A lot of Legendary Pokémon made their return in the Pokémon Scarlet and Violet DLC, and players discovered something unique about two in particular.
Thanks to The Indigo Disk DLC, 25 returning Legendary Pokémon were added to the Gen IX Pokémon games for you to track down and catch. With help from an old man named Snacksworth, you can get your hands on anything from a Rayquaza to an Entei without having to transfer them over from another game—which is quite convenient, if you ask me.
Most of these Legendary Pokémon are pretty standard, but two are not like the rest. As pointed out by players in a July 21 Reddit thread, Groudon and Lugia are the only returning Legendaries to come with Tera Types that don’t match their original typing. You do have the option to change their Tera Types to whatever you want using Tera Shards, but it was no doubt an intentional decision on Game Freak’s end to give Groudon the Fire Tera Type and Lugia the Water Tera Type. And it has to do with past content and lore in the franchise.
Groudon’s Fire Tera Type is a clear reference to its Primal form, which debuted back in Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire. While Groudon’s natural typing is pure Ground, Primal Groudon has the Ground/Fire dual typing. On top of this, the Gen III Legendary’s ability sets up the sun to power up Fire-type moves, regardless of whether it’s in its normal or Primal form.
But since Primal Reversion isn’t available in Scarlet and Violet, giving Groudon the Fire Tera Type was a subtle nod to that era. Plus, it allows the Hoenn Legendary to take more advantage of Fire-type attacks under the sun it set up for itself.
Lugia, on the other hand, never had another form with the Water typing. Still, the Gen II Legendary has always been closely associated with water despite being a Psychic/Flying-type Pokémon. Whether you saw it first in Pokémon the Movie 2000 or on the Pokémon Silver start screen, it always seems to be gliding through the water. That’s why in the Scarlet and Violet DLC, Lugia is found floating in the ocean with the Water Tera Type. I wouldn’t blame anyone who assumed it wasn’t Water-type by nature.
