Pokémon Legends: Arceus / Fridge

Fridge pages are Spoilers Off by default, so all spoilers have been removed and all entries folderized. Proceed with caution. You Have Been Warned.

This page is for non-Gen VIII Pokémon entries regarding Pokémon Legends: Arceus. For entries regarding the newly introduced Pokémon, including the Hisui regional forms, see Fridge.Pokemon Generation VIII Families.

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Fridge Brilliance

Not only do Adaman and Iridia both have Eeveelutions that fit what part of the region they’re from, they’re also the two evolutions that debuted in Sinnoh.
Much like how the Diamond and Pearl clans demonstrate which Pokémon they worship through their style of clothes, Volo's outfit is the earliest hint to his allegiance with Giratina. How? The Ginkgo Guild's symbol is colored yellow and curved — much like Giratina's Origin Forme.
Why does Giratina have an Oh, Crap! and run away? Put yourself in its shoes — you're an angry Physical God and Eldritch Abomination that has been around since the dawn of time. You've formed an alliance with a human who has one of the best Pokémon teams in the entire world. After crafting an elaborate plan to restart the universe, you and your human manage to scramble the minds of your siblings, only for a tiny human child favored by Arceus to stop most of the chaos. After your human partner tricks the child into finding all the Plates, your human challenges the child... and loses. Your plan can't end right there, so you challenge the child yourself and they win. Somehow. Infuriated, you try again, in an even stronger form, and they still win. At that point, it's pretty clear that running away and rethinking your life choices is the smarter option.
Most of the plates of Arceus given to the player correspond to the type of the Pokémon giving the plate, though some of the ones that don't match still make thematic sense:
- The lake guardian trio give the Draco Plate, referencing their ability to control Dialga and Palkia through the Red Chain. Not only that, but they can destroy it as well.
- Cresselia gives the Dread Plate, referencing Darkrai, its counterpart.
- The Pixie Plate is revealed to be in Cogita's possession; she most likely received it from the Fairy/Flying type Enamorus, which Cogita mentions is a Pokémon she uses as personal transport.
- The Fist Plate is gotten from Kamado. Kamado's main goal throughout the story has been to fight the Pokémon, not considering that humans and Pokémon can live and work together. He even reaffirms how your bond with your Pokémon has changed his own view before he gives you the plate.
- The Stone Plate is acquired... from a random Alpha Vespiquen. However, Volo notes that it may have just picked the plate up from somewhere else, and you encounter it in the Obsidian Fieldlands, where the Noble Pokémon is the Rock-type Kleavor.
The explicit confirmation of Pokémon having the ability to shrink down provides a possible answer to the Fridge Logic regarding the inability to catch fainted Pokémon that's been present from the start of the franchise. Think about how wild Pokémon fainting is animated in the 3D games: They collapse, then they shrink until you can't see them anymore. In other words, you can't catch fainted Pokémon simply because they become too small to find, let alone aim at.
- This also brings new light to the move Minimize. Where all Pokémon can shrink themselves as a reflex after fainting, others can literally take advantage of this natural trait!
Why are Pokémon so easily caught even when they had low catch rates in previous games? Pokéballs are a new invention — of course Pokémon wouldn't know how to resist capture that well!
On a meta level, the Level 40 Rapidash. Considering how utterly despised Rapidash was in Diamond and Pearl for being a major offender of a Character Select Forcing for Fire Types for anyone who didn't pick Chimchar, and being a Low-Tier Letdown at the same time, this may be Rapidash making the player suffer for the scorn it got back then.
Another meta level brilliance, however, one may see Galar's Wild Areas to be a precursor or even prototype to Hisui's rather large and expansive areas.
After the Player was exiled, and with the Diamond and Pearl clan reluctantly refusing to help due to threat of war with Kamado, the Player later is approached by a wild Shinx who greets them before returning to the pair of Luxio, its parents, watching over the interaction and leaving the Player be. There's no battle or anything occurring, just the Shinx approaching to greet and cheer up the Player who is shown distraught over their situation. Shinx and its evolution lines are shown in gameplay to be one of the species that will attack the Player when spotted, but this scene brings in mind to what has been mentioned in Pokémon Detective Pikachu. Most Pokémon are incapable of understanding human speech; however, Pokémon are capable of understanding human emotions. Hence, it's likely that the wild Shinx and Luxio pair sensed the Player's distress and turmoil of having been unfairly driven out of the village shortly before and let their Shinx cub approach the Player without attacking them.
Among Vessa's various rewards for finding spirits is a Linking Cord^note, which might seem a bit strange when looking at the other evolution items she gives out. The Oval Stone might be there because she's a child, while the Dusk Stone and Reaper Cloth foreshadow her true nature as a spirit due to the items' connections to Ghost-type lines. What does the Linking Cord have to do with anything, then? It's meant to reference the Gastly line, since Haunter doesn't have an associated item of its own to evolve with.
