#peony spoilers

[verdantmeadows]

So, in case you haven't heard...

Penny, from Scarlet and Violet is officially related to both Peony and Peonia (and, well, Rose too, since he'd be her uncle)! Peony is her father, and Peonia is her sister.

For those unaware, this is Peony.

And this is Peonia!

The woman in this image is (presumably) their mother (unless Penny is a half-sibling or adopted, which I don't think is the case).

And let me just say, this makes me so, so happy, seeing this visual/genetic diversity in a family.

So many people are completely ignorant to how genetics and biracial people can exist and have their genes expressed. Two siblings from a biracial couple, such as a black and white person, can look totally different. One could have curly hair and one could have straight! One could be super light-skinned and the other dark-skinned! Two kids from two parents doesn't mean that they necessarily just get a "mix" of how they both look.

Seeing this represented makes me so happy. I really hope more people realize just how different siblings from interracial couples can look. I really hope people don't erase this aspect of Penny's character, or think that she doesn't look Black enough or enough like a POC.

For a real life example, here are a pair of biracial twins!

(Lucy and Maria Aylmer)

So, basically, the point of this post is this:

Penny is Peonia's sister and Peony's daughter! This was my headcanon for a while, considering her name is Penny and based on Peony, but seeing it confirmed makes me so happy. I want this post to end on the note to inform people that biracial people can look like this. Biracial people can pass completely as white. White-passing biracial people can have dark-skinned parents and family members. Biracial people don't owe you passing as their ethnicity and the ethnicity/race of their family.

Please embrace this aspect of Penny and learn what being biracial can look like! Understand, acknowledge, and accept how biracial people can look! I've already seen people frustrated that Penny doesn't look "Black enough" or saying that her design makes no sense, or that she couldn't possibly be Peony's daughter, which is already a huge issue for REAL LIFE BLACK PEOPLE, who are told this!!! Even if you don't realize it, these thoughts and ideas ARE racist to have. How you view people when they're not real can often be indicative of how you treat them when they ARE real!

I hope that if you didn't already know these things, that you don't feel bad about it, and instead come away with new knowledge and understanding!

Edit: Also she could just be adopted? I meant to say that in this post and forgot. Like, adoption is a thing. Like, we know that Bede was an orphan and all... (I however don't think she was adopted based on her visual similarities)

Additional edit: I'm not trying to imply that their family is Black, either—I mentioned Black biracial families as an example, and also mentioned it at the end because I specifically made this post in response to people saying Penny "isn't black enough" and directing their racism towards Black biracial families. In all likelihood, their family is probably implied to be the Pokémon equivalent of Indian.

Other additional edit: Dialogue in game

Penny also frequently refers to her dad's behaviors that align with how Peony behaves

[melachanart]

Pokemon : The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero Epilogue ! (Warning Spoilers!)

It really made me happy to be reunited with all my friends (except Carmine, I didn't care much tbh XD)

Pokemon (c) Nintendo / Game Freak

Fanarts by @melachanart

DO NOT REPOST/STEAL PLEASE ! Thank you.

[sage-nebula]

Penny is a genius.

Not a genius in all things, mind. Her strengths mostly lie in computers and strategy. But an idea starts bubbling in her mind on the flight to Kitakami, and by the time they've returned safely to Paldea she realizes exactly what she has to do, and exactly why it's the most brilliant plan anyone has ever thought of. That night, tucked into her desk chair and surrounded by her beloved veevees, Penny composes an email.

"Dad,

I want to tell you about my friend Arven."

- - -

It takes less than twelve hours for the cafeteria doors to be thrown open with such gusto that they slam back against the wall. Flatware clatters to the tables. Students drop their bowls in shock. A pawmi falls face first into a pot of soup. And Penny's father, Peony, stands proud in the doorway, scanning the stunned student body with a fierce look of concentration, while Penny's older sister Peonia hangs behind him with her head in her hands.

Seated in the back of the cafeteria with a bowl of half-soggy cereal, Penny draws her hood up over her head and pulls the strings tight.

"There he is!" Peony booms, and Penny peeks through the hole in her hood to see that he's pointing at Arven, whose mouth is still agape as his half eaten breakfast sandwich lies forgotten on his plate. A wide smile breaks over Peony's face as he strides across the cafeteria, all eyes following him as he makes his way across. "Ven, my boy! I've been lookin' all over for you!"

