Darkrai (Pokémon)

'*Darkrai* is a Dark-type Mythical Pokémon introduced in Generation IV.

It is not known to evolve into or from any other Pokémon.

It was officially revealed in February 2007.

It is a member of the Lunar duo with Cresselia.

Darkrai is the last Pokémon in the Hisui Pokédex

## Biology

Darkrai is a black, shadow-like Pokémon. It has a small head with a white fog-like ghostly plume billowing form its head covering one of its bright blue eyes, with the portion on its face resembling hair. It has a red spiky growth around its neck. It has skinny arms and long black tatters hanging from its shoulders. It also has black, claw-like hands. It has the slight appearance of an hourglass figure and appears to be wearing an old, ripped cloak. It normally does not have any sort of legs, but it is able to extend stilt-like appendages in their place. In self-defense, Darkrai can retract its head and white "plume" into the pit atop its torso fringed by the aforementioned red growth.

Darkrai is know to "inhabit" dreams and causes the target to have unending nightmares, which can be stopped if exposed to a Lunar Feather from Cresselia. However, the "unleashing of nightmares" is actually a defense mechanism, instead of an intentionally malicious act. Darkrai is capable of flying at high speeds, and it can become a shadow in order to escape danger or contact with humans. It is also capable of some human speech. In *The Rise of Darkrai* , it was shown its power was weaker than that of Dialga and Palkia. Its relationship to its counterpart, Cresselia, can vary between individuals and canons, with some being antagonistic, as seen in *Sleepless in Pre-Battle!* and Explorers of Time, Darkness, and Sky, or cooperative, as seen in *Nightfall? Nightmares!* and *A Midsummer Night's Light!* . As seen in *Sleepless in Pre-Battle!*, Darkrai does not only cause nightmares; it is also attracted to them. It can also go around objects it is attracted to several times, as seen in the mentioned episode and Pokémon Ranger: Shadows of Almia. Darkrai is said to be active on nights of the new moon. Darkrai possibly feeds off dreams, characterized by its association with never-ending nightmares.

Darkrai is the only known Pokémon capable of learning the move Dark Void . It is also the only known Pokémon that can have Bad Dreams as an Ability.

## Anime

* Main series
* GOTCHA!

* Major appearances
* Minor appearances
* Pokédex entries

## Darkrai (M10)

Darkrai debuted in *The Rise of Darkrai* as a protagonist. It took the task of holding off the fighting between Dialga and Palkia until Ash and Dawn could put the Oración disk in the Space-Time Towers music player to calm the two Legendary Pokémon down. It reappeared in a cameo in the ending credits of *Arceus and the Jewel of Life* .

## Darkrai (recurring)

A Darkrai appeared in *Nightfall? Nightmares!* and *A Midsummer Night's Light!* , where it was a target of Matori and the Matori Matrix, along with Cresselia.

Darkrai's known moves are Dark Pulse and Dark Void , and its Ability is Bad Dreams .

## Other

Darkrai made its main series debut in *Sleepless in Pre-Battle!* . Unlike the Darkrai in *The Rise of Darkrai*, this Darkrai was maliciously causing nightmares, much like the one in the games . According to Officer Jenny, it comes at a certain time every year. In the episode, however, it came earlier due to it being lured out by Team Rocket 's machine, which was also causing nightmares. Cresselia is normally in the same place as Darkrai to stop it from giving nightmares, but due to Darkrai's early arrival, the people in Canalave City had nightmares for several days. One night, it was concealing itself when Cresselia used its abilities to reveal it from the darkness. THe two then battled and Darkrai hid itself once more in the shadows.

In *League Unleashed!* , a mysterious Trainer competed in the Lily of the Valley Conference with a Darkrai. In *the following episode* , Conway revealed that the Trainer, Tobias , had easily defeated eight Gym Leaders of the Sinnoh region using only Darkrai. In the Sinnoh League semifinals, this Darkrai was used against Ash, where it easily defeated Heracross , Torkoal , and Gible . However, it was defeated by Ash's Sceptile in *The Semi-Final Frontier!* .

In Pikachu, What's This Key? , Meowth , Wobbuffet , and Inkay visited a Darkrai courtesy of Klefki's keys. Darkrai scared them out of a dark world in which it resided.

