Ethan (HGSS) Character Headcanons

Pokemon HGSS: Silver

Main Posts: Headcanons Gender Thoughts (plus lots of rambling in the tags) Character/Legendary Matchups

Mentions: Strength (Giovanni vs Lance) Mini headcanons Johto4 body language notes Silver/Lance/Clair

Art: Doodles (pt. 1) Uniform brainstorming Quick bust A Bit Rude... Kitchen Troubles HatSilver Miku

I would love to get into language stuff for the ✨️bearimba pokeverse✨️ but the more I look into it the more I confuse myself?? Like. It feels like I've opened a huge can of worms here. Sure, I could be overthinking it, but if I didn't overthink things, then this blog literally wouldn't exist, so.

Quick warning for a long, probably quite boring, and highly speculative rant:

To start out with, I would love for each region to have its own language, more or less---regions that are geographically close are likely to have similar languages possibly due to a common ancestor (like how Spanish and Italian are both Romantic languages that came from Vulgar Latin), but otherwise, each language would be distinct. But then there's the matter of how exactly these languages evolved to be distinct from one another, or even more confoundingly, how these languages had a shared ancestor in the first place. Take Kalos and Paldea, for example: both are based off of Romantic-speaking countries. France and Spain, respectively. In the ✨️bearimba pokeverse ✨️, these regions are nowhere near each other, but somehow, they speak similar languages (assuming the pokeverse languages are like or the same as their real-life equivalents). How does that work exactly?? The only reasonable explanation I can think of is that at one point in time, people from one of these regions emigrated away to go live in the other region. but. if you think about it, the people that moved away would've had to leave long enough ago that the region would have time to develop from nothing into the state it is in modern times. Obviously that's going to take quite a long time---take the USA for example, which from the point of its conception as a collection of colonies (and I am specifically talking about America as it was founded by Europeans and not the collection of Native American cultures) has been around for over 200 years, and American English has changed drastically during that time. Yes, it hasn't quite evolved into a new language, but it is different enough to be distinguished from British English. Keep in mind that 200 years is (to my knowledge) a remarkably short time for a country to be considered developed, not to mention that England and its colonies had constant communication that kept the languages from deviating too far. My point is, two countries that are geographically separated for multiple centuries without regular consistant contact are likely to develop very different languages, but since Kalos and Paldea are based off of countries with similar languages, this doesn't really sit right with me. Theoretically, I could just place them closer together physically, but that would make travel between them much more feasible which would result in more cultural similarities than are present in the games, so then I'd probably have to do an overhaul of both regions' cultures, and I'd like to keep them as unique as possible. Do you see my problem here????

That's not even to mention my issue with multilinguisim. If every single region has their own language, then there has to be some sort of lingua franca so that everyone can actually communicate. However! Believe it or not, this comes with its own set of issues! The first of which being, how did this lingua franca come into existence? The most obvious answer is that it's a pidgin or creole language, but a language made of bits and pieces from 9+ other languages is going to get complicated real quick. The only other origin for a lingua franca I've come across so far is colonial languages. and, uh. that is just not an option I'm going to pick. so.

Besides the origin of this lingua franca, there's also the matter of how it spreads. Lingua francas are created and used to share information between linguistically separated parties, typically during business or academic exchanges. But not everyone is going to talk to people from other regions in that type of circumstance! Someone might specifically learn the lingua franca so that they can communicate while traveling to other regions, but that won't necessarily make it widely user, and this supposed to be a universal language. My solution: have it be taught in schools! It's like how English is taught in many Asian countries in order to enable participation in international circles. However, it's entirely possible that not every school will have the funding (how pokemon schools even get funding is its own separate thing that I have yet to even consider) to teach the lingua franca. There's other ways to learn, of course, like being taught by family/friends or even teaching yourself, but those methods aren't necessarily standardized. Then again, neither is getting taught at school---it's like learning textbook Spanish in class then traveling to Spain and realizing that you're woefully unprepared. Whatever method is used, it's best to start learning at an young age, as the earlier you start, the easier it is to pick up a new language. Again though, that's not going to be accessible to everyone, so it's entirely possible that some people will just be limited to one language unless they take it upon themselves to learn.

