MissingNo

Even the most knowledgeable Cryptozoologists know barely a thing about MissingNo, but that hasn't stopped the rumors and theories that have spread throughout the Pokémon research community. One interpretation casts MissingNo as very much a traditional Elder God, its motivations utterly and completely alien to mortals or even to the other Legendary Pokémon. It exists outside of the Pantheon and may not even fully exist in this reality. It certainly follows none of this universe's laws of physics if it doesn't want to, and even Palkia and Dialga would be left baffled at the way it exists and moves through our spacetime.

Another rumor has it that MissingNo was an ancient Legendary Pokémon that has become corrupted, or even the Creator before Arceus. It's the God of an old world or even an old universe that is gone now, they say, supplanted by our own world and the creations upon it. The more extreme theorists go as far to say that whatever MissingNo once was, it created our world before Arceus usurped its throne. That, they say, is why it's such an aberration and complete anathema to everything that exists - MissingNo may have no purpose beyond reclaiming its domain from Arceus. And when it does, what shall become of all of Arceus's creations?

Yet another theory states that MissingNo is in fact the newest addition to the Pantheon, a creature that could only be born in a society increasingly reliant on digital connectivity and the wonders of technology. Its domain over glitch is quite literal - it has power over the malfunction of electronic equipment, and its manifestations are most powerful where it can force itself into large interconnected networks of computers with large flows of data going through them. And as we increasingly become one with our technology, our cell phones and computers becoming almost extensions of our own bodies, its power grows as well. It is this theory that causes many cultists to proclaim that MissingNo is the most human of all Legendary Pokémon because its power and domain derive directly from human activities and human advancement. But who's to say that it doesn't exist to devour all that we create instead?

Finally, there are those who research MissingNo not as a Pokémon but as a phenomenon. They claim the universe is like a computer simulation in many ways, and MissingNo is a literal glitch in the system, nothing more than a force of nature. Where it goes, the laws of physics cease to function normally, and reality can freeze up, just like a computer caught in a loop.

This multitude of interpretations is offered because MissingNo is one of the most popular sources of intrigue and mystery in the Pokémon fandom, and we would be remiss to present just one interpretation that would make a new GM just picking up this book too predictable when they introduce it into their story. Definitely feel free to pick apart these ideas, mix and match them, and create your own interpretations and ideas to augment those we present here.