- Hey Pokemon Masters,
Bird Keeper Toby here.
How old is Ash Ketchum?
This is a question that has been asked
since around about Pokemon Generation V,
when in Black and White,
in the first episode,
it was established that
he was 10 years old.
However, he had been through
multiple journeys since then,
and even in the Pikachu and Pichu short
at the beginning of the
third Pokemon movie,
it was established that
a year had progressed
since he began his journey,
when he was also 10.
So how could he be 10, and
then 11, and then 10 again?
That makes no sense.
Well, today, we're gonna
answer that question.
And there have been a lot of
different Pokemon theories
provided to explain this continuity error.
Maybe he was granted immortality by Ho-Oh
at the end of the first episode,
or maybe he ended up in a coma.
Perhaps all the different
Ashes have clones
or parallel universe
versions of each other.
All of them!
Maybe, but I have a more refined answer
that is based off of evidence in the show.
Before I get into that, though,
a quick little announcement.
I have, right now, made my Discord public.
Discord is a service kind of like
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That's certainly how I'm using it.
To deliver announcements,
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If you are someone who uses Discord,
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As I see you engaging more on the Discord,
and on Twitter and stuff,
I might promote you to,
like, Pokemon Legend,
or higher tiers, including
Champions, or Kahunas.
And with the higher tiers,
I tend to share more exclusive content,
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on some stuff early.
We do game nights.
All that fun stuff.
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please click that link at
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and come and join the
Pokemon Legends chat.
Right, back to the Pokemon theory.
So, the thing that's got me
thinking about this, really,
is the trailer for the
new 20th Pokemon movie,
which features an Ash Ketchum.
But not the Ash Ketchum that we remember
from the first episode.
The events of the trailer
and the first episode
appear to be similar, but
there are minor differences.
For example, the design
on Ash's hat has changed,
or Misty doesn't show up.
He has different interactions with Ho-Oh
and new companions.
I don't see this as a reboot
so much as I see it as a retelling.
Pokemon is famous for doing this.
The adventures of Red and Blue
are retold in FireRed and LeafGreen,
and those Kanto journey
adventures are also retold
in the Pokemon Adventures manga,
or in the TV show.
It has been established
for a long time now,
thanks to the Delta
Episode of Pokemon Emerald,
that Pokemon exist in
a massive multiverse,
and there's no reason to
think that that isn't the case
for the TV show timeline.
In fact, due to some time-traveling
shenanigans in the show,
the multiverse existing within
the Pokemon anime universe
is almost definitely the case.
Like I said before, there
has been the idea thrown up
of what if all of the Ashes are
different parallel versions.
And I don't think that's quite the case.
The Ash Ketchum from Generations I to IV
actually is incredibly consistent.
He's aged a year since the
beginning of his journey,
partway through Johto,
and at that kind of rate,
he would be three to four years
older by the end of Cinno.
And it's universally
recognised that his Cinno team
is one of his best and strongest teams.
He performed so well
battling legendary Pokemon.
And he had similar kind of
victories in the Battle Frontier,
after his adventures in Hoenn.
He seems to learn as a character,
and he actually begins to act as a mentor
for his travelling
companions, like May and Dawn,
who are new to this.
So the Ashes of Kanto,
Orange Islands, Johto, Hoenn,
Battle Frontier, and Cinno all
apear to be one Ash Ketchum.
And at that age progression
of it taking about year
from him to get through not only Kanto
but also the Orange
Islands and part of Johto,
it's pretty safe to assume
that he finishes Cinno about 13, 14.
So what happens with Unova?
Because in that first
episode of Black and White,
the narrator tells us
that Ash is 10 years old.
Right, okay, not only that,
despite his Cinno and
Battle Frontier victories,
he is an incredibly inexperienced trainer.
But there are other differences
between the transitions
from Generation IV to Generation V.
In all the generations, new
Pokemon from the next generation
would appear in the show.
Marill was showing up
in the Orange Islands,
Kecleon in Johto.
May had a Munchlax for lots of Hoenn
and the Battle Frontier.
And the movies also
did some similar things
with the Lucario movie.
