~ Volcanion Origins
~
Digitized line drawing
of 5ban Graphics's
XY145 Promo card art from 2016.
The
existence of Volcanion (vol-KAY-nee-un) was first leaked by hackers in
October 2013 but it was not officially acknowleged or announced by The Pokémon Company
until December 2015. This section speculates on what might have influenced
or inspired the designers in their creation
of Volcanion. What we do know is that the Kalos region of the Pokémon world
is based on real-world France and Volcanion is a Kalos-based Mythical
Pokémon.
Volcanion is said to be a "nation-building" Pokémon,
one that is revered by the people in the southern part of Kalos. What
is meant by "nation-building" is unclear, but perhaps it might mean it
helped create social unity and a collective national consciouness. Maybe
Volcanion even aided in institutional development or economic stability
somehow (there has been some speculation that Volcanion may have helped fuel
the Kalos Power Plant, for instance).
France has a rich history of folklore filled with legendary and mythical
creatures and the tarasque is just one of them. The tarasque is never quite
depicted or described in the same manner, but generally it is said to
be a dragon-like creature from the Provence region of southeastern France.
It has a lion-like head, a turtle-like shell, six bear-like legs and a
serpent's tail. It could expel a poisonous breath, or foul smoke and fire.
It was reputedly tamed in legend by Saint Martha of Bethany who died in
the early 80s AD.
The tarasque was first described in the Golden Legend which
was compiled in the 1260s AD. The word "tara" is borrowed from Gaelic meaning
"rocky hill" while "-esque" comes from French meaning "in the manner or
style of". The turtle-like shell on the creature's back does in fact resemble
a hill or elevated place. This hybrid creature lived on the forested banks
of the Rhône River and was said to haunt the swamps and other waterways
around the commune of Tarascon. Tarascon was originally called Nerluc ("Black
Place") but was subsequently renamed in recognition of the beast.
Saint Martha is the patron saint of Tarascon,
whose motto is concordia felix or "fortunate harmony". Ironically
enough, Saint Martha tamed the beast only for it to be mercilessly butchered
by the Tarascon townspeople. So much for the fortune of the tarasque, or
the harmony of man and beast! Saint Martha is said to have resided in Tarascon
for the last forty years of her life and is believed to be buried there.
Tarascon's coat of arms which features the tarasque was created in the 1450s
AD. There is also a statue of the tarasque next to Tarascon Castle in Tarascon.
The statue was sculpted by Pascal Demaumont out
of a 200-odd tonne block of Estaillade limestone and
erected in 2005.
As an aside, the tarasque conjures up images for me of the lion turtles
that were introduced in Avatar: The Last Airbender in 2008. Clearly
modeled after the tarasque, the lion turtle is said to be the largest and
oldest known animal which protected mankind by housing entire cities and
ecosystems on their backs. However, just like Volcanion, the lion turtles
grew distrustful of humans. In the lion turtles' case, they were openly scorned
and hunted to near extinction by humans, such that only one was thought
to remain.
| Tarascon
coat of arms and statue (public domain images).
|
The name Volcanion is probably a combination of the
words "volcano" and "lion". Volcanion is very blocky and mechanical looking
(not unlike Magearna), but as far as I know, it is not man-made but rather
a living and breathing Pokémon.
It is not known if Volcanion is female or male or if there is more than
one of its species. (Volcanion is voiced by male actors in both the Japanese
and English-dubbed movie.)
Volcanion is a maroon-colored quadruped, with yellow, black and cyan-blue
markings. (The blue markings on the arms are only present when Volcanion
is filled with water.) We know from a data leak in October 2024 that Volcanion
was originally intended to be a muted industrial brown instead of maroon
and the black parts were originally a lighter brown. Volcanion has bright
blue eyes. It is interesting to note that Volcanion's final color scheme
is very close to that of the Tarascon coat of arms!
Volcanion has an African male lion-like head with sharp, ear-like
protrusions and pointed tufts framing its jaw like a collar (or lion's
mane). Volcanion has sturdy and bulky legs ending in three non-retractable
claws (bears in comparison have five non-retractable claws).
Volcanion has a pointed, turtle-like back and a turtle-like (not serpent-like)
tail. The pointed back is likely meant to imitate a volcano. Volcanoes
are pointy because hardened lava piles up around their vent rather than
flowing away. They are pointy until they violently erupt, after which point
they start building themselves up again. Volcanion expels fire, water, and
steam like a volcano but not from vents on its back (like Camerupt for instance).
Volcanion has
four legs for
walking and another set of legs (or arms rather) on its back. These arms
form a ring that come apart to be used as cannons to expel fire, water,
and steam. It does not use these arms for walking, but can direct them toward
the ground and use them as rockets to launch and propel itself through
the air.
|
My AI-assisted rendition
of a Volcanion-tarasque hybrid.
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