#King AZ

[agentc0rn]

Sometimes we don't want to heal because the pain is the last link to what we've lost. - JM Storm

I plant roots so deeply in the people I love that I always lose a piece of myself when they go. - Beau Taplin

[jadeazora]

XY had such a conceptually cool character cast with its more important characters, and it kills me they never got the opportunity to really do more with them within the games themselves.

We got a immortal 3000yr old king wandering around, the inventor of a machine that could bring the dead back to life (albeit at the cost of the lives of many other Pokemon), and later, converted it into a weapon so strong, that when fired to put an end to a war, it literally tore the fabric of space-time. I want more on this. I need more on this. Give me Legends: Kalos.

The main villain is a descendant of the ancient king's brother, but we don't see them taking AZ into custody or really any interactions between AZ and Lysandre. (I mean, I presume AZ was begging Lys to not go thru with it, that he'll only come to regret it just like AZ has, but it'd be interesting to see them interact.)

The Professor and main villain are implied to be good friends, but they only get one on-screen interaction and that's Sycamore playing off a clearly suspicious rant. (Literally a 3sec scene in Evolutions gives us a better interaction between the two.)

One of the E4 was a mole for the villain team, and pulls double duty for them in censoring the news since she works as a newscaster. We only find this out in the post game. She kept the Kalosian populace up to its strongest Trainers in the dark until it was almost too late. (Also, where in the fuck was Diantha when all that was going down?)

Team Flare is basically a genocidal secret police and we don't talk about that nearly as much as we should as a fandom. (Always see them getting shit when they could have been easily one of the scariest villain teams, like they have a lot of paranoia-inducing traits like their eavesdropping on Holocaster calls and some implied plainclothes agents that make them super interesting, but the games dropped the ball with them by not really playing those aspects up. They're so underrated.)

Honestly, if I'm still a Pokemon fan when it's time for XY remakes and it gets the BDSP treatment, I will be so fucking mad.

[pokedokiecentral]

For a pokemon request can you draw Aegislash please?

Swords are harder for me to draw than animals so something very silly happened

[csolarstorm]

The Eternal Flower Files: The Sun King

Let's talk about King AZ, the king that became a wanderer.

Pokemon X and Y draw a lot of connections between King AZ and King Louis XIV of France. Remember that portrait in Parfum Palace? The one that reminds our player character of AZ?  Well, Parfum Palace is based on the Palace of Versailles, and the painting looks a lot like like Louis XIV. He called himself the "Sun King" for reasons that will be clear later in the post.

Screenshots from Pokemon Generations Episode 18: The Redemption

Notice how in AZ's last scene at the end of Pokemon X and Y, the sun is beating down hard on him in nearly every shot, including during the battle. Then when when Floette appears, she descends down from the sun.

While X and Y compare AZ to the Sun King, here it seems like the sun symbol...is Floette herself, as if the sun is Floette watching AZ. Floette's Eternal Flower is likely associated with light, but the sun itself? I don't have a full theory about this. Not yet anyway.

Another symbol associated with King AZ is the inchplant, historically known as "Wandering Jew".  It's a vine that shares some similarities with the Eternal Flower, especially the reddish-violet variants.  It even has three-petaled flowers, like the trillium.  The zebra-like stripes on the leaves especially remind me of the black triquetra markings on the Eternal Flower's petals. 

Sources: Succulent Depot, OrchidWeb: Tradescantia zebrina

If you've listened to Z-A theories lately, you might have heard of AZ's widely agreed on other inspiration, the story of the Wandering Jew, or "Eternal Jew". This is the antisemitic folk tale of a Jewish man who was cursed with immortality after mocking Jesus on the morning of crucifixion, and made to wander the earth until the end of days. This story has fueled centuries of antisemitism, even being used by Nazis for propaganda in WWII. 

