Sun & Moon Speculation Pt. IX: Lillie’s Plan & Z-Move Connection

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For a while now, speculation been floating around the internet concerning the character Lillie. Her bio on the game’s website calls her “mysterious” and says that she will have “an important role in the story.” Beyond that, we don’t have much more to go on. Which, of course, means that rumors and theories have been popping up everywhere. Some say that Lillie will be working with the villainous team, recently revealed as the gangstas of Team Skull. (Although, let’s face it, PMD Team Skull is OG.) Others say that she has a connection to the Kalos region. Some theories say both, or close to it.

lillie-bridgeSince Lillie’s initial character reveal several months ago, The Pokémon Company has focused more on revealing new Pokémon and characters rather than adding to what we know about already-revealed characters. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, since it means less story spoilers coming our way, but it does mean that we’re probably not going to learn anything more about Lillie until Sun and Moon release this November. Thanks to the lack of info, most theories and speculation about Lillie’s character and her role in the story are based mostly on rumors, and maybe a little bit on wishful thinking. Which means that most of these Lillie theories come out sounding a bit… wait for it… Farfetch’d. (Yes, I went there.) So, I thought it would be fun to come up with a theory based on what we do know.

Right now, the only solid information we have on Lillie is from her bio on Pokémon Sun and Moon’s website and the gameplay clip shown at E3 2016. Her bio says that she’s an assistant to Professor Kukui “for personal reasons,” she’s a huge bookworm and she doesn’t like making Pokémon fight in battles. In the clip from E3, she seemed worried that the player’s and Hau’s Pokemon would get hurt in their battle during the village festival.

The question is, what kind of “personal reasons” are Lillie’s motivation in working for Professor Kukui? Most theories assume that this part of the bio must mean that Lillie is actually working for the Professor out of selfish motives. But how boring would it be if the innocent, anxious young girl who everyone expects to be secretly a villain actually turns out to be secretly a villain? The main series Pokémon games aren’t exactly known for their brilliant storytelling, but Gen 5 threw us a few curveballs (Pokémon GO reference not intended), and personally, I’d like the plot to be less obvious more often.

lillie-house

Every Pokémon Professor so far has had a specific area of expertise, and Professor Kukui is no different. According to his bio on the Pokemon Sun and Moon website, his research focuses on Pokémon moves. It also says that he’s even willing to take hits from Pokémon moves if he thinks he can learn something from the experience. A Pokémon Professor’s area of expertise usually has to do with some new feature introduced in the new games, and with Sun and Moon introducing Z-moves, this generation looks like it’s going to be no exception. However, if Lillie’s concerned about Pokémon getting hurt by Pokémon moves, she would probably also be concerned about people getting hurt by Pokémon moves. To be fair, this isn’t completely unreasonable for her to be worried about. Pokémon can let loose some really powerful elemental energy, and the stronger the Pokémon, the greater damage it’s capable of. What if Lillie’s “personal reasons” for assisting with Professor Kukui’s research into Pokémon moves are that she’s trying to find a way to neutralize moves in order to keep people and Pokémon from getting hurt?

lillie-stairsIf a Pokémon’s moves were neutralized, then that Pokémon wouldn’t be able to battle, which would really upset the premise of the game series as a whole. And with Team Skull running around Alola wreaking havoc, things would work out pretty well for them if only their Pokémon could battle. It’s possible that Lillie might still be involved with Team Skull, either out of pure intentions or as an unwilling victim. It could be that Team Skull might trick Lillie into sharing her research with them by convincing her that they’ll help her in her quest to keep Pokémon and people safe, only to have them turn on her and use her research for their own selfish goals. However, Team Skull is so obviously bad, even for Pokémon villains, that Lillie would have to be ridiculously naive in order to fall for it. It’s more likely that Team Skull will hear about her research and steal it from her so that they can neutralize the moves of any Pokémon that dares stand against them. With the results of Lillie’s research in hand, Team Skull would be invincible – except for the only moves strong enough to break through their new defenses, Z-moves. This puts the game’s new feature into the story, with the player having to master Z-moves in order to beat Team Skull.

Or maybe I’ve completely missed the mark. We won’t know for sure until November.

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813 thoughts on “Sun & Moon Speculation Pt. IX: Lillie’s Plan & Z-Move Connection”

  1. I hope there is no more alolan forms from game freak because we had enough. Like the arabic saying says: if your loved one is made from honey don’t lick it all. Don’t abuse the idea or it will get boring.

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  3. ugh what happened to this place? this is the reason I love pokejungle, because we all got along and didn’t kill each other over trivial nonsense. we’re starting to look more like a beach than a jungle, and I really don’t like it…

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    • Honestly give it a day or so and I’m certain most of this will blow over. Either the mods will take care of it if they feel its necessary, or people will simply move on.

      Reply

  4. I think I’m going to take a break from the Jungle and hope some of this negativity simmers down. I’ll probably be back when we get new substantial information, but until then, I’ll be seeing you! (You can contact me on the forums if you need; I’ll check there periodically)

    Reply

  6. Okay I don’t know what happened, but it better not happen again. I’m not going to call anyone out on anything.

    However, keep politics of this site. Just because you think something is important doesn’t mean everyone has to agree with you on the same issue. If you think everyone should agree with you on something, leave. I don’t care how “important” it is to you, this isn’t an SJW/news site, it’s a Pokémon blog.

