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N as the Cursed Prince

The most well-known example of the Cursed Prince archetype is the Beast in Beauty and the Beast. The Beast is a young prince who has been cast under a spell that transforms his outward appearance to reflect his inner brutish and callous nature. He is essentially a man-child who must endeavor to shed his harsh exterior and be restored to the noble young man he always had the potential to be. The prince's breaking of the curse is representative of maturation during a troubled adolescence.

N has royal lineage and is crowned the King of Team Plasma during the game's prologue. His abandonment in the wilderness and subsequent "rescue" by Ghetsis can be viewed as a metaphorical curse. In addition to grooming N "since his infancy" to be a perfect pawn and figurehead, Ghetsis also alienated N from the rest of humanity through isolation and manipulation. N finds it difficult to understand people and identifies more with Pokemon, thus making him almost more akin to a creature than a man.

While N is perhaps less hostile and harsh toward the "Beauty" i.e. the player than your typical Beast, he does at times engage in villainous behavior, puts up a front of confidence, and adopts a dismissive posture toward the player. Case in point: the Ferris Wheel.

The inciting incident in many Beauty and the Beast stories is the Beast capturing the Beauty in some shape or form. He may hold her hostage or take her prisoner, though this is usually temporary. This is how I contextualize the moment in which the player is trapped, albeit briefly, in a confined space on the Ferris Wheel with N who leads you there under false pretenses. N deliberately deceives the player in order to buy his grunts time to escape, then throws down the gauntlet while the player is still reeling from the shock of his betrayal.

I think it goes overlooked how stone-cold N is in this moment which is a shame because it adds an interesting wrinkle to his characterization. He laments humanity's propensity for cruelty and dishonesty, but he, too, is not above these human shortcomings.

This moment is even more of a sucker punch given that the game intentionally invokes the Rondez-View Ferris Wheel's association with romance beforehand only to subvert it. The name of the Ferris Wheel is a play on the word "rendezvous" which can refer to a date, and the ride serves couples only. Additionally, the electric bulletin board in the Nimbasa City gate advertises the Ferris Wheel as a place where a "heart-pounding encounter" will take place. This turns out to be true, but not in the way one might initially expect; rather than referring to the exhilaration of young love, the player's heart pounds from the suspense of N's reveal.

Though the Beast takes the Beauty captive, it is he who becomes completely captivated by her. I've already written about how N is utterly mystified by the player from the moment he lays eyes on you. After the moment on the Ferris Wheel, N becomes all the more determined to try to figure you out.

In the Chargestone Cave, he continues to ask you probing questions, and if you don't answer them to his liking, he responds with displeasure and perhaps a touch of condescension.

If you respond "No" when N asks if it surprises you that he says you're chosen:

"If you don't understand what that means, it's not likely to surprise you."

If you respond "No" when he asks if you have a dream of your own:

"As if anyone without a dream could ever understand me!"

Compare this to N's more even-keeled, unperturbed reaction when you respond "Yes" to these questions:

"Of course. Such news should be a surprise."

"You have a dream... That's wonderful."

To me, this contrast is indicative of N's expectation and desperation to feel understood by the player.

Overall, N's demeanor in this location strikes me as betraying his immaturity and youth. He tries to act like he has all the answers, but all this bravado is simply a way to overcompensate for his self-doubts. Furthermore, his outburst at the Professor, while I think offers an interesting critique of the Pokedex as taxonomy, is peak angsty teen behavior.

N takes a notably different tack the next time he sees the player outside of the Mistralton gym. He tries to understand you better by speaking with your Pokemon, yes, but perhaps more significant is that he drops his confident front and displays uncertainty, vulnerability, and empathy for the player. In other words, this is the moment when the Beast starts to reveal his true self. Also of note is that Skyla just told the player that Team Plasma already moved on ahead toward Icirrus city, so N hangs back to chat with the player entirely for personal reasons.

Despite N's growing sympathy for and fascination with the player, and despite all his doubts, he continues down the path that Ghetsis laid before him. Again, this is typical of this kind of storyline; even though the Beauty sees past the Beast's veneer, he's not quite ready to let go of his Beast form. N befriends the legendary dragon, storms the Pokemon League, and defeats the Champion with the intent of separating people and Pokemon for good. Only the player stands in the way of him accomplishing this.

