Everybody seems to love speculation, with all the rumours and stories that are floating around right now, we could probably write the script for Pokémon X & Y ourselves! So I thought I would jump on board and come up with a few ideas of my own!
In this article I am going to attempt to make some predictions and explore the possibilities of new legendary X&Y Pokémon based upon Norse Mythology, discussing possibilities and providing explanations for each based upon folklore. Available here in Italian. Thanks again to our mysterious Italian contributor!
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So, what is Norse Mythology?
Norse Mythology is the fabled idea that the earth was not round, but instead a flat disc. This disc, sits in the branches or something called ‘The World Tree’, known as the Yggdrasil. At the base of the Yggdrasil is Midgard, the realm of men, which is home to many Stags, each with particular colour stones within their long antlers. At the opposite end of the Yggdrasil, at the top is Asgard, realm of the gods which is looked over by the blind eagle. Then deep under the roots of the Yggdrasil is said to be a trapped serpent-like dragon known as Niohoggr who is near the realms of the dead.
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Why Norse Mythology?
It is a popular perception among many Pokémon fans that both revealed legendaries, Xerneas and Yvetal are based upon Norse mythology. Xerneas the representation of the stags at the bottom of the tree, it’s antlers covered in gems in the colours red, blue, purple and gold. The initial trailer for X&Y featured Xerneas stood in front of a large tree, could this be the equivalent of the Yggdrasil? Yvetal the representation of the ‘blind eagle’, shown in the trailer as having glazed eyes which are coloured a clouded blue – is Yvetal blind?
In previous generations the regions have been based upon various areas of the world. For example, Johto and Kanto are based upon Japan, Unova based on America with Castellia City being compared to New York, mirroring its size and metropolitan appeal.
As seen in the very first X&Y trailer, Pikachu stands in front of the Eiffel tower and shoots a thunderbolt out into the atmosphere with Europe being centre screen – which would imply the region of XY is based upon Europe. Norse Mythology is European folklore, its roots based from Scandinavia which is based in North Europe. The purpose for this explanation is to provide credibility to the popular belief that the new generation is based upon this foundation by comparison.
SO… besides Yvetal and Xerneas and a new Mewtwo forme, we have no information as of yet about any other new legendary Pokémon, so lets delve deep into Norse Mythology and make some predictions for what other potential legendary Pokémon we may see!
SERPENT-DRAGON POKÉMON
We’ll start with the obvious one which we’ve already mentioned – the serpent dragon, Niohoggr. This particular beast has been compared to a potential Giratina by many Pokémon fans, based upon the mythology, Niohoggr lives deep within the roots of the Yggdrasil and is a dark creature who wanders the realm of the dead.The roots of Yggdrasil is obviously a remote location that is not ventured to by many, which could be compared to Giratina’s distortion world. X&Y may well introduce us to this Pokémon along with an alternate location for method of its capture.
MONSTROUS WOLF POKÉMON
North Mythology speaks of the wolf, Fenrir – who is foretold to have killed the God, Odin. Fenrir was raised by the gods which adds controversy to the murder of the God Odin and sets Fenrir as being a treacherous personality. Could we see a Monsterous Wolf Pokémon in X&Y? Perhaps it killed its trainer in the past and has become bitter and evil over time?.. Slightly violent for the Pokémon series, maybe! But I’m sure a less brutal version of the story could be
told.
THE SQUIRREL POKÉMON
Running up and down Yggdrasil is said to be a Squirrel named Ratatoskr. It is said that Ratatoskr carries messages between the blind Eagle at the top of Yggdrasil and Niohoggr (the serpent-like dragon) at the roots of Yggdrasil. The name Ratatoskr typically means ‘drill-tooth’, and folklore states that Ratatoskr gnaws away at the trunk of Yggdrasil. If this were to be a Pokémon, it could be that this squirrel is an instigator of a feud between two others, causing situations between two other powerful legendaries through lies and stretching of the truth. To further speculate on theory, maybe this squirrel is taking order from an evil organisation who have a goal in mind at world destruction, or who are sought after the capture of the feuding legendaries.
THE RAVEN DUO POKÉMON
Huginn and Muninn are a pair of Ravens who fly all over the world. They bring information of the world to the God, Odin. Similar to Ratatoskr, the Squirrel – this pair of Ravens could be perceived as ‘spies’ – capable of causing trouble through ill-informed information and understanding of situations in which they witness. Maybe in a true Pokémon story telling, these birds could be rivals? One the representation of good, and one the representation of evil.
