Spoilers Who's Whose Ancestor?

Pokémon Legends: Arceus contains a number of characters who appear to be the ancestors of characters from the chronologically later games in the series. Many from the Sinnoh region, which Hisui will eventually become, and many from other regions in the Pokémon world. However, some ambiguity remains behind some of the characters I've seen a lot of speculation regarding exactly who's who on the genealogy charts. So, I thought I might as well share my own thoughts on who each character in the game is related to and you can feel free to do the same down below. Naturally there are going to be a lot of heavy spoilers here, so I wouldn't recommend reading any further if you haven't played the game yourself yet.

Spoiler: Galaxy Team/Jubilife Village

Rei/Akari: Both of these characters are deadringers for Lucas and Dawn from the Sinnoh games and there's a very good reason for this. Whichever one you play as is in fact your character from Brilliant Diamond or Shining Pearl. Normally I would say this excludes them from being anyone's ancestor but we never get any confirmation that the player is ever returned to their own time, meaning that they may in fact end up being their own ancestor, with the one you don't play as being more obvious in their role as the players ancestor. In fact, I find it likely that both Dawn and Lucas are descended from Rei and/or Akari. Though they are probably rather distant cousins considering that they don't seem to know each other before meeting for the first time at the beginning of D/P/Pt/BD/SP.

Professor Laventon: My initial thought upong seeing Laventon is that he's the ancestor of Leon and Hop from Sw/Sh. But honestly there isn't that much to connect him to them beyond being a Galarian with a similar skin tone and association with the color purple (his cap is roughly the same shade as their hair). But honestly, he could just as easily be the ancestor of Rose, Peony and Peonia. Or all of them. Or none of them.

Commander Kamado: He's Professor Rowan's ancestor. Even if it wasn't flat out stated on the game's website, it's obvious just by looking at him. Although notable is that the armor he wears later in the game is nearly identical to that worn by Wikstrom back in X/Y, but is said to be from that Galar region rather than Kalos. This suggests that Wikstrom is of Galarian descent, though I don't think that there's a direct connection between Kamado and Wikstrom. They could be related but don't think there's a solid enough connection to confirm it. Also, Kamado apparently has a Kansai accent in the Japanese version of the game, implying that he's from Johto (which is based off of Kansai). By extension, this means that Professor Rowan is of Johtoan descent.

Captain Cyllene: I'd say its more than reasonable to say that Cyllene is the ancestor of Cyrus, considering the strong resemblance to each other and that she's a high ranking member of what is implied to be the same organization that Cyrus will eventually lead.

Beni: I'm honestly not sure about this guy. The green streaks in his hair suggest a connection to another green haired character, which his hair style and use of both Gardevoir and Gallade suggest that he's Wally's ancestor specifically. Except there's a problem with that which is present in most of these characters: neither hair style and Pokémon choice are in any way hereditary. The Pokémon in this case is especially weak because while an argument could be made that a preference for specific Pokémon species could, in theory, be passed down through a family line as just part of the culture and nothing genetic, Wally having a Gardevoir or Gallade as his signature Pokémon is purely because a Ralts happened to be the first wild Pokémon he encountered when starting his Pokémon journey. Still, I'm going to have to assume that there's supposed to be a connection. I've also heard the possibility of Koga being Beni's descendant but I don't personally see it. The only connection there is that they're both ninja and that's hardly reason to assume a direct line of ancestry.

Zisu: I'm not going to lie, I had no idea who this lady was supposed to be the ancestor of when I first saw her, then I heard someone online mention it and I was basically kicking myself for not noticing it myself. She's the ancestor of Flint and Buck. She has the same curly red hair as Flint and even does a similar arm swinging gesture as Buck when she starts a battle (though something like that isn't genetic, it could in theory be something passed down the family line just by the process of children picking up their parents mannerisms).

Pesselle: This one's interesting. She's basically just a taller Mira, making the connection there obvious (although again, hair style is not hereditary). But she also has a very strong connection to the various unnamed nurses that run the Pokémon Centers in chronologically later games (and by extension Nurse Joy from the anime) in not just looks, but the fact that she runs the Medical Corps, which is implied to be a direct predecessor to the modern PokéCenter.

Sanqua: She's the leader of the Construction Corps, in case you missed her, and a dead ringer for Karen from the Johto games. There isn't much else to her and she runs into a problem that most of these characters have in that she looks almost identical to her descendant right down to the exact hair style, despite the fact that genetics don't work that way.

Anthe: She has the same blonde stripe and black sides to her hair that Darach had back in Platinum, making the connection obvious. Though fortunately she manages to actually have her own hair style unlike most of these characters, which is similar but still notably distinct from the one Darach would later sport.

Choy: He's just a skinny version of Charon from Platinum, which I find interesting considering that Charon didn't make an appearance in last year's Sinnoh remakes. He has the same hair style issue that you will see me constantly complaining about throughout this post, but at least he has a different physical build to make him distinct from his descendant.

