October is the month devoted to Ghost and Dark types in Pokémon GO, where these spooky species headline spawns, Raids, and several events.

With the Yamask and Galarian Yamask Incense Day, players can grab some of the creepiest Pokémon in the franchise – Runerigus, Cofagrigus, and both Yamask variants. Among these, Runerigus is probably the scariest!  

Just look at it! 

Why is this thing the way it is? And why is it in the Galar region?  

To answer all that and know all about Runerigus’ creepy origins, let’s get into the ruins (no pun intended) and also check out Cogragrigus, Yamask, and Galarian Yamask.

First, let’s understand what Cofagrigus is. It’s an Egyptian tomb or a sarcophagus. When researchers found them many millennia after they were buried, many reckoned that they were cursed.

The notion of this curse led to many reports, beliefs, and yeah, many Hollywood movies. Who doesn’t love the classic The Mummy?  

Eventually, these depictions became mainstream and filled pop culture to the point that mummies and sarcophaguses are basically synonymous with things like Halloween and spooky features. Remember Scooby-Doo being with a mummy? 
Source: Scooby-Doo cartoon

So Cofagrigus is obviously an Egyptian-inspired Pokémon, and the same can be said about its pre-evolution, Yamask.

Yamask is based on the šwt (pronounced as sheut), which means shadow but in a more spiritual way. They are essentially thin, black, featureless silhouettes as a shadow of one’s former self.
Source: Ancient Egypt In Our Hearts

There’s also the Ba, which would be best described as the Egyptian’s unique notion of a soul and they were depicted as bird-like entities but with human faces.
Source: CSA Reviving Community

Combine the šwt and the Ba, and you get Yamask!

Also, its name in Japanese is literally ‘death mask.’ A death mask is a mask one would make of someone’s face after they have passed. The look of this mask is molded on the actual face to reflect exact features.
Source: Visit Florence Italy

This practice originally started in ancient Egypt but it would soon pop up now and again throughout history in various cultures. 

One place it was widely practiced, was in New York 1908.

Oh wait… New York? The Unova region… where Yamask and Cofagrigus belong to!  

New York has plenty of museums housing artifacts from ancient Egypt. Indeed, Egyptian stuff used to get (and still does) transported everywhere, but most of them went to New York and… London. Galar region!  

Fun fact: After Napoleon’s visit to Egypt, he brought back a ton of souvenirs! Mugs, clothing, priceless artifacts, and mummies. This led to a surge in people getting infatuated with Egypt and its rich culture.

Now, coming to Galarian Yamask. Well, it’s different. It’s not holding onto a mask anymore.

The Yamask in the Galar region appears to be holding some sort of stone which completely contradicts Unovan Yamask.

The masks are incredibly important to Yamask as they remind them of their precious life, so why would they forego them for this strange piece of stone?  

Well, when someone with just the right sort of soul dies, it turns into a Yamask. But in other regions like Galar, the stone is the norm.

This stone, by the way, isn’t a regular one… it’s a rune stone. 

Rune stones are giant slabs of rock that Nordic people would carve and leave in places. A majority of them were made after the death of an important person. Sometimes, they were also engraved with things relating to past exploits and praised their traits.

And, like we see in Runerigus, they often depicted serpents and serpentine dragons.
Source: Explore the Beyond

However, these rune stones were not put in graves. Rather, they were put in places with plenty of traffic so that passersby could see them.

They were also put in every place a Viking would invade. In fact, every lost Viking had a rune stone for them. So, you’ll see loads of them in Scandinavia, but also in Iceland, France, and of course, the United Kingdom (especially Scotland).

Vikings also played a major role in British history, so rather than an Egyptian-inspired mask, our pint-sized Galarian friend bears the piece of a rune stone!

Basically, Galarian Yamask look at their rune stones to remind them about their past lives since all of their greatest exploits are inscribed on them.

But, there’s another big difference between Unovan and Galarian Yamask. If you look closely, you’ll find that rather than carrying a mask, the Galarian variant is almost stuck in its rune stone.

The Pokedex actually has something to say about this:

“It’s said that this Pokémon was formed when an ancient clay tablet was drawn to a vengeful spirit”

“A clay slab with cursed engravings took possession of a Yamask. The slab is said to be absorbing the Yamask’s dark power”

Spooky, eh? And there’s explicit mention of “cursed” here as plenty of rune stones actually have references to curses. One famous one has an inscription that says that anyone who damages the rune stone in question would be turned into a warlock after the rune stone’s curse drags them in. 

A warlock in this context refers to an outcast of society and not even worthy of being called human. Hmm, damaging a rune stone, eh? Drags the culprit in?
Source: Pokémon Sword and Shield

That’s literally Runerigus closed up in its rune stone!

Many believe to this day that the inscriptions on rune stones contain magic. That magic technically traps these vengeful spirits (Galarian Yamask) in these stones.

Now, let’s talk about Galarian Yamask’s weird evolution method. From Bulbapedia, Galarian Yamask evolves into Runerigus when the player travels under the large rock arch in Dusty Bowl after Yamask takes at least 49 HP in damage from attacks without fainting.

What?!  

That actually makes sense!

In this area of Galar, there are dozens of rune stones. It’s all over the place! While the Yamask is nearly fainted (weak), it easily gets absorbed into more of these rune stones, becoming entirely trapped… becoming a Runerigus.
Source: Bulbapedia

All of this Nordic spirit stuff also references the Draugr. These are restless spirits that seek to return to their bodies if they were evil people or not buried properly.

In our case, the rune stone being damaged disturbed the burial of a spirit, making it restless and angry, turning into a Draugr… a Runerigus.

Now, let’s take a look into the image on Runerigus’ rune stone:
Source: Pokémon Sword and Shield

The carving is a red serpent circling its body similar to how Jörmungandr of Norse mythology would.
Spurce: Vikings of Valhalla US

This World Serpent is depicted on loads of rune stones. Runerigus’ rune stone, in particular, references a famous rune stone that shows the battle between Thor and Jörmungandr in the field of Ragnarok:
Source: worldhistory.org

Ragnarok (heya, Marvel fans!) is the final battle between the Gods and Giants, the Darkest Day if you will  
The Darkest Day in Galar. Source: Pokémon Sword and Shield

Surprisingly, it is also a parallel to a battle in Egyptian mythology where each day, Ra, the sun god dies and goes through the afterlife on his sun arc. He slowly gets revived until he’s ready to fight off the serpent demon Apophis, a god of chaos who tries to eat the sun and when it ends up actually doing it, the end of the world is upon us (literally Ragnarok)… a Darkest Day!
Source: Wikipedia

Ultimately, there are Egyptian and Norse parallels for Yamask and its evolutions (Unovan and Galarian), and it’s quite a lot, eh?  

If you want more, you can check out lore, design, and science articles on many more popular Pokémon:

Dragapult | Morpeko | Cresselia | Mega Salamence | Dialga & Palkia Origin | Garchomp | Baxcalibur | Hydreigon | Zygarde| Druddigon | Naganadel | Gardevoir | Drampa | Enamorus | Wooloo & Dubwool | Houndoom

Have fun, trainers!

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