Gastly Evolution Theory

Alright everybody, it's been a while since I've posted here, but I had a bit more Pokémon speculation I thought I'd share.
Basic thesis: Gastly's evolutionary line is a manifestation of a transdimensional Ghost Pokémon, seen at three stages its attempt to enter our dimension (with Gengar being the end result of that attempt). In other words, Gastly, Haunter, and Gengar are three representations of a single Ghost Pokémon, at different degrees of physical manifestation. That singular Ghost/Poison-Type Pokémon will be referred to as "Gengar" through the remainder of this thesis.

Consider: Haunter's Generation I Pokédex entries suggest that it is transdimensional.

R/B/LG:"Because of its ability to slip through block walls, it is said to be from another dimension."

Haunter and Gastly are the only pair of Pokémon which are an evolutionary pair that are of identical weight; they are also the Pokémon with the least mass. Yet, though Gastly gains no weight upon evolving into Haunter, upon evolving into Gengar, it gains 89.1lbs (Gastly and Haunter are each 0.2lbs). This is somewhat peculiar, since Haunter is a full foot taller than Gastly, at 5'03", Haunter is four inches taller than Gengar (4'11"), and a full foot taller than Gastly (4'03").
Why is it that Gastly gains no mass upon evolving into the larger Haunter, yet a full 89.1lbs are added upon evolution into Gengar, which is smaller than Haunter?

Hypothesis: Gastly and Haunter, being largely gaseous in physical makeup (as confirmed repeatedly in their Pokédex entries), are of identical weight (or at least as near as can be measured by the system of weighing used for Pokémon), are the preliminary phases of a Gengar attempting to seep through dimensional barriers and enter our world. Gengar's body is a condensed mass of poisonous gases (or toxic vapor-like particles of some sort), weighing 89.3lbs when fully manifested and compressed: Haunter and Gengar represent bundles of Gengar vapors in two phases of entering our dimension, but before it is fully able to condense itself and take its proper Gengar form. Gengar would thus possess far more gas than Haunter or Gastly, however on Earth Gengar is physically smaller than Haunter due to the condensation of those gases into its body. Gengar in fully vaporous form, in order to be sufficient to produce an 89.3lbs increase in mass when condensed down to its 4'11" form, would likely be gigantic, perhaps on the order of the gigantic Black Fog found in the Pokémon manga.

https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Black_Fog

Most likely, Gastly and Haunter represent the phases at which the Gengar are not yet powerful enough to force the preponderance of its vapors and mass into our dimension. Theoretically, Gastly represents Gengar's "skull" manifested, and surrounded by surplus vapors; Haunter represents the addition of "tissue", and perhaps a fragmentary "skeleton" (minus the legs, and parts of the arms); Gengar represents the finalized development.

Speculation: Haunter evolving into Gengar via trade is hypothetically a metaphoric indication of its transdimensionality. A Haunter evolves into Gengar when it's traded into a different game: perhaps a sort of metaphorical "different world". Conjecture can also be made with regard to the dimension from whence Gengar comes originally: perhaps the same Distortion World which the Ghost-Type Giratina presides over. Or, given the apparent lack of Gengar encountered in the Distortion World (not necessarily proof that they aren't somewhere in the dimension), perhaps they inhabit a different dimension unto their own, perhaps one accessed or contained somehow in regions of shadows or darkness in our world (possibly implies by many of Haunter's and Gengar's Pokédex entries).

Conclusion: I have come to think of Gastly, Haunter, Gengar, and the Black Fog as a single species of Ghost/Poison-Type Pokémon, at various forms or stages of physical manifestation in our dimension.

Thoughts anyone?

I really like your perspective on this topic! Feel free to PM me anytime soon! I might have something I want to do.

This theory is pretty awesome. Never thought about that, but Haunter's pokédex entry gives support for it. And the fact that the pokémon grows through evolution from just a black head, or core, into a solid pokémon who can still meld into shadows, makes it creepy but also interesting.

I wonder though, if Gastly or Haunter remember being in the other dimension? Or would they lose their memories from the other place when they cross over?

That other dimension might be the afterlife, by the way. That would explain why they seem like ghosts, and the afterlife is mentioned in Dusknoir's entry as well iirc.