We know anime can't resist playing with European history and western religious symbols. Pokemon wouldn't be the first anime to be inspired by Ahasuerus (Fate/Requiem), Xerxes (Fullmetal Alchemist), or Cartaphilus (Ancient Magus' Bride), which are all names associated with various versions of the Wandering Jew.  Personally though, I imagine this story catching GameFreak's attention because of the plant, considering how much flower symbolism runs the Pokemon franchise.

Sources: (1) Getty Images, via History.com, (2) Internet Archive via Wikipedia

So here we have a set of conflicting inspirations for AZ: the Sun King, and the Wandering Jew.  "Conflicting" is an understatement, because Louis "the Sun King" XIV actively persecuted French Jews. He called himself the Sun King because he considered himself God's representative on Earth.  Not only did he expel the Jews from the French West Indies, he stripped Calvinists of their religious liberties, and sometimes even went after other Catholics. (Source: History.com)

What do we make of these conflicting inspirations? Well, fiction can be cathartic. I think GameFreak switched the roles of the Sun King and the Wandering Jew for their story. In real life, the Sun King enjoyed a nice, long reign, unscathed by the people he persecuted and exiled. But in Pokemon X and Y, it's not the innocent religious minorities that wander the earth. It is the Sun King himself, forced to live eternally with the crimes he committed as the ruler of Kalos.

...

Multiple drafts of this post were reviewed by @fluffybunnybadass, who helped me cut straight to the substance. Thank you!

Want to know more about Eternal Flower Floette's connection to sacred geometry? Or how about all the Pokemon characters named after the fleur de lys? Ever since the announcement of Pokemon Legends: Z-A, I've been serving up lots of Gen VI theories, so check out them out below:

The Eternal Flower Files: Flowers of the Fleur de Lys

Eternal Flower Files Short: Thismia

The Eternal Flower Files: Sacred Geometry

Xerneas and Yveltal are Fungi: Let Me Explain

Poll: What Does the Λ in Legends Z-A Symbolize?

Pokemon Legends Z-A: What Is the Λ?

Aaah, it's an A! Is the A in Z-A the Tree of Life?

How much longer am I going to have to wait for a freakin' Unova remake?!

[ren-the-pen]

Lil sketch of some blorbos :)

[crystalmemoria]

They did my boy so dirty in Pokemon Generations. Very funny way to block out a character’s face. XD

[trayzen-the-infinite]

Ok so I’m probably going to do more with this in the future like maybe on YouTube or something (gotta use that empty channel for something) but the Lore of Pokémon is insane and darn near Eldritchian. I’m not talking about simple Pokédex entries either.

Let’s start simple: the birth of reality. In the beginning their was nothing and then their was Arceus in an instant it created three children to help it mold all of reality. Palkia created the fabric of reality and Dialga made time flow. Giritina filled in the gaps, creating borders across reality. With its own dimension and eventual place of imprisonment being that dark void of Antimatter. Arceus started all of creation starting with Sinnoh, Mt. Coronet being the most ancient formation in the literal universe as it was the epicenter of all of creation. The people of Sinnoh worshipped Arceus though they never knew what Arceus looked like nor knew its name, instead calling it Sinnoh and mistakenly thinking Dialga and Palkia were their God, Sinnoh. Eventually Giritina for whatever reason wanted the Throne of Creation for itself and for its horrific violence was banished to the Realm of its own making.

It seems at one point Giritina was also worshipped like Dialga and Palkia were but after its crimes the statue was smashed and all memory of it abandoned. That on its own is a powerful beginning to this world.

Then you remember the stories of every other region. Johto was the first to learn how to capture Pokémon and started to tame them as a result which was a revolutionary concept. Alola never needed this as they worshiped the Tapu and thanks to their worship the Tapu ensured their safety as long as they obeyed their laws. The only recorded instance was Team Skull a ruthless organization that wanted to conquer the Islands for themselves but was swiftly taken down by the Tapu. Modern Team Skull is Team Skull only in name and appropriated it for intimidation.

Before the creation of Pokéballs the concept of taming Pokémon was absurd. Pokémon were far too dangerous and many even ate humans. Making peace with these creatures seemed impossible. The founder of the Galaxy Corp was one such person as its implied his village was destroyed and ravaged by Pokémon and he lost his wife in the process.

