• The forums' spoiler embargo for all content from Pokémon Legends: Z-A's Mega Dimension DLC has been lifted! Feel free to talk about the new content from the expansion across the forums without the need of spoiler tabs!

    Please note that this lifted embargo only applies for the forums, and may still be in effect on other Bulbagarden sites.

Do you think the Shadow Triad and the Striaton Triplets are related?

Almonds

Almonds

Lovely
Scorbunny Fan
Joined
Jul 12, 2011
Messages
14,622
Reaction score
4,578
It's a popular rumor and theory going around pokemon fans, and of course, we won't know until Game Freak announces the truth.

But well, we can imagine and discuss. What do you think?

Do you think the Shadow Triad and the Striaton Triplets are related?
 
I think they are the same, it would be pretty cool if they were.
 
Just because they're both trios, that's not enough to say they're related.

Then again, the Striaton Triplets weren't there to help the other gym leaders battle Team Plasma...
 
Hard to say.. like DracoMan said, they weren't there with the other gym leaders, so the evidence points that direction. But we may never know. Maybe Game Freak will say something in the future about it.
 
The Staration Trio said that by the time Bianca got to them the whole thing was already over... they had no clue what so happeneing so the Shaddow Trio and the Stration Trio aren't related
 
OF COURSE I DO

But in all seriousness, I think it would be a fairly interesting plot twist. It's not unheard of, in PokéSupe at least, for gym leaders to work with criminal organizations, even if in the anime the gym leaders are mostly good people who want to protect their towns. The Pokémon series' leaders are pretty dull for the most part, but Unova gave all the gym leaders, with the exception of the Striaton triplets, pretty interesting personalities. Why not make them more interesting by making them the Shadow Triad?

I hear people argue both sides of the theory. On one hand, people point at the Trio's absence in the final showdown where all the other gym leaders show up to combat the Sages as evidence that the Trio is the Triad. There are three of them, they didn't show up with the other leaders at N's castle, and in the case of PokéSupe, they point at their mask designs like I shared at the beginning of the post.

On the other, Bianca stated that the reason they weren't there was because she "didn't get to Striaton on time." Besides, there are six sages against eight gym leaders already - add the Trio in and you've got 11:6, and the odd number just doesn't jive with how organized or strong the leaders seemed pairing up like they did. You'd get one person left out, or you'd have a group of three, which would upset the balance. Hence, Bianca being late saved the scene from unnecessary clutter from three leaders void of any real personality (in the games, anyway; we all know how much personality their anime counterparts have).

I think the argument against them being the Triad is stronger, really (at least in the games; PokéSupe might be toying with the idea a little more), but I'm not adamantly opposed to the idea that GF might reveal them as the Triad at a later time.
 
I believe they are simply because the excuse "we couldn't get there in time!" is the worst writing ever, so it must be intentional. That, with all the Special hints....
 
...Interesting theory I say and honestly I'm quite surprised I didn't hear this one sooner.

Sure, three equals three, but on the same time it's just so SO wrong... :/
I honestly can't imagine Cress, Cilan and Chili as these cool ninja people.
...And that'd really help their reputation too.
Why weren't they in the last fight? Well...First I thought they were just lazy,
but now it makes sense! :D

Gosh, this is interesting!
 
Canonically? I personally lean on not. There isn't really much of a reason to think they were lying. Not to mention, there are other NPCs that are relatively hyped but have little story to them.
Then again, the triplets struck to me as rather peaceful and not that much into battling.

But what made me wonder the most, was how the Shadow Triad never actually attacks you nor anything. They even... help you, in a way. I found it very strange how the characters who had quite some of the spotlight during the story just guided you around, with no story nor detail to them.

But I don't think it would make any sense at all for the triplets to be them. They are just... very mysterious characters. They sure live to their name...

So I think they have something in reserve for them, like the weird intro ladies.
 
Last edited:
I was initially assuming that the Striaton gym leaders weren't there to battle the 7 sages because... well, there's 7 of them. And I was guessing that when the Shadow Triad did come, they would be hiding on some upper floor of the castle ready to slit your throat or something. At which point then the striaton gym leaders would swoop in and hold the second line down busy, giving you the shot at N...

But I guess it didn't happen that way.
 
I did think of this for a while. Probably it's not true for the games, since, knowing Bianca, she could have really been late to look for the Striaton Trio, thus making Cress's statements true. But PokeSpe could have an interesting take on it, given the shape of the masks they use and the manga's tendency to turn Gym Leaders and Elite Four on the evil side.

In all honest opinion, though, I certainly do not want the Striaton Trio to turn out to be the Shadow Triad. I like those three young waiters too much, and finding out they're loyal underlings of one of the most monstrous Pokémon antagonists ever would be a punch in the gut. At least for me.
 
I believe they are the same. The reason they don't battle you in Shadow Triad form is because they think you will recognize their Pokémon. They are relatively nice to you out of respect, as you earned their badge already.
 
