The Pokemon World and Politics

[Chase]

Hello guys - time for another Pokemon theory. This one is particularly special to me (confirmed or otherwise) because it combines two things I've really had my heart after lately. Pokemon itself - and the dealings of governance known as "Politics".

What is the theory then?

The Pokemon "Leagues" symbolize the "levels" of Government within the regions of the Pokemon Universe.

This means that the Champions of the region effectively are not just a celebrity figures, but are actually figurehead LEADERS in the region.

The questions we'll need to answer though, are WHY this is today.

---

1. The Gym Leaders/Elite Four members/Champions act as the region's strongest peacekeepers.

Here are a few distinct Gym Leaders with the kind of background that suggests their presence deters conflict.

Starting with Vermilion City's Lt. Surge, we know for a fact that the 'Lightning American' is a former/current soldier who 'fought in the war'. Follow Gym Leader Koga of Fuchsia City is someone who is trained in ninjutsu, a now martial art archetype that was former renowned for it's usefulness in espionage in feudal Japan - as is his daughter Janine, who takes his place two years later.

Drayden quite literally is the head of Opelucid City as the town's Mayor - which is a direct homage to Unova being an Americanized region and American local governance.

Morty takes a more sage-like protector position in Ecruteak, but is indicated to know of disturbances due to his knowledge of the Legendary Beasts of the Burned Tower along with his ability to see into the future (his discription is 'the Mystic-Seer of the Future.')

In fact, every region seems to have some sort of protector like figure holding a Gym position. In Hoenn, Norman is quite literally the player's father, who immediately stands to protect his family - while Wattson is a public servant who is credited with the design and innovation of Mauville City.

In addition to Drayden - Clay has a role similar to that of businessman Donald Trump, claiming Driftviel's "big-cheese" status and innovating his locale in the same manner Wattson does.

So, these big time leaders seemingly take more often than not specific posts for the good of their communities. Going so far as to prevent things like war and disturbances with their leadership ability and the strength of their Pokemon.

This isn't just limited to Gym Leaders - but the Leaders represent the local level of government, doing whatever they can to help their towns thrive and survive.

2. The absence of the Dark Type Gym.

Carrying on with the theme of Gym Leaders - One noticeably missing type in the main series games is that of the Dark Type when it comes to Gym Leader representation. This comes may come with due respect to that aforementioned point. The role of Gym Leader is that of a public servant that is called upon to keep the peace.

Dark type Pokemon are clearly the worst examples in doing so. In Reborn even - our representative is Luna - a seemingly nomadic girl who -instead- of filling her post serves as the estate maid of another potentially duplicitous character in Radomus. - meaning the fact that there is a Dark type Pokemon Gym at all goes to show that Reborn treats IT's Pokemon League as just that - more of a sporting organization where the challenges don't have to be met with necessarily noble or stable returns.

Dark types are renown for overpowering their foes and using evil tactics. In Japan, the Dark type is known as the "Evil" type. Not something you want to appoint in the position of a public servant. If the importance of a Gym Leader reaches beyond proving trainers are worthy of challenging the Elite Four and Champion - then it makes sense as to why Dark is not represented here.

3. Our Protagonists are inevitably Heroes and Heroines.

Name a single Pokemon game in which the player doesn't have to fight crime on their way to the Pokemon League Championship.

Right - there isn't any. Fighting off evil organizations is part of the song and dance - and it's just as much important as the collecting Gym Badges is when it comes to deeming you the character of being worthy of the title.

The word "Champion" has two meanings. The first of which is that of a winner that takes all - as in sports. The second however - is someone that fights strongly for a cause.

In the games - it would seem multiple times that Champions are made of both definitions, and that it takes more than riding the wave of victory to the League to validate yourself.

4. The Pokemon League is a form of primitive council government.

The biggest argument against the function of Pokemon Leagues in region governance is that the games don't suggest the amount of work that it entails to hold a position at the League. We only know that League Members are to be battled by aspiring champions.

However, this is a form of tribal council - a primitive form of . government that existed to protect villages from various threats. Since the Pokemon universe is inhabited with incredibly powerful monsters and people that use them with ill will - the sole job of determining the figurehead of the government through testing his or her strength - or battling the player character - makes a lot more sense when it comes to it's place in governance.

Beating an elite four member constitutes getting that Elite Four members vote. In fact, you need a unanimous four vote decision in your favor with the votes you've already gained off the table should you lose during a challenge. This indicates that you are being watched by those you've bested and acts as confirmation that you - are indeed worthy of being Champion. That's what is more substantial than beating the champion head to head.

