Pokémon Lifespan

[FullMoon]

While making plans for Wonders of Unova the topic of how long Pokémon live came into mind. It's something that's never really been addressed much outside of a few specific cases and so I wanted to know the community's opinion about it.

I myself think most Pokémon would live longer than the animals in our world, but still have relatively short lifespans when compared to other humans. Legendaries and Pokémon like Ninetales who're said to live for far longer being the exceptions, with Legendaries being pretty much immortal with the exception of maybe Manaphy/Phione, Shaymin and the Latii since it has been said/shown that there's more than one of them around.

So, what do you guys think about this?

 

[Misty-Moo]

I've always wondered that, take Puka for example -

Spoiler

It's stated in the episode that he's at least 20 years old, having been with his trainer for that long. Puka clearly looks older than Ash's Pikachu, but is still active & doesn't act like an old animal. Given that small rodents normally live for about 3 years, you could conclude that Pokemon live for, say, 10 times as long as their normal animal counterparts.

 

[Beth Pavell]

That seems like a smart way of dealing with the issue. I suppose really it depends on the story. The idea of being lifelong friends with pokémon is an underlying theme in the franchise, so I suppose it's a choice between sticking with that, and dealing with the themes of death and loss. Personally I think something that pokémon fanfic is severely lacking in is pokémon deaths due to just ... old age, rather than violence

 

[Persephone]

I actually prefer not to deal with this question since the oldest protagonist I've ever used is either under the age of 25 or there was magic involved that would make lifespan irrelevant. It just seems like something I wouldn't really need to deal with in-story.

That's also probably why Pokemon seldom just die of old age in fan fiction: most protagonists are no older than their early 20s. There just aren't enough famous exceptions (outside of future anime fics) to form a coherent need to debate the issue in the fandom.

 

[Vivillon]

In the games, there have been very few references to specific characters having lost their Pokémon due to natural causes. The only one I can think of is the man south of Five Island in Leaf Green/Fire Red who is mourning the death of his Onix. However, Pokémon death outside of violence would be interesting to see. How would the Pokémon die? Would Pokémon like Onix just lose the binding between their rocks and fall apart, or would they erode to the point of not functioning? Do Pokémon have actual disease that harms them, unlike the Pokérus that exists in the games? I'd love to see somebody experiment with non-violent deaths. As for lifespans, just keep it logical for the species and all should be fine. As such, Pokémon like Salamence should live a lot longer than Joltik. Also, most, if not all, ghost-types should not die of natural causes because they're already dead.

 

[Absent]

We also have to take into consideration that when Pokemon are trained and/or form a strong relationship with their Trainer, limits will be broken. Mega Evolution and in game features like Pokemon Amie are testaments to that. I've no doubt that a loved and well trained Pokemon could outlive its trainer.

Love, friendship and trust are running themes in this series, and while they can be very cheesy at times, they present us with awesome moments.

 

[jjl2357]

The one instance I remember explicitly from the games is the fact that Alder's volcarona died of some illness, causing him to wander through the region reflecting on life.
But also, each game has some designated site for pokemon graves, so it stands to reason that most pokemon have a lifespan shorter than that of their trainer.

 

[Misty-Moo]

As this has popped up again, I'll post another couple of things to consider.
How would being stored in the PC affect lifespan? The Pokemon there are in suspended animation, so they could effectively live forever.
Also, would the amount of time in/out of the Pokeball (eg. most Pokemon vs. Ash's Pikachu) have a bearing on lifespan?

 

[FullMoon]

I think Pokémon age normally while inside their Pokéballs, but that's because I imagine the Pokéball being less of suspended animation and more like a Lotus-Eater Machine of sorts.

 

[SuperTrainStationH]

In my interpretation it on the species.

My main character from Wind & Rain has a Drifblim who's around 100 years old, and is actually considered old, but at one point had an Houndoom who died of old age at around 18 who was one of his first Pokémon.

My Trainers are in their mid to late 20's and they started out at age 10, so the age of their Pokémon and their expected lifespans actually kinda matters.

 

[VeniaSilente]

Trained Pokémon would most likely have an extended lifespan compared to their wild counterparts by mere virtue of safer opportunities, in the same way up until the advent of mass medicine, average humanity lifespan rounded the 40 years or so. This not even accounting for, as mentioned above, storage system and how it is interpreted (are Pokémon turned into data? If so: data does not "age"; however, being "stored" is not a Pokémon's natural state).

At least in the wild mechanisms of natural selection will most assuredly effect what the natural lifespan of various species is, such as Magikarp and their ability to breed in immense numbers, suggesting that the safety of the species partly relies on a short, sexually active lifespan. Depending on interpretation stereotypes can have an effect on it too, for example "bug" Pokémon would have in general slightly shorter lifespans than "mammal" Pokémon.

 

[Silverwynde]

I've often thought that it really depends on the species of Pokemon: a Bug type might have a lifespan of thirty years while a Rock type may very well live to be two hundred. Legends and a handful of other species--such as Golett and Golurk--are actually functionally immortal; they live for millennia and can keep doing so unless they are gravely injured.

Personally, I think most Pokemon have a similar lifespan to a human but that's my take on things.

 

[Dieter]

Though I think individual species all have different life spans, I think looking at typing as a guideline helps too

So what I would say is that Dragon, Fairy and Ghost types have the longest lifespan. Bug types would probably have the shortest lifespan on average. An exception for example would be Volcarona, who I think can get a lot older than most other Bug

In general, Psychic, Dark, Steel, Ground and Rock types can also have a long life span, but that also depends on the species. Grass types probably have the potential for a long life, but don't necessarily always have one

Egg groups can probably also be a helpful guidelines, like most things in the Dragon egg group probably have a very long lifespan, or the pokémon in the human-like egg group might have a relatively long lifespan (maybe not as long as a humans, but maybe at least half of it?)

I also think evolution might be able to prolong a pokémon's lifespan

and obviously Legendaries are excluded from this, not because I think they're all immortal, but because I think most of them have at least a pretty long lifespan, even if they don't have a typing that would support that (Ho-oh for example, which is Fire/Flying, two elements I think don't necessarily guarantee a long lifespan, but also based on the phoenix, which is reborn from its ash and all)

As for Vivillion's question, I guess pokémon like that could do either? Like, I imagine that it will show the wear and tear of old age at some point, but not randomly fall apart. They probably decompose differently a well (maybe certain Steel types just rust away?)

Oh and lastly, yes I think Ghost pokémon can die, as I don't think they're dead pokémon/people, as much as their beings with traits we attribute to ghosts (levitating, disappearing, lack of physical body) So I guess that when their time has come, they slowly cease to exist and disperse into nothingness? (though I think Ghost types generally get really old, so it doesn't happen that often/quickly)

 

[Beth Pavell]

If we're to compare to real creatures, then the longest lived of the organic pokémon would probably be among the Grass-types. The oldest creatures in the world tend to be trees. In fact the oldest creature in the world is a bristlecone pine, high up in the mountains of California. It's about 4,500 years old as memory serves. The oldest known creature was another bristlecone pine named "Methusalah", which was over 5,000 years old. Ironically what finished Methusalah off was the research team's augur when they took a core sample to find out its age

 

[Drakon]

I usually go for human-like lifespan for most. Small pokémon like Pikachu or Bidoof usually live for about 20-40 years.

Ghost-types can live for centuries if not millenia. Legendaries are immortal and ageless — as befitting a divinity.

The Jigglypuff and Alakazam from "The Secret of Pokémonopolis" are centuries if not millenia old. Of course, they are aberrations.