THE GIANT TRIO/ORIGINAL GIANT POKÉMON
In Norse Mythology, the Jotun – also known as ‘the giants’, are often opposed to the gods, they are strong creatures who even though referred to as ‘giants’ are said to be slightly bigger than human beings. They are said to have separated into factions over the years, with some giants being larger than others. These larger giants are different types of Giants in terms of elemental status – fire, frost and mountain. Maybe this could be our next trio legendary line up?.
Norse Mythology also says that the entire world of men was born from the flesh of Ymir, who was a Giant of cosmic proportion and one of the original Giants. Perhaps if these two factions were brought into the Pokémon world, we could have a group of Pokémon similar to the Regis. The original giant being the equivalent to Regigigas.
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There are many different possibilities! These were just a few of my favourites which I thought I could bring some justice to. What do you guys think? Can you guys think of any other possibilities for the X & Y legendaries based around Norse Mythology? Let us know!
Note: This article will be followed up with Episode 2 of The Journey to X & Y!
I hope all the legendaries are related, living in an awesome massive tree, like home of the gods. I’d love it if there were loads of legendaries based of the main Greek gods though… Norse mythology is cool I want my Harry a potter house Quartet eventually though 🙂
oh yes. this is beautiful. it makes sense and is straight forward. i hope that if there is a Z the the serpent thing is the legendary
I know how many people love this theory, but I think it’s too farfetched and won’t be the real deal. Also, even IF Norse Mythology turns out to be the base of those two, why should that be relevant for any other Pokémon (besides the possible third or maybe even fourth member)? Well, I can’t rule it out, because I don’t know more than you, but I think it’s unlikely. Unova was based on America, which didn’t affect much Pokémon (the bird duo, basically, do I miss someone?). I think Yveltal and Xerneas will represent two aspects of something, but we can’t tell from their look, just like the last generations. Anything else would be kind of … boring to me.
The back up for the “Norse theory” is basically: Europe, Yveltals eyes, Yveltal flies, Xerneas stands in front of a tree, Xerneas is a stag with eight antlers. I don’t think that’s much, because not much of it stands a closer look.
Besides, I never saw that someone wrote “Niohoggr” O_o Afaik it’s a “d”, like “Nidhoggr” (see wiki as example).
One thing that you haven’t considered is that that’s all the info we’ve gotten so far. That’s all we know about the legendaries. So in that case so far everything that they’ve revealed shows us that the game is related to the Norse Mythology. Now in the case that they are using the Norse Mythology then they would probably copy the entire thing. It wouldn’t make sense to copy a little and then just make up the rest. What they’ll probably do is copy a the story and change the time, place and setting.
If you might use the argument that Sylveon, the Starters and New Mewtwo were also revealed but aren’t related then refer to the previous generations where almost none of the pokemon besides the legendaries had anything to do with the story.
You may had forgotten how the legendary trios of gen 5 was linked. Oh, they weren’t at all! We had a Musketeer Trio based on a French novel, a Kami Trio based on japanese spirits and a Tao Trio based on chinese concepts of life energy, and NONE of them was related to how Unova was based on America. That not seems relevant to Game Freak, they merge dozens of different stuff together, and we barely notice it.
And you didn’t considered the arguments against the “Norse theory”. For example that Yveltal looks nothing like an eagle, more like a vulture with its fur and stuff. The eyes of Yveltal don’t look “blinder” than other Pokémon eyes, like Sylveon. Stags are known for living in forests. America didn’t influenced Reshiram, Zekrom and Kyurem. So, the only thing, that could be seen merely as an hint are the “gems in the antlers” of Xerneas. I have to say I never heard of such gems in the Norse mythology before this theory came up.
Still, all of you can be right, we don’t know anything yet, but I hope you see why I don’t believe that anything of this is true. It’s imo farfetched and … yeah. See above.
Awesome! It does sound kinda cool if it is. When is the Corocoro supposed to be leaking?
It’ll prolly leak sometime over the weekend. Although it may not leak until Monday or Tuesday. It usually leaks sometime between the 11th and the 14th so hopefully we’ll get something on Saturday or Sunday XD
Something tells me Celtic mythology will play a bigger influence in this game than Norse mythology. Also the game will be based of France, and Celtic religion was very strong there.
Also the fox, hedgehog, and frog are Celtic animal allies. Also the deer and eagle/hawk/raven have Celtic backgrounds too.
That’s interesting 😀 , could you tell us more? (no sarcasm)
is mewtwo included?…wonder if mewtwo is going to plays an important role…wonder if he’s part of the legendaries thats going to be in troduced, wonder if…..
Lol – I searched ‘norse mythology blind eagle’ on google and all of the top results were about Pokemon.
