Ferdinand Trotter

''"To cross the highest mountains, to sail over the bluest seas, and to reach the center of the deepest forests! I must see it all! I must do it all!"

Ferdinand Julian Trotter (探検家, Tankenka) is a Pokémon Trainer from Sage City. He is the central protagonist of Pokemon — Everlasting Wonders as well as an iteration of the user's player characters in the Pokémon games. Physically, he is a doppelganger of Brendan.

Character
Ferdinand holds few similarities with his counterparts in the games, his name and roots being almost entirely different. He hails from Sage City and dreams of going on a Pokémon journey to escape the quaint town. Also, while his game counterparts lived with only their mother, Ferdinand is confirmed to share a residence with a full family consisting of his parents, grandparents, and two siblings – an older brother named Tyler and a younger sister named Jamie.

Hailing from a family comprised almost entirely of Pokémon Trainers, one can speculate that Ferdinand was destined to inevitably become a trainer himself. His grandfather, father, and mother were all traveling trainers previously while his older brother is currently on his own journey. Through his relatives, Ferdinand has gained the opportunity to interact with Pokémon since his early youth. An adventurous boy, Ferdinand would not only play with trained Pokémon but wild ones as well.

He initially begins his journey alone, meeting his first traveling companion, a thrill-seeking rich girl named Neema, shortly after beginning his journey. Afterwards, he meets his second companion – a boy named Otto – who is on a Pokémon journey of his own. He makes rivals with an aggressive trainer named Lionel after losing to him in a heated battle – although the rivalry is largely one sided as Lionel does not at first recognize Ferdinand to be a worthy opponent.

Personality
Ferdinand is a vibrant and boisterous child. An extrovert, he loves to meet new people and Pokémon and engage in conversation. He is curious and impatient, desiring to quickly grasp concepts he has yet to understand. An inquisitive individual, he prefers to gather information through investigating and asking questions. Naïve because of his youth, Ferdinand has an outlook that can be considered overtly optimistic. Not yet accustomed to the horrors of the world, he also believes that all living beings are inherently good.

Compassionate, Ferdinand loves to think of others before himself – a trait he inherited from his caring mother. Having grown up in a household filled with Pokémon, he cares deeply about their well being and would gladly go out of his way to make sure a Pokémon is safe. He believes that humans and Pokémon were put on the same world to care for each other and work together. Idealistic, he doesn’t mesh well with those who have opposite viewpoints. Two of Ferdinand’s biggest passions are exploration and nature. Having spent the majority of his life in Hora’s smallest city, he is eager to see new places and despises stasis. While he is not against traveling to different cities, Ferdinand would much rather explore the wilderness. His favorite places to venture include forests, caves, and mountains.

History is Ferdinand's teritary interest outside of traveling and training Pokémon. He has demonstrated his fascination with the past in his excavation of the ancient ruins around Sage City. He considers historical sites to be the most interesting grounds for exploration as they contain secrets as well as thrills. Likewise, Ferdinand is intrigued by Legendary Pokémon because of all the historical myths surrounding them and the role they played in the formation of extraodinary locations. For example, he dreams of finding and exploring the Relic Castle because of its relation to Unova's Heroes of Truth and Ideals. As a child, he frequented the Ancient Ruins around his hometown in hopes of discovering lore.

Still an adolescent, Ferdinand possesses several childish tendencies. For instance, he has an intense fear of the dark - refusing to travel at night even if it is necessary. He also appears to have a deep interest in comic books and superheroes – his favorite being Spinarak Man.

Equipment

 * Pokétch (Japanese: ポケッチ Pokétch): An electronic device in the form of a touch screen watch. It contains a variety of applications such as a digital clock, a calculator, and a list of the Pokémon currently in Ferdinand’s party.
 * Poké Ball: Ferdinand possesses a plethora of the standard Poké Ball which he uses to catch Pokémon in the wild.

Pokémon
As a trainer and a self-proclaimed adventurer, Ferdinand is known to capture Pokémon for a variety of purposes and as such does not fall into a distinctive class. He appears to be conservative about the Pokémon he captures - preferring to utilize those that can be used to overcome obstacles while traveling. But, since he participates in a lot of battles, he also captures Pokémon specifically for that purpose. To accommodate his alternating needs, Ferdinand does not use a set team of Pokémon. Instead he prefers to rotate them as he sees fit. The only Pokémon that remains in his party at all times is his Jigglypuff.

In the games
Ferdinand makes his first appearance in the game Pokémon Crystal as the male protagonist. He begins as a young trainer in New Bark Town and obtains his starter Pokémon from Professor Elm, a Cyndaquil. After obtaining his first Pokémon he travels the Johto region, collects gym badges, and clashes with Team Rocket. After defeating the Elite Four in the Indigo Plateau, he went on to collect gym badges within the Kanto region.

Ferdinand's appearance in the games are rekindled in the third generation via Pokémon Sapphire, where he travels the Hoenn region and collects all eight badges.

Trivia

 * Ferdinand is named after Ferdinand Magellan, who is historically renowned for being the first explorer to circumnavigate the world.
 * Ferdinand's surname, Trotter, is also a nod to his nature as a traveling trainer. To trot means to move at a pace between a walk or a run. As a traveling trainer, Ferdinand will essentially "trot" across the land on his quest.
 * Ferdinand's Japanese name, Tankenka (探検家), translates to "explorer" in English.
 * Ferdinand shares his birthday with his creator.
 * Like Red of Pokémon Adventures fame; Ferdinand is also a Leo.
 * His name was originally Stevie - a variation of his creator's name. According to the author, the reasoning for the name change was to establish Ferdinand as his own individual character.
 * His middle name is the name of the user's current player character in the games.
 * In his incarnation on the original wiki, Ferdinand's mother was unnamed and deceased. On this wiki, she is both named and still alive.
 * According to the user, Ferdinand will later become a historian in his adult life.