How Legendary IS Legendary?
by: Sharkdog

Now firstly, remember, this is about the anime, and not about the video game... so you shouldnt relate this back too much to the pokemon games, the anime has come a long way and also took a sort of another path then the games as you might know.

Ive always been behind the theory that there are more then 1 of each legendary pokemon around (well not of each legendary, if you see Mewtwo as a legendary pokemon, I dont see him as legendary, but he's a whole special case nonetheless) and our dear Nintendo is proving this theory through our beloved and hated (=P) anime. With a recent episode featuring a baby Lugia (along with a grownup Lugia I think, which could very well be not the same Lugia as in the 2nd movie, who seemed to have a male telepathical voice) and both the 4th and the recent 5th movie feature more then one legendary of the same species.

Now I know that most of you probably have not seen the 4th and the 5th movie, but I have, and I would like to make a little note here, the 4th and 5th movie are far different then previous movies, taking on a much more serious storyline. The following bits do hold some spoilers of some key parts in these two movies, so if you don't want it spoiled stop reading, and make me feel like I typed this all up for nothing =P

The 4th movie's main legendary is (as you know) Celebi (with Suicune being another legendary in the movie) and well, to put it bluntly, at one point the little Celebi dies. With just a few moments after its dramatic death (I think it drained it's life energy to save everyone) a portal opens and a large quantity of Celebi appear through it, reviving Celebi throught their powers and some ritual movements of some sorts. Now Celebi can travel through time, but these Celebi being Celebi from all over time doesnt make sense to me.

Because they cannot be any Celebi from the future, because if Celebi died then it would be impossible for him to be alive in the future, thus a fair amount of Celebi coming out of future times is impossible.

Then they might be past Celebi? How did they know when they would die so they could travel there and revive itself through combining their powers (which are actually, the same power in one if they would be the same Celebi from past times)

It's far more likely that these Celebi came from other areas on the planet, instead of other times. Celebi is still as rare as they get, but a planet is big, so more of them being around is entirely possible, and it is what I think.

Then comes the 5th movie, with Ratiosu (The larger blue advanced legendary bird) and Ratiasu (The smaller red advanced legendary bird). Not even five minutes into the movie's introduction (which is done through ancient storybook pages) you already see more Ratiosu and Ratiasu depicted then the two starring in the movie. The legend behind Ratiasu and Ratiosu is that they were two lost children (a brother and a sister, with the sister being the younger one) washed ashore at Water City and at a critical time (the near destruction of Water City) a strange power changed them into Ratiosu and Ratiasu to protect Water City. Now if this legend is the true story behind them I dont know, but they are brother and sister, Ratiosu would protect Ratiasu with his life, thus a brother protecting his little sister. At the end of the movie they both use their power to save Water City and everyone who lives there, but Ratiasu, as powerful as she is, cannot tap into her full potential, but Ratiosu can, using all his power, his life energy, and dying in the process. (which is pretty dramatic, and especially hard on Ratiasu). Then at the ending of the movie two Ratiosu accompany Ratiasu and stay with her. This again shows, there are more then one. Ofcourse with all species in the real world, in the end we are all connected, but I dont think that all Ratiasu and Ratiosu are brothers, but by being the same species, int he end you are always family (this goes for all species in a way ofcourse)

Now these three examples lead to other questions, what about Mew? What about Articuno, Moltres and Zapdos? What about Entei, Raikou and Suicune?

First of all, Mew is in many ways like Celebi.. thus I believe that there are also more then one Mew, ofcourse there isn't an enormous amount of Mew, but there are more then one, maybe even in the hundreds, look at em as endangered species, I mean, look at Rhino's and Panda's, they don't have a large amount of numbers anymore either.

There is also a sign that there are more then one Articuno, because with Ash encountered an Articuno (with Todd) in the middle of Johto, which is not near the Orange Islands at all (especially because it was in a snowy region, perfect climate for Articuno, opposed to the tropical Orange Islands). This is proof enough for me that there are more then 1.. and if there's more then one Articuno, then there's bound to be more Zapdos and Moltres. Ancient pokemon from ancient times, struggling to survive and having an extremely hard time breeding

Then again I think that the Legendary Dogs (or Cats, or whatever you want to call them) Are an entirely different matter, I think there are just one of each of the three, and they don't roam out of Johto for an unknown reason. There just seems to be more to these three creatures then meets the eye in my vision.

And another thing, even though they are legendary pokemon, they are far, very far from being invincible. Even Mewtwo (who is still in my eyes not legendary) who was created as the most powerful pokemon in existence can be overcome. And so have all the other legendary pokemon that have been depicted in the movies.. they all werent powerful enough at some points (Like Suicune in the 4th movie, he couldnt compete with the evil Celebi (who again, also isnt invincible, because it was cought without much resistance in a dark ball by Bisashu, turning it into an evil pokemon) and in the end it wasy Celebi who had to come to his senses to stop his own rampage.

Now then, hereby I end this little rant. If you have anything to add, or comments, or anything else, please fill my mailbox at
sharkdog@sugarshock.net and we'll see about posting the best replies that fit in with my rank on the site ^_^


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