If a pokemon has a branched evolution family and has not yet decided what to evolve into, is it a bad idea to lead them in one direction? Eg. If I had an eevee and wanted a flareon, is it wrong to try and encourage it to take that path by training it in certain ways and having it meet with other flareon?

Not at all! It’s only really inconsiderate to force your pokémon to adopt an evolution that it doesn’t want to assume. For example, if your eevee absolutely did not want to be flareon, it would be wrong of you to force it to be one. However, if your eevee is indecisive, there’s nothing wrong with giving it information about flareon and offering your advice and opinion.

Just be sure to sit down with your eevee and let it know first that you think it would be a good idea if it evolved into a flareon. Then, be on the lookout for any signs that it may be experiencing doubts as you train it. If at any point it doesn’t seem comfortable about evolving into a flareon, stop training it and ask it what it wants instead.

In other words, absolutely, it’s fine to educate your pokémon about one branch of its evolutionary tree, and it’s certainly fine to encourage your pokémon to choose a certain path. It’s your right as a trainer to channel your pokémon onto the path you think would be best for them. What’s not within your right is forcing your pokémon to choose a path it doesn’t wish to take, which is why it’s very important to be sensitive about your pokémon’s wants and needs.

Best of luck, anonymous!

how can you tell if a pokemon like swirlix or kadabra or pumpkaboo want to evolve considering they only do so via trading? what about ones who evolve via stones?

Even though trade-based evolutions take an exceptionally long time to evolve naturally, they’re still aware of the process. Likewise, they’re often aware of their evolutionary requirements’ relationship to the trading system, especially if you explain, very simply, that they can evolve by trading. (That is to say, they may not know the exact details, but they understand that you’d be telling the truth if you explain that they can evolve through the process.)

With that having been said, they and pokémon with stone-based evolutions have a slight advantage over most other pokémon: they have complete control over when they evolve. As such, they will let you know if they want to evolve through body language. Watch your pokémon for any of the following signs:

Excitement when you bring up the topic of evolution

Interest in evolutionary stones (if they evolve by stone) or trading machines or devices (if they evolve by trading)

Eagerness to train (as to them, training and growing more powerful is still a part of their evolutionary requirements, even if they don’t evolve by battle experience)

If your pokémon shows one or more of these signs, consider sitting down with them and discussing evolution. Then, at your earliest convenience, present them with either your trading device or an evolutionary stone and watch for their reaction. If they seem excited and ready, then it’s time to help them evolve. If not, leave them alone and consider discussing evolution with them at a later time.

In other words, you’ll be able to tell whether or not your pokémon is ready to evolve simply because they’ll tell you so; it will just be a nonverbal confirmation.

Hey Bill, why do some Pokémon evolve when traded? How do technological advancements influence a pokemons evolution?

To answer this, allow me to go into a very brief description of what happens during evolution.

Now, most of you have probably noticed that a pokémon glows when it evolves. This is because there’s a sudden buildup of energy within a pokémon’s body. While most of that energy is consumed, the glow comes from the output of the specific processes that trigger evolution. It’s just that the buildup itself is the evolutionary trigger. This is also why pokémon either need to reach a specific level of strength or inner power or they need to be exposed to items that have high amounts of natural radiation of a compatible type in order to fulfill their “evolutionary requirements” (or, in other words, the specific levels of specific types of energy they need to trigger evolution). Endorphins can also present enough energy to trigger evolution, which is why some pokémon can evolve simply by being happy enough.

In other words, consider evolutionary requirements to be akin to a light switch. Most pokémon have switches that can be flipped “on” (for “evolve now”) or “off” (for “don’t evolve”). Evolutionary requirements are the specific factors a pokémon needs to have enough energy to flip that switch from on to off.

With so-called trade evolutions, the requirements are a bit different. For those species, the energy they need to evolve is typically a significant amount—far too much for many to store during their careers as battle-ready pokémon. Because of this, if you see a “trade-based evolution” in the wild, they’re typically extremely old. In other words, unless an extreme surge of energy is involved, these pokémon have evolutionary switches that are extremely difficult to nearly impossible to flip on their own, so they spend their entire lives building up that energy.

