Pokemon: Explaining the Dead Raticate Theory

The Pokemon franchise is no stranger to fan theories but one of the grimmest involves the death of the rival’s Raticate after a battle in Gen 1.

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The Pokemon franchise has been subject to a multitude of different theories in the 25 years that it’s been around. While most of the theories about Pokemon are harmless, and many of the fan theories are aimed at predicting future features, some of them are grim. There is a dark side to Pokemon that has been around since the first games with suggestions of a past war with characters like Lt. Surge acting as proof. Falling in line with these darker theories is the one that players killed their rival’s Raticate in Generation 1 of Pokemon.

Onboard the S.S. Anne, players have to engage in one of the several rival battles found in almost every Pokemon game. Once players win this battle the story and game progress forward as usual. The only problem is that part of the commotion going on during this sequence in the game is viewed as a hindrance by many and some believe that the rival isn’t able to get his Raticate to a Pokemon Center in time. If this is true it wouldn’t be the first time the darker parts of Pokemon are highlighted.

Pokemon’s Dead Raticate

The circumstances on the S.S. Anne could point to the rival’s Raticate experiencing a tragic end but the theory is reinforced even more later on in the game. Traditionally a rival’s team won’t change too much throughout a run with teams remaining remarkably similar all the way up to encounters on Victory Road in all the Pokemon games. The reliability of them having certain Pokemon allows players to build out the best teams for an encounter and also shows how Pokemon can grow with their trainers. For the original Gen 1 games, the rival’s team does change following the battle aboard the S.S. Anne when he reappears in the tragic setting of Lavender Town.

When players encounter their rival in Lavender Town, it’s in the infamous Pokemon Tower. In the game, players are there to investigate a haunting as the Pokemon Tower acts as a cemetery for deceased Pokemon. It’s here that players encounter their rival again with a slightly different team than the one that he used on board the S.S. Anne. Missing from this team is the rival’s Raticate. Given that Raticate has never been one of the best Pokemon to use as a sweeper it could be understandable but the AI in Pokemon aren’t famous for their strategy and the environment can suggest otherwise.

Considering the history of the Pokemon Tower it seems like the game is suggesting that the rival is there for a different reason, and many fans believe it is to lay his comrade to rest. This would be one of the darkest moments in the Pokemon franchise and given the implication that the player is responsible holds a lot of weight. Despite the concept of Shadow Pokemon in the franchise, most Pokemon are beloved by their trainers and this would imply a major blow to the player’s rival in the game; one that they would be directly responsible for given the outcome of the battle aboard the S.S. Anne.

It’s a difficult concept to accept but a lot of veteran fans have come to view this theory as part of the reality of the first Pokemon games. On the bright side, the original Gen 1 Pokemon games point in a different direction. Overall, it isn’t uncommon for a Pokemon in the rival’s lineup to change at some point in the game. This could mean that the rival may have put the Pokemon into storage, something that most players do at some point themselves. It’s also worth noting that in the game the rival states that he’s at the Pokemon Tower to capture a Cubone which later evolves into Marowak.

Taking both these facts into consideration it’s more likely that he was simply making room for the Cubone on his team. The player’s rival likely wanted to capture the ground-type Pokemon without it going to a PC box and putting Raticate in storage was his best option. The theory that Raticate is dead does add some grim lore and raises the stakes of the Pokemon franchise, but at the same time, it isn’t the most fitting for the hero that the player’s character is depicted as.

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