When you're being carried around by Sneasler, wild Pokémon take longer to notice your presence, and some may not even go into attack mode at all. This is because, at first glance, all they see is another Pokémon passing through because your character is hidden.
At the Obsidian Falls, one can see a Gyarados flying around through the sky, and in the water at the base of the falls is a large school of Magikarp. There are also Magikarp at the base of the waterfall leading to the Fabled Spring and, at the top of that particular fall, you will find two Gyarados spawning there. These are nods to the legend of the carp that jumped over the Dragon Gate.
The trainers in this particular game are perhaps the easiest to beat in the series, except for the final battle against Volo. GameFreak putting less effort into the trainers, eh? Maybe not actually — most people don't really battle here, it's more coexisting with Pokémon and studying Pokémon, with training limited, at best, to a few Pokémon at a time prior to the widespread use of the newly invented Pokeball. Therefore, most people aren't really experienced with it. You're "hot stuff" because you are more comfortable around Pokémon in general, coming from an era where wild Pokémon aren't actively out to kill people.
- In addition, who is the only other NPC trainer besides Volo who carries a full team of Pokémon? Ingo, former leader of the Battle Subway. Although he lost his memory, his affinity for Pokémon battles still lingers and as such makes him more able to build a full team compared to the rest of the trainers you battle.
Why did Jubilife Village, where you spend a lot of time doing quests and shopping, so severely turn on the player where the Diamond and Pearl clans overall were much more sympathetic with you, despite you spending much less time among them? Simple: in the village, your reputation is tied to working for Kamado, and most don't see you in action or have a full context of what you were doing. When Kamado decided you were the problem, it was his word versus a reputation that was mostly unseen bar some fetch quests. Meanwhile, the leading members of the Diamond and Pearl Clan got very clear showings of your good intentions and nature via heroics and the trust of the Nobles. The highest members of their society knew you and that in turn spread among the ranks of their people very quickly. Plus, the Pearl Clan has their own fallen from the sky person in Ingo as a reference to the fact that, once they trust you, you aren't a harbinger of doom.
How did Jubilife Village eventually spawn the Sinnoh region as we know it despite being newcomers? Simple, the constant immigration we see didn't stop, while the Pearl and Diamond Clans didn't grow nearly as fast. They were simply, eventually, outpopulated.
- The clans may not have been eradicated. There are many people in modern day Sinnoh that seem to be related to members of the clans. Rather, the Diamond Clan, the Pearl Clan, and the settlers from elsewhere all combined to form what is now the Sinnoh region. Pokémon are viewed as friends and partners, not feared, while still being kept in Poké Balls. The towns and cities are built up for human use, while the areas in between are untamed and left for Pokémon habitats. And the worship of Dialga and Palkia is still the largest religion in the region, though they are now understood to not be the highest celestial beings.
- Also, considering the Clans have several characters who are probable ancestors to modern-day Sinnoh characters (such as Sabi, Arezu, and Mai), they clearly contributed to the growing Hisui/Sinnoh population as well. Between all three groups, it's easy to see how the population just started booming after another generation or two.
The items to create the Red Chain seem to be nonsensical, as Mesprit does not have feathers, Azelf does not have fangs, and Uxie does not have claws. However, this is most likely a reference to the chain that binds Fenrir in Norse Mythology, which is made of seemingly impossible things (namely the sound of a cat's footsteps, the beard of a woman, and the breath of fish, among other things, and the Eddas specifically comment that the reason the ingredients don't exist is because they were used up for the chain).
Beni being a ninja and lamenting the loss of his art, while also being hinted to being related to Wally, may be confusing at first glance. Why not be more connected to Koga and Janine, who are more clearly ninjas than Wally is? The answer is very likely to be the Ninja Boy trainer class who, while perhaps not true ninjas like Koga and Janine and Beni are, keep the spirit and even the techniques of the Ninja alive. And what games in the series have the Ninja Boy Trainer Class? The Hoenn and Sinnoh games.
The first time you see Volo outside the village, he sneaks up behind you and says, "Boo!" and then teaches you the back strike technique. Considering that he backstabs you in the post-game, and has the Ghost-typed Spooky Plate, this couldn't be more fitting.
Cyllene had more reasons than just "Kamado was completely out of line and I disagree with him as much as I am willing to show" than welcoming you back while he was out. Kamado had just gotten word of an unknown Pokémon in the Space-Time Rift and went after it with the entire security corps with him right after exiling perhaps their best catcher and battler in the form of the Player Character. Red Chain or no Red Chain, effective or not, it would have been very much prudent to have their best at hand to prevent needless causalties, if not something worse, especially as Kamado took most of the Security Corps with him and, if they were to fall in the midst of the red skies of death and general death world issues, their ability to protect the village would be greatly diminished.
