Episode 162: Mythology of Pokémon Sword & Shield
/The internet’s newest favorite Pokémon game has real-life mythological origins, from its towns and cities to the wild new Pokémon making their debut in Sword & Shield. Join us to learn about new horrifying fossil animal mashups, Viking forest cats, and why the Weald isn’t just a Galar thing.
This week, Amanda urges you to donate to the Fire Relief Fund for First Nations Communities. Thanks to Eric Silver for suggesting this episode!
Content Warning: This episode contains conversations about hauntings, demons, household mischief, captivity, curses, flashbacks, death at sea, gravestones, warfare, virginity, societal constructions of sexual “purity,” societal constructions of masculinity/femininity, species extinction, climate change, museum fraud, and body horror.
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Transcript
Amanda: Welcome to Spirits podcast, a boozy dive into mythology, legends and folklore. Every week we pour a drink and learn about a new story from around the world. I'm Amanda and I'm doing the intro solo this week because Julia has the flu, oh no. This is Episode 162, Mythology of Pokemon Sword and Shield. And it is an extremely good episode. I feel like I say that all the time in these intros, but this one in particular, we talk about the world building of Sword and Shield. We talk about individual Pokemon and the stuff that inspired them. It is not a spoilery episode. So if you haven't gotten Sword and Shield or you haven't finished it yet, don't worry, we tell you when we're going to recap the plot, and then you can skip forward just a minute or two to make sure that you don't get spoiled. Thanks too to Eric Silver for suggesting this episode. We love doing Pokemon, I loved the first Pokemon episode we did. And it was very exciting to talk about British stuff and word origins and other things that get me very excited, and then to learn all about the mythological origins of some of the best Sword and Shield Pokes.
But first welcome, and thank you to our newest patrons Brittany, Rachel and Haslina Sam, you joined the wonderful ranks of our supporting producer level patrons Philip, Megan, Deborah, Molly, Skyla, Samantha, Sammy, Neil, Jessica and Phil Fresh, and our legend level patrons Audra, Chris, Jack Murray, Caleb Husky, Mark Body, Morgan, Mr. Folk, Josie, Sarah and BM Me Up Scotty. Thanks to you and the hundreds of other people who decide to support Spirits every month on Patreon. We get to keep doing this, and we love it so, so much. So thank you. Now for this episode, we were drinking Pimm's cups which I describe and tell you all about in the actual episode, but it's fun to choose a kind of British themed drink for this one because surprise, Sword and Shield, just send Britain.
And finally, this week instead of recommending a book or a podcast or TV show, I would love to urge anyone who can to donate to the Fire Relief Fund for First Nations Communities in Australia. This is a fundraiser by and for First Nations people who are affected by the bush fires going on in Australia right now. So right now, they're about halfway to their $1 million goal, and I'm going to put a link to the GoFundMe in the description of this podcast.
It's a great time to educate yourself on climate change, to have those hard conversations with people who might not believe the science and the facts behind it, and to do all that we can individually and as a community and a globe, to make sure that this planet is around for the next generations of people to come. So thank you for your support and without further ado, enjoy Spirits podcast Episode 162, The Mythology of Pokemon Sword and Shield.
Julia: So Amanda, over the holidays and I think a little before that, a lot of people probably, either were gifted or picked up for themselves Pokemon Sword and Shield, I know you're one of those people-
Amanda: I have got to catch them all Julia, I have got to catch them all.
Julia: And you did, you did catch them all, I'm sure.
Amanda: Didn't catch them all yet, did beat the game, but I'm working on catching them all.
Julia: I'm so proud of you. So, I haven't played Pokemon Sword and Shield, but from what I've been told, it very much has a lot of European and specifically, British mythology involved in it.
Amanda: It sure does. It is shockingly British. And a lot of the internet, especially when the trailer came out was like, "Wait, is the new Pokemon game set in Britain?" And it kind of is.
Julia: Yeah. So, can you tell me a little bit about the gameplay, and how it's shockingly British?
Amanda: Basically, there's a founding myth of the game. But before we get to that, the setting is just completely the UK. It is just the UK but it's inverted. So, imagine looking at the UK from the very tippe top in Scotland, looking toward the South. So, the city you start out in, it's very much like Scotland, it's rural, it's beautiful. There's a city that's just like Edinburgh that you pass through. And in general, it's kind of little bit steampunky, very into trains. And there are a bunch of little kind of odes to the UK that we get. My favorite is... I'm going to talk when we discuss the myth of the game about the Weald, the Slumbering Weald, which is a very significant location for the bigger plot. But what I didn't know is that... I heard that name and I was like, "That sounds just super medieval to me, so let me look it up." And in fact, the Weald is an area of South East England, between the North and South Downs.
