Welcome to Sea Song

the shrine dedicated to Lugia

Welcome to Sea Song, the shrine created by dragoneyes as a tribute to one of her two favourite pokémons, Lugia.

This shrine wants to be a tribute mostly for the game version of this pokémon, but I'll reserve a section to talk also about its appearence in the second movie and its role in it as my love for Lugia started when I watched the movie itself. At the time I didn't have enough money to play the games, so my only way to know about pokémons was through the anime and films, and that movie (together with the first one) still have a special place in my heart.

I've been playing pokémon for a couple of years now, first by playing the Ruby version and then, when I bought my DS, by playing the Diamond and Platinum version. Now finally, with the new SoulSilver version, I could actually play a game with Lugia in it.

This shrine is part of...

Basic Info

Lugia is the version mascot of pokémon Silver and its remake SoulSilver, and it's part of the legendary trio composed by Ho-Oh, Sucuine and Lugia itself.
It is rappresented to be the opposite of Ho-Oh, and where the latter is the "guardian of the skies", Lugia is "the guardian of the seas".


Name: Lugia (JP/GER/FR: Lugia)
Pokédex: #249 (National), #247 (Johto G/S/HG/SS), #384 (Hoenn)
Species: Diving Pokémon
Type: Psychic/Flying
Ability: Pressure
Exp. at level 100: 1,250,000
Height: 5.2 meters
Weight: 216 kilograms
Gender: Genderless
Habitat: Ocean floor (Whirl Islands)
Footprint:

Damage Taken

Bug/Dragon/Fire/Flying/Normal/Poison/Steel/Water: x1
Dark/Electric/Ghost/Ice/Rock: x2
Fighting: x1/4
Grass/Psychic: x1/2
Ground: Immune


Though its phisical look resembles a mix between a dragon, a bird and a plesiosaur, Lugia is neither a dragon nor a water pokémon.
Its bird-like wings allow it to fly in the sky (ability that makes it immune to ground-based attacks) and its also capable to easily dive into the water thanks to its smooth and long body.

Other than the feathered wings Lugia also has a beak-like mouth, though, differently from birds, it appears to have a couple of teeth in its lower jaw. The back of its head ends in a point and from above his eyes two blue spikes come out. On his back there are two sets of five flat protuberances that flip up to help Lugia in flight similarly to the flaps of planes.
Other notable carachteristics are the two blue horns on its tail and the three-fingered feet similar to rabbit's ones which helps him to stabilize when on the ground. When in a sat position, it wraps it wings against its sides in a bird-like fashion and the ten protuberances belove its neck are flat against its back.

A point of controversy is the fact that Lugia is stated in the game to be genderless as almost all the legendary pokémon, but in the anime series its shown a Lugia cub which makes think to the possible existance of an actual breeding population of Lugias somewhere.

Lugia is generally considered good-natured and peaceful, and it seems to consider itself a sort of guardian of the human race. Its ability to control weather make it difficult to approach and is probably the reason why Lugia tends to shy human presence, feeling that its power is too dangerous to be at everyone's disposal.

Possible origins

The whole concept of Lugia is most probably based on the Shinto sea dragon god Ryuujin, who was known for leaving in a palace on the ocean's floor. In particular, the Lugia's shiny form appears to be colored of white and a shade of red reminding the coral of which Ryuujin's palace, Ryuuguu-jou, was made. Ryuujin symbolizes the power of the ocean and it's not difficult to see his connection with Lugia.

There are a number of things that could possibly be the origin of Lugia's name. It could come from the name of the lutetium, a chemical element characterized by its silvery color, or in part from the word luna which means "moon". Another possible origin is the latin verb lugeo which means "to mourn", "to grieve" or "to lament". This last interpretation is particularly interesting if one consider the sad and melancholic sound of Lugia's song.

Generation I

Lugia did not appear in the first generation of pokémon, and so there are no official sprites nor descriptions for Pokémon Red, Blue, Yellow and Green.

Generation II

Gold: It is said that it quietly spends its time deep at the bottom of the sea because its powers are too strong.

Silver: It is said to be the guardian of the seas. It is rumored to have been seen on the night of a storm.

Crystal: It has an incredible ability to calm raging storms. It is said that Lugia appears when storms start.

Generation III

Ruby/Sapphire: Lugia's wings pack devastating power - a light fluttering of its wings can blow apart regular houses. As a result, this Pokémon chooses to live out of sight deep under the sea.

Emerald: Lugia is so powerful even a light fluttering of its wings can blow apart houses. As a result, it chooses to live out of sight deep under the sea.

FireRed: It is said to be the guardian of the seas. It is rumored to have been seen on the night of a storm.

LeafGreen: It is said that it quietly spends its time deep at the bottom of the sea because its powers are too strong.

Generaton IV

Diamond: It slumbers at the bottom of a deep trench. If it flaps its wings, it is said to cause a 40-day storm.

Pearl: It sleeps in a deep-sea trench. If it flaps its wings, it is said to cause a 40-day storm.

Platinum: It slumbers at the bottom of a deep trench. If it flaps its wings, it is said to cause a 40-day storm.

HeartGold: It is said that it quietly spends its time deep at the bottom of the sea because its powers are too strong.

SoulSilver: It is said to be the guardian of the seas. It is rumored to have been seen on the night of a storm.

Moves

As Lugia can learn a really huge ammount of moves, I'll limit the list to the ones it can learn by levelling up and the one he can learn by HMs.

The Power of One

Pokémon second movie

Lugia is on of the the legendary pokémon presented in the second movie The Power of One. It is presented to be the leader of the legendary birds composed by Articuno, Zapdos and Moltres: when they fight over their territories, Lugia is supposed to quell their dispute.
At the beggining of pokémon seconde movie, Lawerence III, a pokémon collector, captures Moltre and thus disrupting the balance between the three birds: when Ash goes to the Flame Island, he finds out that Zapdos is there and willing to claim the isle for its own, but the legendary bird is soon captured by Lawrence III as well.
After Ash manages to free the two birds, however, the battle between them becomes extremely fierce - especially after Articuno appearence - to the point that Lugia is forced to intervene. Through its psychic powers it explain to the boy that he is the Chosen One supposed to help restore the balance between the birds, and, as Lugia protects him from the legendary birds, Ash sets off to Ice Island to retrieve the Ice Sphere to be place with the other two he had already found.
As the battle becomes more and more difficult, Lugia is forced to use an Aeroblast attack to defeat the trio of birds and Lawerence III - who wanted to had the legendary poémon to his collection as well - but then siks in water unconscious when he's hit by the human's capture devices.
When Ash finally manages to bring all the Spheres to the Shamouti's shrine, and Melody begins playing Lugia's song with her ocarina, the legendary pokémon is restored of his powers and is given new streanght as the quarrel between the bird trio is finally quelled.

The Song of the Sea

The reason why I love Lugia so much

Before playing the game, I actually watched the movie. It was given to me as a birthday present by a couple of friends of mine in middle school. I first fell in love with Lugia's song rather than Lugia itself, mostly because it really appears only later in the movie. It was beautiful and melancholic and then, when Lugia appears the first time in a whirl of water, I loved both the fact that it was a psychic pokémon and that it was able to control the weather. Its phisical characteristics also made it extremely appealing to me because of Lugia's part-resenblance to a dragon (and anyone who knows me know that I'm basically addicted to any kind of dragon).

Then for years I've been craving to put my hand on Pokémon Silver but I never had enough money to do so (not to mention I only had my older's brother very old and very normal gameboy), but now, with the DS remake, I can finally have one in SoulSilver!

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