Good day, Pokémon Trainers! Have you ever noticed how certain events in Pokémon GO give special attention to a single Pokémon or the community itself tends to hype a new Pokémon up? Have you ever wondered why this Pokémon specifically and what its origins are?
Well, that’s where the Dashing Design series comes in! I’ll be your guide as we take a look at the franchise history, concept, and potential design inspirations of specific Pokémon. We’re coming very close to this year’s GO Fests! We’ve already taken a look at all the Ultra Beasts in two parts to celebrate. But finally, it’s time to take a look at the star of the show, Necrozma!
Franchise History
Source: Pokémon Evolutions Ep. 2
Much like the Ultra Beasts, Necrozma originated in Generation Seven. Generation Seven encompasses the Pokémon Sun, Pokémon Moon, Pokémon Ultra Sun, Pokémon Ultra Moon, Pokémon Let’s GO, Pikachu! and Pokémon Let’s GO, Eevee! lineup of mainline video games. Necrozma’s purpose and position in the games in which appears are rather unique.
In Pokémon Sun and Moon, Necrozma (in its regular form) can be encountered in the post-game after you have captured all the available Ultra Beasts. However, it is also the third box art legendary of this particular generation. To those who might be unfamiliar, mainline Pokémon games are always released in sets of two (Ruby and Sapphire, Diamond and Pearl, Sun and Moon, etc.). And in the past, a modified third game would also usually be released.
And all of these games typically have a main legendary Pokémon that you can encounter as a part of the game’s story. So for Ruby and Sapphire, you had Groudon and Kyogre. And then later in that generation, Emerald released which had Rayquaza as its box art legendary instead. Though Necrozma is a bit different in that it had two games released with it as the box art legendary. Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon are both games featuring different forms of Necrozma.
As Necrozma plays an important part in the mainline games’ plot, it stands to reason that it plays a vital role in the anime series and the Pokémon Adventures Manga as well. And fair warning where it’s due, there will very likely be spoilers for the Sun and Moon arc of the mainline video games and all of these other series as we take a look at Necrozma.
Etymology and Design
So some things to note before we start. Necrozma is not only a Pokémon with multiple forms, it’s also a Pokémon that plays a pivotal role in the franchise. As such, there could be a whole host of inspirations Necrozma takes from. To simplify things for our analysis, we’ll take a look at all of Necrozma’s forms and focus on the key design inspirations for each. Starting with:
Necrozma (Base Form)
Necrozma
Etymology
Let’s start with the name first. Necrozma’s name seems to be a combination of Latin and/or Ancient Greek words. In particular Necro (Meaning Dead) and Prisma (meaning Prism, Prisms are typically crystals with at least one angled surface used to refract light). The latter part of its name may also be based on the word “Plasma”, the fourth state of matter, typically associated with light. So Necrozma’s name can be read as “Dead Prism” or “Dead Light”. Not only that, Necrozma shares its name across languages. So the “Cro” in Necrozma’s name could also be pronounced as “Kuro”, the Japanese word for “Black”.
Design
Let’s jump right into it and look at Necrozma from three different perspectives.
The Shape
Source: Necrozma Concept Art Collected from Bulbapedia
Necrozma’s overall shape looks like that of an alien. Quite fitting as it’s a creature that teleports around from world to world using Ultra Wormholes. Much like many depictions of aliens, Necrozma has a humanoid shape with exaggerated features. Typically the exaggerated features of these aliens are meant to emphasize what makes them unique. For example, want to make an alien species that’s highly intelligent? Give them an oversized head!
The Alien Salarian Species with a Unique Head Shape. Source: Mass Effect
In the case of Necrozma, it has very large hands. Which hints at grabbing onto something being an important part of its existence. And the back of its head almost looks like a storage container of sorts. These unique design quirks will start to make more sense as we continue to analyze Necrozma further.
