The mysterious Dark/Fairy line from the Galar region, consisting of Impidimp, Morgrem, and Grimmsnarl (including its Gigantamax form), has made its debut in Pokémon GO as a part of the GO Wild Area 2025 event.
Needless to say, they are a very strange-looking bunch of Pokémon that have very interesting origins. That’s exactly what the premise of this article is, as we explore the lore and origins of the Grimmsnarl line. Rest assured, it’s nothing short of a fairy-tale!
Impidimp is the first-ever Dark/Fairy type in the franchise, and this typing can be understood from its Japanese name, Beroba. The term “bero” is tongue, and the sound of “bero, bero, bero” is licking repeatedly. Moreover, bero bero ba is the Japanese analogue for peekaboo.
Now, when someone pulls off a prank on someone, a common expression that follows the act is this:
Impidimp has its tongue out always. Fairies are notably seen as tricksters, pulling off harmless but often annoying pranks on human beings. The ‘trickster’ part does pave the way to the Dark typing, but there’s more.
Let’s get back to peekaboo now, a silly game you mostly play with babies wherein you take your hands off your eyes, make an animated face, and exclaim, “peekaboo!”
How does that fit into Impidimp’s profile? For that, we go to changelings.
This is the old folklore of elves/fairies stealing babies from a mother’s cradle and replacing them with changelings, a baby-like creature with a large head and wide eyes.
Initially, a changeling bears a striking resemblance to a human baby, and even the mother won’t make out the truth. But, as the baby (changeling) grows up, it turns uglier. A literal face reveal!
Impidimp’s dex entry from Shield mentions: “It sneaks into people’s homes, stealing things and feasting on the negative energy of the frustrated occupants.”
This behaviour is reminiscent of the Fae, fiendish, devilish monsters who got blamed for anything negative happening in a household or establishment. In fact, Fae were regarded as gods before Christianity came in, cementing itself as THE only religion. As such, many gods and creatures of pre-Christian belief were designated a demonic or evil.
As the changeling (Impidimp) gets older (evolves), it turns uglier and into a goblin. This brings us to Morgrem, an ugly fairy.
If you look at the end of Morgrem’s hair, you’ll find it shaped in a particular way. In fact, it resembles a polearm.
This goblin and polearm combo actually brings us to a specific type of goblin, one that wields a polearm and even looks like Impidimp: redcaps, violent goblins from Anglo-Scottish folklore.
The name Morgrem has gremlin, a mischievous goblin-like creature that originated in the Industrial Revolution. But what is really interesting about the name is the ‘Morg’ part, which likely refers to Morgan le Fay, a famous witch from the tale of the King Arthur mythos. She was known for using fairy magic to mess with King Arthur.
One of the most well-known pranks she pulled on King Arthur was the story of the green knight, a large, hulk-like green abomination who walked into King Arthur while he was dining. The king ended up beheading the green knight when it bent over. A year later, it was the knight’s turn to do the same. Weird, but that’s folklore.
This is shockingly reflected even in Morgrem’s Sword Pokédex entry, “When it gets down on all fours as if to beg for forgiveness, it’s trying to lure opponents in so that it can stab them with its spear-like hair.”
Whoa! No wonder Morgrem has a green lower half of the body, and as mentioned already, even the polearm-esque hair.
So, a big green knight, eh? Hmm… wait a sec!
Grimmsnarl is a fully grown fae, and there’s actually a creature that this Pokémon is perfectly in accordance with: Troll.
Grimmsnarl also takes inspiration from witches… the long nose and green nose, a perfect rendition of a Halloween witch.
Back to trolls now, these creatures are said to be strong, so much, that they were held responsible for creating landmarks with the might of their brute strength. Even Grimmsnarl’s Sword Pokédex entry reads:
“With the hair wrapped around its body helping to enhance its muscles, this Pokémon can overwhelm even Machamp.” That’s impressive!
But what’s with the hair? Both Morgrem and Grimmsnarl have a lot of traits associated with their hair. Well, that goes back to witches and the belief that they contain their power in their hair. So, the hair holds magic, and that’s why, they get used in potions and spells.
Finally, let’s get to Gigantamax Grimmsnarl.
The Gigantamax form of Grimmsnarl draws inspiration from a particular fairy-tale, and that can be appreciated from its move, GMax Snooze. This perfectly references the story of Irish hero Finn McCool, who had to battle a fiery goblin named Aillen, a giant goblin who had a harp it used to put its listeners to sleep (like GMax Snooze).
This being was also called “the burner” due to its tendency to burn down towns and settlements after putting its occupants to sleep with its magical harp.
No wonder Grimmsnarl also learns the Fire type move Burning Jealousy that not only deals damage but has a guaranteed chance to burn the target if it had a stat raised in the turn (akin to a warrior having their ‘stats’ raised, like bravery, senses, and reflexes). Amazing!
That was all about the lore and origins of the Grimmsnarl line. Quite interesting and loads of depth, eh? If you’re eager to read similar lore, design, and scientific pieces of some other popular Pokémon, do check these out:
Dragapult | Kommo-o | Darkrai | Cresselia | Applin | Mega Salamence | Dialga & Palkia Origin | Giratina | Rillaboom, Cinderace & Inteleon | Garchomp | Baxcalibur | Hydreigon | Skeledirge | Annihilape | Zygarde | Tinkaton | Gardevoir | Druddigon | Hisuian Zoroark | Naganadel | Drampa | Enamorus | Wooloo & Dubwool | Hatterene | Morpeko | Aegislash | Hydrapple
Happy reading!
