Just when we thought that Regirock, Regirock, and Regice were the only Pokémon helmed by Regigigas, the Crown Tundra DLC of Sword and Shield introduced Regidrago and Regieleki.
These two oddballs look super weird (to be fair, all Regis do), and while Regieleki is a jumping skipping electric bulb, Regidrago is a crystallized orb of dragon energy. That too, an incomplete one.
Basically, Regigigas ran out of draconic energy while making Regigigas and hence, only created the head. A head, that looks like Charizard!
So, what’s Regidrago all about?
First of all, it’s literally a dragon’s head. To be more precise, it’s an orb with two pieces of a dragon’s head. “Regi” in Latin is royal or regal, making this strange Pokémon a royal dragon.
Additionally, all Regis are a motif for a certain age in human history.
- Regirock: Stone Age
- Regice: Ice Age
- Registeel: Iron Age
- Regieleki: Age of Electricity
- Regidrago: Middle/Medieval/Dark Ages
The term ‘Dark Ages’ was coined by an Italian philosopher, Francesco Petrarch (1304 – 1374). He used this label to describe what he perceived as a lack of quality in Latin literature during those times. Others then came along and expanded this concept to even include the apparent lack of quality in culture.
So, with no enlightenment happening, the time period was designated as Dark Age. But Europe during this Medieval period was, umm, dark for sure. The Black Plague for instance.
Anyway, the Dark Age is also associated in general with human wickedness. After all, this time period was the inception of various torture methods, wars, plague, and any sort of scientific progress was considered blasphemy!
As such, there were a lot of myths and magic forming throughout Europe, and one of the most notable figures was Merlin, King Arthur’s court mage.
Merlin has always been associated with arcane powers. And dragons are essentially magic. The dragon/draconic energy that drives Dragon types originate from some arcane power similar to fire.
Also, precious and semi precious gems, and crystals such as amethyst, selenite, jade, etc are all meant to be infused with energy, that promotes healing, strength, wit, and other core qualities. Its application is found in the concept of reiki as well.
So, in the Pokémon world, when a Dragon type move is used, the user is tapping into this raw energy encrypted in draconic genes. It’s how you differentiate a Dragon Claw from a normal Scratch. It involves claws charged/infused with draconic energy to deal damage.
This energy is also called mana. Mana is the spiritual life energy or healing power that has been predominant in the Polynesian and Melanesian cultures. In general though, mana is life energy.
In some Proto-Oceanic languages, mana was referred to powerful forces of nature, such as thunder and storm winds, which sound very draconic, eh?
After all, Pokémon is a Japanese franchise and Asian dragons tend to be widely associated with forces of nature like the wind and the ocean, rather than European dragons which were mostly associated with fire.
Dragonite, for instance, is associated with strong winds, and the ocean in lore and the Pokédex. It’s depicted in the anime as well! Salamence, clearly based on an European dragon, has links to fire, again both in lore and the Pokédex.
Today, mana gets a lot of representation in the gaming world. Dungeons and Dragons, for example. But again, the inspiration for Dungeons and Dragons and other similar RPGs is the Melanesian folklore explained thoroughly in the book by Robert H. Codrington. Mana and magical energies being quantified form the crux of this book.
All this was a new idea to the Europeans, who viewed all this as, well, just magic. This notion was later popularized by Larry Niven in his short story ‘Not Long Before the End.’
At this point, there was electricity, a means of doing seemingly magical things with mana (electrical energy). Quantifying magic (energy) thus became a widespread point of interest. This also includes the Seven Chakras and other similar metaphysical forms of energy.
Even in competitive Pokémon combat, this is what PP (Power Points) is. A quantified representation of how many points of energy a move has. In simple words, it depicts how many times a move can be used.
So yes, these energies are literally the Pokémon types. In Pokémon GO, you charge energy with your Quick moves to fire off a Charged move. In TCG, you attach energy to a card to use moves and deal damage. It’s everywhere in Pokémon!
The Dragon type is this energy in its most raw form and that’s why, only Steel and Fairy are able to withstand it.
Regidrago is made up of this pure dragon energy in crystalline form.
And oh, Regidrago’s core is pretty similar to a crystal ball.
Merlin, magic, dragons… all come under the same subset of crystal balls.
For Regidrago, folklore tells us that the Legendary Regigigas tried to create a Pokémon for crystallized dragon energy but ran out of crystals, only being able to complete the head. People in those times feared that if Regidrago was completed, it would unleash destruction and havoc.
As a precaution, they sealed Regidrago away in a temple (Regieleki as well).
Note that when all of this happened in the Pokémon world, there were no Poké Balls! Also, Dragon moves were rightfully feared. Twister. Draco Meteor. Yikes, scary for villages and civilizations!
Also, an excerpt from Bulbapedia reads:
“…while even further back, Pokémon were not known as “Pokémon” at all, but as “magical creatures” (Japanese: 魔獣 majuu). In these times, many Pokémon were apparently feared because of their powers, sometimes so great that the most powerful of these monsters passed into legend and were often seen as deities in their own right.”
Magical creatures, you say?
So, if you caught wind of a magical creature being built out of pure dragon energy, you would freak out!
But to think of it, Regigigas had all the means to build the three OG Regi golems but ran out of energy for Regidrago. Strange, right?
Not so much. It’s really hard to crystallize dragon energy, even for a Legendary (that’s not even Dragon type technically). Rocks, metal, ice, and even electricity… they’re all easy to come by, generate, or work around with. But the magical dragon energy… the most mysterious and raw form of mana? Not so much.
Crystallizing anything is as hard as it is, now imagine doing the same with magical energy. You get the picture.
With all this being said, is crystallized dragon energy based on something? 😕 Why on earth are crystals related to magic and energies in the first place?
Crystals, as we all know, are minerals deposited slowly over time in a very specific molecular structure known as a crystalline structure. They are uniform, forming almost perfect boxes of atoms when you look at its structure.
One of the reasons that light passes easily through them and crystals being translucent is because light can effortlessly bounce within the premises of the structure without getting scattered and absorbed.
Obviously, this structure and uniformity are seen as special. Some view crystals as catalysts for promoting goodness and well-being while sucking out negativity and toxins from them. That’s why many people wear them as jewels, helping them channel their energies and be their best selves.
Back to Regigigas making Regidrago, and what could have gone wrong. There are indications (Sordward and Shieldbert) that the Original Dragon from the Gen 5 games was in Galar. And just how the British Empire eventually led to the United States (Galar to Unova), the Original Dragon had split and left Galar, resulting in Kyurem, Reshiram, and Zekrom in Unova.
This splitting mechanism was like fission and left behind plenty of crystallized dragon energy. To restore order in the Galar region and in an attempt to recreate the Original Dragon in the region, Regigigas went on to start making Regidrago.
However, since most of the energy went on to create three Legendary dragons (Kyurem, Reshiram, and Zekrom), there wasn’t enough to make another. Regigigas had to settle with whatever was available, and lo and behold, we have Regidrago!
There you have it! This was all about the mysterious Regidrago’s lore and origins.
If you’re interested in finding out the backstory, lore, design, and scientific details of some other popular Pokémon, then check these out:
Dragapult | Morpeko | Cresselia | Darkrai | Mega Salamence | Dialga & Palkia Origin | Garchomp | Baxcalibur | Hydreigon | Zygarde| Druddigon | Naganadel | Gardevoir | Drampa | Enamorus | Wooloo & Dubwool | Houndoom | Hatterene | Gardevoir
Dracarys.
