Pokemon fan reveals theory on Skarmory’s secret origins

The Pokemon community is overflowing with theories on the plethora of Pocket Monsters, and one fan’s idea posits a particularly interesting basis for Gold and Silver’s Skarmory.

With over 1000 Pokemon across dozens of games, all the way up to the recent Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, there are plenty of interesting origin stories. Not to mention, some interesting behind-the-scenes details lost to Pokemon history.

Fan theories are abundant, and while some are pretty well known by now (such as fans saying Cubone is actually a baby Kangaskhan), there are also some absolutely wild ones that even MatPat would balk at.

When Pokemon Gold and Silver were originally introduced they also brought along trade items, giving birth to some fun new Pokemon like Steelix and Scizor, and one fan thinks that another Pokemon was meant to join this club.

Fan theory says that Skarmory was originally a Fearow evolution

The Pokemon Company

Pokemon fan DustyGoGoat took to Twitter to share their theory, speculating that perhaps originally Skarmory was an evolution of Fearow, that used the trade item the Metal Coat to evolve.

It’s not the wildest theory, and considering Pokemon Gold and Silver’s addition of trade items and a handful of new evolutions, it seems possible that it was at least considered by Game Freak at the time.

Clearly, that isn’t what ended up happening, as Skarmory is a standalone Pokemon. However, there are several visual similarities between Fearow and Skarmory that lend credence to this theory.

Looking at pictures user DustyGoGoat shares in their original post, Fearow and Skarmory certainly share a body type, similar wings, and head, and the name also fits in nicely with both Spearow and Fearow.

Plenty of Pokemon fans agree with the post, as Corleydude94 comments “Honestly that makes more sense”, though UltraWing_Vit adds “I can see it design wise. but not stat wise at all.” While fans will likely never get an answer, it’s a fun theory that fans can speculate over.