So it was like a primeval forest, a very dense forest, and the weald, when it's lowercase just means kind of a forest. And there's the sandstone High Weald, the clay Low Weald, then the Greensand Ridge, all of which sound like somebody made them up in our theory and lore. And my head cannon is that the Weald is miniaturized in the wild area, which is right in the middle of the Galar map. And it's almost like the Safari Zone in earlier games but good. Where there's a bunch of little microclimates. There's different Pokemon that pop up, you can ride your bike around, there's leeks, there's stones you can find and items and people to battle, and people to get buried treasure for you. It's a wonderful area.
Julia: How do you spell Weald?
Amanda: W-E-A-L-D.
Julia: Oh, interesting. In my mind, I was spelling it wilde, with an E at the end.
Amanda: Yeah, very similar. And so, that was just one, then the first one that you kind of come across location wise. There's also Ballonlea, which is definitely the most Weald town, and also very British in that, it's lit by glowing mushrooms, it's nestled in the hollows of huge ancient trees. It's beautiful. I'm sure if you see a screencap, you're going to be like, "Oh yes, of course, that is a fairy tale."
Julia: My favorite fantasy trope is bioluminescent mushrooms in bulk.
Amanda: Well, next time you are at my house I'm happy to let you walk through it. It's beautiful, you go through tangled wood to get there. And then it's specializing in fairy and psychic Pokemon.
Julia: Of course, obviously.
Amanda: It's literally just a fairy amount, and the name Ballonlea means forest clearing. But it's also... I didn't really realize this, but Bulbapedia, my new best friend in terms of-
Julia: Same-
Amanda: ... Pokemon websites also lists the names of each town in other languages. So in Spanish, the name of Ballonlea is Spanish, play in ballet, which is amazing. And in French, it's French which is a high ranking dancer but also it has -fe in it. So it is just an elegant acrobatic fairy city.
Julia: Interesting. I love that.
Amanda: There's also of course, the name Galar that's the region. And so, Bulbapedia was like, that might mean gala, aka special occasion, or gallant or Galahad. So, we're just right there. It may also be an anagram of Sangreal, which is the French name of the Holy Grail.
Julia: Oh, interesting. I like that a lot. Those are really cool little additions.
Amanda: Yeah, there's Circhester, which is a bath esque town, which is of course we're Roman baths are. In the UK, a wonderful kind of like not quite a ruin, because they're still almost operational. You can walk around and stuff. And that is where the heroes of Sword and Shield's lore recuperated after they defeated the darkest day.
Julia: Are those the big pups?
Amanda: They are the big Pokes. So those big Pokes that you may recognize from the cover art are Zacian and Zamazenta. Great names.
Julia: Great names.
Amanda: Basically, you don't know, as you play through the game, who the heroes of the region are. If you're still playing through Sword and Shield, feel free to skip forward about a minute and a half as I describe the plot here. So they basically, saved the region. Do you know Dynamaxing Pokemon, they're the gigantic Pokes that you can [inaudible 00:10:21] exactly... You can do it in the game. And it's a new feature in Sword and Shield where they grow extremely huge, and you have three or five turns at a massive scale. They're super powerful. And in the game, the plot is that a capitalist wants to artificially make Pokemon Dynamax which otherwise is kind of a natural phenomenon, and you can do it only in natural hotspots, stuff like that. And it's in danger of destroying the region. Because 3000 thousand years ago, that was also a threat. They were Pokemon just kind of Dynamaxing all over the place. And Zacian and Zamazenta took up arms to fight using their sword and shield against those kind of deadly Pokemon.
Julia: I still love the pup that had sword in mouth-
Amanda: Yeah, I know. They're adorable. But moreover, I think it's really, really fascinating the way that mythology informs the game, and the way that you understand this mythology. So throughout the course of the game, you don't know who the heroes are, you're not really sure what the Darkest Day was, people just talk about it and you're a 12 year old and so you're like, "I'm not really sure what's happening here." But you kind of come to the understanding of the plot over time. There's a mural that you walk by and someone's like, "Oh, yeah, that's the heroes, the Darkest Day." And you're like, "Okay." There are Stonehenge type structures, they're statues. There's an ionic pillar in the bath eska town, Circhester that you come across. And of course, you also find the Rusty Sword and Shield artifacts. And people try to steal them, you have got to steal them back. You have to equip the heroes with them re-defeat evil.
