Favorite Mysteries of the Pokemon series

[shoz999]

So before I start this topic I just want to make it clear that just because "Favorite" is in the title, I don't think this is a poll thread because unlike other "Favorite" threads where you simply say what's your favorite and maybe give a small explanation, these are mysteries that require a bit more dissection on why we just think they are so compelling to us.

So with that being said. What is your favorite mystery of the Pokemon series? Solved or unsolved? Doesn't matter! Either way is good! I just hope you explain why the mystery is so compelling!

I'll kick things off with my favorite mystery from the Pokemon Adventures manga, who is the Mask of Ice? Don't worry no spoilers here. This mystery makes up a huge chunk of Pokemon Adventures GSC but one thing I couldn't quite figure out is why the heck do I like this villain so much and it really didn't hit me until I watched JoJo's Bizarre Adventures Diamond is Unbreakable which featured an mysterious antagonist that seems relatively small and normal but has far more disturbing traits that the Mask of Ice does not have. In fact, it would be correct to say that these two villains have almost nothing in common but it was through that Sherlock Holmes-like villain that it finally hit me why I like the Mask of Ice so much. I believe the reason why he's unlike any other Pokemon villain is the mystery involved.

Most Pokemon villains in-general often revolve around a mystery of what their plan is, often involving some legendary Pokemon originally thought to be a myth. This is seen in the games, the Adventures manga, the anime, pretty common formula for most Pokemon villains. I believe what makes the Mask of Ice so compelling as a Pokemon villain, at least to me, is that not only the main characters but practically every important character you can think of from the Johto and Kanto region are on a manhunt for a villain whose identity they don't even know with practically no clues to work with early on. This manhunt to look for clues, anything they could find to discover the Mask of Ice's identity and his whereabouts makes up a good chunk of Pokemon Journey in Pokemon Adventures GSC and it's what also makes the Mask of Ice so interesting as a villain. It's not just his plan that's a mystery, he himself is a giant mystery since Gen 1 actually and when he makes his entrance in Gen 2, he makes quite the spooky entrance, almost like a ghost-like figure in the dark Ilex Forest which I just thought perfectly captured the tone of the Ilex Forest from the games because it was a dark isolated place that you always felt like you were being watched.

To be honest, as unique of a Pokemon villain the Mask of Ice is, he's something we've seen a lot already in villains from the detective genre, a hard-boiled detective chasing after a mysterious thief, a serial killer or a masked vigilante over the course of the entire story. The Mask of Ice is nothing really new and yet it's these very same tropes and characteristics that makes him a compelling character, seeing the mystery of this intimidating and cerebral villain from different point of views, including a few characters who have high personal stakes against him since Gen 1, with great execution. The thing is some Pokemon Adventure fans who got into this chapter probably already have a good idea who the Mask of Ice is before it was revealed, including myself. However even the "right" answer that people had in mind doesn't quite fit, it actually conflicts with some of the villains characteristics enough that even the correct answer seems questionable at the time, leading to more questions than answers and that's what makes the Mask of Ice even more compelling because none of the guesses are that obvious. Outside of one other villain, I honestly think the Mask of Ice is perhaps the only Pokemon villain that's mostly compelling in how so many characters are on a manhunt for this guy, trying to discover his identity and not mostly compelling for what his villainous plan is. He's the type of villain you often see in Detective films that I hope we one day see in a Pokemon game. The idea of solving the mystery of a villain's identity and going after him as the main focus of the plot sounds pretty thrilling for a Pokemon game don't you think?

 

[NovaBrunswick]

A lot of the mysteries in Pokemon that intrigue me are to do with ghosts:

• The Old Chateau in Eterna Forest in Sinnoh, and the ghosts of the former butler and a little girl who occasionally float around. Also, the creepy painting whose eyes appear to follow you around, and the Rotom in the TV.

• The ghost girl who appears on the Marvellous Bridge in Unova in BW, and her subsequent appearance at the Strange House in B2/W2.

• The ghost girl who suddenly appears out of the elevator in one of the offices in Lumiose City in Kalos, and her creepy dialogue. “No… You’re not the one…”

I think the Lumiose ghost girl would’ve been explained and explored further in a third Kalos game (Pokemon Z?), but that never came out, so she’s still a true mystery.

