[SPOILERS] Pokemon Legends Arceus Lore Theory

[Juanthemovie]

{THIS HAS SPOILERS TO PLA STORY}
So as some of you might know, Volo the merchant turns out to be the villain that has the same plan/mindset as Cyrus which is to remake the world into their own vision. Then when I read his plan I realized how similar Cyrus's plan was to Volo's and thought to myself "what if Volo was the reason Team Galactic exists in diamond and pearl." and after looking through some other things from the game (PLA characters and their similarities to other games characters, DP story lore, and timelines) I come to the conclusion that Volo might actually be the reason Team Galactic is a thing in the future/present.

Considering the idea where PLA characters hair represents them as other characters ancestors (i.e. Cyrus and Cyllene), I wondered if Volo could be Cynthia's ancestor or if Cogita is the ancestor. Im assuming Volo and Cogita arent related since they acted more as Acquaintances so to strengthen my theory I will say Cogita is Cynthias ancestor. Continuing on, we know that in DP that Cyrus runs Team Galactic while in PLA the so called "Team Galactic" is called the Galaxy Team so sometime between the events of PLA to DP the Galaxy Team would have been disbanded or it could have taken control by a new person which eventually became evil and renamed to Team Galactic. Volo with the goal to create a new world probably shared his plan with others to create some kind of group which centuries later with Volo gone and the team being taken over by Cyrus, I would assume that Volo told Cyllene or Cyllenes children/grandchildren about his plan which was passed down to Cyrus to continue Volo's legacy and goal. This would make sense because once the hisuian pokedex is finished, the villagers start to trust pokemon, and the town grows bigger, they wouldnt need the Galaxy Expedition Team anymore. So then it would be safe to say after the Galaxy Team becomes a thing of the past, Volo or one of Volo's predecessors will remake it into Team Galactic. Now back to the topic on ancestors, if Volo was Cynthia's ancestor then it could have been possible for Cynthia to lead Team Galactic instead of Cyrus especially since Volo's goal has been passed down onto Cyrus, but she isnt the leader. Which further proves that Cogita and Cynthia are related. As for the other ancestors like Kamado and Akari, I think after the Galaxy Team broke up they went on to continue living their lives, Laventon goes back to Galar which will lead to Hop and Leon, Akari will lead to Dawn, Cyllene probably stayed good until one of her future grandchildren gets influenced by Volo's goal, and Kamado will lead to Professor Rowan.

So heres the full story for this theory.
After defeating Volo, he went off to figure out some questions he created of his experience. The player then continues to live in Hisui which will soon be renamed Sinnoh and all the ancestors continue to make the region grow into what we see today. Volo still questioning everything has not let his dream be crushed so he attempts to do it all over again even if it takes him centuries. A few years later possibly after the end of the Galaxy Expedition Team, Volo must have had a chat with Cyllene or one of her children about his plan and that he wants to recreate the galaxy team. Volo didnt have any children of his own so he most likely chose someone on the inside to help him. After many many years Team Galactic has finally become strong enough for them to continue Volo's goal. Then the story continues off from there, where the player gets his starter from rowan.

Sorry if you get confused while reading this, I sorta rant a bit when im thinking of lore like this. What do you think?

 

[Divine Retribution]

Spoiler: Story spoilers

I think it's highly likely that Cogita and Volo are related, though. Beyond the striking visual similarities between Volo and Cynthia, they also share a nearly identical team (with only Milotic being switched in Volo's line-up, probably because Milotic isn't actually in PLA) In fact, when you think about the rather disdainful way Cogita regards Volo, and how Volo refers to Giratina as Arceus's unwanted child (a rather interesting choice of words), I think it's likely that Volo himself could be Cogita's unwanted child. The relationship between the two could be a little more removed than that, but I think it's almost certain that the two are related in some way.

Of course, even if this is true, it doesn't mean that Volo isn't responsible for the modern Team Galactic in some way. His ominous parting words with us were, after all, that he intends to meet Arceus 'even if it takes hundreds of years'. Maybe he finds a way to achieve this, and was the one pulling Cyrus's strings from the shadows the entire time. Or maybe he doesn't, but leaves behind a mémoire that Cyrus eventually finds and bases his own worldview on.

