Pokemon Legends: Arceus shows how ancient Pokemon may have evolved differently than contemporary Pokemon, thanks to the changes of the Era. Voltorb being a Grass-type and Scyther’s evolution of Kleavor all show how convoluted evolution could be, while theories that all the Pikachu clones can trace their ancestry back to an original, perhaps legendary Electric Mouse Pokemon were supported by in-game dialogue.
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Of course, if this happens for Pikachu, it could happen for others. One Pokemon fan, known as alex_fantastico on Reddit, has been exploring how certain Pokemon types could descend from a singular ancestor. They recently made a dog Pokemon chart, which is complicated due to the variety of dog Pokemon in the franchise, but they’ve also made one for Penguin Pokemon.
This new Pokemon chart is much simpler, thanks to there only being three base Penguin Pokemon. As seen above, alex_fantastico imagines a singular ancestor Pokemon line with Piplup to Empoleon as the base, naming them Chicyuki, Frostuin, and Emparctic. They look much like the standard line, but instead have ice accentuations than steel. One evolution path sees the ice accents drop, the fur color turn red, and more white emerge until there is but one singular stage left at the end: Delibird.
On the other end of the spectrum, the ice accentuations become the domineering feature, as their faces are overtaken and they grow in body size. This ultimately results in Eiscue, introduced in Pokemon Sword and Shield. Meanwhile, Piplup, Prinplup, and Empoleon all resemble the base ancestor Pokemon the most, just with changing body expressions, the ice accentuation being replaced with steel, and the overall royalty/color shifting.
It’s an interesting and believable tree, although it would be more so if there were more Penguin Pokemon. It remains to be seen if Pokemon Scarlet and Violet add a new penguin Pokemon line, but it feels unlikely. After all, there are a ton of rumors pointing toward regional fakes, new Pokemon, and returning Pokemon, but it’s hard to know anything for sure until Game Freak spills the beans.
Pokemon Scarlet and Violet release on November 18 for Nintendo Switch.
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