In Pokémon Sun and Moon, the legendary Pokémon players can capture, Nebby the Solgaleo or Lunala, should have stayed with Lillie. Pokémon Sun and Moon was initially released on the Nintendo 3DS in 2016, and was followed up by Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon in 2017 on the same system. Both games are set in the Alola region and feature a similar cast of characters, including the player character’s friend Lillie and her Cosmog, whom she calls Nebby.
Starting with Pokémon Gold and Silver, most Pokémon games that aren’t remakes feature a legendary Pokémon on their covers, and players get the chance to capture them at some point in the story. In Sun and Moon, players receive the legendary Pokémon in a unique way: the Solgaleo or Lunala players capture is actually Nebby, the Cosmog who spends almost the entire game with Lillie until evolving into Cosmoem and later the box art legendary. Nebby’s silly behavior resulting in Lillie demanding they return to her bag has become a well-known meme for Pokémon fans.
Nebby’s involvement with Lillie throughout Sun and Moon is meant to give players a way to feel more attachment towards them. Most other Pokémon games use their box art legendary Pokémon as a plot device that only appears when it’s time for the player to battle and try to capture it. These may feel like some of the best Pokémon battle moments, but the player doesn’t feel much attachment towards the Pokémon itself. Nebby’s involvement in Pokémon Sun and Moon makes their encounter more emotionally charged, but has ultimately had the opposite effect on many players: Nebby is so connected to Lillie that many fans feel she should have kept them rather than give the player the chance to catch them. Sun and Moon would have benefited, both in their story and their gameplay, had Lillie kept Nebby herself.
Lillie's Arc Would've Been Stronger If She Kept Nebby In Sun & Moon
Fans of Pokémon Sun and Moon tend to enjoy Lillie’s journey throughout the games. She grows from a timid and dependent person to someone who is independent and can make her own choices. But because Pokémon games require the player character to resolve the primary conflicts, Lillie still relies on the player to confront her mother, Lusamine, in Ultra Space. Lusamine’s defeat is a key part of freeing her from the Ultra Beast Nihilego’s control in Pokémon Sun and Moon, and beginning the process of reverting her to her kind self that Lillie re, but Lillie still needs the player’s help for this to happen.
Lillie’s most notable act of independence in Sun and Moon comes from her decision that she will travel to Kanto by herself to try and research a way to wake Lusamine from her coma. But this occurs at the very end of the games, and is a drastic departure from her previous actions that required she still rely on the player character to some extent. Although it’s a sensible ending to a character arc centered around independence, it still feels like a large leap that could have been smoothed over if she still had Nebby to accompany her to Kanto.
With Nebby by her side, Lillie could travel to the classic Pokémon Kanto region without the player character but still not entirely by herself. Nebby’s assistance against Lusamine could also serve as a connection to the player. With Nebby as the “link” between the player character and Lillie, Nebby going to Kanto with Lillie would feel like the player is going to Kanto with Lillie in spirit. Nebby would act as a metaphorical reminder that even though Lillie has become more independent, she isn’t - and never has to be - entirely alone to maintain that independence. Lillie is, after all, meant to be the opposite of her brother Gladion in the story of Pokémon Sun and Moon.
Gladion starts Pokémon Sun and Moon as too independent, distancing himself from others until he learns it’s okay to have friends and rely on them for help when he needs it. But by giving Nebby away, Lillie ends Pokémon Sun and Moon closer to the way Gladion starts it: by trying to do something she’s never done before entirely alone. Instead, she should have ended her character arc by allowing herself to rely on others, which is what she does when the player battles Lusamine, and could have continued had she kept Nebby herself.
An alternative way of showing appreciation towards the player character for their help that doesn’t involve Lillie giving up Nebby could have alleviated this hiccup in Lillie’s character arc. It would've allowed her to keep a unique partner Pokémon that fans enjoyed seeing grow alongside her. Nebby and Lillie had enjoyable interactions throughout Pokémon Sun and Moon, and once players catch Nebby for themselves, those interactions end completely, taking away one of the fun quirks the games provided.
Sun & Moon's Post-Game Would've Improved If Lillie Kept Nebby
Sun and Moon are known for being one of numerous Pokémon Battle Frontier facility, the Battle Factory.
Still, there was potential for Sun and Moon to have a somewhat more unique post-game experience if Lillie had kept Nebby. In Pokémon Sun, the Altar of the Sunne is where the player and Lillie use the Sun and Moon Flutes to awaken Solgaleo, while in Pokémon Moon, the altar is instead called the Altar of the Moone and is the place where they can awaken Lunala. Both games also feature a mysterious lake area, either the Lake of the Moone in Pokémon Sun or the Lake of the Sunne in Pokémon Moon. It’s here that players can find a Cosmog to take with them after bringing Nebby through the Ultra Wormhole that appears in the Altar.
As it stands, the Lake of Moone and Sunne are mostly empty locations that only host the TM for Psyshock and the Cosmog Pokémon that players can get. Getting Cosmog isn’t a particularly big deal when players already have Nebby, and mostly serves to help players complete their Pokédex by getting Cosmog and evolving it into Cosmoem. Cosmoem will always evolve into Solgaleo in Sun and Lunala in Moon, meaning players still have to trade Pokémon if they want the opposite game’s box art legendary. If they just let Cosmoem evolve normally, they’ll end up with two of the same legendary.
Had Lillie kept Nebby, however, this entire scene had the possibility to play out differently. Instead of Lillie going off to Kanto right away, she could have ed the player and gone to the alternate universe Lake location together with Nebby. If a story event unfolded at the Lake, it would have given the Pokémon Sun and Moon location more plot and even lore relevance, and could have been another opportunity for Lillie to take action as part of her own personal storyline. This would result in the player getting their own Cosmog while Lillie keeps Nebby, which isn’t unprecedented in the series: in Black and White, the antagonist N catches the opposite box art legendary before the player gets to capture their own.
After the events at the Lake are over is also when Lillie could take the opportunity to tell the player that she and Nebby are traveling to Kanto. This way, players get their own Cosmog while Lillie keeps Nebby, instead of players getting two of the same legendary for themselves. Trading two Cosmoem, evolving them, then trading them back isn’t any different than simply evolving Cosmoem and trading it for the opposite legendary, or even simply trading their first legendary Pokémon for the opposite one and trading it back. It wasn’t necessary for the player to receive both Nebby and an extra Cosmog after becoming the Alola region Champion in Pokémon Sun and Moon when just receiving a Cosmog in the post-game serves the same purpose.
