Spiritomb is a ghostly purple Pokémon attached to a stone. Although lacking a physical body, Spiritomb projects its appearance out of a small rock called the Odd Keystone. The rock is trapezoidal in shape and has two small dots. There is a crack running down the middle, splitting in two near the bottom. The crack in combination with the two dots appears to form a frowning face. Spiritomb's projected appearance is an ethereal composition of swirling purple fog. Its face is set in the middle of the fog and contains green, crescent eyes that are connected to its jagged mouth. Its pupils are composed of a spiral and it is sometimes only seen with one. Swirling around its face are green orbs with yellow centers.
Spiritomb is formed by the collection of 108 spirits being trapped in an Odd Keystone by a traveler due to misdeeds it caused. Some of the spirits mixed in Spiritomb are ill-natured. Some Spiritomb are up to 500 years old. The Pokémon creates curses with its wicked thoughts. As seen in the anime, Spiritomb can be just as aggressive and destructive as the spirits that it is composed of. It will lash out at anyone with little thought, often exercising short-sightedness in its pursuit of vengeance. The anime also revealed that anyone possessed by one of Spiritomb's spirits will start to cause misdeeds, and their face will eventually start to resemble Spiritomb. Losing one of these spirits will cause Spiritomb to go on an uncontrollable rampage until the lost spirit is returned.
A Spiritomb appeared in The Spectral Express!. When Ash touched its keystone, one of its spirits entered his body and possessed him into doing mischievious deeds. Angered by this, Spiritomb went on a rampage until the lost spirit was returned to it. It reappeared in a flashback in The Winding Path to Greatness!.
In Pokémon GO, it is encountered at the end of a Special Research quest involving feeding 108 Berries to Pokémon and catching 108 Pokémon.
In Legends: Arceus, is is encountered at the end of a request in which the player must gather 108 wisps scattered throughout Hisui.
Prior to the introduction of the Fairy type in Generation VI, Spiritomb (along with Sableye) had no elemental weaknesses under normal battle conditions (using Foresight can expose its Dark-type vulnerability to Fighting). As this occurred without the aid of an Ability, it was commonly hacked to have the ability Wonder Guard, making it immune to all direct damage. This hack is commonly referred to as Wondertomb. Due to a programming oversight, Fire Fang can still hit Spritomb with Wonder Guard in generation IV.
In Legends: Arceus, the main body of Spiritomb's model is opaque and textured in reverse; the outside can be seen through, but the inside cannot. Its green orbs are three-dimensional and swirl within its body. This is in contrast to previous 3D games, in which Spiritomb's main body is slightly transparent and textured normally. The difference can be most easily seen when viewing Spiritomb from the side.
Origin
Spiritomb seems to be based on a Jibakurei, a spirit bound to a single place, or a Deildegast, a Norwegian folklore spirit that is forced to haul around a boundary stone as punishment for moving one while it was alive. It might also be based on a Buddhist tradition performed on New Year's Eve in Japan in which a bell is rung 108 times to chase away the 108 temptations in order to achieve Nirvana. The wisps of spirits surrounding its face also resemble a set of prayer beads, a possible reference to Japa.
Spiritomb may also be based on Water Margin, one of the Classic Chinese Novels, which is also very well known in Japan. In the first chapter of the novel, a foolish army marshal orders the removal of a stone monument that had been guarded by monks for generations, causing the spirits of 108 demons sealed therein to be released. These 108 souls, having atoned for their sins, become the 108 Stars of Destiny. They are reincarnated centuries later as 108 outlaws, the heroes of the novel.
Name origin
Spiritomb is a combination of spirit and tomb.
Mikaruge may be a combination of 御影石 mikageishi (granite), 軽石 karuishi (pumice), and possibly karma.
In other languages
Language
Title
Meaning
Japanese
ミカルゲ Mikaruge
From 御影石 mikageishi, 軽石 karuishi, and possibly karma