Pokémon Scarlet and Violet feature around 400 Pokémon to encounter and catch across the Paldea region, but plenty of colorful characters to meet. Whether you start playing Scarlet or Violet, the main characters will meet various students at the Academy, in the towns, and across multiple Gyms.
Two characters you’ll meet quite frequently during the game’s storyline are the Academy’s professors, depending on whether you’re playing Scarlet or Violet. We explore who the professors are and their significance to Pokémon Scarlet and Violet.
Who Are Pokémon Scarlet & Violet's Professors?
Depending on which game you own, you begin your adventures in the Paldea region at one of two academies: Naranja Academy (Scarlet) or Uva Academy (Violet). You will be dividing your time and attention to your classes at one of these institutions and gaining plenty of experiences when exploring the region's open-world environments.
What distinguishes Scarlet and Violet from previous Pokémon entries is that it features two professors to guide you in your quest to become Paldea's best Trainer. Likewise, if you own Pokémon Scarlet, you'll meet Professor Sada, and Professor Turo will be your leading figure in Pokémon Violet.
Both professors will provide you with various research tasks to complete and inform you about the region's lore to help you along your journey. What makes this significant change so impactful is that their names provide you with insight into the overall themes and game production of Pokémon Scarlet and Violet.
As the professors' names are borrowed from the Spanish language and culture, the entirety of Paldea was modeled on multiple geographical locations found in Spain, including the academies. Professor Sada's name, based on the Spanish word "pasada," loosely translates to "past" and it's the opposite for Violet's professor.
Professor Turo, whose name was borrowed from the word "futuro," which roughly means "future," matches his character design, wearing a futuristic-designed lab coat and purple-colored body suit. Sada's translated name accommodates her unique character design as she can be seen wearing the traditional white lab coat sporting orange-colored pelts, fur embellishments, and sandals.
Depicting both the past and future, this is also evident in the companion Pokémon you'll be assigned, Koraidon (Scarlet), being the ancient ancestor to Cyclizar. Miraidon (Violet), your companion Pokémon in Violet, is the futuristic-looking descendant of Cyclizar.
Furthermore, according to the notable Pokémon database, Bulbapedia, both professors utilized a time-traveling device to bring Koraidonand Miraidon to Paldea in the current timeline. This attributes to both Pokémon's ability to change their form to cater to time-traveling, making it vastly different than other Paradox Pokémon in-game.
Themes of the past and future can also be denoted in the game's environmental design, as Scarlet's visuals reflect a more primitive style and Violet, being the opposite, has a more modern, sleek visual design. Lastly, aside from color palettes, both games' Legendary Pokémon have been given varying designs to reflect either the past (Scarlet) or the future (Violet) design.
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Featured image courtesy of Game Freak / The Pokémon Company.