The Material
Necrozma seems to have a body made of some sort of gem or crystal-like material. The inspiration for this can be confidently answered. It’s meant to be a prism. To be more precise, it’s a dispersive prism, as can be seen by its face/eye/brain thing:
Source: Official GO Fest 2024 Banner
A dispersive prism is a type of prism, that can take in white light and disperse it into multiple colors. Hence Necrozma’s multicolored face. How these prisms work is rather interesting. These prisms use the tendency of light to move at different speeds as it moves through different materials. This creates an angular motion in the light called refraction. And at which angle light moves from one material to another can change based on the material and the color of the light wave.
A Prism. Source: Photo by Rafael Garcin on Unsplash
This is a simplified explanation, but that’s how a multi-angled prism can create a rainbow of colors from a single light, as the different “color” of the light leaves from the prism at various angles. And this also explains why Necrozma’s body has such sharp angles.
The Concept
Prisms refract light. Necrozma doesn’t refract light, it consumes it. So conceptually, Necrozma may be based on a Black Hole. A Black Hole is a large concentration of matter, “things” in a very small mass, so much so that even light gets absorbed in its gravitational pull. Simply put, a black hole may end up being created if a star runs out of energy and “fizzles” out of existence.
Necrozma definitely seems to take from this concept. As its pitch-black base form is actually not its normal form, but rather what happens when it runs out of light. Which is what it feeds on as its main source of energy. According to the Ultra Moon Pokédex:
Light is the source of its energy. If it isn’t devouring light, impurities build up in it and on it, and Necrozma darkens and stops moving.
So this is definitely not a desirable form for Necrozma. But rather a form taken after it has lost most of its energy. The Ultra Sun Pokédex makes this rather clear:
It looks somehow pained as it rages around in search of light, which serves as its energy. It’s apparently from another world.
So how does Necrozma remedy this? For this, we have to look at its next form(s):
Dusk Mane Necrozma And Dawn Wings Necrozma
So these are the forms of Necrozma that act as the box art legendaries for Pokémon Ultra Sun and Pokémon Ultra Moon. They are meant to be a fusion between Necrozma and the Sun and Moon box art legendaries, Solgaleo and Lunala respectively.
Solgaleo and Lunala
As such I think it’s worth briefly talking about these two first. As stated before these are the main legendaries for Sun and Moon. They are the final evolutions of Cosmog and are said to move freely between worlds using the Ultra Wormholes. Both Solgaleo and Lunala’s names also primarily take from Latin.
Solgaleo is a mixture of Sol (Meaning Sun) and Leo (Meaning Lion). Likewise, Lunala is a combination of Luna (Meaning Moon) and Ala (Meaning Wing). And these names explain the two mons perfectly.
Source: Pokémon Sun and Moon Promotional Art
If you look at their previous forms Cosmog and Cosmoem, they have starry patterns all over their bodies. Almost as if they are a microcosm for space or some distant galaxy. Likewise, Solgaleo is a messenger, a micro embodiment of the sun, and Lunala is the same for the moon.
Additional Notes
As to why they are a lion and a bat, I would say that part is rather obvious too. The Lion and Sun motif is very common among multiple cultures. And as for Solgaleo, (and perhaps the reason for the association of lions with the sun in general), its main gives it the impression of the sun’s rays. Likewise, bats are typically seen as nocturnal creatures. Symbols of the night, much like the moon itself. For Lunala, its wings give the impression of a crescent moon.
As some final notes, Lunala is called the female final evolution of Cosmog, and Solgaleo is the male final evolution. While this isn’t relevant to our discussion of Necrozma, it is related to something we took a look at while we analyzed Amaura before. Where we saw that historically quite a few cultures had a masculine association with the sun and a feminine association with the moon.
