Game Freak and the Pokemon Company have announced quite a bit about Pokémon Sun & Moon over
the past few weeks--and yet, there's still so much that remains a mystery. I mean, when
you think about it...we really don't know anything about Sun & Moon's story yet...at
least not officially. But what if I told you that we actually might know a lot more than
it seems? And that it includes an epic story that spans several Pokémon generations and
involves Project AZOTH, alchemy, and...planetary alignment? Sounds pretty Farfetch'd right?
Yeah, we thought so too--at least when we first read the theory that one of our fans,
Reddit user kalospkmn, shared with us. But upon looking into it deeper, we're thinking
she may just be on to more than even she realized. And it’s something that’s become more
complex than we ever could have imagined. So we’re going to try our best to break
it down and give our thoughts on what might possibly be the basis of Pokémon Sun & Moon’s
story.
But first, we need to establish some background information. Specifically around Project AZOTH,
which, although it wasn’t known by that name until Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire, had
its origin in X & Y. It’s there that we met AZ, the king that used the Ultimate Weapon
to end the Pokémon war 3,000 years ago by destroying both sides as well as resurrect
his beloved lost Floette. However, because the Weapon was powered by Pokémon life energy,
later called Infinity Energy, Floette abandoned AZ. He was left to wander the world alone,
unable to die as the Weapon had granted both him and Floette eternal life.
By the end of X & Y, the protagonist prevented Team Flare from using the Ultimate Weapon
again to destroy all life on the planet. This eventually resulted in the revelation of Project
AZOTH in Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire’s Episode Delta epilogue, with its stated goal being
to return everything to the beginning. But the Ultimate Weapon caused more than just
AZ’s immortality; the aftereffects irradiated special stones creating what is now known
as Mega Stones. The Devon Corporation in Hoenn eventually heard about this energy and developed
it into Infinity Energy for the betterment of both man and Pokémon. But Infinity Energy
still uses the life force of Pokémon.
In contrast, Primal Reversion is achieved by either Groudon or Kyogre absorbing natural
energy into their body. The outcome of Primal Reversion and Mega Evolution is the same,
the Pokémon achieves a temporary form to become more powerful, but the difference lies
in the source of the required energy. While the possible dangers of natural energy is
never addressed in the games, the effect of Pokémon life energy is felt during Episode
Delta of the third generation remakes.
The protagonist of Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire is able to stop the respective Team’s last
ditch effort to activate Project AZOTH by detonating a rocket full of Infinity Energy
and destroying the world. As kalospkmn notes, the story of AZ, the Ultimate Weapon, Infinity
Energy, and Episode Delta all contains the themes of destruction and new life, the end
and the beginning. And this goes even further with AZ’s name containing the first and
the last letters of the alphabet while Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire obviously contain Alpha
and Omega; again, the first and the last letters of the Greek alphabet. And finally, the newest
Pokémon movie that’s releasing, Volcanion and the Mechanical Magearna, takes place in
the Azoth Kingdom. Between all of these connections, it makes sense that Pokémon is building toward...something.
Ok, still with me through all that backstory? Great, so here’s the thing, the word “Azoth”
is something that actually exists in the real world. It is considered a universal medicine
or universal solvent in alchemy, which is basically the medieval version of chemistry.
Its symbol was the Caduceus, a common medical symbol and often associated with the Greek
god Hermes. Eventually this association led to Azoth becoming a poetic word for Mercury,
the Roman name for Hermes. But here’s where it gets interesting; Azoth is the essential
agent of transformation in alchemy and, by extension, the element Mercury is the animating
spirit, or in Pokémon terms natural energy, hidden in all matter that makes transmutation
possible.
So beyond the natural energy, what’s this have to do with Pokémon? Well, as we stated,
Pokémon life energy was used to end the war, but it had the side effect of creating Mega
Stones. And what do Mega Stones do? Yep, they cause transformations, albeit temporary ones.
Referring to this event with the project name AZOTH is meant to reference these changes
since Azoth is literally a key component in Mega Evolution, just as it is in alchemic
transformation. But it goes one step further and ties into the themes that Pokémon has
had in the past two games. And the spelling of Azoth is an important factor.
One of the grunts from Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire says, quote, “The Project AZOTH...A
stands for the beginning, Z stands for the end--that’s what I think, but I don’t
know what O, T, and H stand for.” The thing is, the real world answers his question. As
the grunt says, the spelling of Azoth uses A, which is the first letter of the Latin,
Greek, and Hebrew alphabets. Z is the last letter of the Latin alphabet. O, or Omega,
is the last letter of the Greek alphabet. And Tau, used with TH, is the last letter
of the Hebrew alphabet. Once more we can see the theme of the beginning and the end.
And here we thought the only alphabet involved in Pokémon were the Unown.
But we’ve only just scratched the surface, because the entries on Azoth have more connections
to Pokémon than we ever expected. Azoth itself is related to the Hebrew Kabbalah and the
concept of Ain Soph. The Kabbalah is meant as a way to relate the idea of the mortal
and finite universe with the mysterious, unchanging, infinite Ain Soph. Ain Soph is believed to
be the Hebrew God before the manifestation of the universe. In Pokémon terms, Ain Soph
would be Arceus before he created the world of Pokémon.
