Anyway I guess this could be a feasible theory, though I do wonder how the Life Pokemon wasn't able to fully restore her (also unless the Ghost Girl knows where her body is there's no way to revive her from being just a spirit). I kind of hope we found out more about her in XY2. And while we're at it, maybe in the Gen IV remakes they can expand upon the Old Chateau.
Lt. Surge does talk about how pokemon saved him during the war. It does not explicitly say they saved his life from other pokemon trying to kill him, but I see no other way to interpret it, seeing as there are seemingly no guns or weapons in the games and thus it must have been Pokemon trying to do him in.
(Note that the Pokémon's response to this swordsmanship was to go into hiding, rather than attack back).Veilstone's Myth said:A young man, callow and foolish in
innocence, came to own a sword.
Blastoise's Pokedex entry said:It has spouts extending from its shell at the top. They spray water like cannons, hard enough to pierce concrete walls
Implying cannons are a thing in the Pokémon universe.Rhydon's Pokédex entry said:Rhydon's horn can crush even uncut diamonds. One sweeping blow of its tail can topple a building. This Pokémon's hide is extremely tough. Even direct cannon hits don't leave a scratch.
Implying missiles are a thing in the Pokémon universe.Rhyperior's Pokédex entry said:It can launch a rock held in its hand like a missile by tightening then expanding muscles instantly.
Bombs do exist in the Pokémon universe. This was also demonstrated by Team Galactic in one occasion. Golem's dex entries also mention dynamite.Cloyster's Pokédex entry said:Its shell is extremely hard. It cannot be shattered, even with a bomb. The shell opens only when it is attacking.
Emphasis on "fighter plane".Garchomp's Pokédex entry said:It flies at speeds equal to a jet fighter plane. It never allows its prey to escape.
This should have been tested at some point. Even if the dex entries are written by ten-year-olds, it still means they know what tanks are.Chesnaught's Pokédex entry said:Its Tackle is forceful enough to flip a 50-ton tank. It shields its allies from danger with its own body.
Gravity, m'dear. He was a pilot, remember? If something was to take out its engines, Surge would have had to come up with a quick fix not to get killed by a mighty big fall. Said quick fix appears to have powering the engine with his Pokémons' electricity, though this raises a few interesting engineering questions.
Also, we have quite a few in-game quotes alluding to weaponry:
(Note that the Pokémon's response to this swordsmanship was to go into hiding, rather than attack back).
Farfetch'd's Pokedex entries also mention swords, as do Samurott's and probably a few others. But if you want modern weapons, sure, those are referred to all the time too...
Implying cannons are a thing in the Pokémon universe.
Implying missiles are a thing in the Pokémon universe.
Bombs do exist in the Pokémon universe. This was also demonstrated by Team Galactic in one occasion. Golem's dex entries also mention dynamite.
Emphasis on "fighter plane".
This should have been tested at some point. Even if the dex entries are written by ten-year-olds, it still means they know what tanks are.
The Arbok survived that because of a regenerative power that, if not unique to it, was extremely rare considering Agitha, an expert on Ghosts and Poison types with a unique Arbok of her own was evidently surprised that it could do that. We also don't find out that's the same Arbok until the next ark, so the implication for quite a while was that was a fatal injury. And there's evidence within the manga that attacking trainers is fair game. The second is even a league match.^Do keep in mind that the Arbok survived that just fine, though...
I don't remember Lt. Surge being a pilot, but if you can prove that, than ok.
I'm also just very skeptical about the idea of a human being able to survive Take Down, a full body tackle, from a 209.9 lb Beldum if it tried that. That'd probably cave in a human's rib cage.
Again, the anime does things for comedic effect. It is a show with a lot of slapstick and slapstick rarely ends with serious injuries/death unless your target audience has a dark sense of humor. The intended target audience for the anime and for Happy Tree Friends don't overlap much, do they?The same kind of physics that allow people to survive being struck by heavy electricity, engulfed in flames, encased in ice, etc.
