Murph: the Ranger never promoted who became the Ranger Union's voice

Murph never shone in the field, and that's exactly why people remember him. A clumsy Ranger in the first game, an office technician in the second, he's finally named head of public relations in the third. Along with Professor Hastings, he's one of only two characters that all three games in the series kept.

Contents

• A Sidekick the Series Never Let Go
• Pokémon Ranger: The Ringtown Agent Who Invents His Own Missions
• Shadows of Almia: Trading the Ranger Gear for a Technician's Outfit
• Guardian Signs: A Title, a Ship and a Haunted Mansion
• The Ranger Contest, the Post-Credits Challenge
• Murph at a Glance
• Frequently Asked Questions

A Sidekick the Series Never Let Go

His portrait comes down to three traits: a little chubby, clumsy, and not exactly brave. The other half of the character makes up for it — he's kind, helpful, and his good mood never flags, even when the task he's given is completely pointless.

Behind this comic-relief figure lies a constant that's rare in the franchise's spin-off games. Along with Professor Hastings, Murph is the only character who appears in all three Ranger games: the Ranger Union is what ties one game to the next, and he comes along with it.

His rank, on the other hand, is anything but stable: it changed with every appearance, never following the straight line of an ordinary promotion. Fieldwork first, then administration, and finally the official voice. He's also known to have a father, Pamur, the only identified member of his family.

Pokémon Ranger: The Ringtown Agent Who Invents His Own Missions

In the first Pokémon Ranger, Murph is stationed at the Ringtown base, at the same rank as Lunick and Solana. The problem is that he doesn't have their talent: he gets the simple tasks, and his role in the story is mostly to provide comic relief.

With no real missions to do, he makes some up, and every time the result turns into a comedy sketch: finding a missing pair of nail clippers, walking as far as he can in a hundred steps, writing his own theme song. Three years of service have barely moved his Ranger Rank, something he admits himself without the slightest bitterness.

That rank has real consequences: since it's too low to get him on the Dragonite Bus that others take, he makes his rounds on foot and insists it's actually better for some missions. His partner is a Slowpoke, whom he's very close to and even looks a little like.

🛏️ The partner before the rank: browse the section Pokémon plushies.

Shadows of Almia: Trading the Ranger Gear for a Technician's Outfit

In Pokémon Ranger: Shadows of Almia, he has left the field. The Ranger uniform gives way to a technician's plainer outfit, and he spends most of the game in the Ranger Union's offices in Almia.

His role boils down to feeding the team information as the adventure goes on. He introduces himself as the director of public relations, stresses that he has access to all of the Union's data, then forgets the player's name in the middle of his introduction.

The game gets a few breathers out of him: he takes the player to Altru Park for a break that he first pitches as a way to get out of work, suggests "Muscle Tower" in the contest to name the nearby tower, and recalls with a pang the Capture Styler that went flying in the middle of a pose. It's not his most substantial game.

Guardian Signs: A Title, a Ship and a Haunted Mansion

Pokémon Ranger: Guardian Signs finally gives him an official title, PR chief of the Ranger Union. He's introduced in a flashback, bursting into a meeting to deliver the explanations himself, before Professor Hastings cuts him off short in front of Ben and Summer.

The professor doesn't punish him: instead, he gives him a mission cut out for him, crossing the sea to set up the Union in the Oblivia region. The ship he's so proud of, the Union, mostly looks like the old sailboat the organization had scrapped, and the Rangers don't hesitate to tell him so.

The hero meets up with him at the port of Tilt Village, then takes him into a haunted mansion where he gets his full share of scares and traps. Still, he interrogates Blue Eyes after his capture and unlocks access to sea areas across the region: in the whole series, it's the role where he's most useful. His victory pose has changed, and it's just as funny as ever.

The Ranger Contest, the Post-Credits Challenge

The last two games give him an extra job: organizer. The Ranger Contest only opens once the main story is wrapped up: it's the challenge waiting for the player after the end credits.

The rule fits in one sentence: bring him seven very specific Pokémon, all at the same time. Pulling it off is much harder, because the species he asks for are scattered to the four corners of the map.

So you need a well-planned order, and sometimes more than that: reaching one of the requested Pokémon can require a Field Move. The Ranger whose Rank has barely budged in three years turns out to be the one who sets one of the toughest challenges in his own game.

Murph at a Glance

Frequently Asked Questions

• Who is Murph in the Pokémon Ranger games?
  A member of the Ranger Union who appears in all three games in the series. He starts out as a Ranger at the Ringtown base, becomes a technician in Shadows of Almia, then PR chief in Guardian Signs.
• What is Murph's partner Pokémon?
  A Slowpoke. The first game stresses how close they are, and notes that Murph looks a bit like his partner.
• Why does Murph leave the field?
  Because he isn't at Lunick and Solana's level: he's given simple tasks, and his Ranger Rank has barely gone up in three years. From Shadows of Almia on, he's assigned to administrative duties, in a technician's outfit.
• What is the Ranger Contest?
  It's a quest in the last two games, available once the main story is over. You have to bring Murph seven specific Pokémon at the same time, even though they're scattered all over the game and one of them may require a Field Move.
• Does Murph appear in all three games in the series?
  Yes. Along with Professor Hastings, he's the only character all three games kept, with a rank and a role that change every time.

In short

Murph never had the makings of a hero: three years of service for a rank that won't budge, a botched victory pose, a Slowpoke for a partner and missions he invents all by himself. Yet the series made him its memory, the only face — along with Professor Hastings — that all three games kept, and in the end gave him the role he'd been asking for from the start: the one who speaks for the Ranger Union.