elementcollector1
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Okay, hear me out. Anyone else think the plot of Black and White is a little weird? What with the main antagonist (sort of) being the last of the royal lineage of a 2,500-year-old monarchical civilization that underwent one, possibly more civil wars and used Reshiram and Zekrom to destroy Unova at least once? All while being set in an otherwise contemporary version of New York City?
Well, it's not as weird as you'd think. True, there's no real-world history that any of that is based on, as New York isn't exactly known for its kings (besides kings of business, and even then those aren't known for their crowns and ancient relics).
I did some digging, and what I found surprised me in just how well it ties in overall to the Harmonia royal family (who I'm going to ascribe to the 'Harmonia Empire' for ease of referral).
[WARNING: If you have any strong feelings on Mormon historical accounts, religious scripture, or just religious discussion in general, proceed at your own discretion.]
First, let's examine what we know about the Harmonia empire from the Pokemon associated with them:
-At the Desert Resort, Professor Juniper mentions the Darmanitan outside have been there for "approximately 2,500 years".
-Golett and Golurk were created by 'an ancient civilization' to serve as laborers. More specifically, they like to pile up boulders.
-Sigilyph served as protectors and patrollers of an ancient civilization, and still fly their former routes.
Okay, so we have three Pokemon families to go off of - Darmanitan, Golett/Golurk, and Sigilyph. What are each based on?
-Darmanitan are based on daruma dolls, a goal-setting aid in Buddhist culture. According to the designer, Darmanitan was made because a daruma at a burning ceremony they attended was shaped like a gorilla. They are common to many Buddhist Eastern nations, such as China, Japan, Taiwan, and Korea.
A daruma doll for comparison to Darmanitan and its Zen form. Taken from here.
-Golett and Golurk are based on Jewish golems, with Golurk in particular being based on the 1951 film The Emperor and the Golem intepretation of the Golem of Prague, a 17th-century narrative about a Jewish rabbi who creates and animates a golem to protect the ghetto of Prague from outside attack. Golems could theoretically have been known since the creation of man according to Jewish folklore (as Adam and Eve themselves are considered golems, merely ones that were animated by God rather than mortal hands and are thus something greater), but most accounts only reach as far back as 1342 (the oldest-known Talmud manuscripts).
The golem from the movie. Note the bandage-like object over the chest.
-Sigilyph are based on the Nazca Lines, engineered by the titular Nazca civilization operating roughly in the coastal middle of what is now Peru in South America. Importantly, the Nazca civilization was active between 500 BCE and 500 AD, meaning 2500 years ago is roughly when they would just be starting out as an established civilization with trade or contact with others.
That pink splotch is Nazca territory in Peru. Not very large, were they?
Three entirely different cultures, thousands of miles apart, with no obvious trade links, cultural ties, or anything else. Why would they be connected? Well...
In Mormon accounts, North American history looks quite a bit different. Essentially, several groups left Jerusalem and various European places, either from persecution or from something else, and arrived in North America (or somewhere nearby), the survivors of various civil wars eventually becoming the Native Americans we're more familiar with. One of these groups was the Nephites, Jewish peoples fleeing persecution in Jerusalem and somehow finding their way into the American continental system about 2,600 years ago. If you've paid attention thus far, you'll note the similarity of that number to a certain number spoken of in-game - and it's also obvious in other games that Pokemon loves to round historical catastrophic dates (just how much was going on 3,000 years ago?)
Anyway, the exact geography of the Nephites' landing was disputed, but the general interpretation due to them using a narrow strip of land to fend off invaders is that it was to the south of Mexico or Central America - thus, South America is a good enough place to start. In fact, Mormon historians have even published a map of potential sites, and it usually looks something like this:
If that looks complicated, don't worry, I'll simplify it. Basically, the Nephites landed in northern Peru, migrated north, split up several times, and eventually ended up in New York. Everyone agrees they ended up in New York to have their climactic final civil war, because that was where Joseph Smith (the founder of Mormonism) dug up the legendary golden plates from which these stories were supposedly transcribed in 1820. Not quite in New York City, mind you, but we're getting to that.
What this means is that if we assume that, for some unfathomable reason, the Pokemon team was inspired by Mormon scripture when writing a story for New York City, it's entirely possible that the Pokemon version of the Nephites could have picked up Sigilyph as soon as they landed. Because they were Jewish peoples fleeing Jerusalem, they might already know about golems, and thus would have been able to create Golett and Golurk. As for Darmanitan...
...Well, I'm sure they had plenty of time to pick it up somewhere.
