The Circle of Arceus Doesn't Need Modern Legendaries
(Source: Centro Leaks)
That's right, it's time for me to post a theory about this.
A lot of people are pointing out that this diagram is obsolete simply because there's been five more regions of legendaries since it was made and it's been...almost 20 years. I think that's only partly true. It actually holds up surprisingly well in modern Pokemon.
GameFreak definitely tried to get away from the whole "legendaries are gods" thing after Gen IV, mostly because where do you go after Arceus? So you don't get a lot of newer legendaries involved in the creation of the Pokemon world.
Plus, GameFreak used to have these random moments where they worried about continuity. Why do we need incense to evolve the Baby Pokemon from Sinnoh? You think players are going to complain that Munchlax should've hatched in Johto? Well, you might be right...but still.
That might be why a lot of newer legendaries have an alibi that explains why they weren't in the Pokemon World when it was created. Many of them were either in Space, or "Ultra" Space:
The Orignal Dragon of Unova
The Cosmog Line
Necrozma
Eternatus
By the way, some professor really should look into the reason so many incredibly dangerous space dragons are just dropping into the Pokemon world.
Then there's legendaries that are strong in the context of their story, and some are even worshiped, but they're more like regional gods and myths.
The Swords of Justice
The Tapus
The Legendary Heroes
Kubfu Line
Calyrex and His Steeds
The Paradox Duo
The Treasures of Ruin
Ogerpon
Most modern mythicals unfortunately fall hard into this category, to the point that some are literally just a monkey, Zarude. Actually, there's no need to list the others. You get the idea.
But who does fit the circle?
That leaves the Aura Trio, the Forces of Nature, and...Terapagos. In my opinion, these legendaries would be right at home in the circle. The Aura Trio deals in life and death, which is pretty major.
That Yggdrasil inspiration would make the Aura Trio right at home on the tree of life from the beta origin story. You know, that "giant tree of life" that Rayquaza, Groudon, and Kyogre broke apart, that turned into the sky, earth, and ocean?
The three gathered in a circle and prayed, and the seed sprouted. The sprout quickly grew, and became the giant tree of life. However, the tree continued to grow, soon filling the entire world, and no one was able to move.
(...) RAYQUAZA wrapped its body around the tree of life. GROUDON and KYOGRE slammed their bodies into the tree of life. Eventually, the tree fell and broke into three pieces.
REI, AI, and HAI prayed, saddened that the tree would rot away like this. Then, the pieces of the broken tree would transform into the sky, earth, and ocean. RAYQUAZA became the pillar that holds the sky.
(Source: Centro Leaks)
Yeah, now I'm thinking the Aura Trio are more of a second try at this whole tree of life thing at GameFreak. Because the whole "Rayquaza wrapped its body around the tree" gives me major Yggdrasil vibes. Surprise Pokemon theorists, Nidhogg isn't Zygarde...it's Rayquaza!
Rayquaza did Ragnarok!
But some people think the Aura Trio are aliens who came to earth on the meteor that the Anistar City Moondial was made from, so that would explain why the Aura Trio aren't in the circle. After all, the Unovan Original Dragon came from a meteor just one generation earlier.
There's also the alleged "original story" rumor for XY that claimed that XY was originally about aliens. The Teraleak probably has something to say about that. So the jury's out about the Aura Trio - they could belong in the circle, but they might be aliens.
(Wait, the rumor was that the alien plot was cut for time? As in, it would have been included (and maybe made less "weird") if they didn't rush? So is THAT was what in Southern Kalos...)
Or maybe my theory is wrong. Deoxys is on the outer layer of the circle after all. Maybe Arceus doesn't discriminate against aliens, they just have to stay on the outer layer. It's not that much of a difference either way - there's plenty of room on the outer layer with the other mythicals. I'm talking about the head honchos really.
The Forces of Nature probably belong on the circle, if we're being honest. They kind of clash with the Legendary Birds' role in the mythos as "weather" gods, but they should be on there.
Lastly...Terapagos is an enigma when it comes to this whole post. It might be more powerful than Eternatus, since "tera" is more power than "giga", right? It's so much power it can literally warp a Pokemon's type. Like Arceus, or genetic engineering.
And Terapagos isn't an alien like Eternatus, at least there's no evidence of it. It's been stuck underground, but it used to live on land. I would say it's just a really, really powerful Pokemon that isn't technically godly, but it's literally based on the World Turtle, another creation myth.
It's in the same boat as the Aura Trio, only it's not an alien. Except, it is responsible for the "Stellar" type, as in stars. And there is this Pokedex entry:
An old expedition journal describes the sight of this Pokémon buried in the depths of the earth as resembling a planet floating in space.
Who says that planet is Earth? What if that's its homeworld?
Terapagos doesn't just borrow inspiration from the world, but the idea of worlds itself, or the philosophical idea of "turtles all the way down". Not only does it depict a world, but a world on a world. A world on a world on a -
I don't know how to end this. Are all my Teraleak theories going to be this long? I hope not. Happy Teraleak! Enjoy the leak!