And so, unlike a game where you just kind of open history book, right? And it's like, this is what happened, or your mom is like, "Don't you remember honey?" You really get to see history for yourself and also, see the way that people self mythologize, and the ways that the society decided to demarcate this event, but also the ways in which it started to forget. The mural is crumbling, the statues are all crumbling, the columns kind of just... In the middle of a town, and not really talked about. So, I just thought from a historiography perspective, it was absolutely fascinating.
Julia: Oh, it sounds really, really cool. I can't wait to play it. I got to get a switch so I can play it.
Amanda: And I was talking about this with Eric silver, and he gave me the very good point that it's very city founding myth, it's very Arthurian, it's very kind of like founding of Rome, where there are these iconic figures of defeat and evil and now we get to live in peace after that. But, I'm not super familiar with Pokemon games in between Sapphire and Ruby, and Sword and Shield. But what I do know from those earlier games is that often, it was like human society is human society. And then you're like, "Oh, yeah, that Pokemon I guess it's a god." I guess Mewtwo also lives in this world. And, it feels very much like Pokemon have their own traditions and histories that we don't know all about, we just kind of subjugate them for pleasure and battle.
In this world, much more kind of like detective Pikachu. It's sort of like what would a world co-founded by Pokemon look like? Where our histories have always been intertwined, they're not a separate society. And they're not just kind of standing for gods or spirits. They're part of society and the world, and they have agency, and you can convince them to do things or not. And it's just fascinating and I hope that lots of smart think pieces will be written about this, because I'm sure I'm not doing the cons of justice.
Julia: I'm sure you're doing it great justice. Amanda, since this is very much a British centered Pokemon game, and European center Pokemon game, but mostly British. I'm going to suggest we make Pimm's cups.
Amanda: Oh, Pimm's cups, first cocktail I had in England.
Julia: I was going to say Amanda, you've been to England. You spent your first years of cocktail drinking in England. Can you tell me-
Amanda: I did.
Julia: ... why Pimm's cup is so important?
Amanda: It's just a very iconic British thing. And when you think about, I don't know British things, the Pimm's cup is definitely one of them. It's also barely alcoholic, which I really enjoy. But people when they make them at home spike them with different things. But it's very British, the label of Pimm's, the mixer is extremely old timey. And it's also very beautiful. So it's a giant cup with ice and fruit in it, and garnishes and herbs and stuff. So it's very like, let's sit back and watch the horses.
Julia: I love it. Fantastic. So with Pimm's cup in hand, I will start us off by introducing one of the first Pokemon that was introduced as the new games were kind of ramping up, and that is Impidimp.
Amanda: Yes.
Julia: Do you have an Impidimp in the game, Amanda?
Amanda: I do. I caught him in the tangle you walk through before the fairy town.
Julia: I love it. So Impidimp as its name suggests, is inspired by imps of European folklore. It is a dark and fairy type. And the Pokedex entries I think, are particularly insightful, so quote. Through its nose, it sucks in the emanations produced by people and Pokemon when they feel annoyed. It thrives off this negative energy.
Amanda: Oh, very Poltergeist.
Julia: Yeah. And it sneaks into people's homes, stealing things and feasting on the negative energy of the frustrated occupants. So this is not particularly far off from mythology in the terms of imps and European folklore. And I think it also kind of ties into house spirits like we've discussed in past episodes.
Amanda: Yeah, definitely.
Julia: So imps are typically seen in Germanic folklore as a lesser demon or mischievous fairy. They're not necessarily evil, they're just mischievous and prone to cause trouble for the average person. So Impidimp might actually specifically, be linked to the Lincoln Imp which comes from a legend from Lincolnshire. So this story is actually retold by Susan O'Neill in the folklore of Lincolnshire, who says that the legend dates back to around the 14th century. So in the story, the devil, who is annoyed by the completion of the Lincoln Cathedral in Lincoln, England, visits the church accompanied by two imps. So the imps begin to wreak havoc on the building until an angel appears and orders them to cease. One of the imps is bold enough to throw a rock at the angel, bad move my dude-
Amanda: Oh no.
Julia: And as a result, is instantly petrified and turned to stone. The other imp and the devil flee, but the petrified imp remains and is placed in the art of the church rafters. So here's a quote from the original story, "For the tiniest angel with amethyst eyes and hair spun like gold, for the altar did rise pronouncing these words in a dignified tone, "O impious imp be ye turned to stone."" Excellent so good. So excellent. I love a good story. Also that description, one tiny angel, amethyst eyes, golden spun hair, love it. It's beautiful.
Amanda: It's just like fanfiction.net back in 2004, Julia.
Julia: Everyone smells like sandalwood and you know has eyes that are some shade of gemstone-
Amanda: That change based on the weather.
Julia: Mm-hmm (affirmative), always.