However, these pokémon may also change that switch through trading—and even then, only through specific kinds of trading. You see, just handing someone else a pokémon and reregistering it at a pokemon center (as many trainers tend to do) isn’t enough to flip that switch, but editing trainer data automatically via the digital trading system (incorporated in the GTS, the PSS, Wonder Trade, and the older trading machines available at any pokémon center) may also override a pokémon’s evolutionary requirement data with conventional data. The reason why is because for these specific pokémon—and not for any other pokémon, hence why evolutions don’t happen after trade for every species in existence—evolutionary data tends to occupy the same space as the data for their current trainer’s identity. Reregistering at a pokémon center desk allows a human to input the trainer’s identity manually, avoiding editing any unnecessary information, but doing it automatically overrides the entire block, including the part that dictates that the subject needs extra energy to evolve. (To preemptively answer a question, the reason why this trainer data needs to be edited is so that each pokémon may be officially recognized as having changed hands. Without those edits, official league equipment will register that pokémon as belonging to another trainer, which may inadvertently trigger anti-theft measures.)

Consequently, the process of editing each pokémon’s information makes it easier for them to flip their evolutionary switch from don’t evolve to evolve. Meanwhile, the extra boost of energy given to them (through the process of being converted into electricity and data for the transfer and then being converted back into matter) stands in for the energy any other pokémon needs to evolve, which results in, very long story short, evolution.

In other words, the simple answer is that trading involves directly editing a pokémon in data form and giving them an extra boost as they come out of this state, which is why they can evolve. This can’t happen with any other pokémon simply because their data isn’t formatted the same way.

I recently evolved my haunter into a gengar and he’s become very cuddly since. He used to wander off and return after a certain distance but not he won’t leave my side unless it’s to battle. Is this normal?

I assume you evolved your gengar via trading, rather than by obtaining a particularly old haunter who was just about to evolve naturally. (That’s a possibility as well. A little-known one, as neither trainers nor the pokémon involved find waiting that long to be all that pleasant, but it’s still a method nonetheless, which is why you might come across wild steelix or gengar.)

That having been said, even if you receive your gengar back, the act of trading can sometimes shake a pokémon. Certainly, many who agree to the process do just fine afterwards, but there are those who can’t help but feel as if the act of trading trivializes their relationship with their trainers. Some of these cases feel indifferent to their trainers afterwards, and their partners must then work to rebuild their bonds and reassure their pokémon that trading did not affect how much they care.

Other cases are very much like your gengar: afraid that they can lose their trainers very easily. In these cases, it’s important for the trainer to reinforce the idea that their pokémon that they would never give them up and that the fact that they wanted them back means that those pokémon are still wanted. You can do this simply by making gengar an even more important part of your team. Spend more time with him. Give him a little more affection. Work with him through an extra hour of training. Do everything you can to make him feel wanted and loved, and this will allow him to understand that all you wanted was to help him evolve.

So in a sense, it’s normal, but it’s not usual. It’s rare that this happens. (Normally, either of the other two possibilities—in which a pokémon isn’t affected by trading at all and in which a pokémon grows distant—are far more common.) But it’s also reversible through a bit of extra care.

Of course, also don’t rule out the possibility that it could be something else. Communicate with your gengar and see if he just wants to be more affectionate or if he’s actually being protective due to a real and valid threat. It’s most likely simply a side-effect of the process, however.

Do researchers know/have theories as to why evolutionary lines seem to cap at three stages?

It’s an issue of power, anonymous. At the third stage, a pokémon is usually at its peak potential without any enhancements. Pokémon don’t really have the sort of energy to achieve an evolution beyond the third stage, as the power involved in such a state would be extremely difficult for a non-legendary to control and highly risky for a pokémon’s physical form to contain.

