15 Unsolved 'Pokémon' Mysteries That Continue To Baffle Fans

Ash Ketchum was raised by a single mother, Delia. While he does apparently have a father, pretty much nothing about him is known except that he left Pallet Town to go on a Pokémon journey. According to Delia, he's still on said journey, along with Ash's grandfather. 

Fans have speculated that Ash's dad could be anybody from Giovanni to Mr. Mime, but no concrete information has presented itself so far. In a commentary from The Spell of the Unown, the producers hinted that they'd be revealing something about Ash's dad in Season 5, but that never happened. 

When you hatch a Kangaskhan, you're not just hatching one Pokémon - you're hatching a fully grown Kangaskhan and its baby, which is nestled securely in its pouch. The obvious explanation is that the creators just didn't bother to figure out more than one design, but the result is incredibly strange. If they're parent and child, they can't possibly have been born at the same time, right? And there's no way Kangaskhan could logically have been born a parent. The whole thing is a mess! 

In the world of Pokémon, non-Pokémon animals do appear from time to time. Often, this is through indirect reference - Pikachu is called the 'mouse Pokémon' which implies that mice either currently exist or did exist at some point, and that's far from the only example. However, actual non-Pokémon animals also just straight up appear in the anime and the manga. As new Pokémon who resemble a wider range of real animals are created, real animals appear less and less often. 

We could just conclude that real animals exist alongside Pokémon... except for this. Takeshi Shudo, one of the head writers for the anime, says that every single non-human animal went extinct at some point and Pokémon took their place. He chalks up the appearances of real animals in the anime to mistakes on the animator's part. 

If this is true, what kind of earth-shatteringly destructive thing happened to wipe out every single species on earth except for humans and whatever proto-Pokémon existed at the time? He's alluding to one of the most massive events in the history of the world, but no further details are given. 

Nearly every Pokédex entry on Cubone states that it's wearing its mother's skull. Some also bring up the fact that coming to terms with its mother's passing is what triggers its evolution into Marowak. Pokédex entries are species descriptions, they aren't about individuals. This means that every single Cubone is wearing its mother's skull? 

Clearly, this brings up some logistical issues. Why would their mothers always die? If it were after giving birth, they wouldn't be around long enough to form bonds with their offspring, so that's not it. Do Cubones all end their own mother's lives? Unlikely, why would they all feel so much grief if they did it intentionally? Also, what happens if the mother has more than one child? Presumably, there's only one skull to go around. And if there's only one child per mating pair, then how is the Cubone population not constantly dwindling? Why is it born with the skull already on its head if it's supposed to be a loss experience? 

Some have hypothesized that a Cubone is actually a baby Kangaskhan, which would mean that it only becomes Cubone if it does lose its mother. But then why is its mother a Marowak and not a Kangaskhan? 

From Chansey eggs to Slowpoke tails, we know that some Pokémon are, in fact, eaten by humans. The question is, what are the limits? Are there a few select Pokémon who are okay to eat, and others who are off-limits? That would be reasonable considering how things work with animals the real world: for example, in the USA, it's usually acceptable to eat cows, chickens, and pigs, but is taboo to eat things like horses, cats and dogs.

But of course, this varies by culture. For example, in many parts of India, eating cows is taboo or even illegal, and both Kosher and Halal diets forbid eating pigs. Meanwhile, horse meat is an integral part of Kazakh cuisine.

So, what about the world of Pokémon? Is it okay to eat a Pikachu in one country but not in another? We don't expect a full accounting for every single Pokémon here, but a few more guidelines would be nice!

 Lt. Surge, the Gym Leader who oversees the Vermilion Gym, once said this:

"I tell you, kid, electric Pokémon saved me during the war!"

This, along with the fact that he was apparently a lieutenant, implies that at some point before the Red & Blue timeline, there was a war. Fans have theorized about what the nature of what war might have been, and have even used the war to explain why there are so few adults in the series. But while theories abound, there isn't any concrete info about what this war entails.