The Legendaries!

[swimming95]

I used to have diamond but then I lost it, now I have pearl

[alman]

Thats a serious bummer man!
sounds like you lost a fiver and found a 6pence!

[SilentJoe]

I like Pearl better. Palkia is a cool legendary to have.

[Mucho The Soybean Lover]

Palkia FTW
Think pink

[lanydx]

Dailga is waaaaaaaaaay cooler.

[panda]

straight from copycat.

Mew, Arceus, and the Origin of Pokemon.

Since the days of the original Red and Blue (and Green for Japanese speakers), it has been speculated that Mew, the Pokemon we all know and love, is the ancestor of all the rest. With it's ability to learn every TM and many a Move Tutor move, it's ability to transform and it's embryo-like appearance, this seems to be the most likely case.

Yet come the Japanese, then the English release of Diamond and Pearl for the DS, a new Pokemon throws some people in for a loop. This is Arceus, the Creation Pokemon (Alpha Pokemon in English). Though it wasn't supposed to be unveiled until some point in the future, as it is meant to be an Event Legendary requiring a certain item to capture it, hackers have already uncovered much about # 493. This deer/centaur-like Pokemon--as its name implies--allegedly created the Pokemon universe. Arceus can also take on any Type as its own depending on which of the sixteen special plates it has equipped. Furthermore, Arceus has a base of 120 across every stat, giving it a mind-blowing total of 720! This is even higher than Lugia, Ho-oh, Rayquaza, Dialga, Palkia, Giratina, and even Mewtwo (all of whom have 680 total)!

Immediately, fans began to ask questions. All of this makes Arceus sounds like some sort of god Pokemon. However if Arceus created the universe, then how does Mew fit in? How could Arceus have created the universe when all Pokemon supposedly descended from Mew? It sounds like a sort of chicken-and-egg paradox. It doesn't help that the Pearl Pokedex states that Arceus was the first Pokemon born into the world. Which Pokemon came first?

What I hope to accomplish is to clarify some of this confusion and offer my own theory as to how the two Legendaries are linked. This theory may be premature since we haven't been given very much detail on Arceus, (ignore what Wikipedia says, there has been nothing official released about Mew's connection to Arceus, if it really has one at all) but I'll work with what we have. This theory is sure to change once more info is known (Arceus' official revelation to the public and/or a movie).

First, I'll explain the events of the creation of the Pokemon universe. This info comes from Arceus's DP Pokedex, an entry from a book in the library in Canalave City, and a story told on the sixteen Type plates. Allegedly, before the universe existed there was nothing but a vast sea of chaos. At the center of the chaos, an egg appeared which hatched into a Pokemon. This Pokemon, as you can imagine, is implied to be Arceus (the book refers to it as the "Original One". The Diamond Pokedex says something along the lines of it using it's "thousand arms" to shape the universe from the emptiness that it was born into. Though not terribly descriptive, the plates (and the book) go into further details. After Arceus' birth, it created from itself two powerful Dragon Pokemon: Dialga and Palkia. They were incarnations of Arceus, alter egos if you will. Once they were created, Time and Space came into being, the two assuming control of Time (Dialga) and Space (Palkia). After this, Arceus created three more Pokemon: Uxie, Azelf, and Mesprit (apparently from one egg as stated in Azelf's Pearl Pokedex entry). All six Pokemon, through the help of Dialga and Palkia's items and the "hearts" of the Psychic Trio, created the Pokemon universe (the Dragons created Matter and the Psychic pixies created Spirit). Once they were finished, Dialga, Palkia and Arceus went to their own separate "pocket universes" (other dimensions if you will, but the incorrect usage of the word "dimension" is a slight pet peeve of mine). The Psychic Trio may have joined them for a time, or immediately headed to the planet Earth, as they are currently found in three lakes in Sinnoh.

Now then, where does Mew fit in? How could Mew be the ancestor of all Pokemon when it couldn't possibly pre-date the universe's creation? The two Dragons, the Psy Trio and Arceus itself couldn't have descended from Mew since it didn't even exist back then. What's going on here, then? Consider this though; how likely is it that ALL Pokemon descended from Mew? I can think of one exception right off the bat: Deoxys. Deoxys is a radically mutated space virus. It's doubtful that Deoxy's DNA could be very similar to ANY life form from earth. Consider this as well: Dialga, Palkia and Arceus don't inhabit the normal universe. How likely is it that scientists ever collected their DNA? I imagine that the conclusion that Mew contains the DNA of all Pokemon came from comparing Mew DNA to the genes of most (or even all) "normal" Pokemon and possibly Legendaries should they find any samples (hair, etc.). Mew has the DNA of all Pokemon whose genes they have decoded. Mew most likely doesn't have the genes of the six Pokemon that created the universe (and possibly other Legendaries).

