Palworld fans speculate Gobfin is related to Jormuntide

Palworld is no stranger to theory-crafting with its vast collection of monsters waiting to be tamed. While Pocketpair's hugely popular "Pokemon-with-guns" title doesn't have evolutions (yet), there are certain Pals that share a striking resemblance, hinting at a possible distant relation. One user u/Lazulii333 took to the Palworld subreddit to raise an interesting question:

"Is gobfin related to jormuntide?"

Is gobfin related to jormuntide? byu/Lazulii333 inPalworld

From a design and theme perspective, the question seems fairly logical. Both Gobfin and Jormuntide in Palworld share a blue and golden aesthetic, with similar element typings as well. Lore-wise, this can also make some sense since Gobfin was at one time a purely aquatic Pal. Gobfin's Paldeck entry reads:

"Long ago, it was a large and powerful aquatic Pal. As food became scarce it evolved to live on land. Since walking requires much energy, it gradually became smaller and is now a small and puny Pal."

Jormuntide's size may be a possible reference for Gobfin's evolution (Image via Reddit)

A certain user u/hotsizzler related to the Paldeck entry to back up the OP's perspective. Jormuntide in Palworld is only available in the open world as an Alpha Pal, so Gobfin at one time being a "powerful aquatic Pal" would relate to this statement as well.

Another user u/kingmanic pointed out how every Pal can breed with one another, potentially leading back to one singular species, with different phenotypes. The user said:

"Technically, since every pal can breed with any other they are all one species. With very different phenotypes."

While Pal evolutions are not a thing, there is enough lore in the game to support the idea that these monsters did undergo natural evolution, somewhat similar to Darwin's theory for humans. One user u/Lobsimusprime took to the subreddit to explain his point.

Community discussions (Image via Reddit)

The user believes that most Pals were larger at some given point, and gradually evolved to become smaller subspecies of their once gigantic form for better survivality. This is evidenced by the massive skeletal remains that are found scattered throughout the lands of Palworld.

However, in reality, it is unlikely that these Pals are related at all. While Gobfin's lore dictates it was once a larger Pal, Jormuntide's Paldeck entry shows a completely different backstory, this one with human relations instead. The entry reads:

"Legends says the Jormuntide was once a wise man, who after being wrongly convicted and cast into a whirlpool, returned as this Pal to destroy those who wronged him."

If we are to go by this, Jormuntide is more closely related to humans as compared to Gobfin, and that itself proves this point to be null and void. While it can be argued that all Pals may have possibly stemmed from one singular Pal, Gobfin and Jormuntide are as much related to each other as Shadowbeak and Mammorest in Palworld.

Gobfin is more likely to be related to some kind of shark Pal, that we have not yet seen in Palworld. Maybe it became extinct, or nature's evolution managed to downsize it permanently. Similarly, Gobfin Ignis and Jormuntide Ignis in Palworld, although having similar colors and designs, have no real connection to each other.

Furthermore, Jormuntide is vastly similar to Gyarados in Pokemon, and almost the entire community will agree with this viewpoint. Going by that logic itself, Gyarados evolves from the seemingly useless Magikarp, a fish. On the other hand, Gobfin draws more similarities from Gible in Pokemon, which evolves in Gabite and Garchomp in its final stages.

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Does this similarity hint at an evolution in Palworld?

Opinions about evolutions in Palworld (Image via Reddit)

Evolutions in Palworld are an unlikely scenario, although fans believe it may have been an intended feature at some point. The uncanny similarity between certain Pals like Petallia and Lyleen is hard to miss. User u/Zetatrue said:

"yea i could see it being bristla evolving into petallia but you need a cinamoth in the party for it to happen, and petallia would evolve into lyleen or lyleen noct based on time of day"

Evolutions based on the time of the day are not a new concept, and many Pokemon like Lycanroc evolve in the Pokemon games based on the time of the day. If Petalia did in fact evolve to Lyleen or Lyleen Noct based on the time of the day, it would probably have landed Pocketpair in deeper troubles with Nintendo.

Nintendo had already accused Pocketpair of plagiarizing their designs from Pokemon. While a striking resemblance can be drawn between Pal designs and Pokemon, there is no direct evidence to support this claim.