Long story short, linguistics is hard. At least to me. And everything I've mentioned is mostly about figuring things out on a practical level---there's still more cultural stuff to consider like code-switching, global/regional slang, and other things that I haven't even thought of. I'm not really linguistics enthusiast, nor am I especially ready and raring to do deep research at the moment, but looking into some of this stuff really has been quite interesting! Anyways, I don't really have a good way to end all this, so I guess if you actually read all this, congrats? And thank you? And that either way, I hope you have a good day? Yep.

Cooldown doodle featuring the beloved :)

edited bc I decided I didn't actually like the other drawing

Pokemon HGSS: Post Masterlist

Anything on this list that does not have a hyperlink is something I plan on covering in the future! please be patient in the meanwhile :)

Characters: Lyra Ethan Kris Silver Lance Elite Four (Will, Koga, Bruno, Karen) Gym Leaders (Falkner, Bugsy, Whitney, Morty, Jasmine, Chuck, Pryce, Clair) Team Rocket

Main Lore: Pokemon/Indigo League Basics Johto Culture Character/Legendary Matchups

Art: Doodle requests (pt. 1, pt. 2, pt. 3) Mixed character doodles (pt.1, pt. 2 ) Lyra/Silver League uniforms? Lyra/pokemon doodles Silver bust More Lyra doodles Timeskip Kris doodle HatSilver Miku Eye reference chart Valentine's Day 2025

Misc Posts: Mini Headcanons (pt. 1) Voidpunk Sabrina Strength (Giovanni vs Lance) Clair and Silver content?? Linguistics are hard Johto4 body language ref notes Silver/Lance/Clair Alignment charts Dragon Clan aragoto Just for Fun: Character Bingo Pinterest Board (you can infer a lot of stuff here that i haven't covered in posts btw ;)c wink wink)

Thank you so much @invisiblemelonmoose!!! Hope you don't mind me answering your comment with a post, it's just a lot easier to format this way since I have quite a bit to say on the subject >:)c

So right off the bat, none of the kids have an actual connection to the legendaries---no special ✨chosen ones✨ or anything like that. It's more of a thematic thing for characterization purposes. To put it simply, each legendary has a specific word/trait I've associated with it for one reason or another, and so each character exhibits their respective trait in a way that they're supposed to grapple with throughout their game's storyline. Aka, an easy recipe for character growth!

Red -> Moltres (passion) Leaf -> Articuno (composure) Blue -> Zapdos (wit)

Since there's not really much lore for the Legendary Birds (at least not that I can find---there's a bit from the movies but I don't typically work with the animated stuff as source material), I had a very vague starting point, so I decided to go off their elements when selecting traits. Fire is often associated with burning, consuming passion---but Red isn't exactly the most animated guy in canon. Instead of being outwardly enthused, he has a much more mellow but no less intense love for pokemon. Big or small, tough or weak, he has a soft spot for them all. However, he also happens to have a talent for battling that Oak picks up on, for which he encouraged him (to a maddening degree) to pick up battling and eventually the Indigo League. Yet all the nagging and expectations---from nearly everyone around him, not just Oak---wears down on him, and it takes a forfeited match and an extended trip to the coldest, most isolated place in the region to recall that old flame... Blue takes after his grandfather in that he has a lightning-quick intelligence---not that Oak ever seems to be particularly impressed. In a family full of extraordinary people, Blue only ever seems to be extra ordinary. As a result, he goes out of his way to appear confident and cocky, though it's less about having an inferiority complex and more so just wanting to be noticed. He's even compared to Red constantly, who is objectively the better battler and who is the main reason Blue takes on the gym challenge himself. But on his journey, his self-assurance actually causes him to make dumb mistake after dumb mistake that culminates in the loss at the Indigo League. Then Red goes missing all of a sudden, and Blue's left to pick up the pieces of his ego while he and Leaf travel through the Sevii Islands. Out of the trio, Leaf is most definitely the most unfazed. It's not that she's particularly peaceful---watching one of Blue's and hers many arguments will instantly prove otherwise---but overall she's not nearly as passionate as Red or as outspoken as Blue. In fact, she can show an almost icy apathy at times. When Blue returns to Pallet Town without Red and without a Champion title, she's the one to suggest they head out to the Sevii Islands and take a break. But as the situation on the archipelago worsens, Blue digs them into deeper trouble with the remnants of Team Rocket, and they continue to hear nothing but radio silence from Red, Leaf's first instinct is to shove it all down like none of it particularly matters.