My own little headcanon is that Pokémon attacks may cause injury, but also offer quick regeneration (see: any time Meowth rakes somebody across the face with its five-centimetre claws in the Anime, and they're perfectly fine again a shot later). Technically, it would be the "life energy" required to regenerate that hurts you (that is, exhausts you or wears you out), since the injuries aren't sustained for long enough to be fatal. Only when the body is completely disintegrated, regeneration fails and you end up with a statue instead. At that point, it'd require a minor miracle to set you alright again, but it wouldn't technically be death unless the statue is somehow destroyed.
More like you're hit with a pretty bad case of nausea and dizziness, and you're knocked out for the rest of the day. It takes away your strength, more or less, like a flu. Causes intense fatigue. And at some point Pokémon physics take over, and you lie there with spirally eyes. Drain too much of it, and you might die, but it's never stated that a Pokémon is capable of doing that. The only instances of death caused by drained life energy was from AZ's ultimate weapon, which was a machine. Over the course of the franchise, we've seen Pokémon repeatedly throw people over the horizon, bathe them in flames hot enough to melt boulders, run thousands of volts of electricity through them, encase them in solid blocks of ice or direct other monstrously powerful attacks right at them, all with no lasting ill effects. We've also seen people hang around the Celestial Tower, the natural habitat of Litwick, like it's no thing, and trainers stand behind Shedinja - with its back hole right in the middle of the field of vision - without anything happening. Yveltal flies around Kalos, and people don't run away from you screaming when you show it to them. It's quite clear at this point that Pokémon aren't (intended to be, from the designers' perspective) capable of causing lasting harm to humans. At least not intentionally, or without great difficulty. What happened to Ash might be chalked up to early installment weirdness, or attributed to a reaction between Mew and Mewtwo's attack, causing an effect that neither of them would be able to achieve on their own. And again, given the rules of the universe, it's not known whether being turned to stone is truly the end either. It was fixed in half a minute by ordinary Pokémon tears.
As for the Ultimate Weapon, well, in X Lysandre uses Xerneas' power to the same effect, so if anything, it's not specific to Yveltal. Maybe it's specific to Legendary Pokémon, though, like a source of energy only they possess. I daresay that the energy of the Pokémon may be used for malicious purposes, but at that point you're adding a layer of separation between the Pokémon and the killing. Yveltal charges the machine, the machine kills people. Big difference. Or, well, if you want to argue about semantics, it's never said that the Ultimate Weapon caused death upon activation either, only destruction and ending the war (powering it required the lives of some Pokémon, though, I'll let you have that). War isn't won by killing opponents, rather by achieving objectives. If they fought for control of an area, or the wrongful imprisonment of a noble, or for independence, or simply for settling a trade dispute, just clearing the area of conscious people and objects of value could be effective enough. Suddenly, there's nothing more to fight for, and rebuilding your home town is more important than continuing the war.
Pokémon is a kids franchise, heavily featuring elements of violence which would have reduced people to salsa under normal conditions, yet everybody on the receiving end of attacks walk it off the day after. The few references to death haven't been directly attributed to Pokémon in any instance, despite numerous opportunities. Heck, in most cases, the word "death" or any variant thereof isn't used at all. It's light-hearted, consequence-free violence, where every loss is a slap on the wrist, and not even the strongest attacks by the strongest monsters cause damage so serious that eating a root won't fix it.
Archie said:"Primal Groudon brings about an "end," all right. But you don't get to choose what end. It's gonna drive every living thing on this planet to its death! The only thing waiting for us is despair. A despair we can't even run from. A despair that's gonna crush humanity. You blasted fool... And it's all happening 'cause you were cocky enough to think you could control the super-ancient Pokemon's power!"
Maxie said:The "beginning" that Primal Kyogre brings about... the way that it resets the world... It starts by driving every living thing on this planet to death first! This path leads only to an inescapable despair that cannot be withstood. That is all you have brought us. This is what comes of the madness of thinking that you could ever control the super-ancient Pokemon's power!"
