Pokemon's Missing Villain Explained
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- čas přidán 9. 05. 2024
- Pokémon is a franchise we all know about, made famous by its characters. But what if I told you that its most heinous and monstrous villain has never been fully explained? Until now, that is. Watch this long-form video to get the scoop on who this mysterious villain is, his far-reaching impacts on the franchise, what he might be up to now.
Pokémon Needs no introduction, and neither do its villains. Everyone knows the evil teams and who leads them, but what about the Pokémon themselves? Surely none of them would be evil, right?
This video was supposed to be released on the 15th of October, but rampant copyright abuse from ShoPro studios prevented me from releasing it. I have found a way to edit it all out painstakingly, but I'm not super proud of the end result - or at least I feel I'm sitting on a better version. I'll release the other version somewhere else in due time.
My name is Peter, and I cover strange and interesting video games every single week. Join me in my journey to talk you ear off about every single one!
Thanks for watching!
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►Twitter: / realheypeter
bumper music by untitled Marauder
• Adult Swim Bump - Skyl...
►Chapters:
Intro - 0:00
Who is Darkrai - 4:04
Games - 13:10
The Rise of Darkrai - 27:06
Intermission - 36:12
Theories/Explanation - 36:50
►Music:
-Eterna Forest - Pokémon Platinum
-Harvest Dawn - Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
-for peter - Skinny
-Drought - Pokémon Ruby/Sapphire
-Confession - Virtue's Last Reward
-Lentimas Town - Pokémon Black/White 2
-Strange House - Pokemon Black/White 2
-Pokemon Ruby/Sapphire Moon Station - wasteofBlood
-Three Days Grace Pain (8 bit) - ChiptunePlanet
-Riddle and Puzzle 2nd Mix - Zero Time Dilemma
-Final Battle -Mario and Luigi Partners in Time
-Secrets of the Forest - Chrono Trigger
-Pay Your Respects - Batman Arkham City
-Memory 1 - Super Paper Mario
-Moonlight Sonata 1st - Beethoven
-Quiet Water - Undertale
-Claire De Lune Persona 2 version
-Reminisce - Zero Time Dilemma
#pokemon #pokemongo #longformcontent - Hry
![tattoo printer tutorial[제품단순선물]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/g40_GwEJak0/mqdefault.jpg)
I think “Forget about the Lunar Wing” and “Stay here with me” is the girl talking. She hears her father talking about finding the Lunar Wing and leaving to find it, and considering the wing is there it’s likely the father did find the wing but got back too late. She’s begging he doesn’t leave and stays by her side even if she’s lost in a nightmare
thats even sadder.... :(
There is one detail about this moment that I’d like to point out: when those sentences are on screen, there is no white line connecting the dialogue box to the girl. And yet, in all of her other lines, she has the white line connecting her with the dialogue box. My best guesses as to why this is the case are either:
1. She is not speaking that line out loud and is perhaps using something like telepathy to convey these words to the player.
2. Those words genuinely were not spoken by her, and are being conveyed through a method that does not involve speaking out loud. (Perhaps we are offered a glimpse into her memory?)
Regardless of the explanation, the lack of that white line not only hammers in how disturbing that piece of dialogue is, but also gives away that there is definitely something “off” here. 🤔
Darkrai: I'm Pokemon's devil!
Girantina: I'm Pokemon's devil!
Yveltal: I'm Pokemon's devil!
Necrozma: I'm Pokemon's devil!
Eternatus: I'm Pokemon's devil!
A f*cking balloon: I'm so cute that you can use me to get into a special park! Teehee! **Kidnaps a child**
I agree with the "Darkrai wants to be caught as a cry for help" take. After all, Generation IV is where we were introduced to the lore that Poke Balls reduce a Pokemon's natural abilities, Cyrus says this when you confront him in the Galactic Veilstone Building, and it's why he uses the Red Chain instead of a Master Ball to control Dialga/Palkia/Both. He needs their full power to make his new universe, and they wouldn't have that if they were caught normally. Being caught would not only take Darkrai out of the wild, where it can harm people, but also drastically nerfs the power of its ability. Dark Void and Bad Dreams are no longer an inescapable nightmare, they can be staved off with a normal Awakening or Chesto Berry.
Also, I've always interpreted the voice that speaks to you on Newmoon Island as being that of Arceus itself.
The event Darkrai that had the signature moves of Dialga and Palkia was the _Rise of Darkrai_ one. Back in the day, it wasn't uncommon for Movie releases of Mythicals to come with the signature moves on other legendaries that appeared in the movie. For example, the Movie 12 Arceus came with Spacial Rend, Roar of Time, and Shadow Force, and the Movie 14 Victini came with Fusion Flare and Fusion Bolt. The Tohoku Pokemon Centre Victini also did this, but upgraded to Bolt Strike, Blue Flare, and Glaciate. This was also the only way to get V-Create in Gen V.
