Do people in Pokemon know who the elite four and champion are?

Question

It confuses me a little... Do people in Pokemon know who is in the elite four and who is the champion?

First of all, when youre champion, no one seems to know. Youre exactly the same to them as when you werent.
There is a man in Fortree who says
>...I met this Trainer, Steven, when I was searching for rare stones. Hoo boy, he had some amazing Pokémon with him! They weren't just rare, they were trained to terrifying extremes! He might even be stronger than the Gym Leader in this town...

Obviously, if they knew he was champion, it would be pretty easy to figure out he was stronger than any gym leader. On the SS Tidal ship, where Drake of the elite four is, there is a boy who comments on him:
>There's a weird old guy at the front of the bow...

Which shows that he does not know who Drake is, nor that he is important.

However, there is a person in the Mauville Food Court that says
>One of the Elite Four is named Glacia, right? I've seen her eating ramen here before! She was slurping down her noodles at such an incredible pace that she was dripping with sweat!

Meaning he knows Glacia, and perhaps more of the Elite Four.
Has there ever been any solid proof in any games that say if they know or do not know who is in the elite four/champion?

Comments

"He might be even stringer than the Gym Leader." Sorry, I had to fix that :)

Also, don't forget that in Kalos, everyone knows Diantha as Champion. This is also the case with Cynthia, somewhat, for she is renowned as an extraordinarily powerful Trainer at the very least. But in Unova, nobody knows diddly-squat about Alder…

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Interesting question +1

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Sorry, i type too fast xP
I havent played any other games, so info from another game would help answer as well.
(Also made 5 typos on this comment >.<)

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Well the champion is quite prone to changing (the player does defeat the champion to claim his/her position) so even if they knew the champion, chances are they wouldn't know whoever overthrows them.

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That does make sense, seeing as perhaps dozens of challengers come everyday.
Ive also found this:
"Have you already challenged Flannery, the Leader of Lavaridge Gym? The girls gransfather  was famous. He was one of the Elite Four in the Pokemon League..."
Of course, this could have been a long time ago as we dont really know how gym leaders and elite four members are selected, but this man did know one of the people in the elite four.

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Then there's also the possibility that the Elite Four are only known by their names, not their appearances (well at least some of them).  May explain why Drake wasn't recognized. Glacia may be known by appearance for whatever reason.

Answer 1

Some people know who they are, and some people don't.
It depends on who the person is in the game. If the person is not on a Pokemon journey, they won't be collecting badges so they can fight the elite 4 and champion, so they might not know about the elite 4 and champion.
Victory Road and the Pokemon League is normally somewhere out of the way in the region. Some people may not have heard of the elite 4 and champion because they haven't heard of Victory Road and the Pokemon Leauge.
People may have also heard of them, and maybe even met them, but do not know exactly who they are. They might have not seen them and they think "Oh your name is Cynthia? The champion's name is Cynthia too!"
The child who mentioned Drake (The weird old guy) is just a child, he may not have heard of the elite 4 and champion yet.
The Elite 4 also seem to be at the Pokemon Leauge almost all the time, so people might not know exactly who they are.
The Elite 4 could also keep their names a secret for unknown reasons.
So, it just depends on the person's knowledge about things, somebody could be sitting right next to Diantha and not be freaking out just because they don't know who she is.
Or, only Gamefreak knows, they know all!

Comments

^ BuzzNav, C-Gear, Holo Caster…

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once again astro, you are pure awesomeness

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I'm pretty sure this is a "Only Game Freak knows" question.

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^ Ah okay, just wanted to know if there was any proof in other games

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A person at the back of the food court knows Glacia