As the final showdown approaches, N's posturing and dismissive demeanor toward the player reappear in full force. He calls your perspective on Pokemon battles "ridiculous" and downplays his feelings for the player, stating he "actually kind of liked you a little" but was kidding himself.

However, the tyrant-prince in his faraway castle is not the heroine's gravest threat; the true villain is the wicked witch—the murderess of the innocent—a role played by Ghetsis. N is crushed but ultimately accepting of his defeat at the hands of the player; at this point Ghetsis berates and dehumanizes N for his failure, reveals the true extent of his evil machinations, and expresses his intent to eliminate the player in a surprise extra battle.

In a split-second moment that is presented somewhat ambiguously, N intervenes on the player's behalf to heal their Pokemon before the fight with Ghetsis. This crucial detail is easily missed amid the commotion, but it is a pivotal point in this storyline! N calls the player's name, a bell chimes, and then when the fight starts, the player's Pokemon are auto-healed.

Although I've seen some people suggest that Cheren heals the player in this moment, further evidence points to N being the player's intercessor. Moments earlier, N went out of his way to heal the player before his battle with you, saying there is no honor in fighting a weakened opponent. This establishes that it would be in his character to take issue with Ghetsis jumping straight into the fight. Additionally, Ghetsis's dialogue just before the fight supports this interpretation. He yells, "I won't allow anyone to stop me! No matter who does what!" which sounds like something he would say in response to someone doing something he didn't account for.

Ghetsis never accounted for N exercising agency to aid the player in your moment of crisis. Nor did he account for N developing a bond with the player which ultimately proves stronger than all of Ghetsis's manipulations and whatever sense of loyalty N may have felt for Ghetsis. This moment is huge in terms of N's character development!

The Beast's intervention/sacrifice on the Beauty's behalf earns her forgiveness which in turn breaks the curse over him. This is usually accompanied by a love confession. Given the player in BW is a silent protagonist, the closest we get to this is the heartfelt conversation between N and the player before the credits roll in which N unambiguously expresses his sincere admiration and respect for the player.

Since we only have access to one side of this conversation, it's left to our imagination to read between the lines. As N bares his soul to the player, the tone of his words is affectionate and remorseful. N expresses feelings of unworthiness with respect to the player, saying there's no way he could measure up to you. This begs the question, what exactly does he feel unworthy of? The player's sympathies? Forgiveness? Companionship?

What's more, N recounts his recollections of your first meeting which tilted his world on its axis and shattered his preconceptions (describing a first meeting in such terms is a common trope in love declarations, by the way). He goes on to say that he needed to put his beliefs to the test against you in battle "more than anything." Finally, his parting words encouraging the player to follow their dreams are poignant and affectionate ("If anyone can, it's you!").

The events in the throne room constitute a spiritual death for N—he is defeated by the player and learns that his whole life has been a lie. But this is necessary as the Beast must die so that the Prince can rise. N's new journey of self-discovery will restore him to a newfound sense of life and purpose. Indeed, we see N in the sequel fulfilling his duty as hero and king by confronting his father, passing on the torch to the sequel protagonist, and articulating a new dream to act as a bridge between people and Pokemon.

Now that the Prince's curse has been lifted, his happy ending usually entails taking the Beauty as his bride in a sacred marriage. Together they can restore balance to their kingdom. This is the only part of this story structure that remains unfulfilled in Black and White and its sequel games. However, all signs point toward a heartfelt reunion between the player and N. By the end of the sequel, he plans to set off on a new quest in search of the player and express his gratitude and feelings to them. N speaks about the original player with unmistakable reverence, wistfulness, and longing. This longing is reciprocated as we learn from the player's mom that they set off abruptly in search of N. That the player and N circle each other in this way suggests that their true sense of belonging lies in each other.

This makes sense given that the game establishes N and the player as yin and yang counterparts, equal and opposites, two sides of the same coin, etc. While the original heroes of legend were brothers described as twin heroes, the player and N are twin flames. Some dialogue from the sages in BW's post-game also hints at the depth of this connection. In particular, Giallo, while referencing the player and N's links to their respective legendary dragons, says that if two people truly understand each other, even if they are as far apart as the sea and the sky, it's like they're right beside each other.