5. Champions have different styles of leadership - and are free to intervene or not.

The most memorable Champion to me is Lance, because of his brash, invasive approach to being Champion. We first encounter him by helping him investigate Rocket's doings in Mahogany Town and giving Team Rocket the boot from the area.

However, other champions, like Blue, don't get too involved with the region's affairs once they take their post. Blue doesn't get a lot of time to fit in - but it's presumed that Diantha and Alder are Champions throughout the entire journey, and they don't pull out all the stops to protect their regions either.

This would normally not make sense if Government was the idea behind the Pokemon League - except for the fact that figureheads are a thing. Essentially, the National Government in the Pokemon Universe is second fiddle to the local governments when it comes to organization - which is completely doable and valid. It means that people can go off collecting stones or being a movie star or fill a Pokedex with many spare hours because the burden of governance doesn't fall directly on them.

Like Lance - they CAN certainly help the cause however.

So - there's five quick points. It's kinda sloppy, but I see a pretty significant parallel at least. I hope you guys enjoy - and please do discuss!

[IntSys]

Instead of saying that Champions have different styles of leadership, I say that most regions just have their champions as Figureheads instead of actual Head of State.


Kanto/Johto: Figurehead, serves as a spiritual leader to trainers over Kanto, inspiring them to train themselves. While Lance does go off-duty and assists the player in beating Team Rocket, it's more likely to be his heroic personality, as no police assisted him AT ALL during his mission, not even apprehending the beaten up Rockets.

Hoenn: Figurehead. Steven only helps you with the Devon Scope, and even then, to him it's probably just helping a fellow trainer out. Wallace tells you where to find Rayquaza and gives you the key to the Sky Pillar, but he takes absolutely no responsibility after that. He had every reason to just rush into the Sky Pillar and find Rayquaza, but instead he just sat in the empty Cave of Origin.

Sinnoh: Figurehead. Cynthia played a role much like Steven's in Gen 3 games. Appearing from time to time to help the player on his/her quest. If Giratina had never interfered, Cynthia would've done nothing to stop Cyrus' Master Plan.

Unova: Head of State: It's shown after N's victory over Alder, that the title of Champion in Unova holds the power to issue orders over the entire region (N had all trainers release their Pokemon).

Kalos: Figurehead. Diantha's really just an idol who happens to be a powerful Pokemon trainer. From the way the game hints us, being a Champion isn't really a huge title, as the trainers in the region aren't as focused in Pokemon battling as their counterparts in other regions.


Of course these are all just my opinions, and I won't hold them as facts.

[Ice Cream Sand Witch]

About the Dark-type gym, there are Dark-type members of the Elite Four. I'm not sure if there's a specific reason why a Dark gym hasn't been used or if they just haven't made one yet, but I don't think the type a trainer uses would say anything bad about their behavior or tactics, and there was nothing shady about the three Dark-type E4 members we've seen.

On the fighting strongly for a cause, most champions do help the player and have some involvement in trying to stop the enemy team, but Blue did nothing like that. He even showed up at Silph Co. while it was occupied by Team Rocket just to ambush you. He was arrogant and didn't seem to care about anything other than being the best. If it takes more than just beating the league to prove yourself, then I don't think Blue deserved the title of Champion.

[Deleted User]

I would vote for him.


I'd look immediately to the Champions for Commanders in Chief.

Blue
Lance
Red
Steven
Wallace
Cynthia
Alder
Iris
Diantha

They need to have experience. Red, Blue, and Iris are out since they're so young.

Lance

Steven

Wallace

Cynthia

Alder

Diantha

I for one am not going to take Diantha seriously in her tooth fairy outfit. Same goes for Wallace in his..... whatever the hell he's wearing in ORAS.

Lance

Steven

Cynthia

Alder

Each of them I'd find viable to lead the world of Pokemon. But who's the best fit?

[BIGJRA]

Lance

Steven

Cynthia

Alder

Each of them I'd find viable to lead the world of Pokemon. But who's the best fit?

If the anime is any indication, I would say that Alder's strange personality would be rather unfitting? In the games I suppose he was overthrown, which would instead corroborate, considering N was stated to actually have the power to change the world.

That being said, I don't think the world of Pokemon is necessarily ruled by one government in technicalities, else Lt. Surge's war and the Great War of 3000 years ago were just civil wars, which seems unlikely given the latter's dire circumstances of AZ willing to blow up the entire battleground.

[Red_Chaos]

I would vote for him.

I'd look immediately to the Champions for Commanders in Chief.

Blue

Lance

Red

Steven

Wallace

Cynthia

Alder

Iris

Diantha

They need to have experience. Red, Blue, and Iris are out since they're so young.