In addition, the Nephites were quite fond of the concept of kings, and Mormon scripture is especially fond of brothers competing to be king. This is even seen in the story of the Jaredites (an earlier group than the Nephites), founded by Jared and his brother. After they have a lot of children, the Jaredites gather before the two brothers on their deathbed to ask them who shall be the next kings. After a few shenanigans, each brother nominates one of his sons, and they promptly war for the throne and tear themselves apart. Sound familiar? It's almost exactly like the story of the Heroes of Truth and Ideals - because they could not reconcile their ideas, they declared stalemate, only for their sons to reignite the conflict and destroy Unova with the powers of Reshiram and Zekrom. The Jaredites are nearly extinct by the time the Nephites arrive, but the idea is undoubtedly very similar.
So all that would seem to satisfy the Watsonian in-universe explanation for the Harmonia Empire - they're kind of the Nephites, just not by name. But what about the Doylist (out of universe) explanation - why Mormonism? Why New York City?
Well, you might be surprised by how strongly the two are tied together. Joseph Smith, after all, was raised in Palmyra, New York - just 300 miles from NYC. As far as religions go, Mormonism is about as specific and special to New York as any one religion gets. Plus, ideas of ancient kings and civil wars would certainly serve as a good backdrop in any story about truth and ideals. Lastly, within the bounds of the real-world equivalent of Unova, one can find this:
This is one of the most influential Mormon temples in the world, in large part due to being located in one of the world's largest cities. It received much media coverage when it opened in 2004, and is widely visited today. And because anyone who's done even a little research into the matter knows that Game Freak and The Pokemon Company tour areas in-game regions are based off of to gain a better cultural understanding and reference for the region, it's quite possible that they heard of it or stumbled across it, thus leading to it becoming a major plot point.
The last thing is, of course, the language of the Harmonia Empire. Found only in the Abyssal Ruins, it bears a notable resemblance to Egyptian hieroglyphics, but translates to a standard Latin alphabet. Even this has its roots in Mormonism - Joseph Smith claimed the plates were written in a 'reformed Egyptian,' and thus the translations were somewhat difficult and required his precise dictation.
Top: The 'Reformed Egyptian' script on the golden plates, somewhat recreated from various photographs. Bottom: The Abyssal Ruins alphabet and a few associated logograms.
For those who think all this isn't proof enough, I'll leave it at this: How many other approximately 2500-year-old monarchical civilizations do you know of in New York?
Well, it's not as weird as you'd think. True, there's no real-world history that any of that is based on, as New York isn't exactly known for its kings (besides kings of business, and even then those aren't known for their crowns and ancient relics).
I did some digging, and what I found surprised me in just how well it ties in overall to the Harmonia royal family (who I'm going to ascribe to the 'Harmonia Empire' for ease of referral).
[WARNING: If you have any strong feelings on Mormon historical accounts, religious scripture, or just religious discussion in general, proceed at your own discretion.]
First, let's examine what we know about the Harmonia empire from the Pokemon associated with them:
-At the Desert Resort, Professor Juniper mentions the Darmanitan outside have been there for "approximately 2,500 years".
-Golett and Golurk were created by 'an ancient civilization' to serve as laborers. More specifically, they like to pile up boulders.
-Sigilyph served as protectors and patrollers of an ancient civilization, and still fly their former routes.
Okay, so we have three Pokemon families to go off of - Darmanitan, Golett/Golurk, and Sigilyph. What are each based on?
-Darmanitan are based on daruma dolls, a goal-setting aid in Buddhist culture. According to the designer, Darmanitan was made because a daruma at a burning ceremony they attended was shaped like a gorilla. They are common to many Buddhist Eastern nations, such as China, Japan, Taiwan, and Korea.
A daruma doll for comparison to Darmanitan and its Zen form. Taken from here.
-Golett and Golurk are based on Jewish golems, with Golurk in particular being based on the 1951 film The Emperor and the Golem intepretation of the Golem of Prague, a 17th-century narrative about a Jewish rabbi who creates and animates a golem to protect the ghetto of Prague from outside attack. Golems could theoretically have been known since the creation of man according to Jewish folklore (as Adam and Eve themselves are considered golems, merely ones that were animated by God rather than mortal hands and are thus something greater), but most accounts only reach as far back as 1342 (the oldest-known Talmud manuscripts).
The golem from the movie. Note the bandage-like object over the chest.