Amanda: And her mood.
Julia: Mm-hmm (affirmative). The description from the Pokedex of Impidimp also talks about sneaking into homes and causing mischief and that seems to align with the MO of boggarts. So according to Lancashire Folklore by Jay Harland and T.T. Wilkinson, the boggart is a household spirit that causes mischief, making things disappear in the home, turning milk sour, tearing bedsheets, pulling on people's ears, putting clammy hands on people's faces while they sleep.
Amanda: Oh, no, that's very bad.
Julia: Probably worst of all, they're known to follow a family wherever they may move or flee.
Amanda: How are you supposed to appease them?
Julia: The only way of keeping a boggart away is by hanging a horseshoe on your front door. And leaving a pile of salt outside your bedroom door.
Amanda: Okay, both very doable.
Julia: Honestly. Yeah. I hope that pile of salt isn't to piley. A little salt, sure. But if you're stepping out of your bedroom to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night, and then there's gritty salt, you slip on it, you fall, it's not good.
Amanda: Maybe you could put it in a dish, or does that sort of get around the inconvenience you're supposed to suffer through.
Julia: I think it has to be inconvenient for all of us.
Amanda: Yeah, bored.
Julia: So, Impidimp evolves into Moregrem, and as the description in the Pokedex says, it says, "With sly cunning, it tries to lure people into the woods. Some believe it to have the power to make crops grow." So this is actually really reminiscent of the fact that many demonic and fae beings were worshiped before the introduction of Christianity to the region and were demonized as a result.
Amanda: Right.
Julia: So we've talked about that before, lore is not pagan, it's fine. Except now-
Amanda: Lore it's not pagan, it's fine.
Julia: And except lore now they're small tiny demons.
Amanda: Sure. Very like Will o' the Wisp Redcap vibe.
Julia: Yes. So Redcap for sure, in the luring people into the woods kind of thing. Bugbear also very much implies-
Amanda: Yeah, no.
Julia: I like Impidimp, it's cute and also fills all of my folklore requirements, A plus.
Amanda: I also really love when the Pokemon names are just extremely straightforward. And so the final evolution of Impidimp is Grimmsnarl.
Julia: Yes, it's snarls and it's Grimm, but with two M's so, folklore.
Amanda: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Julia: Folklore. Speaking of Pokemon with straightforward names Amanda, and also adorable pony ones. Sinistea and Polteageist, extremely adorable. So these are two very British flavored ghost type Pokemon that were introduced into Sword and Shield. Sinistea is said to be created when a lonely spirit possesses a cold leftover cup of tea and that it can absorb the life force of anyone who can drink it.
Amanda: Oh no.
Julia: However, because it tastes so bad, it is typically spat out immediately so it doesn't have the ability to absorb that life force too often. You look sad thinking about it.
Amanda: I did look sad. There's nothing sadder than a cold cup of tea on the counter that you intended to drink hot.
Julia: That's fair, yeah. Just forgetting about it, and then you're like, "Oh, no-"
Amanda: I did that with a bowl of soup, not an hour ago. "Oh, Jules-"
Julia: It happens. The evolved form of Sinistea as I mentioned before is Poltergeist. So good.
Amanda: Really the puns are our next level in this game, there's Lampent, which is just a lamp Pokemon, it's very good.
Julia: So here are some of the quotes from the Pokedex for Polteageist. So quote, "Leaving leftover black tea unattended is asking for this Pokemon to come along and pour itself into it, turning the tea into a new Polteageist. And, when angered, it launches tea from its body into the offender's mouth. The tea causes strong chills if swallowed.
Amanda: Yeah, it's bitter. And you don't want that.
Julia: Yeah. Plus, we've already talked about the fact that people react to ghosts around with chills and whatnot, and how that can be tied to other things. The design and some of the language implies that Polteageist is partially inspired by genies as well. So I kind of want to talk about that. So instead of replacing the oil lamp, you have a tea pot instead which I-
Amanda: Very cool.
Julia: So long ago, we had the last episode about jinn and I would love to re examine the story again with someone who grew up with those stories. But until then, we're going to do just a quick summary on them to touch on how it's related to Pokemon.
Amanda: Totally.
Julia: So basically, they are spirits neither explicitly good or evil, who are said to be made of smokeless fire. There is-
Amanda: Very cool.
Julia: I know. There is a distinction between angels, demons, jinn and humans. So humans and jinn are similar in that they can eat and drink, they can have children, they could die, and will eventually be judged for their actions in the afterlife. However, they are said to be invisible and are faster and stronger than the average human. There are some stories where jinn are said to be able to change their appearance at will, it really depends on the source that you're looking at. Some say they're always invisible. Some say they can change their appearance. So actually, the genie in the lamp story that most of us are familiar with, with stories like Aladdin comes from the original story of Aladdin in Arabian Nights. However, Amanda, did you know that the original Aladdin tale was not part of the original Arabic text?
