Another Reborn theory: the Nature of Arceus

[Hycrox]

It's been a while

 

So, Reborn is finally nearing its end now... Actually, the only things left to do apparently are postgame, so you can say the main plotline has already been fully conceived. Yet, it's a mystery to most of us. This is the culmination of a long series of (mostly unfortunate) events, but what IS happening at the end? I think I have somewhat of a lead on this. Of course, this theory may be busted when E19 rolls around, but... it may not. It goes without saying there are spoilers here, so make sure you're fully caught up with the game.

 

You can tell by the title of this post that this theory will primarily revolve around Arceus. The thing is, what can be said about Arceus? Just what is Arceus? How is Arceus interpreted in Reborn? I believe answering these questions will lead us to the true meaning of Reborn.

 

Spoiler

A depiction of Arceus by a renowned artist

 

So, Arceus has been a pretty hot topic when it comes to Reborn. For most of the game, it is held as an almighty divinity, in a fashion akin to Judeo-Christian tradition, that created the universe, and oversees every aspect of reality. Of course, it must be on a higher plane of existence for this to make sense. But as you move on through the game, you start to unravel a bit more about the nature of what we know as Arceus.

It is said that Reborn was built upon the site of a meteorite crash. More importantly, it's said Arceus came to earth on that meteorite. But how is that even possible? I say this was merely an avatar of Arceus. A materialization, composed by a fraction of Arceus's power. To me, this is confirmed in several instances of the game. Say, when you're at Citae Astrae and El's Ditto transforms into Arceus... somehow. Let's say it was due to the holy energy around them, so we can actually make some sense of it. That proves that an avatar of Arceus doesn't need that much energy to sustain itself in the first place. To be fair, El's Ditto is an Elite Four Ditto, and therefore already pretty powerful. But it doesn't really have all that much power on its own, due to being a Ditto.

 

Spoiler

Ditto somehow transforming into Arceus

 

Of course, the Ditto incident caught my attention. But I became more interested in what's know as Baby Arceus. When you're in Terra's world, at some point you come across a diary. At first, it seems it is Terra's diary. The entry you read is a very curious one. I have it right here:

Spoiler

It refers to an entity known as "baby Arceus". Terra isn't exactly your average person. She's been confirmed to be a part of Team Meteor at this point of the game, and even to have some sort of deep connection with Lin. Then, we find this diary in the Glitch World, a world entirely created by Terra. Let's consider Team Meteor's apparent purpose: cleansing Reborn of its impurity, by freeing the Arceus sleeping underneath the city. The one that came from the meteor. Being in the upper echelons of Team Meteor, and having some sort of connection to Lin, Terra would know about the meteor. From here, we can safely say that baby Arceus is the meteor's Arceus. But why is it a baby? Remember, a good number of Arceus's canonical pokedex entries along the years said the following:

Spoiler

" It is said to have emerged from an egg in a place where there was nothing, then shaped the world. "

 

My thesis regarding this matter is that the meteor actually had an Arceus egg in it, or maybe was the Arceus egg itself. After crashing, baby Arceus was born, and shaped Reborn. It's considered a baby because it's but a fragment of the original one. Mind you, this is still an avatar of the greater entity, an emissary. Yet it possesses a great deal of power, enough to change the reality around it.

 

Spoiler

the average Arceus worshipper

 

So far, this thesis states that the Arceus underneath Reborn is an avatar of the real deity, and that in the grand scheme of things it's seen as a "baby". Yet it is still a being of great power. When you put it in that perspective, it sounds somewhat more realistic for Team Meteor to try and control it with a large scale PULSE: the PULSE-Arc that Eve briefly mentioned after the Glass Factory faceoff with Team Meteor. Of course, this isn't that likely to work out, but knowing Lin, she definitely has an ace in the hole. But that's something for another time perhaps.

 

But where does this leave us? I'd say, the greatest clue to what baby Arceus really is... is in the Episode 19 scoreboard.

 

For those of you who are unsure of what I mean, the Episode 19 scoreboard shows the completion degree of Episode 19. When you go to the Development Blog, it's right next to it, just in case you missed it. But you probably didn't. So, aside from the 100% in all main categories, you'll see dozens of categories, corresponding to postgame events. There's a big long line corresponding to legendaries, and then there's a few about other postgame events, like Boss Rush. Regarding the legendaries, there's a single tab for each and every one of them... except Arceus.

