In this subseries, I will analyze the potential origins of the Pokemon in order to discover hidden details and potential. As part of June’s Pokemon Direct, we saw several Pokemon revealed including Wooloo.

Wooloo is a normal-type sheep Pokemon, which is pretty easy to determine from its design. Its name seems to simplify derive from the word “wool”.

The Pokemon website provides this description of Wooloo:

The white fur that covers their bodies grows throughout their lives, and it will fully grow back in three months even if the Wooloo has been completely shorn. The fur is used for clothing and carpets and the like, and it is very popular as a specialty product of the Galar region. Wooloo live as a herd and mimic the actions of their Trainer or herd leader. They dislike conflict, and if they need to escape from enemies, they will simply roll away.

Having a sheep Pokemon was easy to expect, as sheep are a common part of Scottish culture. As the player starts out in the south part of Galar, which is geographically equivalent to Scotland, you’ll probably encounter many of these roaming around. In one screenshot, it’s seen on Route 1.

There are more sheep in Scotland than people, according to the Scottish government and reported by the BBC. Other interesting facts in that article include the existence of sheep racing, and the mention of Soay sheep that live in a remote archipelago. These rougher sheep may play a role in Wooloo’s evolution, or potentially serve as a split evolution.

One of the common domestic sheep species in the United Kingdom is the Shetland sheep, which may be the design inspiration for Wooloo. Both are bred for their fine wool. The sheep is also bred for meat, but hopefully that won’t come up in the game. Although Wooloo seems produce a clearly white wool, Shetland sheep can come in a variety of different colors. It would be neat to see alternative forms of Wooloo for different colors, which could tie more into the game’s clothing feature.

Very wooly

Sheep grow wool pretty quickly today, and require someone to shear the wool. This process is typically just cutting off most of its fleece once a year. It’s done often in the warmer months, which helps the sheep to stay cool.

In the past, sheep frequently grew regular hair more than wool. Archaeology findings suggest that sheep began being selectively bred to encourage the production of wool in the area around Iran around 6000 BC. Later, sheep began to be migrated and sold in Europe. Sheep were one particular animal raised, among common breeds including cows.

Then in the late eighteenth century and early nineteenth, there was a process known as the Highland Clearances. This was a large-scale set of evictions by landlords to those renting their land. The tenants were replaced by sheep farmers, who could pay higher rents to the landlords. This led to a large increase in the number of sheep in the country, and had many consequences for the country’s political and economic situation.

Wooloo’s skittish behavior is common among real sheep, and often shepherds will have dogs to help steer sheep in the right directions. There are many breeds of dogs that are notable for herding. Such species have historically included the Cardigan Welsh Corgi and the Pembroke Welsh Corgi. These dogs were used often in herding cattle, but grew less common in that role at Scotland transitioned to sheep.

The Pembroke Welsh Corgi Club of America, Inc. lets us know that corgis are fine at herding sheep, and even more effective with cattle. This provides a great cohesion with Yamper, a Pokemon revealed at E3 that is inspired by welsh corgis.

Cropped screenshot taken from https://www.serebii.net/swordshield/pokemon.shtml

I’ll definitely cover Yamper in more detail in the future, but I did want to point out the real world relationships in order to think about how this may affect the relationships of the Pokemon in-game. Will we see Yamper in the overworld, running around and spooking Wooloo? It’s certainly possible. I imagine Yamper will play some sort of herding role.

What is next for Wooloo? Since we can see it on Route 1, it definitely is the first-stage. Will there be a second stage? There are many ways that it can evolve. Perhaps it will evolve based on gender, with females evolving into a larger ewe while males evolve into a ram. Wooloo’s pigtails could easily turn into thick, curved horns.

This could relate back to the wild Soay sheep. In a dramatic shift, this evolution could be aggressive and not be willing to back down. Going back to its short description, this evolution could the “herd leader” for wild Wooloo. This would make the Pokemon more useful for trainers, as they could evolve Wooloo and have a tougher Pokemon.

A ewe evolution may not have horns, but it’s possible that it goes further into the wool theme to become bulkier and more defense. Depending on the gender Wooloo could evolve into an offensive or defensive Pokemon, playing well into the theme of Sword and Shield.

What do you think Wooloo’s evolutions could be? What other relationships to Scottish culture does it have?