These moves were often actually really useful, and part of several competitive sets. Special Arceus that weren't running Draco Plate would often use Spacial Rend for a Dragon move, because Dragons were king in Gen IV and V, and a high-crit-rate, 100 power/95 accuracy move was always nice to have. Physical Victini also loved having Bolt Strike access, and Special Victini would run Blue Flare over Fire Blast. I don't remember if Darkrai ran Spacial Rend itself, but Darkrai's moveset was normally pretty packed with Dark Void/Dark Pulse/Nasty Plot, so the fourth move was a pretty contested slot.
I was admittedly a little disappointed that Darkrai's role in Shadows of Almia wasn't covered here, as he shared essentially as strong as a role in there as he did in PMD and Park, being a central force behind the entire fundamental narrative, and presenting the character in a different role too (Honestly, Shadows of Almia is a severely under-appreciated title in essentially all respects)
Still, this was a very thorough and good video, all turkeys aside.
And I certainly look forward to your project regarding Coronation Day.
Seconded, also you mentioning shadows of almia makes me want to revisit it lol
I just revisited the pokemon ranger trilogy. Severely underappreciated games same with the Pokepark series.
yeah. also the pikachu key special episode or wtvr its called. in it were a darkrai. while theres barely anything interesting, but he kinda have his own dimension(?) @@itsyaboiguzma
I have to say that Darkrai is one of my favorite Pokémon characters. He’s definitely up there with Mewtwo and Lucario from movie 8 as the most interesting Pokémon characters with their backstories, their main purpose in life, and their motivations. I want to mainly talk about his relationship with cresselia (which you did mention but very briefly) is the most interesting one which before wasn’t really been explored that much but in a Pokémon Journeys episode “A Midsummer Night’s Light (an obvious reference to the William Shakespeare play A Midsummer Night’s Dream) and the second part of a two parter, focuses on the Lunar Duo which before hand Ash, Goh, Chole, and Dawn think that Darkrai was chasing after them to hurt Cresselia but when Team Rocket attacks her, Darkrai immediately swoops in to protect her and when he was harshly electrocuted, Cresselia heals him with her Lunar Dance before fainting which enhanced his strength to out Team Rocket to a nightmarish sleep. At the end of the episode it was implied by Dawn and Chloe that Darkrai was just a lonely Pokémon and Cresselia was the only friend he has and it is implied that she knows what he is going through so she and Darkrai live near each other so they can be in each other’s company as well him not being able to fully control his nightmares so he relies on Cresselia to help him remove those nightmares. I honestly love this because not only it greatly expands on their relationship but as well as their dependence on each other after Ash and the gang assumed they were enemies. I also like how GatorEX when he talked about Darkrai that his relationship with Cresselia is like A Beauty and the Beast dynamic and I really find that wholesome.
What I want to know is this: Are there more than one Darkrai….or is there only just the one? Judging by the anime I personally choose to believe that Darkrai is one of the few legendaries/mythicals that there are definitely multiples of. I know the anime is a different continuity from the games, but we’ve seen at least 2 Darkrai, one died and the other is in the possession of a trainer named Tobias. They even refer to Tobias’ Darkrai as “His Darkrai” not simply “Darkrai”. This could also explain how in the games Darkrai has vastly different portrayals, we’re seeing a different Darkrai each time.
As he doesn't appear to be a "god" such as the one in charge of time or space, it's probable that he is part of a species.
That makes sense. If there's multiple darkriai then it'd make sense for there to be that darkrai who wants to be caught and suppress its powers. And potentially various darkrai who fit in these horrifying legends around darkrai, possibly due to some of them genuinely fueling the legends surrounding them.
Me: I can fix him.
Jokes aside, excellent video. Fully enjoyable from start to finish (white turkey or something).
It seems you perceive Darkrai as a singular one of a kind Pokémon like the creation trio. However, to me, I believe they have a very small and rare population, like Latias amd Latios. So some will grow to be malicious and hateful while others are shy and thus live persecuted by the whole world because of how the malicious Darkrai have tainted the whole world's perspective and opinion of the Pitch Black Pokémon.
It would explain how Tobias brought one into the Pokémon League for one thing.
SPOILERS FOR PMD2
However, as a kid, my theory was that after he got his ass nuked in the portal, it is explained that he would likely end up somewhere random with no memory, just like the player at the start of the game. So, what if movie Darkrai is post game PMD2 Darkrai? A Pokémon with no memory, no home and no idea why everyone is out to kill his ass (thanks to his/others actions of crimes against humanity). Having his memory wiped, he starts life again and, for whatever reason (we have no idea how long it has been) he is... benign. Harmless, defensive and does not wish to actively hurt others on purpose. In the film all of his actions are to protect himself, but it breeds a vicious cycle of misunderstanding as the Pokémon are made to hate him for the nightmares they are forced to see, not realising that he is so strong, he could quite literally obliterate them if he tried.
