The excitement of the 25th anniversary Pokemon Direct that took place last week is yet to wear off and has led some fans to begin speculating about the upcoming titles.
According to a user known as u/ZeeGee009 in the Pokemon subreddit, the reasoning behind Pokemon Legends: Arceus' starter Pokemon can be traced back to 12th century Japan. Given the game's reveal trailer, that makes a lot of sense, as this game's version of the Sinnoh region belongs to a much older time period.
This theory points to the connection between the starter Pokemon: Cyndaquil, Rowlet, and Oshawott, their evolutions, and feudal Japan. u/ZeeGee009 firstly points to Rowlet having links to Archers due to its evolution Decidueye’s ‘Arrow Quill Pokémon’ status. They also point out that Oshawott’s evolution, Samurott, is “very clearly Samurai” focused.
As for Cyndaquil’s connection, which the Reddit poster notes took “a while to figure out”, they propose that not only is the Pokemon based on a honey-badger (which can be found in Japan) but that Cyndaquil’s evolution Typhlosion’s Japanese name is ‘Bakufu’, which can be translated to ‘Shogun’, which “were titles given to Military Generals in Feudal Japan.”