Again, we need to be careful comparing various media with each other in this case. Yeah, in the anime, characters survive things that is very unlikely that they would (Team Rocket's skeletons should be powder by now), but in Adventures, we have this:
![]()
And several times, trainers have ordered their Pokémon to kill and they did in fact try.
When it comes to Pokémon lethality, the anime, manga, and games are like comparing apples, oranges, and bananas.
^Do keep in mind that the Arbok survived that just fine, though...
Lt Surge said:"Hey, kid! What do you think you're doing here? You won't live long in combat! Not with your puny power! I tell you, kid, electric Pokémon saved me during the war! They zapped my enemies into paralysis! The same as I'll do to you!"
It could work differently, for all we know Xerneas' life power could only work on Pokemon, and has a different effect on humans.
The anime is infamous for being wrong in comparison to the games. Plus, the creator of Pokémon, Satoshi Tajiri, has said that Pokémon Adventures more accurately captures his vision than the anime.Yeah, but the show is close enough to the games to assume some things could happen in the games as well.
Again, the anime does things for comedic effect.
The problem is, "comedic effect" is the modus operandi of the franchise. We have yet to see exceptions to the "comedic effect"; every single time we see humans hit by Pokémon attacks they shrug it off just fine. In the games, we also have a Team Rocket grunt taking a Hyper Beam to the face, and getting up again a little while later. Team Rocket have encountered wild Pokémon as well as trained ones, the result is always the same: back for more shenanigans a day or two later.
However, I think I've been able to find a suitable compromise for the debate here:
So far, we've yet to see Pokémon attacks kill anybody. We have seen a few near-deaths during the franchise, though, and the "killer" seems to be the same every time: Excessive exhaustion. Conversely, single, powerful attacks cause no lasting harm. Let's have a look:
In the first movie, the Pokémon fought 'till they could not stand, then kept on fighting. It seemed to be a battle of endurance, rather than a battle of attacks. The winner wouldn't be the first to knock out the opponent, but the last to collapse.
Second movie: The villain is hit by Lugia's attack, his flying fortress crashes, yet he crawls out of the wreckage later.
In the fourth movie, the ordeals Celebi goes through causes it to wither and nearly die. It took no direct attacks.
In the fifth movie, Latios exhausted its powers to evaporate a tsunami. It took no attacks, but spent its powers to the absolute limit.
For contrast: In the seventh movie, we see what might be the most effective attack shown to hit a target in the franchise. Rayquaza's point-blank Hyper Beam, unleashed in hellish fury, hitting Deoxys-A square in its most vulnerable spot. Deoxys emerged just fine, but it took four years to recover.
The eighth movie shows another death: Lucario, spending is powers, is trapped in a crystal and dies. No attacks.
Movie nine: Main character attacked by Kyogre and seemingly crushed underneath a falling pillar. Seen in jail during the end credits.
Movie ten: Darkrai hit, repeatedly, by furious attacks from Dialga and Palkia. Healthy and happy again before the end credits.
Movie twelve: Arceus is near-death from a constant bombardment of attacks... until it gets its Jewel of Life back, giving it strength to recover. Suddenly, the attacks don't matter any more, and it gets back into action relatively quickly.
Admittedly, I didn't watch the rest of the movies, but it seems like the established pattern is staying strong: Whenever something dies or is close to dying, it's because they exhaust their energy. Call that energy "Life Energy", if you'd like. This mirrors the description of the Pokémon dying to power the Ultimate Weapon too: It took their energy, they died.
And so, behold the Grand Unified Life Energy Theory.
Pikachu315111 provided quotes backing the theory, as far as I can tell. "Driving to death". Not "killing". It seems to indicate that the climate Groudon or Kyogre creates will be unsustainable for many Pokémon, and that they'll die trying to get away from it, or find food, rather than by the attacks themselves.