---
Edit: Changed the name of the title. It used to be called "Newer Legendaries Just Aren't in Arceus' Personal Circle".
All pics other than the Arceus circle are from Bulbapedia. It's easier that way.
Here’s my interpretation of the Arceus circle as I choose to believe it and for the fic I’m writing.
Long explanation about which pokemon each circle stands for is beneath the read more-
In this interpretation, all of the pokemon included here are gods in the pokemon world. Most ascended to their roles, having once been normal people or pokemon, but many were just born for their roles.
First we have the innermost sections of the pantheon: the Origin Circle and the Rules of the Universe.
The Origin Circle is the innermost circle that includes The High God Arceus and Their favorite creations Palkia, Dialga, Giratina, and a fourth non-canon fic-specific individual. These gods are usually deemed the most important ones as they hold the fabric of reality together.
The orientation of Palkia and Dialga can change but they must be inline along Arceus AND Palkia must be closest to Rayquaza. Giratina is non-symmetrical on purpose. And Arceus must always be at the center of the entire pantheon circle.
The three gods that sit on the line of the Origin Circle are Rayquaza, Groudon, and Kyogre. I’ll get to them later.
The Rules of the Universe include everything within both triangles and the circles at their points. Let’s just call it the Triangle.
The inner triangle is connected at its points by the Lake Guardians: Uxie, Mesprit, and Azelf. They are the gods of consciousness and are just as important as the gods (excluding Arceus) within the Origin Circle.
The outer triangle is connected at its points by Regigigas, Ho-oh, and Lugia. The orientation of these points to the rest of the pantheon circle doesn’t really matter, but some orientations have more symbolic meaning than others (like Uxie being next to Regigigas for knowledgeable craftsmen).
Regigigas is the World Smith and one of the elder/father gods, older than even the Lake Guardians. It can make living bodies, but must work with the Lake Guadians to give those bodies minds of their own. The five gods connected immediately to it are the Legendary Giants, who do not have minds but are considered their own individual gods. Regidrago and Regieleki are younger than the other three Giants and are considered infant gods, their places on the circle are to the bottom left and right of Regigigas (the spots not symmetrical with the other two triangle point circles).
Lugia and Ho-oh are usually depicted making the base or the Triangle because they are the Guadians of All-Worldly Balance, or the yin and yang to Regigigas’ qi. The Legendary Birds answer to Lugia as gods of the seasons and the Legendary Beasts answer to Ho-oh as the gods of resurrection and cycles.
At the end of the day, the work these gods do is vital to the maintaining of the rules that dictate how the world works. They are the “rules of the universe.”
Now Rayquaza, Groudon, and Kyogre sit at the edge of the Origin Circle as ambassadors to Arceus, which are called the Courtly Champions. These champions oversee basically everyone else I haven’t mentioned yet. These three and the rest of the gods are part of what’s called the Heveanly Courts.
The Heavenly Courts are set in the pantheon circle between the aspects of the mind, meaning that the membership of each court is based on how well each God’s throne (the thing they’re god of) fits between each grouping of the Lake Guardians’ thrones. These gods largely act independent of any greater plans or prophecies because their service to their thrones is “unnecessary” compared to the vital work of the gods within the Triangle.
Rayquaza champions the combination of knowledge and willpower.
Groudon champions the combination of willpower and emotion.
And Kyogre champions the combination of knowledge and emotion.
The Heavenly Courts themselves have four ranks (five if you count infant gods as a separate group):
Courtly Champions
Worldly Boundaires
Foundational Principles
outer ring gods with no actual special title
infant gods (who also get no special title)
Worldly Boundaires are the six gods within but at the edge of the outermost circle. These gods are important enough in the pantheon circle to be too important to become Courtly Champions. Instead, their position marks the edge of what counts as godly and symbolically “encompass” the world within its boundaries and rules.
The gods with these roles are:
Mew
Zygarde
Jirachi
Necrozma
Celibi
Terapagos
The last group I’ll talk about are the Foundational Principles. These gods are often replaced based on their thrones and the changing of the exact meaning conveyed by their different combinations. Basically, which combination of gods will best describe one certain definition of combined knowledge and emotion, etc.
I’ll just list the current Principles and their thrones to show the current combinations:
Knowledge and Willpower:
Zekrom - the god of dragons, twins, and ideals
Reshiram - the god of dragons, twins, and truth
Pecharunt- the god of puppets, the god of wants and desires
Knowledge and Emotion:
Calyrex - the god of wise leaders and kings
Cresselia - the god of good dreams
Darkrai - god of bad dreams / nightmares
Willpower and Emotion:
Shaymin - the god of flowers and healing
Hoopa - the god of mischief and doorways
Enamorus (sometimes including all the forces of nature) - the god(s) of nature, the change of seasons, and natural disasters
The rest of the gods are all equal in standing but have more important thrones based on how you look at things. I won’t list them all out cause this is very long.
