It had to be here of course. The very question that has plagued the fandom for years and that people have constantly pondered. The writers still have yet to tell us just who Satoshi's father is, so for the time being, all we can do is speculate endlessly about who his father is. All we know is that his father was able to reach Tokiwa City in four days. Hanako has not mentioned Satoshi's father since episode 2 and that was the only time he was mentioned.

Let's go over all the crazy theories of who Satoshi's father is now. Well, they aren't all that crazy, but some of them are...

Candidate 1: Sakaki

"Luke... I mean, Satoshi. I am your father."

Sakaki, the leader of Roketto-dan? I kinda have my doubts about this because I don't think making the leader of Roketto-dan Satoshi's father is something that the writers would do. Unless they were big Star Wars fans. What do you mean Star Wars isn't the only instance of the bad guy being the protagonist's father? Blasphemy! *cough* Anyway... the musical production, Pokémon Live, suggested that Ash's mom and the Team Rocket leader had a relationship in the past. However, it also claimed Giovanni was the one who founded Team Rocket when a Japanese CD Drama tells us that Sakaki's mother ran Roketto-dan before him. No surprise really, considering this was a Western production and can't really be considered canon.

Still, it is a very popular theory for some reason. o.O Not a bad idea if you're a fanfic writer and want to give Satoshi angst. >_>;

Candidate 2: Orchid-hakase

Eldershipping for the win! *waves Eldershipping flag* I fully support a relationship between Yukinari Orchid-hakase and Hanako, but I do have my doubts about Orchid-hakase actually being Satoshi's father. Hanako is quite young and when Satoshi was born, she would have been around nineteen years old. Nowadays, a relationship between her and Orchid-hakase wouldn't matter so much, but to suggest Orchid-hakase would have slept with an eighteen year old at the age of thirty nine is just a little bit much, don't you think? (We know he's around fifty now because of the Celebi move.) So, they can be having a relationship now, but ten years ago, it just seems kind of iffy.

Besides, if Orchid-hakase was really Satoshi's father, don't you think there's a slim chance they would have told him by now? Even if they wanted to hide the truth to prevent some big scandal and gossip running amok in Masara Town at the time, they are mature adults now and I don't think the town would be bothered by them having a relationship.

Candidate 3: Wataru

I've seen this theory someplace, but they were probably written before Wataru even showed up in the anime. He didn't show up until late Johto after all and I think he does look a bit young to be the father of a ten year old boy. (Maybe even older than that if you're in support of the people aging in the anime theory.) I guess it might have seemed like an interesting theory in the past before he ever made his appearance, but now? Not so much.

Candidate 4: Professor Sully Snowdon

In the first picture, you can see a younger Orchid-hakase with his students, Hanako and Sully Snowdon, a character introduced in the third movie. The second picture features Orchid-hakase, Hanako, Satoshi (isn't he cute? ^_^) and Sully with his family. Mii Snowdon is obviously a few years younger than Satoshi, so Sully may have not have been with his wife all that long. Considering that Hanako and Sully knew each other in the past, it could be possible that they were especially close before he met his wife.

Sully's wife wasn't actually taken by the Unknown. 4Kids just couldn't handle the idea of someone *gasp* leaving their spouse! How awful! All those poor children's minds would be corrupted! Anyway, she left him in the Japanese version but 4Kids just had to do that funky little cover up thing they liked doing sometimes. Why did she leave him? Did she discover that Sully was hiding a secret from her concerning his illegitimate child?

LOL. I have crazy theories sometimes. >_>'

Candidate 5: Houou

Okay, I think we can all see what is wrong with this theory. I mean, Houou is a Pokémon and I doubt that Satoshi is half Pokémon. In fact, I strongly believe that Satoshi's father is very much a human being and is in no way a Pokémon, but what the heck, I put Houou here anyway. The truth is, Satoshi seeing Houou is supposed to signify that he is a special trainer or something like that. Which doesn't explain why Haruka, Masato, Takeshi and Enishida got to join in on the Houou sighting in the King of Pokélantis episode. Sure, Haruka is a decent Pokémon trainer and Takeshi might have been a gym leader once, but Enishida and Masato?

Candidate 6: Silver

Remember this guy? He showed up in one of the Pokémon HoSo episodes. He has a Chikorita who stays out of its Monster Ball and could be seen as a parallel to Satoshi's Pikachu (Satoshi also had a Chikorita.) His Bohmander could also be considered a parallel to Satoshi's Lizardon. While Silver was on his journey as a boy, he saw Fire, much like Satoshi saw Houou. Not only that, but when Hiroshi mentions Satoshi by name, Silver reacts to it. Now isn't that bizarre? Sure, Masato knew who Satoshi was, but only because he had been constantly rewatching the Shirogane Conference on tape and he got his name wrong anyway.

That isn't all. Silver says that Hiroshi reminds him of himself when he was a boy and Hiroshi replies that he is in fact a clone of Satoshi. Well, okay, he didn't exactly say it in those words, more like along the lines of how a lot of the same qualities are present in Satoshi... *coughbecausehesaclonecough* So, Silver had a similar personality of Satoshi as a boy and has a hell of a lot of things in common with him? I could easily see this guy actually being Satoshi's father.

Word of God

Okay, so the writers haven't exactly told us who Satoshi's father is, but there have been some interesting tidbits from them concerning this mysterious character.

Takeshi Shudo used to be one of the main writers (even writing the script for the first and second episode), but his name was eventually dropped from the credits, so I assume he doesn't work on the show anymore. He published two novels based off the anime, with some interesting information on the world of Pokémon and character backgrounds. Hanako wished to become a Pokémon trainer and would have left Masara Town at the age of 10, had it not been for the fact her mother ran the inn and she was the successor, so she remained. Her father had gone on a journey to be a Pokémon trainer. When Hanako was 18, a man of the same age, also on a journey to be a Pokémon trainer, was staying at the inn and they fell in love and got married very quickly. The man then left to return to his journey and Hanako's mother died, so she was left with the restaurant and a newborn baby.

A storyboarder for the anime recently had something to say about Satoshi's father. Satoshi's grandfather was a great trainer who travelled the lands a long time ago. Satoshi's father followed in his footsteps and left. This contradicts Shudo's novel though, where it is said that Satoshi's father and Hanako's father weren't very good trainers at all. Satoshi's grandfather was mentioned in the the second episode too, but it was omitted from the dub.

According to the storyboarder, Satoshi's father will only appear if the writers feel that he needs to grow as a character. Okay, writers, give him the darn character development then! We want to know who his father is already. It's been long enough.

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