 

The progress bars corresponding to Arceus caught my attention, as they're quite different from all others:

Spoiler

 

First, note how the "u" in Arceus is underlined and struck through. This couldn't have been a random choice that doesn't make sense within the game. Note how there's a mapping tab for Arceus. This means at least an entirely new area will be created just for this event. There being a tab for this points out that said area (or areas) will be somewhat big and/or important. Then, notice the tnevE? tab. This is alluding to the event itself, but instead of being a normal tab, like the rest, it's all in red, and has "no" struck through in the middle. This must have some very deep meaning. Then, after all this, there's a single line saying "Sto". Whatever could this be?

 

...And then it hit me. So, after all this we know:

 

• Arceus itself is an all-powerful, transcendent entity
• The Arceus present in the game is an avatar of the transcendent entity mentioned above
• The characters aware of its existence mostly belong to the upper echelons of Team Meteor
• Obtaining Arceus is a separate matter from the story, and is likely a whole new game within Reborn

 

There's something in that section of the scoreboard that I only noticed after closely evaluating it for a while. Notice how tnevE is Event spelled backwards. This was done deliberately. Focus on the last three letters: "evE". At first, I thought it was a reference to Eve, the one from Adam and Eve. But then, I thought a bit more about it. Right below tnevE, you see Sto. Now, seeing how this "word" is directly below thevE, one could easily think of switching some letters between words. So, how about we keep evE, but replace the first 2 letters of thevE with the first 2 letters of Sto?

 

We get Steve.

 

But, how would the name Steve be even remotely related to Arceus? Well, this may be a bit of a shock, but... So the avatar Arceus is a being of great power that can reform the world, and stems from an all-powerful, transcendent entity that created the world right? Well... there's one Steve I'm reminded of

 

Spoiler

Arceus is Minecraft Steve

 

Yes, you've seen it here first. And from this, we can determine the following:

 

Spoiler

As Arceus can change the world, if Arceus is Minecraft Steve, that means Reborn is Minecraft. Therefore, Reborn's characters are mostly personifications of several Minecraft Mobs:

 

• Solaris and El are Minecraft dogs, for they serves Arceus earnestly, and put their duties above everything else. Yet, they're deterred by a good number of obstacles.
• most of Team Meteor are passive mobs: they're oblivious to the true purpose of Team Meteor, and end up serving Arceus with their lives only.
• Radomus is an Enderman: his intentions are a mystery for most of the game, and he does what he can to change the game in a seemingly random manner. He was previously a Meteor, but as Endermen are quick to turn on Steve, Radomus was quick to turn on Meteor.
• Several other characters can be seen as Minecraft Mobs: Julia is a creeper, as shown by her association with explosions; Corey is a zombie, as he can only work in the shadows, and is doomed once he's exposed to the authorities, like zombies are doomed after they're exposed to moonlight; Titania is a skeleton, hostile and dead inside; Cain is a spider, for he directly goes against Team Meteor in numerous occasions, but in a straightforward and reckless fashion; and so forth.
• Lin is exempt from this: She's trying to reach Arceus, so she obtains the power she wants. Basically, she's trying to become Minecraft Steve

 

But, that still leaves one big question unanswered:

 

Who are you?

 

What is the player character supposed to represent? They're arguably the strongest force opposing Team Meteor, and they also have the power to change the world around them, like Arceus. In other words, they are Meteor's bane, and within certain limits, can alter what they desire to in the game. They're also an inconstant existence: Being Reborn based on the Reborn League, there wasn't any character in the League representing the player. Meaning, the player character's motives, beliefs, abilities, and even looks, are up to the viewer's interpretation to some extent. There's only one character I'm reminded of when thinking about this:

 

Spoiler

Spoiler

You are Herobrine

 

 

[The Shady Dealer]

ALL HAIL LORD STEVE!!!

[VividGrey]

This deserves it's own canonical ending

[Conkeldurp]

if u take the u no into consideration. It's clear that you (u) (the MC) cannot (no) be Steve, which is in harsh opposition to the heroic actions constantly taken by the MC and truly brings forth his real nature, which is to destroy the true Steve and take his place!

[Ojama Yellow]

 

k

[kithas]

I liked it. I also think Arceus is going to play Minecraft with Reborn around the Elite 4 or just after that, so...

[Smooth]

So that explains why Giratina was banished to the ender world, and all the poor false~believers who got sent there and turned into endermans, right Cyrus.

Edited June 13, 2019 by Anti-loser

[Sirrobert]

Well, I'm sold. 100% in.