Thus Mew doesn't have to be--and most likely isn't--the ancestor of the six "Pokemon of creation". It is the ancestor of all other Pokemon. So this means that there isn't a connection, case closed right?

Nope, not quite, at least not from what I can tell. Mew just seems too special to not have SOME connection to Arceus. Mew was virtually designed to "give birth" to other species of Pokemon. Mew is the only Pokemon than can learn every TM; even Arceus can't learn a few moves (mainly ones that involve punching or the use of arms). Though I know there is no real evidence, I feel that Arceus directly created Mew.

After the creation of the universe, Arceus went to sleep as stated by the book (possibly in the Hall of Origin, the mini parallel universe where Arceus is found). On earth, animals probably evolved before Pokemon did. I know that this theory in itself is a little radical, but there ARE a few animals in the Pokemon world. The biggest examples are humans. Though we'd like to think otherwise, we are animals. Since it doesn't seem likely that humans in the Pokemon universe descended from Pokemon, there must've been animal ancestors that preceded them. A few anime episodes have also shown actual fish, not fish Pokemon. It's very possible that in the past, there were many more animals, just like our own world. Something happened to them though, but what?

The best I can come up with is that some sort of terrible disaster, far beyond anything seen on our Earth (multiple meteorite strikes or something like that) caused an extreme mass extinction. Around that time, Arceus may have awoken, seeing what happened and feeling saddened. It especially felt sorry for the monkey/ape creatures that would eventually evolve into humans. Arceus would have known that the creatures possessed the potential to become intelligent and sentient, but with the planet virtually destroyed, it wouldn't be able to last very long. It would take millions of years for new life to repopulate the planet. After billions of years of sleeping, Arceus decided to take action. It needed creatures that would be hardy enough to survive, protect the ancestors of humans, and even reshape the planet to make it livable again.

These creature were Mew. Arceus would have given the new creatures some of its power and characteristics. Like itself and it's incarnations/creations, Mew would be able to use the attacks that separate Pokemon from animals; the ability to breathe fire, spit out water, shoot lightening, use psychic powers, and the other seventeen attack Types Arceus could assume. It even created new attacks for Mew that Arceus didn't know (it doesn't really battle in the Hall of Origin, so it's not like it needed them). It gave Mew a large genetic code and the ability to change form, meaning it would easily mutate and become many species of Pokemon. Since the surface of the earth must've been in ruins, either certain Legendary Pokemon--Groudon to reshape and raise the continents, Kyogre to expand and maintain the sea, Rayquaza to protect the upper atmosphere (and keep the aforementioned two Pokemon from fighting) and others-- to turn the planet back into a more livable place, were among the earliest to descend from the first of the Mew. Arceus may have also created them directly or turned certain Mew into these Pokemon. Even the resemblance between Mew and Uxie, Azelf, and Mesprit could be intentional. Arceus created the three first and may have viewed their shape as suitable for its New Species. It may also explain why Mew is a Psychic Type rather than a Normal Type.

Come several million years later, more than 400 species of Pokemon descended from Mew and live alongside humans, mostly unaware of what happened millions of years earlier (with the planet itself reshaped, any evidence of a disaster or fossils of many animals could have very well been destroyed). This may explain why Mew is considered such a revered Pokemon and guardian. Throughout their history, human ancestors and eventually humans would've seen these new creatures come and repopulate the planet, coming to resemble the animals that once lived there. Most of all, these creatures, especially the Mew, protected them when they were most venerable.

I know that much of this pure speculation and has little to back it up officially. There could be absolutely no connection between the Arceus and Mew. Arceus could have gone to it's own little world after creating the universe and Mew could have arisen naturally on earth. I feel however that this nicely explains why Mew is so special. At least I hope this clears up any confusion surrounding Mew and Arceus and gives people some food for thought. If you would like to ask any question or comment/correct/complain about my theory, please email me at latiasdita [at] aol [dot] com. Until we are given some real info, I shall stand on this theory.

Dog Ears adds in some speculation: The only thing I don't see is where do the extinct Pokemon come in? Maybe after the creation of Mew, Mew thought it would experiment around to see what kinds of creatures would be suitable to live on the earth. it tried creating pokemon like Areodactyl and Rampardos, but they failed to survive the elements, so all that is left of them is their fossils, so Mew desided to go into a different direction about repopulating the earth.

[swimming95]

Thanks for posting that

[panda]

why thanks?

[lanydx]

Wow that was way to much to read. Mew is cooland cute.

[panda]

yeah, it was.

[SeriousJupiter]

Wow, that's actually a quite good theory. The writer must be a genius.

[panda]

umm, it's from copycat.

[swimming95]

I have no idea what that is though

[panda]

this place, got it?

[swimming95]

Thank you