Headcanon/Interpretation of ORAS and R/S/E + general religion + in particular Wallace (and Zinnia) as âancient peoplesâ in the Pokemon World that I thought of while dozing off to a nap:
The âgodsâ of the Pokemon world are very much physical beings that have made their mark on the world, but they are also subject to a lot of myth and folklore that misrepresent their abilities and nature. Itâs implied that they tend to lie dormant for hundreds or thousands of years unless specifically awakened, or unless called upon, or unless something happened.
You can easily tie in a sense of Shinto-ist or animistic âeverything has a spiritâ into any ideas of religion in the Pokemon world, which I think is supported by the canon, but-
I think itâd be interesting if, instead of worshipping the Legendaries like typical D&D gods or the gods-as-literary-beings thing that the Romans and Greeks had going on, the typical religion in the Pokemon world worshipped against the Legendaries
Not an entirely antagonistic relationship like worshipping against Apep/Apophis, but... a wary respect, a âif we venerate you properly, maybe you wonât eat us and maybe you might be on our side if something terrible happensâ
Thereâs a bit of local team cheer going on, so each region is more likely to worship its own local legendaries, and each regionÂ
I think Kanto and Johto evolved this into ritual (thereâs some great headcanon posts on @bills-pokedex about Johto stuff) and Sinnoh has a stronger tradition of specific folk stories, Unova and Kalos have strong cultural identities linked to very specific stories and Alolaâs Island Guardians live in your back yard
Like Relicanth, the religion changed very little because it was already perfect for the world they lived in, where Groudon and Kyogre could just fuck up your day if they sneezed
And I think the Draconids and the Sootopolitans are both descendants of that same original Hoenn religion
Sootopolis would be a very cool analog to Jerusalem or Mecca - as a cultural and religious capital with the Cave of Origin being an intensely sacred place, and itâs hard to access! so you have to dive/surf over there or fly over there and not everyone has the ability to do that, so I can see pilgrimagesÂ
and maybe not many people lived there at first but you can see some pilgrims settling down and developing a communityÂ
and sacred rules like âdonât go into the home of the walking ecological disaster that we worship, I guess we canât stop idiot pilgrims from entering the hell caveâ which slowly becomes âNo man or woman from Sootopolis may enter the Cave of Originâ
NBs totally can though, which has interesting implications for Wallace just casually meeting you in the Cave of Origin in the original R/S/E
And while the Hoenn religion that had/has Sootopolis as a religious centre was all about âthe balance of power between Kyogre, Groudon and Rayquazaâ
possible prayer beingÂ
May our crops thrive in the soil of the Behemoth
May our crops drink heartily the rain of the Leviathan
and may the Dragon Above protect us from them both
a sect may have split off from the main religion, a sect prioritising Rayquaza above all else and worshipping the Dragon Above, the Draconids
omg what if Team Aqua and Team Magma are the modern day descendants of other sects that worshipped Kyogre or Groudon above the other two - not literally, Maxie seems too uptight and Archie wouldnât care about religion, but possibly inspired by folk tales or something
anyway this is getting long
Religion in general seems to have basically lessened in intensity, but is still pretty much omnipresent at a modern-day-Shinto or animistic level
and I thought that ORAS specifically referred to Wallace as a Lorekeeper, Steven does but ehhh
anyway, if we take Zinnia and Wallace as Lorekeepers, or even just Zinnia, I think a Lorekeeper is supposed to be a priest-shaman-shrine maiden-historian-storyteller, also with mad Pokemon trainer skills, and theyâre probably the intercessors for when the ancient Hoenn-ites wanted to commune with the gods or blame the gods for shit
Wallace doesnât seem like he does a whole lot of shrine maiden stuff, but he still holds a high status, so I guess itâs mostly an honourary or academic position as opposed to an everyday âplease tell Groudon to be nice to usâ thing
anyway thatâs my TED talk on a completely noncanon interpretation of religion in the pokemon world partially inspired by @bills-pokedex but I canât find the specific posts
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