Pokemon of the Week #11: Morelull

Pokemon of the Week: #755 Morelull, the Illuminating Pokemon

Actually creepier than most Ghost-types

Oh, hey, a Generation VII Pokemon! Something new. See, we've gotten a couple of mushroom Pokemon over the last twenty years. We've got Paras and Parasect all the way in Generation I. We've got Shroomish and Breloom in Gen III, and Foongus and Amoongus in Gen V. All three mushrooms are based on toadstool mushrooms visually -- Paras is conceptually based on a parasitic Cordyceps fungus, Foongus more on the poisonous side of the spectrum, while Shroomish... er... he's an angry little mushroom bulb that transforms into a kung fu mushroom raptor? I never quite figured out the origin of Breloom, to be honest.

But Morelull was introduced in Generation VII, and visually based on the Mycena genus of mushrooms, otherwise known as bell mushrooms. Mycena fungi are small, have bell-shaped caps, and thin stems, all of which are embodied pretty well in Morelull's design even if Morelull's caps do look like popsicles. Where your mother told you not to eat random mushrooms because they're poisonous, the Mycena genus is different -- they won't kill you per se, but a huge amount of them will make you hallucinate. Oh, and a proportion of the genus is bioluminescent, meaning they glow in the dark. These would serve as a basis of Morelull's general lore.

Because, you see, Morelull is a Grass/Fairy Pokemon. The Grass bit is obvious, because, y'know, in the world of Pokemon, fungi, plants and everything in between are all rolled together into the Grass-type. The Fairy bit, though... yeah, the sixth and seventh generation have a large proportion of Fairy-types, but that's because Fairy is the newest type so they do have to introduce more of it compared to, say, for example, yet another Normal/Flying Pokemon. We actually already have a Grass/Fairy type before Generation VII in the absolutely awesome Whimsicott, though, who's a cotton flower fairy. Generation VII also introduces Tapu Bulu as a Grass/Fairy legendary.

So what makes Morelull a Fairy? Well, there are these things called 'fairy rings' in European folklore, which is a ring of mushrooms that grow strangely in a large ring formation, creating a ring of mushrooms as large as 10 meters. Modern science now know that the ring-shaped formation is because the fungus colony grows outwards from a center point, and as the central part is exhausted of nutrients, the fungus in the center part of the colony dies, while those at the edges are alive and growing ever outwards, which explains the ring shape -- the mushrooms that used to be in the center of the circle are all dead. There are far more detailed explanations of the process, but this is the gist of it.

Of course, people in the past don't understand about how mushrooms grow, about hyphae and mycelium and the fact that fungi actually function far differently compared to plants (they don't make their own food and have to rely on eating other decaying matter for nutrients, for example) and all that scientific jazz. They find this formation of mushrooms arranged in a ring, and shit, what else could make these rings but witches, or the Devil, or elvenkind and fairies living in the woods? The legends vary from area to area, but the general gist is that if an unwary traveler steps into the ring, they will be enthralled by illusions created by the fairies, or be forced to dance until they die of madness or exhaustion. Mushrooms in general are associated with European fairies, who use them as tables, as places to dance, or as umbrellas. 

But this is Pokemon, right? You'd think this adorable little fungus monster wouldn't force you to dance into exhaustion by simply entering a ring of fairy mushrooms. Well, yes and no. See, Morelull draws both from the lore of fairies and actual bioluminescent mushrooms. Its Sun Pokedex entry state that it scatters flickering, glowing spores that causes anyone that sees these lights to fall into a deep slumber, both referencing the hallucinogenic properties of mushrooms as well as fairies tricking humans that intrude into their territory with curses and charms such as that. It's Moon Pokedex entry is more biological, basically giving a quick lesson on how it nourishes itself by sucking nutrition from tree roots.

So yeah, it's a glowing fairy fungus. It's got the trifecta of Absorb, Mega Drain and Giga Drain to reflect the fungus's parasitic nature. Both Ingrain and Strength Sap also reflect its fungal nature. It's got Spore and Sleep Powder to both reflect its anesthetic properties. It's one of the two Pokemon that learns Flash by level up, which is useless, but hey, it's a reference to its glo-in-the-dark properties. For extra hallucinogenic madness, Morelulls can even Confuse Ray and Dream Eater you. It's a pretty standard moveset for a mushroom Pokemon, though, and you'd be forgiven into thinking that Morelull is perfectly innocent...

Those innocent eyes hide the
soul of a SERIAL KILLER

Until you see Shiinotic. God, what a horrifying Pokemon. Those soulless, beady eyes and that ever-smiling mouth! Shiinotic looks like something out of my worst nightmares, this fucking weird mushroom man with spindly hands and the face of evil itself. Shiinotic's Pokedex entries state that, well, forests inhabited by Shiinotic are 'treacherous to enter at night' and people who are lured in by Shiinotic's lights 'can never find their way home again'... oh, and by the way, 'when its prey succumb to sleep, this Pokemon feeds on them by sucking in their energy'. Yeah, Morelull and Shiinotic are creepy. They don't make you dance to death and exhaustion, they just make you go lost in the jungle, make you fall asleep and eat you. Out of all the 800+ creatures that inhabit the world of Pokemon, being eaten by pink fairy mushrooms has to be the least dignified but most horrifying way to go.

In the games, Morelull and Shiinotic play a day-and-night counterpart with fellow mushroom Pokemon Paras and Parasect, where Morelull always appears at night in the same areas and an equal amount of rarity as their Generation I mushroom senpais. Man, and I thought they couldn't make a creepier mushroom Pokemon than the freaking zombie mind-control mushroom Paras... I guess I was wrong. Also, I guess we now know why all those kids that get lost in the jungle keep turning into Phantumps. (Disclaimer: Phantump and Morelull aren't actually found in the same area in Sun and Moon)

So yeah. Morelull isn't the most powerful Pokemon out there, being a somewhat bulky special attacker that's absolutely slow as shit. There are definitely a lot of better options in this role both in the Grass and Fairy typings, and honestly I'd take Whimsicott over Shiinotic any day simply because Shiinotic is one of the few Pokemon that actually creep the fuck out of me. Still, very good job on Nintendo's part at making this pretty cool design that works both on a 'inspired by nature' and 'inspired by folklore' level.

Now, the wisdom of including Morelull in the Hawaii-based game instead of the France-based game is another thing entirely...