Cyrus (Pokémon)

"Because the human spirit is weak and incomplete, strife has spread... This world is being ruined by it... I find this state of affairs deplorable."

- Cyrus

Cyrus is the leader of Team Galactic and the main antagonist of the Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum Pokemon games. For most of his appearances, he appears to be completely stoic, but he explains early on in the games that this emotionlessness is done on purpose; he views emotions as a fallacy of the weak human heart, and always strives to be above such things. He is extremely adept with machines.

Pokémon Diamond/Pearl/Platinum
He was seen at multiple spots including Mt Coronet and Celestic Town (as well as Lake Verity and Eterna City in Platinum). Later He was revealed to be the Team Galactic leader in the encounter with him in Celestic Town (and was also battled there in Platinum). He also battles the player in Team Galactic HQ and gives him/her the Master Ball upon his defeat. His defeat in the games differs between versions. In either Diamond or Pearl, he furiously attacks the player after his plan to take control of Dialga or Palkia fails thanks to the Lake Trio (Uxie, Mesprit and Azelf) and he simply leaves, swearing to build his new world someday.

In Platinum, his plans to take control of Dialga and Palkia fail not just because of the Lake Trio intervening, but Giratina appearing in a rage due to him about to willfully disrupt time and space and capturing him, taking him to the Distortion World. He believes that the real world and the Distortion World will cease to be because of Giratina's defeat or capture, and stays in the alternate world. It was also revealed by a man who lived on Route 229 that he was worn down by his parents' expectations and found refuge by tinkering with machines.

In the anime
For main article see: Cyrus

Personality
Cyrus appears to be completely emotionless. Some believe that he touched Mesprit as a child and his emotions drained away in a few days. However, he was greatly angered upon his ultimate defeat. He faked his emotionlessness as well as his charismatic attitude during a speech in Platinum, making him something of a charismatic psychopath.

He is also unrepentant as even after his final defeat he has neither given up his goal to create a new world nor shown any sign of remorse for his actions.

In the manga
Cyrus makes his first appearance in Vs. Stunky as a silhouette walking down Route 207 where he receives a package; he is fully revealed after signing the receipt and goes to Mt. Coronet. When Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum pass through Mt. Coronet he coldly attacks them with his newly evolved Probopass and Magnezone, trapping them underneath a pile of rubble and leaves while stating that they were disturbing sacred ground.

Cyrus later appears at the Celestic ruins where Diamond and Pearl finally meet him in person. He came to the ruins to find information of the Legendary Pokémon Uxie, Azelf, and Mesprit. He battles Cynthia's Garchomp and later, Diamond and Pearl, who had stolen the camera he used to take pictures of the paintings in the ruins. As they battle each other, Pearl has his Chatler destroy the camera that Cyrus was fighting for. With his camera destroyed and having the information he needed, Cyrus takes his leave and traps the two boys on top of a pillar of stone.

After Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn arrive from their successful mission to capture the Lake guardians, Cyrus begins the creation of the Red Chain.

After managing to make one Red Chain, Cyrus is attacked by the researcher of the Sinnoh myths and the Sinnoh region Champion, Cynthia. After a long battle, Cyrus manages to escape with Cynthia and her Garchomp far too exhausted to follow him. When he goes to check on the progress of the second Red Chain’s creation, he finds that Azelf, Mesprit, and Uxie have all been freed from their containers. Cyrus, realizing that recapturing them would be impossible and that he has to use his weaker, artificially created Red Chain, furiously flies off to the Spear Pillar.

He arrives at the Spear Pillar where he greeted by his Galactic Commanders who were worried about his injured state. Cyrus tells them to ignore it and stop any intruders from interrupting his ritual to summon the Legendary Dialga and Palkia. Cyrus manages to summon the two dragon Pokémon and has them fight each other, causing Time and Space to distort in various ways. Mars, Saturn, and Jupiter are eventually defeated by the Sinnoh Gym Leaders and they all ambush Cyrus while he has Dialga and Palkia fight each other. Despite his best efforts, Cyrus is unable to stop them from breaking the Red Chain he was using and unleashes his fury onto them.

