The Real-World Inspirations Behind Legendary Pokémon Pt. 1: The Weather Trio

Over the years, a lot’s been said about how Pokémon take cues from myths, legends, and real-world creatures. Some of it’s been easy to spot—like birds based on cranes or wolves drawn from Japanese folklore. But when it comes to Legendary Pokémon, the inspirations tend to run deeper. Ancient stories, religious texts, and cultural symbols have all been borrowed, remixed, and reimagined into something that feels familiar but just distant enough to pass as fantasy.

That’s been especially true with the Legendaries from Hoenn. These Pokémon weren’t just created to look cool or strong. They were built around ideas—about nature, balance, and chaos. And a lot of those ideas have been pulled from myths that go back centuries. They weren’t always meant to be explained. Just felt. Like natural forces, always there in the background, shaping things.

In this series, those roots are going to be dug into, starting here with Hoenn. Not every connection’s going to be exact. Some of it’s interpretation. Some of it’s coincidence. But once you start seeing the patterns, it’s hard to unsee them.

In this article

1. The Weather Trio: Kyogre, Groudon, and Rayquaza
2. Kyogre – The Sea as a Living Force
3. Groudon – The Power of Land and Fire
4. Rayquaza – The Serpent of Sky and Storm
5. Conclusion

The Weather Trio: Kyogre, Groudon, and Rayquaza

Forces of Nature, Pulled from Myth

These three were designed to feel ancient—like they were always part of the world, long before Trainers showed up with Poké Balls. In the games, they control the weather. In the myths, they’re more than just weather patterns. They’re forces. Ocean. Earth. Sky. And it’s not a stretch to say they were pulled from stories that have been told for thousands of years.

Kyogre – The Sea as a Living Force

Kyogre was likely inspired by more than just sea life. A lot of the time, it’s compared to the Leviathan—a creature from Jewish and early Christian mythology. The Leviathan was said to be a massive sea serpent or dragon that couldn’t be defeated, only contained. It showed up in texts like the Book of Job, described as something made by God to rule the sea.

Kyogre might also pull from Mesopotamian myth, especially the saltwater dragon Tiamat. In the Babylonian creation story, her body was used to form the sky and sea after she was defeated. The idea that the ocean is both life-giving and destructive—that it is a godlike presence—is baked into Kyogre’s design and lore.

Groudon – The Power of Land and Fire

Groudon, as the land counterpart, is usually linked to Behemoth, the earth-bound beast from the same texts that mention Leviathan. Behemoth was thought to rule over all animals on land, unable to be tamed. In some versions of the myth, it’s said that Behemoth and Leviathan will fight at the end of days. This “primordial battle” concept shows up in other cultures too—like in Norse mythology, where giants and gods clash during Ragnarök.

There’s also a connection to volcanic deities, like Pele from Hawaiian mythology, who was believed to cause eruptions and form new land. Groudon's ability to bring sunlight and dry up the sea can be seen as a personification of volcanic heat or continental movement—earth pushing back against the ocean.

Rayquaza – The Serpent of Sky and Storm

Rayquaza rounds out the trio as the one who keeps the peace from above. Its design is clearly influenced by East Asian dragons, especially Chinese ones, which are seen as sky guardians and symbols of harmony. These dragons usually don’t breathe fire—they control wind, rain, and storms. Rayquaza’s ability to calm the other two fits that role.

It’s also been compared to Ziz, another creature from Jewish folklore, said to be a giant bird (sometimes a dragon) that ruled the skies, while Behemoth ruled the land and Leviathan the sea. That trio—sky, land, sea—lines up exactly with Rayquaza, Groudon, and Kyogre. Some scholars believe these three creatures symbolized natural forces that couldn’t be controlled, only balanced.

A different influence could be Quetzalcoatl, the feathered serpent god of wind and sky from Aztec mythology. Quetzalcoatl was known for keeping order and maintaining balance among the gods. Rayquaza, in a similar way, only appears when the natural order is thrown off.

So even if these Pokémon were made up for a video game, the ideas behind them go way back. Myths were used to explain the weather, natural disasters, even why land and sea exist in the first place. These legends weren’t just told for fun—they were how people made sense of the world. And that’s exactly what these Pokémon were built to represent.

Conclusion

The Weather Trio wasn’t just built to look cool or headline a box cover. These Pokémon were drawn from stories that predate video games by centuries—stories told to explain oceans, volcanoes, and storms long before science got involved. Kyogre, Groudon, and Rayquaza weren’t invented in a vacuum. They were shaped by ancient myths from across the world—Jewish folklore, Mesopotamian epics, Mesoamerican gods, and East Asian dragon tales.

Even if most players never read the Book of Job or heard of Tiamat or Quetzalcoatl, the feeling is still there. That sense of awe. Of something too big to fully understand. And that’s what makes these Legendary Pokémon more than just stats and movesets—they’re echoes of myths, made playable.

This is just the start. In future parts of this series, other Legendary Pokémon will be looked at—like the creation myths behind Sinnoh’s gods, the guardian deities of Alola, and the many beasts shaped by folklore from around the world. These designs didn’t come out of nowhere, and once the real-world roots are seen, it gets easier to understand what these Pokémon were meant to represent.