#Hop’s Character Arc Is The Best Part of Pokémon Sword & Shield -BB

Over the holidays, I decided to dip into the latest iteration of the Pokémon series because I was curious about how it would handle its first big leap to a home console. That jump has come with a lot of differing opinions, but as someone who at best could be described as a casual player of these games, some of the retractions Sword & Shield made don’t have an impact on me. I usually play these games as fresh experiences, don’t have an interest in the competitive scene, and the batteries on my childhood Yellow, Gold, and Silver carts are dead anyways, so it’s not like I could bring those Pokémon along for the ride.

After making my way through Shield, I found myself enjoying the new Pokémon while being able to play as Love Live! Sunshine!!’s Ruby Kurosawa thanks to the character creator, but I thought the story was kind of mediocre and saw some rough framerate dips in those wild areas. There was one aspect that stood out to me and had me intrigued going into the game, however, and ended up being perhaps the most fascinating part. That is, of course, the characterization of Hop.

– Spoilers for Pokémon Sword and Shield follow! –

As an outsider looking in after the launch of these games, it was interesting to see the divisiveness quickly spread when it came to people’s opinions about Hop. Some folks pointed out that he was annoying or that they just couldn’t stand him, while others were quick to defend him. So, one of the first things I wanted to know when I started Shield was who Hop actually is as a character and why he had become so controversial. To my surprise, I found a character that’s full of layers, a beacon of positive mental attitude, and is actually the deuteragonist of the whole game.

From the moment he shows up, Hop is under an immense amount of pressure. It certainly wouldn’t look like it from the outside with how he’s brimming with confidence about wanting to be the next champion and follow in his brother’s footsteps. At this point, he’s most definitely unaware of the beatdown your character is going to consistently give him. Yet, there’s a reason for him to be confident. He’s studied his brother’s matches and grown up around the champion, so he would know a thing or two about what made him successful. Thus, he essentially believes he should be able to be on the same level as Leon.

The problem that arises with comparing yourself to a sibling, a parent, a significant other, or anyone else important and close to you is that it brings forth lofty expectations. Whether created by yourself or others, they’re going to add more stress, pressure, and anxiety which can cause you to slip up. It’s why in the sports world, for example, it’s rare to see siblings both be extremely successful at the highest level, or for second or third-generation athletes to live up to the success of their parents. Critics will always compare you to who you’re close to, and as soon as something goes awry, you’re labeled as being worse—which is essentially what Hop ends up going through as the story progresses.

This is all compounded when Leon basically gives your character and Hop his endorsement to join the Gym Challenge. Hop can’t just be any other challenger, he immediately shoots up to being a front runner, which, as we see in the beginning, is what he’d want. However, everything doesn’t exactly go his way. He’s able to get through gyms without any problems, but anytime he faces your character, that’s when things start to go wrong. Multiple losses begin to occur when he goes up against you, but that’s not enough to deter Hop, as each time he goes back to the drawing board to try and tinker with his team and develop a better strategy going forward. 

Following a loss and verbal beatdown from Bede, Hop loses his way for a bit. He has to disappear to try and figure out what’s going wrong. Yes, he can tackle these gyms, but he’s losing to you and now another challenger. That puts him into a tough spot because if he’s having trouble beating two other participants, how exactly is he going to be the next champion and get the opportunity to battle his brother? The cracks are beginning to show here, and all of the pressure is now squeezing down on Hop.

Despite these challenges, he still keeps a smile on his face and pushes forward. Not once does he try to utilize any shortcuts and attempts to keep his frustrations hidden. If something’s not working, then there’s still time to alter his strategy. Time runs out, though, when you face off on the grandest stage and are able to beat Hop again. Perhaps, the biggest moment for Hop happens after you beat him, and you see his frustrations and anger show for a brief second. The pain of losing yet again, being unable to beat his rival, and failing at his ultimate goal crushes him. However, it’s only for a fleeting moment, as he’s back to his normal self immediately afterwards.

It would’ve been easy for the story to at any point turn Hop into a villain and make him more of the classic rival archetype. He could have easily crumbled under his frustrations and the pressure he was under, but he doesn’t and the game’s better for it. Sword and Shield do have issues with creating a main villain that’s not very obvious, but making Hop a bad guy would’ve been a cop out. Instead, he’s the reason you’re able to rise to the top and constantly improve as the two of you are able to consistently push each other to become better. Afterall, he’s an important part of the ending portion of the game and his help is valuable toward stopping the villain’s plot. 

Hop’s whole arc shows that failure isn’t something that needs to define you and that you can rise above people’s initial expectations. Any misstep that happens to try and take you down is another opportunity for you to learn and better yourself. Would your protagonist have had the same road to the top without Hop? I’d wager they still could’ve been successful, but just going up against Marnie and Bede wouldn’t have been enough to give you that extra push to make it to the top. Hop is able to give you the toughest battles at times and is effectively your strongest competition that you regularly come across, and that continues all the way to the end of the game. His whole arc is some of the best writing and story in the whole game and who knows, maybe with the decision he makes at the end, we’ll see him in a future game down the road.

Do you think you could have kept the same level of positive vibes that Hop does if you suffered the same amount of losses? Or would you have instead gone in a different direction? Let us know down in the comments below!

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Jared Clemons is a writer and podcaster for Seasonal Anime Checkup where he can be found always wanting to talk about Love Live! Sunshine!! or whatever else he’s into at the moment. He can be found on Twitter @ragbag.

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