As a note, this piece covers the major Legendary arcs from the Pokemon franchise, but not every individual Legendary is covered. For example, the Musketeers are largely self-contained without much need for explanation to understand how they connect. It will also cover the events of all the Pokemon games, so this is also just a general spoiler warning for those who are not caught up.
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Arceus and the Creation of All Things
Pokemon mythology starts in a pretty similar way to most creation myths. In the dark nothingness of the void, an Egg appeared and hatched and thus Arceus was born. Arceus was the first being in the universe, and according to the Sinnoh legends, Arceus molded the rest of the universe after its birth. From there, Arceus created three more beings: Dialga, Palkia, and Giratina. Dialga controlled the flow of time, and Palkia controlled space.
Giratina was more violent than its two counterparts and was banished from this world and left to its own devices in the Distortion World. To keep Dialga and Palkia in check, Arceus created the “Lake Trio” of Uxie, Mesprit, and Azelf as watchers over the powerful Dragons. The trio also embodied Knowledge, Emotion, and Willpower respectively. They passed down these traits to humans after humans made their appearance in the world. During this creation stage, it is also said that the mysterious Mew appeared. Mew is often seen as the ancestor to all other Pokemon as it contains the DNA of every Pokemon within it.
The Elemental Chaos and Forming of Continents
During the creation of the world, immense amounts of pressure began building deep in the sea trenches and within the earth itself. This pressure allowed Kyogre to be born deep in the oceans and Groudon to be born in the ground. These two elemental beings helped fill the oceans and create land. The two beings feuded frequently but a third being, born from the minerals in the ozone, set out to keep the two elemental titans in check: Rayquaza.
During this time, the powerful Regigigas roamed the lands, pulling the continents into place. It also created several constructs in its own image: Regirock, Regice, and Registeel. It is currently unknown how the two new Regi forms will fit into this narrative. Some years later, the various Regis were sealed away by humans after being worshipped for so long. When Regigigas pulled the continents into place, the pressure and heat from Stark Mountain allowed Heatran to form, where it remained dormant.
The Tower Duo and The Burning of the Brass Tower
Lugia and Ho-Oh are often seen as mirrors to one another. Lugia watches over the seas and monitors the Legendary Bird trio, while Ho-Oh watches over the skies gracefully and is the creator of the Legendary Dog trio. Lugia and Ho-Oh resided in Ecruteak City, atop the Brass Tower and Bell Tower respectively. One day, a bolt of lightning came down, striking the Brass Tower and setting it ablaze. The fires were put out quickly by a sudden downpour, but not before three Pokemon perished in the flames. Lugia fled from the Tower, choosing to reside in the Whirl Islands instead. Ho-Oh descended from the Bell Tower and revived the three perished Pokemon, now known as Suicune, Entei, and Raikou, who then began wandering the Johto region in search of a trainer with a pure heart.
Truth and Ideals: The Fractured Dragons
Long ago in the Unova region, there was one unknown mythical dragon that was controlled by two twin heroes. The two used the dragon to found the Unova region, however the two brothers sought different things in the newly founded world. The older brother sought truth while the younger brother sought ideals. The two began to argue about who’s side was right, which caused the legendary dragon to fracture into two different dragons, Reshiram and Zekrom. Reshiram sided with the older brother while Zekrom sided with the younger. When the dragon split apart, a shell was left and that shell was Kyurem. Kyurem retreated and hid, waiting for the day that a trainer returned the missing parts to its body.
Xerneas and Yvetal: Life and Death
Xerneas and Yvetal, as with most legendary duos, are opposites. Xerneas brings the gift of life while Yvetal purges the world through death and destruction. When Xerneas reaches the end of its life cycle, it unleashes a powerful life-giving aura before turning into a tree to hibernate. Yvetal does a similar event, but instead of giving life, it saps the energy from anything nearby before turning into a cocoon. The two Legendary Pokemon sleep for 1,000 years.
If the balance between Xerneas and Yvetal is ever broken, a third Legendary Pokemon gets involved: Zygarde. Zygarde is composed of individual cores and cells, and as it gets more cores it grows in strength and size. Zygarde exists to maintain the balance between life and death, between Xerneas and Yvetal. When the balance is disturbed, Zygarde awakens and puts Xerneas and Yvetal back in their place.
Zecrozma the Light Thief
The Alola region has a unique trio of Legendary Pokemon in the sense that supposedly they did not even come from Alola, but rather through a wormhole from another dimension. Solgaleo and Lunala evolve from the Cosmog line and are seen as emissaries of light. Necrozma was often labeled as the “Pillager of Light” and in the past invaded Alola in an attempt to siphon all the light from the land. Necrozma defeated and absorbed Solgaleo/Lunala, but was ultimately defeated by a young trainer alongside the Guardian Deities. The trainer used the Z-crystals and Sparkling Stones to free Solgaleo/Lunala from Zecrozma, who was then banished from the region.
The Darkest Day: Zacian and Zamazenta’s Story
The story of Zacian, Zamatenta, and Eternatus actually starts several thousand years before the events of Pokemon Sword and Pokemon Shield, when a meteor fell from above and crashed into the Galar region. The meteor contained the powerful Pokemon Eternatus, who attempted to absorb all of the energy from the Galar region. When it tried to do this, it released a beam of red light which caused Pokemon all across the Galar region to Dynamax and rampage.
The region was doomed, but thankfully Zacian and Zamazenta teamed up to take down the powerful dragon. Eternatus’ defeat caused particles to be spread throughout the region, allowing players to Dynamax their Pokemon at certain power spots across the region. After the defeat of Eternatus, the Legendary Hero Pokemon disappeared into the Slumbering Weald, never to be heard from again - until Eternatus’ reawakening.
Human Experimentation and New Legendary Pokemon
As one would imagine, there have been several ventures into Pokemon creation and manipulation throughout the history of Pokemon. Upon the discovery of Mew, scientists began research on a way to clone this precursor Pokemon. After many failed attempts at cloning Mew, scientists on Cinnabar Island create Mewtwo. It is not a perfect clone, however, and it breaks out of captivity and destroys the Cinnabar Mansion in the process before fleeing to Cerulean Cave. Another Pokemon that was the subject of scientific modification was Genesect. Originally a very ancient bug Pokemon, Team Plasma modified it and added a giant plasma cannon to its back.
Lastly, there is Type:Null/Silvally. This Pokemon was created by combining the genetic material of all other Pokemon in an attempt to create a perfect Ultra Beast-hunting machine. After the experiments failed, Type:Null were outfitted with dampener helmets to hopefully make them more susceptible to the Memory Discs given to them. Type: Null eventually evolves into Silvally, who carries the unique ability RKS System, a nod toward Arceus. This allows Silvally to hold a disc to modify its typing (much like how Arceus can hold different Plates). This will also modify the type of its unique move Multi Attack. Players in Sword and Shield can actually get a Type: Null for themselves, along with all the Memory Discs.
That covers all of the major Legendary Pokemon in the series to date. There are still some others that have yet to be covered, like Celebi, Darkrai, or the Swords of Justice. While these are all interesting Legendary Pokemon, many of their stories are more self-contained and not tied to the region itself or have fully explained origins or lore. It also does not include Pokemon we have yet to understand, like the upcoming Legendary Pokemon Zarude. Legendary Pokemon have a big place in the world’s narrative, and hopefully players will now have a better understanding of how the many Legendary Pokemon fit together in the grand scheme of things.
Pokemon Sword and Shield are available now for Nintendo Switch.
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