The Tree of Legend

[MiTjA]

There always seemed to be some kind of vaguely implied set of conceptual relations underneath the true legendary pokémon.
(The ones that are just powerful/special/event I call Mythic Pokemon)

So I tried figuring it out over the years as new generations introduced new legendaries.
With gen IV the interesting "Tree of Legend" emerged from it, and in this post I will recreate it, generation by generation.



---Generation I---

The concept of 3 equally strong legendaries with the same basis, but each embodying a different element.
It all started with these three, known as the legendary birds.
Articuno, Zapdos, Moltres




---Generation II---

It continued the trend Gen I set up, adding the next legendary trio,
with slight type modification (Water instead of Ice) to keep things fresh.
The legendary beasts.
Raikou, Entei, Suicune


Then we have the first 2 mascots, the first truly legendary Pokemon.
Just like the trios, this kind of duo is equal in many ways, while being polar opposites like dusk and dawn, cold and hot, black and white...
The tower Duo.
Lugia and Ho-oh


Ho-oh introduced another key concept, usually referred to as "trio master", or the more generalized term "guardian".
That is a Pokemon which is in some way related to its group, be it back-story or design, usually superior in several ways.

So it is said that Ho-oh revived three Pokemon that perished in the Brass Tower incident, and turned them into the beasts embodying the events of lightning, fire and rain, which destroyed the Tower.

As there are 2 towers, with 2 of these Flying guardians, it would make perfect sense for Lugia to be related to another trio to keep the symmetry.

Since Kanto and Johto are the only closely related regions so far (even sharing the same pokemon league), we can tie the legendary birds to Lugia based on that, although there is no actual relation presented in the games.

---Generation III---

Continuing the tradition, another elemental trio was added.
This time, the types seemed to be more radical, however it was just the next logical step (2 new types instead of 1), since Electric and Fire got old (as did Ice after this).
The legendary golems.
Regirock, Regice, Registeel


As the tower duo, this generation too had its contrasting duo of mascots.
The Weather Duo.
Kyogre and Groudon

These two are less sentient guardians, and more like disastrous monsters, also being slightly weaker than the tower duo.

However, they have their own guardian that stops them from causing harm.
Rayquaza


--Connection between Kanto/Johto and Hoenn--

(While the golems still lack their guardian,)
We see that Rayquaza has a similar role to Lugia and Ho-oh, being a guardian-figure. They also look just as diverse as Lugia and Ho-oh do next to each other. When you add the fact that they are all Flying, equally powerful and rest on Towers constructed for them, it becomes impossible to ignore a connection here.
Hence the triangle of the Flying guardians in this picture, connecting the legends of Kanto and Johto, with the legends of Hoenn.

---Generation IV---

This was supposedly the "ultimate" generation, and it shows.
The main legendaries introduced here, actually have creation stories behind them.

The first interesting part is the lack of a new elemental trio (birds, beasts, golems).
Instead we have a trio of Psychic pixies.
The lake guardians.
Uxie, Mesprit, Azelf


They are closely related to this generations mascots, even down to the same main colours.
Dimension trio.
Dialga, Palkia, Giratina


Although their powers equal the Flying guardians from the Gen III connection, they have a guardian-figure themselves.
Arceus


--Hoenn connection--

This generation also added a curious fourth superior golem which is undoubtably related to the legendary golems.
Much like Lugia, the birds guardian, it was introduced a generation later.
Regigigas

Oddly, its strength equals Groudon/Kyogre instead of Lguia/Ho-oh and it is locked away rather than having a sentient guardian role, waiting to be awakened... not to mention it has weird patterns over its body just like them and only in 1 colour (Rayquaza has 3: red, black and yellow. Making it even more clearly superior.)

---The Tree of Legend---

Ironically besides the almost identical look, the lake guardians are surprisingly different.
Mesprit flies away at first sight, roaming the region, while Uxie seems like it is in hybernation.

After noticing this, it dawned on me,
The lake guardians are pixifications (lol) of the I, II, III trios.

-Azelf represents Will. The birds are the only trio that reside at places they chose.
-Uxie represents Knowledge and has closed eyes. The golems are sealed behind puzzles. Both are defensively oriented.
-Mesprit represents Emotion and flees. The Beasts are the only trio that roams the region after meeting them. Mesprit has balanced stats, the beasts are the only trio that balance out each others stats.

This connection completes the Tree of Legend so far.
Here it is:

Note how it resembles the tree of Life from the Kabbalah!







---Generation V---

A new beginning.
Not just did they chose a completely remote and unrelated region for this generation, but even the legends don't seem to fit anywhere in the old picture.

First the elemental trio has returned.
And it has just a minor type modification to the previous (golems), similar to how ater replaced Ice for generation II. Now, Rock and Steel were used a second time, but Ice replaced by something fresh: Grass.
(an interesting note, they share the exact heights with the legendary beasts)
The legendary musketeers.
Cobalion, Terrakion, Virizion


Similar to Regigigas, they have a fourth member.
The Apprentice.
Keldeo
(Perhaps the next 2 trios will also have apprentices instead of guardians?)


