#maybe i listened to the whole lodvg discography while making this post...

[jackredfieldwasmyjacob]

hello everybody, your friendly annoying spaniard is back with more references to spanish culture in pokemon scarlet and violet! here's my previous post btw!

also i'm really thankful for how much y'all are enjoying these :) i'm thinking maybe after i finish the game i could do posts going over the names of the places and the new pokemon designs and their tie-ins into spanish culture (if there's any)!

anyways, let's start!

first of all, just as its leader, medali just looks like your average bland spanish city, that could have been inspired by a thousand different cities across the country. except... there's roman ruins in there! due to its location and general look, i would say the main inspiration for this city is mérida, which is known as the roman capital of spain. founded in 25 BC as augusta emerita, it became the capital of the lusitania province during the roman empire, and it's the best preserved roman city in the country (i went to excavate there for three weeks and loved it there, i really recommend it!). the roman ruins are a unesco world heritage site, and its most recognizable monument is actually the theatre [pic 5], where there's roman-style plays are still performed (i've seen three there and its an unreal experience). due to the look of the theatre in game, it could also be a reference to other roman theatres in the country like bilbilis [pic 6], carthago nova [pic 7], or segobriga's [pic 8].

all of mount glaseado trainers have basque names!!! i don't know if this is the same in the english version, but this is a very neat detail that prepares you for montenevera, which i'll talk about down below. before that tho, i want to redirect you to this post by the incredible blog @beautiful-basque-country where they talk in depth about all references to basque culture in the games! i'll touch on them as well but of course not as good as them :)

anyways, montenevera. just to start, in spanish the name of the town is 'hozkailu town'; 'hozkailu' is 'fridge' in basque (just as 'nevera' is fridge in spanish). the architecture of the town is also reminiscent of basque architecture, with all houses looking like baserri, the traditional houses of that area. the cold setting is also a reference to basque country, being colder than other regions in spain and mount glaseado being a reference to the pyreenees; the westernmost part of them lie in euskal herria (the basque land).

i also love the detail of the candles in honour of the deceased, i don't know how extended is this tradition or if it's practiced in other countries (i imagine it's not uncommon in catholic places???) but at least in my family on the anniversary of a family death we lit up a candle in the house in their memory :)

another fun thing referencing basque culture is that the mc in the gym (i have no idea what his name in the english version is, in the spanish one he's mc bull-a which is fun) speaks in a 'basquified' way, using basque ortography while speaking spanish (switching ch for tx or c for k for example!)

AND BETTER THAN THAT, THE GYM TRAINERS ARE REFERENCES TO SPANISH MUSIC THEMSELVES!!!! i genuinely didn't think i was gonna see amaia montero in a pokemon game, but here we are i guess. anyways, the first trainer, who's named mikel, a basque name (maybe a reference to mikel erentxun?) references the incredibly bop and cultural phenomenon that was uno más uno son siete by fran perea, which served as the opening song for one of the most beloved spanish tv shows ever (it's kinda like our f.r.i.e.n.d.s or, now that i think about it, more like how i met your mother due to the atrocious ending). he talks about 'one plus one not being two' (the song's title translates to 'one plus one is seven'), and directly quotes the song when defeated. i cannot emphazise how incredibly cool and great this is, literally the peak of pokemon. i cannot put into words what i felt when i saw it in game.

but nothing, and i repeat, NOTHING, could have prepared me for the next trainer... she's literally amaia montero, who was the singer of probably the most influencial group in spain from the 2000's (there's no group i can compare it with so you can understand the magnitude of it, maybe paramore but i'm biased cause they're both my favourite groups ever lol): la oreja de van gogh. it is jukebox musical-worthy iconic, that's the grip this band has on spanish society. i was gonna choose one song of them to show to y'all but i simply cannot link only one, so here's a post a made some years ago of my top 25 lodvg songs, please listen to at least one of them you won't be disappointed. anyways, yeah. even the model looks like amaia lol.

finally, i wanted to talk about the real lore behind the history classes for a while, but i always forget lol. i was gonna make a comment in a previous post about the paldean empire being a reference to both the roman and spanish empires but i dismissed it as being too obvious of a reference (like talking about the tauros regional form which... you know, i don't think i even have to talk about it lol). i didn't took a screenshot of it, but in one of the classes she also talks about the origin of the academy, saying that it was 805 years old, being the oldest in the region. well, the oldest university in spain, the university of salamanca, has 804 years (it was founded in 1218! also maybe this means they were planning on releasing the game next year?)

and that's all for now, hope you enjoy the post!

and here's the next post :)