Perhaps he was about to eventually go down the same dark path... until Alicia found him.
"We have no more white meat turkeys."
Maybe... Maybe WE'RE the villain for not trying to talk to Darkrai and instead treating him as some sort of vicious beast. Instead of a villain that wants to get his hands caked in blood, he's the hero that wants to defend what matters to him most: his home. The place he was welcomed to when no place else would take him. And the people couldn't see that because they didn't want to get close and have him defend himself. It's no wonder he has a villain arc: we all made it for him.
I always found the story of Satan to be interesting, and seeing the comparison between that and one of my favorite pokemon, is rather thought provoking
24:15 i have no ball and i must catch
we have no more white meat turkeys by the way
We have no more white meat turkeys.
Absolutely love this video! Mewtwo and Darkrai are the few Pokémon that feels like a actual character and I’m interested in seeing more of them.
33:43 I love the "or he is stupid"
I loved the Yume Nikki callback on this, very passionate video.
Interested to see the the Coronation Day one, after watching K.T.B. analysis on it I'm eager to see your take too.
Congrats on getting the video up man, glad it finally worked out!
“Which means he’s either not very well versed in conversation or he’s on the spectrum.” Same, Darkrai, same. This video is great, I truly love it and you put so much love and detail into it, but I love how now I can say I relate to Darkrai because I have sleep paralysis and we’re both autistic af.
Also we’re out of white meat turkey.
As someone who's also down with the 'tism™️
I can confidently say we as a community claim Darkrai as an icon.
It's getting a little more canon?
You don't just die at the end of the MD Explorers games. You cease to exist. If you die, you get an afterlife. If you cease to exist, there is nothing. The afterlife is a canonical concept within Pokemon. To be able to be robbed of death, but also life, is incredibly cruel.
Yes, Dialga brings you back, but he doesn't bring back anyone else who was erased. What cruel gods let this be a thing? Dialga is surely one of them. Damn it, Dialga.
yes exactly, while it felt good getting the main character back, I was still heartbroken by the fact that Dialga didn't bring Grovyle back as well
@@roxaszy984its not that he didnt do it.
It thats he couldnt.
Not only they were in another dimension but he even state that he isnt powerfull enough to revive an entire dimension.
Also suggest you check out the special episode 5 because it will be something you would want to see.
@@alessandroreyes3827 Riiight thanks for the heads up, its been a while since I last plauyed the game so my memory is far from perfect but I am always open for fact checking. thank you and have a nice day.
@@roxaszy984 no problem.
Happy to have helped out.
IT CAME OUTTTT!!! I hope this video does well, knowing all the effort that went into it.
Good job man
Really sad this video hasn't gotten picked up by the algo but thanks for all of your long-form content. I enjoy and watch it all
Yoooo we got the video up, excited to see what's in store
Best video
I wonder if anyone else had thought of this. When I played Explorers of Time, beat Darkrai, and he escaped into the portal with no more memories I had an idea. That idea was that when he escaped and lost his memories he ended up in an alternate reality that was the Pokemon movie where that reality's Palkia and Dialga were fighting each other for dominance. I had no idea you could find and recruit him later and just thought that he was just gone from the game and went into the movie. Lol I was a dumb kid.
@Hey Peter
You've done this video so well that I'm fascinated on how you'd tackle a video on both N and his fox pokemon (not "cultured" but proud of it)
I recall watching the movie one night. Sadly I was half asleep at the time, so I missed some finer details. Annoyingly it was never on again either so I never got to go back and figure them out. One thing I do recall was feeling the architect was based on Antoni Gaudi, architect of the Basilica of the Sagrada Familia.
Turkey statement
Darkrai reminds me of Skull Kid of Majora's Mask. A lonely being pushed too far, lashing out...
"We have no more dark meat turkeys" - Me, 12/08/2107
“There are no more white meat turkeys”
Great video dude
Really glad this came out, I feel really bad about the views situation here man. I wish you luck on your journey!
Pokepark lore afficionado (read, I played it as a child and the lore is easy enough to remember);
It seems Pokepark 1 Pokepark and Pokepark 2 Pokepark are distinct. Unsure how or why, but I guess "A Pokepark" could just be similar to "A mall" or "A city". Humans seem to have existed in the Pokepark setting in the past (As suggested by the PP2 dialogue and friend entry for that stupid bell thing whose name I keep forgetting because I played Gen 4-6 games in German and it has not been relevant anywhere since). Queen Serperior reigns over an area in the PP2 Park. The wish park is only relevant to the PP2 Park, the PP1 Parks plotline is entirely unrelated aside from maaaaybe featuring the same Pikachu and Piplup.
I believe Darkrai wants to destroy the world because it rejected him...? That might have been Gothitelle's justification instead, tho. His justification might have been a bit different from the english version because of localisation, though.
