Pokemaniacs who may have already wrapped up their journey in the Galar region received some great news earlier this month. Nintendo officially revealed two new expansions coming to Pokemon Sword and Shield, both with their own content, themes, and locations to explore. The Crown Tundra has been a big focus for fans considering that it is bringing back a ton of major Pokemon including the likes of MewTwo and more. A new fan theory also hopes to see a return of an often overlooked dragon.
Inside of the Crown Tundra expansion, Pokemon Sword and Shield players are being taken to an area representative of the highlands of Scotland. Placing a greater focus on legendary and rare encounters in a colder region, one fan theorizes that Dragonite could finally be coming back. While unconfirmed, players believe the individual they'll be exploring under in the game is the Dragon gym leader's father, who is looking for a rare dragon. This aligns with part of Dragonite's lore, which states that it is very rare and difficult to find.
Part of the speculation comes from the fact that many powerful and legendary Pokemon from previous titles are making their return inside of the Crown Tundra expansion. This includes new Galarian forms of the mythical bird Pokemon Moltres, Articuno, and Zapdos. Considering Dragonite has been left untouched since its original appearance in Pokemon Red and Blue, perhaps Game Freak is also planning to finally reintroduce a Galar version of this creature.
Interestingly enough, Dragonite isn't such a random selection as it would seem considering that the creature has recently been featured in the latest anime. News broke that Ash Ketchum, longtime protagonist of the anime series, finally caught his very own Dragonite in the 1,095th episode. While this doesn't necessarily mean anything related to the games, it's curious that such a classic Pokemon is suddenly thrust back into the spotlight.
Regardless, fans should take all of this with a grain of salt as for now, this simply remains a theory and wishful thinking. It's clear that Nintendo aims to continue supporting these latest games in the franchise, rather than introducing a typical third game as both Sword and Shield have already sold an incredible amount of copies. Rather than split up the fanbase into a third game, these expansions are a way to keep fans playing their existing copies through paid DLC.
Pokemon Sword & Shield are both currently available for the Nintendo Switch. The Expansion Pass is set to release in June of 2020.
Source: Reddit