Hello, it’s your resident theorist Sabi with another theory about our beloved franchise of Pokémon. With the announcement of Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, there is tons of buzz about what the remakes of Ruby and Sapphire will hold compared to the originals. Everything from what could be revamped to possible new Mega Evolutions is being discussed all over the Internet, and one of those things, is what is behind “Omega” and “Alpha” being put into the names. People find the placing odd and perhaps it should be the other way around, as “Alpha Ruby” and “Omega Sapphire”. I however have a theory as to the naming of these long awaited games, as well as what else might be laying underneath the surface.
The previous remakes, from Red and Blue to ‘Fire Red’ and ‘Leaf Green’ with the simplistic references to the Box Art Pokémon: Charizard and Venusaur and the original Pokémon Green game in the past, and from ‘Gold’ and ‘Silver’ to ‘Heart Gold’ and ‘Soul Silver’ referencing “a heart of gold” and the other phrase “heart and soul” when the game focused on bonding with Pokémon as the friendship mechanic was introduced in its original titles. Those names seemed to make sense and they worked with the phrasing they were given. With Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, it almost look like GameFreak oopsied on the naming, since everyone is familiar with the usage of the names to be in the order of Alpha, then Omega, as people say “Ruby and Sapphire” when mentioning the games in ‘order’, not the other way around. Despite thinking that it should be the other way around, I have a theory as to why this naming scheme could have been intentional.
Alpha and Omega are characters of the Greek alphabet, with Alpha being the first and Omega being the last. Thus, it has become pretty common knowledge of what Alpha and Omega have come to mean in various literature and cultures. You may say that might add to the strangeness, as then the titles would seem to mean “Last Ruby” and “First Sapphire”. While it does seem to add to the confusion, I believe that these games are pulling a bit more mythology on us, specifically Norse Mythology. What other games used Norse Mythology? Pokémon X and Y.
Pokémon X and Y weren’t exactly subtle at hinting at a Hoenn remake. The tiny clues started buzz that turned into joking hashtags and many people creating fake images of what would be a Generation Three remake. There is this, and the fact that the main Pokémon for each version, Xerneas and Yveltal, were mostly based on creatures from Norse Mythology.
[B][U]Xerneas: From Bulbapedia[/U][/B]
[QUOTE]It may incorporate elements of Eikþyrnir and the four stags Dáinn, Dvalinn, Duneyrr and Duraþrór. Eikþyrnir resides in Valhalla eating the foliage of Læraðr with glowing horns that drip with dew. According to the Poetic Edda, the four stags resided in the trunk of the World Tree Yggdrasil and ate its branches and fresh shoots. Xerneas’s tree form may be based on Yggdrasil itself. [/QUOTE]
[B][U]Yveltal: From Bulbapedia[/U][/B]
[QUOTE]It may be based on the giant Hræsvelgr, or “Corpse Swallower,” which takes the form of an eagle and sits at the end of the world, creating wind as it flaps its wings. It may also be based on the Hawk Veðrfölnir or the unnamed eagle. According to the Poetic Edda, the unnamed eagle resided at the top of the world tree Yggdrasil, with Veðrfölnir sitting between its eyes.[/QUOTE]
So what does this have to do with these Ruby and Sapphire remakes?
I did a bit of research, and Ruby and Sapphire’s main story were to stop Groudon and Kyogre, from either creating new continents or massively flooding the planet respectively. Both actions are pretty world altering events; however there are similar things mentioned in a world ending scenario more familiar to people as Ragnarök. Ragnarök is the Norse Mythology version of the end of the world. To sum it up, after the death of various major godly figures (such as Odin, Thor, Freyr and Loki etc.), various natural disasters begin to occur that ultimately causes the world to be reset and renewed. The most prominent mentions about how this comes about, is that there is massive flooding and submersion of the world in water, and then afterword, continents are raised with new, fertile land while a pair of survivors repopulate the planet. Now doesn’t that sound very familiar? The flooding comes first and the continents appear last, so that may be why it’s Alpha Sapphire and Omega Ruby instead of the other way around. They may be referencing the events in Ragnarök.
Now in the Heart Gold and Soul Silver remakes, they included their Crystal version counterpart in the story. I see no reason why GameFreak will not do the same with Emerald. In Emerald, Rayquaza was prominent in the story to prevent the titanic floods and quaking continents from rising. This will most likely be a part of the story if GameFreak follows suit with story as they did in Heart Gold and Soul Silver. They could easily be tying these games together without us knowing, considering the mentions in X and Y, and the fact it will have been just over a year since the release of X and Y as well. Here is also something else to consider: AZ from X/Y? A is the first letter in our alphabet, and Z is the last. His name is purposely capitalized as AZ, and not as Az.
With obvious connections and a lot more yet to be revealed, I will keep this theory updated as the world finds out more.