Jokes regarding plagiarism aside, your contributions could easily have been the research for the professors to base their studies on, before they had their respective trainers go their ways. To put it simply, if you invented the printing press, then they are responsible for the Internet.
The idea that this first Hisui/Sinnoh Pokédex might have been forgotten has a different potential answer, and it's one that comes from the Gen 5 games. Two years after Black & White, the protagonists of Black 2 & White 2 are tasked with a Pokédex of their own because of how much Unova's roster of Pokémon changed in those few years. Hisui doesn't just have Pokémon that aren't in Sinnoh like Ursaluna and Sneasler, Sinnoh also has its own roster of exclusive Pokémon like Girafarig, Marill, the Houndour line, Swablu line, and Milotic. Your work isn't forgotten, it's just outdated and needs to be updated for a modern age.
Origin Forme Palkia and Dialga are calmed through Space/Time Balms, respectively. It's not immediately apparent who could've obtained the materials for these balms, especially since both Pokémon are new threats for the humans involved. But considering how Palkia and Dialga are each other's long-time rivals, it's sensible to assume that they'd know of the necessary ingredients for their respective balms. Thanks to their powers, they could feasibly provide those ingredients at a moment's notice. Thus, the requirement of catching both Pokémon bears a bit more significance: once the player proves their worth to the first, they earn the extra assistance needed to contain the second that the player's team otherwise wouldn't have.
Given that scientists have found that "alpha-beta-omega" dynamics are rarely a thing in nature, one might wonder why (beyond biological ignorance) the super-powered, super-aggressive Pokémon in this game are called "alpha" Pokémon. Perhaps the "alpha" in their name isn't referring to that, but instead essentially calling them gods among Pokémon by referring to the other kind of Alpha Pokémon: Arceus.
The name Obsidian Fieldlands may seem a bit strange, even once the player finds the Obsidian Falls in the east part of the map. However, the colors in the area names serve two purposes: an homage to the cities in Pokémon Red and Blue, as well as a reference to the Four Symbols in eastern Asian beliefs (although West and North were switched). The Obsidian Fieldlands refer to the Black Turtle/Warrior of the North; the Crimson Mirelands to the Vermillion Bird of the South; the Cobalt Coastlands refer to the Azure Dragon of the East; and the Alabaster Icelands refer to the White Tiger of the West (moved to the north to keep white with snow).
- The Coronet Highlands even fit the pattern, as the Center is often represented by a Golden Qilin, which Arceus resembles. And coronets (crowns) are often made of gold.
- The Forces of Nature also fit this theme with their Therian Formes: Tornadus becomes a bird, Thundurus a dragon, Landorus a tiger, and Enamorus a tortoise (including the snake-like tail in traditional depictions). Their locations don't fit the pattern, however, save for Thundurus.
One of the wild Pokémon species that can spot you even when you're hiding in tall grass is Zubat. That's because Zubat is blind and relies on hearing to identify nearby movement. Hiding in tall grass against such a creature would give away your location, not conceal it. By comparison, wild Golbat can be fooled as you hide in tall grass, as they are no longer blind and rely on eyesight.
Why is Lian, believed to be an ancestor of the Unovan Gym Leader Clay, a warden in Hisui/past Sinnoh? Simple, Clay's character concept is "an immigrant who got rich finding oil" and, in order to achieve such status, Clay's family would need to have come from somewhere else. Lian offers that "somewhere else" and, given the somewhat Wild West feel of the game at times, the reference plays itself out a bit further (given Clay's cowboy hat and attire).
Much like with Raid Dens and the Premier Ball, this game explains the in-universe origins (pun unintended) of the design and the name for the Cherish Ball. Given the bonds they made between the two clans and the Galaxy Team while working together to make the Origin Ball, wouldn't they cherish that? Even the Cherish Ball's association with Pokémon given out at events can play off the fact that the Origin Ball was only used in a cutscene.
- Also conceptually, the origins of the Master Ball.
Early on in the game, Pokémon are established as being able to shrink themselves and Poké Balls are able to utilize that aspect in their capture function. However, that isn't the brilliance, which actually lies in the fact that Voltorb and Electrode being mistaken for Poké Balls in older games suddenly making a lot more sense.
Why was the Noble Wyrdeer being troubled by the Alpha Kricketune? Psychic-Types are weak to Bug-Types.
- Cyllene, whose signature Pokémon is Abra, being terrified of a Wurmple is also explained by that.
Among the Diamond Clan Wardens, you meet Mai first and Sabi last, the opposite order you meet their (believed to be) descendants, Marley and Cheryl.
On the subject of ancestors and descendants of the Wardens, why are Iscan of the Diamond Clan and Palina of the Pearl clan the only ones, besides their clan leaders, to not have any notable connection to any present-day character? They're a couple; any possible descendant would obtain aspects of both of them.