So in conclusion I don't fucking know either lmao
No white meat turkeys? What am I supposed to slather gravy over then? Brown meat turkeys? That’s way too much flavor in one bite!
Your videos have an unmatched vibe to them, keep up the amazing work! (We have no more white meat turkeys)
Idk who or what ShoPro is but I assume they're copyright striking your vids, I don't want to discourage you but if they're willing to do that in the first place.. asking nicely will have no effect. Consider legal action. GL my guy.
more pokemon theories pls. theres so much stuff that, afaik, has not been explored in depth.
the abyssal ruins, desert resort, old chateau, the spiritomb tower, etc
I'm also going to point out that Darkrai is a species so some can be the psychos and others can be the more depressed and lonely sort
The fuckin 8bit 3 Days Grace sent my kidneys into orbit and I don’t know if that was your intention Peter 💀
We have no more white Turkeys
Haven't finish the vid but damn it move me to swell up tears fantastic job I been following you since the Blazblue Video and damn I'm glad I kept with you keep up the amazing work
Such a Great Video
This more than anything else has convinced me to read Paradise Lost
I understood that the little girl in B2/W2 died in her sleep, trapped by her nightmares because her father failed to obtain a Lunar Wing in time. I wasn't so young when I played that game years ago, and was captivated by the mystery. I'm pretty sure you made that up about her old man possibly putting her out of her misery.
We have no more white meat turkeys.
Giratina somehow represents antimatter.
So, to clarify, we have Lanturn that can produce light so bright that the energy required dwarfs all energy in the universe several times over, Gardevoir that can summon a miniature black hole in last effect to save her trainer, Yvetial causing continental death being essentially the grim reaper, and Girantina who controls antimatter yet can interact with normal matter without consequence.
Is it a requirement to have zero classes in physics and chemistry when at school to work at Game Freak. A simple glance in an encyclopedia or search on any search engine will reveal that all these things are comically impossible, yet many things in the Pokémon universe still abide by the laws of physics and chemistry.
Yay for multi media companies! Amirite?
Bro you reminded me poke park existed I thought it was some sorta fever dream or mystery dungeon spin off
You reckon the two distinct Darkrais are just paths the main one can be?
All start alone, but if given compassion, it becomes the noble defender...if forever rejected, a monster.
The whole Pokemon mythology and ancient history is something we still know little to nothing about.
I definitely would like to learn more about the ancient Sinnoh (Hisui) that Volo belonged to and the background to these legends
We have no more white meat turkeys
Fantastic vid man
I’m really glad you finally got this one up, I was so upset when I saw the last video explaining this one
I love how in explorers of sky Darkrai is basically just the master from doctor who.
Second video in a row I've watched from you with biblical references. The last one being a Nephalim worshiping cult and the implications that could have on Mario 64. Lol.
we have no more white meat turkeys is the best line I have heard from a youtuber I found talking about Mario
You missed two other important appearence.
One is in masters ex where he gets captured by cyrus and teams up with him to help create his world.
He doesnt do anything big here but still i think we should see that he could have probably not followed cyrus order but instead he helped him.
Probably because cyrus is the only character that managed to break out of his nightmare wich ment he founded someone that he could have stayed with without worring about his powers.
The other is in ranger where he was the guardian of a crystal that was capable of controlling the pokemon of an entire region putting them in an ostile mood.
He ended up controlled but later where someone else tried to use the crystal he called for our help.
I think this two appearence add a lot more to his characters.
Also in the anime he was protecting cresselia since she was the only pokemon that was his friend.
i grew up with gen 4 and platinum in the same way you did, it was the first pokemon game i could play all by myself and i feel in love with the aesthetics, adventure, characters and pokemon. i loved pmd2 and pokepark too! the lunar duo have been my favs ever since i was a kid, both darkrai and cresselia occupy very special places in my heart. it might be because i had quite severe sleeping problems (still do) like yourself! (also i love the yume nikki gameplay you used in this vid, one of my fav games and it fits darkrai so well :) i have a lot of thoughts about darkrai as an archetype and a character in their own right as they appear in various games so i might just infodump here for a second :)
first off, i love darkrai's design sooooo much. i'm a sucker for mid to late 00s earnestly edgy designs and darkrai is a perfect example of that, with their "emo fringe" and red white and black color palette. it reminds me of a certain point of time that im very nostalgic for and love to reminisce about. i'd never thought about their white hair as mimicing the crescent moon and a sleeping cap, thats cool! when i was younger i was quite puzzled by their design, however, because of how different it was from cresselia's. cresselia is so obviously based on a swan/other longnecked fowl of similar anatomy and darkrai just looks like... a strange and offputting shadow puppet. they don't even have a mouth (unless you count the red spikeys on their torso as "teeth" and therefore part of some sort of mouth but that raises more questions than answers tbh) so i've spent a lot of time trying to reconcile them over the years. over time i have recognized some birdlike aspects of darkrai's design - their anatomy almost reminds me of a really fucked up breed pigeon, which are known for their receeded necks, large chests, long and spindly legs and fantails. beta darkrai also seems to have a beak and roosterlike barbels hanging from their face. i've also seen people liken darkrai to a ballerina with their exaggerated waist, "skirt" and legs mimicing an idealized dancer's stillhouette. from that line of inquiry, you can imagine that perhaps the ballet swan lake may have had an influence on the duo - cresselia the swan and darkrai the ballerina, with the moon theming and "black swan" archetype so prominent in that piece of literature. another potential character inspiration i see when i look at darkrai and cresselia is the work of hilma af klint, a scandinavian visionary artist who created huge abstract paintings as "temples" for beings which contacted her in dreams and visions. one of her most notable pieces is called "the swan 17", and was part of a series of pieces she did themed around swans. i don't know if game freak knew about this painting when they designed darkrai and cresselia, but i always associate it with them due to the swan naming and the color palette of the painting matching them nearly perfectly.