In *Dream a Little Dream from Me!* , a Darkrai was the source of Pikachu , Meowth, and Squishy's nightmare. Darkrai eventually left as soon as it was spotted by Ash and his friends.
A Darkrai appeared in the opening sequence of *Volcanion and the Mechanical Marvel* .

 DP189 | Darkrai

A Darkrai briefly appeared as a silhouette in GOTCHA!.

## Manga

* Darkrai Mission Story
* Movie adaptations
* Phantom Thief Pokémon 7
* Pocket Monsters DP
* Pokémon Adventures

Darkrai plays a major role in Darkrai Mission Story: Pokémon Ranger Vatonage - the Comic.

*Main article: Darkrai (M10)*
Darkrai plays a major role in the manga adaptation of *The Rise of Darkrai* .
A Darkrai has a recurring role in Phantom Thief Phantom 7.

A Darkrai appeared in *The Illusory Pokémon Darkrai Appears!!* .

A Darkrai appeared in *New Pokémon Gag Movie!?* .

In *Phew for Mew* , Sird let out a beam of light from a Poké Ball in an attempt to recapture Deoxys . When Mewtwo 's attack collided with the beam, it caused Red , Blue , Green , Yellow , and Silver to turn to stone. In *Double Trouble with Dialga and Palkia IV* , the beam was revealed to have been Darkrai. In *The Final Dimensional Duel VIII* , Sird was revealed to have released it into the Distortion World, where it clashed with Palmer's Cresselia and was briefly controlled by Charon. After escaping from Giratina's realm, it left to parts unknown.

A Darkrai appeared as a silhouette in a fantasy in *Unplugging Rotom (Heat, Wash, Mow, Fan, Frost)* .
## TCG

**Darkrai** has been featured on 23 different cards since it debuted in the Great Encounters expansion of the Pokémon Trading Card Game. Darkrai cards are normally Darkness-type Basic Pokémon .

## Other appearances

* Super Smash Bros. Brawl
* Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS/Wii U
* Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
* Pokkén Tournament DX

Darkrai appears as a trophy.

## Trophy information

*A Pitch-Black Pokémon. It becomes active on nights of the new moon. This legendary Pokémon has the power to lull people to sleep and fill their heads with dreams. Proverbs say that Darkrai will make people have terrifying dreams on moonless nights. A Dark-type Pokémon, Darkrai uses the Dark Void move, along with Embargo, which stops foes from using held items.*

Darkrai appears as a Poké Ball Pokémon. It puts fighters to sleep and damages them by using Dark Void . It also appears in both version of the game.

## Trophy information

### NA

*This Dark-type Pokémon can cause people and other Pokémon to experience nightmares. While it is floating in the air, it tucks its legs in so far, it looks like they vanish! In battle, it will use a move called Dark Void, which sucks in surrounding opponents and puts them into a deep sleep.*

### PAL

A Pokémon shrouded in mystery, Darkrai has the ability to implant nightmares into the minds of both humans and Pokémon. It has legs, but seems to prefer to float in the air. Its favorite movie in this game is Dark Void. When this attack hits something, it creates a vortex that sucks in fighters and puts them to sleep.
Darkrai returns as a Poké Ball summon. As before, it uses Dark Void , which puts foes to sleep and damages them. Darkrai also appears as a Spirit .

*Main article: Darkrai (Pokkén)*
Darkrai is a playable character in the arcade and Nintendo Switch versions of Pokkén Tournament.
## Game data

* NPC appearances
* Pokédex entries
* Game locations
* Held items
* Stats
* Type effectiveness
* Learnset
* Side game data
* Sprites

* Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time, Darkness, and Sky: Darkrai is revealed to be the main antagonist of the game in the post-game story. He wants the world in darkness, and was behind the collapse of the Temporal Tower in the main storyline of the game. His interference is also the reason they player was separated from Grovyle and turned into a Pokémon. In the post-game story, he turns his attention to distorting the fabric of space to cover the world in darkness.
* PokéPark 2: Wonders Beyond: Darkrai is the main antagonist in the game. He resided in Wish Park and wants to merge the Wish Park with PokéPark.
* Pokémon Ranger: Shadows of Almia: Darkrai is the final boss, summoned by Blake Hall.

This Pokémon was unavailable prior to Generation IV.

* IV
* V
* VI
* VII
* VIII
* IX

 Alpha Sapphire | It can lull people to sleep and make them dream. It is active during nights of the new moon.