Of all the Pokémon in the game, Arceus has the most unusual method of capture in that you… well, don't. You prove yourself in battle and it simply appears in a regular Poké Ball without any input from you. Further, you expressly don't have all of Arceus in that ball, but only a part of it. So, what is the first and only research task available for Arceus? "Received a part of Arceus." Notably every other Pokémon in the game has a "number caught" as the first research task, even Pokémon that there are only one of available. Further brilliance lies in that while you do get to battle it, ultimately this game keeps consistent what's been true of Arceus in every event it's been made available in. Namely, you don't catch it, you receive it.
Palina and Irida's offscreen argument about Growlithe; why did Irida eventually get to be so affected by it after coming to agree with Palina about it, to a point it made her indecisive in other aspects of her leadership? Well, there are a few pieces to this puzzle. The first is that Palina and Irida are friends from their youth. The second is that Growlithe's father, the previous Lord Arcanine, died in front of said Growlithe after saving him from drowning. The third is that Irida's mother died when she was too young to remember her and had to undergo so much training that her own clan worries that Irida never had anyone around her age to play with and was so trained that she doesn't get cold wearing little in the barren tundra home of the Pearl Clan and overheats in much of the rest of Hisui. Basically, what hit Irida is that she had basically ordered Growltihe to undergo essentially the same thing that happened to her.
Laventon's note that Trash Cloak Burmy in game uses dust and refuse to make its cloak when there is little else to use. Trash Cloak Burmy and Wormadam are found in the Cobalt Coastlands and Alabaster Icelands area, and the little else certainly applies to the latter. What would be more abundant than plants or mud in the rather lush Cobalt Coastline? Simple, flotsam and other debris from all the beached ships. The Burmy are using the scuttled boats on the shoreline and their cargos to make their cocoons.
Chatot are found in the Cobalt Coastlands near the shipwrecks, bringing to mind parrots who traveled with sailors and pirates.
From the Magnemite family, Magnezone is the only member found in the wild, such state being in the Coronet Highlands. The reason to it? The Highlands are the closest place to where the space-time rift is found.
- Why do you find them fully evolved instead of finding them as Magnemite or Magneton? Because of the special magnetic field found in the Highlands which, in the future, becomes Mt. Coronet!
Some of the Pokémon Ingo uses allude to Pokémon he and Emmet used in his original appearances in some form:
- His Signature Mon is Gliscor, which seems to be an odd choice at first glance. However, Gliscor's overall silhouette does bring to mind another Pokémon: Archeops, a Pokémon used by Emmet. It does help both are Flying-types. Also, it being a Ground-type could also allude to Excadrill, a Pokémon used by both brothers although more associated with Ingo, which is a Ground/Steel-type.
- Tangela/Tangrowth: While a bit of a stretch, Tangrowth's silhouette does resemble Garbodor, a Pokémon both Ingo and Emmet use in their Single and Double train battles.
- Magnezone: One of Ingo's Pokémon for the Singles and Multi train battles and one of Emmet's for the Doubles is Klinklang, whose line is an Expy of the Magnemite line. It does help that Magnezone, like Ingo, is heavily implied to not be native to Hisui and came from space-time rifts.
- Probopass: In both of their first battles, Ingo and Emmet use Crustle, a Rock/Bug-type. Emmet in particular also uses Archeops for his Super Multi battle team and Boldore in a story event battle in Black 2 and White 2, the latter which has a similar color scheme to Probopass. Not to mention both of them use Steel-type Pokémon and Probopass is Rock/Steel type.
- For Magnezone and Probopass, another reason for the choice could be a Stealth Pun to the fact both Pokémon are associated with magnets and Ingo was once a Subway Boss. Magnet trains, anyone?
- The above four Pokémon have additional brilliance to them when one recalls that Magnezone, Probopass, Gliscor, and Tangrowth are all native to Unova and obtainable in the main story of Black 2 and White 2.
- Machoke/Machamp: In Black 2 and White 2, Ingo and Emmet are fought as part of a story event and he uses a Gurdurr, a Pokémon that is an Expy of the Machop line.
- Meanwhile, the outlier of Ingo's team is Alakazam, as neither brother ever used Psychic-type Pokémon. However, it may be a reference to Anabel, another Faller that also used to be a Battle Facility head, who uses an Alakazam.
Even Sneasler has some connection with her white/violet coloring. It's not an exact match, but it does resemble Emmet's color scheme.
- Also much subtler, but Sneasler and Weavile make for an amazing combo. Weavile counters Sneasler's weaknesses of Ground and Flying thanks to its Ice-type and is outright immune to Sneasler's crippling Psychic weakness. Sneasler, on the other hand, handles Weavile's weakness to Fairy and Fighting-types thanks to its Poison typing. It also laughs in the face of Rock and Bug types. Ingo probably saw this and (even if he never realizes it) got reminded of the double battles he would have with his brother.
