Legends: Arceus: What Ingo’s Role Could Mean For Future Pokémon Games

One of the biggest surprises in Pokémon Legends: Arceus turned out to be the appearance of Ingo, whose role could have an impact on the storylines of future Pokémon games or Legends: Arceus DLC. The incredibly popular Legends: Arceus entry in the Pokémon series is set in Hisui, the Sinnoh region of the past. The game hints that certain characters are the ancestors of other characters across the series, such as Commander Kamado being the ancestor of Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl’s Prof. Rowan.

But some characters aren’t from the time period that Legends: Arceus is set in. The game starts with Arceus speaking to the player character and sending them back in time to Hisui. After the Pokémon Legends: Arceus protagonist falls from the sky, they begin Arceus’ assigned mission to complete the Pokédex. One of the Wardens that the player meets, Ingo, is in a similar situation: he is the same character who appears in Pokémon Black, White, and their sequels.

In the Gen 5 Pokémon games, Ingo is one of two Subway Bosses, the leaders of the Battle Subway. The Battle Subway is Unova’s version of the Battle Tower, a post-game facility where players battle against NPCs whose teams have competitive-level IVs and EVs. Ingo, together with his brother Emmet, conducts battles on the Battle Subway trains. In Pokémon Legends: Arceus, Ingo has clearly aged; he sports a goatee, and his outfit is scuffed and worn. He is now one of the Pearl Clan’s Wardens, watching over Sneasler, one of Legends: Arceus’ Ride Pokémon. Players discover that Ingo has lost his memory and even his team of Pokémon from Unova. Although tragic, this isn’t the first time something like this has happened in the Pokémon series, and Ingo’s unique circumstances may hint at what’s in store for future Pokémon games or Legends: Arceus DLC.

Ingo Joins The Pokémon Series Fallers In Legends: Arceus

The concept of Fallers in the Pokémon series was formally introduced in Sun and Moon but has actually been hinted at as early as Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire before Ultra Wormholes were added to the series. In the post-game of Sun and Moon, players can help Looker, Nanu, and Anabel capture the alien-like Ultra Beast Pokémon around the region. During this subplot, players learn that Anabel is a Faller, someone who has passed through an Ultra Wormhole. Ultra Wormholes can cross dimensions, and perhaps even time, and displaced people such as Anabel from their homeworlds. Although Ingo in Legends: Arceus isn’t entirely confirmed to be a Faller, as the term currently refers specifically to those who cross through Ultra Wormholes, he showcases many of the symptoms that Fallers do.

Fallers are usually found in random places, having literally fallen from an Ultra Wormhole, and have lost their memories. Anabel in Sun and Moon has no recollection of her home or the fact that she was once the leader of the Battle Tower in Pokémon Emerald’s Battle Frontier. While the Looker who works with Anabel in Sun and Moon isn’t a Faller, there’s a chance that there’s a Faller Looker in the same universe; in Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, the games that first confirm the Pokémon series multiverse during the Delta Episode, “a” Looker makes a small cameo washed up on the Battle Resort with amnesia.

In Legends: Arceus, Ingo begins to remember bits and pieces from where he comes from but is still mostly unsure. It’s not certain if Ingo’s time-traveling was due to an Ultra Wormhole or because of Arceus – in a manner similar to the game’s protagonist. However, by continuing the trend of displacing Trainers from their original universes, Ingo opens up the possibility for upcoming story plots in future Pokémon game content.

Ingo’s Story Could Be Resolved In Legends: Arceus DLC Or A Future Pokémon Game

Although Ingo has found new friends among the Wardens and other characters in Pokémon Legends: Arceus, by traveling back in time he has left someone very important behind: his brother Emmet. Characters like Anabel and even Looker didn’t have much connection to the other people around them, and thus gained more than they lost when they were displaced from their home dimensions, including a stronger story role. Ingo similarly received a stronger story role in Legends: Arceus than he had in the Gen 5 games, but he still had a strong connection to his younger brother Emmet. This has left many fans to deem Ingo’s displacement the most tragic of all the time-and-space-traveling Pokémon characters thus far. It’s natural to wonder just how Emmet feels now that Ingo is missing, and if Ingo can ever return home.

Besides focusing on Ingo, story-driven DLC could provide some closure to Volo’s character in Pokémon Legends: Arceus, as his disappearance at the end of the game is both mysterious and frightening. Ingo wouldn’t be completely left out of such DLC, though: it could clear up how Ingo made it to Hisui at all, and if it involves Arceus rather than an Ultra Wormhole, it could possibly tie into Volo’s schemes to meet the Pokémon deity. Both Ingo and Volo’s character arcs could greatly benefit from DLC by providing more solid closure to them rather than keeping their fates as open and uncertain as they currently are.

Since the announcement of Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, however, the future of Pokémon Legends: Arceus DLC is up in the air. Whether Scarlet and Violet will include any subplots regarding any Fallers, either old or new, is also completely unknown as of now. But – although it’s rather early to do so – it’s still possible to speculate about Pokémon games following Scarlet and Violet. The Gen 5 Pokémon games are next in line to be remade, and it’s possible that they will receive a special new game similar to how the Diamond and Pearl remakes Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl were accompanied by Legends: Arceus. Because Scarlet and Violet are set in the modern-day world but use an open-world structure, taking Legends: Arceus’ zone-based exploration a step further, it opens up the possibility for a game set in Unova using the same system that doesn’t take place in the past like Legends: Arceus.

If Pokémon Black 2 and White 2 get sequels instead of a game set in the past, the loose ends on Emmet’s side of the story can be tied up, since the games could take place after Ingo arrives in Hisui. It would be interesting to see how the Gear Station, Battle Subway, and Nimbasa City as a whole changed in response to Ingo’s disappearance, as well as getting to see Emmet’s response and actions he’s taken since then. It would also be a very unique way to tie Pokémon Legends: Arceus together with even more Pokémon series titles across regions and time periods.

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