Ivor: The Martial Artist Out to Tear Down the Barriers

One defeat suffered too young, and a whole life rebuilt around a rematch. Ivor comes from Kalos, practices martial arts and trains only Fighting-type Pokémon. He founded the Fist of Justice, runs his own dojo in Lumiose City, and made a name for himself in the city by publicly demanding the removal of its wild zones. The Z-A Royale gives him the stage he was waiting for.

Contents

• A martial artist who trains only one type
• His defeat by Lebanne, the starting point for everything else
• The Fist of Justice and the Lumiose City dojo
• Against the wild zones: the standoff with Quasartico
• In the Infinite Z-A Royale, in the anime, and a name that's all white
• Ivor at a glance
• Frequently Asked Questions

A martial artist who trains only one type

Ivor hails from the Kalos region, and his martial arts practice isn't a decorative quirk: it dictates the way he trains. He sticks to the Fighting type, and pushing past his limits serves as his method as much as his personal obsession.

The portrait the game paints of him is more nuanced than a simple block of muscle. His heart is in the right place, but stubbornness and clumsiness are never far away — enough, at any rate, to regularly exasperate his little sister Gwynn, to whom the story grants the maturity he lacks.

As for his team, the game gives him a lineup entirely geared toward Fighting: Heracross, Medicham and Machamp, joined by Hawlucha and Gallade in the Infinite Z-A Royale, behind a Falinks that Mega Evolves thanks to its Falinksite. A detail the game takes care to specify: he keeps his partners in Ultra Balls rather than the standard model.

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His defeat by Lebanne, the starting point for everything else

Long before the tournament, Ivor crossed paths with Lebanne, whom he has known for a long time. The two battled when he was much younger, and she was the one who won.

That setback never healed. He has trained nonstop ever since with the sole aim of getting that rematch, which gives his discipline a precise target rather than a vague ideal of progress. His entry into the Z-A Royale follows on from that.

The source adds one more piece to the file, but only tentatively: it was at this turning point that he supposedly turned to martial arts. The game presents it as a rumor rather than an established fact — a nuance worth keeping.

The Fist of Justice and the Lumiose City dojo

Training alone eventually gave rise to an organization. Ivor founded the Fist of Justice and opened his own dojo in Lumiose City, two creations that came after years of preparation, not at the moment the player meets him.

The detail matters, because it shifts the character. A dojo implies students, and therefore passing something on: the man who was chasing a personal rematch finds himself at the head of a group that acts in its own collective name.

This double role explains the rest of his story. The Fist of Justice isn't just a training hall but a voice in the city — and it's as a group, not as a lone Trainer, that Ivor clashes with the powers that be in Lumiose City.

Against the wild zones: the standoff with Quasartico

A few years before the story, the company Quasartico Inc. set up the various wild zones in Lumiose City. Ivor and his group opposed them right away, even though the project was backed by one of the most powerful companies in the city.

Their argument boils down to one simple idea. Genuine coexistence with Pokémon can't be decreed from behind fences: in their view, marking off enclosures amounts to admitting that you've failed to let people and Pokémon share the same territory.

The opposition quickly spills out of the dojo. The group keeps speaking out in public to demand that these zones be removed outright, making Ivor one of the few supporting characters in the game to carry an explicit political demand.

In the Infinite Z-A Royale, in the anime, and a name that's all white

The nighttime tournament gives him a fixed slot, then a rotating one. He's the set opponent for the 16th match of the Infinite Z-A Royale, and then joins the pool of possible opponents from the 21st match onward.

Outside the games, his career is just getting started. His first animated appearance dates from Pokémon Horizons: The Series, which makes him a still-fresh figure for viewers, whereas players have already battled him.

Finally, his name tells one and the same story in every language. His French name, Nivis, borrows from the Latin nivis, snow; the Japanese Shirō means white, and the English Ivor echoes ivory. Three languages, three ways of naming the same color.

Ivor at a glance

Frequently Asked Questions

• Who is Ivor?
  A Trainer from Kalos who practices martial arts and specializes in the Fighting type. He founded the Fist of Justice, runs his own dojo in Lumiose City and takes part in the Z-A Royale.
• Which Pokémon does Ivor have?
  His team is entirely Fighting type: Heracross, Medicham and Machamp, plus Hawlucha and Gallade in the Infinite Z-A Royale, behind a Falinks that Mega Evolves. He keeps his team in Ultra Balls.
• Why is Ivor against Lumiose City's wild zones?
  Because for him and the Fist of Justice, you can't truly live alongside Pokémon by penning them in behind barriers. The group has publicly demanded the removal of these zones, which Quasartico Inc. set up a few years before the story.
• When do you battle Ivor in the Infinite Z-A Royale?
  He's the opponent in the 16th match, and can then come back among the randomly drawn opponents from the 21st onward.
• Where does the name Ivor come from?
  His French name, Nivis, comes from the Latin nivis, snow. Every version of the name revolves around white: the Japanese Shirō refers to that color, and the English Ivor comes from ivory.

In short

Ivor holds together two paths that had no reason to meet: a personal rematch he has been chasing since his teens, and a public fight against the fences put up in his city. The tournament settles the first; the dojo carries the second. Few supporting characters are given a cause by the game on top of a story.