Galar Pokemon Origin Theories

[Marzbar]

I thought this could be a bit of fun; coming up with wacky and creative theories on how certain Pokemon came to be found in the Galar region, which as we know is based on Great Britain. It can be Pokemon already confirmed to appear in the Galar Dex, or it can be whatever unannounced Pokemon you want. As long as it doesn't have an obvious British origin. When I was researching ideas for this thread I was surprised to learn Pine trees, Bears and Eagles do actually have British native species. But many Galar Dex inclusions are.... questionable at best

I'll give you an example that's already come up on this forum: Maractus

Obviously it's a central American/Mexican based cactus from a desert region, not from cold wet Britain. But... we can get creative (and a little bit factual).

Theory One: Early European explorers brought back the flowering cactus Pokemon to feature in their gardens, becoming a valuable and sort after botanical marvel. Even a British Cactus Society was formed in their honour. They soon took root outside their garden borders and ventured off to thrive in the more arid areas of Britain.

Theory Two: European migratory birds, such as Swellow, ventured overseas and carried back the Maractus seeds in their droppings or even carried them in their talons perhaps for nest decorative purposes. This allowed the seeds to be unintentionally planted and take root. Think the very British Monty Python and the Holy Grail coconuts and swallows gag.

Here's some further examples of very questionable Galar Dex inclusions that need your creative explanations as to why they are now in Britain! So get sleuthing!

Galvantula (tarantulas in the Queen's country!?)
Hawlucha (Mexican luchador wrestler)
Pangoro (English pandas?)
Lucario (an Egyptian Anubis)
Grookey (there's no European monkeys or primates)
Hippowdon
Rhydon
Heliolisk (based on a frilled-necked lizard, with some features of an iguana, a basilisk and a spotted salamander. None of which are in Europe)
Gourgeist (yes Halloween has Pagan/Celtic origins in Britain..... but pumpkins are native to America)

 

[Orphalesion]

Well obviously the Pangoro came over from Kalos (their native region). Same with Lucario, Hippowdon, Rhydon, Heliolisk and Gourgheist.

All those Pokemon likely predate the end of the last Ice Age (assuming the Pokemon World went through similar changes as our planet) and would have wandered freely between Kalos and Galar (and whatever other regions might exist in place of other European countries) before water levels rose and Galar became an Island.
To add a bit of variation Gourgheist only spread to/evolved in Kalos after the end of the ice age and was brought from there to Galar in the Pokemon World's equivalent of Roman Times by Poke-Roman settlers in Galar.

 

[Captain Jigglypuff]

Lucario is easy to explain. It comes from the Pokémon equivalent of Egypt which was once under British rule.

 

[TheWanderingMist]

I thought this could be a bit of fun; coming up with wacky and creative theories on how certain Pokemon came to be found in the Galar region, which as we know is based on Great Britain. It can be Pokemon already confirmed to appear in the Galar Dex, or it can be whatever unannounced Pokemon you want. As long as it doesn't have an obvious British origin. When I was researching ideas for this thread I was surprised to learn Pine trees, Bears and Eagles do actually have British native species. But many Galar Dex inclusions are.... questionable at best

I'll give you an example that's already come up on this forum: Maractus

Obviously it's a central American/Mexican based cactus from a desert region, not from cold wet Britain. But... we can get creative (and a little bit factual).

Theory One: Early European explorers brought back the flowering cactus Pokemon to feature in their gardens, becoming a valuable and sort after botanical marvel. Even a British Cactus Society was formed in their honour. They soon took root outside their garden borders and ventured off to thrive in the more arid areas of Britain.

Theory Two: European migratory birds, such as Swellow, ventured overseas and carried back the Maractus seeds in their droppings or even carried them in their talons perhaps for nest decorative purposes. This allowed the seeds to be unintentionally planted and take root. Think the very British Monty Python and the Holy Grail coconuts and swallows gag.

Here's some further examples of very questionable Galar Dex inclusions that need your creative explanations as to why they are now in Britain! So get sleuthing!

Galvantula (tarantulas in the Queen's country!?)
Hawlucha (Mexican luchador wrestler)
Pangoro (English pandas?)
Lucario (an Egyptian Anubis)
Grookey (there's no European monkeys or primates)
Hippowdon
Rhydon
Heliolisk (based on a frilled-necked lizard, with some features of an iguana, a basilisk and a spotted salamander. None of which are in Europe)
Gourgeist (yes Halloween has Pagan/Celtic origins in Britain..... but pumpkins are native to America)

Grookey is easy. Musical theme and primate theme? What other explanation than the Monkees? They were American, but their lead was a British guy.

 

[Luthor]

Hawlucha is quite simple. Britain is surprisingly big on pro-wrestling. There are lots of different wrestling promotions in Britain in which a Luchador makes sense.

 

[Captain Jigglypuff]

A lot of Pokémon based on African animals can be explained for being in Galar by the fact that the UK used to have several territories on the continent including Kenya, Egypt, and South Africa.

 

[Orphalesion]

Lucario is easy to explain. It comes from the Pokémon equivalent of Egypt which was once under British rule.