Maybe future DLC or appearances in other media will explain this. We've got enough pieces of the puzzle to get a general idea what it looks like, but it still feels like we're missing a crucial piece or two.

 

[BCVM22]

Spoiler

Volo and Cogita's relationship definitely reads as familial, if strained. Maybe Volo's parents are gone and Cogita, a great-aunt or a distant cousin or something, raised him, maybe they aren't even biologically related. Maybe Cogita raised him begrudgingly, maybe Volo was a difficult child, leading to the strain on their interactions later in life.

The way I see it, a young Cynthia will one day find her family's distant past records in Celestic Town (which conveniently sits in present-day Sinnoh where the Gingko Clan's Ancient Retreat does in past Hisui), maybe with her grandmother overseeing her. From Volo, she decides to study Sinnoh's lore, and from a photo of Cogita, she decides to attire herself in black.

Volo worked alongside the Galaxy Team both personally and in his role as a member of the merchant clan, and so somewhere along the way, someone, probably the professor, probably writes down that Volo turned out to have more sinister aims and released Giratina against a member of the Survey Team. That ends up in the Galaxy Team's records, which Cyllene oversees (her office is full of paperwork), and which end up passed down through her lineage to be found centuries later by Cyrus in his family's history.

 

[Shinxshinra]

I came here for this but now I have more questions. Especially regarding Cogita and the interesting statement she remarks as you finish her final quest (forces of Hisui) to be more specific she hints to immortality and funnily enough so did Volo as you guys have mentioned (or maybe he meant waiting even a hundred years in ancestral terms I.e passing the torch to his lineage but that doesnt add up to Cognita's statement). When she talks to us she says she'll allow the new beast in our care until the end of our time I'm assuming that means until we either die or return back to present day sinnoh where then platinum occurs (I have a strong theory regarding it) but anyway she carries on to say why would we question what she said we cant possibly live forever so she'll take the pokemon back later as if it should be obvious she lives forever. Could someone with a good theory explain this.

On a side note, damn I didn't pokemon to get this deep man. I loved pokemon as is but it's gotten XB style deep (I absolutely love that series for its deep storytelling and lore) also I really love Cynthia (my pk waifu) I really hope she doesn't turn out to be evil in modern day sinnoh but I hope we get more of her story in future games and anime

 

[Bus]

Spoiler

Volo worked alongside the Galaxy Team both personally and in his role as a member of the merchant clan, and so somewhere along the way, someone, probably the professor, probably writes down that Volo turned out to have more sinister aims and released Giratina against a member of the Survey Team. That ends up in the Galaxy Team's records, which Cyllene oversees (her office is full of paperwork), and which end up passed down through her lineage to be found centuries later by Cyrus in his family's history.

Spoiler: Spoiler

The part about the Professor keeping record of all this, including Volo, makes a LOT of sense. He wrote down EVERYTHING and not only did the protagonist explain what happened, but after catching Giratina and reporting back to the professor, Laventon says that Volo told him everything as well.

Honestly, there's enough lore here in this game to make a good argument that Professor Laventon's research while working for Galaxy Team (something that could easily be archived as part of the company's history as it evolved over time) led directly to Diamond/Pearl's plot.

The original Diamond/Pearl villain plot was a ridiculously big stretch to begin with. I mean, they had to capture 3 Legendary pokemon that may or not exist (you know, because they're Legendary and thus are rarely, if ever, seen), supposedly craft a chain from their power that could only be done if you have all three of them (why did you even think of this? How did you know this was possible?), in order to control yet another legendary pokemon that you could honestly have no real proof actually existed since it was over Time/Space (how did Cyrus know that was even feasible to begin with??), with the ultimate endgame of forcing the appearance of an apparent pokemon devil residing in a reverse dimension (Why would you know they exist? How would you know this?! Why would you even begin to think this could work?!?).

All of it is laughably dumb.....unless you introduce the idea of a research journal from a guy who literally saw & recorded all of this firsthand. Someone who saw each of these Legends in person (sans Giratina). Someone who witnessed the temporal anomalies across the region directly. Someone who directly saw the power of the 3 bind the space/time legend. Someone who personally offered up the idea of integrating the chain's parts into a pokeball to bind the other. Someone who was likelywent down in history as a famous professor of the region since he was the leading researcher in the initial pokedex for the region. Someone who also just happened to be associated with Team Galactic's predecessor, Galaxy team. Someone like Professor Laventon.

