Palkia is a light purple theropod-like Pokémon with stripes and markings of a darker shade and gray underarms and waist. It has round purple-striped plates on its shoulder area, where two pink pearls lie encrusted with a gray rim encircling them and fins in their back. Palkia’s arms have extended formations resembling gauntlets and a purple band around each wrist. Palkia has a long neck, a pointed white crest on the top of its head that extends to its wings, two strong horn-like tusks on the sides of its jaw, and a powerful tail. As seen in Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time and Explorers of Darkness, Palkia travels by creating a large yellow sphere from its two pearls, then using it to fly very fast.
Palkia has the ability to warp space, though it was said to create alternate realities as well. Palkia lives in a different dimension, making its behavior nearly impossible to study. However, Palkia has been seen in violent conflicts with its counterpart, Dialga. It has been known to be very protective of its home as well. Palkia is the only known Pokémon that can learn Spacial Rend.
In the Arceus and the Jewel of Life manga adaptation, Palkia, along with the members of its trio, were summoned by Sheena to help Ash and his friends. Palkia soon engaged in a battle with the other members of its trio with Arceus.
In the Pokémon Adventures manga
Palkia, along with Dialga, was summoned by Cyrus in the Diamond & Pearl arc in order to create a new world. Cyrus used the Red Chains to force Dialga and Palkia to fight each other in order to distort time and space and create a portal that would swallow the existing world. Diamond, Pearl and Platinum worked together with their Pokémon to free Dialga and Palkia from their controlled states.
Later on, an accident with handling Charon's machine caused Dialga, Palkia and Cyrus to be dragged into the portal before it closed completely. In the Platinum arc, it was revealed that Giratina imprisoned both Dialga and Palkia in the Distortion World before setting off into the current dimension to wreak havoc. Soon, Cyrus and Diamond met in the Distortion World, and agreed to free Dialga and Palkia using their Pokémon. Dialga and Palkia later resumed their struggle against Giratina in the Distortion World. When Charon decided to escape from the Distortion World on Giratina, Pearl got on Palkia and chased after him. Giratina was eventually defeated, with Dialga and Palkia forcing it back into the Distortion World for good, before both returned to the Spear Pillar.
In the HeartGold & SoulSilver arc, Palkia was created in the Sinjoh Ruins, along with Dialga and Giratina, by Arceus' creation process, which was forced by Team Rocket's Four Generals. Knowing that the creation process would threaten the Johto region, Team Rocket's true leader Giovanni returned with Lance and Pryce to keep the creation trio at bay while Gold tried to calm Arceus down. Palkia was kept at bay by Lance and his Dragonite. Once Arceus was eventually becalmed, Dialga and Palkia departed from Johto and were spotted by Cynthia.
In the Pocket Monsters Platinum: Aim to Be Battle King!! manga
Palkia, along with the members of its trio, appeared in PBK5 where it fought against Shin's Abomasnow and Mamoswine and defeated the latter. It fought against Yū Shirogane and lost.
Palkia occasionally appears on the Spear Pillar stage as one of three Pokémon that controls it. It only appears on the stage when the ground on the upper levels have a purple tinge to them. Unlike Dialga and Cresselia, it'll use its powers to distort the stage however possible. Some examples include tilting the stage, turning the stage completely upside down and reversing the screen itself (the last two will cause the movement controls to be reversed temporarily). It often shoot beams in the cave below, dealing a lot of damage to the players that get caught in the blast.
Trophy Information
"A Spatial Pokémon. In the Sinnoh region, this Pokémon has been revered for many generations, much like Dialga. Dialga warps time, but Palkia has control over space. It lives between parallel dimensions and is known for its power, rumored to be able to warp space. It can use Spacial Rend to rip through the very space an enemy resides in, damaging the foe at the same time. It is Pearl's mascot."
Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS/Wii U
Palkia appears as a Pokémon released from a Poké Ball. It will use Spacial Rend, which will flip the stage for a time, and can cause damage. Palkia also causes damage on contact.
Trophy information
NA: Stories surround this Legendary Water/ Dragon-type Pokémon, saying that it has control over all of space. Its Spacial Rend attack will tear space and flip the screen upside down. When this happens, the left and right controls of the fighters will become flipped as well.
PAL: Stories of this Legendary Pokémon say that Palkia is a god that controls all of space. When it uses its Spacial Rend attack in Super Smash Bros., it causes the screen to flip upside down. If that wasn't confusing enough, it also flips the left and right controls!
Pokémon Ranger: Shadows of Almia: Palkia appears as a bonus boss during one of the Ranger Net extra missions. Palkia was injured from a battle with Dialga and entered Hippowdon Temple. In its pain, it warped the space of the Almia region and caused all of the locations of Almia to be shuffled together.
Pokédex entries
This Pokémon was unavailable prior to Generation IV.
Palkia, along with Dialga, may be based on the Shinto legend of Izanami and Izanagi, who are said to have created one island with a spear, erected a pillar on it, and from there created the islands of Japan. Appearance-wise, Palkia is likely based after a European dragon combined with a pearl. Its appearance may also be derived from the Plateosaurus or other bipedal dinosaurs such as the Oviraptor. Its head crest could be inspired by the Goblin Shark, especially from it being a water type.
Name origin
Palkia is derived from the Japanese spelling of pearl, パール pāru.