-Sigilyph are based on the Nazca Lines, engineered by the titular Nazca civilization operating roughly in the coastal middle of what is now Peru in South America. Importantly, the Nazca civilization was active between 500 BCE and 500 AD, meaning 2500 years ago is roughly when they would just be starting out as an established civilization with trade or contact with others.
That pink splotch is Nazca territory in Peru. Not very large, were they?
Three entirely different cultures, thousands of miles apart, with no obvious trade links, cultural ties, or anything else. Why would they be connected? Well...
In Mormon accounts, North American history looks quite a bit different. Essentially, several groups left Jerusalem and various European places, either from persecution or from something else, and arrived in North America (or somewhere nearby), the survivors of various civil wars eventually becoming the Native Americans we're more familiar with. One of these groups was the Nephites, Jewish peoples fleeing persecution in Jerusalem and somehow finding their way into the American continental system about 2,600 years ago. If you've paid attention thus far, you'll note the similarity of that number to a certain number spoken of in-game - and it's also obvious in other games that Pokemon loves to round historical catastrophic dates (just how much was going on 3,000 years ago?)
Anyway, the exact geography of the Nephites' landing was disputed, but the general interpretation due to them using a narrow strip of land to fend off invaders is that it was to the south of Mexico or Central America - thus, South America is a good enough place to start. In fact, Mormon historians have even published a map of potential sites, and it usually looks something like this:
If that looks complicated, don't worry, I'll simplify it. Basically, the Nephites landed in northern Peru, migrated north, split up several times, and eventually ended up in New York. Everyone agrees they ended up in New York to have their climactic final civil war, because that was where Joseph Smith (the founder of Mormonism) dug up the legendary golden plates from which these stories were supposedly transcribed in 1820. Not quite in New York City, mind you, but we're getting to that.
What this means is that if we assume that, for some unfathomable reason, the Pokemon team was inspired by Mormon scripture when writing a story for New York City, it's entirely possible that the Pokemon version of the Nephites could have picked up Sigilyph as soon as they landed. Because they were Jewish peoples fleeing Jerusalem, they might already know about golems, and thus would have been able to create Golett and Golurk. As for Darmanitan...
...Well, I'm sure they had plenty of time to pick it up somewhere.
In addition, the Nephites were quite fond of the concept of kings, and Mormon scripture is especially fond of brothers competing to be king. This is even seen in the story of the Jaredites (an earlier group than the Nephites), founded by Jared and his brother. After they have a lot of children, the Jaredites gather before the two brothers on their deathbed to ask them who shall be the next kings. After a few shenanigans, each brother nominates one of his sons, and they promptly war for the throne and tear themselves apart. Sound familiar? It's almost exactly like the story of the Heroes of Truth and Ideals - because they could not reconcile their ideas, they declared stalemate, only for their sons to reignite the conflict and destroy Unova with the powers of Reshiram and Zekrom. The Jaredites are nearly extinct by the time the Nephites arrive, but the idea is undoubtedly very similar.
So all that would seem to satisfy the Watsonian in-universe explanation for the Harmonia Empire - they're kind of the Nephites, just not by name. But what about the Doylist (out of universe) explanation - why Mormonism? Why New York City?
Well, you might be surprised by how strongly the two are tied together. Joseph Smith, after all, was raised in Palmyra, New York - just 300 miles from NYC. As far as religions go, Mormonism is about as specific and special to New York as any one religion gets. Plus, ideas of ancient kings and civil wars would certainly serve as a good backdrop in any story about truth and ideals. Lastly, within the bounds of the real-world equivalent of Unova, one can find this:
This is one of the most influential Mormon temples in the world, in large part due to being located in one of the world's largest cities. It received much media coverage when it opened in 2004, and is widely visited today. And because anyone who's done even a little research into the matter knows that Game Freak and The Pokemon Company tour areas in-game regions are based off of to gain a better cultural understanding and reference for the region, it's quite possible that they heard of it or stumbled across it, thus leading to it becoming a major plot point.
The last thing is, of course, the language of the Harmonia Empire. Found only in the Abyssal Ruins, it bears a notable resemblance to Egyptian hieroglyphics, but translates to a standard Latin alphabet. Even this has its roots in Mormonism - Joseph Smith claimed the plates were written in a 'reformed Egyptian,' and thus the translations were somewhat difficult and required his precise dictation.
Top: The 'Reformed Egyptian' script on the golden plates, somewhat recreated from various photographs. Bottom: The Abyssal Ruins alphabet and a few associated logograms.
For those who think all this isn't proof enough, I'll leave it at this: How many other approximately 2500-year-old monarchical civilizations do you know of in New York?
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