A piece of medieval artwork surfaced depicting a strange painting of a blue vegetable with a face, giving it an uncanny resemblance to the iconic Pokémon Oddish.
The image was provided by Daily Art, which detailed the known history of the strange piece of medieval art. Titled Blue Root, the image was found within a 15th-century Italian herbal book detailing various plants. While the artist is unknown, the piece is currently possessed by Penn Libraries. Of course, for fans of the Pokémon franchise, the oddly familiar painting bares a remarkable resemblance to the first-generation Pokémon Oddish.
According to Daily Art, the particular art style choices used for Blue Root were rather conventional for the time when it was created. Believed to have been painted in the early 15th-century, it was common for artwork of such objects to be depicted with faces or fantastical elements. The collection in which it was found is believed to have been added to throughout the century, as suggested by the differing art styles found in the later folios. Those images were less likely to be confused with Pokémon, being drawn as more naturalistic depictions of the specimens.
Oddish is an iconic grass-type Pokémon that was implemented into the franchise’s first entries Pokémon Red and Green, localized as Pokémon Red and Blue in the West. The little blue and green vegetable-like Pokémon is a fairly common grass-type that has appeared in several generations of the games in addition to many episodes of the anime. It’s design is believed to have been inspired by the mythical Mandrake, known to create an ear-splitting shriek when pulled from the ground. This comparison was made even more likely by the Pokédex entry in Pokémon Yellow, which suggested Oddish similarly screams when people attempt to uproot it.
Oddish has quite a few evolutions that drastically alters its appearance. First evolving into the poison and grass-type Gloom at level 21, players can then choose between two final forms. Gloom can be given a Leaf Stone to evolve into Vileplume, or a Sun Stone to evolve into Bellossom. While Oddish has appeared as a potential wild encounter in entries as recent as Pokémon Sword and Shield, it could also be caught in the Sinnoh region. As such, players can likely anticipate encountering the creature once again in the upcoming remastered generation four games Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl.
Source: Daily Art
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