Why I love Silver so much

WARNING: This will be lengthy.

I was thinking about this a lot, and I've come to the conclusion that Silver is my favorite rival in the Pokemon games. Not because he's smexy (he is, though >o>), not because I'm a fan of the SoulSilver ship, and not even because Johto is my favorite region game. No, I like Silver the most because out of all the rivals, he's the most dynamic and also the most interesting.

Let's take a look at Silver's competition for best rival, shall we? (Note: these opinions don't mean I dislike the character; I'm just telling it like it is.)

GARY OAK/GREEN (BLUE) OAK
Gary is the first rival with an unfortunate catch phrase (what the heck does "Smell you later" mean, anyway? I think VG Cat's Super Effective comic summed up how creepy this is). Gary is Professor Oak's grandson, and as such he has a bit of an arrogance issue and a superiority complex the size of a Wailord. He feels that since his grandpa's so famous in Pokemon, it's only natural that he should be too, and as such, he acts like a giant douche, even after being pummeled into the ground many, many times by the player's Pokemon. Gary starts off as a douche and ends as a douche. His character development is...well, he really doesn't have much character development. Even after his defeat as Champion and the scolding he got from his grandfather, he still pretty much acts the same. Even three years later in GSC/HGSS, he's still pretty much the same douche he was at the end of RBY/FRLG. Gary isn't a terrible character; he just doesn't really change much and is pretty static.

BRENDAN BIRCH/MAY BIRCH
Brendan and May are essentially the same; their dialogue doesn't differ that much, and their personalities are interchangeable, really. I played as a female character, though, so I'll be speaking about Brendan. Just know the same applies to May, though.

Brendan...has about as much personality as a rock. Really. There's just...nothing there. He helps out his dad, and battles you sometimes. Completely cookie-cutter, completely bland, completely boring. I often got the vibe that he didn't feel like I knew what I was doing as a trainer, what with his random bursting into the room after my defeating the Champion, under the guise he was coming to give me advice. I don't dislike Brendan (not in the slightest), but he's just...dull. They could've done much more with his character, and they just...didn't.

WALLY
RSE had two rivals, remember? Wally starts out as a sickly, frail little kid with a dream: he wants to be a Pokemon trainer (doesn't everyone?). So, with your father, Norman's and your help, he catches a Ralts, and his magical adventures begin. Wally is a friendly little guy, and to be honest, I feel bad for him. It's truly amazing that just being a trainer seems to magically heal his condition (which is never specified; he could have cancer, for all we know, although his Bulbapedia page suggests asthma, which is completely manageable, imo, but I'm digressing). Some would say it's the confidence they instill in him that causes him to feel better. All this is fantastic. Who would want to crush such a boy's spirit? Why, that would be you, the player. I felt so guilty beating Wally every time, because it's kind of like helping a Make-A-Wish kid to play football only to tackle them and grind them into the dirt halfway through the game. Wally, I guess, would be second most interesting to me. <3 style="font-weight: bold;">BARRY
Oh, Barry. <3>o>). I feel bad for Barry's mom; stuck at home while her men are off enslaving monsters in balls and pwning n00bs, never getting a visit or even a phone call, email, or letter. :C All in all, Barry pretty much stays the same, but at least he's pretty humorous and has a personality.

LUCAS/DAWN
You don't fight against them, so in my book, they =/= rivals. 'Nuff said.


Now that we've covered everyone else, let's talk about Silver.

SILVER
Silver differs from every other rival in the game by one very important factor: Silver has no one. Every other rival character has some sort of family, but Silver has no one to care for him but himself and has to earn everything on his own. He has his father, Giovanni, of course, but they're not exactly on speaking terms and haven't seen each other for three years as of the start of GSC/HGSS (not to mention I can't imagine Giovanni being a very loving, supporting father, can you?). Lord knows where his mother is (my speculation is she probably died). The thing about Silver is a lot of his story isn't directly discussed; it's more heavily implied, and you as the viewer have to pick out the pieces yourself. It's true, he's an even bigger douche to you than Gary is to you in RBY, but then, Silver didn't really have anyone to keep his ass-holishnesss in check (for Gary, I suspect that's Daisy). However, unlike Gary, after suffering defeat after defeat, Silver starts to question himself and his methods, and by the time you run into him at Mt. Moon in Kanto, there really is a visible transformation in how he addresses you as well as challenges you. He even takes his defeat in stride, and compared to how pissy he used to get in the beginning, this is a very dramatic change. He doesn't go from being a complete prick to Barry-hyper (dear ARCEUS, could you imagine? XD), but he shows that he understands that maybe brute force isn't everything (like he thought).

Silver is definitely the winner for most dynamic rival, but I feel his story is also more tragic than any of the others (even poor sickly Wally). His mother is nowhere to be seen, his father went crazy and tried to take over the world only to lose it all to a 10-11-year-old kid and then abandon everything, including his young son, and disappear. Silver, who was probably only 7 or 8 (assuming he's close in age to you, the player, which he seems to be), is left alone, with nothing, to fend for himself (and since he's not the legal 10-11 where it's okay to abandon your children to fend for themselves in the real world, it's not okay XD). He's pissed at his father for abandoning him and for relying on others who are weak, he's pissed at Team Rocket for failing his father and causing this whole mess, he's probably pissed at Red in some ways for defeating his father (or at the very least probably resents him somewhat), he's pissed at you for defeating him all the time and probably by extension pissed at himself for being so weak--Silver's just generally pissed off all-around. Through you, the player, he sort of learns to deal with this anger and accept that a defeat is only a defeat, not the end of the world. XD

Maybe this is just my unique interpretation, but Silver's dynamic change in attitude coupled with his truly unfortunate circumstances make him, in my mind, the best rival of them all.

*triumphant sigh through nostrils* Okay, I'm done. XD