Amanda: No, I did not.
Julia: Yes. So it was actually added to the French translation of the stories in the 18th century by Antoine Galland, who heard the story himself from a Syrian storyteller named Hanna Diyab. Also, for the record, the story of Alibaba and the 40 Thieves was also not part of the original text, but that is a story for another time. However, there is another story in Arabian Nights that ties lamps with jinn, and that is the story of The City of Brass.
Amanda: Very evocative name.
Julia: How familiar are you with the the Arabian Nights stories?
Amanda: Not at all. I never read them.
Julia: Fair enough. Okay, so the story of The City of Brass features a group of travelers trying to find a lost city. And during that mission, they find a vessel that held a genie that had been imprisoned by King Solomon.
Amanda: Wow.
Julia: So in a separate story, also related to this, a fisherman discovers the brass vessel that held the genie in the story of The City of Brass and opens it, releasing the genie Asmodeus. I'm going to point out because I'm sure someone's going to bring it up to us. Most sources referred to Asmodeus as a demon rather than a genie, while others referred to him as king of the jinn. So one or the other really depends on your sources again, most people know-
Amanda: And translations.
Julia: ... Asmodeus as a demon though.
Amanda: I'm just going to point out that I think Arabian Nights is the original MCU, right? Stories take place in the same universe, impact each other, but not necessarily referring directly to each other.
Julia: I'm trying to think... I think that would be true. If the MCU had an overarching storyline that connects all of the stories, like a conceit to it, because the point of the Arabian Nights is Shahrazard, in order to stay alive has to continue telling a story each night in order for her not to be killed.
Amanda: I mean, Julia, we don't necessarily know that the MCU is not. We don't necessarily know that we're not going to pan out of the last movie into a movie theater and see Nick Fury in civilian clothes, having had a big dream.
Julia: Jesus. Okay, interesting, bold choice. I love it.
Amanda: Just saying.
Julia: Okay. In the story. Asmodeus has been contemplating how since he's been trapped for 400 years, if he would rather reward or punish the person that freed him.
Amanda: Very good question.
Julia: One of the options was to grant that person wishes. But instead, when he comes out of the lamp, he is in a bad mood. So he simply allows the fishermen to choose how he would like to be killed.
Amanda: Oh, well, not great.
Julia: But that's the first kind of introduction of jinn and wish granting and also jinn and lamps.
Amanda: That is a very cool diversion, and if any of you know a great scholar of the Arabian Nights origin we would love to talk to them.
Julia: Yes please. I would... That cup is so nice. Manages to take another sip of green tea-
Amanda: Thank you.
Julia: ... in a gorgeous cup, and I loved it.
Amanda: It's by Cassie Newman on Instagram.
Julia: Go Cassie Newman.
Amanda: I would also like to point out that Sinistea and Polteageist canonically are genderless, so I think they should be the new agender icon. I think a teal purple yellow color scheme of Sinistea is perfect, and I would love a plushie for my desk.
Julia: A fun fact too about the Polteageist and Sinistea is that there's two versions of them in the game. And one of them is the antique version, and the other is the... What is it called? The-
Amanda: Phony form.
Julia: Yeah, the phony form, because it's making a joke to the fact that there's a lot of fake British tea wear out there.
Amanda: And you do actually get the items you need to evolve Sinistea in a sort of desert trading post, to walk through a kind of desert route and then get to a settlement on the edge of it. So, I bet it is kind of evoking like Arabian Nights background.
Julia: There you go. That's our connection there. I didn't even know that, because I haven't played the games.
Amanda: There you go.
Julia: All right.
Amanda: You have got to play it Julia, come on.
Julia: I want to real bad. Amanda, we're going to take a quick break, I think, because I want to talk a little bit more about Pokemon and particularly, regional variations of Pokemon. But I think first, we need to refill our Pimm's cups.
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Julia: So Amanda, there are a couple of other Pokemon that we're familiar with from other generations that have glory and variations that give it a little additional European flavor to the Pokemon.
Amanda: Like Farfetch'd, my favorite Pokemon, my leek soldier.
Julia: Farfetch'd is definitely one of them, not one I'm going to particularly talk about, because I'm sure we can dive into Arthurian knight legend at some point. But, the first one-
Amanda: Just listen to our episode with Christian, that's all you have got to do.