And so it seems that Pokémon are technically capable of killing, though not directly. It takes a sustained barrage, causing constant injuries, and the opponent is never killed by the force of the blow, but rather by spending its energy to recover from them (which appears to be a process the Pokémon can't control, by the way). Exhaustion, not trauma. Trauma caused by Pokémon attacks can be brushed off, but excessive brushing will lead to fatigue and death. The recovery process is the dangerous one, as recovery costs Life Energy. It does seem, however, that Life Energy can't be completely drained in one sequence, at least it would take an extraordinary amount of power to do so. A person or Pokémon could be flung across the horizon by a powerful attack, or near-disintegrated by fire, but turn out just fine. However, half the power applied twice in succession would be more damaging.
Hence why Pokémon in the games may faint in battle, and then appear healthy as a horse immediately after, carrying your weight across the continent if need be. Still, it's unable to battle until it receives the necessary amount of rest. A refill of Life Energy so it can recover off damage once again. Hit Points appear to act as a "buffer" of sorts, determining the amount of Life Energy that can be drained before things get dangerous.
The theory can be extended to fit other aspects of the Pokéverse, if you want: Wonder why you can't catch fainted Pokémon? Because that implies continuing the battle after the foe is running out of energy, which is outright dangerous. Hence, the Poké Balls are programmed not to function against a foe that's out of HP.
How are Hit Points calculated? What determines 0 HP? The threshold at which the Pokémon's Life Energy is too low for its "natural recovery reflex" to prevent fainting after taking an attack. The more Life Energy, the more Hit Points, since the Pokémon can sustain more damage without fainting. Oh, by the way, Ghost Pokémon usually have a low HP stat.
What makes Yveltal dangerous, then? The answer would be: It's cocoonification process seems to drain Life Energy from the area indiscriminately, maybe even from exhausted Pokémon. And people, and plants, and... well, there could be a victim or two among the aftermath of the process, complete with the whole area being pretty ruined.
And what's up with the in-game graveyards? Well, as I said, exhaustion draining Life Energy seems to be the cause of Pokémon deaths. As they get older, they won't have as much Life Energy to sustain themselves any more, hence death by advanced age.
Life Energy doesn't seem to be energy in the traditional sense, though. It can be created and go lost, and it appears to be a renewable resource. It's refilled by resting, possibly also by eating.
So, what determines how much Life Energy a Pokémon can have? How does it increase its treshold for Life Energy? Well, this brings us to the central point of the franchise: Battles. Why do Pokémon battle, and push themselves and each other to the point of fainting? Well, what do you really think Experience Points are?
It's getting a little late, so I don't think I'll be able to polish the theory any more now, but it seems to satisfy all requirements, not contradict canon, and most importantly, explain why Pokémon attacks don't kill by trauma. What do you think?
A few inconsistencies I did want to address, whether or not they really debunk your theory. Replies will be in bold.For contrast: In the seventh movie, we see what might be the most effective attack shown to hit a target in the franchise. Rayquaza's point-blank Hyper Beam, unleashed in hellish fury, hitting Deoxys-A square in its most vulnerable spot. Deoxys emerged just fine, but it took four years to recover. The research would indicate that the regeneration is more a trait of Deoxys. Any other Pokemon taking a hit like that at point blank probably wouldn't recover from the injuries on its own. And even then, they seem surprised that Deoxys is in the city, so they didn't think its regeneration worked to that degree.
Movie nine: Main character attacked by Kyogre and seemingly crushed underneath a falling pillar. Seen in jail during the end credits. Kyogre's attack was aimed at the submarine he was in, not directly at the villain himself. Also, should note we don't see much of the henchmen piloting that giant sub.
Movie ten: Darkrai hit, repeatedly, by furious attacks from Dialga and Palkia. Healthy and happy again before the end credits. Darkrai pretty much disintegrates after the repeated barrage. Ash's yelling at Palkia towards the end entails Darkrai is gone and he's demanding they bring him back.
