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Pokemon were created in Japan


Maelstrom

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Funnily enough, Wobbuffet is based on the late Japanese comedian Sanpei Hayashiya who was famous for repeatedly touching his hand to his forehead while saying one of his trademark lines, sō nansu, okusan,"That's the way it is, ma'am" hence Wobuffet's japanese name " sōnansu" while Wynaut's name is a play on words "why not?" but in japanese it's "really?". So put those two together and you get a never-ending conversation between them "Really? That's the way it is, really?..."

sanpei-hayashiya.jpg

Edited by Shadow Walker
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The evolution of Magikarp to Gyarados is, if I remember correctly, a reflection of an old Chinese/Japanese (they kind of share these things, you know) legend where a Koi fish (yes, a carp, but I want to say Koi. It also means love, you know? So give them Khrps some lovin') struggled to swim up a waterfall and once it reached the top, the gods rewarded it by transforming it into a dragon. 

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If you want to get TECHNICAL, Pokémon has a very wide variety of inspirations from a great deal of cultures internationally. Which, is one of the things I have loved about the series since I was old enough to understand it.

 

This can be seen the clearest with the Legenedary Pokémon. Most of them are based off of religious figures or concepts across the world. The one that has been made clear here so far, would be Groudon/Behemoth, Kyogre/Leviathan, Rayquaza/Ziz. This was actually something I centered and entire research paoer and speech over back in high school. Actual (ly, most of Gen III's mythology in general is Hebrew/Jewish inspired. Regirock, Registeel, and Regirock are all Golems.

Zekrom, Reshiram, and Kyurem are all rooted in Taosim. And of course, my absolute favourite...

 

Yveltal, Xerneas, and Zygarde are all based off of Norse Mythology. Actually, that revelation made me go off on to a total tangent of fanboyism my friends didn't think I was capable of. Yveltal is based off of Hræsvelgr (Hresvelgr), the corpse eater/swallower. Xerneas is based off of Eikþyrnir (Eikthyrnir,), a stag of Valhalla. Zygarde has two central bases, Níðhöggr (Nidhogg) and Jörmungandr (Jormungand.) Níðhöggr is a dragon that gnaws at Yggdrasil's (The World Tree) roots. Its actual role is a bit battled over, a lot say the tree's roots keep it from the world while others say it also eats the corpses of Náströnd; or basically a part of Hel. Náströnd is basically where those who commited adultery, murder, and oath-breaking wound up. Aka, the nastiest part of Norse Hell. Jörmungandr is a sea serpent, and one of Loki's sons. Think of Jörmungandr as the apocalypse clock, a giant serpent that circles the world; grasping its own tail. When it lets go, the world ends. Which, according to researchers Ragnarok was supposedly supposed to be Yesterday.

 

I could go on for hours, especially about Jörmungandr. But... I'll settle for ending this here. Basically, one of my favourite things about Pokémon is its mythology and how it's rooted in modern day mythology.

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I need to look up some of the Did you Know Gaming stuff as well as The Dex channel (they have a lot of info regarding the origins of some Pokemon and it is rather interesting stuff. It would be a lot of videos though, So i don't want to post them here, but have a look for yourselves you guys will be pretty surprised at some of the stuff if you didn't already know it.

 

((Also the D and D thing probably happened because Dungeons and Dragons pull from a lot of mythology from many sources. Even Leprechauns and other strange myths and legends are used within the game. It also is a big source of where people first learned of these myths, so they are used to associating it with that.))

Edited by Hukuna
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