Many of us have happy memories of nostalgia when it comes to the Pokemon franchise.
And those who are only discovering it for the first time thanks to the Switch are sure
to find the series just as enjoyable.
But for a long time, there have been a lot of questions about this magical and compelling
world of pocket monsters that have eluded fans for a long time, spawning fan theories
in an attempt to answer said questions.
And some of those theories are downright dark and unsettling.
When you consider Nintendo’s history for having their series contain darker subtext
– looking at you Legend of Zelda – it’s easy to buy into some of these disconcerting
theories.
So today, we’re taking a closer look at these speculations with our list of the top
10 scary pokemon fan theories.
10 Ditto is a Failed Clone This theory suggests that Ditto is actually
a failed clone of Mew.
So, for context, we all know that MewTwo is a clone of Mew, and that before Mew-Two, scientists
had experimented on a slew of different Pokemon and genetic mutations in order to finally
get to MewTwo.
Based on the games, we know that there were experiments prior to Mew-Two’s.
Some fans even think that there’s evidence in the anime that suggest that there were
successful experiments as well.
Now consider Ditto – a pokemon who is bright pink, the same colour as Mew, and can transform
into anything, yet it’s main form consists of a blob.
It’s found on Cinnabar Island, the place where MewTwo was created.
So what are the chances that Ditto was also the product of a genetic experiment, and managed
to multiply on the island after the project was abandoned?
Ditto could very well be a species that self-reproduces.
9 The Real World This one is a little wild.
So in some of the Pokemon titles, in pokedex entries over the years, you may have noticed
that occasionally, real world locations are mentioned.
In addition to that, some cities that have appeared in various regions of the Pokemon
world have shared eerie similarities to real life locations in our world.
This theory suggests that the Pokemon games take place on our world, except either as
an alternate reality, or as a post-apocalyptic re-imagining.
Now it’s entirely plausible that Nintendo and Game Freak have pulled inspiration from
the real world over the years and used them in the franchise’s games.
The fact that places like Paris and the world American are mentioned in certain titles though
imply that either these regions in the Pokemon game exist somewhere on our Earth, or these
regions are what our Earth has become.
8 Cubone’s Mother This one is a theory that’s been kicking
around for a long while – it’s that Cubone’s mother is actually Kangaskhan.
So you know how Cubone has that skull it wears on its head?
The skull of its dead mother?
It’s pokedex entry says so, and it’s evolution, Marowak, is a product of being an orphan,
hence why it’s so tough.
Some fans have speculated that Kangaskhan is actually Marowak’s final evolution since
the two have a similar body type.
Kangaskhan babies that lose their mothers turn into Cubones by wearing the skull of
their parent.
When you look at an evolution of a pokemon like Slowpoke, who can only evolve into Slobro
when a shellder attaches to its tail, it seems like a somewhat plausible explanation.
And if the Kangaskhan baby never loses its mother, it just continues to grow up into
a regular Kangaskhan.
7 Ash is in a Coma This one is for all of you Pokemon anime lovers
out there.
This theory suggests that Ash Ketchum is actually in a coma, and that all of the events of the
Pokemon anime show are
6 Food in Pokemon What do people and Pokemon eat in the world
of Pokemon?
Other Pokemon?
This is an age old question as far as many fans are concerned.
While animals are never seen in the Pokemon world outside of being mentioned occasionally
in the Pokedex or in sprites like the Fisherman trainer, there’s never really been much
to go off of when it comes to what kinds of foods Pokemon and people eat in that universe.
The food the Pokemon eat in the games and animes are usually plant based stuff – we’re
talking berries – or really ambiguous looking meals that could be made out of anything ,really.
But in Pokemon Gold and Silver, we learn that Team Rocket are hunting Slowpoke because their
tales are a delicacy.
Then, there’s been instances in the anime where Pokemon have been mentioned as food,
like during the SS Anne crash, Ash and Brock contemplate eating a Magikarp.
And later in the show, Farfetch’d apparently were hunted for their meat.
So perhaps the Pokemon world we see is one in which humans are banned from eating Pokemon,
but generally have a more plant based.
And some just flat out eat Pokemon, despite it being illegal.
5 Genetic Experiments This theory speculates that Koffing and Weezing
are the products of genetic experiments.
How so?
It suggests that Team Rocket decided to genetically engineer gas particles from other existing
Pokemon in order to create their own breed of Pokemon that would be for them to use and
to weaponize.
That’s why Koffing and Wheezing have those chemical symbols on their bodies as warnings
for humans of their toxicity, and why it’s commonly Team Rocket members who use them
in the Pokemon games.
4 Lavender Town Syndrome Back in the day, there was a theory that the
first two Pokemon games, Red and Green, were causing child suicides in Japan due to the
high frequency of the music that plays when you are in Lavender Town.