Lance

Steven

Wallace

Cynthia

Alder

Diantha

I for one am not going to take Diantha seriously in her tooth fairy outfit. Same goes for Wallace in his..... whatever the hell he's wearing in ORAS.

Lance

Steven

Cynthia

Alder

Each of them I'd find viable to lead the world of Pokemon. But who's the best fit?

Easy, Cynthia is hard hitting when she needs to be and loving when its needed /endthread

[Chase]

I do think that I want to defend Blue by perhaps putting a bit of scope into the way Kanto seemingly operates - remember, the presence of figures like Koga and Lt. Surge along with strong family heirs like Brock, Misty, and Janine in the region suggests that Kanto's establishment of "governance" is largely based on outright strength. Remember that I mentioned the Elite Four to be the equivalent of a tribal council more than a multi-branch central government most of us are used to seeing today.

Kanto appears to be recovering from involvement in a global war of some sort - and one of the many ways countries switch from wartime to peacetime is establishing a militaristic body to enforce a "peace through strength" policy.

This makes Lorelei, Bruno, Agatha, and Young Lance hawkish council members whose -main- job is to determine the level of strength in their opponents as well as worthiness. In that time, strength may be the only known measure. Blue successfully passes all four trials - and takes up a vacant position as their Champion. (What ever happened to the Champion - if there even was one - before Blue's ascendancy is a theory for another day.)

This could be one of two things. In the event that Blue is "the first" Kanto Champion - he effectively is the first one to set a precedent of being "stronger" than the Elite Four - enabling the very first ascendancy. When Red comes along and knocks the newly coronated Champion off his perch - Red establishes the next precedent of value by providing public service - as well as that of topping a previous Champion.

In essence - Blue is off the hook because he started the ball rolling. Notice that Blue steps down two rungs and takes up a Gym Leader position in Viridian City - a humble act that enables him to use his strong personality to assist in local matters. (He's actually met on the remains of the former Cinnabar Island in Gen II - for presumably a reason of investigation of some sort.)

Blue is a unique character that not only is attributed with potentially pushing Kanto's re-construction along by precedent, but also steps down and joins the efforts. Remember that Gym Leaders are essentially more responsible for their locales than the top of the League is. By setting up shop in Viridian, Blue is now working past just being a strong trainer and developing his civic responsibility - in effect growing up in the two years that pass from Gen I to Gen II.

He recovers - and as such - regains his worth of obtaining that Champion perch from before in my eyes.

--

Also due to the larger responsibility placed on Gym Leaders - It's still quite arguable that their lack of existence with regards to the Dark Type is still valid regardless of the Elite Four. Karen, Sidney, and Grimsley are not inherently "bad" characters - but they do share a certain edge and obvious "balance" between being responsible government figures and Dark Type users. Karen's own admission to preferring Dark types is that they are "wild" - which is hardly an orderly type to carry around in most cities - but in a lot less restrictive body of government (say, a wartime council) it's appealing. Grimsley (who's Japanese name literally means "Devil") is the son of a formerly-prestigious family that fell into hard times - and as a result he bears an addiction to gambling. As a lax councilman his strength as a trainer is enough to validate his member status - but he wouldn't be a reliable public servant. Finally Sidney values individual strength as a trainer - much like Blue did - over public service. The three of them all share a rather bored expression that lightens up in a fight, but the three of them are not directly involved with public service or aiding the player in the slightest.

--

I would say Alder is the most capable leader, and that Cynthia appears to be the strongest. From what Intsys said, Unova's Champion is the closest thing to the "President" title in all of Pokemon - and Alder is a trainer who prides himself on love and community over strength, which is distinctly different from Blue, Lance, and Cynthia in differing respects.

[NickCrash]

The Champion is simply the nuclear weapon the pokemon government has to threat all future criminals and prevent crime instead of battling it. The pokemon world works in fear. If Gym Leaders are the mayors of their respective areas, then the E4 are the small council, the oligarchy. It makes sense for a Dark or a Ghost gym leader to hold an E4 position, as you will always need a tactician that can think like the enemy does.

A type is not evil per se, but your using it may define your character and your process of thinking. Let me remind you how Team Rocket has Poison as their signature, but the leader uses Ground types. While the E4 are made to have types to deal with any threat, offensively or defensively, they are also together to complete one another's minds. If we were to support your theory, we would have Lance as an E4 and not Champion, simply because without him a combination of Ice, Fighting and Ghost seems rather frail, just to present an example.

