Moments pages are Spoilers Off.
- The very first day the protagonist enters Jubilife, they get odd looks from the villagers that just say, "you don't belong here." It gets worse when encountering Beni for the first time. The cook up and refuses to serve the protagonist any food until Professor Laventon places his order.
- One has to wonder about that very first night the protagonist slept in the region after being told failure would mean exile from civilization and certain death in the wild. Were they also wondering what was going to happen to the family and friends they left behind during the summoning? And if they die, will they be forgotten and wiped out of history and existence altogether?
- The description of Hisuian Zorua on the official website that reveals just why they're Ghost-types—driven from their homelands by humans who feared their illusions, a population of regular Zorua perished because they couldn't survive the harsh climate of Hisui and competition with the native Pokémon. Reborn as Ghost-types, they're now driven by malice and spite against humanity and Pokémon on the whole.
- Before going to the Cobalt Coastlands, you learn that the region doesn’t have a lord, since the past one had died in a tragedy a few years ago. You learn later on that the lord was an Arcanine who had perished after rescuing his son who had been swept out to sea. What makes it even worse is that Hisuian Growlithe and Arcanine are Fire/Rock type, giving them a 4x weakness to Water, but the lord was still willing to save his son knowing this.
- It's also stated that the lord's son is a bit of a runt. When Palina asks the player to guess which of her two Growlithe is the lord's son, she mentions that the bigger one likely wouldn't have needed as much help. Growlithe is probably thinking that if he was just a little bigger and stronger, his father wouldn't have needed to save him.
- The official guidebook reveals that before this tragedy, Palina used to swim around the Cobalt Coastlands to explore the area as part of her duties, but after the tragedy that took the former lord, Palina lost the courage to swim and had a dislike for water Pokémon since as she had come to associate water with the tragedy that took the former lord Arcanine away.
- The player being banished from Jubilife Village and kicked out of the Galaxy Team, due to Kamado’s paranoia. Irida is furious on your behalf when Kamado makes this decision, and Cyllene can do nothing but obey his command, despite looking clearly unhappy about it. What really sells it is listening to the villagers talking about you as you are escorted out, some in disbelief and having personally interacted with you (Anthe, the clothes shopkeeper NPC) and others outright saying along the lines of "What do you expect from trusting a stranger that fell out of the sky?". Just... ouch. Thanks for nothing, assholes.
- The nature of Cyllene escorting you out of Jubilige Village. It is an actual walk of shame: slow, deliberate, and miserable.
- Among the crowd, you can see Arezu looking torn over the situation and unable to speak a word to you if you approach her. While everyone else commenting on you being escorted away is either a member of the Galaxy Expedition team or a villager, Arezu herself is a member of the Diamond clan and warden of Liligant first and foremost and resident of Jubilife second, and has personally seen your truly good intentions and nature in person like the rest of the Diamond clan and Pearl clan. As much as she wished to help, with Kamado having just announced that no one is allowed to help you, she can't do anything in risk of her clan, so all that she could do is watch you be escorted away.
- Even worse, even though the Diamond and Pearl clans wish to help you, they are forbidden to do so by Kamado, under the threat of causing a war. Sure, you are secretly assisted by both of the clan headsnote , Volo, and Cogita. And Cyllene's Abra has come to your aid (under her secretly-given orders), but the sheer length Kamado went to isolate you just to try and ease his paranoia is just plain depressing.
- What really sells it is the scene that plays after Mai is forced to turn you away too: The player is shown by themselves by the riverside, looking downright defeated at how they had lost everything and how alone they are. Thankfully, that scene is also where it starts to turn around for the player, with the Shinx comforting them with its Luxio parents watching, and Volo finding them in order to help.
- The source of Kamado's paranoia is both disturbing and tragic. His original hometown was wiped out by maddened Pokémon, with very few people surviving the ordeal. Let that sink in. He's getting paranoia and shellshock from the increasingly worsening events surrounding the rifts.
- An easily missed detail, but if you save the game while in exile, you'll see that your trainer card is gone—no doubt taken away from you after your banishment. Seeing it again after you're reinstated is a massive relief.
- The icing on the cake is just how expressive the player character is in this game. The despair and betrayal the protagonist is feeling is clear as day.
- One of the Pearl Clan Wardens is none other than Ingo, one of the Subway Bosses from Pokémon Black and White. Like the player character, he too was transported to Hisui through a spacetime rift, losing most of his memories in the process. As the player interacts with him, however, it becomes clear that he does have a vague idea of his previous life; he recalls "a man who looked like him" (his twin brother Emmet) and "a Pokémon with mastery over flames" (his signature Pokémon Chandelure), sometimes references trains in his speech, and even strikes his old pose out of habit. Even though he did find camaraderie with his clan and built a new Pokémon team in Hisui, seeing him in his tattered old hat and coat, trying to piece his old life and, above all, separated from his brother and his original Pokémon, is absolutely heart wrenching. In particular he recalls enough about his Chandelure to know it was his partner, a "precious one" in his own words, indicating he perhaps has not been able to establish the same level of bond with his new team, or at least the pain of losing it is still strong within him. In contrast, his recollection of Emmet is more distant, only referring to him as "a man who looked like me," and knowing they used to discuss Pokémon together.
