Pokemon Eevee Bagua Theory!

[Sheriff_K]

Eevee Bagua Theory, "EeGua"​

As many of you may have guessed, I have quite a fascination with Eeeve (being my favorite Pokemon since Gen 1), but I doubt any know of my obsession with the BaGua from Chinese Cosmology. I consider myself a Daoist, granted it is more a philosophy than an actual Religion (If asked of my Religion I usually say I'm a Daoist Naturalist Atheist.)

I have quite an obsession with the concept of "Balance", but that is besides the point, though it is the main reason that I changed my opinion on the "Tao Trio" (At first I hated them, but once I realized they were based on the concepts of Yin/Yang, it, obviously, blew my mind )

So... Onwards to the point of this topic, I noticed that with the inclusion of Sylveon, that makes eight "Eeveelutions", which got me thinking.. And I soon realized that each of the Eeveelutions shared similarities with the Elements of the Bagua. Given this oppurtunity to combine two of my obsessions, I jumped right on it!

So here I will detail my "theory" [of sorts] and why I think each Eeveelution represents which Element:

The "Male" Elements:

Spoiler: Sylveon

(☰) Heaven - Sylveon - Fairies are considered divine or pure creatures, and Sylveons design also has an "airy" nature, since "Heaven" is synonymous with "Sky."

Spoiler: Espeon

(☱) Lake - Espeon - The "Lake", represents the reflection of Heaven when viewed within the mirror-like surface of a lake. As such it has somewhat of a prescient notion about it, and there is also the concept of "scrying" upon pools of water. So I feel that this matches the Psychic Type Espeon the best (Also, Espeon has Magic Bounce, which acts like a "Mirror" of sorts )

Spoiler: Flareon

(☲) Fire - Flareon - Pretty straightforward, Flareon is Fire. (And if I recall correctly, has the highest recorded body temperature of any Pokemon in the PokeDex.. o_0)

Spoiler: Jolteon

(☳) Thunder - Jolteon - Just like Flareon, this one is also quite straightforward as well.


The "Female" Elements:

Spoiler: Leafeon

(☷) Earth - Leafeon - Earth, Nature, Mother Earth. Nothing represents the harmonious melding of Fauna and Flora, than Leafeon, being both a plant and Pokemon, going so far as to actually undergo Photosynthesis! (How cool is that?!)

Spoiler: Umbreon

(☶) Mountain - Umbreon - The Mountain, the complement to the Lake, may seem an odd choice for Umbreon but if you think about it it makes sense. The Mountain represents the "curves" and "embrace" of [Mother] Earth, as well as the shade/darkness (Dark Type) brought upon by the Mountain blocking the Suns light. The Mountain, along with Water, is usually used synonymously with the Moon, also a "feminine" concept in the BaGua..

Spoiler: Vaporeon

(☵) Water - Vaporeon - Another obvious choice, but I'll make note of the fact that Vaporeons DNA itself is said to be extremely close to the composition of water, allowing it to be completely invisible when submerged. It is, literally, one with water!

Spoiler: Glaceon

(☴) Wind - Glaceon - Last, but not least (though some would argue so), we have Glaceon. An excess of Wind will create chill, and thus form Ice. Glaceon is said to control the temperature of the surrounding atmosphere [and air] to make it cold, and where else is Wind found, than in the atmosphere! ~.^

Opposites/Complements:
And, if you notice, each of the Eeveelutions' Elements complement each other quite well in my opinion.
Leafeon vs. Sylveon (Tangible vs. the Intangible)
Umbreon vs. Espeon (Dark vs. Light)
Vaporeon vs. Flareon (Water vs. Fire)
Glaceon vs. Jolteon (Internal vs. External Energy)

Flux:
And Eevee represents the influx nature of the Universe, constantly shifting and constantly changing, always at balance...
(Eevee's DNA is said to be unstable, and open to the acceptance of many variances.)


So, what do you guys think? Cool? Crazy? Interesting? :3

 

[PMJ]

It's nice to hear new theories. Nice job.

 

[DNA]

I think you may have a fascination with color wheels.

 

[Sheriff_K]

I think you may have a fascination with color wheels.

Hmm, I just realized that the colors flow like a Rainbow, maybe I'm onto something!

