History Characters / PokemonTheSeriesAshKetchum

* LikeBrotherAndSister: Ash's female travel companions have all has a sibling-like relationship with him, except possibly Serena, whom he treats with greater respect and courtesy.

* LikeBrotherAndSister: With all his female companions (even those who show an interest on him) .

** Alola marked Ash's biggest milestone when [[spoiler:he finally won a League match and defeated Alain in the last round.]]

* RenaissanceMan: Amongst Pokémon-related competitions, Ash, especially since Johto, has shown a remarkable ability to consistently win or do rather well in fields he is not directly specialized in via his own skills and intuition. Ash could very easily pursue a career in such fields as Pokémon Sumo, Pokéringer, Pokémon Contests, Pokémon Racing, and Pokéathalon alongside his own skills as a Pokémon trainer if he was so inclined, to say nothing of the unrelated fields he's shown skills in, such as artistry, rock climbing, and Aura, though in non-Pokémon fields he is far from being consistently skilled at most every related field as he is in Pokémon.

** Becomes a recurring plot point in ''Diamond and Pearl''; whenever Ash battles Paul, he doesn't just aim to win but to win in a way that makes his Pokémon the most happy. He continuously puts his pride on the line by using Pokémon that are clearly outmatched [[note]]examples include using his less experienced Turtwig against Paul's skilled and trained with a type advantage on top Honchkrow, or his unevolved and inexperienced Gligar against the former-leader of a flock Gliscor[[/note]], something that [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome bites him in the ass]] time and again because Paul is easily able to predict his strategies and bait Ash into leaving openings for him to exploit in order to turn their battles into one-sided beatdowns, especially prominent in the League where Paul uses 3 new Pokémon (Drapion, Frosslass, Gastrodon) to throw off Ash who brought his Sinnoh team for payback and almost wins with Drapion alone after using Aggron and Gastrodon as fall guys.

* SensitiveGuyAndManlyMan: He's the Manly Man to his male companions Brock, Tracey, Cilan, and Clemont (all definitely Sensitive Guys), as he's a lot more physically active and engaged in battling than they typically are. With each of his 'primary' rivals (Gary, Paul, Trip and Alain) though, he's the Sensitive Guy, as they're more brooding, serious, and snarky compared to him.

->'''Voiced in Canadian French by:''' Sébastien Reding (Movies 1-7 + ''Mewtwo Returns'')

->'''Voiced in Canadian French by:''' Sébastien Reding (first seven movies and ''Mewtwo Returns'')

** Ash's unbreakable bond and friendship with Pikachu has been explored many times throughout the series as they have each others back. Also, Ash understands Pikachu hatred for not wanting to be inside his PokéBall as he lets him travel on his shoulder or head during their journey.

** In ''Journeys'', Ash easily formed a strong relationship with his Riolu because of their similarities with Aura as he lets it spend time with him and Pikachu. However, Ash's closeness to Riolu nearly cost his friendship with Pikachu when he spend more time training with it. After Riolu evolved into Lucario, Ash maintain his relationship with it.

* PsychicPowers: Has the power of Aura. (Powers that he used in both [=DP070 and DP071=] and in ''Journeys'' at several points with Lucario's own abilities) He's decided not to get any training in Aura in order to continue his journey. ''Journeys'' implies Ash's Aura manifests during battles, empowering his Pokémon, as seen with his Riolu who used Ash's aura to identify him as the trainer who cared for it as an egg. As for actual Psychic Types he owns, the only one he has is Mr. Mime, a part Psychic Type.

'''Major Characters:''' [[Characters/PokemonTheSeriesMisty Misty]] | [[Characters/PokemonTheSeriesBrock Brock]] | [[Characters/PokemonTheSeriesMay May]] | [[Characters/PokemonTheSeriesDawn Dawn]] | [[Characters/PokemonTheSeriesPaul Paul]] | [[Characters/PokemonTheSeriesIris Iris]] | [[Characters/PokemonTheSeriesSerena Serena]] | [[Characters/PokemonTheSeriesGoh Goh]] \\

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** Ash is more than willing to let a Pokémon go or let someone else capture it, either because they are more happy where they are now, and/or because the trainer/friend is most active for it. Case in point, his Charizard was abandon by his trainer as a Charmander, and Brock was the most active in trying to save it, it's why he was insistent in having Brock look after him rather than catch it himself, and only did so when Brock trusted Ash to take care of him instead. Another example comes from his capture of Noctowl, because of it's smaller size and shiny form, another person, Dr. Wiseman, spent a long time trying to capture said Noctowl through man-made traps, but never could. Ash never made an attempt to capture it seeing as Wiseman wanted it more, but when Wiseman respectfully stepped aside saying Ash is more deserving to try, Ash complies. As for letting Pokémon go, Rowlet was with his adoptive family ran by a Toucannon, so Ash decides to forego catching it, as he did not want to separate them. When Rowlet got permission by Toucannon to go, and made it clear to Ash he'd rather be with him.

