Catching Myths: An Analysis of Pokémon as a Modern System of Folklore

This thesis examines how the Pokémon franchise functions as a modern myth-making system within contemporary global culture. Although Pokémon is one of the most widely circulated media franchises in the world, scholarly attention has rarely addressed its mythological dimensions. This study argues that Pokémon constructs a coherent and evolving mythos that rearticulates classical mythic patterns while responding to modern cultural concerns, including environmental crisis, biotechnology, cosmology, mortality, and collective memory. Through a structured mythological methodology - incorporating archetypal analysis, narrative function, symbolic interpretation, comparative mythology, and systemic myth analysis - the thesis analyzes eight Legendary and Mythical Pokémon: Arceus, Mew, Mewtwo, Xerneas, Yveltal, Hoopa, Calyrex, and Eternatus. Findings show that these entities embody core mythic archetypes such as creator gods, ancestral beings, ecological dualities, tricksters, sacred kings, and apocalyptic forces. The thesis argues that Pokémon constructs a coherent transmedia mythos that reworks classical mythic patterns while addressing contemporary concerns including environmental balance, biotechnology, cultural memory, and existential anxiety. Ultimately, the research demonstrates that Pokémon provides a participatory, globally shared mythological framework through which modern audiences negotiate meaning in the twenty-first century.