For the most part, the Pokémon franchise focuses around fun, friendship, and adventure as trainers journey from their homes to meet new people and Pokémon, but despite its cheerful appearances, there is one Pokémon that was once considered officially evil. Between creepy Pokédex entries and hidden lore about Pokémon who lure children to their doom, the Pokémon franchise has an undeniable dark side that makes the series all the more thrilling. However, of all 898 Pokémon currently in the National Pokédex, only one Pokémon in the entire franchise has ever been officially deemed evil.

Many Pokémon in the franchise can be pretty terrifying with their otherworldly powers, especially those that behave in disturbing or even violent ways. Many Ghost-Type Pokémon such as Drifloon and Litwick are known to lure children to their deaths, either to absorb their souls or simply lead them away to the afterlife, and Pokémon like Froslass and Yveltal are known killers as well. Even the beautiful Ninetails is notably vindictive and puts 1,000 year generational curses on people to enact its revenge. However, based on the in-universe lore about these creatures, Pokémon aren’t considered evil as they only exhibit natural behavior for their species, even if the humans that share their world experience horrors as a result.

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According to The Official Pokémon Handbook, which was published in 1999, Pokémon don’t do bad things of their own volition and only commit heinous acts and misdeeds when they are forced to by their trainer. That fact may be up for debate in the two decades since its publication, with the sinister Pokémon like Yamask, a dead human's ghost, that have debuted from Gen II onwards, and players will likely have their own opinions on which Pokémon are evil and which are simply behaving in accordance with their nature. However, the Handbook notes that Team Rocket’s Meowth is the one specific exception to the rule, making it the only Pokémon that’s officially confirmed to be evil in the entire franchise.

Why Team Rocket’s Meowth Is Evil In Pokémon

In the Pokémon universe, Team Rocket’s Meowth is considered to be evil because he willingly helps Team Rocket scheme to capture, and mistreat other Pokémon. However, despite their tendency to steal and cause mischief, not all Meowths are bad, making evil a trait that’s completely unique to Team Rocket’s Meowth. Team Rocket’s Pokémon Meowth is also one of the only Pokémon that can communicate with human speech, and he’s the mastermind who builds Team Rocket’s many machines and comes up with their evil plans. Regardless of the fact that he’s often not taken seriously, Meowth is a proud member of Team Rocket and enjoys getting into mischief with Jessie and James, who he is extremely loyal to.

Meowth’s above-average intelligence and drive to learn new things and become better at his job sets him apart from others of his kind. In fact, it was his ambition that allowed him to teach himself to walk, talk, and scheme like a human, inevitably giving him the capacity to make evil decisions and commit crimes. In the end, it’s his choice to become a villain that makes him villainous, not his nature as a Pokémon, which is what makes Team Rocket’s Meowth uniquely evil in the Pokémon franchise.

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