As stated in Pokémon Detective Pikachu, most Pokémon don't understand human speech but rather human emotions. This explains why so many Pokémon are aggressive in the wild but rather tame once you capture them. After all, they're more scared of you than you are of them. And what's a good way to lose fear in something? Understanding. And how do we unlock the Star Ranks needed for the Level Cap? Earning research points by completing the Pokédex, or rather, gaining an understanding of Pokémon.
- This also explains badges (and the stamps of Alola) in other games. By conquering gyms, we show our understanding of Pokémon through their types, and the strengths and weaknesses that come with them.
Why are the Pokémon in the space-time rifts always aggressive towards the player character? Simple: they're being dragged to Hisui from the present day, where it's common for wild Pokémon to jump out of the grass and attack trainers. They're just following their instincts!
- Alternately, they are just very confused and reacting with aggression to the one thing that doesn't seem to be warped in the same way: the player.
- At first, this doesn't seem to apply to the fossil Pokémon, who were ones far back in ancient times rather than ones that were revived in modern-day Sinnoh. However, that too has an explanation: Rampardos and Bastiodon fought a lot, as shown in a cave in the Coronet Highlands where their fossils lied in battle, implying that those two Pokémon were rather violent in nature. Of course they'll attack you!
One of the reasons why Abilities don't exist in this game could be explained in what is mentioned in the game's story. Legends: Arceus is set in a time where people and Pokémon are yet to get along with each other, so the main focus that most researchers would have at the time would be to understand them better in order to coexist together. Abilities, and the concept that Pokémon can have different abilities even among the same species, only came to a forefront in the future where the foundation of research is already set and allowed a leeway to let future researchers know about Pokémon Abilities beyond getting to know about the Pokémon as a species.
- The only two Pokémon that do have abilities is Cherrim, which responds naturally as a flower would to the sun and Regigiggas, a slow Titan than has been dormant for very long. These two retain their abilities since they are so closely linked to who they naturally are, without human involvement.
Of course Volo is a Karma Houdini — if he dies or is permanently imprisoned/incapacitated, Cynthia will likely never be born.
- That being said, it is possible he might already have an unknown child from a one-night stand or is just a Disappeared Dad in general.
- Cynthia being descended from Cogita instead of Volo is also a possibility.
Why does Ress, the ultimate secret weapon of the Security Corps with an insanely high-leveled Shinx, Starly, and Bidoof with high trained stats, not have their evolved forms? Simple, several people in game have shown unfamiliarity with how evolution works, and in this game, evolution doesn't happen automatically at a certain level. Ress hasn't been told or shown how to have his team evolve into stronger forms.
Zisu's standard team prior to the Daybreak offering different teams to challenge for several characters, including one that matches Flint's original team, featured a Luxray, Ambipom, Honchcrow, and Zoroark. Random enough, though fairly balanced and diverse. However, there is a slight little wink and nod here. Flint's ancestor is using half of the members of Volkner's original team in Luxray and Ambipom. The bromance between the two may in fact transcend time and be genetic.
The Casual Tee, the literal clothes on the protagonist's back when they arrive in Hisui. The shirt is from Kalos or Alola depending on your chosen character, but there's a bit of logic behind this. Kalos and Alola were the first two regions to feature Character Customization but their protagonists had also moved to their regions, sorta like the Hisui protagonist, albeit less willingly than the other two.
Volo's ace being Togekiss still makes sense even after he reveals his true colors. Togekiss as a species are said to be repelled by strife. Volo also implies at Giratina's destroyed statue that the harshness and unfairness of life motivated him to try to replace this world with a new, better one. What better habitat would there be for a Togekiss than a perfect world where suffering doesn't exist?
- This also provides a handy explanation for why a being like Togekiss, who is Allergic to Evil, would obey Volo despite his less than upstanding moral fibre: They both believe that Utopia Justifies the Means.
- The Togepi line is oddly violent in the wild in this game. Perhaps this is foreshadowing that Volo shouldn't be trusted?
More of a meta Fridge Brilliance than anything, but while many associate Melli with Lucian, he has many correlating attributes to the future Team Galactic Commander Jupiter, both in Pokémon and through her namesake:
- His primary Pokémon is Skuntank; in all his battles it's his strongest Pokémon. Jupiter's primary Pokémon is Skuntank.
- His tall stature and full of himself attitude correlates well with Jupiter's namesake, the planet being the largest in our solar system while its namesake god is known to be full of himself, sometimes to the point of complacency which Melli is somewhat guilty of.