This is, incidentally, why mega evolution is a temporary process and why many pokémon experience berserker states when first tapping into it. The mega evolution stone is essentially a catalyst that unlocks any remaining potential a pokémon has and pours it into their forms all at once. As this potential is usually not enough to trigger a full-scale evolution by itself, the stone provides an additional boost of energy, which often far exceeds the amount a pokémon is capable of handling. The end result is not only that blind rage but also the inability to hold that form permanently. After a while, if forced to maintain their mega evolved state, a pokémon will revert to their original forms on their own, as their energy will simply be completely spent.

But the point is, the reason why pokémon can only evolve twice at most is because they just don’t have enough—power, energy, aura … any one of those, depending on which researcher you ask—to achieve proper evolution for a third time. The closest some will ever come is mega evolution, which is half external anyway.

Any pokemon can decide that they dont want to evolve, but I’ve heard this is most common with Pikachu. Is this true and why? I’d have guessed it would be eevee because it has the biggest decision to make out of any pokemon.

It’s true, but no one is quite sure why, especially given the fact that no other pokémon with stone-based evolutions have similar aversions. Even when the evolution in question wouldn’t result in a massive power boost (as in the case with jigglypuff and clefairy), if given the choice of whether or not to evolve, those pokémon would jump at the chance to do so. For that reason, scientists believe that it doesn’t have anything to do with the stone itself.

Given how common evolution is in the pokémon world, it’s unlikely that it’s due to the fear of evolving, either. Certainly, some pokémon have a sense of trepidation about evolution, given how drastically it alters their form (and sometimes, by extension, their minds), but at the same time, most pokémon see evolution the same way we humans see growing up and becoming an adult. When you’re a small child, you look forward to that change and all the freedoms it represents. As an adult, it’s entirely possible to become disenchanted, but the point is, when you’re a child, you very likely dream about what it would be like to be an adult. So to a lower stage pokémon, being fully evolved represents freedom and power, and many pokémon that can evolve dream of that … except pikachu.

Personally, my theory is that it has a lot to do with the pokémon that don’t see evolution as a pleasant experience. Pikachu is certainly rare in that the opinion is prevalent among their species, but there are certain individuals in every species that openly resist evolution. In many of these cases, these individuals simply see themselves as being perfect as they are. Thus, to them, evolution in part forces changes they don’t want on them, but more importantly, it also represents giving in and admitting that they feel they need to change. You could even say that resisting evolution is an act of rebellion—a way of showing later-stage evolutions that they can reach their potential without needing to change a thing about them.

As for eevee, the urge to resist evolution is actually rare because of that choice. To an eevee, evolution is a massive part of their identities; being an eevee is merely the introduction stage before they find out for themselves who they are. Some eevee know right away which evolution they wish to be, and thus, much of their time may be spent preparing for evolution. Others who don’t quite know take pride in the fact that they have a choice. They take their time deciding, and they value that choice highly. Certainly, there are a few individuals who find the abundance of choices highly intimidating, but these individuals are by and large rare. Overall, eevee generally find the choice itself to be both exciting and a vital part of being a member of their evolutionary family. A cultural identity, if you will.

Hey Bill! Is there anyway that emotional based eeveelutions could transform into two different forms at the same time? What if say- during the night, your eevee has max friendship and love ? Could it turn into a Sylbreon?

As exciting as that might be, anonymous, unfortunately no. Evolution is a full-on transformation into a set form: there is no such thing as a hybrid evolution (in this sense, anyway—some people argue that slowbro and slowking are hybrid evolutions, but that’s another story) for the same reason hybrid hatchlings don’t exist. They’re two separate genetic entities, in other words, defined by very specific criteria. Think of it like a light switch, in other words, wherein the conditions for the state of being “on” are completely different from those of being “off.”

That having been said, an eevee in this scenario would evolve based on which emotion is stronger. If they feel generally happier, they’ll evolve into either espeon or umbreon, depending on the time of day. (Eevee will evolve into espeon if they’re exposed to any form of sunlight, including the little amount they get at sunrise and sunset, incidentally.) If they feel a stronger sense of belonging and physical comfort, they’ll be sylveon instead. Usually, one emotion is stronger than the other (either happiness for their trainer or pack or the feeling of being loved by their trainer or pack), but if the feeling is exactly equal, they’ll remain as eevee until one emotion outweighs the other.