Julia: Someone did recently listen to it, and they said, "Oh my god, I love this so much." So, it made me happy. One of my personal favorites is the Galarian form of Yamask who can evolve into a new form which is Runerigus. So, usually it evolves into Cofagrigus, which is inspired by Egyptian sarcophagi and the supposed quote, unquote cursed Egyptian tombs, not a huge fan of that, feels a little racist, not going to lie. But in Sword and Shield, Runerigus is inspired by the Ingvar Runestones. Before I get into what those are, let me read you the Pokedex description of Runerigus. So, "A powerful curse was woven into an ancient painting. After absorbing the spirit of Yamask, the painting began to move, and also, never touch it's shadow-like body or you'll be shown the horrific memories behind the picture carved into it.
Amanda: "Oh, yep, that very Watchman memory drug vibes there.
Julia: Yes. I've been playing a lot of the new Star Wars game because I got it for Jake for Christmas. And the main character has the ability of basically clairvoyance, where he can sense force echoes and see what happened to those items before in the past.
Amanda: There's also a cool kind of through line to my historiography comment, which is, how do we talk about history, and how do we evidence it? So having a Pokemon that interacts with the painting is fascinating.
Julia: Yeah, going to the root source of what this Pokemon is based off of. The Ingvar Runestones are a series of 26 Scandinavian Runestones that were raised to commemorate those who died in the Swedish Viking expedition of the Caspian Sea of Ingvar the Far-Traveled, which is my favorite Viking name I think I've ever read.
Amanda: I love them more than anything.
Julia: They're really actually rather beautiful and a lot of them are still fully intact, despite the fact that they're dated to around the late 19th century to early 11th century, because Ingvar's expedition to the Caspian seas was between 864 and 1041. Nice long time, I don't think he was leading them personally for that over 100 years span. Here is actually a translation of one of the Runestones. It is known U 654, [foreign language 00:34:05], raise this stone in memory of Gunnleifr, their father, who was killed in the East with Ingvar, may God help their spirits. [foreign language 00:34:13] I carved these stones, he could steer a cargo ship well.
Amanda: Aaw.
Julia: A lot of them have... It's like, here's who raised the stone in memory of this person. They died while with Ingvar. And then the person who carved it, the inscription is like, "Oh yes, this me, I did this. And then a compliment about that person.
Amanda: I love that though, it gives you some idea of the person and clearly they're doing this for people in the future who don't have first hand experience with the deceased. So having not just the kind of memory of the person beyond their name, but also evidence of authorship, I think is extremely neat. And oh, yeah, I see the runes now, totally Runerigus is based on this.
Julia: Yes, for sure. And they're really, really beautiful too. I think, from the 26 that I was looking at there's only two or three people who actually carved all of them, or carved the majority of them, so it's really interesting to see who did what.
Amanda: Yeah, definitely room for personal style here. They actually remind me of John Wick's tattoo that you see in the newest John Wick. It's a tombstone shape with arched words around the outside, and then something else in the middle.
Julia: Love it. I still need to see most of the John Wick films.
Amanda: Julia!
Julia: I know, you made me watch one while we were hanging out the other... During the summer.
Amanda: And it was great, wasn't that?
Julia: It was excellent. I just need to sit down and actually watch them.
Amanda: True.
Julia: Okay, so going back to Pokemon. I really actually liked this particular twist on an already existing Pokemon line especially because the Ingvar stones are probably not as well known overall as Egyptian tombs, you know what I mean?
Amanda: Right.
Julia: Also, I think, it's interesting that Yamask can only evolve into Runerigus if the player travels under the stone bridge and the dusty bowl, after Yamask has taken 49 hit points of damage without fainting. Maybe it's just me but I also really just love specific evolutionary triggers in Pokemon.
Amanda: Yeah, for Sirfetch'd, which is the Galarian evolution of Farfetch'd, which has a giant leek sword and shield, you have to get three critical hits. So you basically have to be a good knight in order to become a knight.
Julia: That makes sense. Oh, also, I've seen pictures of... Is it Sirfetch'd?
Amanda: It sure is.
Julia: I love Sirfetch'd, but I've seen pictures, and I think that might actually be a lance instead of a sword. So getting the three critical hits is what you need in order to basically win a jousting match.
Amanda: That makes total sense. I didn't know that.
Julia: There you go. Amanda, amazing. I love it.
Amanda: Wow.
Julia: Speaking of the Vikings and Galarian variations of existing Pokemon, I want to talk about the Galarian version of Meowth and it's evolution, Perrserker.
Amanda: Yep.
Julia: Perrserker, love it. So the Galarian form of Meowth is probably inspired by Norwegian forest cats as implied by the Sword Pokedex description quote, "Living with the savage seafaring people has tough into this Pokemon's body, so much of his parts have been turned to iron."