Tao Hua: For the life of me I couldn't figure out who this guy was supposed to be connected to and all I could think of was that he was another, less obvious ancestor of Charon. Then, low and behold, the sidequest chain revolving around him and Choy ended with the reveal that + - Choy is married to Tao Hua's granddaughter   , meaning that I was actually right on the money with my guess. Which is interesting as Tao Hua's name is Chinese, meaning that Charon has ancestry from whatever the Pokémon world equivalent of China is.

Colza: He's just Gardenia but a man with a beard. I'd say the connection speaks for itself here. And is yet another instance of a character having the same hair style as their descendant even though that's not how hair works. That being said, I like his facial hair. There aren't enough bearded and/or mustached characters in Pokémon.

Rye: He's blatantly Riley's ancestor, which presumably makes him an indirect descendant of the anime-only character Sir Aaron (I say indirect, as Aaron doesn't seem to have had kids before he died). This is one of the few instances where I can get behind the idea of one of the ancestor characters using the same Pokémon as their implied descendant, as it's always been at least implied that Riley's family line had a connection to the Lucario evolution line.

Spoiler: Diamond Clan

Adaman: For the life of me I can't figure this out. His blue and dirty blond hair gradient is incredibly distinct but doesn't seem to match any other character in the series that I can think of. I'm not sure that Adaman has a modern day counterpart.

Mai: She's just Marley in a different outfit. Has the same hair issue that I keep complaining about, though at least she has a different partner Pokémon than Marley. Also interesting is that concept art for the game suggests taht she may at one point have been intended to have been Adaman's younger sister, though this idea seems to have been scrapped, if it was ever actually the plan to begin with.

Arezu: Yet another character who has the same hairstyle as their implied descendant, this time looking like Mars. There's been a long standing rumor that Mars could be related to Arianna from HG/SS and Giovanni's son Silver. If these rumors somehow turned out to be true, then that would imply that shes their ancestor as well. However, the only connection between those three characters is the fact that they were all redhead with similar hair styles. And as I keep pointing out over and over again, hair styles are not genetic.

Iscan: This guy is one of the hardest to pick out. I've heard speculation of Archie, Marlon or Nessa and while all of those are possibilities (and, you know, a lot of these characters probably have dozens of descendants in the modern day) the first person that came to my mind was Matt from Team Aqua, specificlaly in his design from the Hoenn remakes. All of these characters have similar skin tones (albeit only in the remakes in Archie and Matt's cases) and a preference for water type Pokémon (though thankfully not the same species) so I could see a connection between any of them. Plus, its all but stated that he and Palina are romantically involved, meaning that his descendants would also be her descendants and vice versa. Thus, all of the characters I mentioned here should be included as possibly being here descendants and the characters I mention in her section will also likely be Iscan's.

Melli: For one we have a character who's connection to modern day character is about everything except their hair and choice of Pokémon. His body build, general facial structure, preference for long hats (not genetic but at least its not hair style), long hair (okay, nevermind, but at least its not the same style and in fact not even the same color) and general attitude all suggest that he's the ancestor of Avery from Shield's Isle of Armor dlc. Seriously, the moment I first saw this punk my immediate reaction was just "this is Avery but with blue hair". His general attitude and preference for Poison-type Pokémon also suggest a connection to Avery's Sword counterpart Klara, though I feel like the connection isn't as strong as with Avery. Also this won't be the last time you hear me reference Klara in this post, surprisingly.

Sabi: What if Cheryl was a child wearing a fuzzy hat? You'd get Sabi's character design. Although she does notibly have a different shade of green hair, which I found interesting and a breath of fresh air from how blatently similar some of these other characters were. I also found it interesting that Mira and Cheryl's ancestors in this game essentially switched body types relative to their descendants. Cheryl and Pesselle are both tall women while Mira and Sabi are both short girls.

Spoiler: Pearl Clan

Irida: Much like her Diamond Clan counterpart, Irida doesn't really resemble any characters from the modern day games. Best I can come up with is the Hoenn protagonist May, but there's not much of a connection there other than similar builds and the fact that Irida's signature Pokémon is Glaceon, which May's anime counterpart has on her team.

Lian: He has the same curly brown hair as Clay (though a notably lighter shade) and even wears the same hat. I'd say the connection there should be rather obvious.

Calaba: One of the least obvious characters in the game. As far as I can tell, Calaba seems to be another one of Gardenia's ancestors. Though the only real connections are having split-color bobs and an association plants and Grass-type Pokémon. I've heard Ramos as a possibility, but there isn't any real evidence for that one either. I'm not actually sure if she has a modern counterpart.

Ingo: When I first saw him Ingo I was upset because I felt like they had just stopped trying. They didn't even give him his own name. Then I quickly turned around when it became clear that this is literally the same Ingo from the Gen V games, lost in time and without his memories like Looker, Anabel and even the player in this game. GameFreak has clearly been building up to something with all of these 'jumpers' as I've heard them called, and I can't wait to see how this ongoing storyline ends up playing out. Suffice it to say, Ingo is now one of my favorite characters. Oh, right, ancestry. Um, I suppose Ingo could be the ancestor of himself and his twin brother Emmet due to a time loop, but honestly I don't think he ends up having kids in the past, meaning that he isn't anyone's ancestor.