sometimes i see people hating on darkrai's design or suggesting it is made "more scary" by removing key aspects, such as their legs or their "skirt". personally, i think its the combination of delicate and intimidating which makes darkrai's design so successful. darkrai's design combines very bulky intimidating features such as their claws and their big red spikes with more delicate and graceful features such as their long spindly legs and hourglass figure. i think it works in a very similar way to how a lot of older silent hill designs work. seeing a big scary monster with huge claws and teeth is fine, it can be scary, but its predictable and easily understood as scary. but seeing a creature that is physically intimidating yet has some sort of delicate and fragile anatomy which doesnt quite make logical sense is different. its unnerving and creepy as opposed to just being scary. much like how some of the most harrowing nightmares arent really all that scary when you think about them logically, and yet they still have that uncanny unnerving quality to them. and i think darkrai pulls this off pretty well as a character design.
the contrast in darkrai's character design also mimics the contrast in darkrai's character, at least in the mainline games (and a few of the spinoffs and the movie) where darkrai has the ability to draw people into their nightmares, even to kill them in these nightmares, despite "meaning no harm" according to the pokedex and other sources. darkrai causes pain, fear, and suffering but has no control over it, and so isolates themselves on newmoon island to limit the harm they do to an absolute minimum. this suggests a degree of self-awareness and empathy from what is essentially a magic animal.
there are so many questions about the members card event in general. who was that creepy old man? if you were in a dream, how did you even catch darkrai? and who was that voice speaking on newmoon island? i'm not sure. over time, i've wondered if the entire sequence was a dream, from when you step foot in the newmoon inn til you wake up again. i wonder if darkrai had essentially manufactured the entire situation to create a scenario where they get caught by you and finally make a friend without neccesarily harming anyone else. i really like the idea of platinum's darkrai looking to get caught by a strong enough trainer as a way to ask for help in controlling their ability, essentially moving their confinement from newmoon island to your pocket. i guess this links to what you have to say about darkrai's illusion and memory manipulation powers - i wonder if the voice we hear on newmoon island is darkrai themselves? or maybe cresselia... there's no reason she can't have similar powers of memory manipulation, after all.
i don't have much more to add to your discussion of the darkrai in bw2, although i wonder if the "forget the lunar wing, stay with us" line was in reference to the father begging his daughter to wake up without it. considering how rare of a pokemon cresselia is, and how even in canalave town we had to go fetch it for someone else, i imagine that it's quite difficult to get your hands on a lunar wing.
mainline game darkrai is like "base" or "archetypal" darkrai, for me at least. they're given the least characterization and therefore a lot of what i think about them as an entity is extrapolated from the facts of their species (because personally i believe that darkrai is a very sparse and rare species... this is mostly so i can draw darkrai interacting with each other tbh) which are - causes nightmares - doesnt neccesarily enjoy or intend causing nightmares - smart enough to understand the contradictions in these two points and do something about it. imo, pmd2 darkrai, pokepark darkrai, and movie darkrai are like different responses to the dilemma of being an animal which is fundamentally antithetical to the life around you which is also intelligent enough to understand the pain and suffering of others as caused inadvertantly by you.
hi ;-; i'm the pokepark 2 expert! i think pokepark 2 darkrai is very interesting from a character perspective despite coming from a silly kids game. he doesn't intend to create the dark vortex in those games, he just makes a big oopsie because he is essentially fucking with the fabric of space-time to manipulate pokemon into being around him and liking him. it's a very shortsighted and selfish thing to do which i think showcases pokepark darkrai's general emotional immaturity and lack of understanding of others emotions which i think speaks to the psyche of someone who is severely isolated. so this darkrai is a darkrai who lives in isolation but still desires friendship and love but doesnt know how to interact with others so basically forces them to have fun in a way they see fit. i'm probably reading way too much into this character from a video game for children but ohhhh welllll.