But...it doesn't. It comes from Sinnoh, which is based on Hokkaido, Japan. And seems to be native to Kalos as well.

 

[AgentKallus]

But...it doesn't. It comes from Sinnoh, which is based on Hokkaido, Japan. And seems to be native to Kalos as well.

I mean it was introduced in Sinnoh but that could just mean that Sinnoh is the first region we encountered that it inhabits but we don't technically know where it originates from, after all we know from Corphish, Exeggutor and Yungoos that Pokemon don't necessarily originate from the region that they are introduced in.

My computer wants to correct Sinnoh to sinning.

 

[Marzbar]

Judging by the colour scheme of Galvantula, it most likely originated in Mexico (brachypelma hamorii) or in Venezuela (greenbottle blue tarantula). My theory is that sailors on the British colonial ships would capture the Galvantula and keep them as pets, due to their trademark electric webs producing a comforting dull glow that would provide some light in the otherwise pitch-black cabins on the ships at night. When the ships returned to Britain, the Galvantula escaped or were released and managed to adapt and survive in the wild.

 

[bobandbill]

I've had a go at trying to find the basis, including British basis, for the brand new pokemon (for example Rolycoly has a link to Galar/the UK due to its coal industry and the industrial revolution significance).[ Not thought much about existing Pokemon though, so that's neat to consider.

Theory Two: European migratory birds, such as Swellow, ventured overseas and carried back the Maractus seeds in their droppings or even carried them in their talons perhaps for nest decorative purposes. This allowed the seeds to be unintentionally planted and take root. Think the very British Monty Python and the Holy Grail coconuts and swallows gag.

But what was the velocity of said Swellow?

 

[Marzbar]

Lucario is easy to explain. It comes from the Pokémon equivalent of Egypt which was once under British rule.

See, I would go deeper than this.

The British Royal family, the Roman Catholic Church and other groups have long been rumored to be part of an Illuminati-style global secret organisation that rules the world, and are secretly Sun Worshippers with their origins based in Egypt. That’s why there’s an Egyptian obelisk in London, Washington DC and the Vatican. Therefore the British royal family would worship Lucario due to its Egyptian Anubis symbolism.

 

[Orphalesion]

I mean it was introduced in Sinnoh but that could just mean that Sinnoh is the first region we encountered that it inhabits but we don't technically know where it originates from, after all we know from Corphish, Exeggutor and Yungoos that Pokemon don't necessarily originate from the region that they are introduced in.

Unlike Yungoos, for example its Pokedex doesn't suggest any importation from a supposed "Poke-Egypt", though. And it's found in the wild both in Sinnoh and Kalos. So I'd say it's more likely that the Lucario in Galar come from the Lucario in Kalos. Same with thing like Rhyhorn, which are found in almost every region we've been so far, it seems a lot of Pokemon species are just very wide spread, more so than the animals in the real world they are inspired by and naturally populate the whole of "Poke-Eurasia".
Rinos could never live in a dark, damp cave system, Rhyhorn can and do, so trying to force some supposed origin that all Rhyhorn everywhere are imported from "Poke Africa" is needlessly complicated.

 

[KyogreThunder]

And it's found in the wild both in Sinnoh and Kalos.

Riolu/Lucario don't show up in the wild in Sinnoh, though. Riolu is only obtainable by hatching an egg received from Riley there.

 

[Ning]

With riolu and Lucario I would go more with: they are dogs, everyone loves dogs, people brought them from afar as pets and went feral.

As for Maractus, the irl mistletoe cactus somehow made its way to Africa despite all other cactus being in the Americas. So cactus can get around. And being in South Africa, there’s strong ties to the UK.

Ironically, Grookey is real easy to fit into Galar. The UK ruled Gibraltar has Europe’s only native monkey population. The Barbary macaques.

 

[Marzbar]

With riolu and Lucario I would go more with: they are dogs, everyone loves dogs, people brought them from afar as pets and went feral.

As for Maractus, the irl mistletoe cactus somehow made its way to Africa despite all other cactus being in the Americas. So cactus can get around. And being in South Africa, there’s strong ties to the UK.

Ironically, Grookey is real easy to fit into Galar. The UK ruled Gibraltar has Europe’s only native monkey population. The Barbary macaques.

It’s true about the Barbary macaques but I don’t think Grookey is based on one.
Having said that, I like this explanation a lot more than “the lead singer of the Monkees is British”

 

[Trainer Yusuf]

But...it doesn't. It comes from Sinnoh, which is based on Hokkaido, Japan. And seems to be native to Kalos as well.

Dex order is discovery order, not nativity order.

We went over this for several times already.

Edit: Unrelated to the response, though it hasn't appeared yet in a trial, Vanillite-line was confirmed to appear in Galar, which makes sense as Vanilluxe is based on 99 Flake, an ice-cream cone style that originates from Birmigham, England. The cone was popularized as a factory-produced ice-cream style meant to serve the industrial regions of England. Predictably, it was another design by James Turner, who himself originates from London.