So I’m writing this in the middle of a category 1 hurricane. Yep, pretty fun. I’ve been walking outside a little too- it’s fantastic when the wind blows you down the street. Still, I’m kinda getting cabin fever from sitting inside all this time– can’t leave the house much at all for the past few days and what looks to be the next few.
On top of that, happy Halloween’s eve! Naturally, here’s a Pokémon that is very halloween worthy.
A ghost that possesses a sarcophagus? Spooky. Or how about a ghost that holds a mask of its old face. That’s pretty spooky too.
Basis
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This one sounds like a bit of a stretch, and it’s pretty original, but I couldn’t help but notice the similarities here.
Take a look at Yamask– it has a pretty unique shape right? Who would even come up with a thing that has that sorta strange tail with a mask? It’s not an expected shape for any sort of Pokémon.
So why? Well, I think it has to do with the Eye of Horus. You probably identified it when you saw it, since it’s an extremely used Egyptian symbol. I mean, naturally it would come to mind.
There’s some discrepancies, but look at it from a couple angles and eventually, if you ignore the eyebrow, it looks like Yamask. The curly tail leading into an eye with arms? Sure caught my attention.
Or it could just be a random design choice. But since when was that a fun idea?
Clearly, this one has nothing much to do with the visual side of things, but Yamask has its origin in the Ba.
The Ba was the part of the human we call a soul today, the unique part. Yeah, it’s kinda hard to explain a soul– so how about the Ba again?
It was said that the Ba would remain after death and be corporal in some respects– much like a ghost. However, it wasn’t specifically said that it was a part of its original owner, as it could apparently function separate to an afterlife.
Also, I did say nothing much visually. If you look at Yamask, it has a kinda birdlike head– this might not be a coincidence.
As for the other part of Yamask, it’s carrying a death mask.
You probably get the concept, but a Death Mask is a mask that is modelled after its owner, to preserve them after death. It’s normally pretty exact.
Yamask is said to be carrying a mask of its former self, so yep– falls under death masks.
Onto Cofagrigus though, I think he’s pretty simple– an Egyptian Sarcophagus.
Naturally, Sarcophagus’s were pretty much decorated coffins for Pharohs. They kept the mummy enclosed, and could be decorated in gold and jewels to honor their former owner.
I think this makes it more interesting, since it says something about the Pokémon’s past life. I’ll get to that in the biology section though.
THE MUMMY’S CURSE
I could talk about thiss in a full, image-cut off section, but it’s just a quick fact.
Cofagrigus is also based partly on the idea of the Mummy’s curse, which is supposedly that anyone who violates a Mummy’s tomb is cursed to die or be punished. Cofagrigus attacks tomb robbers, and traps it within the walls of its body– clearly related to that concept.
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Biology
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Naturally, youngest first.
Yamask seems to be a spirit that hasn’t passed on, or simply can’t. It carries a mask that was its past face, which supposedly can bring it to tears.
It has a pretty simple body plan- two arms, one ‘tail’, and a head that has two huge eyes on it. One could argue that the tail is a third arm, but it lacks any appendages on its tail for it to be an arm for me. The real arms have hands.
The tail carries the mask, and this seems to be perpetual– Yamask does not put down, or let go of this mask. One could suppose that it carries part of Yamask’s soul in the mask, or one could assume that it’s just holding on to what humanity it has left– and refuses to let go of anything that reminds it that it was human. Pretty deep if you ask me.
It has two arms, which are its main method of manipulating the world around it. They seem to be rather big arms, but one would suppose a ghost doesn’t need to be strong to do anything.
The red eyes are kinda one of the creepy parts for me. Very blank– it has no eyebrows or muscles around the eye, and the eye seemingly just stares forever. Still, it’s a large eye, so it would work great in the dark temples/tombs/caves that it lives in.
There’s so much going on here, so it’ll be hard to narrow it down.
Cofagrigus is a spirit that has inhabited its prior sarcophagus. It has four, large arms that come out of a dark aura that surrounds its body, a face hidden in the sarcophagus that has menacing teeth as well as two red, glaring eyes. Overall, it looks menacing.
Supposedly, Cofagrigus will entomb grave robbers inside its body, thus one must assume it to be hallow with an inside much like a TARDIS– that is, bigger on the inside. Perhaps it links to another world, or it just has a bigger body than it looks, but it does trap them within its walls. Whether or not they can really enjoy it in there is never mentioned, but one would assume that they go through plenty of torture.
The hands would help Cofagrigus trap anyone it wants, as they can apparently change and adapt greatly; the arms come out from its dark aura and seem to change shape and size rapidly. With four arms, there’s a lot that Cofagrigus could do. It could even take on a team of grave robbers at once, easily grabbing as many as possible and stuffing them into its apparent, interior trap.
That face isn’t the face of a sane individual though, and it seems that Cofagrigus has gone insane with the years of its mask being the only thing binding it to its past life. Yamask is said to cry at times when it looks at its past face through the mask. So aybe Cofagrigus evolves when Yamask can’t bear to look at the mask anymore, losing its emotional, humanlike nature and becoming crazed. It’d make sense in a way.
Some other insight about Cofagrigus’ past? Well, it appears that it was a Pharaoh. Think about it– it has a death mask and a sarcophagus for itself. That’s not something just anyone would have. Sure, maybe it’s Unova and not real life’s Egypt, but I think there’s plenty to say as to why it’s a Pharoh. I mean, if Yamask has an emotional reaction to seeing its past face, it must be used to people respecting and praising itself back then, which also implies the whole Pharaoh thing.
The dark aura seems to be the same thing that Yamask’s body is made of– some sort of dark, ghost-like force. It’s physical, so it’s not exactly just a spirit, but it seems to be that Yamask absorbed a Coffin and ended up like this. Kinda like when Rotom absorbs an oven into its blue aura, and becomes part of it.
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Here’s the question: Why’d Cofagrigus go crazy? Was it because of time? Numbness about the mask? Did it stop looking at the mask?
Hopefully this article was worth the read! Happy Halloween to you all, as I won’t be talking to you until next Tuesday. You guys are great.
Still, criticisms are much welcome, and suggestions too. I have no idea what Pokémon I’m doing next week, so maybe you guys can really help out?