#fanfic/hc stuff is never my forte

[latealzalost]

A post on Reddit from some time ago suggested a theory that Eldes is actually Michael's father and the reason why he is so insistent on Michael consider his actions at MT. Battle is because he doesn't want him to go down a similar path. Nobody told Michael the identity of his father out of fear he might be doubtful about taking down Cipher because that would make Greevil his grandfather. Out of all the theories this sounds the most plausible given the genetics of hair and some dynamics. Thinking about it...Eldes is calm and collected, considerate of others, somewhat like Michael and he has Red hair, he also uses a Salamance, the Pokémon that Michael uses on the first simulation. Ardos is impulsive and a firecracker despite appearing loyal, willing to do anything to the point of appearing near chaotic kinda like Jovi? Maybe too many assumptions but they make a bit of sense.

Disclaimer: The following screens are from the mod XG: NeXt Gen, where the dialogue is unchanged but the characters names are no longer in all caps:

These screenshots are all the mentions of Michael's dad and his lore. All notion of the Verich Brothers or some other Cipher admin being Michael's father is vastly out-gunned by the game's heavily implied notion of the contrary. There is no evidence to suggest Eldes, nor any other known Cipher Admin, is Michael's dad. His father passed away long ago and Michael canonically suffered depression to an extent as a result. By the looks of it, his dad was a scientist, a friend of Krane, Lily's chosen lover, a skilled battler, and a real family guy. He even gave Michael his first Pokemon, Eevee.

But don't take my word for it, you can take the game's. People often miss these details about Michael's dad in their playthroughs. Details like these that give Orre that extra dimension, proof of a certain kind of love not found in modern Pokémon games. If you need to disprove someone's theory on Michael's dad, a theory akin to that infamous "Wally being related to N cause of hair color" image, feel free to link them to this master post or use this as a reference point for future theories.