Lyra -> Lugia (empathy) Silver -> Ho-Oh (justice)

Ok, this one might need a little explaining since I kind of had to extrapolate here (Lugia's ocean/storm thing is way too close to Kyogre to just go with something water-related, and Ho-Oh is kinda just Moltres But Cooler in a way). In the Tower Duo's legend, the Brass Tower burned down in a rainstorm, during which Lugia tried to quell the fires with the wind. However, that put the rest of Ecruteak in danger, so Lugia had to stand aside and let it burn---its empathy led to its own downfall, so to say. Then Ho-Oh came along and revived the pokemon that had died in the tower (the Legendary Beasts), but fixing the injustice that happened to the Beasts caused the townsfolk to drive them away. Also, we're ignoring the whole blurb about trainers who can "touch the souls of pokemon" or have a "pure heart" bringing the Tower Duo back---I'm regarding that as a legend that's more so about people and pokemon as collectives regaining trust in one another (remember, trying to avoid chosen ones here). Anywaysss, moving on to Lyra and Silver! Lyra is a very empathic person, but she relates to pokemon far more than she does people. She's used to going along with anything and watching the world move on around her, so when she's faced with actual conflict, she struggles to go out of her way to help. Meanwhile, Silver has no problem calling out such infractions when he sees them, but he often fails to consider the fallout when trying to confront it---especially how it'll affect his own pokemon. Their arcs throughout HGSS involve learning from each other (as in their arcs are so intwined it's extremely difficult to discuss them separately) until by the end, Lyra becomes Champion and gains the power and motivation to help everyone, while Silver is... well, he's stuck reevaluating his entire worldview and goes through a teeny tiny itty bitty little existential crisis, but that's a story for another day (aka spoilers that I would like to cover in its own post). Originally, the plan was to pair the johtags to each Legendary Beast with Kris, Ethan, and Lyra relating to Raikou, Entei, and Suicune respectively. However, the fire/water/electric combo felt way too similar to the kantrio kids, and I couldn't really come up with anything original that felt like it would fit. I feel like I can justify it though considering both Kris's and Ethan's journeys have nothing to do with the plot of HGSS (Kris's takes place a few years before during GSC and Ethan's doing his own thing with Eusine during HGSS) sooo......

Brendan -> Groudon (structure?) May -> Kyogre (entropy?) Wally -> Rayquaza (ambition?)

I'll be completely honest here, I've barely fleshed out the Hoenn trio. like. at all. so I won't say much here for fear of writing something that I don't agree with later. But! I can say that while the kanjoh kids all start off with their defining traits, I want Brendan, May, and Wally to work up to theirs. Other than that, I'd have to do way more research into the characters and plotline to come up with a decent semi-faithful interpretation, so this is my formal apology to all the Hoenn fans reading this :( I'll get to it someday I promise!!!!

Dawn -> Mespirit (emotion) Lucas -> Azelf (willpower) Barry -> Uxie (knowledge)

Since I've saved the Creation Trio for PLA, the Sinnoh kids get the Lake Guardians! It's easy pickings, too, since they've already got characteristics practically built into them. I know the matchup here mighttt look off considering the character's in-game personalities, but hear me out on this: Dawn starts out on her pokemon journey purely to spite her mother and becomes Champion mostly because she can. If that's not emotional-led thinking, I don't know what is. She certainly doesn't act emotional half the time---she's level-headed, and clever enough to get herself out of all the trouble she causes---but there is very much a reason why she and Barry get along so well. In addition to that, she does hold a very firm belief that certain things should go certain ways and she will do just about everything to ensure they do. In that respect, she can come across as quite entitled, but it isn't inherently in a mean-spirited fashion. She just needs to figure out what's worth fighting for and what isn't. Lucas is much more stubborn than he typically lets on. He does come off as a little awkward and even bumbling at times, but he's also a trainer nearly on par with Dawn and Barry. Considering he's a dedicated research assistant underneath Rowan and Dawn/Barry are full-time trainers, it'd take a lot of commitment to train his team enough to keep up. Overall, it takes quite a bit of convincing to get him to back down from something once he's set on it. If something's false, he has to correct it (it's not about him being right, it's about getting the facts straight), and if he doesn't agree with a rule, he'll simply ignore it (why should a rule exist if it's stupid anyways?) Though it can be inconvenient at times, it's exactly this attitude that allows him to survive getting blasted back to ancient Hisui. Also a fun fact: Lucas is the only protag to officially have two legendary associations, as his character correlates to Azelf and Dialga in DPPt and PLA respectively (Akari gets Palkia, and you'll never guess who Giratina is left to... >_> ). Barry loves to learn, he just can't focus for the life of him. He's constantly the first to know and the first on the scene, he always uses his losses as a chance to reflect and improve his team, and he even goes out of his way to memorize all he can at the Trainers' School in Jubilife. That's not to say he especially cares about learning subjects outside of his interests, but he absolutely does get sucked deep into whatever catches his eye. Especially after Lucas's disappearance, he devotes all his free time to research just so he can figure out what happened to his friend---and just possibly, with some help, he manages to catch a lead...

