The Great Pokémon War - All is Revealed

The Great Pokémon War - All is Revealed

The Pokémon series has spawned many fan theories over the years. From Cubone’s mother to the death of your rivals Raticate. However I always though the most interesting of these theories was the Great Pokémon War. Many of you may be thinking that this is an absurd possibility. Pokémon is a kids game, they won’t lace it’s backstory with war. Well random reader prepare to have your mind blown.

 

Yes it is possible that all this is just coincidence. Maybe all this can be disproved and maybe we will never know the true story behind the great Pokémon War. But a lot of what I found does seem to fall together quite neatly.

 

We start with Pokémon Red and Blue. As our protagonist Red journeys across the world of Kanto he reaches a place called Vermillion city. Eager to obtain his third gym badge Red enters the Vermillion city gym. After getting through the annoying puzzle with the bins and the double locked door you reach the Gym leader. His name is Lt. Surge. What’s most interesting is some of his dialogue. He says as follows:

“Hey kid what do you think you’re doing here? You won’t last long in combat! That’s for sure! I tell you what kid, electric Pokémon saved me during the war

 

The war. There instant proof! Okay this just seems like a random piece of dialogue with no real meaning like what seems to be all abundant in every Pokémon game. Pokémon aren’t well known for carefully chosen dialogue with great meaning and significance (Need I mention the shorts kid). This could easily be passed off as nothing until you really start to think about it.

 

Your character, Red, where is his Father. Your Mother never mentions him or even the remote possibility he exists. She accepts you as the man of the house, free to make your own decisions when you’re just a child. Red is only 11 years old when he heads out on his Pokémon journey. There’s more. Your rival, Blue, where are his parents. He lives with his older sister and other than her his known family is his grandfather Professor Oak. Coincidence? Is it still coincidence how many other children you encounter on your journey, children that out by themselves in a world inhabited by dangerous creatures?

 

Come to think of it, how many adult males are in the original Pokémon games? A suspiciously small number. In fact the only time you see a consistent number of Adult males is when you’re fighting Team Rocket. Outside of organised crime there are barley any adult males at all, instead all male characters are either children or elderly. You may not think this is definite proof but surely this should at least arouse suspicion. Why would a game avoid using male characters? Unless Game Freak and Nintendo were infiltrated by hard core feminists something seems off here.

 

Kanto is filled with specialized hospitals and gyms for training. But there aren’t any entertainment facilities, cinemas, skating rinks etc. This would make a lot of sense if there was a recent war, there would be far more pressing matters at hand than entertainment. In fact the only building I could find that had entertainment as their primary purpose was the Casino in Celadon City, a building being used as a cover for the operations of Team Rocket.

 

Let’s go back to professor Oak. Wasn’t he supposed to be a Pokémon trainer himself and then didn’t he dedicate a huge part of his life to Pokémon research? But all he has to show for it are three level 5 Pokémon and an empty Pokédex. What could have happened to all his research and findings? Where are his Pokémon? It makes you think doesn’t it? It also seems worth mentioning that Kanto, the region of the first generation of Pokémon games has the smallest number of different species found in the wild.

 

Okay so there may have been a Pokémon war involving the Kanto region of Pokémon which wiped out huge amounts of the population of people and Pokémon alike. So what you may be asking. While interesting there doesn’t seem to be much else to say. It’s not like we know why this war was fought or who with. There are so many unanswered questions. Or are there? I have a theory. A theory that takes us to Pokémon X and Y.

 

There is a war that takes place 3000 years before the events of Pokémon X and Y, the one that you learn about in the main plot of the game. This while interesting in its own right is completely unrelated to my theory. North of route 6 in Kalos in a huge palace called Parfum Palace. This palace was built after a war with neighbouring regions. How does this help us the war was 3000 years ago. Correction: there was a war 3000 years ago, however Parfum palace was built 300 years ago. There was a completely separate war 300 years ago. A war with neighbouring regions. Regions such as Kanto perhaps?

Parfum Palace

 

I admit that is a big jump to make so I have more. The biggest problem here is that the war takes place 300 years ago. If this is the same war that L.t Surge speaks of then he would have to be over 300 years old … If Pokémon Red and Blue take place at the same time as Pokémon X and Y. However there is nothing to say that they do. However is it possible that X and Y could possibly be 300 years into the future? It doesn’t seem advanced enough to be 300 years in the future at first glance. While this could appear to be a bit of a stretch there are some factors to consider.

 

Firstly is the population of both regions. Kanto has a population of 391 people.  To put this in perspective Lumiose city in Kalos has a population of 416 by itself. Overall Kalos’s population is 868, over twice that of Kanto. This is strange as Kanto is named after the Kanto region of Japan while Kalos is based off France. In the game Kalos and Kanto have a similar landmass and thus since Japan has a far greater population than France, Kanto should have the higher population. After a war however, as we discussed earlier the population of adult males would have been depleted. Population grows over time naturally too as birth rate exceeds death rate with people living longer.

