Worldbuilding Pokemon: Gossifleur and Eldegoss
With the Pokemon Sword and Shield trailer last week, we got a good early look at the region of Galar including several new Pokemon. In this subseries, we’ll analyze the origins and design of a specific Pokemon or evolutionary line to understand it better and potentially identify hidden secrets and references.
In this first article, we’ll take a look at Gossifleur and Eldegoss. Both Pokemon were revealed in the Nintendo Direct with the explicit mention that Gossifleur will evolve into Eldegoss.
Gossifleur’s name origin is likely a combination of “gossypium” and “fleur”. Gossypium is the genus of cotton plants, common in many regions around the world. The plant also has a distinctive yellow flower.
The cotton industry is one that was a big part of Great Britain’s economic success. However, cotton wasn’t grown on the island. Instead, it came from colonies and was frequently harvested by slaves on plantations. This cotton was then redistributed through the East India Trading Company. Later, India became a common source of raw cotton.
It would be interesting if this tied in some way to Gossifleur’s Pokedex entry. Perhaps stating that they were brought from another region by Galar explorers, and it is actually native to another region that they may add in the future. While omitting some of the history, they could still make references to large trading deals and plantations full of Gossifleur.
Eldegoss is its evolution. Its name seems to be a combination of “elder” and “gossypium”.
Eldegoss represents the maturity of the cotton plant. Once it flowers, the plant will begin the process of pollination. A few days after, the flower will fall off and expose the boll.
The boll contains many seeds along with a fiber that connects the seeds. This fiber is the cotton, which can be collected once the plant fully matures. As we can see, Eldegoss has lost its flower and has a large boll with embedded seeds.
What is interesting about this evolutionary line is around its evolution. From the recent trailer we know that it is the favorite Pokemon of Milo, the grass-type gym leader. From screenshots, we can see his Eldegoss is at level 19, which is pretty early for a Pokemon to reach its final evolution.
Another screenshot shows the player’s Eldegoss at level 20, so we know this is not just an example of a gym leader having an impossible Pokemon.
It might be that this is just a Pokemon that you catch early and it has a single fast evolution. If we look at the trailer, we see the number 831 on the back of Milo’s shirt. Could this be the National Pokedex number for Eldegoss? It would make sense, as that would place it as the twenty-second Pokemon added.
Is it possible that Eldegoss has a second evolution? After all, Oddish evolves into Gloom at level 21, Hoppip evolves into Skiploom at level 18, and Seedot evolves into Nuzleaf at level 14.
What would this final evolution be? Eldegoss, with the word “elder”, implies that this would be the final evolution. What would come after being an elder?
The mechanical cotton gin was a revolutionary invention which optimized the cotton refinement process, to remove the seeds from the fibers. The fibers are used for clothes, while the seeds are left to replant or turn into cottonseed oil. The final evolution could be a older Pokemon without seeds and perhaps wearing something like cotton clothing.
It’s possible that the next step would be a decaying and dead plant. It could be a Grass/Ghost type, evolving through a special method, which may refer to a crop blight that strikes the Pokemon and causes this form change. It may also refer to one of a variety of pests like the boll weevil, who can destroy these crops.
We have not seen the regional bug, the one or two early bug types that players may encounter. It could be that this bug is based on one of these pests, and the player would need both in their party to cause an evolution, similar to how you need both a Mantyke and Remoraid in your party to obtain Mantine.
At the same time, one of these crop pests would also not be indigenous to Great Britain, and may not be a good choice to reflect the British region. Gossifleur may evolve through a different method like happiness or a stone, or may just join a line of early evolving grass Pokemon like Shroomish (level 23), Morelull (level 24), and Paras (level 24).
As the first gym leader has Pokemon at level 19, nearly double the typical level, it’s clear the player will do a lot of adventuring early in the game. Looking at the map, we travel about halfway north through the region to get here from your hometown. You’ll find plenty of opportunities to find a leaf stone if that’s the required item.
There’s still a lot that is not clear about Gossifleur and Eldegoss. We’ll definitely learn more as we get closer to the game’s release. In the meantime, let me know if you have any thoughts or ideas.