speaking of reading way too much into a character - pmd2 darkrai! holy shit if this guy isnt the bane of my childhood. i had such a hard time beating him in pmd2 which wasnt helped by pmd2 cresselia's dogshit everything. tbh despite loving pmd2 as a game, i think the handling of the lunar duo leaves a lot to be desired. pmd2 darkrai is definitely the most archetypically evil depiction of a darkrai in the francise yet and i like to wonder what made him that way. his motives seem to boil down to "im evil and i like doing stereotypically evil things" which comes as quite a contrast when compared to previous villains in the game like grovyle and dusknoir who are more anti-heroes than anything. it leaves a lot of space for fan interpretation. for example, some pretty popular theories about pmd2 darkrai supposit that pmd2 darkrai is the same darkrai as movie darkrai, due to the links with dialga and palkia and the overall mystery of movie darkrai's backstory before they ended up in alamos. my favorite theory, however, is that darkrai is the player character - when palkia attacked darkrai, they sent him to the future and turned him into a human much like how the player was turned into a pokemon. they then met grovyle and celebi and decided to go to the past to stop the dark future from existing, but were then attacked by their past self (darkrai) and became the player character. i like circular stories like that. of course, this all ignores that pmd2 darkrai can be found in certain dungeons, amnesiac and helpless, for you to befriend and rehabilitate. personally, i think pmd2 darkrai's shitty personality and general disregard for life is a coping mechanism for the generally shitty circumstances of being a darkrai. basically becoming the monster he was believed to be. i mean, he tries to encourage the player character to kill themselves! i wonder if this is a sort of projection on his part, in a way - this is a pokemon whose mere prescence causes comas and death telling two other pokemon that their mere prescence is also similarly noxious and then encouraging them to commit suicide... i think any more speculation would put my thoughts firmly into fanfiction territory but it intrigues me...
this is unrelated but its also interesting to me how pmd2 darkrai is sort of a semi-shiny. he's purple with green eyes but he lacks the pink spikeys that a real shiny darkrai has. idk why the pmd2 team did this. i saw someone online say it was inspired by beta darkrai's color palette which i think may be true because i suspect that pmd2 darkrai may have been designed early on in darkrai's existence as a pokemon so maybe the references they were given were unfinalized. i think this is why pmd2 darkrai constantly has his legs out too whilst other darkrai from other games keep their legs hidden away.
finally, movie darkrai is definitely the archetypical hero to pmd2 darkrai's archetypical villain in the way they seem to do almost everything they can to subvert that villainous portrayal of them. this is despite the fact that out of all side material darkrai portrayals, they are the one who is plagued with the negative stereotypes of darkrai the most. they really suffer due to those portrayals - theyre attacked by pokemon and humans alike, seen as an invader in a place where they have lived for generations. meanwhile, pmd2 darkrai and pokepark darkrai are just hanging around existing. not even the darkrai from the mainline games experiences that level of vitriol. movie darkrai wants to go against the stereotypes of darkrai so much that they essentially sacrificed themselves to a pair of unknowable gods to save a group of humans who just earlier were trying to kill them. i think its really interesting that movie darkrai speaks, too. i always interpreted it as the darkrai speaking vocally as opposed to just speaking telepathically because theyre not a psychic pokemon ofc, and i think the time and effort that it takes to learn how to speak for pokemon adds a degree of humility to their character. they wanted to communicate with humans so much that they learnt to speak not only a foreign language, but a foreign language not made for their specific anatomy. it could also be used to explain why they don't say much. i also wonder if darkrai's confusion between alicia and alice in that movie was perhaps due to different perceptions of time between pokemon and humans. darkrai are obviously quite long lived if this one has lived long enough to see three generations grow from little child to grown adult. or maybe theyre just stupid that works too. i'm really glad we get to see them living their best life in the credits scenes for the arceus movie, big guy deserves it :)
tobias's darkrai is cool as well, altho i think its probably quite difficult to keep a darkrai as a trainers pokemon like that. i dont think tobias is popular with his neighbors. kind of like those people who keep big cats and bears as pets except this big cat is also typhoid mary.
there's also rangers darkrai, who serves as the final antagonist of the main storyline of rangers 2. although id say their characterization is more like an angry wounded cornered animal than an antagonist. like most antagonistic pokemon in human-centric pokemon games, their existence in the narrative is closely interwoven with the human villains and they are essentially used as an unwilling weapon by said humans until they revolt and try and kill them. altho there is the implication that darkrai may have been manipulating the main villain but its left somewhat vague.
