I was talking in the Legendary discussion yesterday about what the legends might be inspired by for this region. Most fans seem to think that they'll be Norse, if only because some early responder said "OMFG, Xerneas is in front of a tree, it must be Yggdrasil!!1!1!!!" and other people started filling in the gaps. As cool as that would be... I think that may not be the case. See, if the region is based off France, as what seems to be the case, then that means it was in territory that was decidedly Celtic, and not remotely Nordic. So I think that Xerneas is a nod to Cernunnous, the Celtic Horned God, an embodiment of life, nature and male fertility (okay, maybe not so much the last one in a kids' game...). Cernunnous had many aspects throughout Europe, everything from Lugh of the Long Spear, Herne the Hunter, the Green Man, and of course, the European stag.
I think the theory carries weight considering the spread of a horned deity throughout Europe, and the only reason we know Cernunous's attributed name is through the Pillar of the Boatmen, which is an ancient stone relic that is a remnant from Roman-occupied Gaul. Guess what's now on the land the township where the pillar is from occupied? You guessed it, Paris. What a lot of people don't realize is that yes, while many Celts did cross the sea to Ireland, and many Celtic traditions took root there, the Celts were a really widespread race that covered most of western Europe (hence the countless depictions of Cernunnous in neolithic art). So, when I see a majestic stag-creature in a natural, idyllic setting, especially with French overtones, I'm going to think Cernunnous. And then, of course, there's the name's phonetic reading, whose similarities speak for itself.
As to Yvetal, that was a bit harder to bridge. However, after a bit of thought, I realized it could be a parallel to the Morrigan, a Celtic crow goddess, with ties to war, death and winter. Because Yvetal has a much more chaotic appearance than Xerneas does, one can draw the connection between war and death, while Xerneas has the aspect of life and nature. The Morrigan is from a "later" pantheon of Celtic deities, when things became a little more personified and less of a natural spirit thing, but I still think the theory carries some weight.
So, what do you guys think? Yggdrasil and Norse mythology, or Celtic?
And so, his babbling mythological rant concluded, the Firebrand ran back to his corner of books and began murmuring incomprehensibly over them and all was as it should be.