#candlesnuff

Mushitober 07-09 : Chamroeun the Candlesnuff, Montserrat the Legendary Little Brown Mushroom and Felicity the Witches' Butter

Source: Bulbapedia, Wikipedia, Bulbapedia, Enchanted Nature

Xerneas and Yveltal are my favorite legendary designs. There's something weirdly alien about these bio-luminescent approximations of fauna, like they're trying to look like animals and failing. I've always thought they looked a little bit...fungal.

Xerneas and Yveltal are like batteries. They're life energy brokers; Xerneas distributes life, while Yveltal drains it. Supporting and draining life is one of the main characteristics of fungi. In fact, it's like their whole thing.

Some fungi have a mutualistic relationship with their hosts, where they actually benefit their health. And in general, fungi are essential to supporting the ecosystem. Then there's fungi that are simply parasitic.

Fungi can also go dormant, as well as their spores. Staying still is their thing, just chilling in dark places. Xerneas and Yveltal's dormant forms are especially weird, showing just how anomalous these creatures are.

Now allow me to lichen fauna to fungi.

Sources: Bulbapedia, New Forest Pics, Wikipedia, Mushroom Diary Blog

This is xylaria hypoxylon, also known as Stag's Horn fungus. (Not to be confused with Yellow Staghorn.) It reminds me a lot of the dormant form of Xerneas, or the "deactivated" form it takes in the PC.

Stag's Horn is also bio-luminscent, which means the tips of the fungus faintly glow - much like the tips of Xerneas's antlers.

Speaking of the first legendary Fairy Pokemon, mushrooms are often associated with fairies. Fairy Rings are circles of mushrooms that are connected by mycelium underneath. (I'll get into mycelium in just a second.) There are too many myths about Fairy Rings to get into here, so for now I'll just point out the Fairy Ring around Valerie's Gym in Laverre City.

Sources: Bulbapedia, Sussex Wildlife Trust, Enchanted Nature, UK Wildlife

I'm not sure whether Bulbapedia or Dr. King on Pokemon Amino first likened Yveltal to Devil's Fingers, but the similarities are uncanny. Like Yveltal emerges from its cocoon, Devil's Fingers emerge from what is called their "egg stage". I tried to find the least unsettling picture of this that I could. Enjoy...?

I mean, what kind of bird turns into a cocoon, anyway? Honestly though, fungus isn't supposed to hatch from an egg either, so this is all mixed up.

Okay, so Xerneas and Yveltal are based on different aspects of Yggdrasil. But if you were going to design Pokemon based on Yggdrasil, the World Tree that connects the universe, wouldn't you base it on fungi rather than an actual tree? Mycelium can actually partner with the roots of plants and other fungus to create a widespread beneficial mycorrhizal network, a truly interconnected ecosystem of organisms.

Source: BBC News - How Trees Secretly Talk to Each Other

And that's why Xerneas and Yveltal are fungi. Or it could be part of their inspiration, at least. They're not necessarily inspired by these specific fungi, but I think the concept may be part of their design. Either way, Gen VI is especially fun to research!

Reviewed by @fluffybunnybadass.

Check out my posts about Pokemon Legends: Z-A:

Poll: What Does the Λ in Legends Z-A Symbolize?

Pokemon Legends Z-A: What Is the Λ?

Is Z-A Just Zygarde-A? (%1000 Zygarde and the Fragments of the Tree of Life)

Aaah, it's an A! Is the A in Z-A the Tree of Life?

Candlesnuff Fungus

funguary day 7, candlesnuff

Funguary Day 7 - Candlesnuff

(Originally posted: 10 February 2022)

Funguary Day 7, Candlesnuff!

Why do the candles have green fire? Bc I like green.

When one of the titans of the forest fall, all know that her arrival is imminent. The cracking of bark and the crashing of timber is sound that heralds her arrival. Where the ancient giant lays, she will come and begin her ritual. Growth from the fallen, new life from the dead. Once a pillar of the olden wood, now a crumbling husk consumed by the undergrowth. Some fear her, as her appearance is brought upon by death. For these ancient sentinels, she may seem like their reaper, waiting for their fall. Others, though, see something else within her. By her hand, the deceased shall enrich the land it lays upon, giving back to the forest one last time. From them, life-giving nutrients may be taken and shared amongst the others of this ancient wood. Even their young may receive these gifts, so that one day they too may reach the heavens like those before them. To them, she does not desecrate, but bless, letting the dead live on through the forest around them, giving to the world they treasured so dear.  

A reaper to some, an angel to others, but no one is really sure what she thinks of all it. She merely comes and go, with little else to say. Perhaps she sees this as a blessing to the wood, or maybe she does find enjoyment in consuming the dead. No one can really say, for all anyone knows this just might be her job and she just simply does it.

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“Hand of Decay”