- Going off namesake correlation, Melli being the warden of the Noble Electrode, which is Electric/Grass, goes well with Jupiter's primary namesake, who is also a god of lightning, but also her Spanish namesake, Ceres, an agriculture goddess. Given that Ceres the planet is found in the asteroid belt, this connects with the Noble Electrode summoning Hisuian Voltorb in its respective battle. Plus, Jupiter the planet is the closest Gas Giant to the asteroid belt.
- In fact, being the Warden of the Noble Pokémon on top of Mount Coronet would position him well with Jupiter the god (known to the Greeks as Zeus), lord of the skies, king of Olympus. Especially considering the Greek-esque architecture of the Temple of Sinnoh.
Beni makes potato mochi from Sootfoot Roots, and he can buy them from the player at an inflated price. What else can you make with Sootfoot Roots? Smoke Bombs. He's not just making mochi back there.
In game, it's said that people and Pokémon were once one and the same, but eventually diverged. It's easy to see the differences between the two groups, but difficult to see how people were once Pokémon. Until you consider this: in real life, humans are the only species in the world capable of throwing objects at high speeds. So, in a way, throwing items such as Pokéballs and food is the Player's signature Pokémon move.
- The real signature move the player, and by extension humanity has is "tools" and "knowledge" as the people of Jubilife tell you. Other Pokémon throw things, other Pokémon can use crude implements- but Arceus is the first game where you can fight and capture Pokémon, including the epic 'mons, even if your team is KO'd. What gives you this ability? Knowledge. You spend the entire game gathering it- it's the main mechanic. What increases your personal level and makes Pokémon respect you? When you increase your knowledge. Your Pokédex is your literal source of power, you gain XP just as a Pokémon would as you catalog each mon. In return, you get better recipes, increase your "moveset", and gain adaptations. Every problem you meet in the game isn't defeated by simply grinding for levels like a Pokémon either- you research solutions and learn new ways to deal with enemy Pokémon. Humans, if they were Pokémon, would be the "Learning Pokémon"
Except for the Alpha Probopass, all of the wild Nosepass and Probopass, true to their magnetic nature, face north until you catch their attention.
There are a lot of Togepi, but there are a lot fewer of their evolutions. Why is that? Well, Togepi are extremely weak since they're newly-hatched Pokémon. Unlike Teddiursa and Budew (who are often clustered around a stronger Pokémon of their line), there are never any Togetic or Togekiss protecting them. So, not only are Togepi naturally difficult to evolve, but they're likely hunted before they're able to evolve in the first place.
With the release of the Diamond and Pearl remakes, it might seem odd that there isn't a Platinum remake as well given the drastic changes it made compared to other Updated Re Release in the series...until you take another look at the title of this game. Pokemon Legends: Arceus, or PLA...short for Platinum.
Pokémon over certain levels only obey you once you've gotten enough stars in your PokéDex, as a replacement for earning gym badges. It represents the player character becoming more experienced with Pokémon.
While Weavile is 4x weak to Sneasler's Fighting as well as less powerful (Weavile has base 120 Attack and Sneasler has base 130), Sneasler sacrificed both Speed (120 Speed vs Weavile's 125) and Defense (60 vs 65), since they both have the same base stat total. Weavile likely outcompeted Sneasler by being Weak, but Skilled. Not only that, but Sneasler's Dex entry notes that they prefer solitude, while Weaviles work in packs. Lone Sneaslers were likely ganged up on and overwhelmed by Weavile packs.
Volo holds the unique title of "Pokemon Wielder". Usually, most people are referred to as a "Pokémon Trainer", but when you take into account his personality, and ultimate goal, he's not training Pokémon as partners, or fighters but wielding them as weapons to use.
Paras are a frequent annoyance and are difficult to shake off once they notice you. Given you're in a pristine environment, it stands to reason the wilds would be lousy with - you guessed it - louse Pokémon.
Cogita having a green house and Volo having green pants in his Sinnoh outfit is a reference to Hisui meaning "jade", and both are direct descendants of the old Celestica people.
The Strong and Agile Styles for moves are also represented by the available Poké Balls. You have the normal ones, the heavy ones, and the flying ones. While their effects are not exactly the same, the same general principal holds true: strong attacks and heavy balls have higher damage/catch rate at the cost of speed/distance, agile attacks and flying balls go faster/farther, and normal attacks and normal balls are balanced.
Ingo's name in Japanese, Nobori, comes from the word 上り (Nobori, meaning up-train (a train rail direction). He's the trainer in this game that is the warden of Sneasler, who helps you access going up the cliffs of the Coronet Highlands.
One request is convincing a random person that his Cascoon is not a Silcoon. While you can bring up their color, you can also bring up their eyes. While this may seem like a case of focusing on a tiny difference instead of an obvious one, the existence of shiny Pokémon actually does mean that color alone is not always the best way of distinguishing between them, while eye shape is something that remains the same regardless of an individual Pokémon's color.

