Common Epileptic Trees in the fandom. For personal examples, go to WMG.
- Pokémon: The Series:
- A very large number of people have speculated on the identity of Ash's father for years. The theories and evidence offered up for proof of one candidate tend to swing from reasonable (Giovanni, Silver* ) to really out-there (Prof. Oak, Lugia!).
- With the upset of the Kalos League, many people started to propose that theories
that Alain cheated, possibly unknowingly. The main theories for how this was done include that the Mega Stone that Alain got from Lysandre buffed Charizard to the point of steroids, or that Malva had one of her Pokémon use Sunny Day to undo Goodra's Rain Dance, weakening Greninja in the process while powering up Charizard. - The lack of spotlight Ho-Oh gets in the anime and movie canon in comparison to Lugia despite its prominence in the Johto games tended to be speculated as the bookending "if Ash meets Ho-Oh again, the anime will end". In the end, this was almost true, as Ash’s final main series episode did have him finally meet Ho-oh again, however, the anime will continue onward with a new protagonist.
- Dia, from the two-episode Guzzlord arc is speculated by many fans to be an alternate universe counterpart to Ash or Red, and to be the Ash/Red look-alike seen in flashbacks during the arc.
- With Ash's victory in the Alola Region, many have begun speculating how he'll lose his title. The most common theory is that Professor Kukui will challenge him after the Guzzlord invasion, Ash will lose and he will claim the title. As it turns out, entirely jossed as the title was never at risk and Ash won the battle anyway.
- The 2019 slash Sword and Shield's opening episode's focus on part of Pikachu's past may have left as many questions behind as there were before the episode aired in regards to said past, but it did also give way to fans theorizing that the Kangaskhan (or its child) from it will reappear later in the series.
- 2019/Journeys also featured one particular theory that emerged as the previews for the episodes in the 100s to early 110s showed up, featuring various scenes that fans then tried to piece together and make sense of with a few episode titles and opening scenes to go by. One scene, featuring Ash looking downward, itself spawned a theory that took off following confirmation that his battle with Raihan was the last regular season match, and thus could not fit there. This theory, which was spawned by the confirmed return to Alola, the episode title The Battle Royale of Betrayal!, and the events of several previous episodes including Journey's 100th episode having Leon discuss what it is like to be a champion and the top of the world, Ash's increased notoriety like when Wallace specifically sought him out to battle in the 105th episode, and his arrival at the Masters Eight rank alongside champions, with held that Journeys would go through a plot where Ash would explore a sense of isolation as a result of being ranked one of the best in the world, with Ash's characteristic tendency to see himself as just a regular trainer clashing hard with people perceiving him as someone as strong and untouchable, with the 'betrayal' in turn being Alolan trainers treating him as something different and too strong to just casually battle anymore. The theory was popular for a few weeks before it was confirmed several episodes had been mislabeled: the The Battle Royale of Betrayal! was actually the name for a Project Mew episode, which caused the theory to lose steam and evidence and generally being considered Jossed, though elements of the theory do appear to have some correct elements to them (notably Ash is acknowledged as the Champion of Alola's first Pokemon League a lot more prominently after this time, both in official promo art and in the series).
- A persistent theory in some corners of the fandom that emerged in regards to Project Mew is the idea that the group is secretly evil. This theory, born from a mix of certain traits of the anime (a history in regards to any group interested in legendary or mythical Pokemon, their placement at the end of the series where evil teams tend to get focus), and a sizeable part of the fanbase's dislike of Goh and his focus episodes coloring their viewpoint, has led to this being a persistent, if unlikely, bit of fan theorem.
- Pokémon Red and Blue:
- Fans speculate that Clefairy was the original mascot before Pikachu was decided. It's featured in quite a lot of early official art and Red from Pocket Monsters (the second manga published) has a Clefairy companion.
- Erika was originally intended to be a ghost. Her eyes are closed in her sprites, she seems to be holding a floating Pokéball, and her early concept art depicts her kimono in a fashion only used for funerals. Fan speculation is that she was originally a Cute Ghost Girl or Stringy-Haired Ghost Girl but this element was scrapped. Instead, Game Freak gave her the Sleepy Head quirk as explaining why her eyes are closed.
- Pokémon Black and White: The Striaton Trio were originally intended to be the Shadow Triad. They're a trio of slim, pale-skinned brothers who fit the general design of the Shadow Triad. When you meet them, two of the brothers come out from behind the other similarly to ninja. The Striation Trio are the only gym leaders not to help in the story's climax. Bianca claims that she couldn't contact them in time, but fans wonder why she didn't call them. Concept art for the Shadow Triad in Pokémon Black 2 and White 2 show that the Shadow Triad were supposed to have individual hairstyles and designs that were similar to the Striaton Trio: they wore apron-like garments, one had spiky hair like Chili, the other had bangs like Cress, and one had leaf-looking hair like Cilan. To add onto this, Pokémon Adventures had some implications that the Shadow Triad was the Striaton Trio, before this was later revealed to be a Red Herring. Fans speculate that the two groups were originally one, but something changed in development of the sequelnote and it was scrapped.
- Pokémon X and Y
- The "horde of faceless men" from the story told by the NPC at the scary house is believed by many fans to be Zygarde. This is due to Zygarde's back having five dark plates with two green dots each, that could reasonably look in the dark like five shadowy figures. The word "horde" in the story is considered meaningful to this theory, as this game introduced the mechanic of horde encounters, in which you face five Pokémon at once, thus the use of "horde" is believed to imply "five". This fanart◊ shows a convincing depiction of Zygarde's back plates looking like the aforementioned horde in the dark. There's also the fact that despite the game forcing you to visit the house and listen to the story, nothing ever comes of it; some fans believe it was supposed to be Foreshadowing for an Aborted Arc culminating in the fight against Zygarde, whose room in Terminus Cave is instead just casually unlocked without much fanfare after beating the game.
- The "horde of faceless men" from the story told by the NPC at the scary house is believed by many fans to be Zygarde. This is due to Zygarde's back having five dark plates with two green dots each, that could reasonably look in the dark like five shadowy figures. The word "horde" in the story is considered meaningful to this theory, as this game introduced the mechanic of horde encounters, in which you face five Pokémon at once, thus the use of "horde" is believed to imply "five". This fanart
- Pokémon Sword and Shield
- In an attempt to canonize both of Calyrex’s steeds, Glastrier and Spectrier, instead of the Multiple-Choice Past the game offers where you choose which steed Calyrex had in the past, fans have theorized that the two horses may have once been a singular horse owned by Calyrex (possibly the one depicted in the statue) that died, with Glastrier as the horse’s cold, reanimated body without a mind to drive it (hence why it is a Mighty Glacier and is described as incredibly simple in its tactics) and Spectrier as the horse’s lingering spirit without a true body to call its own (hence why is it a Lightning Bruiser and is known to feed on life force), with Calyrex feeling an attachment to both due to being two halves of his former steed. As Calyrex only recalled one steed and had drastically reduced power, those same fans think it could be possible that Calyrex’s memory had failed it and it only remembered owning one horse that never became two, but still remembered the sentiment it felt for the two once it laid eyes on one of them, and incorrectly recognized the one it sees as the original steed.
