Lysandre

"I want to be the kind of person who gives... But in this world, some foolish humans exist who would show their strength by taking what isn't theirs."

- Lysandre

Lysandre is the main antagonist of the 2013 Pokémon video games Pokémon X and Pokémon Y. He is the boss of Team Flare.

History
Lysandre is first met in Lumiose City in Professor Sycamore's lab. Lysandre shows enthusiasm towards the player and their friends, applauding them for embarking on the Pokemon journey and calling them the "chosen ones." He also reveals that he is close friends with Professor Sycamore, having carried out research projects together in the past.

The player interacts with Lysandre during their journey, learning of his ideals: to create a beautiful world, one without any suffering. Lysandre tells the player the story of the King of Kalos, who attempted to destroy Kalos via the use of a secret weapon as vengeance for humankind's horrific acts during a huge war. He also reveals that he is a descendent of the King's younger brother. He repeatedly expresses remorse for mankind's condition, similar to the sentiment which the King of Kalos felt, and tells the player that be believes that mankind is selfish and constantly takes what is not theirs. He says that the acts of the King of Kalos were "reprehensible," but admits that these actions were what allowed the world to be "cleansed of that era's filth."

He contacts the player occasionally to talk about Mega Evolution and continues to talk of "cleansing" the world. Eventually, he reveals himself as the leader of Team Flare, whose motivation is to repeat what the King of Kalos once did and reconstruct the world, inviting the player to join his cause. This would mean eliminating all humans and Pokémon, letting only those of Team Flare survive, and creating new world consisting purely of Team Flare's members.

Lysandre shows genuine remorse for having to destroy all these lives, openly crying in front of the player. He claims that this path was the only option due to resources, space, and energy being limited on the planet. Lysandre argues that the number of Pokémon and people on the planet had reached an unsustainable level, and that if Pokémon and "corrupt" people continued to exist in the world, it would lead to even more suffering. He believes that Pokémon are wonderful beings, but that humankind abused them in wars and used them in theft, and, thusly, decides that destroying them is the only answer.

When facing the player, he says:

"When there is only one of something, it can't be shared. When something can't be shared, it will be fought over. And when something is fought over, some must survive without it. The only way to create a world where people live in beauty, a world without conflict or theft, is to reduce the number of living things."



In battle, Lysandre is confirmed to have access to a Mega Ring, like the player's.

When defeated for the final time, a desperate Lysandre tries to force immortality on the player and their companions (in Pokémon X) / to destroy the entire building by firing what little power remains in the ultimate weapon (in Pokémon Y). The blast from the weapon destroys it, causing the building to become buried in the rubble. The player and their companions are able to escape the blast. Lysandre's fate, as well as the fate of the individual members of Team Flare, is left ambiguous. After these events, however, Team Flare disbands as an organization.

After the event, Professor Sycamore apologizes to the player on behalf of Lysandre. Professor Sycamore thanks the player for thwarting Team Flare's schemes, and says that, in doing this, the player was able to "save" Lysandre. Professor Sycamore also says that he is partially responsible for what Lysandre did, as he never talked to Lysandre directly about how flawed the man's plans were.

In the Anime
Lysandre made his debut in the anime in Mega Evolution Special I. Though he was not identified as the caller at the time, he contacted Alain via the Holo Caster, directing him to where a new Mega Stone could be found. He also was seen observing the power of Alain's Mega Charizard X during its battle with Siebold's Mega Blastoise. He appeared again in Mega Evolution Special 2, in which he traveled to Hoenn. He intervened in Alain's battle with Steven, and introduced Alain and Steven properly to each other. It was revealed that in the past, he defeated Alain in a battle over an Ampharosite, then took Alain to Lysandre Labs and recruited him to work in a project to harness the energy of Mega Evolution for peaceful purposes. Lysandre was also the one who awarded Alain his Mega Ring and Charizardite X, though he asked Alain to not tell Professor Sycamore of the research, fearing that people with bad intentions would bring harm to him in order to obtain it. Later, he traveled with Alain, Mairin and Steven to a ruin, where they uncovered an ancient megalith. However, his research on the megalith accidentally summoned Rayquaza, who destroyed the area. After the encounter with Rayquaza, Lysandre discovered a similar energy reading to the megalith near Rustboro City, and asked Alain to go there and investigate. He also covertly ordered Alain to keep a close eye on Steven, for the Hoenn Champion had precious information on Mega Evolution.

