I’m Luke Summerhayes and I love Phantump.
I love to go hiking in the mountains here in Nagano. It’s beautiful, peaceful and keeps my heart healthy. If one isn’t careful though, it can be dangerous. The mountains and forests demand respect, and if I want to come back in one piece I need to jingle a bell to warn bears that I’m coming, let someone know where I’m going, and stick to the trails.
One thing I never, ever want to do is find myself on the mountain and in the forest after dark. Unfortunately, I’m not good at setting out early nor judging how long something will take, so I have found myself in the murky dusks where I can’t tell if I’m walking where I ought to be, and where every branch casts a shadow that reaches out like a claw about to grab me. The woods at night are scary!
Phantump is a ghost and grass type Pokemon that resembles a cut section of tree trunk with horn-like branches and a ghostly, black body trailing out the bottom.
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These Pokémon are created when spirits possess rotten tree stumps. They prefer to live in abandoned forests.
A ghostly possessed tree stump is scary enough, but Phantump is one of those Pokemon with Pokedex entries that get a little too specific in the lore and end up somewhat horrifying.
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According to old tales, these Pokémon are stumps possessed by the spirits of children who died while lost in the forest.

Really, though, as many people who believe in such things will tell you, a spirit is nothing to be afraid of.
Ultra Sun
By imitating the voice of a child, it causes people to get hopelessly lost deep in the forest. It's trying to make friends with them.

The name Phantump is a simple mix of phantom, or ghost, and stump, as its head is made from. The Japanese name is Bokurei, combining boku, or wood, and rei, or spirit. Most Japanese kanji have alternative pronunciations derived from Chinese – this is how the word ninja is also pronounced Shinobi – and switching the pronunciations of Boku and Rei gives us Kodama. Kodama are Japanese forest spirits, made most famous in the Ghibli movie Princess Mononoke.
Neither good nor evil, the spirit of the forest is simply an immense power which must be treated correctly, as I said at the start of this podcast. It can be dangerous or a source of abundance.
Moon
According to legend, medicine to cure any illness can be made by plucking the green leaves on its head, brewing them, and boiling down the liquid.

If traded, Phantump loses some of its innocence, just as a child cast aside by its parent might, when it evolves into Trevenant.
Trevenant resembles a large, possessed tree, two branches swinging as powerful arms and the roots skittering as crablike legs.
Ultra Sun
It's feared as a ghost of the forest. Lumberjacks bring along Fire types, which Trevenant hates, when they enter the forest.

The name Trevenant combines tree with revenant, an avenging spirit of the dead. Folklore around the world is full of both spirits returning for revenge, and also forest ghosts and monsters. These are key themes in the human subconscious, natural fears of death, darkness and our own guilt. These legends can be as ancient as the forests themselves, or as recent as Tolkien’s ents or James Cameron’s Avatar.
The Japanese name is Orot, as in a great root, which describes the Pokemon well but has far fewer scary or monstrous connotations.
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Using its roots as a nervous system, it controls the trees in the forest. It's kind to the Pokémon that reside in its body.
Trevenant has never had a big role in the competitive scene. Its ability harvest lets it get multipke uses out of berries, so clever play can see it set up some stat boosts and make use of powerful moves like poltergeist.
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People fear it due to a belief that it devours any who try to cut down trees in its forest, but to the Pokémon it shares its woods with, it's kind.
In our modern world, the forests have become the home of horror stories and things to fear, yet we are ourselves part of the living world. While some days it seems like we are as far from that understanding as it is possible to be, the way stories like Avatar and Princess Mononoke, and characters like Trevenant or Treebeard, resonate with people makes me believe there’s still hope yet.
Music for Luke Loves Pokemon is by Jonathan Cromie. Artwork for the show is by Katie Groves. If you enjoy the podcast, find out about my other shows at podcastiopodcastius.org, get in touch on bluesky @podcastpodcast, or support the show at patreon.com/podcastiopodcastius.
I love hearing from Listeners! Up next are Pumpkaboo and Bergmite, so hit me up about those or any other Pokemon. Even if you don’t feel like doing any of that, thank you so much for listening.
I love Phantump. And remember, I love you too