Wo-Chien is a snail-like Pokémon comprising a dark-green mossy form covered in dead green and yellow leaves. Two pairs of long, curling vines form its eyestalks, which contain eyes with green eyelids, orange sclerae, and pale greenish pupils. A long row of wooden tablets curled around its backside forms its shell. Wooden tablets were once used as a writing medium in the East during ancient times, although the inscriptions written on the particular set forming Wo-Chien's shell have become too faded to be read.
Like the other Treasures of Ruin, Wo-Chien's true form is the row of wooden writing tablets forming its shell, having been given life by the grudges of the person punished for writing the evil deeds of the former Paldean Empire's king on them long ago — while its body is a form it has constructed using its control over plant matter. Wo-Chien is able to drain the life force of vegetations in a wide area around it, causing entire forests and fields to instantly become barren. It is known as the Tablets of Ruin.
Wo-Chien and the other Treasures of Ruin are the only known Pokémon capable of learning the move Ruination. Wo-Chien is also the only known Pokémon that can have Tablets of Ruin as an Ability.
- Wo-Chien has the highest base Special Defense stat of all Dark-type and Grass-type Pokémon.
- Wo-Chien and the other Treasures of Ruin are the first Pokémon whose base stats were adjusted via a patch to the game.
- Wo-Chien is the only member of the Treasures of Ruin that was given life by a specific individual's emotion rather than the emotions of humanity in general.
- Wo-Chien's in-game model has 92 tablets in total. In one of its animations, the tablets spiral out from under the plants that are comprised by its body, and all 92 can be seen at the peak of this animation.
Origin
Wo-Chien may be modeled after the decollate snail, predatory land snails native to the Mediterranean whose shells are blunt and conical. Wo-Chien's shell is constructed from slips, narrow strips of bamboo or wood used as writing media in China prior to the introduction of paper. Its Pokédex entry in Scarlet may be a reference to the idiom 罄竹難書 / 罄竹难书 qìng zhú nán shū, referring to sins that have become so numerous that it is difficult to record them all on bamboo slips. It may also refer to the heroic deed of court chroniclers of Qi in the Spring and Autumn Annals, where two brothers dedicated their lives to defend the integrity of the annals by recording the regicide of Duke Zhuang II of Qi by usurper Cui Zhu.
Wo-Chien's National Pokédex number and the fact that its body is composed out of a medium for writing may allude to One Thousand and One Nights, a collection of Middle Eastern folk tales and stories often referred to as Arabian Nights in English. Certain stories in One Thousand and One Nights and other Arabic folktales, notably Aladdin, opens in China. In fact, China in this connotation usually only refers to a distant land in the East that differs from Arabia without actual cultural or historical contexts. This may also be the inspiration of the apparent Chinese theme and the in-game myths of the Treasures of Ruin.
Its monstrosity along with its association with the writing of history may be inspired by the creature 檮杌 / 梼杌 Táowù of Chinese mythology. Originally considered to be one of the Four Perils in ancient China, it shares its name with the now-lost chronicles of the state of Chu. Since the 16th century, Taowu has been reimagined as a prophetic monster that records the evil deeds committed by ancient rulers and punishes wrongdoers from its vision, similar to the tablets that created Wo-Chien and its ability to cause perils. Additionally, the other members of the Treasures of Ruin may also draw inspiration from the Four Perils.
Name origin
Wo-Chien may be a combination of 蝸 / 蜗 wō (Chinese for snail) and 簡 / 简 jiǎn (Chinese for bamboo slips). The name is formatted in Wade–Giles, a romanization system used in the Anglosphere for most of the 20th century.
Chionjen may be a combination of 蟲 / 虫 chóng (Chinese for bug) and 簡 / 简 jiǎn (Chinese for bamboo slips).