Aether Paradise Conspiracy Theories

[Mobile Tsk]

So I was reading a post by colours and it made me think that perhaps the Aether Paradise is not the Pokemon asylum it appears to be. I'm honestly really suspicious about the prospect of a floating man-made island that offers a safehaven for Pokemon needing "protection". I thought, "What if it's all a ruse?" I scoured the net for information about different Aether Paradise Conspiracy Theories, and why you may not want to trust the soft-spoken "caretakers" who greet you there.

Money Laundering Conspiracy
One Youtube commenter who goes by the name Kim L. suggested that Aether Paradise could be a money laundering scheme, whereby these supposed caretakers bring their own Pokemon from home and use the facility to house literal offshore accounts to keep money away from the Alolan Royal Family. Now, there are two ways this conspiracy could go. One would be more acceptable to me, wherein these individuals have moved to avoid paying taxes to a royal family that gives them no social services in return, and simply squanders the money on their on wealth. Or, the royal family is just and fair, and the Aether Paradise officials simply don't wish to give up any of their wealth.

Or the paradise could be a haven for those who launder their money earned through illegitimate means... which leads me to my second thought.

What is Team Skull's relation with the Paradise?
Now, I don't know how you feel, but I think the Team Skull clip from the Paradise update video was a bit staged. I mean, why would they want to steal a Slowpoke from them? That sounds more like a Team Rocket move to me TBH. Anyway, the Aether Paradise would provide refuge for Team Skull which has been rejected by the people of the mainland. I could see these two groups in cahoots, and you don't find out about it until after you battle the Enforcer. Thinking your job is done, the coordinator for the Aether Paradise then turns on you with her super powerful Alolan form Pokemon.

My personal theory
I don't think the Aether Paradise is a paradise at all. I think the Pokemon are brought there and then unspeakable acts are performed on them, such as subjecting Dratini to the constant presence of Fairy Aura, or requiring Dugtrio and Spheal to mate together against their own wishes. The Paradise could be like one of those primitive insane asylums where "protected" Pokemon are subjected to cruel experiments. Tying a Dodrio's heads together and seeing if it can still hunt prey. Measuring anxiety in different Cleffas placed in a pit of Arboks. Or maybe they aren't experiments at all, but just sick games. Playing whack-a-mole with Dugtrio. All the while the Pokemon stay weak and isolated from the main islands. Unable to escape this torment.

What do you think?
Okay, so those are some wild theories. But really, do you think Aether Paradise could be a cover-up? Do you think they side with the player, or with Team Skull? Or are they an evil syndicate of their own? Do you think they really protect Pokemon as they claim? Or are they up to something?

 

[Rivvon]

Spoiler:

Do you see that? Look closer...

Spoiler:

Still don't see it? I'll show you--

Spoiler:

But seriously I do think they're gonna turn out to be the evil team; aside from the whole "perfect paradise" idea just not sitting right with me, they gave the "employees" official art. Doesn't that remind you of how the Grunts always receive similar official art?

It's definitely worth considerable thought of whether or not the Aether Foundation really are the bad guys in disguise. Of course, some may argue that this is a rather uninteresting plot twist since it's probably expected from their apparently shady leader Lusamine, but I'd have no problems whatsoever about there being two evil teams; we haven't had the such since Emerald verison anyway, so it'd defintiely be nice to have two antagonists.

I'm okay with the plot twist being "obvious" as long as it and the characters are handled well; BW's "plot twist" of Ghetsis being the true mastermind behind Team Plasma and having... let's call it "less than honest ambitions" was fairly obvious too but that didn't detract from BW's positive storytelling aspects.

 

[raxic_ex]

I was expecting Aether Foundation to provide Daycare service and Fossil Reviving service, thus they can gather a lot of pokemon legally since they are well trusted by the native people (at least that's what I think). Then, they secretly conduct experiments or so.

I want to say AF creates the UB, but in the recent trailer it seems that UB came from another dimension. Now I'm really confused that can a manmade creature has the ability to warp themselves to another dimension? At least we can assume that Type: Null is created by AF..

 

[MrGriszell]

I think they're gonna be a good team that not only helps you against TeamSkull but also the Ultra Beast

They aren't Bad guys because it's so obvious that it'll be obvious.

