All 4 Treasures of Ruin in Pokémon Scarlet & Violet Explained! World Destroying Monsters 

"These urban legends are said to be the embodiment of human bitterness and suffering. They brought great ruin in their time." Me, a 10 year old trainer: Observe. 🐠🦌🐆🐌

Love how Chi-Yu is nothing but a goldfish yet brings mass destruction

I love how the stakes and the shrines glow in a color that represents a type that is super effective against the Pokemon its binding. Green = Grass for the Dark/Ground Ting-Lu Orange = Fire or Fighting for the Dark/Ice Chien-Pao Purple = Poison for the Dark/Grass Wo-Chien Blue = Water for the Dark/Fire Chi-Yu

My favorite is Wo-Chien. Snails in real life makes me Uncomfortable. But i can’t help but love Wo-Chien’s design and premise a big evil Snail that is a legendary.

I like how the story behind Ancient Paldea's greed driven king who led invasions on other lands for their treasures evokes a sense of reference to the historic Spanish Conquistadors who once plundered and colonized distant lands for land and wealth in the real world. It is also pretty much confirmed that these Ruinous Quartet Pokemon weren't native to Paldea and were brought in from a yet unnamed region in the Pokemon World. So... maybe in a future generation we'd get more information about the Quartet in their place of origin? Pokemon games are no strangers to foreshadowing and giving subtle hints about future installments.

The Chinese would like to point out that the Chien-Pao's shape is a reference to the tiger symbols of imperial China. The ancient emperor used an iron metal in the shape of a tiger to represent military power. This metal was usually half in the emperor's hand and half in the general's hand. When the emperor wanted to move his army, he gave his half to the emissary, and the general of the frontier could leave his station. Any action by a general leading his army without a tiger would be considered rebellion. So, the tiger is the symbol of the army.

Raifort has an eerie interest in them. It should be some sort of red flag that she knows the location of the seals, putting them on your map, and also the moment where she claims she could take care of them if you don't want them anymore. The teacher has more to do with those legendaries than we currently know... or it might just be huge morbid curiosity, but with her giving a Nasty Plot TM after you showed her you caught all of them is kinda sus

2 things I have to say about these legendries. 1. We fight these things in a weakened state, being first defeated by the Pokemon wielders and then sealed in their shrines for thousands of years unable to move. If THIS is their weakened state, imagine how unimaginably powerful these monsters were when they first brought the king's castle to ruin. 2. A small theory I have is that the merchant that sold the king these cursed relics was a member of the Ginko Guild, possibly even being Ginter or Volo before the events of Legends Arceus. I am unsure when exactly Legends Arceus takes place but it is still plausible.

When I first heard of the ruinous quartet, I was like “ these guys sound like the four horsemen, and we practically opened the door for them.”

Well these four would likely be under Yveltal's oversight only that they are specifically used as tools of retribution. In many ways they are the counterparts to the swords of justice. They also sound disturbingly similar to shadow pokemon and I suspect the Galarian Birds were formed in a similar fashion just without the need for an item to serve as a catalyst.

Figured this out while watching another video, but yeah... "So the four treasures are the four sacred tools of calligraphy, hense the tablets used as a surface for writing, the bowl for ink, the beads are ink stone and the sword is the brush (the pen is mightier than the sword). That would explain their relationship to each other, but their dex entries explain the mountain of the Icerend Shrine having no snow (forming Chien-Po's body) causing the Asado Desert to become a waste land like Antarctica, the massive lake being a fissure (Ting-Lu dropping head), bamboo used to contain ashes like bamboo urns (Chi-yu sneezed), and the swamp north of the Grasswither shrine (because Wo-Chien did the suck suck)"

By the way of Ting-Lu. ting and lu both have special meanings for China. ting is a bronze cast cauldron used to offer sacrifices to gods and ancestors, ancient emperors used ting to cook offerings to the gods.. After the emperor of China unified the China, he cast nine ting, which symbolized the nine regions under his rule. When the vassal wanted to challenge the emperor's rule, he would send an emissary to ask the emperor "How heavy are your nine ting?", which represented that he wanted to seize the ruling power of China. （问鼎天下） lu stands for milu deer. Ancient vassals compared the ruling power of the Central Plains to a deer, and their struggle for the ruling power was compared to a hunt. Whoever captured the deer in the hunt would be the new emperor. （逐鹿中原） "ting" combined with "lu" is an interesting symbol.

