Simulations in Media

This page isn't dedicated to a simulation specifically, merely something that has heavily inspired where I have ended up within this project and is something that has inspired me for years outside of University. I felt like I had to write about it, since its been pivotal to me ending up here.

To preface: what I'm going to talk about is absolutely my own head-canon and theories that I've thought up throughout my years of playing Pokemon. I've always had a deep fascination with the Unown and I've always felt like I needed an explanation for them, even if it is not actually the truth behind them.

The Unown (Pokemon)

What are the Unown?

The Unown are a mysterious species within the Pokemon with 28 confirmed variations. These variations include all 26 letters of the Latin alphabet, as well as an exclamation and question mark. Their bodies are a grey/black colour and are tubular; these sections arrange themselves into the shape of the letter that specific Unown specimin represents. The only other notable feature of their biology are their single, large eye which the rest of the body is formed around. Something interesting to note is that the exclamation and question mark forms cannot fully open their eyes, with their eyelids stopping halfway up the eyes. No other Unown varient shares this trait, however.
- In the Pokemon 'Mystery of The Unown', incscriptions of other Unown varients that represent Greek letters can be seen - the specimens themselves are never seen however, but it is perfectly possible Unown of characters outside of Latin could exist.
They are incredibly meek and fragile Pokemon on their own, and their unique appearance is the only real interesting part of them visually. It is when the Unown form groups that their true nature begins to unravel.
- The Unown, even when alone, have abilities no other Pokemon do. It is just that when they ARE alone, their powers are incredibly negligable.
- When they Unown group together however, their power increases massively. So much so, that large groups can even manipulate reality.
It is theorised that the Unown are the basis for all of human language - they came into existence BEFORE language was even invented.

What are their origins?

The Unown have been documented by ancient human civilisations, and seem to have documentation going as far back as recorded history beginning, making them ancient beings.
- One interesting thing to note, is that they do not seem to have evolved in any way. Depictions of the Unown in drawings and texts are identical to the Unown observable within the Pokemon universe.
As far as we are aware, the Unown could have existed for as long as, or for a similar time as celestial Pokemon, potentially going as far as the creation quartet (Dialga, Palkia, Giratina and Arceus) themselves.
They do not seem to be terrestrial at all, as all of their appearances involve dimensional rifts in some capacity. Within the movie 'Rise of Darkrai', the Unown spill out of the rifts formed when Dialga and Palkia are fighting with each other. No other instance of Pokemon media have shown the 'appearance' of the Unown, implying that any observable specimens have come from another dimension of some sort.
In terms of design, they are simply based on the latin alphabet, turned into living beings. Their powers seem to correspond to the idea that one letter conveying little to nothing, but sequences of letters (word and phrases) conveying much more information.

What notable appearances do they have?

The Unown were first introduced in the second generation of Pokemon (Gold, Silver and Crystal).
In Pokemon Heart Gold and Soul Silver, a WiFi distribution was carried out as part of the 'Arceus and The Jewel of Life' movie campaign in which Arceus was finally a legally obtainable Pokemon. For context, Arceus is the god of the Pokemon universe, all things were sculpted through its will.
- Once Arceus has been obtained, the player can trigger a unique event by taking Arceus to the Ruins of Alph (the first place the Unown ever appeared in the main series games). Doing so would trigger dialogue about how the Unown inscriptions seem to 'stare' at the player and an NPC. The player would black out shortly after, and would reappear in a strange place known as the Sinjoh Ruins.
- The player encounters the Champion of Sinnoh (the region introduced in generation 4, the same generation Arceus was introduced), Cynthia. She comments on how she senses a strong power coming from your party, a power similar to Dialga, Palkia and Giratina, but how it is not quite the same. Cynthia then takes the player back into the Sinjoh Ruins, where she speaks about how they were built in ancient times to commemorate Arceus, and they the 'Mystri Stage' was built as a sort of ritual site dedicated to Arceus specifically. She then recalls a myth she had once studied: 'time, space or antimatter shall be born when Arceus stands on the Mystri Stage'. The player can then choose a symbol on the stage that represents one of these concepts. Time equates to Dialga, Space equates to Palkia, and Antimatter equates to Giratina. Selecting a symbol allows the player to choose one of these Pokemon to be created by Arceus there and then.
- Once the player has chosen, Arceus seems to summon the Unown as part of the creation ritual. Throughout the whole process, the Unown flock and float around Arceus, seemingly implying that they have either something to do with the creation process, are summoned by it, or are potentially a by product. My personal belief is that Arceus uses them as a construct of some kind, using their sequences to form them into one of Dialga, Palkia or Giratina.
In the Pokemon movie 'The Rise of Darkrai', the Unown spill out of rifts created when Dialga and Palkia strike at eachother. The fight between the two celestial deities even took place in the Unown dimension before moving to Alamos Town.
The the Pokemon movie 'Mystery of The Unown', the Unown are directly responsible for creating a fantasy world that one of the protagonists lives within. They showcase fully just how absurdly powerful they can be in groups. The Unown dimension appears in this movie too.

Why are they important to me? What's the theory?

