#lono

I am once again covering the real-life inspirations of legendary and mythical Pokemon, this time covering those introduced in generation VI . For previous entries see Gen VI, V, IV, III, II, and I. For previous series I did like this see all fish Pokemon, all non-fish aquatics, and all starters.

I'm not sure why Type: Null and Silvally are considered legendaries, but since they are, I'll cover them. These two are chimeras, creatures made of parts of other creatures. In particular, the birdlike front claws and face with mammalian hind legs make them look a lot like wingless griffons. They are also based on the idea of mad science. The first Type: Null were created by the Aether Foundation, but were considered a failure and locked away. The idea of a scientist creating some kind of new life that is extremely dangerous is a classic, going back to at least the original Frankenstein novel by Mary Shelley. The bolts in Type: Null and Silvally's heads likely draw from the Universal Pictures version of Frankenstein's monster, who had bolts in his neck. The created monster being a chimera is also a classic trope of mad science stories. See stuff like the Island of Doctor Moreau.

(Image: a griffon. It is a quadrupedal animal with the hindquarters of a lion and the front legs, head, and wings of an eagle. SOurce from the D&D 5e monster manual. End ID)

Type: Null and Silvally also appear to be based on Arceus. They are both quadrupeds that can change type by holding a certain item. The trope that mad scientists are playing god with their creations is another classic. It appears that by trying to create new life, the Aether Foundation created an inferior and dangerous version of the Pokemon world's god.

The Tapu are in general based on deities or spirits throughout Polynesian cultures. The word tapu is used in multiple Polynesian cultures to mean something sacred or a set of rules followed to live a good life. Kapu, which is used in the Japanese names of the Tapu, is the Hawai'ian version of Tapu. This association matches the Tapu, who are worshiped by the people of Alola and are also very fickle. People have to follow certain rules to avoid angering their island's Tapu. Visually, the Tapu resemble tiki statues and the faces on totem poles. Tiki statues traditionally represent Tiki, the first man in multiple Polynesian myths, but can also depict other deities or animals. The Hawiian name for tiki statues is kiʻi. Each Tapu resembles an animal when its shell is closed. The behavior of each Tapu also corresponds to one of four important Hawai'ian gods.

(Image: A kiʻi statue from Puʻuhonua o Hōnaunau National Historical Park. It is a wooden stature of a man with a stylized face. End ID)

Tapu Koko is based on a rooster and its name comes from kokō, the Hawai'ian onomatopoeia for the sound of a rooster crowing. The god it is based on is Kū, a god who takes on many aspects representing politics, fishing, agriculture, war, sorcery, and nature. The different aspects of Kū have different names. The aspect that most fits Tapu Koko is Ku-kaʻili-moku, or Kū the snatcher of land, a war deity often depicted as having feathers like Tapu Koko. Tapu Koko is the most aggressive of the Tapu and the first to rush into battle.

(Image: a feather sculpture of Ku-kaʻili-moku. It is a stylized, bird-like head with large eyes and a mouth fulled with fangs. It is made of wood, wicker, teeth, and feathers. End ID)

Tapu Lele is based on a butterfly chrysalis and its name comes from pulelehua, which means butterfly in Hawai'ian. In legends, Tapu Lele is associated with nature and growth as it can encourage plant growth. It is also the most fickle of the Tapu and can kill as easily as it heals. This kind of fickleness is associated with nature, which is famously red in tooth and claw. The god it is based on is Kāne, a creator deity associated with reproduction and nature. Tapu Lele may also draw from the Greek Goddess Psyche, goddess of the soul who was often depicted with butterfly wings.

Tapu Bulu is based on a bull. It is the most passive of the Tapu, ususally minding its own business and ringing a bell to warn others of its presence so they will stay away. It will only attack if provoked. It also has the power to grow and shape plants. These traits, plus its grass typing, associate it with the god Lono, who was a deity of agriculture and peace, among other things.

Tapu Fini is based on a swordfish while its humanoid body looks like a mermaid and its shell opens and closes like a bivalve mollusc. It has the power to control water and is a water-type, associating it with the sea god Kanaloa. Tapu Fini is both respected and feared, fitting for a deity of the ocean. The ocean is notoriously both a bounty of natural resources and a very dangerous place. Tapu Fini also has power over mist and fogs over the ocean are common.

(Image: tiki-style art of the four gods. From left to right they are Kanaloa, Kane, Ku, and Lono. End ID)

The cosmog line are based on space and celestial objects. Cosmog is based on a nebula, or more specifically, a molecular cloud. Nebulae are clouds of gas, dust, and other materials that are attracted to each other by gravity. Molecular clouds are types of nebulae or regions within nebulae that are dense enough and contain the right mix of materials for star formation. Cosmoem represents the process of star formation further. To form a star, materials must be pulled together by gravity to form a ball massive enough that its internal gravity starts fusing molecules together. Stars and protostars are therefore extremely dense, much like Cosmoem, who is one of the heaviest yet one of the smallest of all Pokemon. It could also be based on neutron stars and black holes, which are far denser than regular stars. Cosmoem also drawn from the world egg, a motif found in many creation myths. In these myths, the world/universe or creator deity emerged from an egg at the beginning of creation.

(Image: a false-color image of a molecular cloud. It is a cloud of colorful gas in an abstract shape with stars in and around it. Source: NASA. End ID)

Solgaleo is based on the sun and a lion. The association of lions and the sun is seen is multiple sources. In alchemy, a green lion eating the sun was a symbol of aqua regia (a mix of acids) dissolving matter and was associated with metal, hence Solgaleo's steel type. Lions have also been associated with the sun in mythological imagery since as least as far back as the ancient Mesopotamian sun god Shamash, who was often depicted as a lion. Most lion and sun depictions have a male lion (which Solgaleo is based on because it has a mane), but there is at least one lioness deity, the Eye of Ra, who guarded the sun at night when it passed through the underworld. This myth could have inspired Solgaleo's role as a traveler through other dimensions and an enemy of the light-draining Necrozma. Solgaleo's steel typing may also come from spaceships.

