Volo

Manipulation

Seeking Arceus.

Destroy the world in order to recreate it in his own image.

Defeat the player (all failed).

Attempted mass destruction

Assault

Attempted theft

Indirect torture

> Eighteen Plates are said to be the fragments of the all-encompassing deity.... You hold in you hands of seventeen of them. SO you must be wondering "Where is the last one?". Why? It's right here! Now hand over the plates that you gathered! I will be the one to bring them all together! My desire to meet Arceus cannot be contained any longer! I need to know what it is! I MUST know what it is! If I can meet Arceus myself, then I may also be able to subjugate its power... And using that, I will attempt to create a new, better world! Of course, if I create a brand-new world, then this Hisui region that we currently exist in will be undone and returned to nothing. You, everyone you know, and all the Pokémon living here will vanish in an instant, as if you'd never been. If you want to keep this world from disappearing, then face me in battle! Not that you have a choice. Even if you don't wish to battle me, I'm not above using force to take those plates from you. ~ Volo before his final fight against the player.
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> “ Why? How?! I've devoted myself to Arceus beyond any other! I worshiped it as the creator of our entire world! I bent all of my passion and interest to its study! All the time I've spent poring over the legends... Everything that I've done—! You outsider! It's almost as if you were spat out of the space-time rift just to get in my way! No... no, this isn't finished yet! Can't you feel it? The chill creeping through your veins — the eldritch presence icing your heart? (Giratina appears from the Distortion World, under Volo's command) Giratina! Strike him/her down! „ ~ Volo summoning Giratina to kill the player, his most infamous quote.
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**Volo** is the main antagonist of *Pokémon Legends: Arceus*. A member of the Ginkgo Guild, he at first assists the player in their journey through the Hisui region. However, near the end of the game, he is revealed to be a selfish cultist that seeks to find Arceus, so he could absorb his powers in order to destroy the world and recreate it in his own image.

## Appearance

Volo is a tall and slender young man with hazel eyes and long blonde hair that covers his left eye. He wears the Ginkgo Guild uniform, consisting of a blue and orange hat, a blue long-sleeve shirt with orange fluff around the sleeves and collar, a white apron with an orange ginkgo leaf, blue jeans, and brown boots. He carries a large brown camping bag on his back.

Volo strongly resembles the modern-day Sinnoh champion Cynthia, suggesting that he is her ancestor.

After revealing his true colors, Volo changes his outfit to a white toga with golden outlines, golden bracelets, and a black brooch around his neck. His hair curves upwards at the sides and outwards in the back in a vertical wave pattern, resembling Arceus' mane.

## Personality

Volo first appears as a curious man intrigued with the lore of the Hisiuan region, knowledgeable on Pokémon both regular and legendary. Underneath his friendly façade, Volo is an egotistical, sociopathic, ambitious and malevolent man obsessed with finding Arceus. His desire to meet Arceus, the god that created the world is so strong that he declares that nothing will stop him in his path, even if it means destroying the world and recreating it in his own image. After his defeat, he refuses to accept his loss and swears that he will have his hands on Arceus even if it takes him centuries to succeed.

## Biography

Prior to the events in the game, Volo obtained the Spooky Plate from Giratina in his plan to get revenge on Arceus for his banishment. This made Volo obsessed with finding the supreme deity, Arceus and obtaining its powers.

Volo then met the player, who found themselves in the Hisui region from a space-time rift, and manipulates them under a friendly façade to gain their trust. Using his intellect of Pokémon both common and legendary, he assists the player in goading them in the right direction to find plates, as collecting all could lead to a direction to locate Arceus. After collecting seventeen of the nineteen plates, Volo believes the last one was at the Temple of Sinnoh. There, he also mentions Giratina and its imprisonment in the Distortion World.

At the Temple of Sinnoh, Volo reveals his true intentions to the player. He wants to combine all the plates to create a portal to Arceus' realm, having manipulated the player with his knowledge of Pokémon, so they would gather all the plates and give them to him. He also had the missing plate all along and demands the player to surrender theirs. Volo challenges them to a battle when they refused, threatening to destroy the world should they lose the battle.

The player ultimately defeats Volo's team. Refusing to accept his defeat after everything he accomplished, Volo summons Giratina from the Distortion World to strike the player down. But the player prevails and defeats Giratina in both of its forms, making it retreat back to the Distortion World. This makes Volo realize that the player was the one chosen by Arceus, not him. As such, he gives the player the Spooky Plate, causing the Celestica Flute to turn into the Azure Flute. Volo then takes his leave, stating that he refuses to stand by while the player gets to face Arceus, swearing to come back and conquer Arceus one day, as he disappears.