Unless, of course, the eevee has chosen its particular form. If an eevee at equilibrium actually wants to be an umbreon instead of a sylveon or vice-versa, then they’ll will themselves towards that form.

This is, of course, also not taking into consideration environmental factors (such as proximity to a moss-covered rock), but seeing as you’ve specified emotion-based evolutions for eevee, I’ll keep it at this.

My Eevee originally wanted to become a Sylveon, but recently he resisted evolution so I let my Espeon talk to him to ask why and he now wants to become a Jolteon to impress another trainer’s Flaaffy he just met (literally, just met her yesterday). Can I discourage him from making such a hasty decision? She has shown no interest in him and I doubt the trainer is going to stay in town for much longer. He seems to just be blinded by “love”

Oh dear.

First and foremost, yes, you can discourage him from going through with this decision. But first, ensure that he has absolutely no way of coming in contact with thunderstone. Remove any source of it from your possession to ensure that your eevee doesn’t get impatient and sneak off with it himself.

Once you succeed in doing that, your best chance is to wait until the flaaffy and her trainer leave. Eevee can be stubborn when it comes to mating partners, so you’ll need to be patient. If it looks like they won’t leave for quite some time, however, work with the flaaffy’s trainer if you can to let your eevee continue with his attempts to woo her. Sometimes, getting rejected repeatedly with increasing fervor on the flaaffy’s part will trigger a decrease of interest in your eevee. Of course, do keep an eye on both pokémon to ensure that the flaaffy doesn’t do too much damage to your eevee.

Also, use the fact that you have an espeon to your advantage. As a fellow member of the eevee family, your espeon is in the best position to explain evolution to your eevee, as they will know how grave the decision is for their kind. If it looks like your eevee is growing restless to evolve, if he’s being particularly ornery over the denial of a thunderstone, or if his interest in flaaffy refuses to wane after a few days, have your espeon sit down and communicate with your eevee on what it means to evolve. If you have any other evolved pokémon, allow them to join in on the discussion.

If your espeon can’t convince him, however, try sitting down with him and explaining to him yourself that evolution is a process that should only be undertaken for oneself, if one is absolutely certain that the form they’ve chosen is right (as it’s irreversible and all). I would only try this as an absolute last resort to reason with him, as it sounds as if your eevee is set in his decision. Allow for time to whittle away at his interest first and then try to speak with him about it.

If, even after going through all of these options, your eevee still wishes to evolve into a jolteon for the sake of love, consider finding him a potential mating partner of a type that he can’t possibly evolve into (as far as we know at the moment). Glameow, for example. In the best case scenario with this option, your eevee will become too distracted by his new partner to care about the flaaffy. In the worst case scenario, you’ll be the discoverer of a new eeveelution.

Good luck, anonymous!

So, I have an Eevee who I would like to evolve into an Umbreon which fits my team best, but after it wouldn’t evolve for a long time with all requirements met, I eventually discovered the Eevee was resisting evolution because he wants to become a Flareon. Is there a way I could at least try to persuade him to become an Umbreon? In the end however, I would never force him if it is something he is that strongly against.

I would hate to tell you this, anonymous, but very likely not, especially if your eevee feels so strongly about a certain evolution that he would resist doing so naturally, despite meeting all of the conditions for it. You could certainly try to outline his options in a tactful manner, but be sure to avoid comparing umbreon to flareon (as this may inadvertently cause him to feel that you would be disappointed in him if he chose not to evolve that way) and emphasize that you would support his evolution, regardless of which form he feels the most comfortable in. If anything, use this opportunity to test the strength of his convictions and ensure that he’s thought his decision all the way through, not because you wish to ensure he’s made the right choice with regards to his evolutionary form but instead because you wish to ensure he’s made the right choice in choosing to evolve at all.