* NumberOneDime: In "Primeape Goes Bananas!", his first hat turns out to be one, as it's an official, limited quantity Pokémon League hat he had to send hundreds of postcards in just to get. A wild Mankey steals it, and he spends the entire episode trying to get it back without damaging it. Even his later hats hold similar value, as he doesn't like when any Pokémon steals it.

* AlwaysSomeoneBetter:
** While Misty doesn't acknowledge it, Ash is this to her. He was winning their initial battle before Team Rocket interrupted, something Misty never admits (and this was despite Pikachu, who had a type advantage against Misty's Pokémon, refusing to battle). When they battle in a small tournament to see who gets to keep Togepi, Ash is easily able to use Bulbasaur to defeat Misty's Psyduck without actually needing to damage it, since doing so would allow it to use its potent Psychic attacks (and Ash would go on to win the tournament as well, although Misty ends up getting Togepi due to it seeing her as its mother). When the two battle over Totodile, Ash beats Misty cleanly (with Misty's only victory in the battle being due to exploiting Pikachu's unwillingness to battle Togepi, thus resulting in Pikachu forfeiting the round). He was winning their match in the Whirl Cup, a tournament where only Water Pokémon are allowed, meaning he couldn't use anything that had a type advantage over [[PoorPredictableRock Misty's all-Water Pokémon team]], and only lost because he held the IdiotBall (the same one he deliberately avoided in the Togepi tournament, since Psyduck deliberately entered itself as Misty's second Pokémon for the Whirl Cup battle). When the two battle again years later in Sun & Moon, despite Misty [[TookALevelInBadass improving since they last met]], Ash beats her again. [[spoiler:While Misty does beat Ash in a battle after they reunite in ''Journeys'', Ash ultimately opted to not to use Pikachu (his strongest Pokémon that also has an advantage against Misty's Water-types), or his Rowlet or Leavanny (both of which also have a type advantage) in favor of Corphish (a Pokémon that he had not used since ''Advanced Generation'').]]
** [[ZigzaggedTrope Zigzagged]] with Gary Oak, Ash's primary rival throughout the original series. Despite Gary always being at least one step ahead of him during Kanto (including Gary getting ''10 badges'' when he only needed 8, while Ash still only had 7), Ash is able to make it to the Top 16 of the Indigo Plateau Conference while Gary only makes it to Top 32. However, after returning to Kanto from the Orange Islands following his victory in the Orange League, Ash is easily defeated by Gary in a battle without dealing any significant damage (with Ash admitting much later on in his journey that he simply wasn't ready to defeat Gary at that point). However, Ash manages to best his rival once and for all in the Silver Conference, with his Charizard managing to defeat Gary's Blastoise in spite of both a major type disadvantage and having had to defeat two of Gary's Pokémon in a row prior. In the end, Gary decides to retire from being a trainer and go into research, admitting that Ash is the better trainer. That said, he is still able to defeat Ash following the latter's victory in the Battle Frontier to remind his friend to keep on his toes, showing that he could still compete with him if he wanted.
** Ash is the one on the pedestal during the ''XY'' series, setting the bar that most of his rivals try to measure up to. Even the one who Ash eventually loses to in the Lumiose Conference finals realizes in the end that, between the two of them, Ash is the better trainer, especially after the Team Flare crisis. Even further on that point, though Ash never actually managed to beat Alain, [[spoiler:the Kalos League Winner got stomped ''hard'' by Leon during the Masters Eight, only defeating Leon's Rilaboom (even Alain's Mega Charizard X, the same 'mon that Ash-Greninja narrowly lost to, was taken out by Leon's ''base'' Charizard with only a few moves). Ash, meanwhile, took out all of Leon's team and won the World Coronation Series, having to go through another champion Alain couldn't defeat Steven Stone and Cynthia just to get to him.]]
** He serves this role for Iris, especially after finally gaining his footing in ''Best Wishes''. While Iris manages to defeat Ash in their first proper battle during the Club Battle finals, Ash ends up defeating her later on in the Pokémon World Tournament Junior Cup. When they battle again in [=BW116=], his Charizard clearly has the upper hand over her Dragonite; N calling the battle off is the only thing that spares Iris from near-certain defeat. [[spoiler:This ultimately carries over to ''Journeys'' as well; while Iris was able to become the Unova Champion, she would ultimately still end up losing to Ash when they battled in the Great Class of the World Coronation Series. Ash would additionally go on to defeat [[TheAce Cynthia]] in the Masters Tournament, something that Iris fell just short of achieving. Moreover, Ash went on to defeat Leon and become World Champion.]]