Fridge Horror

So... how is Emmet feeling about Ingo's disappearance?
- How many other characters were suddenly warped into different timelines?
- The Player Character's parents, family, and friends are probably concerned as to where they went and have no clue that God warped them back into the past.
- Not to mention how Ingo's original team feels, along with the player's original team (assuming that the player was already an active Pokémon trainer prior to this mess). And what's worse, there's no way for everyone to win. If the Ingo and the Player return to their original era, the people and Pokémon in the past will sorely miss them as well.
- There's no reason to assume that the protagonist and Ingo are missing from the future for an amount of time equal to the time they're spending in the past. It is entirely plausible, considering Arceus's vaguely defined time travel powers, that they will be returned to the same time they left. But that only brings up another question: how will their loved ones react to them suddenly being several months or years older?
- What if the protagonist never returns home? What if they are stuck in the past for the rest of their lives? If that is true, then it's also possible (although highly improbable) that player character ends up becoming their own ancestor, especially if we believe that they are actually a 15-year-old Dawn or Lucas.
Since the Player can also capture Pokémon for the villagers, do the Pokémon also side with the townsfolk when they turn against the player when they are exiled? Or do they feel disappointed and disgusted in the people, since the player is well liked by the Pokémon in Hisui?
Kamado had lost his village to a wild Pokémon attack, leaving him with a desire to create a safe place for the people. However, said attack had left him with a sense of paranoia, resulting in him exiling the player (with about half the townsfolk siding with him and the Diamond and Pearl clans being forbidden to help you under the threat of war) and then trying to launch an attack on Dialga/Palkia in an attempt to protect his people. Since it's clear that he holds a lot of power and influence, it's very possible that not stopping him would have resulted in a very different future for Sinnoh.
The horror of Kamado exiling the player doesn’t really sink in until you really think about it: In past games, it's commonplace for 10–12-year-old children to start traveling on their own. Several accommodations are in place for these young trainers as they're supported by many people, can travel to many towns and get supplies with no problems, and easily access their Pokémon from PCs. And if all their Pokémon are knocked out, they are taken to a Pokémon Center. Here, however, when Kamado exiles the 15-year-old player (so technically still a child), they are forced to leave with only the Pokémon and supplies they have on hand, fully intent on denying them access to anything else by forbidding anyone from helping and forces them out to areas where Pokémon attack the player themselves. Kamado was fully intending for a child to die out in the wilds just to ease his own paranoia.
- This is a practice known as "outlawry," a type of criminal sentencing where the person is exiled from society, law enforcement will not protect them, and citizens are not allowed to help them.^note Outlawry becomes impractical when the population density in an area becomes high enough that it's easier for law enforcement to simply arrest and imprison the criminals; Hisui, being recently settled, does not have that population density.
- Going by Kamado's dialogue, there might have been a worse outcome if the player were not exiled. He considers banishment merciful compared to the possibility of imprisoning the player. And since some of the townsfolk are on the verge of rioting in panic, there might be the potential outcome of the player getting mob-lynched. Granted, you probably have a decent Pokémon team by this point, but the idea that you'd have to have them attack the villagers you once tried to help in order to defend yourself is equal parts scary and sad; especially since Kamado, in his current state of mind, might take it as proof that you did indeed mean the village harm.
- It's also possible that by "clap you in chains", he meant that he would have had you restrained before dumping you in the wild (there doesn't seem to be anywhere in the village for him to lock you up, plus it was established early on that they cannot afford to feed and house someone who isn't contributing). Unless you happen to have a Kleavor or something on your team that could potentially break the chains, even simple handcuffs would greatly reduce your odds of survival, let alone anything else.
After you're banished and you're rejected by both Lian and Mai, where is Akari/Rei when they are comforted by the Shinx? Standing at the edge of an arch over a river, as despondent and alone as they have ever been. Akari/Rei can't swim. The Shinx might have saved the player character from suicide.
Hisui is pretty much described as a dangerous frontier that borders on a Death World for people, and there are those in the village, even young children, who say they had no other place to go. Just what is the rest of the world like if Hisui is an appealing option for people to immigrate to?!
- It's mentioned that Alola has already come up with the innovation of Ride Pokémon and others mention there already being a rudimentary concept of trainers in other regions, so it seems that Hisui is actually behind the curve a little bit. More than likely people immigrated to Hisui for the same reason people did in years past, simply for the opportunity.
- The people in Hisui most afraid of wild Pokémon are the Galaxy Team and other Jubilife citizens, most of whom fled a Pokémon attack on their previous village. The Diamond and Pearl clans have good relationships with their Noble Pokémon and some of them have partner Pokémon of their own, not to mention an Alolan tourist with six Vulpix. It's possible that people are mostly okay with Pokémon on average and the player's perception is skewed because of Jubilife Village's history.
