The Ciphermaniac) and The Explorer) are two, seemingly original, characters in the TCG. Already, this is odd, as the modern TCG doesn't really do OC's? They kinda don't have to, considering the massive pool of trainers they can pull from the games. And why in the world do they have the Scarlet and Violet Books? Is this implying these two found it after our character… idk, dropped it? After the events of ScarVi? Or is it the much more confusing possibility that these two are being implied to somehow be the authors of the two titular books?
Also odd is their classifications. This mechanic is primarily for the two types of Paradox Pokemon. They are the only Supporter cards (a card type reserved for human characters,) to earn the "Future" and "Ancient" tags other than the cards for the two) professors.) Does this mean these two have canonically somehow been exposed to Area Zero's time travel phenomena? Is it maybe even implying that these two are displaced time-travelers from the respective periods?
The thing that pushed this over the line to somewhat alarming for the lore implications, is that The Ciphermaniac has a Chinese-exclusive Illustrated Rare card that appears to depict her… somewhere blue? In the third picture of her gallery, can anyone guess where (when???) that background is implying her to be? It's at least modern, but is it maybe at some undisclosed point in the future?
My other hypothesis is that these two have found the books at some point after the events of the game, maybe even after our characters have passed away, and followed our footsteps using the books + other sources, to end up stumbling into Area Zero after us, and being sent along to the same times that the AI Professors head to at the end of the game?
The final question this leaves is, of course, why? Why are these stories being told? Is it an explanation for some plot point? Maybe an explanation for how Paradoxes find their way into the greater Pokemon world for their inclusion in future entries? Or some kind of sequel tease? Putting it only in the TCG would be absolutely wild, if that was the case. Please, tell me if I've missed something obvious here. I really want to hear everyone's thoughts.
Edit: Turns out I indeed missed something! The Scarlet and Violet Books are not unique, they were published. I forgot that you read a copy in the Academy library. I had thought that was Arven's copy that you get from the lighthouse, which I thought was the only one, cuz it's the Professor's. I guess this leaves the entire post mostly moot. Though I still find the existence of these two OCs to be somewhat strange.
by FinalFatality7