 

[wolf jani]

A lot of the mysteries in Pokemon that intrigue me are to do with ghosts:

• The Old Chateau in Eterna Forest in Sinnoh, and the ghosts of the former butler and a little girl who occasionally float around. Also, the creepy painting whose eyes appear to follow you around, and the Rotom in the TV.

• The ghost girl who appears on the Marvellous Bridge in Unova in BW, and her subsequent appearance at the Strange House in B2/W2.

• The ghost girl who suddenly appears out of the elevator in one of the offices in Lumiose City in Kalos, and her creepy dialogue. “No… You’re not the one…”

I think the Lumiose ghost girl would’ve been explained and explored further in a third Kalos game (Pokemon Z?), but that never came out, so she’s still a true mystery.

Maybe they'll explain the Lumiose girl in SWSH since Galar is probably Kalos's neighbour

 

[Leonhart]

The mystery of the giant Kairyu (Dragonite) from the early Kanto saga of the anime has always interested me since we never found out why it was so massive or why it was lonely to begin with. It was such a good episode overall, and I just wish that we had gotten more answers than questions.

 

[Pokegirl Fan~]

The mystery of the giant Kairyu (Dragonite) from the early Kanto saga of the anime has always interested me since we never found out why it was so massive or why it was lonely to begin with. It was such a good episode overall, and I just wish that we had gotten more answers than questions.

I also wanted to know why it's so big compared to normal Dragonite.

 

[BTS_fan]

The ghosts of people in many of the games is a subject that I've always been fascinated by since it hasn't been expanded on. I also really want to know more about the original form of Zekrom and Reshiram and what it actually looked like.

 

[Cometstarlight]

The ghosts of people in many of the games is a subject that I've always been fascinated by since it hasn't been expanded on. I also really want to know more about the original form of Zekrom and Reshiram and what it actually looked like.

Absolutely would've loved to have some semblance of what the original dragon looked like. Many of the pictures I've seen trying to depict it look super similar, but there's one I found that I absolutely adored just because it was different, but the designs didn't clash with one another. https://www.deviantart.com/the-godlings-rapture/art/Tao-Trio-Complete-Forme-311798237

Should say I didn't draw this, I'm not advertising/selling anything. It's just a rendition I've always enjoyed.

 

[shoz999]

A lot of the mysteries in Pokemon that intrigue me are to do with ghosts:

• The Old Chateau in Eterna Forest in Sinnoh, and the ghosts of the former butler and a little girl who occasionally float around. Also, the creepy painting whose eyes appear to follow you around, and the Rotom in the TV.

• The ghost girl who appears on the Marvellous Bridge in Unova in BW, and her subsequent appearance at the Strange House in B2/W2.

• The ghost girl who suddenly appears out of the elevator in one of the offices in Lumiose City in Kalos, and her creepy dialogue. “No… You’re not the one…”

I think the Lumiose ghost girl would’ve been explained and explored further in a third Kalos game (Pokemon Z?), but that never came out, so she’s still a true mystery.

The Game Theorists gave a pretty logical and honestly tightly-connected explanation, that is almost seems like it's canon, of the ghost girl of the Strange House. The only thing they can't seem to understand is why would Darkrai, the Pokemon in-question, would attack the girl and honestly I think they kind of missed the fact that Darkrai is a tragic Pokemon according to the Pokedex who spreads nightmares to anyone around him whether he intends to or not. With that being said, they practically connected every clue they found and reached to a pretty solid conclusion of what happened to the ghost girl. I recommend you check it out, you'll be surprised of how good the explanation is. As for The Old Chateau and Lumiose City, now that I can't explain. I hope we get to see an explanation of that in future remakes.

The mystery of the giant Kairyu (Dragonite) from the early Kanto saga of the anime has always interested me since we never found out why it was so massive or why it was lonely to begin with. It was such a good episode overall, and I just wish that we had gotten more answers than questions.

That's my favorite Pokemon reveal. It always had this strange mystical and haunting feel whenever I saw it. Really showed the mysterious wonders of the Pokemon world early on in Gen 1.

The ghosts of people in many of the games is a subject that I've always been fascinated by since it hasn't been expanded on. I also really want to know more about the original form of Zekrom and Reshiram and what it actually looked like.

I hope to see it too and I bet that GameFreak does intend to show a complete form of the original dragon in BW3 or BW remakes but I'm hoping for BW3.

 

[Leonhart]

I also really want to know more about the original form of Zekrom and Reshiram and what it actually looked like.

