Over the weekend,Pokemon developer Game Freak was the victim of a historic data breach. The hack revealed crucial information aboutGen 10,the inner-workings of the anime, an MMO, and even the creation myth of thePokemonuniverse itself.
Before I try to unravel this surprisingly in-depth lore, I need to preface that much of it is now outdated. Pokemon likeGiratinahadn’t been created yet when this was written, so the fictional legend has likely changed behind-the-scenes. Regardless, it’s the best official insight we have so far on how this iconic world came to be.
It All Starts With An Egg
The leaked document reveals that the universe began as a “vortex of chaos” (as reported byCentro), mixing together slowly in a hazy blur until one day, an egg appeared.
Much like a trainer carrying an egg in their pocket — annoyingly taking up a spot on their team — it “continued to shake” for a long time until it finally broke. Only instead of spawning a Smoochum, “the absolute god Aus was born.”
The War Against Giants, And The Birth Of Man And Pokemon
Aus means Arceus, so for the sake of simplicity, we’ll refer to Aus as their canon name from here on.
Fragments of the egg scattered and became giants, who in turn attacked Arceus, but they were ultimately defeated in a “fierce battle”. Arceus would even fill their corpses with its own blood. The aftermath would shake the foundations of this fledgling universe, as the weakened Arceus split into two forms — Ia, god of light, and Ea, god of dark.
Ia refers to Dialga, and Ea to Palkia, which we’ll stick with as well.
Arceus then “commanded that the world be filled with people”, and so their two halves… had children together. Pokemon was doingElden Ringbefore Elden Ring was cool.
But they forgot to make a world for their descendents to live on, so they quickly died out. To remedy this, Dialga and Palkia had three new children — Rei, the god of eyes, Ai, the god of heart, and Hai, the god of voice. We know them as Uxie, Mesprit, and Azelf.
The Earth Is Formed
“When [Uxie] opened its eyes, everything that was there appeared. There was now contour and colour in the world. When [Mesprit] wished for it, everything that was there could be felt. A sense of calm spread. When [Azelf] shouted, everything that was there trembled. A blessed timbre began to resonate.”
Dialga and Palkia then gave the seed of life to their children and told them to nurture it, and so they “gathered in a circle and prayed” — this seed became the tree of life. But a new problem quickly emerged, the tree filled the entire world and nobody was able to move.
Uxie, Mesprit, and Azelf went to their parents for help, so Dialga and Palkia had three more children — Rayquaza, Groudon, and Kyogre. “Rayquaza wrapped its body around the tree of life. Groudon and Kyogre slammed their bodies into the tree of life. Eventually, the tree fell and broke into three pieces.”
Primal Groudon and Primal Kyogre would later clash over dominance of the Pokemon world, until Rayquaza put an end to their conflict.
These broken pieces formed the sky, earth, and ocean, and so “Rayquaza became the pillar that holds the sky,” “Groudon became the land that covers the earth,” and “Kyogre became the veins of the water”. And in that moment, the world as we know it was born.
Arceus' Return In Modern Day Pokemon
With the Earth finally formed, the gods began to call those who dwelled on its surface by two names — the children of Dialga were Pokemon, and the children of Palkia humans.
The leaked document ends with a teaser that Arceus will return, which they did in Gen 4 when we caught them in a cave.
Only fragments of this story are told in the games, but it’s a fascinating deep dive into Game Freak’s mindset and just how much goes on behind the scenes to inform the games we play.
Pokemon
Pokemon has entertained both children and adults alike for several generations. Whether hit video games, anime series and movies, trading cards, or more, there’s something for every budding trainer hoping to catch ‘em all.