- To further drive the point home, his iconic perma-frown which distinguished him from his twin Emmet has now been paired with a near-constant Thousand-Yard Stare, likely because of how lost he feels without his brother despite not remembering him in detail. Poor guy!
- One can only imagine what poor Emmet must be going through back in Unova too. From his perspective, it's likely that his twin brother just disappeared one day and hasn't come back since.
- The official guidebook makes things worse, as it implies that Ingo has been stuck in Hisui for at least ten years.
- In addition to the above, the realization that a number of the species encountered in Hisui, such as all the regional forms, will possibly go extinct in the time between Legends: Arceus and the modern-day games. Adding on to this, there seems to be no recollection of these species in modern times, with the only direct reference so far mistaking Overqwil for an abnormally large Qwilfish.
- Some of the species that were abundant in Legends: Arceus, such as Drifloon, became absurdly rare in modern Sinnoh, possibly due to advancing human expansion.
- Apparently even Legendary Pokémon aren't immune to this. Enamorus is a female member of the Forces of Nature and was similarly lost to time, despite the other members appearing in several games through various means. Just what exactly happened to her in the time between Legends: Arceus and when modern Pokémon games take place?
- The reveal of Volo's true nature is bound to hit hard. He was with you since essentially the beginning, always willing to help you out even at your lowest moment, and then it turns out it was all an act and he only ever considered you a pawn for his plans. That has to sting.
- What's even worse is the fact that half of Volo's team evolves via friendship. The title of Pokémon Wielder makes it clear as day that Volo is so sociopathically callous that he sees his Pokémon as nothing more than weapons: and yet his deceptive act of pretending to be kind and friendly was apparently enough to fool his Pokémon into thinking he loved them, to the point that his Togekiss, Lucario, and Roserade evolved for him, not knowing what kind of master they serve. Or worse, possibly more tragic, they're not deceived but indoctrinated to agree with him.
- In certain areas, like the Crimson Mirelands, it's possible to find an Alpha Ursaring that will be surrounded by unusually aggressive Teddiursa. If you choose to ignore the Teddiursa and focus directly on catching or defeating the Alpha Ursaring, you'll notice after the battle that all the Teddiursa will immediately turn tail and run away from you.
- Some of the Old Verses, which deal with the unknown writer dealing with having to survive on their own in Hisui for a thousand years, and the heartbreak of their friends and loved ones, humans and Pokémon alike, leaving. One of the verses suggests that the Celestica people, the originals, didn't die out or get wiped out, but rather for whatever reason just... left Hisui, and the narrator couldn't go with them because of their assigned mission from Arceus. It also calls out the Diamond and Pearl Clans for appropriating the name "Celestica" for the sake of their "tragic quarrel."
- If you interpret the player character as being Lucas/Dawn, Kamado banishing them and Volo betraying them hits that much harder—the direct ancestor to their mentor back home throws them under the bus out of paranoia, then the man who resembles the Champion they idolized reveals he was using them all along and tries to kill them.
- In one scene added in an update, Kamado explains how he decided on the Galaxy Team name, and muses that eventually they will fade and be forgotten but Cyllene vows to pass the story of Galaxy Team's exploits to future generations... cut to present and their good name has been corrupted by a possible descendant of Cyllene's into a gang of terrorists that, like Volo, wants to create their "perfect" world.
- After one grueling Fetch Quest to find 107 wisps, you finally meet Vessa after having collected them all, and she tells you to meet her in Crimson Mirelands at the Shrouded Ruins at night. Once you meet her there, she tells you that she lied and there was one more wisp left. Hers. After you collect hers, the Odd Keystone disappears and she tells you to not forget her. Their expression hits home when they can't see her and all they see next is a Spiritomb that spawns in front of you.
- For as much of a scumbag as he is, Volo seems genuinely mournful over the state of the Temple of Sinnoh in the post-game. Given how much he loves Hisui's mythology, it must be an awful sight for him.Volo: The temple lies in ruins now... Columns cracked and broken... Like pillars now turned into spears, stabbing into the heavens...
- Imagine being in Giratina's shoes. This Pokémon existed along with Palkia and Dialga. Its power was feared by the Celestica people of Hisui. Then Arceus got involved, and was banished by its creator, resulting in its grudge that it caused a space-time catastrophe along with a man who looked like Cynthia. But another trainer from the future manages to humble it, realizing the world it lives in, and decides to protect the world its trainer left behind. The one consolation is that it would meet another trainer in the future that looks like its previous, and would battle by their side.
- If you play as Akari, during one celebratory dinner, Rei unexpectedly gets somber:Rei: I keep doing the same thing day after day. Is it really getting us anywhere? With our research or with carving out a life here?
