rio ?!

wyll & mudsdale

WYLL HAS TO BE MAJESTIC

he's the son of a duke, and he carries himself in such a princely manner that YES. he WOULD be the kind of pokémon kids would be obsessed with. you've heard of horse-girls, now get ready for mudsdale kids

[wyll being the superhero of faerûn is so cute to me. all the kids love him IM CONVINCEDDD!! do you think there are books written about him? imagine browsing the shops in baldur's gate and encountering a blade of frontier book series. "THE BLADE OF FRONTIERS TRILOGY: MINOTAUR MAYHEM!" ohhh i'd make fun of him so bad. and then i'd buy one]

also, given that he's literally the blade of FRONTIERS, i wanted an earth type pokémon. mudsdale is a ground, specifically mud, type, but the red reminds me a little bit of fire. a hellish influence, perhaps...?

the fact that mudsale is so strong was also another reason why i chose him. out of all the origin guys, wyll is the only one whose muscles are believable. he's still warlock, though, so let's not give him too much credit.

wyll is the most well traveled of all the companions, so i think a horse would really suit him. given that they're, you know, the most important part of medieval traveling

plus, horses are incredibly versatile. they fit in both noble and common spaces, which is a transition that wyll has experienced himself.

astarion & zubat

as if he'd be anything else

he's literally a vampire what do you want from me

LOOK AT THE COLOR SCHEME LIKE ???? the purple. the blue. the outstretched wings and the fanged mouth that literally looks like it's howling Like all the reasons are right there your honor . case closed

but appearances aside, zubat is a nocturnal pokémon that avoids sunlight. they're usually found in caves or old houses, and have a tendency to form Colonies.

sound familiar?

if we pokémonize all the vampires, then i suppose the spawn would be zubat and cazador would be golbat. does that mean ascended astarion is crobat...?

imagine you're a pokémon trainer just minding your business, only to open the wrong door and swamped by 83733773 zubats. how would you even fight them all 😭

anyways, zubat is a flying and poison type. it can bite people, so i like to think that poisoned is it's version of bloodless

i'm not sure if zubat really has much of a personality, but seeing as we already have batstarion, just..... use that. i guess 😭

this one was too easy oh geez

halsin & torterra

I KNOW HALSIN TURNS INTO A BEAR BUT JUST HEAR ME OUTT

halsin's like the most devoted druid in the entire world, and torterra literally has an entire ecosystem on its back

small animals literally climb on it and build their nests 😭😭 they're like a whale with barnacles

plus torterra is HUGE. when they migrate in groups [the rest of the grove, perhaps..?] they're mistaken for moving forests. plus, there's apparently an old belief that the earth was just a giant torterra so. that could be silvanus

imagine if they stack on top of eachother like russian nesting dolls

anyways, torterra is kind and gentle hearted, but i imagine that pissing it off would have some really disastrous consequences for you 😭 it would squish you like a bug and leave your corpse for the maggots

nature's fertilizer

minsc and boo & dipplin

i'll be the first to admit that's there's probably a better pokémon out there, but i couldn't find it

i wanted a dual pokémon that would actually do boo justice 😭😭 i landed on dipplin, simply because a pair of pokemon grow in the apple

like two peas in a pod 💗

the pokemon in the apple is actually a "wyrm" and it's capable of poking its head out. so i would like to think there's a notable size different between boo and minsc...

the apple itself is made of syrup, and is made by both of the pokémon inside. they work together to make it, which is so funny actually. it's like they're small business owners

lae'zel & greninja

is this an obvious one or ...?

tbh this is mostly because greninja would always fuck me up in smash, and that's just very githyanki of him [i get scared whenever the psionic detector goes off PLS HALF OF MY PARTY DIES EVERYTIMEODUF]

he doesn't use a sword but that's okay, lae'zel doesn't need one. the sword needs HER

obvious reptilian comparison here... greninja is a frog and githyanki are like geckos..? either way, i take that lae'zel gecko eye headcanon VERY seriously and it's a trait she probably shares with greninja

most of all, greninja is incredibly graceful. it moves with the fluidity of a ninja, which i think is reminiscent of a githyanki monk.

fighting is an art they have both perfected so !! watch out !!

shadowheart & absol

BELIEVE ME WHEN I SAY SHADOWHEART WAS THE HARDEST ONE TO ASSIGN

originally i wanted act 1 shadowheart, but i couldn't find a pokémon that looked like a middle ground between shar and selûne. then i found absol.

they both have white hair, and yet absol's darker parts both resemble shadowheart's eyeshadow and sharron purple. [two sides of the same coin, i suppose. you can't worship selûne without acknowledging shar and vice versa.]

absol has a very elegant and mysterious look to them, and while the wiki says they're relatively feline, i think their ambiguity allows for both a kinship with wolves and also shadowheart's fear of them.

also, absol is sometimes referred to as a "bringer of doom" and is somewhat disliked by the elderly. i think that fits shadowheart quite well, especially because the name itself stems from a misunderstanding. absol actually protects fields from natural disasters, but this results in them being blamed for the disaster appearing at all.

might be a bit of a stretch, but absol becoming the "bringer of doom" because of an act of protection reminds me a lot of shadowheart. specifically, if she refuses to kill aylin.

jaheira & serperior

first off, the two little horns on the back of serperior's head remind me of elf ears and that makes me really happy

also, their color palette is practically the same. the yellow reminds me of jaheira's scimitars, which the little horns also resemble, and the green fits really well with the druidic armor

serperior [also sounds like superior, funnily enough] really matches someone in jaheira's position. if you think "high harper" would you not think of something as regal and formidable as this?

serperior is not an easy pokémon to intimidate !! just like jaheira, they're known for their cleverness and the ability to freeze their opponents with just a glare.

overall, though, jaheira pairs really well with serperior because of her experience. the pokémon exudes a steeliness that doesn't fit with just anyone. even without her position as high harper, jaheira's ability to stay charismatic and friendly despite her position is what ties her to serperior the most.

i like to think she's one of the most valuable companions for tav. while the others are good romance options, jaheira's friendship allows her to become something of a mentor. i like to think she would give tav advice should they prompt it, and she would be one of the few people to know what it's like to lead such an important team.

her presence in the party is a choice, like serperior joining a trainer's team. she doesn't necessarily need you, but she joins you anyway.

minthara & mewtwo

okay so this pokémon was another smash nightmare

given that she's a drow, i really really wanted to give her a spider, but none of those pokémon really look like minthara. so i thought perhaps mewtwo..?

in the detective pikachu movie, mewtwo was created and experimented on by humans in a lab. this kinda reminded me of the absolute.

she is Minthara Baenre, but the Chosen lured her out of menzoberranzen and Made her a true soul. so much so that she develops a genuine fear of orin. not to mention, mewtwo is a Psychic pokémon, which means its abilities mostly involve the mind. [in the DP movie, that also causes issues, as a person literally tries to take advantage of that at mewtwo's expense]

plus, mewtwo is just generally a really scary pokémon 😭 i've never seen one that didn't absolutely fuck its opponent UP

mewtwo and minthara are both fearsome and somewhat cruel figures, but earning their trust grants you unwavering loyalty.

it just occurred to me that most of my reasons are because of the DP movie, but that's okay!! it's not my fault both mewtwo and minthara had brain altering struggles for freedom. if anything, that's just fate.

in terms of physical appearance, though, a minthara pokemon would definitely have a hardened exterior. as majestic as she is, i have time imagining her as anything "soft" or plushy.