After being inspired by info in Bulbapedia's own articles, I'll be using the below stuff to help build the Zarude, Urshifu, G-Slowking and G-Slowbro Daily article based on real-world myths.
Zarude
Name origin
Zarude may be a combination of 猿 saru (monkey) and rude. It shares the first two letters of its name with two legendaries, namely Zacian and Zamazenta, but is not part of a recognized trio.
While Zarude has many standard monkey features, it seems to resemble baboons and mandrills the closest, with its fangs, claws, size, facial structure, and fur around its head. Its Dark-typing may be a reference to the baboons' aggressive and violent nature. It also possesses traits of spider monkeys with how they use vines to grapple enemies and trees, where spider monkeys use their prehensile tails.
Real-World Myths
As a mythical, Zarude shares some similarities with the black dogs of British legends that may have inspired Zacian and Zamazenta. However, given its strange dog and monkey appearance, it is more fitting to connect Zarude to the Shug Monkey in English Folklore, and the "Carew Ape" that's said to haunt Carew Castle in Wales.
The Shug Monkey is a mythical creature, in the folklore of Cambridgeshire, sharing the features of a dog and monkey, which reportedly haunted Slough Hill Lane which leads from the village of West Wratting to nearby Balsham. The creature, said to have the body of a jet-black shaggy sheepdog and the face of a monkey with staring eyes, was not believed to be an escaped primate nor a cryptid hominoid (like bigfoot or the yeti) but rather a supernatural ghost or demon.
The Ape of Carew Castle:
warning, this link goes to a youtube video graphically describing its bloody origin in legends
Urshifu
this is basically a copypaste from bulbapedia so it will be worked on later, I aim to include info from this along with images of typical tiger style, leopard style, crane style and seven star mantis style, along with images of the Nio
Urshifu may be based on an Asian black bear and a wushu fighter. Rapid Strike Style's Water typing may be a reference to the "flow like water" quote by famous actor and martial artist Bruce Lee.
Single Strike Style may have been based on a mixture of Tiger style and Leopard style, styles based on precise, strong and direct strikes which can give meaning to Single Strike's unique move, Wicked Blow; which always lands in a critical hit and described to be a singular, strong punch and references both Leopard style's way of looking to take down opponents as swiftly as it can and Tiger style's direct attack with overwhelming strength and power.
Rapid Strike Style may have been based on a mixture of Crane style and Seven Star Mantis style, styles based around flowing movements, balance, dodging, deflecting, and tactile overwhelming blows, just like Rapid Strike and its signature move, Surging Strikes; which is given a further nod to the movements given and flowing, flurrying strikes delivered in the Japanese name: Streaming Strikes.
Their Gigantamax forms may be inspired by the Nio, Agyō and Ungyō, a pair of viciously powerful Buddhist deities that ward off evil spirits and protect good spirits, as Urshifu is also capable of doing both. Typically, statues depicting Agyō will have its mouth open as a sign of violent aggression, as Rapid Strike Style attacks its foes relentlessly, while Ungyō keeps it mouth closed to represent latent strength, as Single Strike Style confidently delivers a single punch to a weak point. Additionally, the statues are often colored red and blue, though the color is not a prominent trait of either, as they can be each be red or blue, and sometimes both.
Galarian-Slowking (and possibly Galarian-Slowbro)
[ image sourced from Shigeru Mizuki's
Mujara vol.1 All Color Youkai Art Book Japan ]
Some Sazae Oni are harmless creatures, who do nothing more than rise to the surface of the ocean on moonlit nights to dance on the waves. There is even some mixing with the sea dragons that rule the land beneath the waves. But the most famous Sazae Oni terrorize pirates
[ image sourced from Toriyama Sekein's
Gazu Hyakki Tsurezure Bukuro ]
Artist Toriyama Sekein used the Sazae Oni as a metaphor for the mysterious universe that we live in, a realm where all things are possible. Toriyama included the Sazae Oni in his yokai collection Gazu Hyakki Tsurezure Bukuro (画図百器徒然袋; The Illustrated Bag of One Hundred Random Demons), where he wrote:
"If a sparrow becomes a clam upon entering the sea, and a field-rat can transform into a quail, then in this unfathomable universe it is no impossible thing that a turban shell might become a demon. I have seen this in something like a dream."
Toriyama is making a reference to a Chinese proverb, that comes from the Liji (礼記; Book of Rites). It says that a sparrow may become a clam in the sea, and a field-rat may become a quail. The proverb means that even impossible things can happen in the mysterious world we live in.
But what about Galarian-Slowpoke, and what makes these versions of the Slow's Galarian? Do they draw inspiration from any European myths?
Good point. :sloheart: I've spent too much time looking into this, to where I get dizzy thinking about it, and I believe that the Galarian Slowpoke family have the same mythic inspiration as the Kantonian versions (at least as far as Slowking is concerned), and at best, their only differences lie to the real-world animals that they are similar to.
Shellfish poisoning is a very interesting topic to delve into, but in a nutshell, shellfish can be deadly due to how they accumulate toxins from the algae they eat. This, in itself, is an interesting subject that actually broadens the mystery behind the Slowpoke family (what kind of animal actually prospers from what might kill or make other seriously ill?) and deserves further investigation.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6266557/?log$=activity
also
https://bogleech.com/pokemon/slow.html is kinda neat
