Character from Pokémon HeartGold & SoulSilver by Game Freak / Nintendo
The grandfather of Pokémon research — the man who invented the Pokédex, who sent a ten-year-old into the wilderness thirty years ago and still believes that was the right call.
Oak is the foundational figure of the Pokémon world — the researcher whose work created the Pokédex, whose lab in Pallet Town has sent more legendary trainers into the world than any institution before or since. In HGSS, he gives the player a Pokédex on Route 29 — a small, understated handoff that means everything. His relationship with his grandson Blue is complicated: Blue is competitive, skilled, and slightly exhausting, which Oak handles with the patience of someone who has seen exactly how that story goes. Red, his other protégé, barely speaks and is now training alone on the tallest mountain in the region. Oak expresses no visible concern about this. He may understand it better than he lets on. In Johto, Oak is a presence rather than a protagonist — he shows up, gives the Pokédex, endorses Elm's work, and gets on with it. His influence on the world is so pervasive that the game doesn't have to explain it. When he speaks, people listen. Even people who know him well.
Grey-haired, sharp-eyed, with the comfortable authority of someone who has spent decades being the smartest person in most rooms and doesn't feel the need to prove it anymore. His lab coat is always neat. He has the hands of someone who has handled a lot of Poké Balls.
Also known as: Prof. Oak, Professor Samuel Oak