Exceptions

Zygarde (All forms)

There is one central Zygarde emissary under full control – as opposed to cores making up one thinking being. One of the powers Zygarde possesses is its ability to separate itself into cells, which it spreads out to monitor the state of the environment. Separating these cells only appears to alter Zygardes pokemon form, which changes appearance based on how many cells it has.

The cells are capable of acting autonomously, however the emissary can ‘project’ itself and take control of a cell for a period, if desired.

Lake trio (Uxie, Mesprit, and Azelf)

The three were created when Arceus severed their emotions, knowledge, and willpower from themselves. Being said, these three are all extensions of Arceus themselves and are truly immortal. They don’t relay emissaries, and instead act as facets of Arceus’s old personality. The trio does not possess a god form, and can only appear human for short periods of time.

When Arceus re-merged these facets into themselves, the trio ceased to exist.

Heatran & Shaymin

Different legends, same situation. Unlike most, more than one Heatran/Shaymin exists at one time. For Heatran, one exists for every volcano in the world, acting as it’s central guardian; and for Shaymin, one keeps watch over a certain span of wildlands. Each emissary still follows the same rules, and is replaced by a new emissary upon death – unless their home volcano becomes inactive in Heatran’s case.

For Shaymin, there’s a ‘lead’ who coordinates all the other Shaymin and protects the biggest area – this role is currently occupied by Sasha.

Mew
^{Represented by Naoko}

Mew is a bit of an odd case… it has no true godly powers aside from being able to manifest pokemon eggs from thin air. Mew is the original biological ancestor of all pokemon, created by Arceus.

While originally not incorporated into the legend system, Mew requested the ability to have a stable human form outside of its transformation abilities. The original mew survived all the way until it was captured and killed by Team Rocket, prompting Arceus to make a hasty decision, picking an emissary for Mew despite Mew technically not being a legend.

Mewtwo

Artificially created as a ‘living weapon pokemon’ by Giovanni, which ended in the catastrophic destruction of Cinnabar Island and Mewtwo’s escape. They aren’t immortal or capable of shifting forms – but they have been granted the ability to visit the hall of origin, which they refuse. They currently reside somewhere in Kalos, away from all humans.

Legendary beasts (Raikou, Entei, and Suicune)

Three pokemon who got revived and blessed with extraordinary knowledge, power, and a form never seen before by Ho-Oh after they perished in a fire.

They possess true immortality, and are capable of shifting into human form for a very short amount of time; making them psuedo-legends of sorts. They are still capable of using their respective elemental power in human form.

With… the exception of Aya. After being powered up by Yveltal as well, she’s the only member of the trio who is capable of holding human form indefinitely if she pleases. This power also granted her regenerative abilities that surpass the other beasts and most normal legends. 

Guardian Deities (Tapu Koko, Tapu Lele, Tapu Bulu, and Tapu Fini)

These pokemon originated as totems who came to life from the hope and spirit of the people of Alola. They possess intelligence beyond human level, and are true immortals. Due to Alola being out of Arceus’s control, neither of them really know much about the other.

Deoxys

Due to confusion, Deoxys was originally classified as a legendary pokemon. It seems to appear inside meteorites that target the planet every 1,000 years, which made research based on dug up remains for the longest time.

In modern times, however, Deoxys has been properly re-classified as a sapient species of Ultra Beast. Not much is known about them outside Ultra Space, but there, they’re one of the dominant species – currently feuding with humans and pheromosa for power.

Genesect

Another artificially created pokemon meant to be a living weapon, commissioned by Ghetsis. Unlike Mewtwo, its DNA was based on that of a prehistoric bug pokemon and was considered ‘less dangerous’ by Ghetsis.

Still, many scientists quit the project and it was eventually canceled by N. It was later Colress who finished and activated Genesect, who promptly deactivated and sabotaged it after finding out Ghetsis’s intentions for using Genesect.

After Plasma fell for good, Colress repaired Genesect and it now just… chills in his basement, eating spare parts.

Magearna

Artificially created to not be a weapon, but a friend. It was created to accompany the sick and bed-bound daughter of Kalos’s king 500 years ago. When his daughter died, a messy string of events ended up with a violent change of power, and Magearna being buried with the fall of his rule. It was only recently that it was dug up at an archeology site, and scientists are still trying to get it to work again.

It’s theorized that infinity energy was responsible for this artificial pokemon, due to its age.

Movie mythicals (Zeraora, Volcanion, and Zarude)

Considering these mythicals only really exist for movie branding, they’ve all been retooled into Ultra Beasts to help populate Ultra Space a bit more.

Zeraora is a sapient species native to the Ultra Highlands that works closely with humans and Xurkitree
Volcanion is a species with around dog-level intelligence that is used as a herd protection and working companion.
Zarude is a species with around parrot or dolphin intelligence that lives in the Ultra Jungle in troops.

Eternatus

Eternatus was a gift from Arceus to Skymother – a guard dog, of sorts. It was a being of pure infinity energy, with a swirling mass of it as it’s heart – it was intended to negate all threats to Skymom.

But when Ramiel’s rampage began, Eternatus was defeated, and the amount of infinity energy in it allowed it to live after death in a state of eternal decay. It was launched through wormhole to the Outside World, where it crash-landed in Galar and over-saturated the region, and the world with background infinity energy – allowing for mega evolution to occur.

Crown Tundra horses (Glastrier & Spectrier)

Due to excessive human disruption, the Glastrier and Spectrier that currently exist are the only ones of their kind left. However, they have been blessed by Arceus due to the tragedy – becoming immortal and more powerful.

They managed to reclaim the Crown Tundra from humans, at least until the emissary of Calyrex came in and managed to tame them.

Despite their power, they still retain the intelligence they had pre-blessing – which is to say, they are literally horses.

Origin Dialga and Palkia

The origin forms of Dialga and Palkia are not legends – in fact, they aren’t actually Dialga or Palkia at all.

They were created as paradoxes when an outburst of Ridley’s power fractured the timeline, and because of this, have distorted forms and no emissary.

Raidons (Koraidon & Miraidon)

Allegedly, these two pokemon are from the distant past and future respectively – they were brought to the present by Professor Sada’s machine.

While they are exceptionally strong, they do not possess any godly powers and are simply the genetic ancestor/descendant of cyclizar, a common pokemon in the Paldea region.

Terapogos

Terapogos in pokeau is, in fact, an ultra beast – originating from the beachy border area between the Ultra Forest and Ultra Jungle. Arceus had a particular soft spot for them, and adopted one into their world to keep as a pet – with Area Zero being their terrarium.

However, due to Area Zero being a physical location in proximity to the Hall of Origin, the deepest areas of it became overrun with crystal growth and infinity energy as a physical manifestation of Arceus’s despair prior to fully severing their emotions… and the terapogos became trapped, slowly absorbing the infinity energy over thousands of years.