Then there is the most contrasting mascots ever. They are black and white, Yin and Yang, Truth and Ideals.
The legendary dragons of Unova
Reshiram and Zekrom

But they also represent energy, two kinds of positive.
Hence there also exists a negative, an empty shell, the Wuji.
Kyurem



I assume this is the beginning of a second Tree of Legend.
We shall see.




-Does this fascinate anyone beside me? xDDD

-Are you also curious what kind of legendaries we will see next?

-Do you think Gen VI and VII will build on V to create a second Tree of Legend?
--And will the next few trios also have "Apprentices" like Keldeo instead of guardians?

-Or is this unintended and several of these connections (pixification of trios, flying guardians..) merely coincidental?

 

[Sirfetch’d]

Very interesting and intriguing. You put a lot of thought and creativity into this theory that makes sense. Great job! There does seem to be a connection

 

[Iceshadow3317]

This is really intersting. I am a big fan of backstory lore like this. If this cycle is kept then we can see us loseing Steel and Rock in the next trio and keeping grass. Also if it keeps it's balance than we might see pokemon that are somewhat related to Truth and Ideals.

I am cofuseing myself so sorry if you don't understand what I just said.


Also there was another theroy I actually just read last night or so explaing why Regigigas was locked away and sent to Sinnoh to be sealed. It said it was orginally from Hoenn,but was locked and sealed in Sinnoh and that the Regis were the keys. If I can find it again I will let you know.


From Bulbapedia:

Habitat
It resides in the Snowpoint Temple, having done so for hundreds, maybe thousands of years. According to the braille in the Generation III games, it was sealed away in order to protect people, and three keys (the legendary golems) were created so that only one with the power of Regirock, Regice, and Registeel would be able to catch it. Regigigas can handle any terrain.

Regigigas was the mover of Continents. Which kinda fits the Groudon/Kyogre story. This is not exacly what I read,but this is a little of it. I'll keep trying to find the whole thing.

 

[MiTjA]

If this cycle is kept then we can see us loseing Steel and Rock in the next trio and keeping grass.

Yeah just like they stopped using Fire and Electric after 2 times, they will probably ditch Rock and Steel now.
Except I don't think Grass will be used again right away. Remember they still haven't used Water the second time (unless you considered Keldeo because it is such a perfect fourth member, but to me its clearly an extra so I don't think it counts into this).

So my prediction is that it will definitely be one Water, and the other two something else, but not:
-Fire, Electric, Ice, Rock, Steel, Grass, Flying, Fighting.
Which leaves:
-Ground, Poison, Dark, Bug, Dragon, Ghost, Normal, Psychic.
Normal doesn't make sense in a trio, Psychic was used for the pixies that were like a special edition lol.
Then Dragon and Bug is something that would be weird too, unless it was the groups secondary type.
Also Dark could be used to make a mean trio (a counterpart to the musketeers? lol).
Well they're kind of running out of types soon in this manner, so I wonder what they'll do.
Ground seems like the best candidate.
So my final guess is: Water, Ground, Something

Maybe they'll do another 2 or so and then start from scratch lol.


Its also interesting how the beasts and the musketeers are so alike an different at the same time.
They don't share any type, but both groups are quadrupedal, and their heights are the same:
Entei/Cobalion: 2.1m
Suicune/Virizon: 2.0m
Raikou/Terrakion: 1.9m
Also I'm pretty sure its not just me, they also have similar kinds of personalities, with how Entei/Cobalion look like the proud leaders, Raikou/Terrakion look aggressive, and Suicune/Virizion have a more feminine design, this cannot be coincidence.

...just a thought, but if Unova has the "western"-versions of the beast trio, maybe the next region will be right beside Unova (like Kanto/Johto are more connected) and will feature the "western" equivalent of the legendary birds! xD
Now that would be interesting!

 

[Iceshadow3317]

I really would love the see Dark. What about Ghost,Poison and Dark? Musketeers fight face to face,but the Assassin Trio would be a bit more Ninja like.

And if you read my previous post,I edited it a little more to support the Regigigas = Kyogre/Groudon theroy. I still haven't been able to track down exacly where I read the theroy of Regigigas.

 

[MiTjA]

I really would love the see Dark. What about Ghost,Poison and Dark? Musketeers fight face to face,but the Assassin Trio would be a bit more Ninja like.

And if you read my previous post,I edited it a little more to support the Regigigas = Kyogre/Groudon theroy. I still haven't been able to track down exacly where I read the theroy of Regigigas.

lol yeah.

I did something along those lines in my fakemon project, where I used Ground, Poison and Dark, and made them creepy underground monsters that are "said to be a manifestation of negative emotions"


As for Regigigas, I just remembered I didn't put enough justification in the Hoenn connection part, so I edited it now, mentioning how it has the same kind of patterns on its body.