Kinda reminds me of the tapu squad. They aren't exactly evil.. they're just really big jerks and I think that's pretty cool!

I like how Chi-Yu is almost almost a direct play to Chiyou, aka; the God of War that Qin Shi Huang worshipped, and Liu Bang before his battle against Xiang Yu. It does tease at the next region being related to China, which does have a history with the Four Fiends of Chaos.

honestly these guys are now my favorite legendary set (not those in box arts but are related to each other, like the regis and the three beasts). Their designs are more unique and distinct to each other while still sharing the same theme (while most other legendary sets look identical to each other), and they have a background story that genuinely gives you chills. We do have "evil" legendaries that could destroy the world before but cursed treasures coming to life each with spot-on designs are really cool

It'll be interesting seeing them as antagonists in a movie

Pokemon: The Treasures of Ruin are the physical embodiment of human bitterness and suffering Also Pokemon: One is a goldfish

You know, I wouldn’t be surprised if that merchant who gave those vessels were Volo himself, since the time doesn’t seem to be specified, and we do not know where he went after we defeated him…

I knew when I saw that vessel poke it was a sacrificial bowl. The fear they talk about is the fear of the creature about to be sacrificed leaking into the bowl. Now, that's good dark lore!

I say the merchant was Volo he was a member of the ginkgo merchants and had evil ambition for powerful pokemon.

Scarlet and violet have failed on a lot of things, but the knocked it out of the park with this legendary quartet. We’ve lacked good legendaries with deep lore that weren’t tied to the story for a while.

Finally someone who acknowledged Chien-Pao having Kamaitachi reference.

It's interesting the choose of colors for these Pokémon, as they could loosely inspired by the colors of the Four Horsemen of Apocalypse: Black, Red, White and Pale (cadaveric green), which could correspond to Ting-Lu, Chi-Yu, Chien-Pao, Wo-Chien. Ting-Lu is the one who fits worse than the rest, as his color is more brown than black, but still is an interesting possibility

The fact that their names are VERY much Chinese while we're in a region not even close to China is giving me next gen will be based in China vibes. We still haven't seen where a few Pokemon introduced in earlier gens are native to so this could be major bread crumbs being dropped.

love these 4 ngl, very interesting and cool idea for legendary pokemon. I like all of them but my favorite has to be the bowl head ngl.

The History teacher is like Cynthia studying legendary Pokémon

Thanks so much for exploring these! My favorite aspect is how the relic themselves are the true Pokémon and uses their preferred element to craft a body. Ting-Lu might be my favorite, the cauldron in place of moose antlers is quite an interesting design choice, and I love its cry too. I like that you link them to the Four Perils, which I'm certain is a strong inspiration. Though it seems Wo-chien and Chi-yu don't quite line up as neatly to the remaining two beasts. Makes me think they're more original because of it.

Wo-Chien is my favourite but I love all four of them. The music that accompanies them is incredible

A theory I have is that Pokemon kinda wants to make a region based on China but can't because of...complications with China so instead they're making various Chinese based Pokemon like Urshifu and now the Treasures of Ruin

I hope the DLC adds more to the lore for this. Raifort having an interest in along with her dialogue and tm prize for finding them is too much of a sequel hook to leave alone.

They could also be based on invasive foreign species. Eg Snails, Cats/Stoats/Weasels, Fish/Goldfish, Deer etc which are all invasive.

1:44- that sounds quite like in the Sonic the Hedgehog universe of Pachamacac (whatever his name is) and his greed for power and wanting the Master Emerald for such, triggering Chaos to transform into Perfect Chaos and destroy everything until Tikal had to seal the beast inside the Master Emerald. Furthermore, Chien-Pao is quite like the Snowstalker from the Future Is Wild, if Chien-Pao can be seen as a sort of feline wolverine.