In the manga? Yes. In the anime/games? No.

Since PokeSpe has often made gym leaders on the side of evil where they weren't in the games, I wouldn't be surprised if they're going in that direction with the Shadow Triad. But the games has no precedent for that and I really don't think the evidence in the games themselves is enough. The evidence in the manga is really compelling imo though.
 
Infinity Mk-II said:
Canonically? I personally lean on not.
Click to expand...

I see what you mean, but you have to bear in mind that there are a lot of things dreamed up by the fanbase that there's no solid evidence for, yet it seems ridiculous for them to not be true. For example, a lot (but not all) people ferociously believe that the Gen2 Legendary beasts are reincarnated forms of Eevee's original three evolutions. It makes sense, many fans have accepter it, but there's really not much evidence to prove it.

I think that GF purposely leave a lot to the imagination. I don't honestly think that they're quite as stupid as we sometimes think they are; they're aware that they have an older audience as well as the typical age range that buy Pokemon games. I believe they slip little things like this in here and there just to make the games a little more interesting for those of us who aren't as interested by the same basic plot line over and over again anymore.

I believe they're the same people. Again, there's no solid evidence for it, but it all fits. Also, you can say that the games, anime, and manga are all seperate, but they still often draw on each other for inspiration; it's very possible that the writers of the manga have a little bit of inside information as to what exactly is going on. I think it'll become more apparent in Grey as to whether they are or not, but for now, we can't really know for sure I suppose.

Also:

33Whimsicott33 said:
I was initially assuming that the Striaton gym leaders weren't there to battle the 7 sages because... well, there's 7 of them. And I was guessing that when the Shadow Triad did come, they would be hiding on some upper floor of the castle ready to slit your throat or something. At which point then the striaton gym leaders would swoop in and hold the second line down busy, giving you the shot at N...

But I guess it didn't happen that way.
Click to expand...

This would have been the coolest thing EVER.
 
BlueNostalgia said:
I see what you mean, but you have to bear in mind that there are a lot of things dreamed up by the fanbase that there's no solid evidence for, yet it seems ridiculous for them to not be true.
Click to expand...
It doesn't matter how much something is accepted. If canon doesn't say it, it's not canon. If it's left intentionally ambiguous for the fans to fill in themselves, it means that all fan theories should technically be equally valid... it still wouldn't be canon.


But what I meant was that, if they WERE going to disclose a canon, I personally doubt they would say they are, based on my own observations. And no, this wouldn't stop non-game canon for having it otherwise.

Also of course the anime does get inside information, given it's the most effective method of getting something new popular. But I don't think PokéSpe does. It's rare for manga serializations, and they tend to have more freedom with the story anyway.

And given that in the anime, which we know does and deviates less from the games, it seems unlikely Cilan is part of the Shadow Triad, it's a safe bet to think they aren't.
 
In another thread someone said that in the manga the Triad have a Basculin, Lilligant and a Larvesta.

Basculin = Water = Cress
Lilligant = Grass = Cilan
Larvesta = Fire = Chili

I'm not saying it is them (I personally don't think it is), but it's another little thing to think about ;)
 
I know that in the manga, the Shadow Triad have masks that aren't quite black (compare to the black shirts):

Shadow_Triad_Adventures.png


But even so I just can't imagine them with monkey-colored masks. The Shadow Triad would look ridiculous if their masks were bright colors, haha. Worst ninjas ever.
 
Infinity Mk-II said:
It doesn't matter how much something is accepted. If canon doesn't say it, it's not canon. If it's left intentionally ambiguous for the fans to fill in themselves, it means that all fan theories should technically be equally valid... it still wouldn't be canon.
Click to expand...

No, I agree with you completly, all I'm saying is that it has indeed been left ambiguous, and therefore fan theories can be formed. I personally believe, however, that the reason they leave it ambiguous is because they either intend to make some kind of theory relative to it into canon at a later point, or they are simply heavily implying something that would be perhaps too complex for younger audiences. I suppose you could come up with another theory, but in my own opinion the theory that they are actually the same people is the only real valid if you're going to relate the two trios. On the other hand though, I guess you could say that the only thing that even suggests there's anything at all to create theories about is the fact that there's three of both of them and that the Straiton brothers just happened to not be at a certain place at a certain time. I tend to believe theories like this though; it just makes it more exciting in my opinion.

Infinity Mk-II said:
And given that in the anime, which we know does and deviates less from the games, it seems unlikely Cilan is part of the Shadow Triad, it's a safe bet to think they aren't.
Click to expand...

Oh yeah, they're definitely not linked in the anime, but I think it's safe to assume that there's a high chance they are in the manga, and, once again, it's been left ambiguous in the games.
 
Please note: The thread is from 14 years ago.
Please take the age of this thread into consideration in writing your reply. Depending on what exactly you wanted to say, you may want to consider if it would be better to post a new thread instead.
Back
Top Bottom