i also wonder what the hell darkrai was doing in masters with cyrus but idk enough about masters to untangle that mess. i like cyrus' goth outfit tho and its funny how he projects onto darkrai and talks about how lonely and miserable it is and how it became emotionless because it was so lonely and miserable. ok cyrus i dont think projecting your emotional issues onto the sleep paralysis demon is a good substitute for therapy. but putting that aside darkrai and cyrus are a very good matchup because theyre both ominous figures with sympathetic backstories. somehow darkrai is a better person than cyrus lol
its interesting to me how the more villainous darkrai depictions come from more pokemoncentric games with little to no human characters. from a writing perspective, this probably comes from the fact that most pokemon games don't like to portray pokemon as villainous, but in the abscence of human characters then a pokemon has to be a villain. and i guess the pokemon who canonically killed a child is a good fit, even if they didnt neccesarily intend to kill said child. but i think it could also say something about the morality of humans vs pokemon. perhaps pokemon see darkrai as a villainous being because their understanding of deliberateness is more simplistic than humans? or perhaps darkrai are crueller to other pokemon? myself,
i think your theory its very cool :) i've never heard something like that before and i like the idea of darkrai being a symbolic medieval style satan figure, intended to stray others into darkness and evil only to be smote by the hero figures again and again. then to have that symbol of corruption try and find redemption in a saintlike act of self-sacrifice for the lives of humans. from a devil to a saint. i also loveeeed your use of the i have no mouth and must scream quote! best part of the video imo. im gonna be thinking about that for a long time.
yes darkrai is gay and autistic just like meeeeee
also i vastly prefer depictions of darkrai and cresselia where they are at least sympathetic to each other because i think darkrai being unable to control their nightmare ability and then cresselia hating them regardless really weakens cresselia and makes her look awful. i dont think she should be awful! theyre part of a whole, one cannot exist without each other, and they may be opposed and they may fight but i think they always come back to each other. they are toxic yuri. to me
Absolutely stellar video. I love the religious tie-in as well.
We have no more white meat turkeys.
I had poken Park 2 back when I was little, but I never finished it. Darkrai was one of the pokemon that had always fascinated me back then cause of his platinum entry. Tying darkrai to lucifer was an angle I wasn't expecting, but I think it works for this explanation.
I also now headcanon him as autistic, so thanks for that.
Wish you discussed Darkrai in Pokemon Ranger. That game was the shit.
Ooh the Mario teaser looks exciting :0
Wow. I can really tell you have a lot of love for this pokemon and it's story. This video was really well made, and I legitimately see the improvement. Normally, I wouldn't say much... but comments help the algorithm.
ALSO HECK YEAH BB RETROSPECTIVE PT2 IN FEBRUARY (maybe) LETS GOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!
we have no more white meat turkeys....
I generally don't acknowledge his more villainous roles. I feel like his theme is too appealing to writers to treat him just as a Villain, so most side media with him I exclude from my own profile. His established characteristics in the games are what I much prefer and it feels far more cohesive and interesting to assume he is good at heart but was delt a bad hand with nhis abilities and his inability to control them himself. The writers for Mystery Dungeon and Pokepark I think saw darkrai and his abilities and though, "Yeah good villain. " And didn't take into complete consideration that he is aware of his own accidental wrong doing and clearly intentionally isolates himself because of it, not wishing to do unnecessary harm. Almia, and Rise of Darkrai got it right. I also beleive the main game portraal and the Alamos portrayal are essentially one and the same. Also consider his portrayal in Pokken Tournamnet. That darkrai I beleive is one that has found a way to integrate and even sort of morbidly joke with the humans he synergizes with. Such an active and open environment has led that darkrai to be with people in public more often than any other time or place.
Sir. It appears that we have no more white meat turkeys, I ask that you please make a different selection on our menu. 💜
We have no more white meat turkeys. Darkrai has always fascinated me since Diamond/Pearl/Platinum. When I was able to get him in Shining Pearl I was ecstatic. Thank you for making this video.
Oh my god I played poke park! I tried to play it but my sister kept beating it before me and deleting the progress cus we rented it from a local video store. Darkrai was awesome and I wish I can play it again.
Something tells me not all of the Pokemon Company's writers agree on what Darkrai should be. Therefore he is a slave to whoever holds the pen.
I’m only watching this because I just caught a full odds shiny Darkrai in platinum last week. I must fully understand this specimen
I dont think darkrai is actually a villain it more seems like he can help on who he uses his powers on
While I don't know how much I agree with the religious comparisons, I do think it's interesting that Darkrai is, at one point, a Satanic figure, but becomes someone who selflessly sacrifices his life for the sake of others, which parallels Christ. That is, in itself a compelling idea methinks.
