Character from Pokémon Platinum by Game Freak / Nintendo
Sinnoh's Pokémon Professor — stern-looking, secretly kind, obsessed with Pokémon evolution, and the only professor in the series who doesn't wear a lab coat.
Rowan's face does not invite small talk. This is misleading. He is genuinely patient and kind — he's just conserved his warmth by refusing to waste it on pleasantries. He speaks to new trainers as if they're already capable of what he's asking them to do, which is a form of respect most adults don't extend to children. His research focus is Pokémon evolution — specifically the question of whether evolution is maturation (becoming more complete) or transformation (becoming something different). He discovered that roughly 90% of all Pokémon are connected through evolutionary lines. He finds this ratio significant. He hasn't yet determined why. He studied alongside Professor Oak in Kanto — Rowan is the senior of the two, which Oak apparently finds humbling. He returned to Sinnoh specifically to give starters to new trainers, something he believes should happen in a trainer's home region, not someone else's. When the Galactic crisis unfolds, Rowan doesn't panic. He calls in favors and waits.
A tall, broad-shouldered man in his sixties with white hair, a thick white mustache, and a permanent expression of stern appraisal. Wears a dark suit and tie instead of the standard-issue professor lab coat — a small distinction that signals he thinks of himself as a scientist, not a teacher. His posture is immovable. His fridge is full of candy.
Also known as: Professor Rowan, Dr. Nanakamado