One thing I’ve noticed about Bianca and Cheren: Bianca always ends up being the more useful of the pair. In the Relic Castle sequence, Cheren just tags along behind you, ultimately adding nothing to the situation. Bianca, meanwhile, gets ahold of Juniper–which turns out to be really important since they find the dark/light stone. In the Elite Four sequence, the same thing happens. Cheren tags along and beats the Elite Four as well (not contributing much of anything to your predicament) while Bianca rounds up all the Gym Leaders (who save your ass). I think this was probably intentional, and it sheds light on how the writers wanted us to view Bianca and Cheren.
Hmm. I think that’s a little unfair to
Cheren; he does fight alongside you against Team Plasma on multiple occasions, and
fighting usually makes up most of the player’s contribution to advancing
the plot. And I don’t… think Bianca
is responsible for getting Professor Juniper involved in looking for the
Dark/Light Stone, or at least I don’t believe anyone ever says that’s
what she’s doing. I’d be more inclined
to assume that that was the elder Professor Juniper, who is present at the
Dragonspiral Tower when the player confronts N, and works together with his
daughter to identify the stone. There is
a general point to be made about Bianca and Cheren as foils to each other,
though. The early part of the game kind
of sets up Cheren as more organised, more ambitious, a better trainer, more…
well, frankly, more competent, whereas Bianca doesn’t really know what she’s
doing or what she wants. Over the course
of the game, though, Cheren comes to realise (through Alder’s example) that his
ambitions are basically hollow, leaving him somewhat listless at the end of the
story; Bianca, on the other hand, grows into herself, figures out what she wants
to do with her life, and becomes a researcher.
She’s ultimately the one who comes out of it with a stronger conception
of her own goals and identity. I think
the message is supposed to be about taking time to explore life, and figure out
what your goals are gradually and organically, rather than focusing on the
single-minded pursuit of just one aim in the belief that it will complete you as
a person (Cheren actually credits Bianca, as well as the player, Alder and N,
with helping him realise this).