Just how 'Unique' Are Legendary Pokemon?

[Dragon]

In the pokemon anime, and games, legendary pokemon have been becoming more frequent, and more frequently seen.

My question to you is, do you think that Legendary pokemon are "unique" in a sense that a person can tell a famous tale where they have "met a legendary pokemon and lived"? Or, do you think that because of the supposed lesser "rarity" or these legendary pokemon (i.e. Tobias has a Darkrai and a Latios; was it the same Darkrai from the movie The Rise of Darkrai and the same Latios from Pokémon Heroes?)

Feel free to Discuss!

 

[Xilfer]

Well, it's been shown throughout the canon that certain legendary Pokemon aren't really unique. With Latios, it was stated that the Latios & Latias from Pokemon Heroes had a father: another Latios. And that's just one example. But we know that already >_>

Certain Legendary species seem to be unique (at least, no proof has been given to suggest otherwise) while others aren't. (Usually because there's proof suggesting otherwise) Despite this, however, since even the ones of lesser rarity still seem to be extremely rare, they could be considered unique/legendary by those that meet them.

After all, compare it to celebrities. Singers certainly aren't a unique profession, but when you meet a popular singer you're like "Ermagerd I just met [insert name here] and got an autograph!"

It's probably the same in the Pokemon world, but to a much greater degree, since you just met a mythological beast and survived. xD

 

[Hiatus]

I suppose that most legendaries are one-of-a-kind. Those that are do have myth and stories behind them, such as Giratina. It lives in its own world, and is supposedly the head of both Dialga and Palkia. Groudon and Kyogre are both protectors of land and sea, respective, and whenever things get unbalanced in regards to these them, they're upset-ted, causing these Pokémon to go in a feud. Then, you have Rayquaza; whenever these kind of things happen, it's always there to resolve their issue, and get things back to normal.

Other legendaries might have existed as regular, wild Pokémon in the past, but they began to grow extinct and now, only one of their species survive. A good example would... I don't know, Jirachi, maybe? To me, it doesn't look much of a legend; it seems more like an average Pokémon. Due to this, I feel that it could be among those.

 

[YoshiStar]

As a child, I was always thought only one of each legendary Pokemon existed, and that made me happy. I was disappointed to know later that there are are a TON of Mews, for example. At least, in the movies. It makes the ancient background thing seem ... not so cool.

 

[Dr. Silver]

Some legendaries are obviously unique, such as the Creation Trio in cannon only having one of each, or two at the most if HeartGold/SoulSilver's Arceus event is taken into consideration. Other legendary Pokemon like the Legendary Birds or Shaymin are known to either inhabit multiple regions or just have a secret hidden population.

 

[moon]

And there's apparently at least one set of normal Johto beasts and one shiny set, according to the Zoroark movie. Or do I remember wrong and they were all really just illusions? *goes to rewatch*

I agree with Dr. Silver :) Some with huge mythological importance have got to be unique. While Jirachi, Mew, Shaymin, the birds... Might just be considered legendary because they are rare, powerful or hidden.

 

[Chikara]

There's no Legendaries that stick out to me aside from Shaymin. And there's not even a real reason for that, I've never been a huge fan of Legendaries anyway.

I definitely think they lost their appeal when they started throwing in 43 new Legendaries per game. Over kill /throws up.