[Theory] The PMD Pokémon world, the Human world, and the Mainline Pokémon world are all different planets

[Turbo]

(Spoilers for the Mystery Dungeon series.)

Here are my notes and thoughts about identifying the relationship between the Human world, PMD Pokémon world, and mainline Pokémon world, and why I think they are all separate:

Spoiler

1. Humans are treated like myths rather than history:

   1. The humans from each game and unseen times could easily become myths for the next games in the timeline.

   2. Humans aren't always transformed. The Hero in Explorers had a whole adventure before the transformation that we never see.

   3. Humans don't always lose their memory, like the Hero in Gates. Stories and information about the human world could have spread around.

2. There are no feral Pokémon or carnivores:

   1. I’ll talk about dungeon Pokémon in another post, but at best they are just troubled by whatever world threat is happening, and at worst they don’t exist at all (or at least how we see them. They would just be normal people living around nature). Remember, you can recruit them, and they have full capability to speak and act like anyone else.

   2. Despite a few cases of fear of cannibalism, there is never a case of anyone even thinking about eating another. Everyone is vegetarian (and seemingly diurnal), despite visible anatomy. And that fear makes sense when you consider that even in our world, people have eaten each other out of… reasons other than necessity.

   3. Their society, with guilds and government, is too stable for an ecosystem that originated from predation and biologically niche anatomies. There would have to be too many coincidental changes for several species all at the same time to prevent a dominant race overtaking the others, as we have on Earth. At the very least, there should be differing levels of intelligence for species that should have a harder time evolving to this lifestyle, like predators, insects, and smaller Pokémon in general.

   4. There seems to be all Pokémon species present in the games (to the extent of what was out when each game was released), with Pokémon like Armaldo from Explorers or Rampardos from Gates being accepted as normal.

3. The Legends and creation:

   1. If we use Narnia for comparison, Arceus likely created the Pokémon world as a hierarchy, creating the Legends who used their powers to branch out, with Mew being the “Adam figure” that created non-Legend life. This wouldn’t leave room for ground-up evolution as we have on Earth. This isn’t proven in any source that I’m aware of, but most Pokédex descriptions and interactions with Legends support the idea of the world’s creation, and Mew sharing DNA with everything else would only work if they were the first ancestor.

   2. Arceus is the creator of Pokémon, but there’s nothing to suggest he created humans. This seems like how Aslan only created his world with animals as the inhabitants. That would make the Pokémon world the origin of Pokémon, and the Human world the origin of humans, with few chosen to venture back and forth (with some stragglers).

   3. Legends in the mainline series (when they actually have a personality, which is rare) are usually different from how they are in PMD. Pokopia is the greatest offender of this (though I don't have much experience with the game and only saw a few examples), and even a large time difference wouldn't explain some of the more dramatic shifts.

4. It distinguishes two worlds, Human and Pokémon, and then shows us an inbetween:

   1. Gardevoir and Hydreigon guide their Heros through space, where we see stars. (We also see the Pokémon world depicted as a pool, like in Narnia.)

   2. The geography of all three worlds is different, and supposedly at least two of the worlds exist at the same time, ruling out a large gap in time for them to all be the same world.

Some unanswered questions:

1. The Hero always knows about Pokémon, and even recognizes several (not Legends), but is surprised they can speak. Are they also surprised they exist at all? If so, that would distinguish the three worlds. If not, that makes the Human world seem more like the mainline Pokémon world.

2. Could Grovyle and the Hero in Explorers speak to each other before the transformation? They had to have some way of communicating, as Grovyle knew specific details about the Dimensional Screams. If they could directly speak to each other, that hurts the idea that Pokémon wouldn’t be able to speak in the mainline series. Not that the other way would help either, it’s horribly inconsistent over there. Also, Munna very clearly speaks to Hero in Gates before his transformation, but that was through telepathy, so maybe that isn’t evidence.

3. There are so many questions (many of which I don’t even want to try to answer) about how reproduction and evolution would work in the Pokémon world, but that seems a little too off topic. It does make me wonder about the ethics of the mainline Pokémon world, but that’s nothing new.

Some problems with my interpretation:

1. There’s not a complete lack of human history, there’s a single lab and maybe a few other things I missed.

   1. And yet, there are no other objects or buildings like Pokéballs, roads, or industrial landmarks that could only have been built by humans.

2. Gardevoir having a trainer:

   1. Well, it seems to imply something like in the mainline series, but it doesn’t directly confirm that. We have no idea how Gengar and Gardevoir met, or what their relationship was like other than that they cared deeply about each other. It also doesn’t fit right with the other games, where there is nothing like Pokémon being bound by their instincts.

3. There are many Pokémon that shouldn’t exist outside of human interference. The majority can be written off as not canon as they don't appear as main characters, but there are three undeniable offenders: Ditto, Mewtwo, and Porygon.

   1. I have a very dark theory about how those three came to be in the Pokémon world, but that will have to be in another post as well. For now, humans aren’t the only scientists. There is someone fully capable of creating machines in Explorers, who’s experiments likely led to terrible consequences, piercing the heavens and flooding the world in darkness.

4. Dream theory

   1. I'll cover this in another post because it isn't straightforward. The biggest problem here is that the Hero in Gates never lost their memory, and we see them enter the Pokémon world through a dream. If that's the case for each human, the games could all be just imaginary or dreams. Don't worry though, I have some very special evidence to debunk that in another post.

My thoughts on each relationship:

1. The PMD Pokémon world is the postapocalyptic future of the mainline Pokémon world after humans died out in Pokopia. This view works well with the myths of humans, lack of fossils, and Pokémon species that were influenced by humans. It struggles from problems like the lack of human landmarks and history, the abrupt changes in personality for Legends, and lack of feral Pokémon.

2. The mainline Pokémon world is the future of the PMD Pokémon world after humans invaded it. This view works well with fossils, lack of feral Pokémon, lack of human landmarks, and the seeming decline in Pokémon intelligence. It struggles from problems like the Legends (and frankly even just average Pokémon) being way stronger than humans, Legends changing personality, humans being myths, and Pokémon species that were influenced by humans.

3. The mainline Pokémon world is the human world, which has animalist Pokémon as opposed to the sentient Pokémon in the Pokémon world. This view works with the Heros recognizing Pokémon and being surprised they can speak, the lack of human landmarks, lack of fossils, lack of feral Pokémon, and myths about humans. It struggles with Legends being even more inconsistent, and the “Human” identity of the “Human world”.

4. All three worlds are completely separate, the Human world is actually our Earth, and the mainline Pokémon world isn’t even canon. This view works with solving Legend inconsistencies, myths about humans, lack of feral Pokémon, how Hero can recognize Pokémon but be surprised that they can speak, and lack of human landmarks. It still struggles from a few things, like the lab, Gardevoir’s trainer, and human influenced Pokémon, but these problems are much less hurtful that with the previous interpretations.

 

Edited Wednesday at 07:31 PM by Turbo
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