Gardevoir (サーナイト, Sānaito, Sirnight in original Japanese language versions) is one of the 493 fictional species of Pokémon creatures from the multi-billion-dollar ^[1] Pokémon media franchise – a collection of video games, anime, manga, books, trading cards and other media created by Satoshi Tajiri. The purpose of Gardevoir in the games, anime and manga, as with all other Pokémon, is to battle both wild Pokémon, untamed creatures encountered while the player passes through various environments, and tamed Pokémon owned by Pokémon trainers. ^[2]

Gardevoir is a humanoid-shaped Pokémon with exceptional psychic powers. It first debuted in the Nintendo games Pokémon Ruby and Pokémon Sapphire in 2003, and it is listed as the 282nd Pokémon in the games' National Pokédex. ^[3]

The name "Gardevoir" is thought to originate from the French terms garde (guard, defence) and voir (to see). ^[4] It may also be a portmanteau of the words guard and devoir, which is French for "duty" or "to have to," so that it could mean "duty to guard" or "it has to guard." Both refer to the fact that Gardevoir will protect its trainer regardless of risk to its own life and well-being.

Biological characteristics

Gardevoir has an appearance noteworthy both for its elegance and its human-like femininity, regardless of what gender it actually is. It has a long, thin, limber body with a pair of thin white legs, both covered by an equally thin billowing dress that is white on the outside and is green underneath. It has a relatively large head with a pale, white face, large red eyes, and a green bouffant-like hairstyle that obscures this Pokémon's mouth. It has long, green, featureless arms and two red valentine-like outgrowths on its front torso and its back. There is a green swoop that extends from arm to arm and gives the impression that Gardevoir is wearing some form of a vest. Gardevoir has psychic powers, including telekinesis and telepathy. It also has the ability of precognition, enabling it to see into the future to detect incoming dangers. ^[5] It moves by levitating itself, and can ignore gravity. ^[5] Its powers are strong enough to the point where Gardevoir can disrupt the space-time continuum. By doing so, it can create a miniature black hole. ^[3] It can use this ability in battle, absorbing the attacks of other Pokémon.

Gardevoir has an unparalleled sense of concern for its Pokémon trainer. It will even give its own life for its trainer. ^[3] The psychic powers that Gardevoir wields are at its height when it is protecting its trainer from a threat. ^[5] Its precognitive abilities enable it to see potential dangers to its trainer, and protect him or her accordingly.

Cute!

In the video games

Gardevoir is a Psychic-type Pokémon. ^[5] This grants it resistance against Fighting-type Pokémon, while it is correspondingly weak against Dark-type and Ghost-type abilities.

Gardevoir can only be obtained via evolving it from a Kirlia after it reaches level 30. ^[6] In turn, Kirlia cannot be obtained in the wild, and must be evolved from a Ralts after it achieves level 20. ^[6] Gardevoir possesses very high statistics, with its special attack and special defense being its strongest attributes, making it primarily suited to using special attacks. ^[6] It learns numerous offensive abilities, such as Psychic and Magical Leaf, and many support abilities, such as Wish and Will-o-Wisp.

In Pokémon Ruby and Pokémon Sapphire, Wally uses a Gardevoir. ^[7] It is evolved from the Ralts that the player helped him catch early in the game.

In Pokémon Diamond and Pokémon Pearl, Gardevoir gains a male counterpart in Gallade. Gallade can be obtained via evolving a male Kirlia using a Dawn Stone. ^[8] Gallade has similar statistics to Gardevoir, but has inverted attack and special attack statistics, making Gallade more suitable for using physical attacks. ^[8] While Gallade are solely male, male and female Kirlia can still evolve into Gardevoir at level 30.

In Pokémon Mystery Dungeon, Gardevoir is cursed due to protecting its trainer when he grabbed one of Ninetales' tails. The player can aid Team Meanies' Gengar in releasing Gardevoir from its curse. Gardevoir can then join the player's team.