Adventure said:

This theory is pretty awesome. Never thought about that, but Haunter's pokédex entry gives support for it. And the fact that the pokémon grows through evolution from just a black head, or core, into a solid pokémon who can still meld into shadows, makes it creepy but also interesting.

I wonder though, if Gastly or Haunter remember being in the other dimension? Or would they lose their memories from the other place when they cross over?

That other dimension might be the afterlife, by the way. That would explain why they seem like ghosts, and the afterlife is mentioned in Dusknoir's entry as well iirc.

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Interesting speculation! I hadn't considered whether or not Gastly and Haunter might retain memories of the other dimension. I'm not sure; the Pokédex entries don't give us much to go on in that regard.

If you haven't, you should really read the Electric Tale of Pikachu story "Haunting My Dreams," which offers a really cool interpretation of Ghastly and Haunter; you used a piece of art from it.

King Koop said:

If you haven't, you should really read the Electric Tale of Pikachu story "Haunting My Dreams," which offers a really cool interpretation of Ghastly and Haunter; you used a piece of art from it.

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I have, and yeah, it's probably one of my favorite bits of the Electric Tale of Pikachu. :pink_nod:

I love how Toshiri Ono draws Haunter.

King Koop said:

I love how Toshiri Ono draws Haunter.

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Agreed :pink_nod: Haunting My Dreams is very suggestive of my theory about Gastly's evolution. Ono Toshihiro makes Gastly and Haunter much more similar in appearance in certain key ways; it's very easy to reach the conclusion that Gastly is a partly-formed Haunter or Gengar from those illustrations.

Do you know what a dimension is?

A dimension is a direction. We live in and can perceive 4 (forward, left/right, up/down, and the continuation of time) with our senses. Consider that maybe Gengar is peeking it's head into our dimension, similar to how a 4th dimensional creature (like us) would place it's finger onto a 2nd dimensional world (such as in the book called "Flatland"). Maybe he doesn't live in a theoretical "world", but his body is far more complex than we can truly perceive.

saynothin said:

Do you know what a dimension is?

A dimension is a direction. We live in and can perceive 4 (forward, left/right, up/down, and the continuation of time) with our senses. Consider that maybe Gengar is peeking it's head into our dimension, similar to how a 4th dimensional creature (like us) would place it's finger onto a 2nd dimensional world (such as in the book called "Flatland"). Maybe he doesn't live in a theoretical "world", but his body is far more complex than we can truly perceive.

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I can do without the condescension, firstly :pink_blankstare:

Yes, I know what a dimension is. I'm glad you have a working understanding of multi-dimensional geometry, but don't assume the rest of us don't, please. The sort of dimension that I refer to in this article is using the definition of a "dimension" as is typically used in Pokémon: that is, something more akin to a pocket universe. However, the technical definition of a dimension is not entirely unreasonable here: a pocket universe might inhabit the same physical space as our universe, but is separated by a dimensional barrier (i.e., it exists in a slightly different vector space than our world). Gengar does not appear to possess characteristics of a truly four-dimensional being; perhaps it is three-and-a-half dimensional, or perhaps it is fully three-dimensional, like us, but the vector space separating our dimensions is a sort of hyperplane, of n-dimensional space.

You explained it all really well! I have something to add on. Voltorb is possibly a pokeball that was possessed by a haunter/ghastly because it got stuck. Just my opinion.

(btw my 100th post :D)

That theory just blew my mind! According the string theory, there are supposedly 11 separate dimensions. String theory is what all matter is made up of, even the infentesimal amount of universes which exist. Even in the Pokemon world, these dimensions seem to be prevalent; this has been seen in the Ghost World, the Distortion World, the Temporal World, even the Spatial World. And this seems to be a small part of the universe, there seems to be a large expanse of pokemon like unkown that we know so little about. Alright, anyways I think that pokemon like Gengar can travel through specific dimensions such as the Ghost world. When trading Gengar they go to another paralle universe, and then once traded back they are evolved. haunter much shift dimensions to evolve, each game is a different dimension- a parallel universe you could say. I think that from ghast;y from gengar the pokemon remembers everything; it is the same pokemon.