"Uh, what? Why? Who are you?" Arven starts to stand as if to run, but before he can Peony slings an arm around his shoulders so they can sit back down together.

"Name's Peony! My darling Pen-Pen told me all about you. And from what I hear, it sounds to me like you could use an ultra-mega-fun adven-tour extravaganza!"

"'Pen-Pen'? Wait, do you mean—?" Arven looks at Penny across the room, who begins hastily shoving soggy cereal into her mouth.

"I've got it all planned. Camping, cookouts, the works! We're going to have a blast, my boy—I ultra-mega guarantee it!"

"So," Peonia says as she slides into the chair next to Penny, "what exactly did this Arven bloke do to you to make you sic Dad on him?"

Penny rolls her eyes. "He didn't do anything. He needs this—in a good way. His situation's completely different from our one; his parents were never around."

Peonia snorts. "Lucky him."

"Not as much as you might think." Penny looks across the cafeteria again. Arven still looks confused and nervous, but he's starting to smile a little; her dad's corny "adven-tour" must be sounding pretty good to him. "I think he and Dad will get on all right."

"Well, so much the better if it gets Dad out of our hair a bit."

"Exactly."

"Ha!" Peonia grins, and elbows Penny in the side. "I knew this wasn't all altruism. You are taking the piss, aren't you?"

"I'm not. Arven really does need this. It just also helps us. Plans can accomplish two things." Penny stands up, and swipes her bowl from the table as her father pulls out a map to show Arven. "Now come on. Let's escape while Dad's distracted."

[thena0315]

Indigo Disk Spoilers!!!

Drayton is Drayden's Grandson

Penny is Peony's Daughter

Lacey is Clay's Daughter

[peonysgreenhouse]

oh i need this old man carnally

[discododging]

Ok, so I'll admit, I wasn't fully a believer of the "Penny is Peony's daughter/Peonia's sister" theory but now that it's been confirmed I'll play in this space, namely about two things:

1: I'm going to be generous and say Sw/Sh's plot happens before Penny's 1 1/2 year trip back home, given that she's not with her father and sister on their trip. Therefore, it's entirely possible that Penny saw her Uncle, on Live TV, announce he was restarting the apocalypse to solve an energy crisis that wouldn't be an issue until after he was dead.

2: Holy fuck does it paint the Crown Tundra DLC in an even sadder light. Like no wonder Peony latches onto the player, he's fucking lonely! One daughter won't give him the time of day and the other is in another fucking region, (and given her dialouge also probably wouldn't have been happy, though I can't see her abandoning him like Peonia, I also can't see her being happy about it) so of course when some random kid shows interest in his plans he latches onto that!

[sephys-wrath]

Now with the confirmation that Peony is Penny's father, I NEED to know if he ever knew she was getting bullied because he would absolutely NOT let that slide

[jadeazora]

From this interaction that leaked a while ago, since the whole "Adven-tour" was Peony's thing and they're both from Galar, it's been commonly theorized that he's her father. I'd like to add that Penny's eye shape does look very similar to Rose's, and her name fits the whole Peony/Peonia naming convention.

[perrenial-peonies]

She gave me light, and now I'm going to be killed by her.

[k-martins]

Camellias japanese. Peonies

[verdantmeadows]

If you are complaining that Penny being Peony's daughter makes no sense because of how they both look, you are racist! Hope this helps!

(If you are complaining/confused because it comes out of nowhere, I will kindly direct you to the fact that Penny's name is Penny, which comes from Peony, and we've known she has been from Galar. Peony, as a father, would not stand for how Penny was treated at school, but kids frequently don't tell their parents when they're being mistreated at school, and it makes sense for Penny to not have told him.)

[morethanwonderful]

God there are SO many stories that use a tragic death as an initial character motivation/a way to thrust a sheltered character into the real world, and so many of those where it's specifically a woman's tragic death as the inciting incident for the male protagonist's journey, but no other instance of that trope has cause me anywhere near as much heartache as Jiangli/Chen Baishao from Tai Sui.

Like, Jiangli gives up her life to save Xi Ping, and the story never ever lets you forget that she has become a part of him in this way. And Xi Ping never forgets it either.

