Every Pokémon fan is familiar with the Pokédex, a trusty tool for every school-aged child embarking upon their Pokémon pilgrimage, but a new theory casts an ominous light upon the data’s origins. Pokémon are creatures with well-established histories within the world, so it would make sense that there would be plenty of more professional compendiums detailing the various traits.
The Pokédex entries, however, are famously childish in their descriptions, prompting theories that the Dex is written by a child character or simply read through a child’s eyes... though some of these entries get super dark despite the childish style.
One Reddit user recently posited an alternative idea, suggesting that children’s exploration of the world with their Pokémon companion is an established mode of education to learn more about the world with a more hands-on approach. As such, the Pokedex functions similarly to a school library book, with the intention that the child can use it to look up and learn more about any newfound Pokémon.
While it’s an interesting theory, it doesn’t explain why the Pokédex entries are so childishly written -- at first. School library books, however, are prime targets for vandalism, with bored students prone to doodling in the side margins or adding notes for the humor of their peers.
It’s perfectly likely that the Pokédex might have belonged to another child before it was given to the main character in question, which means that there might be some notes left over from all the past kids who’d once carried a Pokédex to aid them in their adventures. This theory’s limited somewhat by Professor Oak’s declaration that each Pokédex is the newest technology, and is often portrayed as an electrical device that doesn’t leave much of a path for notes. For the earlier iterations, however, it’s a plausible theory.
The dark twist to this theory comes when we take a closer look at the nature of some of the Pokédex entries. Pokémon possess incredible abilities that are often lifesaving for the people of their world, but that doesn't make the potential for their danger any less real. Litwick’s entry warns the reader of the creature’s tendency to lure any passersby with the help of its seemingly friendly light before leeching away at their follower’s life force.
Gengar’s Dex entry hypothesizes the species is prone to loneliness and attempts to create new travel companions by killing humans in an attempt to befriend their spirits. Drifloon’s takes the cake for the most ominous, with its Dex entry claiming that they’ve been seen grabbing the hands of children and lifting them up into the next world.
It’s dark subject matter for a child to read, much less write, and puts the light-hearted journey of a child exploring the world with their companions in a much more dangerous light. Additionally, it presents an uncomfortable implication. If the Dex entries are written by past children detailing their experiences, then that means that they might have either witnessed or experienced these frightening tendencies Pokémon can exhibit and are attempting to warn future children so that they don’t fall victim to the same fates.
While perhaps that isn’t too surprising of an outcome for a world which seems to encourage children as young as 10-years-old journeying across the country on their lonesome, it is a jarringly dark insinuation that hits right in the childhood.