Later, when Diamond and Pearl go through with their assault on Dialga and Palkia, Cyrus attacks them while under the cover of a thick black haze. He reveals the reason for why he tried to make a new world; while Emotion, Knowledge, and Willpower make up a complete world, the world they live always has one that is lacking compared to the other two and as such, Cyrus aims to create a world without any of these aspects, a world that is "perfect."

When Diamond uses his newly acquired Regigigas to stop Dialga and Palkia from causing anymore space-time anomalies, Cyrus attacks the boy and knocks him off the giant Pokémon. Cyrus states that Diamond wouldn’t be able to understand the reason why he does the things he does but the young boy replies with his own definition of Time and Space that he had learned on his journey with Pearl and Platinum. Cyrus at first ignores his words but quickly notices that Dialga and Palkia have stopped fighting with each other and quickly uses the Red Chain to get them fighting again. With only one Red Chain, Cyrus only has half control over the two dragons; Diamond and Pearl decide to take advantage of this and attack the two dragons with their teams.

Dialga and Palkia, now freed from their controlled status, use their powers to create a sphere of light that pulls Cyrus off the ground and into it. As he floats into the sphere of light, Cyrus looks at the Sinnoh Pokédex holders and realizes that they are a perfect combination of Knowledge (Platinum), Emotion (Diamond), and Willpower (Pearl) and that was the reason he was defeated. He is next seen lying unconscious on the ground where Cynthia decides to take him to the hospital before interrogating him. While he and the unconscious Gym Leaders he had defeated earlier are taken to get medical help an accident caused by Charon's machine causes a hole to appear in the sky, where mysterious black tentacles drag Dialga, Palkia, and Cyrus into it.

Later, Cyrus appears in the Distortion World, still alive after the battle on Spear Pillar. He is discovered by Diamond, who had been sent there after being hit by one of Giratina's attacks. After explaining how he ended up there, Diamond asks Cyrus if he knew if there was any way to defeat Giratina. He takes Diamond to an area where Giratina had kept Dialga and Palkia trapped after it dragged them into the Distortion World. Cyrus reveals that his defeat at the Spear Pillar helped him see the error of his ways and he now wants to support Diamond's wishes. Together, they use their Pokémon to break Dialga and Palkia from the mineral that had them captured, freeing them in the process. Afterward, they ride the dragons over to where Pearl is, surprising him due to him not expecting Cyrus to be helping them.

As the battle between the legendary Pokémon continues getting more and more chaotic, everyone begins to gather together. Cyrus listens to everyone realize that even though humans and Pokémon make mistakes, they'll work together to try to fix it. This gives Cyrus a sense of gratitude in his heart, which causes Shaymin to fly into his arms and later join the battle.

After Charon is defeated, Cyrus and his Commanders emerge from the Distortion World unharmed. Charon tries to lie to Cyrus by claiming that he intended to gather the legendary Pokémon for Team Galactic's sake. Cyrus reaches down to Charon, which Saturn and Mars think it means he's going to pinch him. However, Cyrus only takes his machine, and praises Charon for his technological genius. The records reveal that he has been using it since the battle on the Spear Pillar, which angers Saturn into figuring out that he was attempting to use the machine to control Dialga and Palkia into opening a hole to the Distortion World, to which Charon denies.

Cyrus speaks to his four Commanders once more and reveals that he is disbanding Team Galactic. He begins to leave and tells them to do whatever they wish, but an angry Jupiter tells him that without Team Galactic, she, Mars, and Saturn have nowhere else to go. Listening to her wishes, Cyrus takes Saturn, Mars, and Jupiter away with him and thanks Diamond, Pearl, Platinum for their help.

Trivia

 * Most of his Pokemon are male except for Magnezone, Palkia, and Dialga, who are genderless.
 * Cyrus shares similarities with Lysandre, as both have plans for world domination. Also both share the same Pokemon: Gyarados and Honchkrow.
 * Cyrus' Pokémon are all either of Dark-type and/or Flying-type (his Honchkrow is both). Also all of his Pokémon are dual-types, and they all have a weakness to Rock.