13. Tornadus is a wind god with a long history



photo credit Frank "Fg2" Gualtieri

While all three of the "Forces of Nature" trio line up with a Shinto god, I thought it would be fun to highlight Tornadus (maybe because we already sorta-mentioned Thundurus in the Manetric entry). Tornadus' journey starts in ancient Greece, where the bitter north wind was represented by the god Boreas, who was portrayed as unruly, ill-tempered, and wearing a billowing cloak. As Greece went eastward for trade and expansion, so did Boreas. By the time he made it to Japan, Boreas was now known as Fujin. Though he remained a wild-eyed asshole, the god had taken on the physical characteristics of a Buddist demon, and the cloak became a "bag of wind" that needed to be held shut at both ends.

14. Groudon and Kyogre are from the Bible. Yes, THAT Bible

art credit William Blake

It'd be ironic if they went over this stuff when I was in Bible class, but I forgot because I was drawing pokemon in my notebook the whole time. God mentions two mighty creatures in the Old Testament, Leviathan and the Behemoth, two monsters that are so big that their names are now the words we use for "freaking huge". Leviathan is a large creature ("whale" in modern Hebrew) that can churn the oceans and rules the sea, while Behemoth towers over the land with sinews made of iron and brass. They are said to represent the primordial forces of nature which, though immeasurably grand, are still powerless under the will of God. Conversely they are also said to represent actual big-ass monsters that will destroy the world. Keep in mind this all goes down in the Book of Job (which Bible scholars agree, is the weird one where God and the Devil agree to mess with an old man out of boredom).