This other Musketeer formed a perfect contrast to his interrogator, who had just designated him by the name of Aramis. He was a stout man, of about two- or three-and-twenty, with an open, ingenuous countenance, a black, mild eye, and cheeks rosy and downy as an autumn peach. His delicate mustache marked a perfectly straight line upon his upper lip; he appeared to dread to lower his hands lest their veins should swell, and he pinched the tips of his ears from time to time to preserve their delicate pink transparency. Habitually he spoke little and slowly, bowed frequently, laughed without noise, showing his teeth, which were fine and of which, as the rest of his person, he appeared to take great care.
I’m Luke Summerhayes, and I love Virizion.
In preparation to discuss the Swords of Justice, I read the novel The Three Musketeers for the first time. Despite being 180 years old, and set two hundred years before that, the book is actually a fun little read. There is action and intrigue, with a cast of hot-tempered so-called gentleman who behave like the protagonists of a shonen anime.
Aramis is the dandy of the group. Though he claims a desire to become a man of the church, he is the most attached to the desires of the Earthly realm, womanizing and drinking and dressing in finery. Of course, this gives us our first little glimpse into some of the ways the book has not aged so well; its treatment of women and other ethnicities. Still, if we can claim the comedy of the 90s was a different time, I think we can extend that courtesy to mid-nineteenth century France.
Virizion is a grass and fighting type Pokémon with the most slender, elegant design of the three Swords of Justice. It certainly holds itself with the pride of Aramis of the musketeers. It doesn’t have the biggest blade-like antlers, but its overall design is very aerodynamic.
White
Its head sprouts horns as sharp as blades. Using whirlwind-like movements, it confounds and swiftly cuts opponents.

As with the other Swords of Justice, other Pokédex entries tell tales of this Pokémon’s heroism in ancient times.
Black
This Pokémon fought humans in order to protect its friends. Legends about it continue to be passed down.

Competitively, Virizion was very popular in its initial generation. Not only was it incredibly fast, it had decent enough stats for either physical or special attack, making it hard to predict. Combined with the unique typing, which is both bulky and has good offensive coverage, this Pokémon had a role on many teams.
Naturally, power creep saw its role diminish, as well as the addition of Fairy Types making a fighting type less relevant, but it made good use of Z moves and was also able to see some usage in the smaller pokedexes of the 8th and 9th generations.
We can also see Virizion and the other Swords of Justice in the animated movie Kyurem VS the Sword of Justice. Amusingly, for a Pokémon based on the womanizing Aramis, in the film Virizion is the only Sword of Justice with a female voice actor - Emily Williams in English and Takako Honda in Japanese.
Like the other Swords of Justice, the name takes the -ion from champion or stallion and combines it with a color, in this case a Viridian shade of green.
With its feather-like blades and smug expression, it’s easy to imagine it as preening and self-absorbed. Based on the Pokédex entries, though, just like Aramis this monster will have your back in a pinch.
Original music for Luke Loves Pokémon is by Jonathan Cromie. Artwork is by Katie Groves. Funding is provided by listeners at Patreon. If you enjoy this podcast and want to check out other shows by me and my friends, head to podcastiopodcastius.org.
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I love Virizion. And remember, I love you too.