Pokemon lore: Why does Poliwhirl need King’s Rock to evolve to Politoed? 

The world of Pokemon is vast, with over 1,000 creatures, so many moves, abilities, items, and so on. The universe is extremely complex and fascinating. One of the most interesting phenomena in the franchise is that of evolution. While the most common way to evolve one creature into another is to level them up by battling, many new gimmicks have been added over the years.

While leveling up still remains the dominant method, other factors, such as specific items, trading, weather conditions, friendship, and so on, have become necessary conditions for some Pokemon to evolve. Many may wonder why and the question is even more perplexing when it comes to branched evolutions.

With the Poliwag Community Day coming to Pokemon GO in July 2023, it might be interesting to know why Poliwhirl evolves into Poliwrath with a Water Stone while it evolves into Politoed when traded, holding the King's Rock.

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The story behind Poliwrath and Politoed evolution ahead of Poliwag Community Day in Pokemon GO

Some evolutions that require specific conditions make immediate logical sense. When given a Fire Stone, Eevee evolves into a Flareon, and upon coming in contact with a Water Stone, it evolves into a Vaporeon.

However, the story behind Poliwhirl's evolution into Poliwrath and Politoed is more complex and arbitrary than that. To understand how it came about, one has to go back to the roots of the Poliwag line's creation.

Beta sprites for the Poliwag family were revealed on the Japanese version of the Game Freak website in 1997. In that version, the final evolutionary stage of the line, Poliwrath was remarkably lacking in a fundamental aspect of its design: it looked too goofy and happy to have 'wrath' in its name.

Artist Atsuko Nishida, who designed Pikachu, commented on the same:

“Poliwag’s final evolution [didn't] look very tough, and players wouldn't be happy if they'd worked so hard to evolve their Pokémon only to have its final form appear weak."

Interestingly enough, the Beta sprites of Poliwrath show a crown on the creature's head. During the process of redesigning the Pokemon, it lost its crown. This can be said as the version of Poliwrath known by players worldwide now doesn't feature a crown. Needless to say, the goal behind the redesign has been successful, as Poliwrath now looks angry and ready to punch anyone in its way.

With the Pokemon franchise's Generation II, Poliwrath's lost crown was repurposed by the developer to give Poliwhirl an alternative evolution.

Unlike the Poliwrath evolution, which requires a Water Stone, Poliwhirl evolves into Politoed when traded holding a King's Rock (a rock shaped like a crown).

The other creature to receive a similar treatment was Slowpoke and its branched evolution, Slowking. While Slowking has a kingly appearance and a clear reference in its name, Politoed lacks such external details.

However, Politoed's Pokedex descriptions across generations allude to its kingly presence marked by Poliwag and Poliwhirl gathering immediately upon hearing its cries. This ties up an interesting Pokemon easter egg giving a subtle but meaningful nod to Poliwrath's original design.