#original dragon

from the makers of man turns into dragon

The Original Dragon split on Unova

Kalos War during AZ's reign

Have you heard of this Pokemon theory about the Original Dragon and the Forces of Nature? Let me catch you up on it so I can dive deeper into the symbolism of the Four (Five?) Heavenly Beasts and the Five Phases. I think there's a lot more to this theory than people give it credit for, especially after the Abyssal Ruins leak.

The Therian Forces of Nature are probably based on The Four Heavenly Beasts, creatures in Chinese mythology and Taoism that guard the cardinal directions of the earth and heavens. Thundrus is the Azure Dragon of the East, Tornadus is the Vermillion Bird of the South, Landorus is the White Tiger of the West and Enamorus is the Black Tortoise of the North. 

Each of the Therian Forms has a mysterious gem on their chest that matches the color of Heavenly Beast they are based on. That is, except for Enamorus, who has a green gem instead of a black one - but I think I can explain why. More on that in a bit.

The Therian Forms didn't always have these gems during the design process. I'm guessing the developers added them to strengthen their connection with the Heavenly Beasts.

Even though they're called the Four Heavenly Beasts, some variations include one more: the emperor Yellow Dragon of the Center.  And wouldn't you know it, Kyurem has a big Yellow gem of its own on its forehead. 

That much of the theory is well-explored.  But what I don't see people go into when talking about this theory is all of the symbolism - the charts upon charts of sets of "five things" associated with the Heavenly Beasts. It's actually pretty appropriate for Gen Five.

Note: I am definitely no expert in Chinese mythology or Taoism. This research was purely for Pokemon theory crafting! Please feel free to correct any inaccuracies or add details in the comments. Thanks!

The Heavenly Beasts are each associated with five "elements" that match their colors: Azure Wood, Vermillion Fire, Yellow Earth, White Metal, and Black Water.  This is Wuxing, the "Five Phases" in Taoism.  For this post I'll call them "elements" because it's in the context of Pokemon. But Wuxing is more about the interaction between each element than the elements themselves.

Diagram based on this Adobe Stock Image

(Whenever I mention an element, I'm going to name it with its color - for example "Yellow Earth" - just to make it easier to match with its corresponding Heavenly Beast.) 

The Five Phases interact in cycles - water nourishes wood, wood feeds fire, but also wood depletes water and fire burns wood.  Sound familiar?  The cycles are like flowing paths of type advantages and weaknesses...except the Pokemon type chart doesn't form a perfect star when you draw it.

If you grew up on Pokemon types, especially in the west, some of these elemental colors might seem unusual to you.  Why is it Azure Wood?  Or Black Water?  This is why I believe Enamorus ended up with a green gem rather than a black gem: Pokemon wanted the five colors to better match the franchise's color associations.

There is some variation in how different sources portray the colors of the Heavenly Beasts and their elements. In ancient times a lot of cultures didn't differentiate between green and blue, so the Azure Dragon and Wood can be represented with Green, Blue, or any color between.

So they could have given Thundrus the Green Gem - but Pokemon went with Blue for several reasons. Not only are there lots of cultural depictions of a bright blue Azure Dragon, but giving Thundrus a Green Gem might clash with its green-skinned rival Tornadus.

Then ten years later, here comes Enamorus. A Blue Gem would have been perfect for Enamorus, since Blue is occasionally associated with the Black Tortoise and Water. But, it was already taken. And Pokemon probably wanted to avoid using Black, because a "Black Gem" together with Landorus's White Gem might clash with Reshiram and Zekrom. So Enamorus ended up with the Green Gem instead.

Now you can interpret this in one of two ways.  Did they change the colors of the elements, or did they switch the elements so that now Enamorus has the Green "Wood" Gem in Pokemon since she's connected to fertility, while Thundrus has the Blue "Water" Gem since he's a generally rainy guy? 

But I digress. Let's get back to the main topic.

Source: wanghongliu on Wikipedia entry for "Yellow Dragon"

Each of the elements in Wuxing are associated with Yin or Yang. Azure Wood is the idea of natural energy - together with Vermillion Fire, both are Yang, energetic and lively. Black Water and White Metal are Yin.  (It's kind of ironic Black Water and White Metal are both Yin - but color coding in ancient symbolism is never perfect.)

Yellow Earth is both Yin and Yang, in a sense representing the whole Taijitu, and it corresponds with the Yellow Dragon of the Center. If the Original Dragon of Unova is based on the Yellow Dragon, it would be both Yin and Yang - both Zekrom and Reshiram!  This is probably why you see diagrams of the Four Heavenly Beasts with the Taijitu in the center. 

The Yellow Dragon is said to be the Yellow Emperor of China, who turned into a dragon after ascending to the heavens.  I think there is a similar metaphorical connection between the ancient King of Unova and his signature Pokemon, the Original Dragon.  In the Abyssal Ruins, King Harmonia is literally represented with the symbol of the Original Dragon, machine translated as "the creature known as God".

Source: Pokeleaks on Reddit via ImmaculateOne-Browne

What about the Yellow Dragon's cardinal direction, the "Center"? Unova is one of only two regions with a major landmark in the region's center.   In an early plan for the map, the "Imperial Palace" was in the center, likely the Elite Four building.  While this is a reference to the Japanese Imperial Palace, there have also been "Imperial Palaces" in China's history.  Either way, as royal palace, it's a perfect "Center" for the imperial Yellow Dragon.

Source for Beta Unova Map: CentroLeaks

In the canon however, the center of Unova's map is home to the Entralink, and the entrance to the Dream World.  This is also perfect, because the Forces of Nature are rumored to come from the Interdream Zone.  In fact, it's speculated that their Therian Forms are their original forms.

Remember I said that the Four Heavenly Beasts guard the cardinal directions of the heavens?  Well, the Dream World is an easy analogy for heaven, because it's a realm of rainbows and floating islands in the sky.  So it makes sense that Pokemon based on the Four Heavenly Beasts would come from an area connected to the Dream World. 

Another easy analogy for heaven is space.  Symbolically, this is probably why so many powerful space dragons, like the Original Dragon of Unova, keep crashing into the Pokemon World.

Hear me out though: considering the possibility that the Original Dragon is connected to the Forces of Nature...is it possible that the Original Dragon only looked like it came from space, and instead it actually crashed down from a portal to the Interdream Zone that opened in the sky?

Finally, my first real Gen V theory! After all of those Z-A theories, I wanted to get back to my roots - and what a fun rabbit hole to go down. The Heavenly Beasts and the Five Phases match with so many things - for example, the seasons, which are also major in the Unova games.  But that's as far as I'll go into the rabbit hole for now, because my real goal here, the reason I researched and wrote all of this… was to set up my eventual theory about N's Puzzle Cube. 

If you're interested in some Pokemon Z-A theories, check out my post Getting to the Roots of Zygarde! where I talk about the symbolism behind Zygarde's nature powers, and the role they might play in Z-A.

For a lot of us, it's been a hard time lately, so I hope this brought a little cheer to somebody. Take care of yourself and stay safe!