Hello! And welcome to the first of what will hopefully be an ongoing series of articles named: “Lore: The Epic Behind Pokémon”. Lore–for short–will combine myths, legends and theories to create a concise, detailed documentation of the Pokémon World history, as well as exploring how these relate to our world. This first article will remain inline with our unique, ongoing coverage of Black 2 and White 2, covering the lore behind the Pokémon Reshiram, Zekrom, Kyurem and the Unova region. Be warned, it’s pretty lengthy!

[spoiler]Thousands of years before the events of Black 2/White 2 (BW2), a land was decimated by war as humans fought for control. The humans of this land were coalesced by two heroes: The Twin Heroes. The two brothers sought help from the original Dragon to end the war and create a land that was united by name; the Unova region. However once the quarreling of the Unovan people had ceased, The Heroes themselves began to dispute their misaligned visions, arguing over which of them carried the correct value. Truths or Ideals.

The single dragon witnessed the twins’ feuding and split itself forming two dragons representing truths and ideals. Reshiram and Zekrom accordingly. The two battled alongside a brother to decide how the land of Unova should be ruled. After feuding with no results the brothers eventually reached a truce: both their arguments were incorrect and the world must exist with balance. Years later the sons of the two heroes reignited the disagreement, Unova was laid to waste by the thunders of Zekrom and the infernos of Reshiram, who vanished after realising their wrongdoings.

When the original Dragon split a third entity remained, an empty shell lacking truth, ideals or emotion. Kyurem. It is unclear how Kyurem came to reside in the Giant Chasm and as such there several theories; the most plausible three follow. The first–as told by The Legend of Lacunosa Town–suggests that a meteor appeared from the skies carrying Kyurem, forming the Giant Chasm after colliding with the ground, where the Pokémon resides for centuries following the impact. This would suggest that Kyurem was transported from the planet (possibly by its creator, Arceus) and returned to Unova when Kyurem was needed.

The second theory, holds the same basis as the first. However, the meteorite would have contained the Original Dragon rather than Kyurem. This would mean that after creating creating the Unova region the Dragon travelled into space and resided there until it witnessed the feuding Twin Heroes. At this point the Dragon will have propelled itself into a collision course with the planet, eventually crashing into the area behind Lacunosa Town creating the area now known as the Giant Chasm. This is where the Dragon would have split into the three members of the Tao Trio; Zekrom, Reshiram and Kyurem. After the dragon of truths and the dragon of ideals fled to their respective brothers Kyurem remained within the chasm, waiting, becoming the beast featured in The Legend of Lacunosa.

Finally, this third theory suggests the Original dragon split where the Giant Chasm is currently situated. After Zekrom and Reshiram left to engage in battle, Kyurem would have remained as an empty lifeless shell. The meteor was sent to Unova by a higher being to bring life to the beast and its longing for a hero of truths and ideals. (As a note to all theories: Kyurem has several signs of damage on its body that may suggest it was maimed during the meteor impact.)

Now, as you may have already guessed, the Tao trio has a very close relation to Taoism of our world. Each of the three dragons represent a different part of Tao, as can be seen in the Taiji symbol (more commonly called the Yin Yang symbol), the balance between both yin and yang:

The dragon of ideals, Zekrom is based on the concept of yin. Despite being the negative, dark entity Zekrom/yin does not represent evil. Yin opposes the concept of yang, but is neither right or wrong, as in the battle between the Twin Heroes.

Reshiram, the dragon of truths follows the idea of yang. Associated with positivity and light, Reshiram’s appearance draws from this idea. Heaven was created by the concentration of yang, which may possibly explain Reshiram’s angelic appearance.

Wuji, the absence of both yin and yang. Wuji is symbolised as a circle to provide a physical reference. Kyurem has no “polarity” in the world. It battles for neither truths or ideals and does not side with either of the two dragons.

The Black and White Kyurem formes introduced in BW2 slightly confuse the concept of Taiji. Kyurem (wuji) is said to be awaiting reformation with both Zekrom (yin) and Reshiram (yang), to reform the Original Dragon (Taiji). If wuji merges with yin or yang it is said to convert to a middle ground between it and the respective concept. This idea is also mirrored in the Pokémon World. Assuming the theories behind how the three dragons came to exist are predominantly true Kyurem should be able to fuse with both Zekrom and Reshiram, at the same time. The Gene Wedge/DNA Link Pin only allows the fusion of two Pokémon, suggesting that Team Plasma were unable to successfully replicate the fusion of all three, or that the dragons denied a successful fusion.

Regardless of why Kyurem cannot fuse with both Zekrom and Reshiram in BW2, the existence of the Original Dragon/taiji cannot be argued. Zekrom, Reshiram and likely Kyurem are all part of a greater existence, as such we will hopefully receive more consolidated information on the relationship between the three dragons and their origin stories in the English versions of BW2.[/spoiler]

The relationship between the three dragons and Kyurem’s formes is a complex one, but what do you readers think? How do you believe Kyurem really came to exist? What do you think is the real reason Kyurem can’t fuse with both Zekrom and Reshiram in BW2? Post your comments and theories!

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