#i just played the pride of the myth seekers chapter

[colorful-bees]

When Volo talked to Cynthia about Pokemon who haven't fought out of desperation aren't as strong as the ones who have, I wonder exactly what he's referring to with that statement. He talks about how bonds forged in those life or death situations create Pokemon that can serve their wielders better and he's talking from personal experience.

Referencing exactly what he says, his words are, "You lack desperation. In this place, Pokemon battles are treated as friendly competition. You could never hope to win against people and Pokemon who have battled through harsh environments with their lives at stake. As a Pokemon wielder, I give my own Pokemon orders so that we can survive. Pokemon honed through life-or-death situations can better serve as swords and shields for people!"

I want to point out his use of "Pokemon and people," and "I give my own Pokemon orders so that we can survive." He's not only talking about Pokemon fighting through harsh conditions, he's referring to both people and Pokemon in those situations; the human is also in life threatening danger in this scenario. Even more interestingly, he uses a personal anecdote. He's talking about himself, at least partially.

In P:LA, we never see Volo fighting in a desperate, life threatening situation. The only time I can think of is Spear Pillar but not even that really matches up with the way he chooses to phrase this, nor would I exactly call him desperate in that moment. He's talking about "harsh environments" and "surviving" and "life-or-death." So whatever he's referring to here, it was before P:LA and I'm willing to bet it relates back to whatever vague, horrible event(s) that happened in his past that's occasionally alluded to and I'm once again curious about what exactly that could be.

If he's being truthful, this is actually such a big insight into how he got into this mindset of "Pokemon are tools to be wielded, I'm not friends with them ect." We obviously don't know the specifics of what happened to him in the past but we have more clarification than we once did. Survival is now introduced as another factor into why he treats his Pokemon the way he does and it honestly makes a lot of sense with Hisui being the region it is but the question still remains of what specifically happened to him that caused this world view to form?