Palina: As I mentioned earlier, Palina is all but stated to end up with Iscan, meaning that the characters I mentioned in his paragraph are also likely Palina's descendants, even if they don't bare much of a resemblance to her beyond an affinity for swimwear (she has a pear of diving goggles hanging around her neck). I also mentioned back in Melli's paragraph that I would be mentioning Klara again and this is it. The connection isn't strong, but they wear distinct bows resembling moth/butterfly wings. Much like the hair I keep complaining about, this isn't something that would be hereditary, but it is interesting that GameFreak would reuse this distinct visual motif so soon.

Gaeric: He's a younger, slimmer version of Wulfric. They have the very similar hairstyles (which GameFreak seems to love as a way to visually link characters despite the fact that, again, that's not how hair works) and similar hair though reverse hair styles (Wulfrik has a down-work facing mustache while Gaeric has an upwards pointing side beard featuring the same two-pointed design). I also could have sworn that the tattoo design on Gaeric's chest was also present on Wulfric's clothes, but apparently I was misremembering. They do have the same blue, white and orange color scheme, though.

Spoiler: Other Characters

Ginter: He's just an older Volkner with a beard. He even spends all his time in-game sitting with the same posture that Volkner has in his original Diamond and Pearl artwork. I'd say the connection speaks for itself.

Charm: Probably one of the most interesting cases here. There has long been a rumor that Agatha and Bertha were related due to their similar designs and roles within their respective games. And now Charm throws an extra layer to that old theory by looking like both of them, stating that she was originally from Kanto (Agatha's home region) and even using both of their signature Pokémon (a Rhydon compared to Bertha's Rhyperior and a Gengar like Agatha). I find her Gengar particularly interesting, as given what we know of Ghost Pokémon, it's entirely possible that Charm's Gengar is literally one of the same Gengar that Agatha has on her team (she uses two), passed down through the family line.

Clover: She's Candice but with face paint, with the same hair and her only Pokémon being an Abomasnow, just like Candice's ace. Though interestingly, she's stated to have originally been part of the Diamond Clan, who's village would eventually become Solaceon Town, rather than the Pearl Clan who's village would become Snowpoint City, where Candice is the Gym Leader.

Coin: Saturn but a girl, right down to having a Toxicroak as her signature Pokémon.

Another note about the Miss Fortune Sisters: While the fact that the trio refer to themselves as sisters would imply that their descendants are distantly related, it should be noted that Charm is from the Kanto region, having arrived in Hisui as part of the Galaxy Gang before deciding to leave, while Clover is stated to have left the Diamond Clan and Coin left the Pearl Clan. This suggests that the three are sisters in a metaphorical sense as found family and members of a sisterhood, rather than being biologically related. Not that this in any way doesn't make them a family to each other, it does mean that their descendants (Agatha/Bertha, Candice and Saturn) likely aren't related.

Volo: At first glance he seems to be an ancestor of Cynthia. Not only is he a direct lookalike to her, but even his endgame team even being almost identical to her champion team but with an Arcanine in place of her Milotic. But I'm also not really sure if he ever had kids. He doesn't seem to have been a father by the events of the game (although I wouldn't put it past him to be a deadbeat) and he doesn't really seem like the type to have settled down afterwards, being too busy plotting his revenge. I could be wrong, but I don't think that Volo is actually a direct ancestor of Cynthia. Definitely a distant uncle, though. I've also heard the possibility of Volo being the ancestor of Lusamine (and by extention, Gladion and Lillie). I'm not going to rule out the possibility entirely, as I do feel like Lusamine could be a distant cousin of Cynthia, but I find this rather unlikely.

Cogita: I may not be entirely sure about Volo being Cynthia's ancestor, but I have no doubts about Cogita's relation to the Sinnoh champion. In fact, given her apparent age Id say it's pretty much a given that she's already a mother or possibly even grandmother by the time the game takes place, though her family is never mentioned.

Unexplained Portraits: If you've ever wondered into a Diamond Clan or Pearl Clan hut, you've seen a pair of paintings hanging on the far wall. Both clans have a portrait of what appear to be Alder's ancestor (I've heard theories that he was actually a time displaced Alder himself, similar to Ingo or the player) which is likely a representation of the legendary hero who's Pokémon are the ancestors of the Noble Pokémon encountered throughout the story. In addition, the Diamond Clan have a portrait resembling Maxie while the Pearl clan have one resembling Archie (notably both are based on the original designs of the characters, rather than the remake designs), who are presumably the founders of the two clans in addition to being distant ancestors to the leaders of Teams Magma and Aqua.

Woo, that was a lot. Most of these characters are fairly obvious who they're supposed to be related to, but some of them are definitely hard to figure out. Do you agree with my assessments? Do you have your own ideas behind which Legends characters are ancestors to which modern characters? Please show your own thoughts on the subject down below.

 

I completely forgot the Burgh exists but now that you've mentioned him, I can definitely see the resemblance.