These Pokemon are really neat. Love both the uniformity of the Pokemon and yet look so drastically different. Not to mention how the Pokémon are actually the relics themselves and their bodies are just an element to make an avatar out of. I think my favorite mystery is the king and the merchant. Because it was said that when the king saw these treasures, he “Made it rain gold coins over the merchant” or something similar. Which I say is VERY connected to Goldengo and its line. The fact it’s a greedy treasure box Pokemon and a man made of gold coins, that they are ghost types, and that they can just make the greed in people run rampant, I can see this Pokemon being related to the King or the Merchant in one way or another.

The fish made of fish that yells SPLASHY when it appears. Yes, very scary.

I'm starting to think the Merchant was Volo. As he seems way too in character to use Calamity for his own means( like going into the great crater and traveling to the time of Hisui).

i love the fish ones design sm. great vid btw

My favorite is chien-pao

Honestly, I can’t wait to see the anime make a movie with this legendary quartet - because I can’t imagine them putting these four in the series.

The merchant was totally Volo, literally no way it wasn’t volo.

The merchant was probably Volo, lol. Also, I'm suspecting 'the 3rd legendary' is actually the 5th relic of ruin... the reveal glass ends up being present day Enamorus... who has a shell... It's power is the ability to change a pokemon into its therian form... aka paradox form.

Very informative! Still searching Paldea for the stakes but awesome to know the backstory! Also you sound like an off sounding Brian from family guy

Okay holup, did I just discover a VGMarkis gaming channel?? Instant subscribe!

As a Dark type fan I love this quartet

I saw that in somebody else’s video, a guy in the comment section had a theory that Chien-Pao might have been a reference to the sword from “Veilstone’s Myth” book/story in the Canalave library from Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl. And after reading the story myself, I saw that he actually had a pretty good theory. Edit: Gonna be honest, the Scarlet Pokédex entry also kinda makes me think of the story (but only by a TINY bit)

It seems like the four ruin calamities will be a sneak peek to the next gen region being based on China. The main theme perhaps will be based on hunting and trading antiques artifacts.

Something interesting to point out for Chi-Yu, that all other Asian languages the name for it is the Jade Fish, as the eyes are made from jade, jade 玉 (Yu) in Chinese and 鱼 (Yu) both has the same spelling, In Japanese it’s called Iyui, Chinese Gu-Yu-Yu, Korean WiYui. Chi-Yu is the only one of the quartret that has no resemblance between it’s English name and other languages. Perhaps calling it Yu-Yu will be funny as heck 😂

I think treasure is a thing that ruined the spanish empire as well. thought i think it’s more in the form of massive gold influx that caused high inflation in their economy

Finally i know why their name was Chinese like. I was so confuse because I thought this is base in spain.

The goldfish and the weasel leopard are now two of my favorite pokemon designs ever.

Wow such gaming?! Hell yeah

Basically "The Anti-Tapus". 4 objects. 4 totems. All Dark-type. All Fairy-type. A unique move that cuts health in half. Composite names.

I know that theyre the 4 perils, but i also see the 4 horsemen of the apocalypse Chien Pao = Death because it was formed from the hatred of those who died by the sword Chi Yu = War because the beads sparked many conflicts Wo Chien = Pestilence because it drains the life from fields Ting Lu = famine because its a broken empty bowl