Personally I always thought the pokemon regions lacked a police force or an army, because the only connection between the cities-states was their common league, as in, train the best to use as weapons against organized crime. If the champion happened to be the ruler, they could easily train, pass through the obstacles and gain dominion with legal means. No criminal organization has done that and none will, because they know that a general authority does not exist. That's why the champion never bothered. It's not their job, plus they might even profit from it, if they play their cards right.

[Ice Cream Sand Witch]

That makes sense. If Kanto was in the process of reconstruction (and since they didn't have a Champion when Blue took the throne), they probably would value strength above everything else. I didn't really take into consideration the vacant position at the time and Blue and Red both setting new standards for the league.

[NickCrash]

The example of Kanto cannot make every other region null. Ok they established a dictatorship (on merit?) due to post-war problems, even if the region seems to have already recovered from those, given there is no city still devastated or underdeveloped. What about Johto? Hoehn? You can't blame the criminal organizations for the regions' lack of governance.

[Chase]

Here's a conjecture.

What if Johto was the region Kanto went to war with?

Given Japanese history and government structure - we know Japan is no stranger to imperialism - or the action of annexing the land of other territories to expand a nation's footprint in the world. What if Kanto had it in mind to overtake their next door neighbors and reach the western coastline of Johto? You can't fight a war without an opponent... right?

1. Location, Location, Location

Now, we know for sure Johto makes the most sense geographically - because it is virtually a next-door-neighbor in terms of boundaries. Johto provides several productive areas that Kanto would appreciate having - such as easy access to the western sea, where it's presumably easier to reach regions such as Unova or Kalos if the PokeEarth is similar to our own. If Kanto had it in their mind to expand, it makes more sense to start close to home, where moving resources and armies wouldn't be too much of a hassle. Barring a civil war with itself, this point alone makes Johto an attractive annexation and thus the biggest target right out of the gate.

2. Progress is to Paper as Tradition is to Rock

Johto's major landmarks are a burned tower, a bell tower, a lighthouse, a dairy farm, and the sprout tower - traditional landmarks that have likely been the way of the land for many years. On the Kanto side of the line, Kanto has many things that indicate progress, such as Silph Co, the Safari Zone, a fossil museum, a major port city, and a radio tower that was formerly a grave site. Kanto symbolizes a differing - and more advantageous - style. One that indicates progress. If Johto needed to look any more of an ideal annexation prospect, it's technological lapse in comparison to Kanto doesn't help it appear very competitive.

3. The Saffron City Gym Debacle

MAJOR spoiler alert for a game that's 20 years old - Saffron City has TWO Pokemon Gyms. The most important one - that awards the player with a League badge - is the Psychic type Gym run by a leader named Sabrina. The other one is an inferior Fighting Dojo that specializes in you guessed it - inferior Fighting types. (It's okay Fighting types...you're not inferior in my heart.) Psychic type Pokemon have the advantage of being able to predict a Fighting type's moves before the Fighting type gets them going, resulting in a mismatch. Why then - would anyone have the audacity (other than how utterly awesome Fighting types are) to challenge the legitimacy of Sabrina's gym and set up shop on the next city block with the underdog type?

Enter Johto. See - In the first generation of Pokemon games, Psychic types weren't just head over shoulders when it comes to Fighting types, they were pretty much the top of the class, with Alakazam being an extremely problematic Pokemon to deal with. Johto and Generation II however introduces us to the great equalizer - the Dark type Pokemon. Dark types are completely immune to Psychic type attacks - rendering Kanto's best Pokemon useless in a war situation. This is where Fighting types rise up to make their claim - as Fighting type Pokemon are the best to use in order to dispose of Dark types. If Kanto is in the after-period of a war in which Fighting types were the difference between what appears to be a stalemate or even partial victory - and utter defeat, you can begin to realize the Fighting type Gym's argument for importance and existence. This also explains the significance of Electric type Pokemon - who were able to shed some light on their Dark adversaries.

4. The Mt. Silver Pokemon Center

Anyone who has ever beaten a Generation II game knows that before you ascend Mt. Silver to challenge Red, you find that it's a surprisingly flyable location with a Pokemon Center at the base of the mountain. This, along with the Pokemon Center outside of Mt. Moon in Generation I, is the one of the most remote locations for a Pokemon Center to be located at. This is relevant to a potential war with Johto however in that Mt. Silver is essentially on the border of the two regions - and potentially built to assist Kanto ground troops by healing their Pokemon throughout the war.

5. Trash talk from Blue....toward Gold?

Blue being an absolute jerk to Red is one thing - the two are childhood rivals and both grew up next door to one another in Pallet Town. Blue being a jerk to Gold/Ethan/Lyra/Crys on the other hand? That's nearly uncalled for - especially because I've already established Blue learning to be a little more responsible and less arrogant due to Red putting him in his place. However, the trash talk isn't directly at the protagonist for their skills or being a step behind or what have you (unless you talk to him with less than seven Kanto badges)...

