Summary
After ten years of speculating, the recentGame Freak hackfinally confirmed that South Kalos did exist duringPokemonX/Y’s development, but was ultimately scrapped before release.
For context,Kalos is based on France, and comparing the fictional and real-world maps, Pokemon X/Y appeared to be missing an expanse of southern land. This sparked debate that perhaps we’d visit South Kalos in a future exansion or game, spurred on by some interesting revelations about the Kalos War.
Speaking to Game Informer in 2014 (as broken down in this impressively detailedRedditpost), director Junichi Masuda said that “The war was a clash between two different countries.” We know that it was fought between AZ and his brother, who had formed his own state, and it has long been speculated that he did so in the theorised South Kalos.
This lends especially well to the French inspirations as southern and northern France have a long history of feuding, assaults, and even crusades.
The South Kalos Leaks Appear To Confirm The Paldea Theories
Speculation about a theoretical South Kalos stirred up again two years ago whenPokemon Scarlet and Violetlaunched, as many theorised that Paldea —inspired by Spain— connected to South Kalos, much as Spain does to southern France.
Just like in the real world, the Paldea map has a border in the north east, but the problem was that the Kalos map we know from Pokemon X/Y didn’t fit. However, looking at the leaked South Kalos map, the two connect perfectly, seemingly confirming yet another fan theory.
In short, the leaks confirm that fans were right — there is a South Kalos after all. And yes, it does appear to connect to Paldea, much as Johto connected to Kanto. Whether we’ll ever actually see South Kalos for ourselves is another question entirely.
Pokemon
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