On a more relevant note to our discussion, the moon doesn’t have its own light source, it only reflects the sun’s light. However, both Lunala and Solgaleo are beings made out of light in the Pokémon world. This is relevant to us as we take a look at:
Dusk Mane Necrozma And Dawn Wings Necrozma
Source: Pokémon Sun and Moon Promotional Art
And finally, we can talk about the fusions themselves. Though …uhh fusion is a nice way to put it. Just consider the names “Dusk” Mane Necrozma and “Dawn” Wings Necrozma? Shouldn’t it be the other way around? After all, Dusk Mane is the Solgaleo+Necrozma fusion, and Solgaleo is the emissary of the sun, the bringer of the dawn. While Dawn Wing is Lunala+Necrozma, Lunala is the representative of the moon, harkening to the night, which follows the dusk.
So just by the names alone, it seems fusing with Necrozma creates some sort of rift in the natural order of things. This would be a correct assumption as these are less fusions and more a hostile and parasitic takeover by Necrozma. Remember we talked about how Solgaleo and Lunala are beings made of light? WELL NECROZMA CONSUMES LIGHT!
And the dex entries don’t shy away from the brutality of this takeover either. Mentioning how Lunala no longer has control over her own body in this form, or how Solgaleo is being slowly consumed by Necrozma in this form. This actually translates into these two forms designs as well.
How this translate to the designs
Overall, Necrozma seems to take over Solgaleo and Lunala like armor. We’ve been talking about sentai shows like Power Rangers a lot in dashing designs recently. And this does remind me of how those shows would have vehicles with animal shapes that could fuse with each other, eventually to form a giant mech.
But I digress. There are a few specific pieces of these designs that are worth noting. Look at Dusk Mane’s headpiece and Dawn wings’ back near the start of its tails. Antennas. What are antennas used for? To control things, much like how Necrozma now controls Solgaleo and Lunalas bodies.
Also, remember when I said Necrozma’s large arms and hands are probably that way to indicate that grabbing onto something might be important for its character? Well, it’s literally latching on to Solgaleo and Lunala like a parasite, so there it is! In fact, you can even see Necrozma clasping onto a source of light in the final moments of Ultra Sun and Moon’s story trailer:
Source: Official Game Trailer
Again, as an additional note. I like how Necrozma’s hands fill out what’s lacking in Solgaleo and Lunala’s designs. Lunala doesn’t have arms or legs, just wings. So Necrozma’s arms become Dawn Wings’ arms.
Black Hole Eclipse
So far we have been looking at just what these forms are. But what would be their real-world inspirations? Well, one source of inspiration might be the concept of “possessed armor and weaponry”. It’s a rather common trope for fantasy settings, and definitely RPGs. And it has history even before modern fantasy as well. Such as tales of the swords forged by Muramasa which had a bloodlust of their own and would fill their users with bloodlust.
Phases of a Lunar Eclipse. Source: Photo by Zoltan Tasi on Unsplash
But a more direct and obvious inspiration is an eclipse. I’m sure you saw how people were saying Necrozma’s unveiling for GOFest during the Total Solar Eclipse this year was a very clever bit of advertising. In fact, if you look at the logos for Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon:
Source: Pokémon USUM Promotional Logo
It does seem like some type of dark shadow taking over the sun and the moon like an eclipse. In real life, we have solar eclipses and lunar eclipses. Solar eclipses happen when the Moon stands between the Sun and the Earth in a specific alignment, thus the Moon blocks the view of the Sun from the Earth. In contrast in a Lunar Eclipse, the Earth actually stands between the Sun and the Moon, thus the Earth casts a shadow that blocks out the Moon.
It seems Necrozma takes the “concept” of the eclipse wholesale. Instead of representing the Earth or the Moon blocking out the Moon and the Sun respectively, it itself causes the apocalypse. As it takes over the emissary of the sun and the emissary of the moon.