Ironically, redemption is a major theme in Pokémon Mystery Dungeon. The redemption and reconciliation of Drowzee and Dusknoir come especially to mind. Also, Team Skull being semi-redeemed comes to mind, as well as Dialga doing what he can to make amends for his past mistakes.
mom said we have no more white meat turkeys :(
alr i watched your vid now gimme analog horror
I don't believe every darkrai's the same darkrai. Just because WE can only catch one for game reasons, doesn't really mean there is only one. The movie-darkrai isn't pokepark-darkrai isn't mystery dungeon-darkrai isn't main-game-darkrai. They are each different characters based on the same creature with the same powers and how they dealt with that.
Think, for a moment, you have infinite strength. You could fling back a tank with the flick of a finger. But you can't turn this off. Leaning on a building could break its support beams. Giving someone a high-five might break their arm. You could break your new-born nephew by simply holding him. You have great powers to defend yourself with, but you also do a lot of accidental harm with it. This is what Darkrai has, he can defend his foes by putting them to sleep and damaging them in there while he flees. But he also brings nightmares to anyone else, leading to hostility between him and others. He can't contain himself and thus antagonises a lot of people.
How would a Darkrai react? Some might think they could use this powers to dominate the world. If he can't have a good life, no one can. This is maybe what the Mystery Dungeon Darkrai was feeling. Or perhaps you search for people that would help contain these powers for you, like possibly the main-line game's Darkrai. Or you simply accept these powers, try to contain them as much as possible, and occasionally use them for the good of the people that do care for you, like Movie-Darkrai.
These powers are the curse of every Darkrai. But whether or not they become the villain depends on the character within the Darkrai
The story behind the movie reminds me of Pokemon the Movie 2000 with the main side girl playing an "instrument" in order to get the attention of a Legendary pokemon who is the guardian of that area. The 10 Hole Flute in "Pokemon the Movie 2000" in order to call upon Lugia, and the Grass Whistle in "Pokemon: The Rise of Darkrai" for Darkrai. In the end, both end up putting themselves in danger in order to protect others.
The lacking of gender is mainly reserved for Legendary pokemon. Apart from Manaphy, that is.
We, for some odd reason, have no more white meat turkeys.
"We have no more white meat turkeys"
I’ll do it:
We have no more white meat turkeys
We have no more white meat turkeys, now i'm hungry
Best video on this channel
Today's Christmas Eve and unfortunately...
we have no more white meat turkeys. 💔😥
I guess we'll have to make ham for dinner tomorrow.
🦃 Gobble gobble.
This video is definitely me when we have no more white meat turkeys.
Hype!!!
pokepark coverage massive w
darkrai is literally sad bc hes lonely thats it lmao
you become his friend in the end after the boss fight and he stops trying to merge
stuff is all accurate 👍
we have no more white meat turkeys
I want to eat meat in turkey....Did i do it right!?!
we have no white meat turkeys.
also underrated video
What song plays at 18:43?
Pls I’m begging it’s the coolest song I’ve heard in a while
Apparently, we have no white meat turkey.
we have no more white meat turkeys
We have no more white meat turkeys. Very good video essay.
GUYS
GUYS
GOD DAMN IT WE HAVE NO MORE WHITE MEAT TURKEYS!!!!
DAMN IT!!!/ref
We have no more white meat turkeys
Arceus created all things. And all things have a deity to represent them. These representative deities were made by Arceus.
Why did Arceus create the possibility to have nightmares? Why did he force Darkrai to exist?
Darkrai, immortal, forever forced to live as a living concept of something so terrible. What is his purpose? To just exist? Why did Arceus give him free thought, free will, consciousness at all. What is he supposed to do with it? Is he a consequence of mortals existing? Then should he destroy them to ease his own suffering? Should he make full use of his abilities and conquer them all? How long can he hide away doing nothing, not giving in to fear and hatred?
His existence is absolute torment.
Darkraimola
We have no more white meat turkies, but this is everyone's garden, so feel free to chill here awhile.
We have no kore white mear turkeys....... Im gonna use that phrase slap it unto my metal working projects and if they ask me ill say we have more.
We have no more white meat turkeys, as a pmd fan darkrai being compared with am is poggers
We have no more white meat turkeys. We have no more turkeys. We have no more. Turkey.
Yes I'm a human and I can confirm, We the people have no more red, white, & blue meat Turkeys 🗿👌😎👍
Sorry to hear about your sleep paralysis. My exboyfriend had it and there would be periods where it would straight up ruin his life.
I see another reason why you like and relate to good ol' Muta.
We have dark meat turkeys
Damn, after eating some cold white turkeys, I really gotta give this channel an honest shot!
When I first found this channel, I thought it was another arty try hard who's one joke was "Let's throw the worst memes at the camera and say I'm not funny." Alongside every other sentence dripping with nihilism and a hatred for the past. But after seeing this, and a few other videos. I dunno, maybe I was wrong.
Lore of Pokemon's Missing Villain Explained momentum 100
i want turkey now man
we have no more white meat turkeys bruh
We have no more white meat turkeys.
we really don't have any white meat turkeys
glip glop turky
we have no more white meat turkeys😔