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The three legendary birds in their Galarian forms
Legendary birds (Japanese: 伝説の鳥ポケモン Legendary bird Pokémon) is a collective term used to refer to the trio of Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres, three avian Legendary Pokémon that embody the primal elements of Fire, Ice and Lightning. In some media, they are shown to have a connection to Lugia, who is their leader, thus making them counterparts to Ho-Oh's Legendary beasts. They are also known as the winged mirages (Japanese: illusory wings). In Galar, their Galarian counterparts have been referred to as legendary wings (Galar 3 Birds by fans).
Appearance[]
The Legendary Birds are three avian Pokémon designed around the elements of fire, ice and lightning and the shape language of these elements forms the basis for their designs.
Moltres is a fiery phoenix, with a long neck and legs and pointed conical beak. Its body is composed almost entirely of flame with the exception of its feet and beak. Articuno is an elegant ice bird with shimmering blue plumage stated in its Pokédex to be partially frozen, a short beak and a long tail reminiscent of a quetzal bird. Lastly Zapdos is a thunderbird with a long beak and spiky black and yellow plumage resembling zagged lightning.
Background[]
As Legendary Pokémon, the Legendary Birds are incredibly rare and seldom seen by humans, often only as fleeting glimpses high in the sky. Still regarded by most as myth until the Pokémon Trainer, Red proved their existence, little is known about their lifestyle or even how many exist in the world. However, they appear on relics dating as far back as the earliest human civilizations.
What is known is that they are incredibly powerful, with abilities that can affect entire regions. The Legendary birds embody the primal elements of Fire, Ice and Lightning and are associated with three out of the four seasons. All three are migratory in nature, journeying around the entire Pokémon World and altering the weather in entire regions as they do so. Moltres heats up the surrounding atmosphere with every flap of its wings bringing about an early spring, Articuno causes snow to fall and can summon winter blizzards with its icy wings, and Zapdos summons massive thunderclouds to hide in and follows summer thunderstorms to eat the electricity given off by them.
Being the first Legendary trio, they set the standards for future trios; that is, they all share similar attributes and—in the case of most of the future trios—are considered equal among themselves. Like the other trios later would, the Legendary birds share a master in Lugia (starting with Pokémon the Movie 2000: The Power of One), as well as two common traits: their Flying-type and their Ability, Pressure.
In the Eighth Pokémon generation, all three Legendary birds received a Galarian form. They all still share the Flying type, but they each have different Abilities and their respective primary type is changed.
History[]
According to notes found in the Pokémon Mansion, the legendary birds were first discovered by and recorded by the Pokémon Research Team. Blaine and Mr. Fuji also recorded notes and sightings of the winged mirages.
In the anime, Professor Oak states that Articuno's and Moltres' combined powers of ice and fire are the source and cradle of the oceans, and that Zapdos' electric energy creates the currents and streams, which is why the three ancient creatures are closely bound to the guardian of the ocean, Lugia.
In Galar's Crown Tundra, the original legendary birds were thought to periodically travel there, but it's eventually discovered that the trio of birds seen there were in reality, Galarian variants of the original trio, that travelled all over the world but anually flew back to the Crown Tundra's Dyna Tree to feed on its berries and even fight between themselves to have the Berries for themselves. Not much is known about the relation between the Galarian and Kantonian birds, but their Pokédex entries imply that the Galarian ones were either the birds's original appearances or that they're unrelated entirely.
The Legendary Birds[]
Normal[]
| Articuno | Zapdos | Moltres |
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Galar[]
| Articuno | Zapdos | Moltres |
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Trivia[]
- The legendary birds can be caught in the most mainline games of all Legendary Pokémon, as they can be caught in thirteen games in Japan (twelve internationally, seven in Korea).
- In the localized versions of the first generation, a Bird Keeper in Route 14 states: "The 3 legendary Pokémon are all birds of prey." However, in the Japanese dialogue, he simply says that they are three birds.
- In the English dub of Pokémon the Movie 2000: The Power of One, these Pokémon are referred to as titans.
- In The Official Pokémon Encyclopedia, they are referred to as the Titan trio.
- The last part of each of the members' names is a number in the Spanish language—one (Articuno), two (Zapdos), and three (Moltres)—and it reflects their National Pokédex order.
- The legendary birds are the only Legendary Pokémon to have regional forms.
- Even though the Galarian birds are classified as Galarian Forms, according to the lore, they travel all over the world and only visit Galar's Crown Tundra once in a year.
- The Shiny Colorations of the legendary birds in their regional forms are colored to match the normal coloration of the Kantonian ones.
- The Pokédex entries for the Galarian legendary birds imply that their similarities to the Kantonian legendary birds are a coincidence, and that they are actually completely different Pokémon that were given the same names based on their physical appearance. Despite this, they are still categorized as the same species.
- The Galarian legendary birds are the only regional forms available in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet that are unable to have the Paldean origin mark.
- The legendary birds had Australian beetle species named after them: Binburrum articuno, Binburrum zapdos, and Binburrum moltres. The three species were first described in 2020, and were collectively named after the legendary birds to reflect their rarity.