PS. I wasn't sure if I should use the lighter or darker blue for Vaporeons Trigram color, I went with the lighter one, but now I notice it is hard to distinguish between Glaceons color... What should I do?! >_<

 

[DNA]

Well, when you pick enough different colors for branching evolutions of a single Pokemon, eventually you will have a rainbow. You're up to, what, 8? It's not hard to arrange 8 colors in a rainbow fashion at all.

 

[Sheriff_K]

Yeah, but it's the main color of each Eeveelution and positioned with the matching element, kind of cool/serendipitous that that ordering makes a rainbow don't you think?

 

[The-Kaiser]

Cool and plausible theory says me until Game freak makes another new Eevee evo

 

[Sheriff_K]

Cool and plausible theory says me until Game freak makes another new Eevee evo

IF GameFreak makes another Eeveelution... Dun dun dun...

(Granted I'd love more, but a tiny part of me, the OCD part, kind of wishes this theory pans out.. Although, there are 64 Hexagrams in the I-Ching... )
Or they could incorporate more parts of Chinese Cosmology and stuff, like the Wu Xing.. (Aka, the edition of a Steel Eeveelution)

 

[Pineapple X]

This theory is awesome. :3 Nice job on this!

I really love new theories. <3

 

[Teal]

Nope. Sorry, but nope. First off, you are suggesting that GameFreak was thinking about making Eevee a Bagua Pokémon at generation 2 latest, right? And it took then six generations to complete their masterplan? And they even skipped gen 3 as a chance to complete the masterplan later?

Or are you saying someone at GF noticed this after gen 4 or 5? And that's when they thought "Omg Bagua Eevee Bagua, must make Fairy type to represent Heaven! Because Sylveon will not just exist to show off the Fairy type!"? Next, if they actually wanted to do this, Eevee would not have Dark, Ice, Grass and Psychic evolutions, but land => Ground, mountain => Rock, wind => Flying. Lake would not even have the possibility to have a second Water type, but it could be Normal to "mirror" Eevee itself.

Just because you are an Eevee fanatic and a Bagua fanatic it doesn't mean that you are supposed to try to link them together and make some peope think that there actually is a connection when there, quite obviously, isn't. Nope. Sorry, but nope.

 

[professorlight]

Exactly what teal said. If this is just noticing some connections between things you like for entertainment that's fine, but that's all they are: connections. I think the more likely scenario is that both eeveelutions and the bagua share common characteristics that make more likely that you like them, but it doesn't mean they are related; usually bad things happen when people try to mash together two things they like (read, most of fanfiction, rule 34, the internet, those horrible people who want to have infuse sex in ponies/pokemon, etc).

Also, you do have some weak points in there:

(☰) Heaven - Sylveon - Fairies are considered divine or pure creatures, and Sylveons design also has an "airy" nature, since "Heaven" is synonymous with "Sky."

(☱) Lake - Espeon - The "Lake", represents the reflection of Heaven when viewed within the mirror-like surface of a lake. As such it has somewhat of a prescient notion about it, and there is also the concept of "scrying" upon pools of water. So I feel that this matches the Psychic Type Espeon the best (Also, Espeon has Magic Bounce, which acts like a "Mirror" of sorts )

Not disagreeing with the sylveon part (though fairies might not be "heavenly", exactly, but let's go with it), but you are talking here about complicated and obscure cosmological (philosophical?) concepts, your thesis being that GF established this relations on purpose. The thing is, even GF doesn't get so convoluted and abstract when basing pokemon in concepts, the more simple the concept, the more complex the resulting design can be, and the more convoluted/difficult the concept, the more simple the design. Choosing fairy when flying is something that exists is just a loong stretch of concept, and the same with the lake and psychic, it's a long shot.
And the magic bounce argument doesn't hold up, since it's a hidden ability (introduced in gen V, ergo, not a part of espeon's original concept) and that would mean the other eeveelutions's hidden abilities have similar bagua related meanings. Also, every glaceon naturally learns mirror coat, so if it's that important, why isn't galceon the lake?.

BAM!

(☶) Mountain - Umbreon - The Mountain, the complement to the Lake, may seem an odd choice for Umbreon but if you think about it it makes sense. The Mountain represents the "curves" and "embrace" of [Mother] Earth, as well as the shade/darkness (Dark Type) brought upon by the Mountain blocking the Suns light. The Mountain, along with Water, is usually used synonymously with the Moon, also a "feminine" concept in the BaGua..