    Onto insults, I don’t know what happened there or who insulted who, but grow up. If you get hurt over a word on the internet, you’re going to struggle in life. Forget and forgive. You’ll never fully live life unless you let stuff roll off of you. I’ve seen the word “sissy guy/man/whatever” thrown around and countered with “that’s offensive to the whole gay community.” I don’t see it as offensive personally. Just ignorant. And don’t try to stand up and defend someone. You’ll just get yourself entangled in it and that’s unnecessary. Leave it to the mods or just ignore and report. Pretty much all of us have Twitter and that’s the quickest way to reach us.

    About those mythology pictures, personally I believe art shouldn’t be thought of in “Oh that artist was a pervert teehee naked woman BOOBIES,” but read as a wordless story. Regardless, there are a WIDE varieties of artwork depicting the same stories all over the internet. If you want to post one to support a theory, post a less explicit one. “But defensive you post explicit art all the time.” No, usually my are clothed in some manner and are not overly explicit.

    You might get upset about one of things I said, but hey, it’s the internet. You can leave until you get over it. This is not tumblr and no one is superior than the other in anyway.

    No politics, no childish arguments, no bullshit. Or I will start banning and closing the comment section until Moving or PJ become available.

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  7. IDK what happened obv but real talk, if you’re getting into arguments over the internet, you need to get a life and have too much time on your hands hehehe

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  8. Damn. After reading through the threads; I’m quite stunned of something like this happening on the Jungle. We’re a huge group of people with different backgrounds that love Pokemon. Honestly, I’m not a supporter/advocate of homosexual or feminine men, but it gives you no reason to critise others. Knowing the Jungle, everything will be fine tomorrow. Short outburst such as this are unnecessary and devalue the site. Let’s keep it on Pokemon instead of major social issues.

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      • OOOOOH!!!!!
        (assuming starter leaks are real) Popplio
        Ninetails (alolan variant)
        Lurantis
        Bewear
        so far this is all I’m certain will be on my team. I never use hm slaves, and always use a team of 6. usually I never use pokemon that aren’t from the generation I’m currently playing but I feel the alolan variants can be the exception to this rule.

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          • nope. I was all set for litten but I cannot stand that evolution and it completely ruined it for me. every game ive chosen the grass starter, and while I really like rowlet, my friend is a huge owl fanatic and we never choose the same starter (I’m a huge cat fan myself so it seemed fitting)

          • I would hope Masuda is editing the starter evos right now after the leaks. 😉

            Unless it’s an elaborate prank by Masuda himself…

  12. Let me boil down my new, stricter policy. It seems I’ve been a little too kind around here. Any comment that’s intentionally attacking a user of this site, or another specific group of people, will be deleted. Any comment that furthers discussion of these attacks will be deleted. Any comment that references recent past attacks will be deleted. That’s about it. Just be nice, okay? All I ask for is respect, as Pokemon so eloquently taught us over the years. Now tell me, are you a boy, or a girl?

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  14. To be fair, I don’t care for Litten but I like the “leaked” evolution of it. I’m just tired of wrestlers and fighters.

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  15. I hope litten’s evo is Fire Dark and learns Flying press. I also wish that it gets a hidden ability that gives it STAB for fighting moves, so it will get STAB for flying press and stab for other fire,dark and fighting moves. I’d use a focus sash with aqility, crunch, fire punch and flying press.

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  17. I stated this on another article, but I think that Lillie could very well be part of the “abolished” Alolan Royal family that was talked about on the Alolan Meowth’s info page.
    To me she gives off the vibe of a Nobel, or one of the rich class trainers that you can face off against during your adventures. And what little bit of her personality that was shown kind of gives off the vibe of someone from a higher class. Even the way she dress’ says that she’s like the “Nobel” class.

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    • Sounds good, I dig that theory.

      I haven’t seen any other traces of royalty in trailers so far, though. I’d need more than Dark Meowth’s description… something like the palace in Kalos. It is possible they’re saving it for the release, of course.

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  18. Pokemon Sun and Moon Litten evolution prediction. Name: Burnine

    Classification: Rampage pokemon

    Type: Fire/Dark

    DEX Entry:

    Due to it not being able to trust itself, Burnien becomes very offensive. Burnien likes to win against pokemon super effective against itself. It produces flames from its paw pad. Burnien can cause explosive impacts by using its flammable thrust.

    The concept based on Masked rookie wrestler (lucha liber)upload. http://pre02.deviantart.net/6722/th/pre/f/2016/239/1/4/pokemon_sun_and_moon__litten_evolution_prediction__by_shadragz-dafi0k0.jpg

    Reply

  19. Um. All mods of disqus: reply to this message. I think you need a way to contact us because it seems there are times where you’ve not dealt with situations correctly or in a way that we’d like.

    So yeah, just give a quick comment in response to this and we can arrange a method of contact.

    Reply

  20. To me, Lillie seems related to Zinnia. Zinnias Japanese too is a kind of Lily, Plus if Lillie does have the Zygarde core, then it would be similair to Zinnia as she was after finding Rayquaza.

    Reply

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