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The Hisui region in Pokémon Legends: Arceus is home to many regional variants, and this includes Hisuian Typhlosion. While early reveals of Legends: Arceus‘ starters – Oshawott, Cynaquil, and Rowlet – caused speculation that their final evolutions would have new forms, this information was only confirmed just before the game’s launch. Since then, the reception for the Hisuian forms of Typhlosion, Samurott, and Decidueye have ranged from adoration to mockery. While there hasn’t been a lot of in-game explanation for why these Hisuian regional variants exist, there is a pretty interesting lore explanation for why Hisuian Typhlosion looks different from its Johto counterpart.
The initial reveal of Hisuian Typhlosion was met with mixed results from fans when leaks showcased the looks of the final starter evolutions just days before the game’s release. The Pokémon Legends: Arceus leaks were mocked online by fans who thought Hisuian Typhlosion looked too moody or too generic. However, once the variant’s pinkish-purple flames were shown, many fans started to come around to its design.
Thankfully, many of the Hisuian forms found in Pokémon Legends: Arceus look fine, despite concerns that the designs were a bit too wacky and unnecessary. Still, the initial leaks of Hisuian designs worried fans before the game’s release. Now, players have had nearly a month to explore the Hisui region and become accustomed to the new Pokémon designs, and Hisuian Typhlosion has proven to be a popular choice as many trainers have picked Cyndaquil as their starter. Fortunately, even those who didn’t choose Cyndaquil can still run into it and its evolutions – including Hisuian Typhlosion – in Legends: Arceus‘ Space-Time Distortions. Additionally, Laventon will give players the two starters they didn’t initially choose once they beat the game.
Legends: Arceus’ Pokédex Has A Lore Explanation For Hisuian Typhlosion
The shared lore for Legends: Arceus and other Pokémon games can be confusing at times, ostensibly because Arceus retcons or changes so much players thought they knew about the Pokémon universe and its history. Since Hisui variants haven’t appeared in games set in the modern age (not even as fossil Pokémon), then they’re seemingly all extinct. It’s also unclear why some Pokémon – like Legends: Arceus‘ starters – have Hisuian evolutionary forms here but not elsewhere in the world.
Thankfully, the Pokédex in Legends: Arceus sheds some light on why these Pokémon have final forms that are Hisuian regional variants. While Hisuian Decidueye and Hisuian Samurott have interesting entries, their observations in the Pokédex don’t hint at much. Hisuian Decidueye’s entry reads, “The air stored inside the rachises of Decidueye’s feathers insulates the Pokémon against Hisui’s extreme cold. This is firm proof that evolution can be influenced by environment.” Apparently, Decidueye evolved this way because of the cold weather in places like the Alabaster Icelands in Pokémon Legends: Arceus. It does not, however, account for why Rowlet and Dartrix retain their same forms.
Hisuian Samurott’s Pokédex entry reveals even less: ”Hard of heart and deft of blade, this rare form of Samurott is a product of the Pokémon’s evolution in the region of Hisui. Its turbulent blows crash into foes like ceaseless pounding waves.” There’s no indication for why a new Hisuian form exists, other than that it’s a product of evolving in Hisui. While Professor Laventon says he brought these starters from other lands (explaining why their initial forms aren’t different), it doesn’t explain why second evolutions like Dartrix, Dewott, and Quilava aren’t altered by the Hisui region.
However, the truth behind all three Hisuian final starter evolutions in Pokémon Legends: Arceus may be hidden in Hisuian Typhlosion’s Pokédex entry. This entry reads, ”Said to purify lost, forsaken souls with its flames and guide them to the afterlife. I believe its form has been influenced by the energy of the sacred mountain towering at Hisui’s center.” This seems to prove that the Hisuian forms are a direct product of Mount Coronet and the energy there.
What Hisuian Typhlosion & Mount Coronet Mean For Pokémon Lore
It’s worth noting that the Pokédex entries in Legends: Arceus are written by Professor Laventon. Because of this, it means these entries are his observations – and may not be Pokémon canon. Still, the odds are good that Laventon’s observations are at least partially accurate. And the theory that Hisuian Typhlosion’s regional form exists because of Mount Coronet makes a lot of sense.
In Pokémon Diamond and Pearl, Mount Coronet was a somewhat mystical location deep-rooted in the game’s lore and history. It was said that the entire Sinnoh region came from the mountain and its Spear Pillar is where Arceus was thought to have created Pokémon like Dialga and Palkia. The energy around it is also used to explain Magneton’s evolving in Magnezone. So, it should be no surprise that Mount Coronet and the surrounding Coronet Highlands in Pokémon Legends: Arceus have mysterious evolutionary powers, too.
The biggest mystery that remains is why the Hisuian variants of Samurott, Decidueye, and Typhlosion aren’t around in the modern era. Mount Coronet is still certainly towering over Sinnoh. A likely explanation is that the energy around the mountain at the time of Legends: Arceus – in which the protagonist is dropped into the past – is the reason for these new Hisuian forms. It’s possible that once this conflict is all resolved, Dewott, Quilava, and Dartrix evolved as usual. It would certainly account for why Hisuian forms don’t exist after Legends: Arceus. Once Arceus’ energy disapparated from Mount Coronet, these Hisuian forms weren’t possible.
Still, this theory doesn’t explain what happened to the Hisui forms that existed there already. These Pokémon seemed to have evolved this way long before the protagonist arrives, but it could still be due to Mount Coronet. As for what happened to them – it’s entirely possible they’re gone due to extinction or evolution (since Decidueye’s Pokédex entry emphasizes its importance). Pokémon lore has always been a bit convoluted, but the Pokédex entries in Pokémon Legends: Arceus are still interesting, and so are the mysterious connections between Hisuian Typhlosion’s evolution and Mount Coronet.
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