## Quotes

“ Oh? What a curious getup you have there. I can already tell you're quite the character! „ ~ Volo

“ I'm Volo of the Ginkgo Guild, the go-to choice for any of your mercantile needs here in Hisui! „ ~ Volo

“ I see! you were given the plates when you impressed Wydeer and Kleavor? „ ~ Volo

“ You gain plates when you quell frenzied nobles-and when great Pokemon recognizes you as worthy of bearing isn't that right? „ ~ Volo

“ You know I've been wondering.... the ancient hero- Their powers are supposed to have come from almighty Sinnoh itself. „ ~ Volo

“ I've been looking all over for you, you know! What would do if I were to lose one of my favorite customers? „ ~ Volo

“ **THAT'S ONE OF THE PLATES WE WERE LOOKING FOR!** Ahem. Apologies. That's indeed one of the plates that we've been searching for. „ ~ Volo after obtaining the Pixie Plate.

“ This crumbling statue once was the figure of a Pokémon–one that was equal to both Dialga and Palkia, yet banished from our world...The great Pokémon Giratina! It was banished for its violence, left to dwell in a world on the reverse side of our own. It is a being that has lain in wait for the chance to bare its fangs in defiance and tear down Arceus itself. Now tell me, if this Giratina desires more than anything else to challenge almighty Arceus... where do you think it might appear? "Exactly! Where one is closer to the heavens than any other place in Hisui! ...And where the space-time rift first opened! Huhuhuh... **HAHAHAHAHA!** I can feel it... We are getting closer to uncovering the secrets of this world! I daresay the excitement is loosening my lips more than it should, but... You see, ever since I was young, whenever I met with something painful or heartbreaking... I couldn't help but wonder why life was so unfair. Why I was cursed to live through such things. Of course, I imagine we all go through something like that. Eventually, I chose to direct all my energy into my own natural curiosity and ambition. And what tickled my curiosity more strongly than anything were the mysteries to be found in legends, in history, in ruins... You see, I fancied that by unraveling these mysteries, I could find out how the world itself came to be–and with that knowledge, maybe even forge a new, better world! Now, if we can find the realm that exists on the reverse side of our world...and meet the creator's unwanted child banished therein... perhaps then we'll be able to understand the nature of almighty Sinnoh itself! Don't you want to see it with your own eyes?! We must make for the Temple of Sinnoh at Mount Coronet's peak! Dialga and Palkia both appeared from within the rift that once gaped open there, didn't they? If these plates can call anything at all, it seems likely that is where it would appear! „ ~ Volo

“ Turning tail and running? from this puny human? Pathetic! „ ~ Volo

“ Someday, I'll solve every riddle in the legends of Hisui's Pokémon. And on that day, I'll stand before Arceus at last- No, I will **CONQUER** it! No matter how many years, how many decades, how many centuries it takes me! „ ~ Volo swearing revenge on the player following their defeat at their hands, showing that even despite his surrender, his ambitions remain, also his last lines in the game.

## Trivia

* Volo's name is based on "Volō", which is Latin for "I wish".
	+ "Volo" also happens to be the Italian word for "flight".
* All of Volo's Pokémon (including Giratina) have serious natures.
* Volo shares many similarities with Cynthia, the champion of Sinnoh. What relationship between the two, if any, is unknown.
	+ Both of them have blonde hair with bangs that cover their eye.
	+ Volo's boss theme is an arrangement of Cynthia's theme.
	+ Five of Volo's Pokémon are shared with Cynthia's team in *Pokémon Platinum*. The only exception being Milotic who is absent in *Pokémon Legends: Arceus* and instead replaced with Hisuian Arcanine.
	+ Both start their battle with Spiritomb.
* Volo is the first main story antagonist to be fought in the post-game. He is also the first main antagonist of a main series game to not be affiliated with a villainous team or equivalent organization like the Aether Foundation or Macro Cosmos, as the Ginkgo Guild does not have any role in his scheme and his only ally is Giratina.
* Volo's claim that he's willing to even take centuries to locate and conquer Arceus, and his goal to subjugate Arceus in order to create a peaceful new world, alludes to Cyrus and his ambitions as Team Galactic's leader.
* Volo's manipulative nature is foreshadowed by how he's defined as a Pokemon "Wielder" rather than a Trainer, implying he sees his Pokemon as objects or weapons instead of friends or even pets.