To celebrate the beginning of the Johto Enjoyer Community (or the JEC), we're starting off strong with a bingo card!

Unlike many other bingos, each square has a task instead of a prompt. The goal here is to encourage everyone to participate in a part of the fandom they might not otherwise---artists can try their hand at writing, fic writers can figure out how to organize moodboards, board creators can practice their drawing skills, and so on! But don't worry, all the minimum requirements (listed at the bottom of this post) are very low, so every task should be accessible to every person regardless of skill level or circumstance!

There's even a prize: a free full-body illustration like styled like Kris above for any pokemon/character (not just within the Pokemon universe) of your choosing, drawn by yours truly! Of course, you can join in without going for the prize, but in order to be eligible, take a look below...

The Rules:

The winner of this event will be chosen by raffle. Every confirmed bingo will earn you one raffle entry. That means that the more bingos you complete, the higher chance you'll have of winning!

To get a bingo, you must complete the tasks of five squares in a row, horizontally or vertically (not diagonally). Each bingo must have five original attempts, even if you've already covered a square in a previous bingo. All task attempts must be centered around Johto in some way, though mentioning other regions is by no means strictly prohibited.

To submit a bingo to the form, you must upload an image of your bingo marked on the card provided below. Then for each task, you can provide either an image (required for the Leave Some Love task) of your attempt or a link to where you've posted it online. You can only submit one bingo per form. Once I've confirmed your bingo, I'll add your entry to the raffle pool!

Not every task attempt has to be posted for the world to see. If you're feeling shy about a particular task, it's perfectly acceptable to submit it directly to the form---remember, you can post privately on Tumblr and no one will be able to see it unless you share the link! However, if you do decide to share it publicly, please use the tag #jec kickoff bingo.

You do not have to be a member of the community to play---This event is open to everyone!

The submission form will close at 2:00 AM CST on March 17th, so you only have two weeks as of posting to participate in the raffle!

Submit your bingo through this link!

The Categories:

(don't worry, all you really need to read here is the colored text. all the plain text is just examples to serve as a jumping-off point!)

Leave Some Love - compliment a blog/piece of work! Try leaving a nice comment under a Tumblr post, other social media posts, or even an AO3 work. Feeling a bit shy? Anonymously message someone who posts regularly about Johto. If you're brave, you might make a public call-out post targeting your some underrated people in the community (as a whole, not just the JEC). There's no one way to do it, but do try to be genuine about your compliments! It's no fun for anyone if you just say is "hey i like your stuff" and leave it at that. Please be mindful of how you submit your compliments---images are required for this task. Also, I can only confirm anon asks before they've been sent.

Draft a Drabble - write a fanfic that is at least 100 words long. For those not in the know, a drabble is a piece of fiction that is exactly 100 words long. Though, it's not a strict definition, as some drabbles may be a little more or a little less. Any subject is allowed as long as it's a creative story---you could write about an event, for example---so don't worry about limiting yourself to characters if that's not your thing!

Dig in the Details - write an analysis on any topic of your choosing. Want to pick apart a character's personality based on their manga dialogue? We'd love to hear it! Got an idea for the best possible competitive team using all Johto pokemon? Go for it! Just really need an excuse to complain about why the level curve is so bad? We've all been there! An essay would likely be the easiest way to do this, but there's no singular best method---you could even make a powerpoint presentation if you wanted!