The internet quickly adopted this tale, and it’s one of the most popular urban legend
creepy pastas out there to date.
Apparently programmers had created the song for Lavender Town with such a deadly frequency
that kids playing the game couldn’t handle it, and the North American release of the
game would change the music before its release over seas.
While there is no evidence to support that the music actually caused kids to kill themselves,
there have been reports of players feeling uncomfortable and anxious when they hear the
music in Lavender Town in the game.
Whether or not this has any validity is questionable at best.
3 Dead Trainers You know how you always find items lying around
on the ground in Pokemon games?
Aside from it being a useful mechanic while you travel in between cities, have you ever
wondered why exactly there’s all this stuff lying around?
People just don’t drop valuable items in the real world – there’s no way something
like a rare candy in the Pokemon world would just be cast aside or haphazardly dropped
by accident.
This theory aims to explain why there’s so much stuff kicking around on the ground
in the series – it’s because those items were dropped by now dead trainers.
These items are the last remains of trainers who had an untimely end.
When you think about how much crime there is in the Pokemon world, combined with the
theory about a great Pokemon war – more on that in a sec – it could be easily to
see how, at various different points in time, some trainers have become causalities.
And who’s to say all wild pokemon are friendly?
Sure, you’re a great trainer capable of capturing these wild creatures, but who’s
to say that everyone is capable or up to the task?
2 Death This one’s super dark.
The very first Pokemon games, Red and Blue (or Red and Green if you’re from Japan)
introduced the concept of Pokemon death to us when we arrived in Lavender Town.
The whole town is essentially a memorial site, and contains the graves of hundreds of Pokemon.
But aside from this, we never really see or hear anything about Pokemon dying in the games,
minus a few other Pokedex entries that pop up.
We don’t even know what the life span of Pokemon are.
This is where one specific Pokemon comes in – Yamask.
Yamask is a fifth generation Pokemon who, according to their pokedex entry, was once
human before becoming a Pokemon, and the mask it carries used to be its face when it was
human.
It looks at it and cries.
This basically implies that Yamask is a reincarnation of a human.
Or is a human ghost.
Another Pokemon, Lampent, hangs out around hospitals, waiting to steal the spirits of
people who die.
Yikes.
This theory suggests that ghost type Pokemon help regulate death in the world of Pokemon,
and that Pokemon will either be the harbinger of death and also the reincarnated versions
of spirits.
Another theory suggests that the world of Pokemon is a ghost world – its why there’s
similarities to the real world.
Everyone is actually a spirit, and the Pokemon world is a limbo of sorts before Pokemon and
humans are reincarnated into something back in the real world.
Speaking of memorial site, Lavender town’s mass grave helps feed into our next theory-
1 The Pokemon War Perhaps the most popular and well known theory
on our list is this one.
The idea behind the Pokemon war stems from a conversation you have with Lt Surge before
you battle the gym leader.
He mentions that Electric Pokemon saved his life in the war.
Now take a look around at the NPCs in the Pokemon games.
Most are young adults or children, with the adult population primarily being women, or
elderly individuals.
Now look at your player character in the initial titles, Red, and your rival, Blue.
Neither of you have father figures.
You have a mother, Blue has a sister, and an uncle in Professor Oak.
All of Oak’s assistants seem quite young, too.
And there’s a lot of kids being allowed out in the world to adventure and become Pokemon
trainers.
Is that because there’s a such a low threat of danger?
Or because these young trainers are forced to become adults and step up in order to keep
the world of wild Pokemon in check?
This theory suggests that before the games began, there was a war.
Exactly what that kind of war is – humans versus humans, or humans versus Pokemon – is
up in the air, but the idea that all of the adult men were drafted into this war and died
could be a reasonable explanation as to why there’s such a large population of kids
roaming around all of these regions.
Many people died.
Lavender Town is actually a memorial to that war, and the Pokemon and their trainers who
fought in it.
Lt Surge could very well be a war hero, and that’s how he got his gym status.
Same with the Elite Four members.
The adult members of Team Rocket who you battle against are those who defected from going
into battle, or tried to run away from being drafted, and were therefore forced into a
life of crime.
It’s also why we haven’t gotten a Pokemon game that features an absolutely massive world
to explore – much of the world was devastated thanks to this world war that broke out.
Some have even speculated that the war took place between humans, and nuclear bombs were
dropped, which caused Pokemon to mutate and become what they are now, and all the kids
being sent out as trainers are an attempt at taming these new wild inhabitants humans
share their world with.
Another theory is that Professor Oak keeps handing out Pokedexs so that he can collect
information that was previously lost in the war, figuring out which species still exist,
and what new mutations have appeared.
There we have it friends!
Which of these theories do you think are true?
Give us a shout in those comments below and let us know!
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