Happy Pentecost Sunday, to those who celebrate. Today is the day when many Christian denominations celebrate the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the 12 apostles, following the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and his ascension into heaven 40 days later. Many Christians mark this as the birth of the universal Christian church, the day when the apostles began to go out and preach the word of God to the world and gather likeminded individuals together in a faith community.
In honor of that day, let’s consider what Pokémon partners each of the apostles likely had with them on this solemn occasion.
Simon Peter
The leader of the 12 apostles and first head of the church.
Peter, being in charge, merits two Pokémon partners. His team consists of a Geodude:
“Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” (Matthew 16:18, all quotes from King James Bible)
And a Cramorant:
“And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers. And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” (Matthew 4:19)
Andrew
As mentioned above, Peter’s brother and traditionally referred to as the first of Jesus’ disciples to be called to follow him. Andrew gets Bulbasaur, the first and most dependable of the starter Pokémon.
“Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, “We have found the Messiah” (that is, the Christ). And he brought him to Jesus.” (John 1:40-42)
James the Greater
There are two Jameses amongst the twelve apostles, so traditionally the one that’s known as the son of some guy named Zebedee and the brother of fellow apostle John is referred to as James the Greater (no shade to the Lesser, who we’ll get to momentarily). James the Greater was the first of the apostles to die if you don’t count Judas Iscariot, and the first martyr.
James the Greater gets Aegislash thanks to his vague yet grim manner of death:
“Now about that time Herod the king stretched forth his hands to vex certain of the church. And he killed James the brother of John with the sword.” (Acts 12:1-2)
John
John’s a rather popular apostle, not only as the most poetic of the four gospel writers, but also due to being Jesus’ “beloved” disciple, and having a bunch of wild visions about the end of the world on the isle of Patmos before he died at a ripe old age. As a writer, visionary, and Jesus’ best bud, there’s a lot of material here which one can use to consider which Pokémon John would have partnered with, but we’ll give him Gothitelle, who “shows opponents dreams of the universe’s end. These dreams are apparently ethereal and beautiful.” (Pokémon Scarlet)
“After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, ‘Come up hither, and I will show thee things which must be hereafter.’” (Revelation 4:1)
Philip
Philip doesn’t get a lot of airtime in the gospels, but he does show up prominently in one spot, meriting him an adorable Fidough as his partner.
“When Jesus then lifted up his eyes, and saw a great company come unto him, he said unto Philip, ‘Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat?’ And this he said to prove him: for he himself knew what he would do. Philip answered him, ‘Two hundred pennyworth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may take a little.’ One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said unto him, ‘There is a lad here, which hath five barley loaves, and two small fishes: but what are they among so many?’ And Jesus said, ‘Make the men sit down.’ Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand. And Jesus took the loaves; and when he had given thanks, he distributed to the disciples, and the disciples to them that were set down; and likewise of the fishes as much as they would.” (John 6:5-11)
Bartholomew
Also called Nathanael for some reason, Bartholomew is another one who doesn’t crop up much in the gospels except in generic lists of apostles. He does, however, have the great displeasure of having been flayed to death, and is typically depicted carrying his skin around with him. He’s the patron saint of tanners and butchers. I’m sure he’s thrilled that his entire life has been summed up as “the guy who got all his skin pulled off.”
Anyway, in the spirit of continuing to mortify his memory, Bartholomew can have two Pokémon: Ninjask and Shedinja, the latter of which being effectively the reanimated skin of the former shed as it evolves.
“Shedinja is a peculiar Pokémon. It seems to appear unsought in a Poké Ball after a Nincada evolves. This bizarre Pokémon is entirely immobile—it doesn’t even breathe.” (Pokémon Alpha Sapphire)
Thomas
Best known as “doubting Thomas,” Thomas is the guy who demanded to literally stick his hand into the spear wound in Jesus’ side before he’d believe the guy had really risen from the dead. The few other times he speaks in the Gospels are not much more flattering, as he’s usually saying something that exasperates Jesus and everyone else around him.
Thomas has a Kecleon, a Pokémon that causes a major hold-up in Ruby and Sapphire by being invisible and blocking a road.