EDIT: As a sidenote, after fighting Kamado in the end when he explains his reasoning, I could help but think of the Kalos Region. Where hundreds of years ago, some crazy war broke out and thousands died when a catastrophic poke-weapon, powered by the box legendary, was released by that immortal king. Maybe I'm reading into it way too much, but the commander's story was hinting that he actually came from one of the nations involved in that war right after the weapon destroyed his hometown leaving only him and the Potato Mochi Ninja alive. Especially since his armor was apparently said to have come from Galar....the very region Kalos was at war with when that weapon was used.

 

[Divine Retribution]

Spoiler: Spoiler

EDIT: As a sidenote, after fighting Kamado in the end when he explains his reasoning, I could help but think of the Kalos Region. Where hundreds of years ago, some crazy war broke out and thousands died when a catastrophic poke-weapon, powered by the box legendary, was released by that immortal king. Maybe I'm reading into it way too much, but the commander's story was hinting that he actually came from one of the nations involved in that war right after the weapon destroyed his hometown leaving only him and the Potato Mochi Ninja alive. Especially since his armor was apparently said to have come from Galar....the very region Kalos was at war with when that weapon was used.

Spoiler

The timeframes don't match up. The Kalosian War and the firing of the Ultimate Weapon happened 3,000 years before the events in X/Y. While we don't know exactly how long passes between PLA and X/Y, it's almost certainly much less than 3,000 years, given the early Industrial era technology and architecture present in PLA.

I also think Kamado says that Pokemon destroyed his previous village, not the Ultimate Weapon, hence why he frequently describes Pokemon as terrifying, brutal creatures, and his rash decision to try and fight the Pokemon on the other side of the rift.

 

[Lord Godwin]

So my headcanon is that Adaman and Irina were previous Wardens of Braviary and Sneaslar accoringly based on the following:
1. Sabi is the youngest Warden so it makes sense for her to inherit the role from someone.
2. Palina and Irida competed for the Clan Leader role so possibly both were Warden at the same time.
3. Ingo also is quite a new addition to the Hisui region so there was a Warden before.

Arguments against:
1. Adaman's Grandpa was the Diamond Clan Leader in the past to it may be an inherited possition withou the need to be a Warden.
On the other hamd, though, if Irida competed with Palina for the Clan Leader role it means that either the Pearl Clan Has the leader chosen and it's not an inherited role or Palina and Irida are closely related.

There is no mention of the later.

Feel free to comment and Agree/Disagree.

 

[Lord Godwin]

Spoiler

The timeframes don't match up. The Kalosian War and the firing of the Ultimate Weapon happened 3,000 years before the events in X/Y. While we don't know exactly how long passes between PLA and X/Y, it's almost certainly much less than 3,000 years, given the early Industrial era technology and architecture present in PLA.

I also think Kamado says that Pokemon destroyed his previous village, not the Ultimate Weapon, hence why he frequently describes Pokemon as terrifying, brutal creatures, and his rash decision to try and fight the Pokemon on the other side of the rift.

here you have all the answers

 

[Divine Retribution]

here you have all the answers

Spoiler

Ignoring the fact that this doesn't really answer the one question I'd want to see answered (exactly when PLA takes place relative to other key events in the series) and how it's clearly bloated with pointless filler content and reiterations of the same points that have already been made to get past that crucial 10 minute mark, there's a whole lot of speculation and assumption in that video that I would not be confident in embracing. Granted, that's sort of unavoidable given the nature of Pokemon's lore, but the idea that Route 8 was Kamado's original town in particular was only presented with tenuous evidence at best.

We have absolutely nothing that really suggests that the Route 8 town was destroyed by Pokemon, nor that it was destroyed fairly recently as it would have been if it was Kamado's original town; it's almost fully buried and the architecture doesn't resemble the architecture in Jubilife Village. The Pixie Plate being there doesn't really confirm anything either; it was the only Plate in Galar because Fairy lacks another type-boosting item (like Twisted Spoon, Miracle Seed, etc), and where else would you put an ancient Plate besides a set of ancient ruins? For that matter, if it's supposed to be a reference to the two towns being the same place, how did Cogita come about the plate in PLA?