Lysandre reappears in the main anime series as the main antagonist in the XY&Z arc.

Pokémon Adventures manga
Lysandre makes his first appearance in Lumiose City, where he is visiting his friend Professor Sycamore's lab. The professor shows him a video of the battle between Xerneas and Yveltal that happened in Vaniville Town. Lysandre notes from the footage that Xerneas can give life while Yveltal takes it. He asks Sycamore to give him a copy of the footage for further study.

After arriving in Lumiose City and meeting Professor Sycamore, Trevor and his friends are sent to Lysandre to get Trevor's Holo Caster fixed. After noticing Lysandre's shadow in one of Viola's photographs of the incident in Vaniville Town, Trevor immediately suspects Lysandre to be the villain behind it and gets scared. When Lysandre takes notice of the picture, he demands that Trevor show it to him and threatens the group with his Pokémon. The kids are saved by Diantha, who gets Lysandre to back off with her Mega Gardevoir. The two converse on what they think beauty represents, which ends when Lysandre gets a call from Xerosic asking whether or not he should move Xerneas's tree form. After fixing the Holo Caster, Lysandre leaves to do other business. As he flies off to somewhere else, Lysandre tells his Gyarados that it will too be able to Mega Evolve one day.

Trivia

 * Lysandre has similarilties to the Diamond and Pearl  antagonist and Team Galactic boss, Cyrus,  with his goal of creating a new world. They also have two similar  Pokémon:  Honchkrow and Gyarados.
 * His role of being Team Flare's leader can be considered obvious as he goes on long tangents about beauty and global destruction, has fiery red hair, dresses like someone associated with Team Flare, and owns a cafe that Team Flare members frequent.
 * He is the inventor of the Holocaster.
 * He is the descendant of the brother of King AZ (the King of Kalos). King AZ was similar to Lysandre, as they both used the Ultimate Weapon in an attempt to "beautify" the world, or purify it from what they deemed as "corruption."
 * Lysandre is one of three people in the main storyline to use a Mega  Pokémon d uring battle, the others being the Gym Leader Korrina and the Kalos Champion Diantha. After defeating the Elite Four and Diantha, your primary rival (Serena or Calem) gains the ability to use Mega Evolution as well.
 * Lysandre's cybernetic suit, the Lysandre Machine, was meant to be used to drain Xerneas/Yveltal's power into the ultimate weapon.
 * Elite Four member Malva was a member of Team Flare and therefore knew Lysandre.
 * His Mienshao is the only Pokemon on his team that isn't a dual-type.
 * Curiously, unlike most villains, Lysandre expresses friendly feelings towards the player and sends frequent messages to him/her on the Holocaster to dispense advice or sayings that espouse Team Flare ideology. When he reveals himself to be the leader of Team Flare, he invites the player to join Team Flare, citing his/her "great potential" to make the world a better place.
 * Lysandre's Gyarados knows Iron Head and Outrage, which it cannot learn unless if taught from a Move Tutor. This can be done either by trading with Omega Ruby or Alpha Sapphire, or importing it from Generation V through Pokemon Bank after learning it from Generation IV or V's Move Tutors.
 * Lysandre's hairstyle was stylized to somewhat resemble a male Pyroar's mane, one of his Pokémon.
 * In appearance he is similar to Ganondorf: the main antagonist of the Legend of Zelda franchise. Also they both have red hair.
 * Personality-wise and Goal-oriented, he is similar to Richmond Valentine, the main antagonist of Kingsman: The Secret Service:
 * ​Both own prestigious companies that involves in technology.
 * Both of their goals are to save the environment from human destruction.
 * Both of their goals however involves getting rid of the human race, save for their own groups.
 * Both at some offered the heroes to join their groups.
 * Both have showed remorse for some of their actions, but still perform them as long as they benefit their goals.
 * Both tried to get rid of the protagonists despite them already stopping their plans.
 * Both after finally being defeated accepted that fact that they are going to die.
 * Despite being villains, both manage to be genuinely polite.
 * As such, both genuinely care for their Right-Hands. (Alain and Gazelle respectively)