#like it was something something Darkest Day will save an energy crisis 1000 years in the future but? how???

[sage-nebula]

I beat the main story of Pokémon Sword and I still have no idea just what in the hell Chairman Rose was trying to accomplish.

[toonbly]

swsh is interesting to me bc like. rose is like a total antithesis when it comes to the three main rivals stories and particularly the themes of loss and all that in the story.

like rose's whole deal is that he believes the ends justifies the means, no matter how extreme. in his head it’s okay that he’s neglected and manipulated bede because it was necessary to gather the wishing stars to summon eternatus. it was necessary to summon eternatus to spark the darkest day. it was necessary to cause the darkest day in order to prevent an energy crisis 1000 years in the future. it was necessary to force leon to fight eternatus for him because who else could slay the dragon other than galar’s very own undefeatable champion

but like. rose never loses anything in his pursuit of his achievements. he does as a consequence of his actions, but i’d hardly qualify being jailed as a result of putting an entire region and its people in danger as a personal loss. he never loses anything that matters to him other than the praise of the people of galar and like i said before that’s just a consequence of his actions. he views loss and suffering as a necessity but never really loses anything or suffers himself. the pain caused by his actions never affects him, just the people around him-- loss is necessary so long as it never effects him.

then we have our three main rivals, hop, bede, and marnie who all lose something at some point in the game, most obviously being the championships but its more what becoming the champion represents that they lose more than anything.

for hop, becoming the champion means no longer living in leons shadow, it means living up to and surpassing his brother’s legacy, it means making his family and friends proud. he makes it to the semi-finals but ultimately loses to the player, leaving him at a loss for what to do. leon’s reputation hasn’t suffered, nobody is disappointed in him, but he still feels lost and maybe as though he’s failed the people he loves. by losing the championships, hop loses his way and loses his sense of where he’s going to go in life.

bede wanted to become the champion for one reason and one reason only: to earn rose’s praise. he wanted the love and attention that would come from having a family after being taken in by rose, but it was shown to him time and time again that the only way he could get a sliver of rose’s attention was to impress him somehow. bede is removed from the competiton whenever rose disowns him, in losing the championships bede loses what he BELIEVES is the chance at finally having a loving home.

and of course there’s marnie, who wanted to become the champion so she could bring recognition and glory to spikemuth. she wanted her brother and the people in her town to be happy- let’s be real, spikemuth is pretty gloomy. piers doesn’t even show up to the opening ceremony because he thinks nobody cares about the home he loves so much. marnie wants to prove him wrong, she wants to prove EVERYONE wrong. she wants to show everyone how amazing spikemuth and its pokemon are, she wants to prove its potential. but she doesnt become champion, she loses her chance to prove spikemuths worth.

or at the very least it seems that way.

hop finds his way. after he helps piers and the player save multiple towns in postgame he knows what he wants to do. he wants to help people, he wants to help pokemon, and he wants to understand them better! he choses to become a pokemon professor and in that sense grows into his own. he’s not in his brothers shadow anymore, he’s doing something that he loves and that he believes will help the people around him. hop was lost, sure, but he found a new path and in the end it made him happier.

bede was taken in by opal, the first parental figure in his life to ever show him genuine love and care. he becomes softer, the light LITERALLY returns to his eyes, he becomes more willing to accept his faults and drops his ego at least a LITTLE bit. he’s still a “posh jerk” in hop’s words, but he’s healing. he’s found where he belongs, he’s with a family that makes him happy-- bede after all these years fighting tooth and nail to not be alone anymore has a home that loves and cares for him, and slowly but surely he’s becoming a better person.

marnie ultimately takes over piers’ position as the spikemuth gym leader. she’s still fired up and determined to make her mark on galar history, even if she has to take an alternate path- hell she’ll challenge the player once a day just to get some practice in, she’s still dedicated to her home and she’s hard at work to prove herself. and honestly its working! she’s a kickass challenger from spikemuth who made it all the way to the semifinals, she’s gained a sizeable portion of fans ever since becoming the gym leader- people love her, people love spikemuth! marnie’s path ultimately had to change, but she didn’t give up, she’s still determined!!! losing the championships won’t stop her from getting on the rooftops and screaming and shouting to everyone about how damn PROUD she is of her home

what i think this all says is that like. rose is wrong. loss isn’t a necessity for good to prosper but rather something that people have to overcome in order to be happy. rose thinks suffering is necessary but really it isn’t. it’s a fact of life, a fact of life that everyone has to come to terms with in the end, but it’s far from necessity. hop didn’t have to lose his way, bede didn’t have to lose his family, marnie didn’t have to lose a chance to prove herself-- but they did. they did, and yknow what? the world didnt end, they found their way through it and became happier people for it. hop found himself, bede found a family that loves him, and marnie found a whole new way to show how great spikemuth is

and idk i just think thats really sweet

[spacedogships]

Hi I’m gonna go on a weird tangent about Rose again! ^-^ Also warning for spoilers for the latest pokeani episode dhsvsg but! The one little detail they added about Rose’s past and his father’s accident?? Adds so much more to his motivations and to the plot?? And I really wish they’d included details like that in the game because I think it would’ve really helped people understand what the eternatus plot was actually about :’3 It makes me kinda mad because the eternatus plot had so much potential and it was a really cool idea but the writing of swsh was so bad and there wasn’t proper foreshadowing or buildup and Rose didn’t have a motivation to justify the urgency of his actions like why did the energy crisis need to be solved specifically that day and specifically in his lifetime?? What if instead of 1000 years the dynamax energy was going to run out in 100 years, that’s still a long time but it gives it a little more urgency. And Galar’s power spots were already starting to flicker on and off. Maybe Spikemouth used to be on a power spot but in the last few years the power spot died which is why Peirs can’t dynamax and Spikemouth is deteriorating. Something like that would add even more urgency to the situation and make the stakes higher for Rose so the rest of Galar doesn’t follow Spikemouth! And including the details about Rose and Peony’s father gives Rose personal stakes in the dynamax issue while also establishing that alternate forms of energy production are far more dangerous to go back to than trying to save the power spots. Then finally, the power spot in Wyndon starts flickering in and out the day before Leon and the protag’s battle! The power spot in Galar’s capital city shutting off is a big deal and it’s the final straw for Rose, Leon tries to talk him out of a last minute snap decision to wake eternatus that day but he’s worked himself into a panic now and the darkest day plot begins!! Hsbdbdh I’m probably gonna end up doing a proper rewrite of swsh at some point but hghh swsh is so good yet so terrible at the same time :’3