Again, rock is a thing, the shadow of a mountain is just too convoluted a reason for too obscure a concept. If I remember correctly my chinese philosophy stuff, wasn't the whole thing divided between feminine concepts represented by the moon and the masculine concepts with the sun? In that case, aren't you justifying umbreon's inclusion by referring to a higher order in your elemental scheme, since moon=feminine>water/earth/mountain/wind, essentially adding apples and apple trees?

Q.E.D, ladies!

(☴) Wind - Glaceon - Last, but not least (though some would argue so), we have Glaceon. An excess of Wind will create chill, and thus form Ice. Glaceon is said to control the temperature of the surrounding atmosphere [and air] to make it cold, and where else is Wind found, than in the atmosphere! ~.^

An excess of wind creates chill? really? ever stepped in front of a hot oven, with air coming quickly out of it? was it cold? air can be hot or cold, is not restricted to any temperature. Oh, and chill doesn't form ice, chills are a body's way to warm itself when exposed to low temperatures, by shaking the muscles and producing heat.
And about the control atmospheric temperature>cold>wind>atmosphere... well, let's just say that if you ever did jumps so high as that one in a basketball court, the lakers would recruit you inmediately.
Honestly, you would have a better argument here by saying just that glaceon lowers the temperature of its surroundings, which produces a pressure difference, what in turn causes air motion, also known as: wind.

SCIENCE!

Opposites/Complements:

And, if you notice, each of the Eeveelutions' Elements complement each other quite well in my opinion.
Leafeon vs. Sylveon (Tangible vs. the Intangible)
Umbreon vs. Espeon (Dark vs. Light)
Vaporeon vs. Flareon (Water vs. Fire)
Glaceon vs. Jolteon (Internal vs. External Energy)

Here, I think you stretched your argument with:
- leafeon representing tangible (how are plants more tangible than water, or ice, or fire, even? also, if you want intangible, there's always ghost. Fairy is a creature type, rather than an element type.
- Glaceon as internal energy. I don't know where you are going to here; the closer I get is linking your reasoning with kyurem's pokedex entries where it says that he generates cold energy or some equally unscientific BS, but actually, cold is the loss of energy of a substance, the ralentization of its molecules, not energy. You might be influenced by endotermic reactions, which are something different, I think.

WHOOHOOO!

 

[Sheriff_K]

Exactly what teal said. If this is just noticing some connections between things you like for entertainment that's fine, but that's all they are: connections. I think the more likely scenario is that both eeveelutions and the bagua share common characteristics that make more likely that you like them, but it doesn't mean they are related

Yeah, that's probably the case..

(Though I had other arguments/reasons for Sylveon/Umbreon, I just forgot them when I was posting it.. >_<)

As for Glaceon/Jolteon, my thinking was that lighting/thunder is an external energy, whereas body temperature is internal; also that Jolteon would represent the presence of energy, and Glaceon would represent the absence of energy.

But you're probably right.

 

[professorlight]

Exactly what teal said. If this is just noticing some connections between things you like for entertainment that's fine, but that's all they are: connections. I think the more likely scenario is that both eeveelutions and the bagua share common characteristics that make more likely that you like them, but it doesn't mean they are related

Yeah, that's probably the case..

(Though I had other arguments/reasons for Sylveon/Umbreon, I just forgot them when I was posting it.. >_<)

As for Glaceon/Jolteon, my thinking was that lighting/thunder is an external energy, whereas body temperature is internal; also that Jolteon would represent the presence of energy, and Glaceon would represent the absence of energy.

But you're probably right.

Lightning is produced by difference of potential between the ground and the clouds, and requires a medium (the air) to be electrically (or ionically, I can't remember) charged, to reduce electrical resistance and serve as a conduit for the discharge. thunder is just the sound the discharge produces.

So, lightning is as internal as body temperature is, requiring to be "in" an electrically charged medium, as temperature is, according to you, internal to the body.
And temperature isn't as internal as you think, since it extends outside the body as radiation.

in or out are notions as relative as up, down, left, right, etc, really.

Now I'm just nitpicking, don't worry.