As another interesting sidenote, Solgaleo’s Pokémon Shield Pokédex:
Solgaleo was once known as the Beast That Devours the Sun. Energy in the form of light radiates boundlessly from it.
and in Lunala’s Pokémon Sword Pokédex entry:
Known as the Beast That Calls the Moon, this Pokémon lives by taking in any and all light and converting it into its own energy.
Notice how these use the word “known”, they are “beliefs”, rather than something definitive. My theory is that these were actually sightings of Dusk Mane and Dawn Wings.
Ultra Necrozma
Necrozma (Ultra)
Source: Official Highlight Trailer
And we finally reach it, the final form. The form that Necrozma takes after consuming a large amount of light. In this form, Necrozma looks like an angelic dragon. Bathed in glorious light! To be more precise, Ultra Necrozma might be based on a Seraphim. Angels exist in some form in a lot of religions and they often have a hierarchical order as well. With different angels looking slightly different. Seraphim are a type of angel that is typically portrayed as having six wings. Counting in its head wings, so does Ultra Necrozma.
It’s interesting to see that both qualities of Dusk Mane and Dawn Wings are represented in Ultra Necrozma. For example, one of Ultra Necrozma’s eyes is blue-cyanish like Dusk Mane, and the other one is red-pinkish like Dawn Wings. Not only that, the light radiating from Necrozma’s body is colored similarly to Dusk Mane’s, but it also has bat wings like Dawn Wings. Wait! Bat wings?!
Fallen Angel
So ya, in a lot of literary interpretations, unholy creatures are often given bat wings. As opposed to bird wings. Probably because bats are associated with the scary darkness of the night. Whereas birds such as the Dove are symbols of peace. Well, you could argue that the wings are meant to be dragon wings. But dragons often play antagonistic roles in Biblical stories as well, so it still checks out.
A Fallen Angel is an angel that has been cast down from Heaven, typically due to acts of rebellion against God. They are often portrayed with bat-like wings as well. The most popular one of them is, of course, Lucifer, Satan himself. The ultimate evil cast down from Heaven.
Lucifer being Cast Away from Heaven. Source: Paradise Lost Cover Collected from Wikipedia
Necrozma fits the role of a fallen angel quite well. Ultra Necrozma is a fallen angel that re-acquired some of its former glory. You could see the process starting with Dusk Mane and Dawn Wings as well. While we associate Dawn with the beginning of the day and Dusk with the ending, both can be seen as a beginning as well. Dawn is the beginning of the day and Dusk is the beginning of the night. New beginnings, rebirth, Dawn Wings, and Dusk Mane are the beginning of the process of rebirth for Ultra Necrozma.
However, regaining its Angelic form doesn’t make it “better”. It still achieves this through a hostile takeover of another lifeform and the consumption of all the light in one world. After which it seeks another.
But why though?
It’s quite fitting for what is essentially a final boss for Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon. The mainline Pokémon games at their core are role-playing games. Fallen Angels or Angelic beings often play the role of the final boss or just regular enemies in many Japanese role-playing games.
Usually, if they are not directly fallen angels they at least take inspiration from them (often mixed in with alien elements, much like Necrozma). Sephiroth from Final Fantasy and Lavos from Chrono Trigger are popular examples of this, the Disgaea series is all about angels, demons, and whatnot, and a personal favorite of mine is Shaher from Tactics Ogre: The Knight of Lodis.
Source: Sephiroth from FFVII Rebirth Trailer
Conclusion
And there we go! I think this is the longest-dashing design so far. I sure do hope you enjoyed this little analysis on a frankly, “very metal” Pokémon. As one of the legendaries for the 7th generation, Necrozma has a lot of sources of inspiration. I honestly could have speculated even more about it. And this is why, Necrozma’s design, is quite dashing!
Goodbye for now, Pokémon trainers. Typically this message is followed by a “Fin” image with Pikachu’s face. But for such a special Pokémon for the biggest annual event for Pokémon GO. And to celebrate the 20th article of Dashing Design, I think I should end with this figure I got from the first con I went to:
