Legendary birds

Zapdos, Articuno, and Moltres

Legendary birds is the collective term used to refer to the trio of Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres. In the games, they are also known as the winged mirages.

Being the first legendary trio, they set the standards for future trios; that is, they all share similar attributes and—in the case of just most of the future trios—are considered equal among themselves. Like the other trios later would, the legendary birds share a master in Lugia (in the anime, at least), as well share two common traits: their Template:Type2 and their ability, Pressure.

Their coloration is reminiscent of the first three Pokémon games the global audience got, Red, Blue, and Yellow, and their primary types influenced those of the next known trio, the legendary beasts.

The birds are not present in the Generation II games but can be transferred over from the Generation I games using the Time Capsule.

In Pokémon Emerald, if one challenges Pyramid King Brandon for the Gold Brave Symbol, he has the legendary birds in his possession.

In Pokémon Mystery Dungeon each of them guard a mountain, Zapdos has Mt. Thunder, Moltres has Mt. Blaze, Articuno has Frosty Grotto. Once the player recruits all three, talk to Alakazam and go to their friend area, Legendary Island and they will give the player access to their trio master Lugia's domain, Silver Trench.

In Pokémon Platinum, these birds begin to fly around Sinnoh once the player has talked to Professor Oak in Eterna City after the Elite Four has been beaten.

The Legendary Birds are present in Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver. Articuno and Zapdos can be found in Kanto in the same locations as the Generation I games and FireRed and LeafGreen, while Moltres can be found in Mt. Silver.

Similar movesets

Lv.	Articuno  Ice  Flying	Zapdos  Electric  Flying	Moltres  Fire  Flying
Start	Gust	Peck	Wing Attack
	Powder Snow	ThunderShock	Ember
8	Mist	Thunder Wave	Fire Spin
15	Ice Shard	Detect	Agility
22	Mind Reader	Pluck	Endure
29	AncientPower
36	Agility	Charge	Flamethrower
43	Ice Beam	Agility	Safeguard
50	Reflect	Discharge	Air Slash
57	Roost
64	Tailwind	Light Screen	Heat Wave
71	Blizzard	Drill Peck	SolarBeam
78	Sheer Cold	Thunder	Sky Attack
85	Hail	Rain Dance	Sunny Day
Moves in bold are STAB. Moves in italics do no damage.

Base stat comparison

Articuno  Ice  Flying  Overgrow HP Atk Def SpA SpD Spe 90 85 100 95 125 85

Zapdos  Electric  Flying  Overgrow HP Atk Def SpA SpD Spe 90 90 85 125 90 100

Moltres  Fire  Flying  Overgrow HP Atk Def SpA SpD Spe 90 100 90 125 85 90

In the games

Pokémon Red, Blue and Yellow

In Generation I, the legendary birds are scattered around the Kanto region in different location according to their type. Articuno is deep within the Seafoam Islands, Zapdos is in the abandoned Power Plant on Route 10, and Moltres is in Victory Road.

• 

  Articuno

• 

  Zapdos

• 

  Moltres

Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen

In Generation III, the legendary birds retain their placement from Generation I, with the exception of Moltres, which has been moved to Mt. Ember in the Sevii Islands from Victory Road.

• Articunoseafoam.png

  Articuno

• ZapdosPowerplant.png

  Zapdos

• MoltresMtEmber.png

  Moltres

Pokémon Platinum

While it is impossible to capture the legendary birds in Diamond and Pearl (having previously only been obtainable through Pal Park), in Platinum, the legendary birds have been spotted in the Sinnoh region, which Professor Oak will reveal to the player if they visit him in Eterna City after stopping by Pal Park.

Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver

In a surprising turn of events, considering their availability in Platinum, the legendary birds appear once more in HeartGold and SoulSilver, and much as before, are in the same place as before except for Moltres, who has moved once again, to Mt. Silver.

• Articuno HGSS.png

  Articuno

• Zapdos HGSS.png

  Zapdos

• Moltres HGSS.png

  Moltres

In the anime

The legendary birds appear in the second Pokémon movie, The Power of One, and are central to the movie's plot. In it, they are described as the titans of fire, ice, and lightning, guardians over Fire, Ice, and Lightning Islands, and are sought after by a collector, Lawrence III, who intends to use them to draw out the legendary beast of the sea, Lugia.

Lawrence III succeeds in capturing Moltres first, using strange, electrified rings to contain it, rather than a Poké Ball. He then subsequently kept it on his ship as he hunted out Zapdos, who used Moltres's absence from Fire Island as a signal that it would be able to expand its territory. Shortly after Ash and friends discover this to be the case, however, Lawrence III captures Zapdos as well, drawing the group in as well, due to their boat's similar size to the birds. The group escapes, and using their Pokémon, manage to free Zapdos and Moltres. The legendary birds are angry, however, and begin fighting, destroying Lawrence III's airship just as he attempts to capture Articuno. The three continue their fight outside, and finally, Lugia reveals itself.

The three birds team up to take down the beast of the sea, however, Lugia recovers and returns to the surface. As Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres continue to fight, Ash must bring the treasures from their respective islands to Shamouti Island's shrine, in order to help Lugia to quell the fighting and prevent the destruction of the world. Though he almost doesn't make it, Ash manages to do so, and the birds make peace, returning to their islands.

Trivia

• In Generation I, the legendary birds all had different base stat totals - Articuno's was 485, Zapdos' was 490, and Moltres' was 495. Since Generation II, when the Special split occurred, all three legendary birds have had an equal base stat total of 580.
• Starting with Platinum, they are also the only legendary trio to be both stationary and roaming as wild Pokémon in the various games in which they appear. However, both the lake guardians and legendary beasts had at least one Pokémon out of the three roaming at some point.
  • Platinum is also the first time that Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres became roaming Pokémon.
• Though their battle theme in Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen is a remix of the normal Kanto wild battle theme specific to themselves, they have never had a battle theme composed specifically for them, unlike the other normal trios.
• The ending of each of their names is a number in the Spanish language (one (uno), two (dos), and three (tres)), and reflects their National Pokédex order as well as the order in which they are likely to be encountered in the games.
• Also, Articuno's name starts with A, which is the first letter of the alphabet, Moltres's name starts with M, which is in the middle, and Zapdos's name starts with Z, the last letter of the alphabet.
• If Sinnoh-roaming isn't counted, Moltres is the only one of the trio to change location, and it does so twice.