In the Pokemon video games, Legendaries are almost always one-of-a-kind. The anime adaptation takes a few liberties with that formula, but the ones who aren’t completely unique in the world remain incredibly rare.
With over 1,200 episodes and counting — to say nothing of the 23 feature films — the anime’s writers have done a noble job maintaining that sense of rarity. While most Legendaries have appeared at one time or another, precious few have actually been caught.
Let’s mull over this highly exclusive list of exceptions, shall we?
8 Ash - Melmetal
In the anime, Melmetal and its earlier evolution Meltan aren’t seen as Legendaries, and instead simply as rare Pokemon that don’t appear all too often. In the games, though, this Pokemon has historically remained banned from online play due to its elusiveness and power, making Ash essentially an owner of a semi-unintentional Legendary.
This is easily proved in battle, as Melmetal is a dominant Steel-type force against Ash’s opponents in the Alola Championship. Ash usually befriends (and doesn’t catch) Legendaries, making Melmetal one of two big deviations from the rule.
7 Giovanni - Mewtwo
Some people might disagree with the definition of Giovanni having “caught” Mewtwo, but it’s arguable that Giovanni has even more ownership over Mewtwo as a breeder than a trainer. Mewtwo is made through experiments by Giovanni’s scientists, making him artificially created in a functionally similar way as hatching an egg.
Even so, Giovanni is only able to use Mewtwo to do his bidding very briefly before the powerful creation escapes, taking its revenge upon those who wronged it… and plenty who didn’t, too.
6 One Random Sinnoh Trainer - Heatran
Quite possibly the strangest Legendary included in a trainer’s arsenal is this unnamed trainer waiting in line to sign up for Sinnoh’s Lily of the Valley Conference. Heatran is mostly considered a rare Pokemon rather than a one-of-a-kind Legendary, but it still can’t breed and only comes in a single encounter in most games, making its random ownership especially bizarre.
This is one of the strongest Pokemon a background character has owned, and the fact that they don’t appear ever again makes one wonder if Heatran wasn’t originally meant to be a Legendary in the Sinnoh games. The fact that the anonymous catcher is eliminated at some point in the tournament without the show’s viewers getting to see it happen is a bleak mark on a fairly excellent conclusion to Ash’s journey through Sinnoh.
5 Gladion - Silvally
It’s quite rare for trainers to catch Legendaries in the wild, but not every Legendary that’s “befriended” by a human is necessarily a partner in the same way. This is why Gladion is especially worth noting, as he didn’t exactly catch Silvally (or Type: Null before it evolved) as much as he stole it to keep it safe.
That said, these two are clearly partners on a higher level than any other befriended Pokemon, making it valid to say that Gladion has caught Silvally like any random Pokemon. This trainer is impossible to imagine without it, and its unique nature means it’ll likely never have a trainer use Silvally as well as Gladion absolutely can.
4 Tobias - Darkrai and Latios
Tobias is frankly infamous in the world of the Pokemon anime, having caught not one, but two Legendaries without any information as to how. Alongside a Darkrai that he wipes the Lily of the Valley Conference in Sinnoh with, he also has a Latios ready as a back-up Legendary to quickly take down foes in a truly competitive style.
Tobias ends up beating Ash with these two Pokemon, and it’s one of the few times that a trainer owning a Legendary felt like an unfair advantage. The fact that Tobias leads Darkrai into a blisteringly rough loss for Ash — who had climbed the ranks of a tournament higher than any prior region in Sinnoh’s climax — feels less like an earned win and almost akin to a sick prank by the writers.
3 Brandon - Regirock, Regice, and Registeel
Brandon ’s fascination with history and archaeology adds a fun layer to his persona in the Pokemon anime, and his position as a Frontier Brain primes him as a solid (albeit short-term) rival to Ash. It’s only fitting that this combination comes with a full trio of Regis, ancient beings made of raw elements that give Ash a major run for his money in his Battle Frontier quest.
The one Regi he wasn’t able to capture was Regigigas, who he simply befriended while exploring the Sinnoh region beyond his first appearances in Hoenn.
2 Nurse Joy - Latias
There is, indeed, a Nurse Joy who owns a Legendary Pokemon. This particularly stellar iteration in the impossibly large family is a member of the Pokemon Inspection Agency; she resolves to determine whether Brock is worthy of the Pewter City Gym in a surprising episode.
How did Nurse Joy manage to catch Latias? We imagine the same way as most trainers do — throwing a Poke Ball and praying. It’s almost enough to make us want to pen an absurd fanfiction about how the Nurses Joy are, in fact, secretly the strongest trainers in the entire series.
1 Goh - Suicune
The last and most recent trainer to own a Legendary is Goh, Ash’s friend and companion in the Pokemon Journeys series who dreams of catching every Pokemon. This includes Legendaries. Goh had previously tangled with other Legendaries, such as Zapdos, but (understandably) failed to catch any of them. That’s what makes his success with Suicune all the more stunning.
Given the nature of the anime, one would be forgiven for assuming that, at the end of this special episode, Goh would release Suicune. You know, anything to keep a major character from permanent ownership of something so precious and rare.
And yet, nope, it refused to leave. Wow. Go, Goh.
Special Mentions: Mythical Pokemon
We’d be remiss not to honor the few Pokemon belonging to the Mythical category who have also been caught. Mythicals are the absolute gold standard in rarity. Bulbapedia notes, these creatures are so rare, some doubt their existence entirely.
Going chronologically, Celebi was caught briefly by the Iron-Masked Marauder, a Team Rocket Elite Officer and the villain in Celebi: The Voice of the Forest.
In Pokemon the Series: Sun & Moon, Mallow effectively caught a Shaymin by nursing it back to health and keeping it with her for the last 38 episodes of the saga.
Lastly, Magearna belongs to Lillie’s household, also in Sun & Moon. When last we checked in on Magearna, it was traveling alongside Lillie, Gladeon, and Silvally in search for the siblings’ father, Mohn.
