What animal is Gardevoir based on?

Question

If it is an animal or not.

Comments

well gardevoir is acully sir knight dont take this the wrong way but its kinda tippig me off cuz gardevoir has all ways been my fav pokemon trust me its a 100% team sweeper and it can koed pretty much anything if you become friends with it it would doge and heal it self if it gets sleep posioned or paralyzed

Answer 1

Gardevoir isn't based on an animal, but it does have an origin. Bulbapedia's origin looks pretty accurate to me, so I'll show you that.

Gardevoir resembles a ballroom dancer. Its exaggerated head with minimal facial expression and an overall frail, featureless physique could also be attributed to anesama ningyou, a style of traditional Japanese paper doll. Its protective nature over its Trainer may suggest that it is based on a guardian angel, though its ghost-like characteristics could also suggest that it is based on ghosts that refuse to leave this world. - [Bulbapedia][1]

The guardian angel one is probably the correct one, as Gardevoir is known to protect it's Trainer according to the Pokedex. It's name also has 'guard' in it, which suggests that this is correct.

Gardevoir looks like a humanoid fairy imo, but that's just me.
[1]: http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Gardevoir_(Pokémon)#Origin

Comments

Building off of this, notice how regular Gardevoir has the red thing sticking through it? Well, my guess is that it symbolizes Gardevoir taking a blade or other form of attack as a self sacrifice in order to protect its trainer. And, get this, when it mega evolves that red thing splits into two at the front. Why does it do that? Well, one theory building off of the self sacrifice one is that it changes from a symbol of self sacrifice to a symbol of love for its trainer, hence the heart shape. Feel free to build off from here, I’d love to hear your theories.

Answer 2

White Maine Coon cat.

Source: I happen to own one and I see many similarities:
1. There is a bone structure between maine coon's front limbs that is similar in shape to the red "horn" on Gardevoir's chest. It's in the same place. Although Gardevoir's horn most likely was made red to also symbolise it's heart.
2. White colour - obviously.
3. Cat like face of Gardevoir. Those three "short spikes" on Gardevoir's face look very similar to maine coon's maine and ear tufts. It's like an anime maine coon would look like.
4. Slender limbs. At least my white maine coon has longer and more slender limbs than other cats. I haven't checked it with other maine coons.
5. Similar character: loyal, devoted, loving, gentle, protective of it's trainer/owner, bonds with it's trainer/owner.
6. Big hands - in comparison to it's slender limbs my maine coon's paws seem bigger just like Gardevoir's hands.

Comments

Where is your source?

---

Does an answer based on the poster's observation require an external source?

---

No, it doesn't, but I think that this entire answer is a long shot.

---

exactly. i just wanted to see if the answer was backed up by some source

---

Where is my source? My "source" is currently laying on my belly :)
The only credible sources that we can get for Pokemon design are interviews with Pokemon designers. Since we don't have these for most Pokemon, we can only make conjectures based on similarities between Pokemon and real world objects or animals. That is exactly what Bulbapedia provided in Gardevoir's Origin section. There are no sources listed there. Pure conjecture.

---

Okay, but if there is no source other than your observations, then why do we need this answer? There is already a good answer that is BA and was answered more than 5 years ago. Also, almost every website/book/person that is pokemon-related that knows about this will say that Gardevoir is probably based on either a Dancer or a Knight. There is no official answer as far as i know.

---

Well there could always be a better explanation that's overlooked.

---

but is this a better explanation?

---

I see no reason why both answers can't be right at the same time. Designers often take inspiration from multiple sources at the same time. Maine Coon cats aren't that common and definitely not white ones. I've never even considered the similarities between them and Gardevoir untill I got myself a white Maine Coon. Gardevoir is obviously based on a woman and there is a saying that women are like cats. Since designer had to make Gardevoir different than female characters, then he/she might have given Gardevoir some feline traits - the "horns" might be a representation of whiskers. We really can't be sure but if you asked me: "which animal doeas a Gardevoir most resemble?", then I would say: definitely a white Maine Coon cat.

---

While you can see resemblances I don't, it still doesn't change the fact that this comparison is a far stretch and is so unlikely that it almost definitely isn't true, especially when looking at Gardevoir's prevos. (no offense, if that sounded harsh). :P

Bulbapdedia may not have a source, but at least they have a good explanation and can trace parts of the design to the culture where the game is made (which isn't always the case, but oftentimes is).
Also, not to mention all of the name translations and other aspects for Gardevoir and it's prevos don't mention anything catlike, unless dancing, sensing emotions, using psychic powers, and protecting someone are things that only cats can accomplish. Also, the prevos (and Gallade) don't really have the catlike resemblances your mentioned, and it isn't often that Pokemon would randomly add a resemblance in a evolution unless it made sense. :P
I'm almost sure the designer gave Gardevoir the 'horns' and 'whiskers' because it looks like either eyelashes or a traditional mask you'd wear while dancing. The big red horn probably comes from the Red horns on the prevos doing stuff with emotions, and now it is on the heart because... emotions. :P

I'm just saying that it is immensely unlikely that Gardevoir takes any inspiration from any cat of any kind, so while you may believe Gardevoir looks like a Maine Coon cat, that doesn't mean it took any inspiration from it. Just because 2 things look a tiny bit similar in a few ways doesn't mean one was based off of the other.
Because you cannot draw any comparison other than those subtle coincidences (which are not widely agreed upon, as well as some being a stretch), you can't make a case that has any more grounds than a wild guess, whereas bulbapedia has a respectable amount of evidence that suggests Gardevoir is based off of a dancer and a protective person.  :P

---

I agree with Staka. Both answers could be right, but I honestly highly doubt it, mostly because Gardevoir isn't even remotely catlike in appearance. I'm not 100% positive about this, but I don't think that any Pokemon are based off of something, but don't resemble it, or are at least stated in the Pokedex or something to have similar actions to those of what's described in folklore and stuff. It'd be completely ridiculous for someone to go "[animal] can be white, but is not always, so let's make this Pokemon white! Also, rather than making it resemble [animal], we'll make it humanoid, and give it [feature] to represent [completely unrelated feature of aforementioned animal]!" By that logic, you could argue that any Pokemon was based off of anything. Gardevoir is based off of a squid. The dress represents the tentacles, and Gardevoir's green helmet type thing always covering one eye is definitely supposed to a reference to how squids only have one eye on each side of their heads! The horn type thing in the middle of Gardevoir's chest is probably a reference to the part that sticks out on the top of a squid.

---

definitely a squid.