Reading N as a Cursed Prince gives greater significance to details that often go without much analysis such as N's deception and capture of the player in the amusement park, the game designers' deliberate choice to draw attention to N's stunted development by directing the player toward his childlike playroom (the cursed prince is a man-child!), and N's intervention on the player's behalf before the final fight with Ghetsis.

Also, N's original concept art makes it even more clear how he fits into the cursed prince archetype before his design was sanitized.

At the same time, N is a mirror image of the player and resembles a typical Pokemon protagonist. N captures the box legendary, proving his heroic status, challenges the Pokemon League, and defeats the champion all before the player accomplishes any of these feats.

As Ghetsis points out, "Added to all that, his heart burns with the desire to improve the world." Unlike the player who merely wishes to defend the status quo, N possesses what the player will always lack: the ability as an outsider to radically reimagine a future that aims to redress harms perpetuated by this status quo. In my estimation, this makes him a much more admirable character than the player.

N as the Maiden in the Tower

An alternative lens through which to analyze this story is to consider N as a maiden trapped in a tower and the player as the hero who rescues him.

In many ways, N resembles a stereotypical princess character. He has two step-sisters, a wicked (step)parent in Ghetsis, and the ability to talk to wild creatures. N also seems to have the gift of foresight as he often speaks of envisioning the future. It's unclear to me if this literally means he has visions or he's just using his imagination. Either way, his daring to imagine a better world is a kind of power in itself.

N's seclusion in his castle is metaphorically identical to a young maiden's imprisonment in a high tower. It represents a loss of autonomy and total subjection to the will of the parental figure. The maiden's golden hair is a symbol of her untarnishable goodness, and she is a beacon of innocence and hope. It's noteworthy that descriptions of N by other characters like his sisters and the sages foreground similar idealized feminine traits: his generosity, beauty, innocence, kindness, and purity.

Although N is permitted to leave his tower after he is coronated as Team Plasma's King, he remains metaphorically trapped in its walls throughout his journey. He is captive to his rigid ways of thinking and to the pain and suffering he was exposed to during his youth. The player begins to penetrate these walls and shows N a different point of view. But N doesn't truly escape Ghetsis's influence until he casts it off during the climactic moment in the throne room when he stands with the player and against Ghetsis.

In the Rapunzel tale, the prince and the maiden fall in love and devise a plan to escape her tower, but they are discovered by the witch who thwarts them. She cuts off Rapunzel's hair and banishes her to the desert. Then, she throws the prince out of the tower whose fall is broken by thorn bushes that leave him blind. The two wander the desert for ten years before they reunite, and Rapunzel's tears restore the prince's lost sight.

Upon discovering N's defeat and the player's status as a true hero, Ghetsis attempts to eliminate the player and reconstitute N as a puppet ruler. Although Ghetsis is not successful, he does reveal his true intentions. N learning the sorry truth, much like the cutting of the maiden's hair, can be viewed as a loss of innocence. N must undergo a journey of self-discovery, so he departs the region and wanders for two years which is a kind of self-imposed banishment.

Meanwhile, it can be presumed that the player at some point grows listless and, like the blinded prince, lacks direction. Eventually, they leave the familiarity of the region to seek out N. The yearning to reconnect with him is so urgent that they leave behind a worried mother who has no means of contacting her child.

The eventual reunion between these two characters would entail the healing of each other's wounds and the restoration of the player's lost sense of purpose. N is very clear-eyed about his new dream, and certainly there would be room for the player to share in it through a synthesis of their previously held ideals.

Conclusion

Ultimately, the narrative of Pokemon Black and White tells a love story between the player character and N. Whether you want read it as romantic or platonic is up to you, but the love is there either way. I suspect that the romantic elements are largely kept as subtext because N's interactions with player are identical regardless of the player's gender. If the protagonist were strictly female, my guess is that the romantic elements would have been a lot more overt—GameFreak did something similar, for example, with Shauna in X and Y whose interest in the player is only addressed when you play as a boy. Basically, as usual, heteronormativity is at the scene of the crime.