Amanda: Whoa.
Julia: Yeah, so Norwegian forest cats were most likely a breed of cat that were brought to Norway by the Vikings around 1080. They often served as ships cats, catching mice on Viking ships and were prized for their hunting and climbing skills. So Norwegian forest cats were often called fairy cats. And here's a description of a folkloric tale about mountain cats. It was, "Mountain dwelling fairy cats with an ability to climb sheer rock faces that other cats could not manage."
Amanda: I want them.
Julia: I want... It's so big and a fluff, I love.
Amanda: I mean, when you said forest cat, I was picturing like a bobcat sized animal, and I was like, "They put bobcats on ships? Oh my!"
Julia: I think they're pretty big. They tend to be comparable to Maine Coons, I believe, which are those big hairy cats-
Amanda: Big old cats.
Julia: Big old cats. So, the evolution of the Galarian Meowth, like I said, is Perrserker. And it's very clearly inspired by the berserker, which I think we've talked about before on the show, but I'll catch us up in case I miss remembering. Berserkers or wolf skins were a special group of warriors that were associated with the god Odin. Rather than fighting in traditional battle formations, they preferred to operate in smaller groups, attacking independently. So, Odin was said to give them both aggression and courage. And sources said that they would attack like animals, that they felt no pain, and that iron and fire could not injure them. However, it is said that after a battle, they were left extremely weakened, the battle basically completely spending them.
So, it's very much... If you played D&D, it's basically, barbarian more or less. And I also think that we'd be remiss if we didn't mention the connection between this evolutionary line and Freyja's cats. In the Prose Edda, It is said that Susimihal is large and beautiful, and when she travels, she drives two cats and sits in a chariot. It was also said that quote, "To those mortals who with thoughtful kindness, place a pan of milk in the cornfields for her cat's refreshment, she was specially gracious, and protected their crops from foul weather and other mishap."
Amanda: So good. Also, across cultures, never a bad idea to just leave out some milk, just leave out additional milk.
Julia: In general, just like milk or beer, it'll make something happy.
Amanda: Totally.
Julia: Freyja cats were also specifically Tom cats, and some scholars interpreted that since Freyja was a female fertility goddess, that the relationship was representative of male and female sexuality combined.
Amanda: I see that. Yeah. Also Freyja always traveling and style man.
Julia: Always, just always so good. Love her. This one is worth mentioning only because it's so adorable but you probably already know what its mythological inspiration comes from, the Galarian Ponyta and Rapiddash.
Amanda: It says unicorn Julia.
Julia: It is. Do you have one of these, Amanda?
Amanda: No, not yet. I have got to get on it though.
Julia: It's so cute. I love it. So, according to the Pokedex, "It's small horn hides a healing power. With a few rubs from this Pokemon's horn, any slight wound you may have will be healed. And this Pokemon will look into your eyes and read the contents of your heart. If it finds evil there, it promptly hides away." So, this is a great play on the idea that European unicorns were able to sense purity and goodness, usually in the guise of virginity in middle age stories.
Again, virginity is a social construct, you're not pure, depending on what you have or have not done. In Physiologus, a unicorn was said to be able to be trapped by a maiden. Again, a woman who hasn't had sex. Unicorns which could be violent in nature were subdued by the presence of that quote, "Innocent woman." And could be tamed. The reference to the healing horn also comes from the Middle Ages where narwhal tusks were used as ceremonial cups, that were said to neutralize poison when drank from. It is also said that you could turn that horn into a powder, and it was said to cure many diseases, detect poison and was often given as a gift to royalty.
Amanda: Okay. So can you not see why I would think pre spirits and narwhals were fake?
Julia: No, because narwhals-
Amanda: I'm just saying. And Julia, the reason I don't have a Galarian Ponyta is because it's only available in Pokemon Shield, which every time they sort of have a masculine and feminine forms of the games, it often kind of maps out into those constructs. And the sort of Shields, I guess, being feminine because it's not a sword. I don't really understand or think that's true. But yeah, Ponyta is restricted to that one only.
Julia: So Amanda, the final set of Pokemon that I want to talk about isn't exactly mythology based, but I want to talk about them because they're super interesting. And they're also a reference to an archeological and museum phenomenon that I'm obsessed with.
So these are Dracovish, Arctovish, Dracozolt, and Arctozolt. Do you remember them from the games? They are the ones that you can evolve via the fossils-
Amanda: They're like the dinosaur Pokemon?
Julia: Yeah, there's always a dinosaur Pokemon in the series.
Amanda: There is.