A few missions before Kamado banishes you for the crime of being vaguely related to the sky turning freaky without any explicit actions on your part, Melli bursts past the Security Corps, and it is remarked that Kamado is going to put them through more training over it. That is all well enough, until you remember how Kamado's paranoia about security and the safety of the village caused him to lash out at you, the player, who didn't actively fail at their duty like that. That training that the affected Security Corps members were put through was probably very much a Training from Hell to make sure that a security risk like that wouldn't happen again, all while memories of his home village being destroyed were playing in the back of his mind. Pity those poor Corps members for a second.
- Heck, why not go further and wonder if that incident exasperated Kamado's paranoia, as a blatant daytime security breach had just happened. Without that incident, might Kamado not have been as rash and aggressive? And if the Security Corps isn't doing its job, isn't the entire town in danger?
Volo's Villainous Breakdown after beating him initially in the True Final Boss part of the post-game has him outright use the term "eldritch" in refer to the chills in the air as he preps to try to murder you with Giratina. This implies that some of the general mythos and concepts of inconceivable beings that would kill and drive men to madness at the mere sight of them, among numerous other ideas, very much exist to the perceptions of humanity in the Pokémon world, and a few of the god-like Olympus Mons legendary Pokémon are easily and officially in this category now.
- Given how Arceus is implied to be using an avatar to be able to even interact with the world, normally existing in a state that very likely is incomprehensible and across the universe if it is the Top God, as well as adding some genuine truth to the "1000 arms that created reality" legends around it, it ascends beyond its prior Lovecraftian infamy into one of the biggest examples around. Thank goodness it's incredibly benevolent.
Meta reasons aside, it is rather heart-breaking to realize that your contribution and name will be consigned to some obscure history texts, to the extent that the Pokédex's invention might be mistakenly credited to the professors in the present day instead.
It's possible that some Hisuian forms are extinct in the present day, but one that stands out is Sneasel, which was in the original Sinnoh PokéDex and even had an evolution introduced that generation. Were they out-competed by introduced Johtonian Sneasel, which being Ice-types, were better-suited for the cold? They certainly would've had a type advantage over the Dark/Ice-type Sneasel, so it'd make sense that they were replaced due to compatibility with the environment.
- Johtonian Sneasel would also be significantly less threatened by Hisuian Braviary, Kadabra, Swinub-line, and the various Ghost-types making their home in the Alabaster Icelands with Hisuian Sneasel. It's possible that they were just outcompeted and Johtonian Sneasel managed to step in and fill a similar niche without as many type weakness issues.
- On that note, with how perfectly the Johtonian Sneasel counters Hisuian Braviary and Hisuian Zorua/Zoroark, did they drive those species to extinction? Johtonian Sneasels have PokéDex entries about how they steal eggs while the parents are away and they are vicious with their sharp claws. They also embody Dark Is Evil (in fact in Japanese, Dark type is the Evil type). The poor parent Hisuian Braviarys and Zoroarks were likely helpless against Johtonian Sneasels (made even worse in that they can work in pairs, one driving away the parents and the other taking the eggs). If that is the case, Johtonian Sneasel was essentially an invasive species that outcompeted the natives.
You really have to think about how much had changed from Hisui's days long gone to the present-day world of Sinnoh. Of note is the Galaxy Team, which is no longer around in the present day either, just like the Diamond Clan and the Pearl Clan... or so you'd think. The Japanese name of the Galaxy Team is the exact same as Team Galactic's, and the logos are both highly similar to each other. Of note is that Cyrus, a possible descendant of Cyllene, is the leader of Team Galactic despite how dissimilar his personality is to Cyllene — but then you realize his use of Pokémon as mostly tools to further his goals is eerily similar to Kamado's views on Pokémon, who makes it clear that if he had to choose between coexistence or using them to further humanity's safety and live above them, then he would choose the latter. Arezu, a resident of Jubilife Village who has a striking similarity to Mars from the present, also invented the hairstyles that would eventually become the standard for the Team Galactic grunts. Volo himself expresses goals similar to Cyrus but far worse, and he hadn't been properly dealt with... There are a lot of scary implications to think of how the present-day Team Galactic came to be.
The underground ice caves in Bonechill Wastes have a lot of Ghost types; the Gastly line, Misdreavus, and Hisuian Zorua. How many of them are the spirits of people and Pokémon that got trapped below and either starved or froze to death?
Volo claims that he only sees his Pokemon as tools to be used. Yet, his final team includes Togekiss and Lucario, Pokemon who involve high friendship as part of their evolution. Does that mean Volo is so good of a manipulator he can effectively brainwash his Pokemon into becoming friendly with him?
- Pokémon Masters makes it even worse, because N confirms that Volo's Togepi loves him.

Fridge Logic

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Fridge / Pokémon Legends: Arceus

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