Solgaleo is a large, white Pokémon resembling a lion. It has a blunt muzzle with a blue-gray nose and pale blue eyes. The top half of its face is a deep blue area that shows a constantly changing starscape. Four yellow spikes frame Solgaleo's head like a crown and two more pairs of spikes adorn either side of its lower jaw. Each spike separates large tufts of Solgaleo's mane. Solid ridges—red nearest Solgaleo's head and yellow farther away—poke out of each tuft along the middle, except on the tufts on its cheeks and chin, with the topmost part wrapping around the tip of the tuft. Overall, its mane creates the impression of a stylized sun. Around each leg is a dark orange band, and there is a black spot on each foot. It has three black toes on each foot with long yellow claws. At the tip of its tail is a large black spot with a thin yellow rim.
When Solgaleo enters its Radiant Sun phase, its third eye—a light blue symbol similar to a compass rose—appears on its foreheadand the starscape turns to streaks of light. The fur on its body glows a pale yellow and all red and black parts of its body, including its belly and paws, turn bright yellow. It enters this phase while using one of its signature moves or traveling through Ultra Space. The phase does not appear in the core series as of Pokémon Scarlet and Violet.[1]
Solgaleo has long been honored as an emissary of the sun;[2] in ancient times, it was known as "the beast that devours the sun". It is said to live in another world and returns there when its third eye activates. Its body is capable of holding a vast amount of energy and glows when active. The intense light it radiates can make nighttime look like midday. Solgaleo can create Ultra Wormholes to travel to and from Ultra Space. Along with its counterpart Lunala, it can create Cosmog, which it is said to be the male evolution of. Solgaleo along with Lunala has the power to create Z-Crystals and restore Necrozma's light, regaining its true form. It can also influence a Rockruff's evolution into Lycanroc's Midday form with solar energy.[3] The residents of Ultra Megalopolis uses Solgaleo as their own Ride Pokémon to travel through Ultra Space.
Solgaleo, similar to Lunala, is a being composed of light; due to that, it is constantly hunted down by Necrozma through Ultra Space, so it can try and devour Solgaleo's light to ease its nonstopping pain and regain its original, Ultra form. When taken over by Necrozma, Necrozma's body divides into pieces that connect to Solgaleo's body, possessing it and transforming itself into Dusk Mane Necrozma, as its pieces constantly absorb Solgaleo's light. However, Solgaleo can coexist with Necrozma willingly, regardless of fusion[4][5]. Solgaleo loves Solgaleo Treats made by Snacksworth, who once encountered it in the past.
In Full Moon and Many Arms!, Solgaleo was involved in rescuing Lunala and Necrozma from Team Rocket's captivity. Later on, after Necrozma separated from Lunala, it was taken over by Necrozma, becoming Dusk Mane Necrozma. It then opened up an Ultra Wormhole to Poipole's world. Ash tried to follow Solgaleo (now fused with Necrozma), but failed because the Ultra Wormhole closed.
In The Prism of Light and Darkness!, after being pursued by Ash, his classmates, and Lunala, to Poipole's world, Solgaleo was successfully separated from Necrozma after the Ultra Guardians, Naganadel and its Poipole subjects, and all the people and Pokémon of Alola sent their light to Necrozma. However, due to being fused with Necrozma for a long period of time, Solgaleo was completely drained of energy. When Ash and Mallow gave Solgaleo a Sitrus Berry, Solgaleo regained its strength once more. Ash requested its power, and it and Ash performed Searing Sunraze Smash alongside Lunala and Gladion, who were performing Menacing Moonraze Maelstrom.
Minor appearances
Solgaleo debuted alongside Lunala in Ash's dream in A Dream Encounter!, where it and Lunala were shown creating Nebby. It reappeared in flashbacks in Faba's Revenge! and Revealing the Stuff of Legend!, and in a fantasy in Tough Guy Trials!.
GOTCHA!
A Solgaleo briefly appeared as a silhouette in GOTCHA!.
A Solgaleo appeared in The Legend Revealed. Meja was aiming to summon it through an Ultra Wormhole to use it to power his superweapon. He succeeded in The Opened Wormhole, but Tokio simultaneously summoned Lunala through another wormhole, suppressing Solgaleo's powers.
Solgaleo's Japanese name and its romanization were revealed in a tweet[dead link] of their trademark on March 22, 2016.
Solgaleo's physical and special stats are the reverse of Lunala's.
Solgaleo's verbal cry in Pokémon Sun, "La-liona", may be based on the words lā (Hawaiian for sun) and liona (Hawaiian for lion).
Origin
Solgaleo appears to be based on a lion with a sun motif, a fairly common motif in many Western and Middle Eastern cultures. In particular, it might reference the alchemical lion, being described as "devouring the sun", however typically a green lion and a metaphor for aqua regia, as well as connected to metals via its Steel type (matter). In astrology, the Sun is also the ruler of the sign Leo.
As the emissary rather than a personification of the sun, as well as being able to pass through different dimensions, it might lend some inspiration from the eye of Ra, a goddess usually described as a lion that is the sun's protector in Egyptian mythology as it travels through the underworld. Its regular and Shiny colors may be inspired by phases in stellar evolution: regular Solgaleo may represent the Sun as a white main-sequence star, while Shiny Solgaleo may represent the red giant that the Sun will eventually become as the hydrogen inside its core is exhausted.
Name origin
Solgaleo may be a combination of sol (Latin for sun) and leo (Latin for lion). It may also incorporate Galileo, an Italian astronomer who presented evidence that the Earth rotated around the Sun and advocated Copernican heliocentrism.
↑Lusamine (Masters):"It doesn't seem like Necrozma or Solgaleo are suffering in their current state. I suppose now that they have the light of our sync stone, they're able to coexist peacefully."(Pokémon Masters EX)
↑Lillie"<player>, I know this may be sudden, but I hope you will consider what I ask of you. I want to entrust Nebby to you. I think Nebby should be with Necrozma. From what I've heard, Necrozma would not suffer as much or ache so for the light if it can remain close to Nebby..."(Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon)
This Pokémon article is part of Project Pokédex, a Bulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on each Pokémon species, as well as Pokémon groups and forms.