Julia: You're like, "I have a fossil and we can just bring these back to life." Because apparently, Pokemon is set in Jurassic Park world.
Amanda: Yeah, apparently it's a thing. All of them look really horrifying to me. So I do have a couple of them from the fossils. I need to make sure I get all four to catch them all. But all of them look a little bit like creature mashups, which we all know I'm not a huge fan.
Julia: Yes. And there's a reason behind that. But first I'm going to list off the descriptions from the Pokedexes real quick, okay? Dracovish is... Pokedex reads, "Its mighty legs are capable of running at speeds exceeding 90 miles per hour, but this Pokemon can't breathe unless it's underwater."
Amanda: Really.
Julia: Yeah. Arctovish is... "The skin on its face is impervious to attack, but breathing difficulties made this Pokemon go extinct anyway."
Amanda: Oh, it's a little pug, oh no.
Julia: Dracozolt reads, "In ancient times, it was unbeatable thanks to its powerful lower body, but it went extinct anyway after it depleted its plant based food sources."
Amanda: No.
Julia: And then Arctozolt is, "This Pokemon lived on prehistoric sea shores and was able to preserve food with the ice on its body. It went extinct because it moved so slowly." So-
Amanda: Since when does extinction exist in the Pokemon universe? This is so dark.
Julia: It does now because fossils, right?
Amanda: Oh, no.
Julia: Okay. So these for Pokemon if you look at them... Amanda, you said, "They are weird looking Pokemon." So more than most Pokemon, which is saying something, because there's a lot of weird looking Pokemon. And this is because they look like a mishmash of Pokemon. Now these Pokemon are inspired by several incidences in museums across Europe where fossils were brought in, and then put together completely wrong, just completely wrong. One of my favorite examples of this is the Otto von Guericke Unicorn, which was the skeleton of a wooly rhinoceros that was interpreted by Otto von Guericke, who was the mayor of Magdeburg, Germany, as a unicorn and was put together as such. Can you Google that for me real quick, the Otto von Guericke Unicorn, just so you can see how ridiculous this thing looks.
Amanda: I do want you to know that just for me for fun, I wrote, Otto van Unicorn, it got me where I had to go-
Julia: Exactly.
Amanda: Yeah, I see it.
Julia: Can you describe it to our audience real quick, please?
Amanda: Yes. Looks like obviously, a dinosaur ribs and midsection. Obviously a dinosaur head, and then probably like an eroded femur as a very, very long unicorn horn.
Julia: Yeah, it's not great. So later a German author named Gottfried Leibniz added the illustration of the quote, unquote unicorn to a book concluding that it was a chimera of many known creatures. He wrote in his book quote, "The horn together with the tail, several ribs, dorsal vertebrae, and bones were brought to the town's [inaudible 00:45:27]. One is thus inclined to suspect that nature using volcanoes as furnaces and mountains as [inaudible 00:45:34] has accomplished in her mighty works, what we play at with our little examples in laboratories."
Amanda: Horrifying. I also sent you a link to someone who on Twitter visited the skeleton and then drew a photo of what it would look like. It's just arms and tail and horn and head, that's it.
Julia: It looks like if a gorilla met a-
Amanda: A seal.
Julia: A seal plus narwhal horn.
Amanda: Yep. That's what it-
Julia: It looks scary, I don't love it.
Amanda: You're missing a bunch there.
Julia: There's so many things you're missing there. Oh, gosh.
Amanda: And of course, this also happened all the time for fraud. People would put together fossils of different creatures and both in life and also as a plot in an elementary episode, claim that it was a skeleton of a dinosaur or creature that it was not.
Julia: Absolutely. And I recently went to the Museum of Natural History here in New York, and they had a great part of the exhibit where they talked about how we put together fossils has changed over time. And specifically, they took, for example, the Tyrannosaurus Rex and showed how it was positioned very upright, and then they realized for balance, that would probably be down further, and now it's almost completely turned 90 degrees from the way that it was originally put together.
Amanda: Really?
Julia: Yeah. Is that interesting?
Amanda: It really is.
Julia: Anyway, I love history, and also archeology and museums.
Amanda: I love you museum professionals, you're all great.
Julia: So Amanda that's the Pokemon that I thought were probably the most interesting and most mythologically inspired from Sword and Shield. How did I do?
Amanda: I think you did great. I am so glad to know more about these wonderful, fine Pokefriends. And after this recording I am going to pull out my switch which I carry around with me, and hang out in the wild area while I stare at a spreadsheet.
Julia: I love it. Fantastic. And remember listeners, stay creepy.
Amanda: Stay cool.
Julia: Catch them all.