How does one become an Elite Four Member?

[Super Saiyan Overlord1007]

Becoming Champion is pretty obvious, beat 8 Gym Leaders (Except for Gary Motherfucking Oak who beat 10 first time around), beat the elite four, than beat the previous champion. But how the hell do you become an Elite Four Member. Does someone come up to you and say "Hey, you are one of the best four trainers we have in the area, how would you like to become a member?"

I never understood how that works. How does someone decide you're one of the best of the best in a region of multiple trainers.

 

[SSJ2]

Hm. Possibly if you make it to the Champion and lose, they may offer you a spot? Either that, or the original Champion took the first 8th Gym Leader and appointed them as the Elite 1, and then gradually kept adding members from the next 8th Gym leader and so on.

 

[Super Saiyan Overlord1007]

That could be something. They could pick members that are probably already know. Koga is a Gym Leader in Gen I & III but by the time of Gen II & IV he's promoted to Elite Four member with his daughter taking his place and Lance has somehow made the leap from Final Elite Four Member to Champion. If I remember correctly Wallace in Emerald mentions he WAS the 8th Gym Leader of Hoenn but was promoted straight to Champion.

 

[Six Trails]

Emerald is just an alternate version of Ruby and Sapphire, though. So it's possible in Emerald's continuity that Wallace never a gym leader like he was in Ruby and Sapphire's.

"Ah, so you are <player>? I've heard tales of your exploits. My name is Wallace. I was once the Gym Leader of Sootopolis, but something came up. So now, I've entrusted my mentor Juan with the Gym's operation. … … … … … … … … … … … … Groudon and Kyogre, the two Pokémon wreaking havoc here, are considered to be super-ancient Pokémon. But there aren't just two super-ancient Pokémon. There is one more somewhere. Somewhere, there is a super-ancient Pokémon named Rayquaza. It's said that it was Rayquaza that becalmed the two combatants in the distant past. But even I have no clue as to Rayquaza's wherabouts…"

Seems I was wrong.

 

[Papasmurf]

If GSC is anything to go by, they probably replace any former members that moved up to become Champion, or retired for some reason. As for the question of actually meeting the qualifications, I'd suspect that powerful Gym Leaders (Koga etc.) and other famous trainers (league participants, perhaps) are offered to join. The process seems to work in reverse too, seeing as Blue/Green replaced Giovanni after he lost his Champion title.

 

[Super Saiyan Overlord1007]

In Gen II, Kanto's Gym Leaders are as strong as the Elite Four and I question why would Koga of all people be chosen to become an Elite Four when Blaine & Sabrina are tougher than he is, Sabrina has an outright massive advantage over him.

 

[Papasmurf]

^I'd credit that to game design. You can say the same for how a fodder fisherman in Kanto who can't beat one of your HM slaves is higher leveled than most if not all of the Johto gym leaders, or any such example of a common wild trainer being above previous gym leaders.

If operating under the assumption that Koga is indeed weaker than Sabrina, she could have simply rejected the offer - after all, Wallace's decision to abandon his gym wasn't made in RS until "something came up"

 

[Super Saiyan Overlord1007]

HM Slave? I don't think I ever used one of those. But it seems like they pick Gym Leaders and random people off of the streets. Gen II Agatha & Lorelei aren't elite four members anymore. Pretty much every Elite Member barring Bruno is no longer part of the group. Lance became champion, what happened to the other 2 I have no idea. Either Lorelei chose to go back home and Agatha retired maybe with them being replaced by Will, Koga, & Karen (Karen was probably brought in so they'd have someone who specializes in Dark Types since that was a new thing at the time). In Gen III Wallace is promoted from Gym Leader to Champion (Same deal with Iris in Gen V)

 

[Papasmurf]

For what it's worth, in Origins brock and giovanni are seen choosing whether or not to go all-out against challengers. So it could be that the gym leaders aren't usually worlds apart if they live in opposite sides of the region, but only use their strongest Pokemon against people with a lot of badges or something. Although Janine is seen having a lower-leveled team in Generation 2 in comparison to the other Kanto leaders.

 

[Super Saiyan Overlord1007]

That is something I never thought about with the possibly of them using stronger/weaker pokemon depending on where their challenger is on their journey however that still doesn't answer how would someone become an Elite Four Member.