I've always just assumed that the original dragon looked like a combination of Zekrom, Reshiram, and Kyurem. I guess that Black Kyurem and White Kyurem are the closest that we'll get to the original design however, unless the inevitable Black and White remakes introduce the completed form.

 

[NovaBrunswick]

I also wanted to know why it's so big compared to normal Dragonite.

Maybe it was a Dynamaxed Dragonite. Probably the same thing with all the giant Pokemon in Island of the Giant Pokemon.

 

[wolf jani]

Maybe it was a Dynamaxed Dragonite. Probably the same thing with all the giant Pokemon in Island of the Giant Pokemon.

The giant pokemon in that island were robots.

 

[Redstar45]

The giant pokemon in that island were robots.

That is mysteriously never explain how Sakaki bult that place in first place and how the hack he didn't rebuild robots?

 

[wolf jani]

That is mysteriously never explain how Sakaki bult that place in first place and how the hack he didn't rebuild robots?

From what I remember he wasn't the owner/the person who ordered it constructed. He just invested a lot of money into it. But I could be remembering wrong.

 

[Redstar45]

From what I remember he wasn't the owner/the person who ordered it constructed. He just invested a lot of money into it. But I could be remembering wrong.

that does make some sense

 

[Ohshi]

Maybe it was a Dynamaxed Dragonite. Probably the same thing with all the giant Pokemon in Island of the Giant Pokemon.

But the giant Pokemon on that island were only giant mechas funded by Giovanni.

 

[NovaBrunswick]

You know what’s a real Pokemon mystery? Where Corphish and Yungoos originally came from. Both their Dex entries say they were imported from another (unknown) region, the former as a pet and the latter as pest control for all the Rattata in Alola. Maybe some day we’ll see their actual native regions - probably in Gen 9 or another future generation.

 

[Jerimiyah]

Whether Giovanni killed himself after he lost to us at Tohjo Falls since we heard a splash after he left the cave which some fans think was him purposely drowning himself after failing to reunite with the rest of Team Rocket.

 

[Leonhart]

Whether Giovanni killed himself after he lost to us at Tohjo Falls since we heard a splash after he left the cave which some fans think was him purposely drowning himself after failing to reunite with the rest of Team Rocket.

I don't think that splash sound was meant to symbolize his death. Rather, it was most likely the sound of him swimming out of the cave since none of his Pokemon knew Surf, so swimming across the water to reach the exit was one of the few reasonable ways that he could've left the cavern other than using an Escape Rope or Dig, but none of his Pokemon knew Dig either.

 

[TheWanderingMist]

Whether Giovanni killed himself after he lost to us at Tohjo Falls since we heard a splash after he left the cave which some fans think was him purposely drowning himself after failing to reunite with the rest of Team Rocket.

He shows up at the Pokemon World Tournament, which is set after HGSS according to that one tweet. Also, he had to get up there somehow. You get there through time travel with Celebi. None of the Pokemon he fights you with know Waterfall, and you only face 4 of them. It's easily possible that he had a Pokemon who could not battle but could use HM moves.

 

[NovaBrunswick]

Whether Giovanni killed himself after he lost to us at Tohjo Falls since we heard a splash after he left the cave which some fans think was him purposely drowning himself after failing to reunite with the rest of Team Rocket.

I don't think that splash sound was meant to symbolize his death. Rather, it was most likely the sound of him swimming out of the cave since none of his Pokemon knew Surf, so swimming across the water to reach the exit was one of the few reasonable ways that he could've left the cavern other than using an Escape Rope or Dig, but none of his Pokemon knew Dig either.

He shows up at the Pokemon World Tournament, which is set after HGSS according to that one tweet. Also, he had to get up there somehow. You get there through time travel with Celebi. None of the Pokemon he fights you with know Waterfall, and you only face 4 of them. It's easily possible that he had a Pokemon who could not battle but could use HM moves.

And of course, he appears in US/UM as well, as part of Team Rainbow Rocket.

In a similar fashion, Gary (Blue)’s Raticate. The last time you see it is onboard the SS Anne, and after that, it’s never seen again. The next time you see Gary, he’s at the graveyard in the Pokemon Tower in Lavender Town, and he asks you (in his usual jerkish manner) why are you here when your Pokemon don’t look dead. A popular fan theory says that his Raticate died sometime between the battle on the SS Anne and the encounter in Lavender Town, possibly as a result of severe battle injuries. Or he could’ve just put it in the PC box.