Was Giovanni Really the Villain - All is Revealed

Was Giovanni Really the Villain – All is Revealed

Pokémon is not a franchise known for its complex story arcs and characters. However if you had to pick one character with an interesting story behind him then it would have to be Giovanni, the leader of team Rocket. He was part of that famous twist where he turned out to be the Viridian City gym leader and was the big bad from the first ever Pokémon games, or at least that’s what we thought. There are a lot of Pokémon fan theories from Gengar being Clefairy’s shadow to the great Pokémon war (Which I did about myself, check the January posts on this blog). But shameless self-promotion aside one theory people have speculated about is Giovanni being a good guy all along. Of course in the anime he was definitely a villain but the games could be a completely different story. It is speculated everything he did was to stop the violent Mewtwo from unleashing havoc on the Kanto region. Today I find out the truth behind Giovanni’s intentions.

 

I thought the best place to start would be a little back story behind Giovanni. Unfortunately very little is known about this mysterious man. We do not even know his age in fact, all we do know is he’s the Viridian City gym leader as well as leader of the notorious team Rocket. We know he has a son, Sliver the rival trainer in generation 2 and he is unique in that he is the boss of the only villainous team who’s overall plan does not involve a legendary Pokémon. In fact what even is his overall plan, his actions seem random and unrelated.

 

I thought it best to analyse each team Rocket evil action. We first see team Rocket in Mount Moon trying to steal some fossils. I’m not really sure what to say about this one. You could argue they just wanted the fossils like you and the scientists did I guess but there’s not really much to say about it. After this they steal the tm for dig. This does seem like a petty little crime but there could be more to it. Claiming Giovanni is a good guy all boils down to him wanting to stop Mewtwo. While the tm for dig doesn’t seem like something worth stealing for a ground type gym leader of all people we should remember Mewtwo lives deep in a cave, a place you may have to dig through to get to. This could be pushing things but it’s important to remember both these events do not involve Giovanni directly. It is perfectly possible that lower level members could’ve made these orders. The next few actions are what really start posing questions.

 

Most of what Giovanni does involves Silph Co. He tries to steal the Master Ball and the SIlph Scope. The theory goes that the Silph Scope is to catch a ghost type Pokémon to fight the psychic type Mewtwo and the Master Ball is to catch him. They also take Mr. Fuji, a supposed nice old man. This theory is nice but it does have flaws. None of this makes Giovanni a good guy, none of this is even proven to be related to Mewtwo. He also does sell Pokémon in his casino too. Maybe we should look into Mewtwo.

 

Mewtow as we all know is a clone of Mew. It is also well known that he was created in the Pokémon Mansion on Cinnabar Island. According to the journals in the Mansion scientists performed horrific gene splicing experiments which drove Mewtwo to great rage. According to the Pokédex he’s vicious, has a savage heart and only ever thinks of winning his battles.

 

While Mewtwo is a clone, Mew actually gave birth to Mewtwo. This is strange as Pokémon lay eggs. Mewtwo becomes so enraged he escapes, burns down Pokémon Mansion and presumably kills most of the scientists. It is pretty much confirmed that Mr. Fuji was part of the team that created Mewtwo along with the Cinnabar Gym Leader Blaine. Blaine still wears a lab coat to act as a reminder to his days as a scientist and in the fame checker a portrait of Blaine and Mr. Fuji is mentioned. In Pokémon Emerald there is an event in a place called Faraway Island where you find Mew. In the Japanese version there is a name smudged on a sign that says … ji. Subtle yeah but it does confirm Mewtwo’s origin however. Being engineered to be the ultimate in battle he left for Cerulean cave, a place full of high level Pokémon.

 

Mr. Fuji seems to be crucial in what happened and it is speculated he went to Lavender Town to look after abandoned Pokémon to cope with his own guilt. Lavender Town is also a long way from Cinnabar Island. Despite all this he obviously knows a lot more about Mewtwo than most do and this would surely make sense to Team Rocket’s interest in him. Giovanni is a gym leader, he could’ve heard things from Blaine and it does make sense.

 

I feel like I should dispel the selling Pokémon in the casino pure evil. In real life we sell animals as pets and you can win things like fish, especially considering this game came out nearly twenty years ago. I don’t think there’s much wrong with it, especially for the time period. I should mention it is never mentioned that team Rocket steal Pokémon in the games. This is a good explanation for team Rocket grunts possessing a very small variety of Pokémon, if they were stealing where’s the variety and why steal so many Koffing. The Anime is different but that’s an adaptation, it doesn’t follow the games as cannon and let’s face it the anime isn’t the smartest show you’ll ever watch.

 

My biggest issue with this theory is normally people like to paint Giovanni as the white knight and Red as the villain. Things aren’t this simple, Red isn’t a villain he’s a kid on a journey stopping what he thinks is an evil team. Giovanni is a complex character and not necessarily a villain. This doesn’t mean he’s a complete hero however. Giovanni’s intentions do appear to be less than noble but it is certainly possible he is trying to do the right thing.

 

If Giovanni’s overall goal doesn’t involve Mewtwo then there are certainly a lot of coincidence in play here. If it does involve Mewtwo the question is why he wants to capture Mewtwo. If he has heard of Mewtwo’s power from Blaine then it does certainly seem possible at least he would want to stop him going on a rampage, especially considering the state of Pokémon mansion. However Giovanni wanting to use Mewtwo for his own gain could me more likely, like he did in the anime. According to Pokemon the Origins there are still good intentions in there, he does disband team Rocket just so Red will take the badge after experiencing the thrill of battle once again.

 

Here’s the thing, Giovanni is a smart man. He is already a powerful man, he is a successful businessman, a gym leader and head of a powerful criminal organisation. I said all is revealed in the title, I think it’s safe to say the ultimate goal of team Rocket involved Mewtwo. After all if there’s one thing we’ve learnt playing Pokémon it’s that all villains have their goals tied to Legends. Unfortunately after looking over everything this is all I can reveal. What was Giovanni’s intentions with the 150^th Pokémon? Maybe one day we’ll find out.