Lunala is a large Pokémon resembling a skeletal, legless bat. It has a short snout, dark pink eyes with white centers, and a deep blue area on its upper head that shows a constantly changing starscape. A rigid raised hood wraps around its head in a crescent shape and drapes around its neck as well. The outside of the hood is yellow, while the inner part that curves around Lunala's head is white with deep blue streaks. Its torso resembles a ribcage with a slightly curved spike on each shoulder and three spikes extending from the bottom toward its tail. Its massive wings resemble a bat's wings with the skeleton exposed, except that Lunala's wings have a total of seven "finger bones": four running through each wing, one running along the edge to the outermost tip, and two pointing upwards that may act as claws that are more functional. The four "bones" in Lunala's wings are only visible in segments. The skin of Lunala's wings is an iridescent deep blue and a light blue light source appears to glow from behind its ribcage. A large, pale yellow crescent connects the outermost tip of each wing to the next two inner tips, and the remaining two innermost tips are adorned by yellow, four-pointed stars. The bottom of Lunala's tail is also lined by a yellow crescent with a ridge running up the middle of the tail towards the ribcage.
When Lunala enters its Full Moon phase, its third eye—a light red symbol of an eye—appears on its forehead and the starscape turns to streaks of light. The skin of its wings glows a bright, light blue. It spreads its wings wide so that the yellow parts on each wing are arranged in a circle with the outermost points of the four-pointed stars disappearing in the transformation.
Known as the "beast that calls the moon," Lunala has long been honored as an emissary of the moon. This Pokémon constantly absorbs light to convert into energy and can obscure daylight with darkness. When it spreads its wings to absorb light and glitters, it resembles a beautiful night sky. It is said to live in another world, which it returns to when it opens its third eye. Lunala can create Ultra Wormholes to travel to and from Ultra Space. Lunala and its counterpart, Solgaleo, can create Cosmog, which it is said to be the female evolution of. It can also influence a Rockruff's evolution into Lycanroc's Midnight form with lunar energy.
Appearances[]
Main Pokémon games[]
Pokémon spin-offs[]
In the anime[]
In Pokémon Evolutions, a Cosmoem nicknamed Nebby evolved into Lunala at the Altar of the Moone, where it subsequently absorbed by Necrozma.
Lunala appears as a Pokémon summoned from the Poké Ball. It enters its Full Moon phase and attacks using its signature move Moongeist Beam. Lunala also appears as a Spirit.
Origin[]
Lunala seems to be based on a bat with a Moon motif. In particular, it might reference the two known Hawaiian bat species, the still living Hawaiian hoary bat and the extinct Synemporion, or the ghost bat.
It could also be based on Itzpapalotl, a skeletal Aztec goddess and star demon, often depicted with bladed bat wings; Camazotz, a Mayan bat god that was associated with the night, death, and sacrifice; Leutogi, a Samoan protector bat goddess; and Pe'a-pe'a-makawalu, an eight-eyed bat that Hawaiian demigod Maui snatched eyes from. This may also be a basis for Lunala's auxiliary eye in Full Moon phase.
Lunala loses the most weight of any Pokémon after evolution, weighing 879.9 kilograms less than Cosmoem.
Lunala's verbal cry in Pokémon Moon, "Mahina-pea", may be based on the words mahina (Hawaiian for moon) and ʻōpeʻapeʻa (Hawaiian for bat). In addition, mahina piha is Hawaiian for full moon.
