Pokémon: Animals or Humans? (Dark Theory)

Hello, Fanaticals! Today is the last day of Pokémon Week! We are going to pull a pretty disturbing theory for today, and I'm not even sure where to being in believing if it is plausible or not, despite the fact there is apparently some form of canonical evidence behind it. Starting with some hard evidence that comes from Diamond and Pearl.

Today is absolutely a Dark Theory day, I just have no idea how to put down the warnings for what we are about to discuss.

In these releases/generations, there is a location called the Canalave Library. Inside this library are ancient texts, think of the Library of Alexandria type thing, that shows a history of the world of Pokémon. One of these texts mentions how, once upon a time, there were people who were married to Pokémon. It calls this a normal occurrence and states that "People and Pokémon were the same."

Now, I don't know about you, but with Pokémon looking like adorable (or dangerous) animals, this makes me think a bit about an article that came out my Senior Year of high school about a woman in Florida, US, that married a dolphin. I can't seem to fully wrap my head around the fact that supposedly people and Pokémon were once the same, considering that I see Pokémon as animals.

However, something I was not fully aware of until looking some more into this theory, is that there are some ghost Pokémon whose Pokédex entries have some sort of mention about how they are trapped spirits of dead humans. Drifloon's description from Ultra Moon literally states that "wandering souls" are what created this Pokémon, while other version have a common running theme that if it takes a child by the hand, the child will be forever missing. [1] Meanwhile, HeartGold, SoulSilver, Y Alpha Sapphire, Moon AND Sword all state that Froslass is the soul of a woman who went up to the mountains and died but was reborn as this Pokémon. [2]

Then there are the entries for Pumpkaboo that reference it to being like Kharon, who is the ferryman that transports the souls across the Acheron and Styx Rivers in Greek Mythology. According to the Pokédex entries, Pumpkaboo has specific sizes that transport certain souls: small for children and large for adults. It is also said that it is created by souls who have lingered. [3] Even its evolution Gourgeist is said to forcefully drag humans to the afterlife. [4]

It's kind of a terrifying thought that several types of Pokémon seem to be literally created from human souls, and then there are entries in a library that show that humans and Pokémon used to co-habitate and marry. It makes you stop and think because if humans can turn into Pokémon, then can Pokémon turn into humans? Are Pokémon and humans just evolutions of each other?

Fire Red, Emerald, and Sun all claim that Kadabra was once a child with special psychic powers who awoke one day to find himself as Pokémon. [5] Yamask is said to have been a spirit that rose from the grave, and the mask it carries was its face when it was human. [6]

Could humans become trapped inside a Pokéball the same way that we theorize Haunter or Gengar being trapped in one, leading to the creation of Voltorb? If we can see the theories that certain Pokémon are created from others, how can we not suspect that some are created from humans as well? Especially if humans and Pokémon literally lived side-by-side, almost like co-races and not co-species.

This could actually be a better explanation than the Great War taking out most the men; while they could have been drafted, they also could have evolved into a Pokémon and fought that way. Let's also look at Nurse Joy and Officer Jenny, as there are MANY of them and they all look identical. Which Pokémon do we know that can do that? That's right, Ditto!

You could argue that this is literally just theory with no proof because there are humans, however I would point out that if you think because there's humans which means not everyone evolves into a Pokémon, I will remind you that there are also Pokémon who DON'T have an evolution at all. There are 203 overall between the original generation and the 9th generation, there are 11 in Gen 1 alone and Ditto is one of them! [7] While there may be theories alongside some of them that there are potential relation evolutions (such as Kangaskhan and Cubone) there are those like Mew and MewTwo who are clones but not evolutions of each other.

So, while there are many Pokémon that do not have an evolution, it would be safe to say that there are probably humans who won't evolve. While there are theories that Ash's father is alive and who he is (some will say Professor Oak, others say Giovanni), it is possible that even HE is now a Pokémon.

Some other support that I found for this theory are this:

• Humans possess weird capabilities like Pokémon do.

• Humans are just as rare as Pokémon and live in their own specific areas, "towns".

• No one ages, similar to how Pokémon don't change until they evolve.

• Humans also have "types": Professors, Trainers, Bug Catchers, Gym Leaders, etc.

• The original Pokémon were equivalent to "Skinwalkers".

While I may still be trying to wrap my head around whether this is a super plausible theory, there is so much evidence behind it that it is terrifying!

What do you think of this theory? Could Pokémon be the equivalent of a Zombie Apocalypse? Are Pokémon really adorable animals, or evolved humans? Come join the community, and let's all talk about this crazy, dark theory that just might be plausible. Tune in next week as we go into a new fandom, but until then, keep on theorizing, Fanaticals!

References

1. "Drifloon Pokédex." Pokémon Database. Accessed July 2024. (https://pokemondb.net/pokedex/drifloon)

2. "Froslass Pokédex." Pokémon Database. Accessed July 2024. (https://pokemondb.net/pokedex/froslass)

3. "Pumpkaboo Pokédex." Pokémon Database. Accessed July 2024. (https://pokemondb.net/pokedex/pumpkaboo)

4. "Gourgeist Pokédex." Pokémon Database. Accessed July 2024. (https://pokemondb.net/pokedex/gourgeist)

5. "Kadabra Pokédex." Pokémon Database. Accessed July 2024. (https://pokemondb.net/pokedex/kadabra)

6. "Yamask Pokédex." Pokémon Database. Accessed July 2024. (https://pokemondb.net/pokedex/yamask)

7. "Pokémon Without Evolutions." Pokémon Database. Accessed July 2024. (https://pokemondb.net/evolution/none)