In other media

The Pokémon anime series and films are a set of adventures separate from most other versions of Pokémon, featuring Ash Ketchum as the main character, and following his quest to become a Pokémon Master. He and his companions travel around the Pokémon world battling other Pokémon Trainers.

Gardevoir's first appearance is in episode 384, "Do I Hear a Ralts?" ^[9] Gardevoir is the mother of a Ralts. The Ralts is lost, and soon found by Ash and his friends. Gardevoir believes that Ash and his friends are taking Ralts away, and attacks them. It later allies with them, defeats Team Rocket, and returns with Ralts.

In the opening for Pokémon: Advanced Challenge, May's Combusken and Ash's Pikachu are shown fighting a Gardevoir and a Hariyama.

Gardevoir makes a minor appearance in episode 439, "Spontaneous Combusken," where it was one of the Pokémon participating in a Pokémon Contest. ^[10] It was defeated by a Vibrava.

In episode 486, "Mutiny in the Bounty!," Gardevoir is kidnapped from its trainer by the Pokèmon Hunter J.

Gardevoir is also available as a figurine made by Tomy. ^[11]

In the Pokémon Trading Card Game

The Pokémon Trading Card Game is a collectible card game similar in goal to a Pokémon battle in the video game series; players must use cards to defeat their opponent by "knocking out" all of his cards. ^[12] The game was first published in North America by Wizards of the Coast in 1999, until Nintendo USA started publishing the series in 2003. ^[13]

Gardevoir has appeared six times in the card game, nearly always as a Stage 2 Psychic-type Pokémon. It appears in EX Ruby and Sapphire, ^[14] EX Sandstorm as Gardevoir EX, ^[14] EX Emerald ^[14], EX Dragon Frontiers as Gardevoir EX, ^[14] and EX Power Keepers. ^[14] The regular versions all have 100 Hit Points, while the EX variants have 150 Hit Points. Notably, the EX Dragon Frontiers Gardevoir EX was a Fire-type, and printed as Gardevoir EX δ Delta Species. ^[14] The Gardevoir in EX Power Keepers was a reprint of Gardevoir in EX Ruby and Sapphire, with the only difference being a changed illustration.

Many of these Gardevoir variants are quite popular. For instance, the Gardevoir EX found in EX Sandstorm was widely used for its Psystorm ability, which dealt damage equal to the total amount of energy cards in play. The EX Emerald variant's Poké-Power, Heal Dance, allowed a player to remove two damage counters from one of his or her Pokémon every turn.

References

• The following games and their instruction manuals: Pokémon Red, Green, and Blue; Pokémon Yellow; Pokémon Stadium and Pokémon Stadium 2; Pokémon Gold, Silver, and Crystal; Pokémon Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald; Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen; Pokémon Colosseum and Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness

Notes

Publications

• Barbo, Maria. The Official Pokémon Handbook. Scholastic Publishing, 1999. ISBN  0-439-15404-9.
• Loe, Casey, ed. Pokémon Special Pikachu Edition Official Perfect Guide. Sunnydale, CA: Empire 21 Publishing, 1999. ISBN  1-930206-15-1.
• Nintendo Power. Official Nintendo Pokémon FireRed & Pokémon LeafGreen Player’s Guide. Nintendo of America Inc., August 2004. ISBN  1-930206-50-X
• Mylonas, Eric. Pokémon Pokédex Collector’s Edition: Prima’s Official Pokémon Guide. Prima Games, September 21 2004. ISBN  0-7615-4761-4
• Nintendo Power. Official Nintendo Pokémon Emerald Version Player’s Guide. Nintendo of America Inc., April 2005. ISBN  1-930206-58-5

External links

• Official Pokémon website
• Bulbapedia (a Pokémon-centric Wiki)’s article about Gardevoir as a species
• {{ Serebiidex|282|Gardevoir}}
• PsyPoke - Gardevoir Pokédex entry and Usage Overview
• Smogon.com - Gardevoir Tactical Data
• {{ WikiKnowledge|Gardevoir}}