 

[Ultra Beast Lover]

Spoiler

how it's clearly bloated with pointless filler content and reiterations of the same points that have already been made to get past that crucial 10 minute mark

Ah good, someone else noticed that. I wasn't sure if he really was just saying the same thing over and over again or if I was just bored and imagining things and I didn't want to rewatch in case I wasn't. I like the guy but at the same time, his rambling gets annoying and makes what he's saying hard to follow sometimes, maybe if they were fun ramblings.

 

[Divine Retribution]

Ah good, someone else noticed that. I wasn't sure if he really was just saying the same thing over and over again or if I was just bored and imagining things and I didn't want to rewatch in case I wasn't. I like the guy but at the same time, his rambling gets annoying and makes what he's saying hard to follow sometimes, maybe if they were fun ramblings.

Yeah, it annoys me when people do this but unfortunately YouTube incentivizes it. I believe videos qualify for an extra ad if they are more than 10 minutes long, which means more ad revenue for the video creator, so you see a lot of people bloating videos that really don't need to be 10+ minutes long in order to hit that threshold. I'm not fond of it either but you can only blame the player instead of the game so much.

 

[Blackjack Gabbiani]

I don't get where people assume that the relationship between Volo and Cogita is familial. They don't talk to each other like family at all. He calls her *Mistress*, for pity's sake. I don't care how formal your familial relationship is--that's just not gonna happen.

 

[BCVM22]

I don’t see how “mistress” is that odd if their relationship is familial but perhaps not biological. Mistress is the feminine form of master, and if she was a male character who had perhaps raised Volo and educated him, “master” as an honorific wouldn’t be that weird.

 

[Blackjack Gabbiani]

"Master" still wouldn't come off as something you would call a family member either.

 

[Hekym]

I find this whole theory really fascinating, and wanted to quickly chime in on the "mistress" title.

It's worth remembering that this is set in what appears to be feudal Japan. It was fairly common for a large family to split off and form "branch families," who would basically be permanently subordinated to the main family line. They would even work the main family's land as vassals, maintaining that subordinate relationship for hundreds of years at times. Volo could be from the same family but a subordinate house that was wiped out (or exiled him). That would explain the "mistress" title with which he refers to Cogita, and even some of his bitterness.

Just keep in mind that this is a historical setting, that titles (nobles and captains), knowing your family lineage (Kamado's speeches to the player), and given roles (Arcanine noble arc) are still important in this society -- so differential status in the same family is not out of the question.

Spoiler

I'm super curious about Volo and the crazy lore that he cites and hope that some DLC brings him back. He's nuts, but I have mad respect for his ability to raise a sweet team and capture legendaries when everyone else is afraid of Starly. I demand a redemption arc. Anyway, what's his deal? Why was he suffering? What if he lost his family, or maybe he was exiled from Johto, where the Ruins of Alph are? And what if he has been travelling the world training Pokemon since a young age-- say, ten? That would make him his region's first Pokemon trainer. I like to think that maybe he redeems himself at some point, and following in his footsteps is where the tradition of leaving home at ten comes from. It would be very fitting for him to leave both a positive and world-threating legacy.

Also what? There's a whole ancient race now? How many people have the bloodline? It it ubiquitous or only blond people? Why is one of them crazy? When a celestic is born, do the gods flip a coin? Are there other ancient races from Kalos and Alola, etc?

I have a whole lot of questions and not nearly enough answers.

 

[Blackjack Gabbiani]

There's also the whole issue with the ancient village in the icelands, where there's nothing left now but a diary guarded by a Froslass who may be that one guy's ancestor.

 

[Lord Godwin]

I was trying to find some logic behind the pattern in which Statues are located in the Temple of Sinnoh.
We have the following on the left:
Wyrdeer
Ursaluna
Basculegion
Electrode
Braviary

And on the righ:
Kleavor
Liligant
Arcanine
Sneasler
Avalugg

Besides the obvious ( each pair for their respective area) I see no logic there.
If we had Liligant on the left we would've had Diamond clan ones on the left and Pearl clan ones on the right.

If Electrode would've been switched with Sneasler we would've have Ride on the left and Nobles on the right.

We have someting between with no clear logic...