he backs Zinnia up in pointing out that the two titans aren't behaving normally. He urges his leader to evacuate the area rather than keep fighting, then tells Courtney to apologize, just as the Team Aqua Admin has just done.

His final observation sums it all up: the whole affair has grown far beyond the two rival gangs. In just a few scenes, Team Magma goes from threat to overwhelmed bystander, and it's the leader's right-hand man who says so out loud.

Camerupt, Mightyena, Golbat: a team without a Legendary

His three go-to Pokémon sum up the entire organization: Mightyena, Camerupt and Golbat, which means Dark, Fire/Ground and Poison/Flying. No frills, no surprises — a grunt's standard kit, turned up a notch.

Around them orbit the intermediate links the player runs into from the very first battles: Poochyena and Zubat, the pre-evolutions of Mightyena and Golbat, plus a Koffing and a Numel. It's a mid-game team, not an endgame one.

The contrast with his leader is telling. Neither Tabitha nor Maxie owns a single Legendary: all the power they lay claim to, they plan to borrow from a Pokémon they haven't even awakened yet.

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Harlan, then Tabitha: one man, three names

The anime has put him through two successive names. He is first called Harlan, then Tabitha, over the episodes centered on Team Magma — enough to muddy the waters for a long time for anyone looking for the character under his French game name, Kelvin.

His job there is clearer than his name. He steps into the fray in Maxie's place, to spare his leader the fight, with two Pokémon that are very common within the organization: Mightyena and Golbat.

The Pokémon Generations short series gives him a scene in its seventh episode. There, he informs Maxie that Brendan has broken into their hideout, then escorts him to the Seafloor Cavern: the bodyguard role, summed up in a single appearance.

The Three Fires: the Blue Orb costs him his sanity

The manga adaptation places him in a trio, the Three Fires, alongside Courtney and Blaise. His look has nothing in common with the games or the anime: a muscular man with long hair and a deep dimple.

His missions there are hands-on and dirty. He heads out with Courtney to retrieve the Scanner and its journal from the Abandoned Ship, brushing aside the place's two guardians, a Plusle and a Minun; he helps take Captain Stern and his assistant Dock hostage, after knocking them out with his Torkoal's smoke; and finally, together with Flannery, he tries to reignite Mt. Chimney after Team Aqua has put it out, without success.

His arc ends more harshly than in any other version. Maxie entrusts him with the Blue Orb to control Kyogre, Amber takes it back from him, and that brief contact is enough to make him lose his mind during his battle against Wallace at the Lilycove Department Store. Steven Stone stops him with his Metagross; he turns up again at the very end of the arc, back in line and settled in Lavaridge Town.

Tabitha at a glance

Frequently Asked Questions

• Who is Tabitha in Pokémon?
  A Team Magma Admin tasked with carrying out his leader's plans across Hoenn. Depending on the version, he either makes two inconsequential appearances or blocks the player's path at Mt. Chimney, in the organization's hideout near Lilycove City, and at the Mossdeep Space Center.
• How old is Tabitha, and what did he do before?
  He's twenty-seven, a detail revealed in Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, which also give him a former employer: Devon Corporation. He takes it very badly when a child lumps him in with the elderly.
• Why is Tabitha also called Harlan?
  Because the anime first called him Harlan before settling on Tabitha. He is the very same character as the Tabitha of the video games, known as Kelvin in the French versions.
• What Pokémon does Tabitha use?
  His three favorites are Mightyena, Camerupt and Golbat. He is also known to use Poochyena, Zubat, Numel and Koffing, but never a Legendary Pokémon.
• What happens to Tabitha in the manga?
  He belongs to the Three Fires, briefly receives the Blue Orb from his leader and loses his mind to it. Defeated by Steven Stone's Metagross, he eventually falls back in line and settles in Lavaridge Town.

In short

Tabitha is the classic lieutenant you battle three times before forgetting his name, and the remakes did exactly what it took to rescue him from that fate: an age, a former employer, a ridiculous rank he invented for himself, and a moment of clarity in the worst possible place. From zealous henchman to underling begging his boss to stand down, the distance is short — and that's exactly where the character gets interesting.