Pokémon’s Indigo Disk DLC Creates A Paradox For Scarlet & Violet’s Legendaries

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A brand new and very real paradox has been introduced to by the events of the DLC. The DLC has introduced several new Paradox Pokémon to the franchise, but a more conceptual contradiction is also clear to see. As a result, feature some undeniable impossibilities in their plot. ’s use of time travel and the resulting Paradox Pokémon makes it clear that the games are far from unfamiliar with the concept of Paradoxes.

Name aside, the actual origin of Paradox Pokémon is itself somewhat uncertain, with descriptions of them arising long before Professor Sada or Turo built their time machine. Whether primal and savage or futuristic and calculating, these Pokémon introduce a strange new dimension to a franchise that already features time travel and parallel worlds. However, it now seems that there are more than just these physical paradoxes at play in .

When the original Sada or Turo appears at the Crystal Pool in Kitakami as part of, the player character tells them the modern name of or mascot Legendary Pokémon. Meanwhile, the professor refers to it by its Paradox name (Winged King or Iron Serpent), indicating that the name ‘Koraidon’ or ‘Miraidon’ has not occurred to them. As a result, this encounter is presumably what prompts the professor to use the name themselves when they return to the past. However, the way this information is actually provided makes this encounter the root of a major paradox.

As an example of this, in the protagonist learns about Koraidon from Arven, who presumably learned its name from his mother Sada. However, the encounter at the Crystal Pool shows that Sada herself learned the name from the player character. As a result, nobody seems to have actually come up with the name ‘Koraidon’ to begin with. This creates a time loop with no discernable start or end, a sequence of events that sustains its own existence whilst being logically impossible. It is a brilliant example of a bootstrap paradox, also known as an ontological paradox.

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