Movie twelve: Arceus is near-death from a constant bombardment of attacks... until it gets its Jewel of Life back, giving it strength to recover. Suddenly, the attacks don't matter any more, and it gets back into action relatively quickly. Arceus in the anime probably plays looser with the Pokemon than any other Pokemon in a game/anime/manga comparison. In the games, the plates allow Arceus to tap into other powers, but more as an extension. In the anime, the plates are outright Arceus's life source, as he nearly dies after they scatter from the meteor in the flashback. Returning the jewel saved Arceus for 2 reasons
- It returned the types that he was missing, making him immune again to the Electric attacks most of the offenders were firing (ignoring the molten silver)
- It bestowed about 1/3 of his life force (5/17 plates) he didn't have before and was there to get back
Admittedly, I didn't watch the rest of the movies, but it seems like the established pattern is staying strong: Whenever something dies or is close to dying, it's because they exhaust their energy. Call that energy "Life Energy", if you'd like. This mirrors the description of the Pokémon dying to power the Ultimate Weapon too: It took their energy, they died.
Also, like I've said previously, this is a Dragonite that is trained by the Champion of the Indigo League, one of the strongest trainers of the Kanto-Johto area. The level of training that Dragonite must have gone through means it can easily pull its punches.And yes, the Rocket Grunt survive Hyper Beam from Lance, but there's a stark contrast in that
A) The grunt was directly attacked at all. The anime seldom touches on the idea of humans being attacked in actual battle (as in part of the battling party) bar blunt slapstick.
B) The grunt is clearly debilitated enough to not stop Lance as he enters the hide out.
The Grunt clearly isn't just shrugging off getting attacked by a Dragonite the way most anime attack recipients would.
The problem is, "comedic effect" is the modus operandi of the franchise. We have yet to see exceptions to the "comedic effect"; every single time we see humans hit by Pokémon attacks they shrug it off just fine. In the games, we also have a Team Rocket grunt taking a Hyper Beam to the face, and getting up again a little while later. Team Rocket have encountered wild Pokémon as well as trained ones, the result is always the same: back for more shenanigans a day or two later.
However, I think I've been able to find a suitable compromise for the debate here:
So far, we've yet to see Pokémon attacks kill anybody. We have seen a few near-deaths during the franchise, though, and the "killer" seems to be the same every time: Excessive exhaustion. Conversely, single, powerful attacks cause no lasting harm. Let's have a look:
In the first movie, the Pokémon fought 'till they could not stand, then kept on fighting. It seemed to be a battle of endurance, rather than a battle of attacks. The winner wouldn't be the first to knock out the opponent, but the last to collapse.
Second movie: The villain is hit by Lugia's attack, his flying fortress crashes, yet he crawls out of the wreckage later.
In the fourth movie, the ordeals Celebi goes through causes it to wither and nearly die. It took no direct attacks.
In the fifth movie, Latios exhausted its powers to evaporate a tsunami. It took no attacks, but spent its powers to the absolute limit.
For contrast: In the seventh movie, we see what might be the most effective attack shown to hit a target in the franchise. Rayquaza's point-blank Hyper Beam, unleashed in hellish fury, hitting Deoxys-A square in its most vulnerable spot. Deoxys emerged just fine, but it took four years to recover.
The eighth movie shows another death: Lucario, spending is powers, is trapped in a crystal and dies. No attacks.
Movie nine: Main character attacked by Kyogre and seemingly crushed underneath a falling pillar. Seen in jail during the end credits.
Movie ten: Darkrai hit, repeatedly, by furious attacks from Dialga and Palkia. Healthy and happy again before the end credits.
Movie twelve: Arceus is near-death from a constant bombardment of attacks... until it gets its Jewel of Life back, giving it strength to recover. Suddenly, the attacks don't matter any more, and it gets back into action relatively quickly.
Admittedly, I didn't watch the rest of the movies, but it seems like the established pattern is staying strong: Whenever something dies or is close to dying, it's because they exhaust their energy. Call that energy "Life Energy", if you'd like. This mirrors the description of the Pokémon dying to power the Ultimate Weapon too: It took their energy, they died.
And so, behold the Grand Unified Life Energy Theory.
Pikachu315111 provided quotes backing the theory, as far as I can tell. "Driving to death". Not "killing". It seems to indicate that the climate Groudon or Kyogre creates will be unsustainable for many Pokémon, and that they'll die trying to get away from it, or find food, rather than by the attacks themselves.