In Unova the Pokémon there were particularly dangerous and had to build fortress walls to save themselves. It wasn’t until two brothers made peace with the Dragon of Origin who ruled those lands that humanity and Pokémon could even begin to live in peace. The Brothers were named Royalty for their work. But as rulers both had different ideas for the proper way to keep everyone safe. Was it better to be idealistic and work towards an ideal future or was it better to be objective and realistic? The Origin Dragons thus split in the ensuing conflict becoming the Dragons of Truth and Ideals. A war raged that only ended in fire and destruction. Sealing away Truth and Ideals in hopes to end the suffering.

Galar had a beast from the Stars land on earth seeking to devour all energy from the world and could manipulate an energy inherent in Pokémon called Infinity Energy to make monsters. In this land there were also two Hero Brothers who with the work of their mighty Sword and Shield defeated the beast with its blood spilling across the Country and crystallizing. Some of its blood circles in orbit and occasionally falls back to earth as stones that can control the mutating process it possessed. Unfortunately the monster had laid an egg. Not wanting to risk an incident and not knowing how to break it, they sealed away within the earth but prepared for a day its child might emerge.

Kalos experienced a war with an unknown country and the war was hard fought. Even its king gave his most precious Pokémon to the war effort. In his despair he made a machine that absorbed the Infinity Energy of Pokémon and with it could reanimate the dead. Then with that same machine used it to end the war in a single shot. The carnage was horrific and the radiation of the machine granted him eternal life. He left to wander the world in shame for everything he did.

When you peel back the layers of even the immediate story within the game. It’s a world of peace and friendship built on centuries of pain and bloodshed. The past was grim and rarely pretty but each step led to a better tomorrow. Each country within this colorful world had a moment where they said “never again” the villains of these games are people so obsessed with their own visions of the world that they harm others. They don’t care about the lessons learned from the past because they arrogantly believe they’re better than others even the people that made these same mistakes.

[stargirlie25]

Lucien was talking about Graysen here.

He wanted to ask Rhysand how one would survive knowing your mate chose someone else.

Meaning?

He would let Elain leave the bond for her own sake

Don´t ever disrespect Lucien and say he would show anger if Elain made a choice. He is saying right here that he would try to survive it.

I'm sick and tired of people portraying Azriels traits (towards Elain) onto Lucien.

AZRIEL is jealous of Lucien and Elain's bond. AZRIEL has one sided beef with Lucien. AZRIEL is the one who thinks he is worthy of Elain. AZRIEL has entertained the idea of killing Lucien.

Not LUCIEN.

Note: This isn´t an anti az post but we all know how fucked he is. (coming from a gwynriel) WHO IS ALSO PRO LUCIEN 4LIFE

Lucien, just like any mate would support Elain in whatever choice she makes because, say it with me!

HE 👏 IS 👏 HER 👏 MATE 👏 

And Az does not have the same maturity to do that because he is not Elains mate.

and he will be fine

[astrum99]

?!!!!!!!!!

---

Links:

prev (Soldier) / next (Stalker) / all associated posts / character masterlist)

what started this all - @shit-ultrakill-imagines

[calicobel]

fianlly…

[agentc0rn]

Two men - a colleague and an immortal stranger - dwell on the legacy of a visionary whose heart became twisted from the social ills of the world, along with his deeds underlain by his distorted senses of beauty, redistribution and balance. 

Edit: Became more interested in sycamore’s character so here’s his perspective! Maybe I might do Lysandre… • az’s perspective

I think sycamore and az would have probably gotten along well and relate to one another because of their similarity in dealing with loss and shame. What is interesting though is that sycamore is in both az’s and floette’s position (dealing with guilt-ridden self on one end, the duality of feeling personal responsibility and reproachful against their loved one’s actions on the other). Az sees sycamore’s way of thinking and description of Lysandre as a reason why floette left. Considering Lysandre was Sycamore’s friend, AZ saw himself and his brother in him, later redirected his tunnel vision of the world in recognizing the impact of his destructive actions on floette and everyone else.

