Pokemon Game Lore - The Original Legendary Trio in Kanto (gen 1)
A legendary bird POKéMON that is said to appear to doomed people who are lost in icy mountains. Articuno, Moltres, Zapdos. The mascots for Pokemon Go and 3 of the 5 original legendary Pokemon to be introduced to us. To us that played Red/Blue and Yellow, they weren’t “legendary” so to speak. At least not back then. They were just incredibly rare and strong Pokemon that you could only attempt to capture once (unless you soft reset :P) and were always great. Their design, typing, overall power. The Bird Trio were Pokemon everyone wanted just like with Mewtwo and the then mythological Mew. However, this post isn’t how we percieved these majestic birds. No, this post is how the people of Kanto viewed these Pokemon. Were they legendary to them? Well, let’s look at the Legendary Birds
Let’s start with the first ice bird and with it’s Red/Blue Pokedex entry, then with Zapdos’ and Moltres’ entries.
Articuno: A legendary bird POKéMON that is said to appear to doomed people who are lost in icy mountains.
Zapdos: A legendary bird POKéMON that is said to appear from clouds while dropping enormous lightning bolts.
Moltres: Known as the legendary bird of fire. Every flap of its wings creates a dazzling flash of flames.
This may seem cut and dry, each of them being called a “legendary bird” Pokemon, but remember how Dratini was treated and what Arcanine was classified as. Dratini’s dex entry for Red/Blue consists of: Long considered a mythical POKéMON until recently when a small colony was found living underwater. From there we can see that Dratini was considered a mythical Pokemon. Not directly legendary, but the two words can be swapped. in this context. And let’s not forget that Arcanine is classified as the Legendary Pokemon. What does this mean?
Well, this means that the people of Kanto viewed legendary Pokemon as those that were just extremely rare and powerful, but why think about this? Because not even that much farther down the line, with Johto in Gold/Silver and Crystal we see that the Legendary Pokemon are viewed as more than just rare and powerful Pokemon. Ho-Oh has a shrine built for itself and tales have been passed of Suicune, Raikou, and Entei. When it comes Articuno, Moltres, and Zapdos. You hear very little of them being talked about save for maybe Zapdos if you looked hard enough as it did make a power plant its home.
Again, why bring this up? Well, these thoughts formed after a playthrough of Omega Ruby. Rayquaza is not only seen as an incredibly powerful Pokemon but also as a deity with a religion and group of people praising and revering it. You do not see that anywhere else in the Pokemon games. Directly inside of them, that is. If the people of Hoenn--at least some of them--view Rayquaza this way, what about the other regions? This focus, though, was primarily on Red/Blue because this is where Pokemon began. Thew viewpoint of the inhabitants change between generation to generation, including in the same regions. How people viewed the legendary birds in gen 1 Kanto is most likely different from how they view them in gen 3 Kanto. There are, of course, two other legendaries in Red/Blue and Yellow that will be discussed in the next post.
So until then, have a wonderful day!
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