i was reading about the Ruin Quartet on Bulbapedia earlier and started to form my own personal theory that Gholdengo is a pokemon reincarnation of the King in the Ruin Quartet's lore. this theory may sound dumb, or maybe i'm reading way too into the story, but just hear me out: - this old wicked king was greedy and liked collecting treasures from other countries. It takes Gimmighoul 999 of its coins to evolve, if that doesn't sound greedy enough, and they're scattered all over paldea. (+ gimmighoul chests sometimes appear in *ruins* around paldea) - the king paid the merchant handsomely with golden coins - Gholdengo's dex entries in both scarlet and violet state that it's *made* of gold coins. - a possible inspiration for Gholdengo is El Dorado, a mythical KING who covered himself in GOLD. - Gholdengo is weak to ground, dark, ghost, and fire; everyone in the Quartet is primarily a dark type ( + Ting-Lu and Chi-Yu are ground and fire types respectively) -- on the flip side, Gholdengo's Good as Gold ability can counter the Quartet's "___ of Ruin" abilities. other evidence i found but think these don't make sense here: while the treasures of Ruin are all incarnations of different negative emotions, Gholdengo's scarlet dex entry states that it can easily befriend anyone, which in this case makes them the complete opposite of the whole quartet. Gholdengo is next to the Quartet in the pokedex. the ghost typing and surfer motifs on Gholdengo don't make sense in this theory so far, but these changes may be the result of (possible) reincarnation Gholdengo's Japanese name includes the phrase "fugo", which means "wealthy person", this could trace back to the El Dorado statement but i'm not really sure

They used to draw knights fighting snails in books in Europe.

"The fear poured into this ritual vessel". Dang, so ting-lu is a bowl they used for sacrifices/blood rituals. Very dark.

Thats so cool 😯 now that I know there lore the designs looks so much better now or at least make sense. Chi-yu is the best out of the three 😆. The other three are big menacing looking while Chi-Yu is there all small and cute

I named the quartet after the Four Perils

I think the sword treasure represents the animal called Saber-toothed that was in the ice age at that time, Plus represents the sword you were talking about...

Oh, the four forces of nature might be coming. Enamorus’ appearance suddenly makes sense.

Given how Team Star was a group of people that gain the Ire of others, had horrible rumors about and one of them is a Dark Trainer that was removed from power because of his tyrannical rules, you think they would have been a part of the Treasures of Ruin plot. Speaking of which I believe that the DLC coming soon should have been the Treasures of Ruin and Team Star instead of Team Star being so water down in the main line and the DLC having the 3rd Legendary that was suppose to be in the game but was cut to be DLC I also love the fact that in the HIstory class we DO see a chinese gate/palace in one of the pics on the right of the board hinting of a chinese region while next to it looks Aztec. The fact somewhere there is a kingdom that these pokemon were from and had this kind of history and power the mercent knew they gave the king them to get them out of their region ASAP or worst gave the king 4 Trojan Horses to make the kindgom weaker for the taking

Nice video.

That would be an awesome Legends Arceus like sequel one day

The Ruin Legendaries might be the closest thing we ever get to a Chinese Pokemon Region. Like a little wink that a China Region exists, but that we will likely never see it in gameplay (due to irl complications).

I wish Wo-Chien was Bug/Dark.... I get that we got Lokix, but like it would just fit its stats so much batter, and it's a snail for God's sake. Plus it would help the type effectiveness between them all. Chien-Pao is 2x against Ting-Lu and Wo-Chien, Chi-Yu is 2x against Chien-Pao and Wo-Chien, Ting-Lu is 2x against Chi-Yu and 0.5x against Wo-Chien, and Wo-Chien is only 2x against Ting-Lu. Making Wo-Chien Bug/Dark would make it no longer resist Ting-Lu, have 2 its 2x against (CP and TL), and only remove Chien-Paos 2x which it'll struggle against anyway cause the attack thing. Although this does mess up the ruination abilities, since it no longer be lowering the opposing stat of its biggest threat.

Did anyone else catch wo-chien and name them leshy

Could you try to explain the paradox Pokémon as a whole please? I’m fascinated by them because I think they are based on all things science fiction both in prehistory and the future.

These guys caught me off guard when I first heard of them. Why would Pokemon with Chinese names be in a game set in the Spain-based land of Paldea? It's really interesting learning that they weren't originally from there and were simply brought over due to a greedy king

I laughed when history teacher after you catch them tells you thankfully you caught them so I wouldn’t have to because they’d bad luck lol

happy avalanche leopard is in my top 5 pokemon, i can wait to get ALL MERCH AVALIABLE.

