Why Ghetsis Is Pokémon’s Most Terrifying Villain

The Pokémon games have introduced a variety of antagonists with wicked agendas that help move each story forward while building an immersive and intriguing world that players won’t soon forget. For a series geared strongly towards children, some of these villains have proven to be extremely vile, but which takes the cake for the most terrifying of all?

With eight generations and well over 20 core Pokémon games – including sequels and remakes in North America alone – fans have seen quite a colorful array of adversaries, ranging from goofy, misguided thugs to diabolical megalomaniacs. Determining the most terrifying villain in Pokémon is certainly a matter of opinion, so it’s completely understandable if not all Pokémon fans agree with this article’s choice; but hopefully the criteria listed below will justify why one particular baddie stands above the rest in terms of most frightening.

A handful of corrupt contenders were considered, including Team Galactic’s methodical and cunning Cyrus, who tried to destroy the entire world to create his own ideal one void of emotion. Lysandre of Team Flare had a similar motive in taking over the world to make it what he believed to be a better place. Lusamine of Pokémon Sun & Moon‘s Aether Foundation let her quest in finding Ultra Beasts consume her to the point she even disregarded her own children. Then there’s the classic Pokémon antagonist – Giovanni – who serves as a mafia-like boss for Team Rocket, an organization with the goal of stealing Pokémon for money and power. Yet the most terrifying villain is Team Plasma’s Ghetsis of Pokémon Black & White (and Black & White 2), and here’s why.

Why Pokémon Black & White’s Ghetsis Is So Terrifying

Ghetsis’s appearance alone screams, “villain,” with his red eyepiece and dark attire, but this is just the tip of the malicious iceberg of evil that lies underneath. He’s the leader of Team Plasma, an organization that aims to liberate all Pokémon from their Trainers. While this doesn’t seem so bad compared to other evil Pokémon teams, Ghetsis’s true motive for this is to reign supreme as the only owner of Pokémon. Additionally, he doesn’t just deceive Team Plasma and the rest of Unova with his schemes; he also lies to his son, N, who Ghetsis adopted to manipulate as a puppet to rule behind. Ghetsis also refers to N as a “freak” multiple times, as well as a “warped, defective boy” when the player bests N in battle.

Upon facing Ghetsis, he expresses his anticipation in seeing the look on the playable character’s face when he or she has “lost all hope.” By the end of Black & White, he starts to go mad, considering himself “ABSOLUTE PERFECTION!” He is then taken captive, but freed by his faithful servants, the Shadow Triad. In Black & White 2, Ghetsis has a new goal of using the legendary Pokémon Kyurem to freeze all of Unova. He tries to freeze the player as well, but is stopped by N and Zekrom or Reshiram (depending on the game). Being the mastermind that he is, Ghetsis counted on N to bring a dragon so he could forcibly revert it to its stone form via DNA splicers to fuse with Kyurem. This makes Kyurem even more powerful, which Ghetsis then uses to attack the player.

Once beaten (again), N tries to show his adoptive father some compassion, which Ghetsis responds to with more abusive berating. His mental breakdown intensifies, showing N just how delusional and narcissistic Ghetsis truly is. By then, even his Shadow Triad comment on how Ghetsis has “lost control.” While many Pokémon villains have somewhat understandable reasonings behind their malevolent actions, such as creating a romanticized utopia or suffering through a tragic backstory, Ghetsis appears evil simply for evil’s sake. The combination of all his abhorrent attributes – selfish, manipulative, egotistical, power-hungry, intelligent, and violently erratic – earns him the title of the most terrifying villain from the Pokémon games.

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