My thoughts on Giovanni and his character in Gen 1

So I recently replayed Gen 1, and I have some new perspective on Giovanni and his character that I haven’t considered when I was a kid.

At the end of the game, Giovanni being revealed as a gym leader on Viridian city makes sense for a game design perspective because it tantalizes players with their end goal, but it can also add a new perspective on Giovanni’s character.

You see, in his gym Giovanni declares “this is my hideout! I planned to resurrect Team Rocket here! But, you have caught me again! So be it! This time, I'm not holding back! Once more, you shall face Giovanni, the greatest trainer!” you’ll notice he does not say that the gym is team rocket’s hideout, but ‘his’ hideout, and that there are no rockets present in the gym. This implies this isn’t where team rocket was founded, but instead it’s where Giovanni himself has started his journey. After being defeated, Giovanni says “Having lost, I cannot face my underlings! Team Rocket is finished forever! I will dedicate my life to the study of Pokémon! Let us meet again some day! Farewell!"

With all these information in mind, I realised Giovanni has a pretty many parallels to player(Red) within narrative. Just like Red, Giovanni once was a trainer that started his journey on a small, simple town(which was also just a one road away from our starting point as well) before becoming crime boss and founding team rocket. He also claims he is the ‘greatest trainer’ which also mirrors Red’s journey to become the greatest trainer as well.

These information implies that Giovanni was once a trainer just like red, a naive trainer who started his journey on a small town to become the very best. But as time passes, he lost the charm and soul of being a Pokémon trainer, and went to the dark path of crime which only knew to exploit and harass pokemon for his own greed.

With this in mind, it makes sense for why Giovanni disbanded team rocket after he was defeated by red in his gym. By seeing red, Giovanni was reminded who he once was: a young, talented trainer who treats his pokemon with kindness and respect. Also, been returning to his hometown likely had reminded Giovanni his original intention and mindset for being pokemon trainer as well. So after being defeated by red, Giovanni decided to start again as a pokemon trainer, one that’s more like red’s.

In conclusion: Giovanni has a pretty decent character arc within the Gen 1 games.