Almost the entire second book is the story of Xi Ping going on an epic journey to avenge Jiangli's ruin and death. He names himself Jiangli when he needs a woman's name as "Zhao Qindan's" servant in book 3. Hundreds of years after her death in the extras, he takes "Mr Peony" as his final stage name and wears a white peony in his hair to honor her. One of the last twists of the novel is that Xi Ping being saved by Jiangli's life swapping talisman was fate, a destiny passed down from his probable ancestor Yuan Hui being saved by his mother in the exact same fashion.

A trod upon, cast aside sex worker gives up her life to save a boy that was a little kind to her, and in the process, she sets into motion the chain of events that will one day rewrite the entire world and topple all the systems that led to her abuse and destruction. A girl sacrifices herself for her crush and in doing so becomes an impression on the heart of the world's very last living god. Jiangli dies in the first story arc and she is inextricably tied to the cycle of fate and fall of immortality that the whole story centers upon.

In the final arc of Tai Sui, when Zhi Xiu and Xi Ping talk before deciding how to save the world together, Xi Ping speaks of Jiangli in fondness and in painful melancholy as a friend. He corrects a rumor that gives him credit for an accomplishment he helped her with. He maintains her as her own person separate from himself, but carries her death always as a part of him.

She doesn't change him exactly, because Xi Ping is by nature loath to be changed, but her imprint is always there deep in the core of his being.

There are so many ways that Xi Ping is marked by her death—so many ways that he carries her with him both consciously and unconsciously. She is dead and written out of the narrative and Xi Ping will never let you forget that she was a part of it. He grows around his grief for her, but it never goes away.

There's just the intense aching melancholy surrounding Jiangli and Xi Ping that makes me feel like nothing else. The tragic young woman death by origin story trope is so tired, but I can never be mad at this instance bc Chen Baishao is the all-time fucking example of it.

[triniteevee]

Arven + “Adoptive” Dad Peony Headcanons

i think arven deserves some fun son-dad time with the most dad of all characters, ✧peony✧

♡ Peony tried to enroll with Peonia in the Academy because he heard about how fun the annual Treasure Hunt was

♡ Unfortunately, she once again decided to dip and instead hang out with her buddies to make their own adventures in Paldea

♡ Peony, in normal Peony behavior, decides to go anyway? Why not, right? There are plenty meemaw and peepaw students around too. Besides, the Director and teaching staff seem nice

♡ Instead of making a sandwich for his Home Ec project, he makes some curry because he was feeling a little homesick and his pokémon were craving some

♡ Cue Arven who looks at him with sparkles in his eyes. The young man is not at all subtle with the glances he throws at the delicious smelling food.

♡ Peony happily serves him a bowl, and Arven splits his sandwich in half. Both are in bliss with the yummy food.

♡ “That was ultra-mega tasty, son!”

♡ “S-son?!” arven(dot)exe has stopped working

♡ Obviously, Professor Saguaro is impressed with Peony’s work but gently reminds him the project was a sandwich. It’s all good though. He can always do it again.

♡ Arven regains his bearings, and volunteers to assist Peony. Being one of Professor Saguaro’s best students makes it easier.

♡ Peony thanks him, and they agree to spend next lunch period together to discuss recipes.

♡ Arven tries very hard for Peony’s sake. He seeks out other students’ advice to increase Meal Powers.

♡ The hard work pays off, and soon enough they have a master tier sandwich. Both Arven and Peony do so well that Saguaro even requests that they spare some extras for the rest of the class to try.

♡ Their food becomes such a comfort food for the class, that even the staff and Clavell have been known to linger outside the Home Ec room.

♡ Every time Peony kindly asks him to chop up some veggies, or to boil some eggs, Arven’s inner child weeps with happiness. This is the kind of thing he always wanted to do with his parents.

♡ He watches Peony take the bulk of the work. When he’d been assigned other partners before, he preferred to do the work all on his own, but now, Arven is content to assist.

♡ Peony likes to talk. A lot. Most of it consists of theories on legendary pokémon, but sometimes Arven gets a glimpse of Peony’s life before and outside the Academy.

