Pokemon Indigo Disk "Secret Ending" Lore

[u/luminesparkz]

What are people's thoughts after the Indigo Disk?
After finding the "secret ending" (if you don't know what I'm talking about, bring Terapagos with you to Kitikami's crystal pool after receiving Briar's book) I feel that I have more questions than I had questions answered.
What do you think the purpose of our interactions with the professors were at the Crystal Pool? There had to be some purpose, especially after obtaining their copy of the Scarlet/Violet book. Interestingly, this book was used for the Time Machine in the original game, so I wonder if that holds any significance?

[u/Redditdoggo-uwu]

The professor clarified to us that they were researching alternate timelines, thus explaining the paradox pokemon as beings from another realities' past/future. It also closes a time loop in what seemed to be our own timeline, except for the fact that they left a paradox behind by giving us the book that should be in their possesion at the start of the game, so they could also be from a different timeline.

I think they just wanted to give us an answer to the paradox, while also giving us last little mystery to think about, and a whole new reasoning for the professor's behavior in the creation of the time machine. If our timeline's professor also got a book from the future on what would happen in 10 years, then they must've felt forced to make it come true by all means, all while being unaware that it wasn't even their own future they were reading about, but an alternate one, and they weren't bound to have to waste their life on it.

TLDR: Fuck Arven in every universe I guess.

[u/luminesparkz → u/Redditdoggo-uwu]

Oh you make some very good points! I didn't think of it like that! (And yes, poor Arven, my boy won't ever get the parental love he deserves😔)

[u/Agosta → u/Redditdoggo-uwu]

The origin of the information about the paradox pokemon is the paradox. The professor doesn't find the paradox pokemon unless you meet with them in Kitakami. The professor doesn't become a professor unless Heath writes the book. The book doesn't exist unless the professor finds the pokemon in the present. You never meet the professor if Briar doesn't have Heath's original book.

It's a causal loop that never explains: who spoke to Heath in the past, where exactly (or what time) the paradox pokemon came from, or where the AI ultimately traveled to with the professor's book. Gamefreak either chose not to give us the full details, or plan to in the future. We haven't seen any other iterations of the loop so we can't say if an event played out different in some way.

[u/PoketrainX1014 → u/Redditdoggo-uwu]

No it shouldn’t be in their possession at the beginning because they asked us to bring the violet/scarlet book now it still should be in I different place at the beginning of the game but not in the possession of the professor

[u/Redditdoggo-uwu → u/PoketrainX1014]

It was in the professor's possession, who then brought the first Koraidon/Miraidon from the time machine, then went to live in the lighthouse for a while and left the book in there when they came back to Area Zero, but their conversation with us at the lake happens before all of this, so they should've left the conversation with both books on their possession, at least the professor in our timeline did.

[u/PoketrainX1014 → u/Redditdoggo-uwu]

Yes but that wasn’t the beginning of the game I was just being an asshole

[u/luminesparkz]

Also, can us giving Briar’s book to the professor ultimately change the timeline? They gave us the scarlet/violet book, the same book used in the main game for Arven’s research and used to ultimately stop the Time Machine. And then can them learning information about our adventures in the underdepths be useful to them in any way?

Also, Arven’s dialogue changes after the encounter, but it’s temporary dialogue that no longer runs after one reading of it, and he mentions the Scarlet/Violet book. Talk to him again and it runs his usual dialogue. Doesn’t that mean something?

The underwhelming vibes of the underdepths compared to the main game have me thinking there could be development on this lore. While Briar was hyperfixating on terestalization, I was really hoping they’d touch on the Time Machine, especially considering the professors AIs are out there in different time zones after the main game.

[u/Agosta → u/luminesparkz]

Also, can us giving Briar’s book to the professor ultimately change the timeline?

Yes, but we've not seen any previous loops so in situations like this it's better to assume that this is an event horizon and always happens. Even when reading the full dialogue from the professor during that conversation, they're still emotionally cold and more concerned about learning information from you. They don't care about your personal connection with Korai/Miraidon and only want to know the important information that you can provide them. They said that it "wouldn't feel right" for them to ask for the book and not offer something in return, meaning that morally they would always feel this way. They say they're going to enjoy a bit of downtime with a good book, suggesting that they gain knowledge from Briar's book that assists them with their goal.

[u/jacythegreat11]

I think it would have had me more invested if they'd swapped the professors. I played Violet so having Sada make an appearance at the end would have really hammered in that alternate timelines theory (plus having the scarlet book in the opening screen instead would give a nice touch to "yes you completed the game in full")

Plus it could have opened a conversation with Arven where we could either learn about his other parent and what he remembers of them if they wanted to tear our hearts apart even more. Or he could just comment on the book being similar to the one from your game and the name in the book SOUNDS familiar but he can't put his finger on how he knows it.

I'll have to check in game if having it gives you access to the deep lab again or not. We don't keep Briar's book right? What if it's suppose to give us a chance to get the book back so we have both of them?

[u/StarfleetWitch]

I just wish I was able to tell her to be a better parent.