 

[Ohman177]

I think this is cool but 100% not possible. Eeveelutions are just to show off the new feature of a game. First they make the feature, then they make the eeveelution that fits best. This gen they had two new features to show off, and decided to make Slyveon represent both (I WAS SO HOPING THAT SYLVEON WAS JUST FOR FAIRY AND THAT THEY HAD A SECOND FOR POKEMON AMI). But they didn't, oh well. My guess is they made the fairy type first, then Sylveon to show it off, then made Pokemon ami, needed a way for eevee to evolve into Sylveon, and decided to kill two birds with one stone. Actually if you think about it, it't more like 3 birds haha. A way to represent fairies, a way to introduce pokemon ami, and a way for eevee to evolve. The same process can probably be said for all the otther eeveelutions.

 

[Sheriff_K]

I never understood the necessity of the Moss Rock, why introduce an entire landmark/zone, just to evolve ONE Pokemon? Especially if it forces you to place it in future games?

I don't think it's really "introducing new concepts", when Leafeon/Glaceon were the only location-evolvers when they came out.. What would be the point in introducing something that was only relevant to them?

(Speaking of introducing new concepts, why couldn't they have just fused Rotom with Eevee and had a Ghost Eevee possess appliances? Just kidding... >_<)

 

[professorlight]

I never understood the necessity of the Moss Rock, why introduce an entire landmark/zone, just to evolve ONE Pokemon? Especially if it forces you to place it in future games?

I don't think it's really "introducing new concepts", when Leafeon/Glaceon were the only location-evolvers when they came out.. What would be the point in introducing something that was only relevant to them?

(Speaking of introducing new concepts, why couldn't they have just fused Rotom with Eevee and had a Ghost Eevee possess appliances? Just kidding... >_<)

Magneton and nosepass evolved by location too. But they should really retcon that particular feature to make eevee evolve into glaceon in winter and into leafeon in summer, rather than in a specific location.

 

[Their Goominess]

I never understood the necessity of the Moss Rock, why introduce an entire landmark/zone, just to evolve ONE Pokemon? Especially if it forces you to place it in future games?

I don't think it's really "introducing new concepts", when Leafeon/Glaceon were the only location-evolvers when they came out.. What would be the point in introducing something that was only relevant to them?

(Speaking of introducing new concepts, why couldn't they have just fused Rotom with Eevee and had a Ghost Eevee possess appliances? Just kidding... >_<)

Consistency reasons.

If a Pokemon gets an evolution in a later generation, then it has to have a new evolution method, since it has to be non-existent in the past games, like the evolutions are.
If Eevee used a Leaf Stone to evolve in the 4th gen and the Moss Rock never existed, then everyone would question why it couldn't evolve using the same method for all the past generations.

 

[DNA]

Consistency reasons.

If a Pokemon gets an evolution in a later generation, then it has to have a new evolution method, since it has to be non-existent in the past games, like the evolutions are.
If Eevee used a Leaf Stone to evolve in the 4th gen and the Moss Rock never existed, then everyone would question why it couldn't evolve using the same method for all the past generations.

But does this argument even apply, seeing as Pokemon have (in the past) been given other evolution methods to compensate for their older one not being there anymore?

Milotic in Gen 5 and Espeon/Umbreon in Gale of Darkness are two prime examples of this. (The Magneton/Nosepass relocation example does not count, since the point was to evolve in a place with a strong magnetic field.)

 

[Their Goominess]

Consistency reasons.

If a Pokemon gets an evolution in a later generation, then it has to have a new evolution method, since it has to be non-existent in the past games, like the evolutions are.
If Eevee used a Leaf Stone to evolve in the 4th gen and the Moss Rock never existed, then everyone would question why it couldn't evolve using the same method for all the past generations.

But does this argument even apply, seeing as Pokemon have (in the past) been given other evolution methods to compensate for their older one not being there anymore?

Milotic in Gen 5 and Espeon/Umbreon in Gale of Darkness are two prime examples of this. (The Magneton/Nosepass relocation example does not count, since the point was to evolve in a place with a strong magnetic field.)

Milotic had to change because the Beauty function had been completely removed in gen5, but if one transfers a max Beauty Feebas to B/W/2 it will still evolve.
Gale of Darkness I don't actually know, but the only thing I could possibly think of is that either happiness or the day/night function wasn't in there (day/night feature seems the least likely out of them to be there).

But since the gen seasons were introduced in still had the Moss/Icy Rock then it pretty much confirms that Eevee is staying with that as its evolutionary method for the time being.