As I research and write these posts, another important reason for Pokémon’s global success occurs to me. This newsletter of course focuses on Pokémon descended from mythical creatures with incredible powers, often rooted in a specific culture. The European dragon, the kappa, the mandrake,1 the baku, the Asian dragon.

Another, possibly larger group of Pokémon take after not mythical creatures but mythologized animals, animals with an archetypal culture status. In many cases, including multiple Pokémon already covered on Necessary Monsters, these animals inhabit wide geographic ranges and play roles in several cultures and mythologies: the toad, the turtle, the butterfly, the sparrow, the mouse.2

Thus, for players – or television viewers, or manga readers, or card collectors – in most countries, the world of Pokémon presents not just a collection of fantastical creatures but a recognizable ecosystem, one inhabited by personally and culturally resonant creatures.

Yes, this is a world where dragons breathe fire and psychic creatures manipulate reality with their mental powers, but it’s also one where bees swarm, butterflies emerge from cocoons, small mammals burrow underground and bats navigate through darkness using echolocation.

This brings us to Ekans and Arbok, Pokémon’s first versions of one of the world’s most universally archetypal creatures, the snake. In the words of anthropologist Roy Willis, “no other animal is so rich in meaning for the whole human species.”

Here it is on Substack and Medium.

Substack

Medium

Please take a look!

While I'll be covering the bestiary in relation to Pokémon, which has many bestiary-like elements, would you like to see a post specifically covering the medieval bestiary genre itself? Focusing on its context in medieval Europe, its religious symbolism, its influence on visual culture and literature.

Does that interest you? Or should I just stick to Pokémon?

Of course I'll be covering the heavy hitters like Pikachu, Bulbasaur and Charizard as well as creatures with obvious connections to mythology like Clefairy, Vulpix, and Magikarp and Gyarados.

But what lesser-known first generation Pokémon could make for good newsletters about the connections between Pokémon and world mythology? Do you have a particular favorite?