->'''Voiced in European French by:''' Aurélien Ringelheim, Charles Pestel (Movies ''Pokémon 4Ever'' and ''Destiny Deoxys''), Nicolas Beaucaire (Movie "Jirachi Wish Maker")

->'''Voiced in European French by:''' Aurélien Ringelheim, Charles Pestel (Movies ''Pokémon 4Ever'' and ''Destiny Deoxys'')

** Ash is the one on the pedestal during the ''XY'' series, setting the bar that most of his rivals try to measure up to. Even the one who Ash eventually loses to in the Lumiose Conference finals realizes in the end that, between the two of them, Ash is the better trainer, especially after the Team Flare crisis. Even further on that point, though Ash never actually managed to beat Alain, [[spoiler:the Kalos League Winner got stomped ''hard'' by Leon during the Masters Eight, only defeating Leon's Rilaboom (even Alain's Mega Charizard X, the same 'mon that Ash-Greninja narrowly lost to, was taken out by Leon's ''base'' Charizard with only a few moves). Ash, meanwhile, took out all of Leon's team and won the World Coronation Series, having to go through Steven Stone and Cynthia just to get to him.]]

* AmbiguouslyAbsentParent: Famously the case with his father, who was mentioned once in-series(the other three times being in the ''I Choose You'' continuity) and no details in the series were ever given of him, with it seeming like it is just him and Delia at his home. Various ideas raised by writers outside of the series have given him explanations as varied from ''out on his own journey'' to ''deadbeat who ran away from home not long after Delia got pregnant and failed to achieve anything'', but as to actual canon details none exist beyond how long it took him to get to Viridian City on foot.

* AchillesHeel: Even with his vast array of achievements with many different Pokemon, he always has struggled getting the most out of bigger, slower mons, notably Muk, who he rarely used because of this and never got much out of when he did, as well as Torkoal and Torterra who took the most defeats in Hoenn and Sinnoh respectively, and struggled getting the most out of Goodra in the Kalos League. [[spoiler: Even Melmetal, who was on his team when he finally won a championship, struggled and was defeated without getting a KO in its first battle, and Ash had to train its attack to become faster and put it against a fellow slow Pokemon for it to get some success, and even then, it was immediately taken out afterwards, albeit in a disadvantaged Type matchup. Ash notably mostly avoided this issue in ''Journeys'', with his only Pokemon that might be considered slow, Dragonite, having Dragon Dance to increase her speed if needed.]]

* DefeatingTheUndefeatable:

* CastingAShadow: He does own a couple of Dark Types, mainly Scraggy (a partial Dark Type), his Greninja after it evolved from Frogadier, and his Incineroar after it reached its final stage.
* {{Catchphrase}}:

* AdaptationalWimp: Mirror Ash isn't the confident fighter eager for a challenge, but rather a wimpy young man who can barely stand up for himself.

* ForWantOfANail: Unlike with the mainstream Ash, who left his Infernape at Oak's when he got home from Sinnoh, this Ash still keeps it with him, but rarely uses it.

* InSpiteOfANail: Like with the main Ash, he still has Pikachu and Infernape.

* CoolLoser: Initially. During Kanto, he was always slacking off on his training for the Indigo League, Misty was putting him down half the time for his bratty attitude, and his Charizard lost all respect for him, but Ash was still getting to travel the world doing what he loved, alongside those he cared for, and even saved the world a fair number of times. Now, with him having grown significantly, it's safe to say he's no longer a loser.

** For ''Journeys'', Ash would capture his first non-generational Pokémon since his Gilgar in the form of Dragonite (who would also be Ash's first fully-evolved, non-starter, non-regional bird or bug catch that a previous companion had also caught), Gengar (who would be Ash's first abandoned Pokémon that ''wasn't'' a fire starter), and Riolu[=/=]Lucario. It was also the only time he wouldn't get any of the starters, with Goh obtaining all three of the ones from Galar.

* CostumeEvolution: With the exception of Johto, Ash would always change his uniform every region. Though he stuck with the basic hat, jeans, backpack, and jacket, along with the blue, red, and white color scheme, there was always a variation to his uniform.

* AchillesHeel: Even with his vast array of achievements with many different Pokemon, he always struggled getting the most out of bigger, slower mons, notably Muk, who he rarely used because of this and never got much out of when he did, as well as Toarkal and Torterra who took the most defeats in Hoenn and Sinnoh, and struggled getting the most out of Goodra in the Kalos League. [[spoiler: Even Melmetal, who was on his team when he finally won a championship, struggled and was defeated without getting a KO in its first battle, and Ash had to train its attack to become faster and put it against a fellow slow Pokemon for it to get some success, and even then, it was immediately taken out afterwards, albeit in a disadvantaged Type matchup. Ash notably mostly avoided this issue in ''Journeys'', with his only Pokemon that might be considered slow, Dragonite, having Dragon Dance to increase her speed if needed.]]