And so it seems that Pokémon are technically capable of killing, though not directly. It takes a sustained barrage, causing constant injuries, and the opponent is never killed by the force of the blow, but rather by spending its energy to recover from them (which appears to be a process the Pokémon can't control, by the way). Exhaustion, not trauma. Trauma caused by Pokémon attacks can be brushed off, but excessive brushing will lead to fatigue and death. The recovery process is the dangerous one, as recovery costs Life Energy. It does seem, however, that Life Energy can't be completely drained in one sequence, at least it would take an extraordinary amount of power to do so. A person or Pokémon could be flung across the horizon by a powerful attack, or near-disintegrated by fire, but turn out just fine. However, half the power applied twice in succession would be more damaging.
Hence why Pokémon in the games may faint in battle, and then appear healthy as a horse immediately after, carrying your weight across the continent if need be. Still, it's unable to battle until it receives the necessary amount of rest. A refill of Life Energy so it can recover off damage once again. Hit Points appear to act as a "buffer" of sorts, determining the amount of Life Energy that can be drained before things get dangerous.
The theory can be extended to fit other aspects of the Pokéverse, if you want: Wonder why you can't catch fainted Pokémon? Because that implies continuing the battle after the foe is running out of energy, which is outright dangerous. Hence, the Poké Balls are programmed not to function against a foe that's out of HP.
How are Hit Points calculated? What determines 0 HP? The threshold at which the Pokémon's Life Energy is too low for its "natural recovery reflex" to prevent fainting after taking an attack. The more Life Energy, the more Hit Points, since the Pokémon can sustain more damage without fainting. Oh, by the way, Ghost Pokémon usually have a low HP stat.
What makes Yveltal dangerous, then? The answer would be: It's cocoonification process seems to drain Life Energy from the area indiscriminately, maybe even from exhausted Pokémon. And people, and plants, and... well, there could be a victim or two among the aftermath of the process, complete with the whole area being pretty ruined.
And what's up with the in-game graveyards? Well, as I said, exhaustion draining Life Energy seems to be the cause of Pokémon deaths. As they get older, they won't have as much Life Energy to sustain themselves any more, hence death by advanced age.
Life Energy doesn't seem to be energy in the traditional sense, though. It can be created and go lost, and it appears to be a renewable resource. It's refilled by resting, possibly also by eating.
So, what determines how much Life Energy a Pokémon can have? How does it increase its treshold for Life Energy? Well, this brings us to the central point of the franchise: Battles. Why do Pokémon battle, and push themselves and each other to the point of fainting? Well, what do you really think Experience Points are?
It's getting a little late, so I don't think I'll be able to polish the theory any more now, but it seems to satisfy all requirements, not contradict canon, and most importantly, explain why Pokémon attacks don't kill by trauma. What do you think?
I'm thinking that Experience Points are probably extra Life Energy, the amount lost from the battle. The reason that Pokemon battle in the first place isn't always just for food, shelter, or the will of their trainers. It's because if they can win, they will have even more Life Energy and live longer. When a Pokemon takes a hit, as Codraroll said it uses HP, which is basically a shield before things can get to fatal levels. The HP that is taken off reverts to new Life Energy, which simply stays in it's original form (Maybe a gas, or it could be balls of light like in Minecraft, i'll add an image.) and waits for the battle to be finished. When a victor is crowned, it goes to the stronger of the two and resides there. What about the damage the victor took anyway? It probably keeps it, or some of it might go to the loser to aid them in their recovery. Any ideas?
Could it look like this?![]()
I didn't watch the episode, but from what I can gather, neither Pryce nor Piloswine had any lasting injuries. If Pokémon attacks were truly as dangerous as stated, a Fire Blast would have burnt Pryce to cinders. Instead, Piloswine decided to cure it with herbs. That's not a proper injury, it's a mild annoyance.You want to see an exception to the comedic effect? How about...
HOWEVER a Pokemon still has the power to kill, if not from direct attacks but from emanating power which for the most part they can't control.