(Image: a lion and sun design used as the official symbol of Iran until 1979. It is a drawing of a stylized lion holding a sword and standing in front of the sun End ID)

Lunala is based on a bat and the moon. Bats are among the most well-known nocturnal animals worldwide and are associated with nighttime in many mythologies. One of the more famous examples of this is the Mayan bat god Camazotz, associated with the night, death, and sacrifice. A more benevolent example is the Samoan goddess Leutogi, who was a protector deity. Lunala's skeletal appearance and ghost typing likely draw from an extinct species of Hawai'ian bat Synemporion keana, one of only two bat species known to be native to the Hawai'ian islands. It may also draw from Hine-nui-te-pō, Maori goddess of the night who received and protected the souls of the dead. Lunala having an extra eye in its full moon phase may reference the Hawai'ian legend of the demigod Maui stealing the eyes of an eight-eyed bat monster named Pe'a-pe'a-makawalu.

(Image: a Hawi'ian hoary bat/ʻōpeʻapeʻa (Lasiurus semotus) held in hand. It is a small, hairy, brown bat with a pug-like snout and pointed ears. End ID)

Necrozma is based on a prism, a crystal through which light can be refracted to make a rainbow. Its black crystal appearance also draws from black colored quarts and obsidian. Necrozma's role as a monster that absorbs light likely draws from a black hole. These are collapsed stars with a gravity well so powerful that even light, the fastest thing in the universe, cannot escape if it gets too close. The large head and psychic powers of Necrozma may draw form depictions of aliens like the greys.

(Image: a cluster of black quartz crystals. They are angular crystals a deep black in color. End ID)

Dawn Wings and Dusk Mane Necrozma represent eclipses. Their Japanese names are literally translated as solar eclipse and lunar eclipse. Solar eclipses occur when the moon moves between the Earth and the sun and lunar eclipses occur when the Earth moves between the sun and the moon. In both cases, the light of the sun/moon is blocked just like how Necrozma steals the light of the legendary.

(image: a total solar eclipse. It looks like a black circle in the sky with a halo of light around it. End ID. Source: NASA)

Ultra Necrozma is a dragon made of light and its former role as the sun equivalent of Ultra Megalopolis can tie it to any number of solar dragon deities, such as Zhulong or some depictions of Horus. In keeping with the space theme, it could represent a quasar. Quasars are the brightest objects in the universe and the result of a materials releasing light and heat as they fall into a supermassive black hole. The sheer quantity of stuff that falls into and orbits supermassive black holes are why they are so bright. If regular Necrozma is a black hole, Ultra Necrozma is the quasar. Ultra Necrozma may also represent Lucifer. In popular Christian mythos, Lucifer (whose name comes from the Roman word for Venus and literally means light-bringer) was the first angel to rebel and was cast out of heaven to become the devil. This somehwat mirrors Ultra Necrozma falling from Ultra Megalopolis to Alola and losing its light in the process.

(Image: an artistic interpretation of a quasar. It looks like a beam of light emerging from the red-hot center of a spiral in space. End ID. Source)

Magearna being an ancient robot makes it an automaton. Automata are mechanisms that can move based on their construction, often with minimal input from a person. They date back to ancient Greece and one of the most famous artifacts in the world, the Antikythera mechanism, is an example. It was an automaton that modeled the solar system accurately enough to be used to predict eclipses in advance. Another example of automata are karakuri puppets, Japanese dolls designed to move and make gestures.

(Image: a karakuri puppet with the covering removed to show the mechanisms within. It has multiple gears and locking mechanisms inside a wood frame with ceramic arms and a head attached. End ID)

Marshadow is based on the nightmarchers (huakaʻi pō), the ghosts of great warriors in Hawai'ian legends. On certain holy knights, they would rise from their graves and march in formation in the air around the islands. Seeing the nightmarchers or acting defiant to them was said to bring a violent death, but you could escape by laying face-down, which would show them proper respect. Marshadow is a literal ghost warrior and is almost never see, much like how you weren't supposed to look at the nigthmarchers. Marshadow's size could also draw from the menehune, a race of small people from Hawai'ian mythology. Its association with shadows could be a pun on shadow boxing.

(Image: a menehune piggy bank made by the Bank of Hawaii. Is looks like a small, pudgy man with a large head sitting down. End ID)

Zeraora seems to be based on the raiju, a beast from Japanese mythology that is a living thunderbolt and often depicted as a catlike. It's the same origin as Raikou. It also draws from the kamaitachi, a Yokai often depicted as a weasel that moves extremely fast. They work in trios to cut people and then heal them so fast that the person feels the pain but sees no wound. You may recognize them as the origin for Sneasel and Weavile.

(Image: a depiction of a raiju from Ban Kōkē's Kanda-Jihitsu. It is a bizarre, vaguely tiger-like animal with a thick mane of hair and short legs with very large claws. End ID)

I was surprised to realize that Meltan and Melmetal are considered mythicals, but they are, so here I go. They are based on the metals mercury and gallium. Mercury is liquid at room temperature and Gallium melts at 30 C (86 f). Gallium also reacts with other metals like tin and aluminum, leaving them much more brittle. This could be the inspiration for the line absorbing metal into their bodies. They could also be based on grey goo, an apocalypse scenario where self-replicating nanobots run out of control and convert everything around them into more nanobots. Melmetal also probably drawns from one-eyed giants like the Greek cyclops or Irish Balor.

The islands of Hawaii are so beautiful that it took multiple gods to create it!