It's due to the player having all the Johto badges.

You're telling me you conquered all the Gyms in Johto? Hahaha! Heh! Johto's Gyms are that pathetic? Hey, don't worry about it. I'll know if you are good or not by battling you right now."

"This is the real power of Johto…" (after being defeated)

Blue seems to give off a bit of Kanto nationalism here. Could this point be a stretch due to being purely proud of one's own nation or Blue being expected to boast? Sure - but it's an oddly specific reason to trash talk, unless Johto and Kanto don't really get along very well... for some reason.

THE INDIGO PLATEAU IS BOTH JOHTO AND KANTO'S POKEMON LEAGUE.

This only happens in Generation II, where the player must actually travel to Kanto -from- Johto in order to become Pokemon League Champion. In this thread, we've established that the Pokemon League serves as a council government body.

This means that for whatever reason - Kanto and Johto have to share the same regional government. If this is following a war between the two regions, it makes complete sense, indicating either a Kanto victory or a tentative stalemate in which Johto keeps a little independence in exchange for leaving the regional government duties in Kanto's hands.

What about Hoenn, Sinnoh, Unova, and Kalos? I think it's safe enough to say that those nations are a lot less landlocked (barring Kalos, which we don't know completely about yet - but we DO know that once upon a time -IT- was involved in a war.) and safe to assume that history wouldn't repeat itself 5 more times.

Keep in mind. Having a weak council government doesn't mean there isn't one at all.

[NickCrash]

I'd say the major point that contradicts this theory is the prof. telling you that Johto "was a new region we just discovered". Therefore it makes more sense of Johto being a colony of Kanto than another country they fought with. It could just mean that the colony was not technologically advanced because Silph just came to the area and didn't give out all its new findings.

The people of Johto are less developed and still retain old techniques of pokemon capture, like apricots, but they are by no means even suggesting hostile behavior against Kanto. You'd expect from a dominated people to contantly drop hints on the issue. This is not the case. The common league could stem from a common ancestry, but could also be there for practical reasons, since the two regions are so close to each other.

We did not "establish" that the gym leaders and the league in general serves as a council. We just elaborated on the theory. As much evidence we try to present that hints one way can be rebutted by an equal amount that points elsewhere. There is no evidence that the champion or elite 4 have other kinds of power. When the people from Lorelei's village in the middle of nowhere are just proud of her being E4, they do not act as if she had authority. Also, please address the previous point that shows there's no logic for the champion to be a president or a figure of importance other than a military weapon, as otherwise a villain could easily claim such a place for themselves.

[Chase]

Alright - although I think both of us rather agree as to the status of the Champion to begin with. The only thing that really defines Champions (who get very little screen time in their respective roles) is their strength.

First of all, most of my suggestions about the Elite Four are that it is more a primitive council government as opposed to parliamentary government or a republic with various branches. In fact, the higher you are up on the ladder - the more dependent one is the value of strength and title defense alone as opposed to local duties. This is why Steven is allowed to go as he pleases and collect rocks, why Diantha is allowed to be a movie start most of the time, why Iris and Blue are allowed to - as kids - hold the title, and why Lance is allowed to fight crime if he so chooses. It's also why Red doesn't spend his time holed up in the Indigo Plateau.

The higher you are on the totem pole - the less the burden. This structure of "government" is more important at the Gym Leader level, where you find soldiers, mayors, seers, businessmen, scientists, and other various "community" oriented positions representing the local Gym Leader more frequently. In this system of government - the local government is more powerful than the national government.

That would make the League Champion - the top of the totem pole - a figurehead.

Figureheads are leaders or heads of state that LACK real power. It is most certainly possible then, that if we're going to assert the League is equivalent to the government of a region - that there is sort of a monarchical or ritualistic importance behind a champion (and we know there's a ritualistic importance behind the champion because the one "obligation" should the trainer choose to accept it is that they periodically take on challengers!) - without having not much else.

On top of that, you can ascertain that militaristic importance falls on the strongest of Trainers, but isn't EVERY Pokemon Trainer able to fight alongside their Pokemon in times of crisis? Heck, Legendary Pokemon don't even need Trainers often.

Finally, Alder is a pretty big hole to the "Nuke" theory. It's believed that Alder never actually competed for the title of Champion (and he gets WAXED by N later on, proving he isn't a champion focused on strength.) The games - outside of Lance - just don't advocate that Champions are very militaristic people.