This is because, ultimately, evolution is a permanent thing. While you’ve said you wouldn’t force your eevee to change his mind, this is something I feel is important for trainers to keep in mind generally speaking, as some trainers are not as conscious of their pokémon’s wishes as others. But when you get to the heart of the matter, evolution cannot be reversed, meaning the choice to evolve and the choice of which form to evolve into will affect a pokémon for the rest of their lives. That pokémon must be completely comfortable with both decisions before undergoing the process, or else the process itself will become a traumatic experience, either during or once the realization of what it means settles in. There have been cases of pokémon evolving to the “wrong” evolution (it happens most frequently with members of the oddish line for some reason), only to become far more aggressive once evolved.

So for the sake of your eevee’s sanity, I would suggest trusting his decision if he’s certain of it. If your eevee would be happiest being a flareon and you need an umbreon, there are certainly other options to take as a compromise, including allowing your eevee to evolve and then adopting a second eevee who would be far more open to the idea of filling that niche. Eevee and its evolutions are social pokémon when tamed anyway, so fitting a flareon and an umbreon on the same team can actually produce emotional benefits.

Something that I was just wondering about, is there a way for a Pokemon that evolves through trading to evolve another way? Or was this method of evolution only discovered after humans started catching and trading certain pokemon species? Like has there ever been any cases of a Pokemon to appear in the wild that wasn’t abandoned but is the final stage of say the Gasty line? And how does trading a Pokemon even cause it to evolve? What’s the science behind it?

Certainly, anonymous! In fact, trade-based evolution is only the easiest and most recently discovered method for specific species, and it’s frequently the most humane, all of which is why it’s often recommended by both the pokédex and modern-day researchers. So yes, to answer one of your questions, trading as a method has only existed as long as the trade machine has.

However, all of the species that evolve via trading are fully capable of evolving on their own. It’s just that their evolution requirement without trading would be age. There are, for example, wild gengar and steelix in Sinnoh, but both of these are frequently decades if not centuries old. What this means specifically depends on the species. For example, in steelix’s case, the reason why it takes so long is because onix need time to devour enough minerals to form the metal coat needed for evolution, as well as enough time to allow pressure and heat from the earth itself to compress said metal coat into a form of armor. Haunter, meanwhile, evolve by age because they need time to master the shadow abilities their evolved forms are most famous for. In some cases, such as scyther and kadabra, it’s rare for a specimen to survive long enough to achieve evolution, which is why some species of trade-based pokémon are extremely rare to nonexistent in the wild (as their evolved forms, anyway). Hence why trading is considered a more humane path to take according to researchers. Overall, though, how long it takes entirely depends on the species. As I’ve mentioned just now, onix and haunter may take centuries to evolve, but pokémon with shorter lifespans may take only decades.

That being said, trade evolution is not a well-understood subject, and for the most part, its discovery in the first place was purely accidental. My personal theory is that there are two factors involved. First, when transferred (stored within a poké ball, uploaded into the storage system, sent via trade), your pokémon are actually converted into data via a very complicated process. This data packet not only contains everything about the pokémon itself but also information regarding its trainer, where the pokémon was caught, and so forth. Due to the structure of this data, it’s impossible for any ordinary human to edit it, but the trading machine was designed to do this automatically. Think of it like an automated metadata editor, basically.

However, in certain cases, the code for a pokémon’s current trainer may be linked to other lines of code within the data packet that make up the pokémon—specifically its evolutionary switch. So, when the current trainer information is modified, that switch will be flipped from “off” (as in, this pokémon is not ready to evolve) to “on” (this pokémon is ready to evolve). That, combined with the second factor—in this case, the fact that the added electricity from the trading machine itself could provide the energy needed for evolution—may result in the pokémon being set to evolve upon taking a physical form.

Of course, there is one other factor involved in all of this, and that’s the held item. Everstone “overwrites” evolutionary data in all cases and will thus force that switch to stay in the “off” position. Likewise, some pokémon’s evolutionary switch—in particular, pokémon such as onix, scyther, poliwhirl, and all others that require a held item to evolve—will not be fully complete unless the added data from the evolutionary item is present.

In short, a lot of it has to do with data or age, and evolution in general is an extremely complex but highly fascinating process.