♡ Sometimes, Arven finds himself wishing he had the father Peonia was blessed with

♡ Peony, with the sweet and bubbly disposition he has, hands Arven another of his custom made clothes. Arven is fighting off tears as he holds the cheery orange jacket in his hands.

♡ “You have my ultra-mega thanks.”

♡ “This is too much.”

♡ “Nonsense! A young man deserves a good, comfy jacket. What with the Treasure Hunt coming up.”

♡ The mention of the upcoming Treasure Hunt reminds Arven of the question he’d been meaning to ask all semester.

♡ Peony beats him to the punch.

♡ “Hope you don’t mind matching with this old man!” Peony is proudly donning his own orange jacket. Arven is choking back tears at this point. “I already plotted out our Adven-Tour!”

♡ “Thanks, Peony.”

♡ “No thanks necessary, son.”

[radiant-nasir]

book 6 is all about death and dying all for love and loving twice as harder because of it. askr is a walking dead man the moment he grows to love mortals, and he shares his blood and power with them anyway. his death is certain the moment he goes out of his way to bug his fellow goddess out of concern (love) for her and he takes it on himself to do just that anyway. askrs love for humanity, for gods, for every being capable of growth is the beating heart at the centre of book 6 and even in death his one final act was to make it clear that with all his selfless love, he did love one to the point of selfishness and it was one he chose to name his daughter. no one touch me rn

[peonysgreenhouse]

DAISY TONNER........ HELEN DISTORTION.............

this has been a rough 10 episode run for me (a lesbian)

[touristbree]

Penny Family Theory (Confirmed)

OKAY SO, I started playing Area Zero and then Penny says this:

[Image Text:

Penny - “It’s just my dad! He’s loud and clingy and makes up weird nicknames for me like “Pen-Pen”.]

And when read this, I thought: “Peony?”, and that was the start of my rabbit hole. I theorize that Penny is the younger daughter of Peony.

For a little reminder: Peony is the character who leads the player through Pokémon Sword and Shield’s Crown Tundra DLC. A steel type user, former champion, Chairman Rose’s brother, and embarrassing father to Peonia (and Penny).

Penny was introduced in the main story of Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, being the secret leader of Team Star.

Exhibit A: Dialogue

This is what she entirely says about her dad:

Penny - “It’s just my dad! He’s loud and clingy and makes up weird nicknames for me like “Pen-Pen”.

Penny - “He’s the most annoying guy in the world! Period! He’s the worst!”

Penny - “Unbelievably Annoying”

Penny describes her dad as “Unbelievably annoying”, “loud and clingy” and that he calls her weird nicknames like “Pen-Pen”. Peony is well known for being an enthusiastic and endlessly supportive father, and gives Peonia nicknames like “Darling Daughter”.

Penny already seems a bit pessimistic so maybe she’d read Peony’s energy wrong.

Exhibit B: Names

Penny’s Japanese name is “ボタン” or “Botan”, which comes from the Tree PEONY.

Also, their names all start with “Pe”, have an “N”, and have an “ē” sound in their name.

Peony

Peonia

Penny

Exhibit C: Home

Penny (being referred to as Cassiopeia) was sent to Galar after Operation Star, and Peony was introduced in Galar, former Galarian champion and gym leader, and so on and so forth.

[Image Description: Harrington with Ortega, the player, and Clive.

Harrington - “I wanted this student (referring to Penny/Cassiopeia) to take some time to rest, so I had them return home to the Galar region.”]

Exhibit D: Genetics

Now for the elephant in the room: they look nothing alike.

This would be a flaw, if we didn’t have his second league card:

[Image Description: Peony’s Second League Card, Peony is front and center with baby Peonia on his shoulder and a blonde woman behind them]

It is assumed that the woman in the back is Peony’s wife since she’s in the league card along side him and Nia (and because her and Nia have blonde hair). Penny is paler… but that may be from a lack of sunlight due to being a nerdy hacker who barely goes outside (Canon).

We don’t see the woman’s eye color… but we do see that she is a recolor of the beauty trainer model (notice the red clothes and hair styles) which has brown eyes, just like Penny.

