8/22/23 – Abyssal Ruins Investigation

Today I’m going to figure out what’s up with the Abyssal Ruins from Pokemon Black & White. I want to figure out how it’s connected to Relic Castle and the lore implications of that. For now, I’ll give a brief summary of what the hell this place even is:

The Abyssal Ruins lie below the ocean, just off the coast of Undella Town. Using a pokemon with dive, you can swim down and look around inside. Within, there is a maze with strange symbols on the walls and treasure strewn about. Eventually, a torrent of water will kick you out after 500 steps.

That’s a lot to unpack. First, let’s look at the treasures you can find inside. A full set of Arceus plates, Relic coins of various values, Relic artifacts, and even a Relic Crown found on the top floor. The Relic items immediately bring to mind Relic Castle–a different location in Unova just off of Route 4. Let’s look at what Bulbapedia has to say about Relic Castle:

The Relic Castle is the ruins of a city built by one of the twin heroes and his corresponding dragon and are said to have been the heart of a civilization for people and Pokémon in the Unova region. The civilization dates back to at least 2,500 years ago, at which point it was at its peak.

It appears that Relic Castle is the ruins of an ancient city from 2,500 years ago. If Relic Gold, and even a Relic Crown can be found in the Abyssal Ruins, that could mean both places were made around the same time? In addition, the quote says Relic Castle was founded by one of the brothers. I bet Abyssal Ruins was founded by the other one! More on that later, for now let’s discuss the symbols on the walls of the maze.

The symbols are nearly indecipherable. Most of them correspond to an English letter, but there’s even more decoding you have to do after that and like, who the hell even figured this out y’know? Luckily, if you’re playing Black & White 2, Zinzolin will give you an item to translate the symbols into English characters in the post-game. Either way, you’re best off looking up the translations online.

Speaking of, let’s talk about the translations. On the first floor, there are lots of messages about this virtuous king, and some directions to get to the next floor. On that next floor are some laws, or some sort of ideals that people should abide by. Next up are some more of those sayings, but more directed towards the king himself. On the last floor, there are descriptions of the King’s achievements, which are actually the most intriguing part here:

• King defeated
• joined King in a day.
• King called beings.
• King is hope and future.
• The great King

What the fuck??? Those symbols can’t be translated, and appear to be some sort of hieroglyphs or something. The first one looks like a stick figure–it could be that the King defeated another human, maybe his brother? The second symbol I don’t quite have the read on. If something joined the King it would probably be a Pokémon, or maybe even a human. Next symbol looks like a fish, but that’s probably supposed to represent a Pokémon. The phrase likely means that the King acknowledged Pokémon as sentient creatures–maybe a parallel to the plot of Black and White? I’m thinking the ancient King may share some connection to a king in the modern era: N.

Here’s some real fringe theory shit I found on that same article about that last undecipherable symbol. In the document Zinzolin gives you, that symbol is translated to ●●●●●●●●. In Japanese, it shows as ●●●●●. That likely means there’s an actual word buried under the obfuscation, as all the other languages have differing dots as well.

One word that works here is “Harmonia,” N and Ghetsis’ last name. This makes sense, as both N and the King were, well, kings. And, they both teamed up with one of the dragons. This must mean N is a direct descendant of one of the twin heroes, and explains why N is one of the heroes in the modern era. So, how about that other hero? During the story of Black and White, it’s assumed that N and the player character are the new twin heroes of Unova, and they both fight using their respective dragons to see whose ideology comes out on top–just like the legend from 2,500 years ago. With all of this evidence mounting, is there any proof of some sort of ancestor to the player character hidden within Relic Castle?

Inside Relic Castle are: Pokémon fossils, TMs, a couple sun stones, another maze, and a Volcarona at the end of it. Notably, there is a lack of Relic themed items within Relic Castle. Most interesting though, is an item that used to be here, but was later moved into the Nacrene City Museum–the Dark/Light stone (depending on what version you’re playing). The stones contain Zekrom and Reshiram respectively, but this is most important because it proves one of the twin heroes and his dragon lived in Relic Castle all those years ago like the quote earlier said!

But, there’s still no Relic items in Relic Castle, what gives? Look, I’m going to speculate heavily here so bear with me. King Harmonia and his society had the same beliefs as N–people separate from Pokémon. So, their ruins were filled with people things such as money and crowns. The other kingdom believed people should work together with Pokémon, and that’s why you can find Pokémon related items there. Actually, you can’t find ANY Pokémon in Abyssal Ruins, but there are loads of ‘em in Relic Castle!

One last interesting point. According to the inscriptions in the ruins, King Harmonia defeated his brother. Maybe that’s why Relic Castle is in disrepair, while Abyssal Ruins is standing strong? Listen to this, in the history of Unova in Bulbapedia, it says neither of the brothers won, and Unova was destroyed in the fight. Interesting stuff to chew on, maybe I’ll look at it again some other time.