 

[Mobile Tsk]

It's definitely worth considerable thought of whether or not the Aether Foundation really are the bad guys in disguise. Of course, some may argue that this is a rather uninteresting plot twist since it's probably expected from their apparently shady leader Lusamine, but I'd have no problems whatsoever about there being two evil teams; we haven't had the such since Emerald verison anyway, so it'd defintiely be nice to have two antagonists.

That being said though, I do want to know your thoughts on what the Aether Foundation's connection might be in regards to the Ultra Beasts? I noticed that your theory doesn't touch upon this, unless I missed it, somewhere!

You know I didn't think about the UBs but they could be some kind of abomination of technology or alchemy that the Paradise is responsible for. Truly evil to unleash such abominations unto the world. I agree Lusamine gives me very creepy vibes. I wouldn't trust her at all. Or perhaps the UB are naturally occurring and Aether attempts to catch them and use them for their evil purposes.

But seriously I do think they're gonna turn out to be the evil team; aside from the whole "perfect paradise" idea just not sitting right with me, they gave the "employees" official art. Doesn't that remind you of how the Grunts always receive similar official art?
I'm okay with the plot twist being "obvious" as long as it and the characters are handled well; BW's "plot twist" of Ghetsis being the true mastermind behind Team Plasma and having... let's call it "less than honest ambitions" was fairly obvious too but that didn't detract from BW's positive storytelling aspects.

That imagery was truly horrifying and I don't think I will be able to sleep tonight.

I was expecting Aether Foundation to provide Daycare service and Fossil Reviving service, thus they can gather a lot of pokemon legally since they are well trusted by the native people (at least that's what I think). Then, they secretly conduct experiments or so.

I want to say AF creates the UB, but in the recent trailer it seems that UB came from another dimension. Now I'm really confused that can a manmade creature has the ability to warp themselves to another dimension? At least we can assume that Type: Null is created by AF..

I would hate to leave my Pokemon with them and then something... happens to them.

I don't get the whole Type: Null thing. Is it all speculation at this point, or do we have details about it?

I wonder... what if they side with Team Skull at first, realize their wrongdoings, and then side with the player? Something to think about, at the very least. At least they would possibly help the player against the UBs, which would be nice.

Yes much akin to Team Snagem and Cipher in the Gamecube series. I would love to see something like this, or maybe even the reverse.

 

[StarsMmd]

I think AF are legit. We actually have no evidence to suggest otherwise. Look at all of the foltage of them. Not a single hint to any evil plot despite them giving us every other detail of the game on a silver platter. For example the link between lillie and UB-01. People draw a lot of comparisons to cipher but at no point in colo/xd is the player made to believe that cipher is anything but evil. Just that there are characters that we did not know were in cipher but it was hinted at throughout the games.

At worst, maybe one individual member is corrupt and doing something dodgy on a basement floor of the facility or some secret lab. However, the workers and the leaders are probably mostly good people who truly care for the pokemon.

Alternatively, they could have unintentionally caused chaos in something like an experiment gone wrong. E.G. trying to harness the power of z crystals to treat pokemon but end up opening a portal to another dimension.

I think that we all on some level feel that team skull are just trouble makers and don't really have some big evil plot like destroying alola. The obvious real threat seems to be AF but actually they basically told us that the UBs are the main antagonists of the game. How AF is linked to them is still unknown but as I said above I don't think the link is that they're evil.

 

[kingdenas]

I do agree that the Aether Foundation is the real evil team of the game. Lusamine just gives bad vibes. Her eyes.... she looks away from reality. And Faba is another stranger. They certainly have some evil plans. Maybe their employees don't know about it. Maybe Lusamine is the leader, Faba is the "main" scientist, and Wicke, which is super friendly and everyone loves her, is the one who hires the Aether Foundation employees, without letting them know of their true intentions, making them and the rest of the Alola region think they are good guys who protect Pokémon, etc. Or maybe, they are not supposed to be evil, but they messed up things and created, as someone said, a portal to another dimension, and because of that, mysterious creatures now know as Ultra Beasts, come out of those portals and started causing trouble to the environment. But hey.... I cant totally be wrong XD But I love speculating about this ^^

 

[Desert Stream~]

What if Team Aether/Team skull were version exclusive teams? That would expain why you can get only 1 form of UB02.