My theory is that the Unown are either a creation of Arceus, an extension of Arceus, or a natural born force of the universe. One of Arceus' Pokedex entries states that Arceus 'shaped the world with its 1000 arms', which could either be interpreted metaphorically (because Arceus is a god, it could probably take any form it wanted) or literally. The literal interpretation cannot be assumed in terms of design alone, but the implication that the Unown be very well be the '1000 arms' the Pokedex talks about, which is supported by their strong connections to Arceus through the Sinjoh Ruins event.
I believe that the Unown are the 'code' for the universe - as individuals, they represent bits of data, and groups represent entire sequences. My belief is that every single thing in the universe has a corresponding sequence of 'Unown code'. They live in a dimension higher than ours, existing on a different plane where they can see us, but we can't see or interact with them - time-space rifts are what cause them to rarely appear within our plane, which implies that these rifts are effectively errors within the universe program, so to speak.
I don't believe that they represent anything digital, rather beings with a true understanding of how the universe works, thus they are capable of manipulating it, depending on what varients are together at the time.
The reason I thought about the Unown as useful research/thought is because of the runes in Norse mythos that I researched - the idea that the runes could be a force of natural/an extension of the universe was incredibly fascinating to me. I eventually drew the comparison between runes and the Unown and knew I had to talk aboutn them, even if its brief.
- There is something quite terrifying about such an abstract being - they are totally unorthodox in almost every sense, and their powers are equally as mysterious. Powerful beings are always scary, but there is always a sense of hope and determination when facing them - but there is something incredibly unsettling and terrifying on a primal level that a being could have so much control in ways you have no way of understanding.
- The idea that the code for the universe could be biological is incredibly inspiring to me as well, and may even imply that Arceus uses the Unown to even run universal scale simulations, using their properties as programming language.
- There is even the idea that the Unown could be an entity created OUTSIDE of Arceus' power and that they are a manifestation of the universe itself, and that Arceus simply found a way to use them - a being so powerful it could manipulate the very building blocks of reality.

Simulations in Media

The Unown (Pokemon)

What are the Unown?

In the Pokemon 'Mystery of The Unown', incscriptions of other Unown varients that represent Greek letters can be seen - the specimens themselves are never seen however, but it is perfectly possible Unown of characters outside of Latin could exist. ​

They are incredibly meek and fragile Pokemon on their own, and their unique appearance is the only real interesting part of them visually. It is when the Unown form groups that their true nature begins to unravel.

The Unown, even when alone, have abilities no other Pokemon do. It is just that when they ARE alone, their powers are incredibly negligable. ​

When they Unown group together however, their power increases massively. So much so, that large groups can even manipulate reality.

It is theorised that the Unown are the basis for all of human language - they came into existence BEFORE language was even invented.

What are their origins?

The Unown have been documented by ancient human civilisations, and seem to have documentation going as far back as recorded history beginning, making them ancient beings.

One interesting thing to note, is that they do not seem to have evolved in any way. Depictions of the Unown in drawings and texts are identical to the Unown observable within the Pokemon universe. ​

As far as we are aware, the Unown could have existed for as long as, or for a similar time as celestial Pokemon, potentially going as far as the creation quartet (Dialga, Palkia, Giratina and Arceus) themselves.

In terms of design, they are simply based on the latin alphabet, turned into living beings. Their powers seem to correspond to the idea that one letter conveying little to nothing, but sequences of letters (word and phrases) conveying much more information.

What notable appearances do they have?

The Unown were first introduced in the second generation of Pokemon (Gold, Silver and Crystal).

In Pokemon Heart Gold and Soul Silver, a WiFi distribution was carried out as part of the 'Arceus and The Jewel of Life' movie campaign in which Arceus was finally a legally obtainable Pokemon. For context, Arceus is the god of the Pokemon universe, all things were sculpted through its will.

In the Pokemon movie 'The Rise of Darkrai', the Unown spill out of rifts created when Dialga and Palkia strike at eachother. The fight between the two celestial deities even took place in the Unown dimension before moving to Alamos Town.

The the Pokemon movie 'Mystery of The Unown', the Unown are directly responsible for creating a fantasy world that one of the protagonists lives within. They showcase fully just how absurdly powerful they can be in groups. The Unown dimension appears in this movie too.

Why are they important to me? What's the theory?

I don't believe that they represent anything digital, rather beings with a true understanding of how the universe works, thus they are capable of manipulating it, depending on what varients are together at the time.

The idea that the code for the universe could be biological is incredibly inspiring to me as well, and may even imply that Arceus uses the Unown to even run universal scale simulations, using their properties as programming language.

There is even the idea that the Unown could be an entity created OUTSIDE of Arceus' power and that they are a manifestation of the universe itself, and that Arceus simply found a way to use them - a being so powerful it could manipulate the very building blocks of reality.

In the Pokemon 'Mystery of The Unown', incscriptions of other Unown varients that represent Greek letters can be seen - the specimens themselves are never seen however, but it is perfectly possible Unown of characters outside of Latin could exist.

The Unown, even when alone, have abilities no other Pokemon do. It is just that when they ARE alone, their powers are incredibly negligable.

One interesting thing to note, is that they do not seem to have evolved in any way. Depictions of the Unown in drawings and texts are identical to the Unown observable within the Pokemon universe.