Part of me thought they were based on the four horsemen of the apocalypse. It has its flaws, but they line up fairly well

If these four pokemon cause destruction, couldn't Xerneas, Landorus, and/or Zygarde help defeat them and bring back balance? Because Xerneas can bring anything back to life, Landorus can make soils and environments inhabitable again, and Zygarde could even bring back the balance that was lost to the destruction and have death where it's appropriate. And they kind of act similarly but the opposite of the Tapu's. The Tapu's are guardians of Alola, and even though they treasure life, they can be ruthless. The pokemon of ruin however just hate life and are heartless. Their moves are somewhat similar too. Ruiniation cuts the opponent's HP in half, but so does Nature's Madness. A dark type and fairy type move that both deal half damage. Maybe I'm making connections where there aren't any, but I feel like there's something there.

When you think about it there (also) basically the pokemon equivalent of the four horsemen of the apocalypse

My favorite is definitely Chi-yu... it's just a cute goldfish that happens to be made of fire I ended up finding all the stakes and altars myself (I didn't know that completing the history course tells you where the altars are) and Chi-yu was the first one I got

I wish they weren't shiny locked because all of them have amazing shines

I was wondering why four incredibly Chenese inspired pokemon ended up in this universe's version of Spain.

I love all four of these guys, but I think my favorites are the moose and the fish

Chien-Pao a sucker for the snow leopard with sword teeth. Planning on using it in post game.

5:55 Yes, Intimidate is initially stronger, but not lasting, like the passive -25% reduction to attack.

Gonna need a Legends game for the 4 Treasures of Calamity.

I love the gimmeghoul connection as well

Love them all so much but Wo-Chein is my favorite

Chi-yu is my favorite, not design wise but using it since I do tera raids with friends and most of us all use miraidon together

I like how they all gathered chunks of the land surrounding them to make their bodies earth, snow, plant debris, and fire

Probably the Lore is connected to the next region, a region based in China. We could probably see a regional evolution of Magikarp that turns him into a dragon(branch evolution of Gyarados) after climbing a specific waterfall.

I think the king may have been either one of the youths from Galar, or a descendant of the youth. He could have been related to AZ from Kalos who did have a brother. Maybe they came from the same region Urshifu and Kubfu came from which does have a dark type as an evolution.

That explains why I went from having so much trouble catching Ting-Lu to just immediately knocking out Chien-Pao by accident

I think that Chi-Yu is atleast partly based on the Ch'i-wen, it is a dragon in chinese mythology and is often depicted as a half-dragon half-fish creature, and it was also believed that his presence on roofs could guard against fires.

Me:this guy sound familiar Description : vgmarkis go brrrrr

It's taking me _FOREVER_ to find all those stakes!

Chien-pao looks like something from king fu panda and I love it

It would be really interesting if for the dlc we rebuild the time machine this time not bringing Pokémon but making a way to send people places and bring them back and we could maybe see these four being gifted to the king as well as maybe being the ones who actually lock them away

I love how they are both Anti-Tapus and Anti-Forces of Nature Ice Jaguar - Tapu bulu (Ice vs Grass), Thundarus (Force of Winter) Green Snail - Anti Tapu Fini (Grass vs Water), Enamorous (Force of Spring) Fire fish - Tapu Lele (Dark vs Ice, Fire Resists Fairy), Landorus (Force of Summer) Brown Moose - Anti Tapu Koko (Ground Vs. Electric), Landorus (Force of Summer).

I love how they're object mons. A relic possesing some element in animal form. Chi Yu is some beads using a fireball in fish form Chein Pao is a sword using snow in leopard form Wo Chien is paper using leaves in snail form Ting Lu is a couldron using soil in deer form

The merchant was Volo

"not much demons of destruction" Groudon and Kyogre: Are we a joke to you?!

I just realized the color of the stakes match the type they are weak to

My favorite is Chi-Yu. I buffed its stats super high, so now it can one-shot nearly everything.

Chi-Yu is my favorite out of the Quartet. It reminds me of my Goldfish named Andrew.

People are like "I love how we finally have unambiguosly evil legendaries" like there weren't like at least seven before.

Kubfu is probably connected somehow