In this recurring series, I’ll analyze the origins of Pokémon designs and their allusions to Mediterranean culture from Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet.
Smoliv
Smoliv is known as the Olive Pokémon, a unique Grass/Normal-type. Its name is a combination of “small” and “olive”. Its name also includes the online slang word “smol”, to imply it is not just small but also cute and innocent.
The olive is a fruit that grows in trees from the Mediterranean. They were cultivated and farmed by people living in the region, as well as in the Levant region of the Eastern Mediterranean. Olives can be found in several different colors. When they are green, they are still considered unripe. This fits with Smoliv, given its youthful design.
However, in its shiny form, the olive on its head turns black. Black olives are fully ripe and fully mature. They tend to be less bitter than green olives.
It protects itself from enemies by emitting oil from the fruit on its head. This oil is bitter and astringent enough to make someone flinch.
This Pokémon converts nutrients into oil, which it stores in the fruit on its head. It can easily go a whole week without eating or drinking.
Pokédex
Although you can eat the olives by themselves, they have also long been extracted to make an oil. Pressing whole olives produces this fatty liquid which can be used to aid cooking or as an ingredient in many salad dressings. The oil was also used in many everyday uses as a portable source of fuel.
Olive trees have also been good cultivars for the relatively dry Mediterranean weather. They extend their roots deep into the soil, twenty feet or deeper, allowing them to tap into underground water instead of relying on rainfall.
Farmers will usually harvest olives between September and November, but it can extend through January for black olives.
Doliv
Smoliv will level up and evolve into Dolliv, the Olive Pokémon. Its name combines “Doll” and “Olive”. It grows a bit taller and grows arms. The leaves drape across its body to resemble clothing. In a way, it resembles a dolly.
It also has some illusions to dryads, mythical tree nymphs from Greek folklore. Different categories of dryads were associated with different trees, each having different characteristics. Olive tree dryads were known for being the smallest but also intelligent and friendly.
Dolliv shares its tasty, fresh-scented oil with others. This species has coexisted with humans since times long gone.
It basks in the sun to its heart’s content until the fruits on its head ripen. After that, Dolliv departs from human settlements and goes on a journey.
Pokédex
Though they were friendly, dryads lived in the wild under the patronage of a specific Greek god. Here again, Dolliv’s Pokédex entries refer to the long history of humans growing olives, which began around the start of human civilization.
Arboliva
Dolliv will finally evolve into Arboliva, whose name is a combination of “arbor”, meaning tree, and “olive”. It literally takes the form of an olive tree.
In this final form, the olives have matured. Not only have they grown from one, to two, to six, but now they have fully ripened to a rich black color.
Its arms, when held together, resemble the olive wreath. Made of olive branches and intertwined together, it was awarded to victors in the ancient Greek Olympics. An “olive branch” is something people will offer as a sign of peace. This is due to its association with the Greek goddess Athena.
Athena is known as the goddess of peace, wisdom, and olives, the patron of the city Athens, and a friend to the olive dryads. This relationship of watching over the dryads is similar to how Arboliva would watch over its pre-evolution Dolliv.
This calm Pokémon is very compassionate. It will share its delicious, nutrient-rich oil with weakened Pokémon.
This Pokémon drives back enemies by launching its rich, aromatic oil at them with enough force to smash a boulder.
Pokédex
Arboliva is the only Pokemon who has the ability Seed Sower, which allows it to fire seeds and activate Grassy Terrain when it is struck by an attack. When a person typically purchases olives, they have been pitted. This means that the hard, inedible pit has been removed. That pit contains the seed of the olive, which can be planted to grow new olive trees in the future.
Conclusion
From the beginning of agricultural societies all across the Mediterranean Sea, olives played a critical role. They were crucial not just for the fruit themselves, but for its versatile oil that is still commonly used in cooking today. Smoliv, Dolliv, and Arboliva are great representations not just of a fruit but how it manifested culturally in ancient Mediterranean culture.
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