“Jesus said unto him, ‘Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.’” (John 20:29)
Matthew
Matthew was a tax collector, and is typically regarded as an example of how Jesus calls everyone, even people who society absolutely freakin’ hates. Jesus literally calls him to be a disciple while he’s actively sitting around taking people’s money. While Matthew seems to have gotten his act together over the course of the gospels, his Pokémon is Murkrow:
“It searches for shiny things for its boss. Murkrow’s presence is said to be unlucky, so many people detest it.” (Pokémon Ultra Moon)
James the Lesser
The other James is apparently referred to as “the lesser” just because he was younger. While mentioned very infrequently in the Bible, there’s a lot of fun apocryphal debate over whether he was related to Jesus, and if so, how. Cousin? Brother? This is because apart from James the Greater, there were several other guys named James running around at this period of time, and it’s sometimes hard to tell which James is being discussed in what account. Apparently no one thought that people hundreds of years later would be curious about it.
James the Lesser gets Minun, who has the biggest little sibling energy in the entire Pokedex.
“It cheers on friends. If its friends are losing, its body lets off more and more sparks.” (Pokémon Y)
Jude, or Judas, aka Thaddeus, aka NOT Judas Iscariot
Man, I’d hate to be this guy. Also named Judas, but definitely not the jerk who betrayed everyone and got your leader killed. No wonder he preferred Thaddeus.
Despite having very little going on like some of these other bottom-of-the-roster apostles, Jude is beloved among Catholics as the patron saint of lost and hopeless causes. He’s the guy you ask to intercede for you when you literally have nowhere else to turn, which is either very flattering or very insulting if you’re Jude.
In researching Pokémon related to hopeless causes, I learned a new fact about one of my personal faves, and am thus giving Jude a Bagon:
“Bagon has a dream of one day soaring in the sky. In doomed efforts to fly, this Pokémon hurls itself off cliffs. As a result of its dives, its head has grown tough and as hard as tempered steel.” (Pokémon Ruby)
Simon
If I were getting together a group of just 12 followers, I would probably try to make sure that a bunch of them didn’t have the same names as one another, just to avoid confusion. But here we have Simon, not Simon Peter, but Simon the Zealot, a word used for him that could mean he was a member of a controversial political movement, or also maybe that he was just a really passionate fellow. In honor of both of those traditions, Simon earns a Galarian Zigzagoon, which will eventually evolve into an Obstagoon that will likely cause no end of trouble.
“Its restlessness has it constantly running around. If it sees another Pokémon, it will purposely run into them in order to start a fight.” (Pokémon Sword)
Judas Iscariot
Ah yes. The guy everyone knows. The traitor. The guy who turned Jesus in to the freakin’ cops. This guy was not at Pentecost, he was disgraced and dead, but he is one of the 12, so I guess he can go on the list. People are going to hate me for this, but Judas gets a Mimikyu for obvious reasons. Look, I know you all think that little thing is just cute and sad and misunderstood, but you gotta read the Pokedex: “A gust of wind revealed what hides under this Pokémon’s rag to a passing Trainer, who went home and died painfully that very night.” (Pokémon Ultra Moon) “There was a scientist who peeked under Mimikyu’s old rag in the name of research. The scientist died of a mysterious disease.” (Pokémon Shield) This thing killed multiple people! Look, both Pokémon and the Bible have deeply grim lore.
Mimikyu can even learn Draining Kiss via TM: “And he that betrayed him had given them a token, saying, ‘Whomsoever I shall kiss, that same is he; take him, and lead him away safely.’ And as soon as he was come, he went straightway to him, and said, ‘Master, master,’ and kissed him.” (Mark 14:44-45)
Matthias
Aha, you thought we were done! Alas, no. For some reason, the apostles couldn’t stand to just have 11 guys, so they had to appoint a replacement for Judas. Of course, they managed to find another guy with a name similar to a guy they already had, and picked him by the silliest possible method: gambling. Which is also something you can do in the Pokémon games, and if you do it a lot and well enough, you too can win a prize: a Dratini.
“And they prayed, and said, ‘Thou, Lord, which knowest the hearts of all men, shew whether of these two thou hast chosen, that he may take part of this ministry and apostleship, from which Judas by transgression fell, that he might go to his own place.’ And they gave forth their lots; and the lot fell upon Matthias; and he was numbered with the eleven apostles.”
A Dratini is arguably the best prize one can get at the original Celadon Game Corner. Though given that tradition says Matthias was either crucified or stoned to death, I’m not sure him winning this lottery was exactly a triumph.
A blessed Pentecost to you all!