 Legends: Arceus | On a moonless night, a strange incident occurred in which every one of a village's inhabitants suffered nightmares. The villagers attested that Darkrai appeared before them in these nightmares.

This Pokémon was unavailable prior to Generation IV.

* IV
* V
* VI
* VII
* VIII
* IX

* Side games
* Events

## In-game

* Side games
* Events

 Omega Ruby | Alpha Sapphire | Event

* Side games
* Events

 Let's Go, Pikachu! | Let's Go, Eevee! | Unobtainable

* Side games
* Events

 Legends: Arceus | **Coronet Highlands**: near Clamberclaw Cliffs (Only one\*)

## Side games

* Base stats
* Pokéathlon stats

* Maximum stats are calculated with 252 EVs, IVs of 31, and (if applicable) a helpful nature.

* IV
* V
* VI
* VII
* VIII
* IX

* Leveling up
* TM/HM
* Tutoring
* Events

* Diamond & Pearl
* Platinum, HeartGold & SoulSilver

* Leveling up
* TM/HM
* Tutoring
* Cross-generational transfer
* Events

 * A superscript level indicates that Darkrai can learn this move normally in Generation V.
* **Bold** indicates a move that gets STAB when used by Darkrai.
* *Italic* indicates a move that gets STAB only when used by an evolution of Darkrai.

* Leveling up
* TM/HM
* Tutoring
* Cross-generational transfer
* Events

* Leveling up
* TM
* Tutoring
* Cross-generational transfer

Darkrai is available in Pokémon Brilliant Diamond, Shining Pearl, and Legends: Arceus.

* Leveling up
* TM/TR
* Tutoring

* Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl
* Legends: Arceus

## Legends: Arceus

* Leveling up
* TM

* Mystery Dungeon
* Ranger
* Rumble
* PokéPark
* Trozei
* Shuffle
* GO

 Browser entry

* Blast
* Rush

 Base HP
 Base Attack
 Base Defense
 Base Speed

* Pikachu's Adventure
* Wonder Beyond

  20

 Base Attack
 Base Defense
 Egg Distance
 Buddy Distance
 Evolution requirement

This Pokémon was unavailable in Generations I, II, III, and IX.

* IV
* V
* VI
* VII
* VIII
* Other

## Trivia

* Darkrai's effort value yield of 2 Special Attack and 1 Speed is unique.
* Darkrai has two different portrait pictures in both Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time, Darkness, and Sky.
* Sailor Eldritch's son says "*Dar... Dark.... is watching me..."* in his sleep before the player cures his nightmare. It is assumed that he is talking about Darkrai, as it is known to give its victims horrific nightmares.
* In the early Japanese versions of Diamond and Pearl. Darkrai can be caught with the Surf glitch. However, this glitch was fixed in other language versions. Another glitch has been discovered that allows players of other language releases to reach Darkrai without the Member Card.

* This has been remedied in Pokémon Platinum, however, as Darkrai itself will not appear on the island without the event ticket.

* Darkrai was designed by Hironobu Yoshida
* In Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time, Darkness, and Sky, Darkrai is the only non-Ghost type Pokémon capable of traveling through walls and all other terrain types without the All-Terrain Hiker IQ skill.
* Despite being a gender-unknown Pokémon, the Darkrai in Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time, Darkness, and Sky is referred to as a male.

### Origin

Darkrai's appearance and abilities suggest it is based on the concept of nightmares or a mare. Resembling a shadow, it may also have been inspired by the bogeyman, the Greek god Morpheus, genies (or jinn), or the Oneiros, namely Phobetor. It may also be based on the nocnitsa from Slavic folklore, and evil spirit tha torments children with horrible nightmares, slowly draining them of their life energy with each passing night. Supposedly, the only way to protect oneself form a nocnitsa is by placing a knife or special stone underneath a pillow, similar to how victims of Darkrai's nightmares can only be woken up with the Lunar Feather. In contrast to its counterpart Cresslia's association with the crescent moon, Darkrai appears to represent the new moon.

#### Name origin

Darkrai may be a combination of *dark* and 暗い *kurai*.

## Related articles

* Lunar duo
* Darkrai (M10)
* Darkrai (Explorers of Time, Darkness, and Sky)
* Darkrai (Pokkén)
* Mythical Pokémon

## References

1. ↑ 2014 Pokémon World Championships VIPs | The Official Pokémon Website

## External links

* Darkrai on Pokémon.com

* Mythical Pokémon
* Smash Bros.