I just found out about this comic about a week ago and it still blows my mind. A comic about a literal aardvark that somehow becomes one of the most ambitious, most controversial formal experiments in the comic book landscape. I'd be very interested to hear Wendi's thoughts on the religious themes later in the comic's run.
Say you live in the world of His Dark Materials. You decide to go out hunting with a few of your friends. You and your friends get into an enclosed spot where it's difficult to immediately see each other. Suddenly, you detect a rustle in the bushes. You prepare yourself for the coup de grace, and deliver a swift blow.
And suddenly, one of your friends just falls over. Dead.
Because the "animal" you killed was their daemon.
Say a daemon decided to write a book. And they dictated this book to their human for the human to write down. And then the book got published? Who would be credited as the author? The daemon? The human? Both?
If someone had their daemon, say, pickpocket someone else, how much liability would the daemon have? Because on the one hand, it's not really realistically possible to coerce your own daemon into doing your dirty work for you. On the other hand, the daemon isn't really in a position to refuse.
Could a daemon decide to "go on strike" against their human, for making decisions that the daemon disapproves of? Like, say, lying down and refusing to be moved. Or would that be considered a violation of the human's basic rights?
(Assume daemons can use the Internet.) Could a daemon have a social media profile independently of their human? What would that even look like? Would it be expected for they and their human to be mutuals? Would people treat the daemon's account like the human's alt account or second channel? Could a human be held responsible for what their daemon decides to post?
So I made the mistake of imagining a fictional scenario where an intercised daemon is so desperate that they start begging people who aren't their human to pet them because they're starved for physical affection from the one person who was allowed to give it to them.
Please send help, lol.
I'm serious. Dude went from, presumably, an innocent kid with a strong emotional attachment to his daemon, to actively helping the Magisterium with their plans, to then denouncing the Magisterium and openly declaring war on them. That's an insane character arc.
OK, I know this is going to sound horrible. But I just can't stop thinking about what happened to daemons whose humans got interced as adults. Imagine having to see the person you literally grew up together with, and who you were literally inseparable from, irreversibly become a hollow husk.
Also, upvote if you felt bad for Ozymandias.
I know you're probably tired of me babbling on about Meowth at this point, but I can't stop thinking about this. Something that I feel nobody talks about is that Meowth was originally a wild animal. Not a "funny nonverbal Pokemon". An actual animal. With instincts. And he remembers having been this.
Meowth is capable of second-order cognition. He has the ability to consciously be aware of the fact that he is an agent. But that's only possible because he knows language. So at some point, while he was learning how to talk, Meowth had to have developed this ability. And he likely remembers a time where he didn't have it.
Descartes famously said, "I think, therefore I am." Or, paraphrased, "I know I exist, because I can think about my existence." Meowth knows he exists. Meowth probably thinks about his existence. ...But was he always able to think about it?
I mean, do I even have to explain this one?
Both are connected to Cinnabar Island.
Both are "anomalies".
Mewtwo is established to be the result of a boundary-pushing science experiment.
...Who's to say that experiment went perfectly well the first time?
OK, I know this question sounds stupid, but hear me out.
So originally, I was thinking, "Could Meowth capture other Pokemon in Pokeballs?" And that question was bad enough. And then I realized it could get even worse.
Imagine Meowth is holding a Pokeball. It's empty. And then he presses the button on the Pokeball.
What happens?
And if he does get captured... then what? He can break free, right? Right?
And what if no one saw him capture himself? What if they thought he just vanished mysteriously?
Do you think they would think to check the Pokeball lying on the floor?
So, we all know Viridian City, right? It's the first city you arrive in after leaving Pallet Town in Gen 1. It's also the location of the Old Man you meet, who teaches you how to catch Pokemon in Pokeballs. Sounds pretty benign, right?
It's also where Viridian Gym is. You know, where Giovanni is the Gym Leader? Giovanni, the leader of Team Rocket, the villainous organization that abducts Pokemon and mistreats them?
Well... what if Giovanni being in the same city as the Old Man tutorial NPC wasn't a coincidence?
Obviously, that might sound ridiculous on the surface. The Old Man seems to love Pokemon, and Team Rocket abuses Pokemon. So clearly, these cases of "Pokemon capture" aren't comparable to one another.
...Right?
Not because of him, specifically. But because of what he represents for the setting. Think about it.
He taught himself how to speak. Nobody did anything to him to "increase his intellect" "Flowers for Algernon"-style or anything like that. He did it all by himself.
So that makes you wonder... how many other Pokemon might have had this capability, if they had only had the opportunity to develop it?