In the Anime
In the anime, Damian is a character of the day who appeared in Charmander â The Stray Pokémon. He is an arrogant Trainer who is mostly interested in catching strong Pokémon, and expresses no legitimate interest in raising Pokémon himself. In the Japanese version, he also seems to neither know nor care about the inherent type weaknesses of his Pokémon, as he mocked Charmander for being too weak to even beat a Poliwag before Brock reminded him that Charmander, being a Fire-type, is naturally weak to Water Pokémon, the latter of which Poliwag belonged to.
At a Pokémon Center, Ash and his friends overheard Damian bragging about how many Pokémon he caught. He said that he left a Charmander in the nearby forest because it was too weak. Brock yelled at Damian and ordered him to reclaim his Charmander because it might die in the rain. Damian laughed it off and Ash was about to challenge him to a battle until Nurse Joy prevented the confrontation, saying that using Pokémon to settle arguments is wrong, although after they left, she warned the group about their bad reputation.
Brock and the others recovered Charmander and had it taken care of at the Pokémon Center. As soon as it felt better, Charmander left to wait for Damian once again.
Team Rocket later tried to steal Pikachu, but Charmander chased them away with a Flamethrower attack. Ash asked Charmander to join them, but Damian showed up, having learned about the fight, and said that he had purposely left Charmander alone to toughen it up. In fact, Damian was glad he didn’t have to go through the trouble of raising Charmander himself. Damian ordered Charmander to return, but Charmander wanted to stay with Ash. Enraged, Damian tried to recapture Charmander, but Charmander batted an empty Poké Ball with its tail. Then Damian tried to battle against Charmander unfairly with his other Pokémon, but a combined attack from Charmander and Pikachu scared Damian away for good.
Damian reappeared in Ash’s flashback in The Fires of a Red-Hot Reunion!.
In the Manga
Damian makes an appearance in The Electric Tale of Pikachu, but with a much different, nicer personality. His Charmander had been left waiting for him for ten days, so a Squirtle convinced it and Ash’s Pikachu to join him on a trip to the Hidden Village.
There, Charmander was reunited with Damian. Damian had gone shopping when an accident put him in a coma. He thought Charmander would end up at the Hidden Village and came looking for him. The tearful reunion inspired Squirtle to seek out its Trainer.
In the games
In Pokémon Yellow, Let’s Go, Pikachu!, and Let’s Go, Eevee!, a boy, possibly based on Damian, will give out a Charmander on Route 24. However, he noticeably regrets his poor treatment of Charmander, much like Damian did when he saw how powerful Charmander was under Ash’s control.
In Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Let’s Go, Eevee, the boy will only give the player a Charmander if they have caught 50 or more individual Pokémon.
Quotes
- If talked to
- “I’m not good at raising Pokémon. I should release my Charmander because I haven’t raised it well… If you promise me you’ll care for it, it’s yours.”
- No: “Oh… I’d better release it then.”
- Yes: (after giving the Charmander to the player) “Take good care of my Charmander!”
- If talked to again
- “How’s Charmander doing?”
Trivia
- Damian is the only character who abandoned one of Ash’s Fire-type Pokémon to not be present when said Pokémon evolves at least once.
- The blurb for the episode spells his name as Damien instead of Damian.
- When ordering Charmander to return, Damian was shown throwing Charmander’s Poké Ball at it instead of using the return function on the Poké Ball. This implies Damian had released Charmander from his Poké Ball when he abandoned it.
- This was further implied by the fact that Charmander effortlessly went into Ash’s Poké Ball when he attempted to catch it at the beginning, which should only have happened if Charmander was wild.
- In the English dub, he speaks with a Cockney accent.