With a lot more news recently being revealed about Pokemon Sword and Pokemon Shield's upcoming Crown Tundra DLC, there is a lot for players to look forward to. One of these news pieces involves the many returning Pokemon that will once again be available for players with the release of the DLC.
The most famous Pokemon that will be returning to Pokemon Sword and Pokemon Shield are the legendary Pokemon. Not every single one of them, but many legendary Pokemon from previous games will be returning in the Crown Tundra and can be caught during the DLC's endgame.
While this is generally great news for players that wanted to play with legendary Pokemon once again, there are a couple problems with this addition. Although the exact implementation of this has yet to be seen and will not be seen until the Crown Tundra's release, it is worrying how this will affect the lore of these Pokemon.
Legendary Pokemon Lore
Legendary Pokemon are some of the most important Pokemon to the lore of the various games and the world of Pokemon itself. Many of them have roles involved with the crafting of the world, taking part in huge wars, and even being artificial creations by those with ill intentions. With the stories of these Pokemon being very attached to them, it would be odd for all the legendary Pokemon to appear in just one area in the Crown Tundra. Not only that, but having so many important Pokemon in just one location reduces how special they are and has the possibility to just delegate them to a fancy collectible.
There isn't a single legendary Pokemon that doesn't have some kind of story attached to it. For example, Cresselia is a Pokemon that represents good dreams. In order to find it, Pokemon Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum players needed to complete a side quest involving the rescue of a little girl from her own nightmares. This makes the Pokemon feel that more special and not just a one-off random encounter, and there are plenty like this.
Pokemon Lore Being Contradicted
While it is canon that the world of Pokemon has alternate timelines and dimensions, the reveal trailer stating that many legendary Pokemon call the Crown Tundra home is worrying for Pokemon that are tied to their regions. For example, it is questionable why a Pokemon like Giratina that was banished into the distortion world would be living on the Crown Tundra.
Because of this, it is very possible that all the lore and stories from previous Pokemon games could be ignored, essentially erasing years of story in the world of Pokemon. This also has the worrying implication that Pokemon that aren't available in Sword and Shield simply no longer exist, although this specific aspect is unlikely, yet this begs the question whether or not the sacrifice of lore is worth the endgame content.
Other Pokemon that are tied to specific locations include the Lake Trio of Uxie, Mesprit, and Azelf. They are named the Lake Trio because the specifically live in three lakes located in Sinnoh. There is also Groudon and Kyogre who have their own dens in the Hoenn region along with Rayquaza, who watches over Hoenn from the Spear Pillar. While there are some legendary Pokemon that can have multiple of them in the lore, a lot of them are more deity than animal.
Can This Crown Tundra Problem Be Fixed?
Due to the raid mechanics of Pokemon Sword and Shield, it seems so far that players might be able to get multiple of a single legendary Pokemon by playing the Crown Tundra DLC normally. As said before, this has contradictions with already established lore. There could be a couple of ways, however, for this to not go against everything already set up in previous Pokemon games regarding the legendary Pokemon.
One of these ways would be to have some sort of dimensional rift like in Pokemon Omega Ruby and Pokemon Alpha Sapphire. This would make these legendary Pokemon not contradict lore and give them a reason for being on the Crown Tundra in the first place. Another way for this to be fixed could be to have the Crown Tundra as a sort of secret breeding ground for legendary Pokemon. This would make the legendary Pokemon that appear there the descendants of the already established Pokemon and give reason for them to all be there. This also has the potential to make for an interesting side quest and add onto the established lore instead of subtracting from it, but this does seem highly unlikely.
Pokemon Crown Tundra DLC: What is Likely Going to Happen
While it's easy to hope that this addition to the Crown Tundra's endgame won't completely destroy the lore behind the legendary Pokemon, its likely that there wasn't much thought put in to make it fit with everything else. Odds are that the legendary Pokemon appearing in the Crown Tundra won't have any additional reason for being there other than them living there for some reason. If there was going to be any story or mystery to it, it likely would've been shown in the Pokemon Sword and Shield Crown Tundra trailer. That doesn't really make it impossible, but perhaps there's more to Calyrex and the DLC lore itself than meets the eye.
The benefit of having access to all of the previous legendary Pokemon will still be there, though. Those who don't care about the story throughout the Pokemon games likely won't even notice the major contradictions supplied by the Crown Tundra. Whatever area the legendary Pokemon appear in will likely just be fan service for those who missed older legendary Pokemon without the thought of the story behind them.
Nothing, however, will be known until the release of the Crown Tundra DLC on October 22, 2020. Some legendary Pokemon such as the new Regi Pokemon and the Galarian legendary bird trio will likely get stories, but the same probably can't be said for the large number of other legendary Pokemon. Until the release of the DLC, players and Pokemon fans will just have to wait and see what will happen.
Pokemon Sword and Pokemon Shield are available now for Nintendo Switch.