But for the Generation V Pokemon,
apart from Zorua and Zoroark,
who appear in the last
Generation IV movie,
there is no Generation V crossover.
What also astounds me is,
between each generation
there's usually an episode where Ash says
"I'm gonna travel to the next region!"
He does it from Kanto
to the Orange Islands,
Orange Islands to Johto, Johto
to Hoenn, and Hoenn to Cinno.
By the end of Cinno, the
story just sort of ends.
Like, is actually the end.
There's no crossover
episode where he decides
that he wants to travel to Unova
to find and battle more Pokemon.
There just isn't any of that.
It's blocked off.
The first episode of the Unova League
begins with Ash on a
plane, going to Unova.
It's a pause in the story.
And that makes sense,
because Generation V was
supposed to be a soft reboot
of the Pokemon franchise,
with the first Generation V games
beginning with not all
the Pokemon accessible.
An all new region, they
were trying give it
that Generation I feel,
but it didn't quite work.
Let's assume that our Ash from
Kanto to Cinno is one Ash.
We'll call him Ash A.
And our Unova Ash is Ash B.
What about Kalos and Alola?
Well, with Unova and Kalos, there is,
again, a crossover episode.
And his Kalos League
team is again credited
for being one of his
best and strongest teams.
He's learned from his experiences
of a whole generation of travelling.
So we can assume that the
Kalos Ash and the Unova Ash
are the same Ash, ending his journey
around about age 11, 12, maybe 13.
As for the Alolan Ash,
we don't actually know.
That could be Ash B, or
that could be a new Ash C.
That Ash mentions having
trained Tauros before,
so clearly he'd been on some
similar parallel Kanto adventures.
But for all we know, that
could be the adventures
he's going on in the new movie.
I have heard the idea
that the Kanto adventures
we're gonna see in the new 20th movie
is the origin story for the Alolan Ash.
But hang on, let's go back a bit,
because even if they're
parallel universes,
how do we explain the age difference?
If Ash B has still gone on
the same kinds of adventures
that Ash A has, which he has,
as we've seen through
the use of flashbacks,
then what's the deal?
Well, the simple answer
is that this Ash exists
in a timeline where you
start your Pokemon adventures
a little bit younger.
Remember, this is the multiverse where
any number of things could be different.
And the adventures that he goes on,
the adventures shown in the
flashbacks of Unova League,
are in fact different to the
actual events that we see
happening in the Kanto League
in the original series.
There are shots where there are characters
that should be there that aren't there.
There's a shot that has
Misty replaced with Brock.
There was even one flashback
which was a little bit messed up.
Seems to be a colouring error, really,
but it seemed to suggest that potentially
Ash had Pidgeot in that timeline.
Although they did fix that
for the dub, so maybe not.
But speaking of Pokemon differences,
in the intro to one of the
Black and White series,
it shows the whole of Ash's team.
And this image has always perplexed me,
because Primeape is there.
And Primeape is a Pokemon
that, in the original series,
in the original timeline,
timeline A, he gave away.
Well, potentially this
is a nod to the fact
that it's a different Ash.
And this Ash never gave
away that Primeape.
So while Ash from Universe
A doesn't have Primeape,
Ash from Universe B kept his Primeape!
As well as there being just
other subtle little differences,
they're suggesting that, potentially,
these two events are
totally different timelines.
Parallel universes,
where this fellow decided
that he was gonna stay home today.
And we know that there's a third Ash
coming in the 20th movie.
As for Alola Ash, whether
he belongs in timeline B
or timeline C, I couldn't say,
but I am super excited
to see what happens.
So let me know what you
think of this theory
in the comments, and
of course, on Discord.
Please click the link at
the top of the description
to join my Discord server.
Engage, and let's talk
about Pokemon theories.
Soar high, Pokemon Masters.
A massive thank you to my Patreons,
who make my videos possible.
Especially the big Patreons of this month,
Kirsten Masters, Joey Pals, and Drewcifer.
Thank you.
- [Ash] This is Ash Ketchum.
You just watched a video
by Bird Keeper Toby.
That makes you a Pokemon Master!