Pick a Pocket Monster - choose any pokemon to discuss! Whether its your overall favorite, a particular partner you had on one of your playthroughs, or even your most expensive trading card, we want to hear everything that makes this pokemon stand out to you over the rest.

Doodle a Darling - draw a pokemon, character, item, location, or any other subject of your choosing. Drawings do not have to be full illustrations (though they certainly can be), nor is skill/quality a point of judgement here. If you feel like going the extra mile, you could even explain why you chose your particular subject!

Curate a Collection - create a compilation of media based on a certain subject. This might be a moodboard, collage, pinterest board, music playlist, fic rec, or even a gif set! Please keep in mind that as per our community's rules, you may not use any fanworks that you have not created yourself. Make sure to credit the sources of other pieces of media when appropriate.

Fix it with Fanon - share a headcanon/theory/etc. you enjoy! You might know how to fill a plothole from the manga, have an idea on how to fix a weird game mechanic, want to share your favorite AU, or even have a fakemon you designed just for Johto. As long as it's a fandom-original idea, it'll fit the bill!

Convince the Crowd - try to persuade everyone to agree with you on a certain topic! Maybe there's a pokemon type you believe trumps all others, or maybe you're really passionate about which movie it the best. You can also reply to points other people have made if you have an opposing view. Whatever you choose, be respectful when making your argument!

Knicks and Knacks - make an arts-and-crafts project themed around a topic of your choosing. The sky's the limit here---you could try your hand at little accessories like bracelets or pins, cobble together a short zine, make a paper doll, design cool profile icons or web stamps, stitch together an edit or meme, put on some cosplay, and so much more! As long as it's something you made with your own hands (so to speak), anything goes.

Script a Scenario - portray a situation using a medium other than standard illustration/writing. This could include playscripts, comics, texting fics, or even the photo booth feature in Pokemas! If you need to give a short written description to clarify what's going on, that's fine, but it shouldn't be the star of the show.

Free Space - Choose any of the above categories to complete!

The Minimum Requirements:

Images/GIFs - 500x500 px

Writing - 5-6 sentences or ~75 words

Moodboards/Pinterest Boards - 5 images

Collages - 5 main elements (not including minor decorations)

Playlists - 3 songs with a short explanation each

Fanfiction Recs - 3 works with a short explanation each

Made it through all that and still have questions? Feel free to leave them down in the comments and they'll be answered as soon as possible!

Good luck everyone, and mostly importantly, have fun!

Tumblr

Johto Enjoyers :) • Community on Tumblr

A space for anything related to the Johto region of the Pokemon world, from the games to the manga to the shows and more!

soulsilvershipping my beloved <3

For the JEC Kickoff Event - Curate a Collection

All images used can be found here!

johto4 body language notes:

Ethan - very loose demeanor, takes up a lot of space (wide stance, manspreading, hands on hips). uses big gestures to include people in conversation such as pointing or waving at people when talking to/about them. Typically very comfortable with entering others' personal space. Can be touchy with friends/family, especially light roughhousing (punching shoulders, ruffling hair, etc.).

Lyra - a lot of hand gestures, especially hand-to-face (covering mouth when surprised, steepling hands when pleased, resting hand on cheek when touched/embarrassed). Usually clasps hands when not using them. Always moving/shifting in place. Almost all facial expressions include a smile regardless of mood.

Kris - hands usually in front of body (crossed arms, holding something, hands in pockets) but keeps a relaxed (but not loose when in a lab/professional setting) stance. Stands upright but not uncomfortably so. Most nonverbal communication occurs with upper body such as exaggerated expressions, pointing with head, shrugging with both head and shoulders. Gets visibly tense when trying to hold her tongue.

Silver - tight stance, may or may not be tense depending on setting/mood. Either arms are crossed or hands are in pockets, not much variance. Very expressive and aware of it, will often attempt to look away or otherwise conceal his face when trying to hide something. Will puff up when angered (set shoulders, lifting face to look down at people, but still keeping arms close to body). Brows are usually furrowed regardless of facial expression.

Lance isn't allowed in the kitchen for a reason :D