Tragic Pokémon descriptions are not new. Ever since we found out that Cubone wears the skull of its dead mother as a hat, we’ve been plenty prepared for Pokémon that rip our hearts out and stamp on them. Never mind that it’s a game made for kids! Game Freak really want us to know that Bewears accidentally crush their loved ones to death, and that Lapras has almost been hunted to extinction! Fun!

The latest Pokémon to be confirmed for 2022’s Pokemon Legends: Arceus, a prequel to the Pokémon worlds we know and love set in the distant past, is Hisuian Zorua. This is a regional version of a Pokémon that was introduced in 2010, as the first of the new generation for Pokémon Black and White, and now it’s coming to Pokémon Legends, too… with a couple of changes.

Here’s Zorua’s description from Black and White:

BLACK:
It changes into the forms of others to surprise them. Apparently, it often transforms into a silent child.
WHITE:
To protect themselves from danger, they hide their true identities by transforming into people and Pokémon.

A little spooky, but understandable — it’s a Dark-type Pokémon, and they usually have weird descriptions.

Here’s the description from X & Y:

X:
It changes so it looks like its foe, tricks it, and then uses that opportunity to flee.
Y:
To protect themselves from danger, they hide their true identities by transforming into people and Pokémon.

The descriptions from Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, and Sword and Shield are similar: Zorua can turn into other things, and it’s pretty shy. Sometimes it transforms into a child, but that’s about as creepy as it gets!

But here’s the description of Hisuian Zorua, whose face is quite a lot sadder than the basic form:

Right, so, Zorua was treated badly by humans, so it tried to go somewhere new where it might be appreciated, but it was too cold and it died, and now it just floats around the place being angry and sad about it all. That’s heartbreaking!

But it gets worse, because Hisuian Zoroark — Zorua’s evolution, and therefore big brother — appears to straight up murder a guy in order to protect its adorable little sibling:

Honestly, this whole story seems more like something out of a Telltale Walking Dead game than a Pokémon game. We can’t wait to find out more about the tragic tales of old-timey Pokémon when Legends comes out on the 28th January, 2022.

What’s your favourite sad Pokémon fact? Let us know in the comments below.