Wo-Chien

Wo-Chien
Gholdengo
1001
Chien-Pao
Ability	Tablets of Ruin
First game	Pokémon Scarlet and Violet (2022)
Creator	Game Freak

Wo-Chien is a Dark/Grass type legendary Pokémon in the franchise of the same name. It is a ninth generation Pokémon who debuted in Scarlet and Violet. It is one of the Treasures of Ruin, alongside Chien-Pao, Ting-Lu, and Chi-Yu.

Physiology and Behavior

Wo-Chien is a snail-like Pokémon comprising a dark-green mossy form covered in dead green and yellow leaves. Two pairs of long, curling vines form its eyestalks, which contain eyes with green eyelids, orange sclerae, and pale greenish pupils. A long row of wooden tablets curled around its backside forms its shell. Wooden tablets were once used as a writing medium in the East during ancient times, although the inscriptions written on the particular set forming Wo-Chien's shell have become too faded to be read.

Like the other Treasures of Ruin, Wo-Chien's true form is the row of wooden writing tablets forming its shell, having been given life by the grudges of the person punished for writing the evil deeds of the former Paldean Empire's king on them long ago — while its body is a form it has constructed using its control over plant matter. Wo-Chien is able to drain the life force of vegetations in a wide area around it, causing entire forests and fields to instantly become barren. It is known as the Tablets of Ruin.

Origin

Wo-Chien may be modeled after the decollate snail, predatory land snails native to the Mediterranean whose shells are blunt and conical. Wo-Chien's shell is constructed from slips, narrow strips of bamboo or wood used as writing media in China prior to the introduction of paper. Its Pokédex entry in Scarlet may be a reference to the idiom 罄竹難書 / 罄竹难书 qìng zhú nán shū, referring to sins that have become so numerous that it is difficult to record them all on bamboo slips. It may also refer to the heroic deed of court chroniclers of Qi in the Spring and Autumn Annals, where two brothers dedicated their lives to defend the integrity of the annals by recording the regicide of Duke Zhuang II of Qi by usurper Cui Zhu.

Wo-Chien's National Pokédex number and the fact that its body is composed out of a medium for writing may allude to 1001 Nights, a collection of Middle Eastern folk tales and stories, often referred to as Arabian Nights in English. Certain stories in One Thousand and One Nights, such as Aladdin, opens in China.

Wo-Chien and the other treasures of ruin may be based on the Four Perils of Chinese mythology. Specifically, Wo-Chien may be based on 檮杌 / 梼杌 Táowù, a creature that shares its name with the now-lost chronicles of the state of Chu. Since the 16th century, Taowu has been reimagined as a prophetic monster that records the evil deeds committed by ancient rulers and punishes wrongdoers from its vision, similar to the tablets that created Wo-Chien and its ability to cause perils.

Wo-Chien may be a combination of 蝸 / 蜗 wō (Chinese for snail) and 簡 / 简 jiǎn (Chinese for bamboo slips). The name is formatted in Wade–Giles, a romanization system used in the Anglosphere for most of the 20th century.

In-Game Information

Pokédex Entries

Title	Entry
Ninth Pokémon generation
Pokémon Scarlet	The grudge of a person punished for writing the king’s evil deeds upon wooden tablets has clad itself in dead leaves to become a Pokémon.
Pokémon Violet	It drains the life-force from vegetation, causing nearby forests to instantly wither and fields to turn barren.

Locations

Title	Location(s)
Ninth Pokémon generation
Pokémon Scarlet	Grasswither Shrine
Pokémon Violet	Grasswither Shrine

Base Stats

Base Stats
HP	85
Attack	85
Defense	100
Sp. Attack	95
Sp. Defense	135
Speed	70
Total	570

Gallery

Paldean Pokédex image

Scarlet and Violet menu icon

Wo-Chien and the other Treasures of Ruin

Renders

Renders
Scarlet Violet

Trivia

• Wo-Chien has the highest base Special Defense stat of all Grass-type and Dark-type Pokémon.
• Wo-Chien and the other Treasures of Ruin are the first Pokémon whose base stats were adjusted via a patch to the game.
• Wo-Chien is the only member of the Treasures of Ruin that was given life by a specific individual's emotion rather than the emotions of humanity in general.
• Wo-Chien's in-game model has 92 tablets in total. In one of its animations, the tablets spiral out from under the plants that are comprised by its body, and all 92 can be seen at the peak of this animation.