[Image Description: Beauty Trainer from Sword and Shield, she has brown eyes and a red sweater]

UPDATE 12/16/2022

A friend of mine (YouTube: WagonWorks) mentioned a bit of evidence that I hadn’t noticed. We were discussing a video by HybridHero about my theory, except HH theorized that Penny was the daughter of Rose and Oleana LINK. He goes over some of the same evidence as me, but I’m not as certain about “Oleana being Penny’s mother” and Bede isn’t mentioned despite being Rose’s adoptive son. Now then…

Exhibit E: Eye Shape

Rose and Peony have eye shapes very similar to Penny, specifically eye lashes. Her eyes especially resemble Rose’s and eye lashes resemble Peony’s, Rose being her uncle would confirm that that eye shape would be somewhere in Peony’s genes to pass down to Penny.

[Image Description: Penny, Peony, and Chairman Rose’s faces. Peony’s eyes are more angular while his eye lashes are curved and have a bit pointing out. Chairman rose had more curved eyed but shorter eyelashes. Penny has the same eye shape as Rose and same lashes as Peony]

Update: 12/29/2022

Exhibit F: Hair

While Nia and Penny’s hair styles are very different, their front bangs are extremely similar (maybe even the exact same if the graphics weren't completely different from SwSh). They both also have dyed hair (presumably, at least the red part of Penny’s hair could be dyed).

In the real world, dyed hair and bangs would mean nothing, but this is a fictional world where small details like that can be important. We recently has Legends: Arceus where we had several ancestors of modern characters, many of which have the same (or similar) hairstyles to their modern counterparts such as The Miss Fortune Sisters and Bertha, Candice, and Saturn, Colza and Gardenia, Rye and Riley, Choy and Charon, Arezu and Mars, Calaba and Gordie, Volo and Cynthia Etc. (they also share name origins, with their counterparts and similar parts of their names).

Now, comparing ancestors to descendants is a leap, so a more modern example is in Sun and Moon with Hala and Hau. Both of them have that ponytail and start with a “Ha”.

[Image 1: Penny and Peonia, their front hair bangs are very similar.

Image 2: Hala and Hau, both have a ponytail with Four Points]

Update: 12/13/2023

Exhibit G: The Mini-Series

Penny, Peonia, and Peony all make short cameos in the final episode of their respective region’s mini-series, and both cameo in the same location!

At the end of Twilight Wings, Peony is shown chasing Peonia on a train to the Crown Tundra. They are not facing the audience.

At the recent end of Paldean Winds, during a montage of people watching the final video, Penny is shown in the background, on a train, not facing the audience.

Now this would be nothing big… IF THE TWO TRAINS WERENT EXACTLY THE SAME:

Notice:

The rectangular Windows with curved edges

Orange text above the door

The yellow railings and curved railings towards the back of the train

The blue chairs that are shown to face each other.

The pokeball symbol on the back door.

Another important detail is that in the Paldean Winds Train, no one is shown wearing a Naranja Uniform, including the children, meaning this isn’t Paldea since EVERY OTHER CHILD WEARS THE UNIFORM IN THIS TRAILER.

Caph Squad still standing in the previous episode and the player character seeming to cameo at the beginning means that this episode takes place before the events of the game, WHILE PENNY IS IN GALAR.

I’ve also made a separate Post for more “Out There” pieces of evidence.

The End

In the Mochi Mayhem event, before the Zero Crew leave for Kitakami, Penny had to call her dad for permission and this is what we get:

[Transcript:

Penny - “Oh my GOSH, Dad, would you just drop it?! I told you—friends! I’m going with friends! No, you DON’T need to be worried about it! We are perfectly capable of taking care of ourselves! Ughhh, no, it’s not gonna be an “Adven-tour”—no one says that! Honestly. I’m hanging up now!”

Second Clip:

Penny - “Haaah. Suddenly I’m too tired for any of this…”

Arven - “Did you get your old man’s OK to go?”

Penny - “Yeah…in the end. But I had to put up with his ultra-mega-annoying dad talk to do it.”

Arven - “He just ultra-mega-cares, little bud!”

Penny - “Oh! Oh…yeah, maybe you’re right…”]

THERE IT IS “ADVEN-TOUR” THAT IS PEONY’S WORD, THERE IS NO DOUBT THAT THIS CONFIRMS:

Penny Is Peony’s Youngest Daughter

Almost 2 years of theorizing has finally led to confirmation, my life is complete.