Manly P. Hall, in his book The Secret Teachings of All Ages, explains how Azoth and Ain Soph
are connected. He writes, “The universe is surrounded by the sphere of light or stars.
Beyond that sphere is Schamayim, the Hebrew word for heaven, who is the Divine Fiery Water,
the first outflow of the Word of God, the flaming river pouring from the presence of
the eternal mind. Schamayim, who is this fiery Androgyne, divides. His Fire becomes Solar
fire and Water becomes Lunar water in our universe. Schamayim is the Universal Mercury
or Azoth--the measureless spirit of life.”
That excerpt from Hall essentially states Schamayim was the first creation of Ain Soph.
And the name Schamayim, which can also mean sky in Hebrew, is awfully close to the name
of the Mythical Pokémon Shaymin. In fact, many believe its name is based on the Hebrew
word. The problem is, Shaymin has no explicit relationship to Arceus. Even its Pokédex
entries talk more about its relation to flowers. All we can see is that Shaymin comes right
before Arceus in the National Dex. Yet this may connect to the new Legendary Pokemon,
Solgaleo and Lunala as well. After all, Hall’s excerpt mentions how Schamayim divided to
become Solar fire and Lunar water. Is it really possible that Shaymin’s role may be expanded
to fit these stories?
We’re not sure, but the Azoth and alchemical connections to Pokémon don’t end there.
Eliphas Levi wrote in his book, Transcendental Magic, that, quote, “The Azoth or Universal
Medicine is, for the soul, supreme reason and absolute justice.” This seems to relate
to the events told in X & Y where the life energy, or souls, of Pokémon were used to
delve out absolute justice on both sides of the war. Levi then continues, “For the mind,
it is mathematical and practical truth.” What if this line relates to the events of
Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire where the Devon Corporation uses Pokémon life energy for
practical purposes, expanding the mind? Levi goes on to write, “For the body, it is the
quintessence, which is a combination of gold and light.” Is it possible that this line
could tie into Sun & Moon’s storyline?
But then Levi’s excerpt states something fascinating. “In the superior or spiritual
world, it is the First Matter of the Great Work, the source of enthusiasm and activity
of the alchemist. In the intermediate or mental world, it is intelligence and industry. In
the inferior or material world, it is physical labor.” Again, these words seem to tie in
to the events of both X & Y and Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire. But what of Levi’s words
on the inferior or material world which relates to physical labor?
We believe it’s possible that this could tie into the new Starter Pokémon, specifically
the end of Levi’s excerpt in which he states, “Sulfur, Mercury, and Salt, which, volatized
and fixed alternately, compose the Azoth of the sages. Sulfur corresponds to the elementary
form of Fire, Mercury to Air and Water, Salt to Earth.” In our first analysis of Sun
& Moon gameplay, we pointed out that Litten has the alchemic symbol for Sulfur on its
forehead when used in conjunction with its eyes. And here we see that Mercury ties into
Air, and Salt with Earth. In other words Popplio and Rowlet.
Unfortunately, the connection to the latter two isn’t quite as strong since Rowlet could
better be connected with Earth and Air while Popplio is obviously associated with just
water. Yet still we have this possible alchemical connection. And while it may be a stretch,
after looking at the alchemical symbols for Salt and Mercury, we may have seen how they
appear with Rowlet and Popplio. The symbol for Salt is just a circle with a line going
through it. And what’s Rowlet but a circle with its bowtie possibly standing in for the
central line.
However, Popplio is a bit more of a stretch as its body might be forming the symbol for
Mercury when it poses. Its torso could be the base with its outstretched arms while
its round nose or head could form the circle and its upturned ears would be the curves
on top. In fact, much of Popplio’s facial features are rounded like the upper part of
the symbol. Again, we admit this is a major stretch for Popplio, but these connections
work extremely well with Litten and Rowlet. Could it be that the Starters actually represent
the three prime materials of alchemy?
Before we move on, we want to point out a fascinating connection between Eliphas Levi
and Pokémon. We mentioned before how the newest Pokémon movie will take place in the
Azoth Kingdom and features Volcanion and Magearna. But one of the new human characters is named
Eliphas, who created Magearna five hundred years before the movie takes place. It cannot
be mere coincidence that Pokémon is referencing both Azoth and Eliphas in the same movie.
And this goes even further thanks to kalospkmn. More research on Azoth reveals that it is
known in alchemy as the Universal Solvent, Universal Cure, and Elixir of Life, embodying
all medicines as well as the first principles of all other substances, namely Sulphur, Mercury,
and Salt. Azoth has also been named the Universal Life Force with it not only acting as the
animating energy of the body but the inspiration and enthusiasm that moves the mind. Azoth
is the mysterious evolutionary force that’s responsible for the relentless drive toward
physical and spiritual perfection. What this could mean in relation to Pokémon is that
Azoth IS the life energy of Pokémon; the energy that pushes them towards evolution
and why the Mega Stones can trigger another evolutionary state.
