We have only just started getting details about Pokémon Scarlet and Violet’s The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero DLC, which will release its first part later this year. And, while the name itself hints at some important lore for Gen IX, a persistent leaker has today shared a “big spoiler” for the series’ next game in the series could feature too.
With the latest DLC trailer, The Pokémon Company officially introduced some of the new characters players will encounter during the next leg of their SV journey.
This includes meeting two trainers, Kieran and Carmine, during Part One: The Teal Mask—but a promo image released when the DLC was first revealed also shows they will appear during Part Two: The Indigo Disk too.
That alone doesn’t mean much, but additional comments from a Pokémon leaker regarding that same image now have fans speculating on which new character could play a more important role in the story.
According to Riddler Khu, a somewhat consistent Pokémon leaker, one character featured on the left side of that promo—not including Lacey—“grasps the key of the lore” and it will be a “big spoiler” for the next game after Sudachi (the codename for this DLC).
He doesn’t specify what lore this is in reference to, but since the Legendary Terapagos that will appear in The Indigo Disk looks to have a direct relation to Terastalization as a whole, it could point to the lore behind the phenomena the base game didn’t finish expanding on. That could also play into Paradox Pokémon or a number of other interesting concepts introduced in Area Zero, hence the DLC’s name being The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero.
Related: Pokémon Scarlet and Violet players unearth hidden Terastallize mechanic months after launch
One interesting theory pointed out a few times on Twitter is Kieran not facing the camera this time, while also being in the center of the frame and cloaked in shadows behind Carmine.
Whether that is foreshadowing through imagery or not will have to wait until the DLC actually releases. We also still know nothing about most of the other characters here, but fans really want the trainer with the frying pan to be who Khu was hinting at.
Some Pokémon accounts are sharing this information around and adding a bit of wording to Khu’s text, such as saying the character with that information will have a big role in the next game too, hinting that this could lead to an SV sequel.
We can’t rule that possibility out but, just based on what Khu said, the important lore might just build on a concept for the future.