Professor Laventon: Inventing the First Pokédex in Hisui

The Pokédex doesn't exist yet: he's in the middle of inventing it. Professor Laventon works in Hisui, at a time when no one raises Pokémon yet. A member of the Galaxy Team's Survey Corps based in Jubilife Village, he studies how Pokémon live and wants to turn that into the very first catalog of species.

Contents

• A Researcher from Elsewhere, Based in Jubilife Village
• Three Starters Imported into a Region That Doesn't Know Them
• The Clues to a Galarian Origin
• How the Series Remembers Him
• Professor Laventon at a Glance
• Frequently Asked Questions

A Researcher from Elsewhere, Based in Jubilife Village

Laventon isn't a local: he came to Hisui to join the Galaxy Team's Survey Corps, and Jubilife Village serves as his base once he's there. His specialty fits in a short phrase — Pokémon and the way they live.

Before settling there, he had already traveled the world to further his research. That biographical detail isn't just decoration: it explains much of what he physically brings to the region, starting with species Hisui has never seen.

His stated goal is to bring to life something that has never existed, the very first Pokédex. So it's not about handing out a copy, but about proving that the very idea of cataloging species holds up — the undertaking told in our feature on Pokémon Legends: Arceus.

Three Starters Imported into a Region That Doesn't Know Them

Just as the player is about to set out, the professor offers a choice of three companions: Rowlet for the Grass type, Cyndaquil for Fire and Oshawott for Water. The trio covers the usual triangle, but it's put together differently than usual.

None of these three species lives naturally in Hisui. Laventon brought them back from his travels, which turns the starting choice into a researcher's gesture rather than a local pick: the adventure begins with a Pokémon that's foreign to the region.

Nor does the professor fade into the background once he's handed over the starter. He sometimes accompanies the player on missions around Hisui, which takes him out of the lab where this kind of character usually waits for the player's reports.

🌿 The starting trio has its own section: check out our Pokémon starters.

The Clues to a Galarian Origin

The game never says where Laventon comes from, but it plants several clues that all point in the same direction. None of them is an outright statement: they're details of text and setting, noticeable in both the French and English versions.

The first is a Pokédex entry. In his entry on Raichu, the professor mentions a Copperajah and describes that species as a Pokémon from his homeland — which is enough to rule out Hisui.

The other two have to do with setting and language. On the board in his office, he writes in the Galar alphabet, unlike the other non-player characters — the same alphabet already seen in Pokémon Sword and Shield; and the English version has him say "jolly good," a very British expression already used by the people of that region.

How the Series Remembers Him

Laventon first crossed over into the Trading Card Game: his first card appeared in the Sword & Shield—Silver Tempest expansion, released in France on November 11, 2022.

Later games refer to him as a historical figure rather than as a character. A photo of him is displayed on the board during Raifort's history classes, in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet: the Hisui researcher has made it into the school curriculum.

Pokémon Legends: Z-A takes the callback even further. The Lumiose Museum gives him a place in its Hisui exhibit, which displays his sketches for the Pokédex, and his portrait hangs in an apartment in Bleu Sector 8.

Professor Laventon at a Glance

Frequently Asked Questions

• Where does Professor Laventon appear?
  In the Hisui region, where he is the Pokémon Professor. He's based in Jubilife Village, where he joined the Galaxy Team's Survey Corps.
• Which first partner Pokémon does he offer?
  Rowlet for the Grass type, Cyndaquil for Fire and Oshawott for Water. None of these three species normally lives in Hisui: the professor brought them back from his travels.
• Is Professor Laventon from Galar?
  The game never says so, but several clues point that way: a Pokédex entry in which he describes Copperajah as a Pokémon from his homeland, the Galar alphabet on the board in his office, and a typically British turn of phrase in the English version.
• What exactly is Professor Laventon after?
  He studies how Pokémon live and wants to complete the very first Pokédex, something that doesn't exist yet in his time.
• Where does his name come from?
  His name comes from a plant: lavender, a genus in the Lamiaceae family.

In short

Professor Laventon holds a special place among the series' researchers: he works on something that doesn't exist yet, in a region where no one raises Pokémon, and he entrusts the player with starters he brought in from elsewhere himself. Later games draw the logical conclusion by filing him under history lessons and museum displays. A professor who ended up in the archives.