Lastly, I made the last line tie back to the whole life and death pair to complement the theme :)

[jadeazora]

Since next month is Masters' anniversary, who are y'all's hopes for the Anniversary Pairs? I'd really love to see these three 😁

Volo included since I've seen so many AUs where he's immortal and it would be funny to see them acknowledge that

[beardburnsupersoldiers]

Look ,

Can we all just agree that Cassian is 5000% the BEST hugger of the three bat boys?

Because Cassian is 5000% the best hugger of the three bat boys!

[csolarstorm]

The Eternal Flower Files - Divine Right

I've been bouncing around theories about the origin of Eternal Flower Floette for a while. It turns out, the answer was right there all along. It all comes back to Zygarde, the Order Pokemon.

You see, I didn't watch the XYZ anime, so I didn't realize that Zygarde can create and control plants.  It can grow whole forests out of nothing. 

So I think a single red flower would be simple.

We know from an interview with Masuda that King AZ inherited Floette from his late mother, likely the former queen of Kalos. This begs the question: how far back does "Eternal Flower" Floette go in the royal family?

The way I see it, the very beginning. In an earlier post, I talked about the mythical story of King Clovis, the first king of France. It's said that during his baptism, either an angel or the Virgin Mary herself came to him, and gave him a lily. This lily became the basis for the fleur de lys, the symbol of France today.

Many fans know that the Eternal Flower is based on the Red Trillium, but culturally speaking, the trillium through a European lens was interpreted as a kind of lily, often called the "Western" or "Wood" lily, and used for the same symbols. So the story of King Clovis is likely a part of the Eternal Flower's inspiration.

You might see where I'm going here. We have a divine figure, a divine flower, and the first king of France. I believe Kalos itself was founded because Zygarde appeared before its chosen human, and crowned them the first king of Kalos by presenting them with Eternal Flower Floette.

Maybe it was the first Eternal Flower Floette in a line of them - or maybe it's the same Pokemon. Do we know for sure that Floette wasn't immortal even before King AZ resurrected her?

This theory would make Eternal Flower Floette the fleur de lys that gives the king the divine right to rule Kalos. Divine right is the European Christian concept that a king or other royal figure is divinely chosen to represent God on earth.

Why would Zygarde want to crown a human king? Zygarde is the Order Pokemon. It's goal is to maintain the order of the land. And I think that we would all agree - humans are a messy, chaotic species. So I think it stands to reason that Zygarde had a vested interest in creating order among humans, to keep them from disrupting the environment with their destructive squabbles.

Or at least, that was the idea. It turned out that the concept of divine right itself just led to more war, with the delicate fleur de lys caught in the crossfire.

...

Ever since the announcement of Pokemon Legends: Z-A, I've been serving up lots of Gen VI theories, so check out them out below:

The Eternal Flower Files: The Sun King

The Eternal Flower Files: Flowers of the Fleur de Lys

Eternal Flower Files Short: Thismia

The Eternal Flower Files: Sacred Geometry

Xerneas and Yveltal are Fungi: Let Me Explain

Poll: What Does the Λ in Legends Z-A Symbolize?

Pokemon Legends Z-A: What Is the Λ?

Aaah, it's an A! Is the A in Z-A the Tree of Life?

How much longer am I going to have to wait for a freakin' Unova remake?!

[funeralflow3rs]

okay but listen,,, listen,,, are you listening,,, I cannot stop thinking about how the cauldron loves elain and its just... SO interesting to me that the MOMENT she pops out from the depths she's given a mate. there were any number of people there that could have been "assigned" to her ( if ur picking up what I'm putting down lmao ) the cauldron peered into her soul and saw all of her wants and needs and gifted her with the person that embodied all of those things and then some.

I will never stop thinking about this actually.

[azul1462]

Sooooo... Cruel King from Block Tales...

Stylizing characters is so funny bc I draw a guy so detailed n' stuff when he actually looks like something like this