But these ideas of Azoth also tie into astronomy as kalospkmn demonstrates. Each letter in
the word Azoth could represent a Legendary Pokémon. The letter A could represent Xerneas,
creator of life, while the letter Z represents Yveltal, taker of life. As we stated before,
O represents Omega, which is also used in astronomy as a ranking of a star’s brightness
within a constellation. Continuing from this idea, O would represent Solgaleo, the sun
emissary who shines brightly. Finally, TH represents Tau which astronomy uses a measure
of optical depth, or how much sunlight can’t penetrate the atmosphere. This makes the connection
to Lunala, the moon emissary that prevents light, all the clearer.
Returning to alchemy, kalospkmn points out that there are seven classical planets though
the Sun and Moon are included in those seven. Each relates to the metals of the classical
world and, from here, we can see some of the other possible inspirations behind Solgaleo
and Lunala. The Sun in different cultures was represented by the heart, soul, kings,
gold, and the astrological sign, Leo, which is a lion. So yeah, it’s a pretty obvious
connection. Whereas the Moon was represented by the brain, mind, queens, silver, and the
astrological sign, Cancer. And though Cancer is depicted as a crab, an Arabic astrological
text called the Book of Wonders shows the crab gripping the moon which has a set of
bat wings, which are reminiscent of Lunala.
What’s interesting is that these sun and moon cultural representations tie into Ho-Oh
and Lugia as well, whose images we spotted in the clouds of the Alola map. Think about
it: Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver. Heart, Gold, Soul, Silver, all are among the symbols
we just mentioned. Maybe these two Legendary Pokémon really will have a role to play in
Sun & Moon.
In any case, the order of the seven planets goes Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus,
and Saturn. And it’s here that we may see what the new evil Team is planning. Namely,
Harmonic Convergence. Stay with us here. So as kalospkmn researched, Harmonic Convergence
is the name given to one of the world’s first globally synchronized meditation events,
which occurred on August 16th and 17th in 1987. This also closely coincided with an
exceptional alignment of planets in the Solar System. Considering that there was speculation
on Reddit that an eclipse would play a role in the games and that it’s a type of syzygy,
or a straight-line configuration of three or more celestial bodies, a Harmonic Convergence
seems to tie into a potential plot.
Harmonic Convergence involved cycles of 52 years which were split between so-called heaven
and hell cycles. The hell cycles ended at the Harmonic Convergence and was said to begin
a new cycle of peace in which the evils of the modern world would end. The evil Team
may be believers of Harmonic Convergence and could be planning to do something with Solgaleo
and Lunala at the exact point when the planets allign in order to bring an end to what they
perceive as the current cycle of evil and begin anew with their vision of peace. Yeah,
they basically want to hit the planet’s reset button, like so many Teams before them.
Well, in theory.
But yeah, the Team’s plan could easily involve the new Legendary Pokémon, Project AZOTH,
and Harmonic Convergence. And these plans could possibly tie into the observatory on
the southeast island in order for them to properly time the Convergence. As an intriguing
aside, there was a trademark discovered for a potential Pokémon named Marshadow--emphasis
on Mars. So could it be possible that there will be five other Pokémon representing the
remaining classical planets from alchemy?
Before we end this wild theory, we want to return to Azoth as an alchemy concept. Occultist
Aleister Crowley was a firm believer of the idea of Azoth being a unifier of opposites.
We already saw this with the idea of its name. And he points this out further with the idea
that it’s both the Universal Solvent and the Universal Medicine. It works as both as
a cancellation and a cohesion. This idea of a combination of opposites may even tie into
the suspected Synergy between people and Pokémon that we talked about in our previous analysis.
Perhaps Azoth led to the creation of these new jewels that we’ve been seeing?
So, did you get all that? Or did we leave you completely confused? In short, this theory
posits that the new evil Team will use Solgaleo and Lunaala in conjunction with a planetary
alignment. This in itself relates a celestial theme that ties into alchemic ideas. Alchemy
seems to be a major component of Sun & Moon as it connects the Starter Pokémon, the new
Legendary Pokémon, and the concept of Azoth. And Azoth has been referenced in past Pokémon
games in one way or another and could encapsulate everything that Game Freak has been building
toward over the years.
At this point, these references can’t be just coincidence. The REAL question is, will
they amount to anything? Who knows how far the games will take these concepts, but we’re
pretty sure kalospkmn might be on to something here. Even it doesn’t pan out, the ideas
are a ton of fun to think about--and hey, wouldn’t it be amazing if it does come true?
It’s incredible that a series like Pokémon could lead us to research alchemy, Hebrew
beliefs, and astrological events. It makes us all the more excited for the possibilities
that Pokémon Sun & Moon holds. But what do you think of this theory? Let us know in the
comments! Thanks for watching and be sure to subscribe to GameXplain for more on Pokémon
and other things gaming!