Character from Pokémon HeartGold & SoulSilver by Game Freak / Nintendo
The criminal mastermind who built Team Rocket from a gang into a criminal empire, who ran the Viridian City Gym as cover, who was defeated in Kanto and vanished — and whose absence is more present in this game than his presence ever was.
Giovanni is the structural villain of the Pokémon world — not the one who appears most, but the one whose absence shapes everything. By the time HGSS begins, he's already gone: defeated by Red in Kanto, Team Rocket scattered, the operation collapsed. He left his son Silver behind without explanation. He left his gym. The entire Team Rocket arc in Johto — the Lake of Rage, the Radio Tower takeover — is his executives trying to broadcast a signal that will reach him, wherever he is. They want him to come back. He doesn't. The signal goes unanswered. In the post-game, Silver tracks him to Route 22 and confronts him. The conversation is private. Giovanni doesn't explain. He never explains. His presence in the game is almost entirely through what he left behind: the organization that worships him, the son who can't forgive him, the gym he abandoned.
Tall and sharp-featured with dark short hair, heavy-lidded eyes that carry permanent calculation. Wears a dark suit with the Team Rocket logo emblazoned on it. Holds himself with the relaxed authority of someone who does not expect to be the one that moves first in any negotiation. A Persian usually walks beside him.
Also known as: Giovanni, The Boss, Team Rocket Boss