This was a good read, some of these mythologies overlap a bit but in general the new legendaries definitely seem to have some basis in mythology whether it’s norse or otherwise, feels there’s too much evidence for it to be a coincidence.
I’m a little disappointed that Midgaard is not mentioned. Midgaard is a Giant serpent that is so large that it goes around the entire world.
I also believe that if the go completely with the Norse Myth. That they could include some Asgardien creatures in there, like Thors always healing goats or Odin’s 8 legged horse Sleipnir.
Midgaard? I think you mean Jörmungandr.
There is a pretty big theory going around that Fennekin and its evolutions could be based off off Fenrir. Fen doesn’t have to just relate to fennic fox. Also folks were saying froakie could be Odin and chespin I think Thor? Personally I like the idea of Fennekin turning into more of a wolf. To date we still don’t have any wolf Pokemon
I’m pretty sure Manectric’s a wolf unless he’s a dog
That actually did make sense nvr heard of this mythology but it sounds cool, i kinda saw Xerneas as more of that deer in the Monoke movie like it being a symbol of Life but i kinda like ur speculation better 🙂
I guess this could be the serpent Pokemon http://www.mypokecard.com/en/Gallery/Pokemon-Zidhoggon-1
If we could get something like this http://powerlisting.wikia.com/wiki/Hellhound_Physiology for the norse wolf pokemon that would be awesome
this could be the squirrel pokemon http://www.google.com/imgres?hl=en&biw=1280&bih=632&tbm=isch&tbnid=nWcpWFDaA2TmgM:&imgrefurl=http://mountmoon.net/topic/11792-three-legends-a-mirage-origin-discussion/&docid=f8x57a2SvjEUgM&imgurl=http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100614150441/megamitensei/images/thumb/7/7b/Ratatosk.jpg/180px-Ratatosk.jpg&w=180&h=253&ei=KdWLUc7QD8rJ0AG01IHgCQ&zoom=1&ved=1t:3588,r:0,s:0,i:83&iact=rc&dur=2944&page=1&tbnh=182&tbnw=124&start=0&ndsp=23&tx=101&ty=174
I too enjoyed this article quite a bit, thanks for putting the time into it. As for the Legendaries, I’m thinking the death dragon will definitely be the third of the mascot trio, and I can easily see the Mythical Pokémon being based on the squirrel, and the cosmic giant sounds like a shoe-in for a new Mythical in the vein of Arcues. I don’t really look for a trio based on giants, though, I feel like we’ll just get some random trio(s) as in the past (looking at you, Swords of Justice amongst ancient Asian legends). The Ravens? Eh, sounds an awful like the Eon duo to me, enough for me to be OK with them not being made into actual Pokémon. Most of all, I’m just really hoping that they make a Mythical squirrel Pokémon this generation, now that I think about it.
WOW. Amazing article.
i and many others made this article months ago with this concept. It can be found dated all over forums and Youtube videos if you look hard enough. I really think the author should have given more credit to the community of those he has taken note from rather than just lap up all the praise here.
Brilliant article, now having Xerneas as the Pokémon of Life (tree of life) it all makes sense
So… I’m actually surprised people aren’t coming up with relations to Hindu Mythology yet. While this does seem to make sense, each generation seems to be based on a belief or religious idea that is still lively in a way. (i.e gen 1 seems to support the agnostic principle, gen 4 Christianity, gen 5 Dao) Hinduism may well be declining, but is still stronger than Norse. The stag, eagle and serpent are a strong defense, definitely. And at this point we can safely say that the third game will likely be Z, and a serpent seems the best choice for a Z pokemon.
So far, your argument is very strong. But, currently this counts on MANY unknown variables. Pokemon is quite extensive with their links between religious ideas and legendaries, so given the similarities between the well known or main gods of Norse and Hindu, we have to wait a bit longer to be sure. Remember, we only can confirm the existence of Xerneas and Yveltal. Xerneas to me sounds like Brahma and Yveltal like Shiva. Perhaps the ‘Z’ legendary is Vishnu? Furthermore, Norse does not define very strongly any main gods. The main gods, the Trimurti, of Hinduism, ALREADY ARE A TRIO. The creator, destroyer, and ancestor seems to be the dynamic here, and is also the dynamic in Hinduism.
Moreover, the themes suggested by the Squirrel and Ravens are common in many types of mythology, as well as the creator-destroyer-ancestor setup. This may not be either Norse or Hindu. We may observe that in Greek mythology, Hermes was a messenger like the squirrel, and Artemis and Apollo travel led the world like the ravens. Your article holds a lot of validity for its initial concept, but paying a attention the whole time begs the thought that this is mostly comprised of links between Norse mythology and unconfirmed speculation.