Recent fan theory discussion concerning Pokémon Legends: Arceus casts the game and its story in a hauntingly dark, sobering light. It'd already be wrong to claim that Legends: Arceus is a lighthearted game by Pokémon franchise standards, painting the Hisui region as a locale riddled with strife between its competing human factions and its inhospitable wildernesses filled with dangerous monsters, but its temporally displaced player character could have it the hardest of any Hisuian for reasons that extend well beyond culture shock.
It's a popular fan belief that the protagonist of Legends: Arceus is the hero of Pokémon Diamond and Pearl some years after becoming League Champion, and it is a sensible one. Cyllene of the Galaxy Team states that Legends: Arceus' hero appears to be around 15, older than mainline Pokémon player trainers traditionally are. Once they're geared up and styled as one of Legends: Arceus' Galaxy Team Survey Corps , they're almost identical to the Diamond and Pearl player character of the same gender. Their colleague of the same age, either a girl named Akari or a boy named Rei, resembles whichever Diamond and Pearl avatar they don't, suggesting they could be their ancestor.
While imagining the two game's leads as the same is a fun way to connect them, Reddit best team against foes like Dialga, Palkia, and Giratina generations before they originally met them would then likely put them in the position of battling old friends who no longer them.
Pokemon Legends: Arceus & BDSP May Share A Bittersweet Hero
The points out that interactions with human characters also take on a sadder note from a Diamond and Pearl Champion's perspective. They may have been especially inclined to trust the affable merchant Volo, given his clear relation to their guide and idol figure Cynthia, only for him to betray and attempt to kill them in the postgame.
A few additional ideas boldnbrashsquid holds add extra flavor and depth to the concept of Diamond and Pearl's hero being Legends: Arceus' time travel victim. They propose that the Togepi line are generational partners of Cynthia's family, implying that Volo's Togekiss is an ancestor of both Cynthia's Togekiss and the Togepi egg that the player acquires from her in Gen 4. They paint a picture of the protagonist looking in the vicinity of Lake Verity for the yet unmade sites of their most formative memories, and maybe even going on to found their hometown of Twinleaf.
That level of contemplation reveals beauty to the theory in addition to the inherent melancholy. Whoever the protagonist of Pokémon Legends: Arceus canonically is, they're a fish out of water with no way to return to whatever they've come from, but by late in the game, they've established themselves in their situation and forged all-new bonds. If they're the lead of Pokémon Diamond, Pearl, Platinum, or BDSP, the changes they've experienced and adapted to come with the unique ability to contribute to the existence of the world they grew up in and whose experiences they carry. In the end, the theory comes together as an enriching, almost poetic one for a surprisingly thoughtful story about persevering through the strange and unknown with hope for a thriving future.
Source: boldnbrashsquid/Reddit