 

How about the field of Sience. Kalos isn’t far enough advanced to be 300 years ahead. Or is it? In Red and Blue, 3 types of Pokémon haven’t been identified yet, steel, dark and fairy, despite that 2 of these types are in Kanto native Pokémon (Those being the steel types magnemite and magneton and the various fairy types). How about the fact that the Kanto Pokédex had 151 entry’s, the Kalos Dex has 718 Pokémon in X and Y. How about the evolutions of kanto native pokemon such as Magmar and Scyther that haven’t been discovered in Kanto as well as baby versions of Kanto Pokémon such as Mime Jr and Smoochum. There are many moves that Kanto trainers do not know exist that are known in X and Y.

 

Lumiose City

There’s more. I mentioned earlier Kanto has no entertainment designated buildings. Kalos has cafés, clothes shops, expensive restaurants, a museum, hotels the list goes on. There are many more TM’s now, more types of Pokéballs, far more items to use in battle. Even something as simple as the number of cars and taxis in Kalos compared to the small number of vehicles in Kanto. Even saying something as simple as there are more buildings in X and Y than in Red and Blue suggests that X and Y take place long after the events of Red and Blue. X and Y also has the the largest city revealed so far in the Pokémon world, Lumiose City.

 

While it is all well and good highlighting the possible time difference between the two games there’s one question about the Great Pokémon War that has always been a mystery. Why was there a war in the first place, what is being fought for? I think I may have an answer to this question too.

 

We go back to Parfum Palace. It is a grand place, far more extravagant than most places in your typical Pokémon games. It has statues of Pokémon and knights made of gold, it is full of what I’m sure are very expensive paintings. The gates are finely crafted and also gold, the building itself is gigantic, the Garden is bigger than an average town, even the walls are laced with gold. Remember this place was built just after a war by the king of Kalos. Can you imagine the time and money it would take to build such a place? Can you also imagine the resources it would take to win a war against another Pokémon region? Families would have been torn apart, many would have died and the king of Kalos at the time decided to build himself a luxurious palace. Some noble and selfless leader we have here. But think about it, is it really that unlikely a man like this, clearly very interested in showing off his power and wealth would wage war, risking thousands of lives for more power?

 

But what could Kanto possibly have that could interest a power hungry tyrant. What is one of the main themes in Pokémon X and Y. Mega evolution. The people in Kanto are unaware that mega evolution even exists at all but in Kalos they are very aware. Was the King of Kalos aware of or even capable of harnessing the power of mega evolution 300 years ago? It’s certainly possible. In X and Y guess which region has the most Pokémon capable of mega evolution. The Kanto region, the one you play in during Red and Blue. Just a coincidence? I’ll let you make up your own mind.

 

Parfum Palace's Golden statues

Some of you will be thinking about Omega Ruby and Alpha Saphire and how in those games there are far more mega evolutions. Yes it’s true, in the newest pokemon games there are in total 20 Hoenn Pokémon capable of mega evolution (Not even including Groudon and Kyorgre) while there are only 13 from Kanto. So where does Hoenn fit in here. Why wouldn’t the king of Kalos wage war with Hoenn not Kanto? Mauville City had changed a lot from the original Ruby and Sapphire. Its gym leader, Watson remodelled the city after another city. Lumiose from the Kalos region. Interesting. In the central plaza of Mauville there is a monument called the Square Tower. Obviously based off Lumiose City’s Prism Tower, the sign accompanying it decribes it as a celebration of the friendship between Mauville City and Lumiose City, the two biggest and most influential citys in Hoenn and Kalos respectively. The King of Kalos does not sound like the type to build friendships. I think back to the old phrase, if you can’t beat them, join them. Would you attack Hoenn, knowing at any moment one of Groudon or Kyogre could either flood or completely level your entire region? I certainly wouldn’t. Is it possible the King of Kalos created an alliance with the powerful Hoenn region? Interestingly as you enter Parfum Palace a large gold statue lies in front of you. It is a Miolotic, the world’s most beautiful Pokémon, a Pokémon that originates from the Hoenn region. Did anyone else ever woner why Ruby and Sapphire actively distanced themselves from any previous Pokémon games?

Square Tower in Mauville City

 

There is one more piece of evidence. How would a war be fought in the Pokémon world? With Pokémon, obviously. There is a large number of Kanto Pokémon in the Kalos region including the 3 legendary bird Pokémon. How did they get there? Through the war? What would Kanto’s best weapon in a war be? Mewtwo. Where is Mewtwo? In a cave in the difficult to find Pokémon village in the Kalos region. Come to think of it, could Mewtwo have been the mega evolving Pokémon the King of Kalos really wanted. Mewtwo is certainly difficult to get to in X and Y and his mega evolutions are two of the most powerful Pokémon in existence, in fact only one other pokemon reaches the same base stat level as the two mega versions of Mewtwo, Mega Rayquaza of the Hoenn region. What an odd coincidence.

 

It seems appropriate to finish this theory with where it began, L.t Surge. If he fought in this war, the one 300 years before the events of X and Y, the one we saw the aftermath of all those years ago in Red and Blue, then where is their proof of Surge ever being in Kalos. In Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver you can find him at the powerplant. If you have a Pikachu following you and if you then defeat him in the fighting dojo you can meet him at the magnet train station. You can trade him a Pikachu. In return you receive a French Pikachu called Volty. A French Pikachu. Does something sound familiar? It should as need I remind you what Kalos, the region I’m proposing was at war with Kanto in the Great Pokémon War was based off.