Cheren: the strength-obsessed rival who became a Gym Leader

Like Blue before him, he goes from rival to Gym Leader. Cheren starts out as the player's childhood friend and competitor in Unova, with one fixed idea: pure strength, measured without nuance. Two years later, he has traded the jacket and glasses for a tie, and he runs the region's first Gym. The road between the two says everything about the character.

Contents

• The Nuvema Town Trio
• An Obsession That Stands In for a Personality
• Two Years Later, the Aspertia City Gym
• A Rival Without a Nickname
• Cheren at a Glance
• Frequently Asked Questions

The Nuvema Town Trio

Together with the player and Bianca, Cheren forms the trio of Trainers from Nuvema Town who assist Professor Juniper with her research in Unova, at the start of Black and White.

For his starter, he picks the one that has the advantage over yours — Snivy, Tepig or Oshawott — following the rival rule in place since 1996.

He looks like the top student in class: blue jacket, patterned shirt, orange-framed glasses and a big cowlick on top of his head.

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

An Obsession That Stands In for a Personality

His temperament is downright cold — he goes as far as calling an opponent a "peasant." Cheren is obsessed with pure strength, and he measures everything by that yardstick.

The game doesn't leave him that way. Through his talks with Alder, he eventually comes to understand what a Pokémon's true strength really is.

Beneath the stiffness, he has a good heart. He's the one who listens to the grown-ups and apologizes for his two friends' blunders, something the manga explores at length.

Two Years Later, the Aspertia City Gym

Black 2 and White 2 find him transformed. He has become the first Gym Leader of the Unova League, specializing in the Normal type, and he replaces Lenora in Aspertia City.

His wardrobe follows the promotion: no more jacket or glasses, but a white shirt and an orange tie with a Poké Ball tie clip.

The choice of the Normal type is an admission. The Trainer who swore only by raw power now defends the type with the fewest advantages, and he wins anyway.

A Rival Without a Nickname

One quirk amuses players: Cheren is one of the few rivals the community doesn't give a nickname to, simply because the game doesn't let you rename him.

The anime gives him little room, but a promotional short shows him accepting a challenge at his Gym — his Stoutland against a Serperior, in an exchange where neither side gives an inch.

He turns up later aboard the Plasma Frigate, surrounded along with two other Trainers. The top student ends up fighting in the corridors of an enemy ship, which sums up his journey nicely.

Cheren at a Glance

Frequently Asked Questions

• Does Cheren become a Gym Leader?
  Yes, in Black 2 and White 2. He runs the Aspertia City Gym, the first in the Unova League, where he defends the Normal type in place of Lenora.
• Which starter does Cheren choose?
  The one with the type advantage over yours: Snivy, Tepig or Oshawott depending on your own choice, in keeping with the rival rule in place since the very first game.
• Why does Cheren change his outlook?
  Through his talks with Alder, he comes to understand what a Pokémon's true strength really is, beyond the raw power that obsessed him at the start of the adventure.
• Why don't players give Cheren a nickname?
  Because the game doesn't let you rename him, unlike other rivals in the series. So his name stays the same for everyone.

In short

Cheren is one of the few rivals whose later life we get to see, following in the footsteps of Blue, who became Viridian City's Gym Leader. The boy who swore only by pure strength comes back two years later in a tie, at the head of a Normal-type Gym — in other words, the type that has no advantage over anyone. The series has rarely been so clear about what it thinks of raw power.