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Description

Made this overview image of all existing legendary Pokémon, primarily because I wish more Pokémon fans would be aware that there is a canonical distinction between the stronger and weaker legendaries.
Note, the distinction between sub-legendaries and main-legendaries is what determines whether a legendary Pokémon is allowed to be used in regular competitive formats (sublegendaries are always allowed), whether they are normally banned and only allowed in special rulesets (which usually allow 2 main legendaries per team), or whether they are banned in even in special rulesets (Mythicals are pretty much always banned due to not being obtainable for everyone)
There is often a sentiment that "there is too many legendaries", which I personally don't think holds much weight when nuance is added. In other words, it seems to me that people take the term "legendary" to mean something more extraordinary than what legendary Pokémon are meant to be, making it an expectation of literal godlike creatures that manipulate the laws of the universe etc. When in practice, Legendary Pokémon are just supposed to be very rare (one encounter per game), strong (just great stats OR broken stats) have a bit more mythological inspirations put into their designs, but can ultimately range from just standing in some cave waiting to be discovered, to having some major creation myths told about them (which don't have to be taken as literal facts about the history of the Pkmn world either).
So I personally don't think there is too many or that they've been increasing the amount added per generation too much (except when they bring them ALL back to a single game.... then it's a bit much obviously). To me the sub-legendary category in particular, is just a fun way for Gamefreak to add a couple additional interesting designs into the roster which have a good shot at being competitively viable. In other words, they're like another Dragonite/Metagross/Etc, just without the pre-evolutions.
FAQ:
1.Why is __ not in a different category?
These categories are based on code in the game data that distinguishes sublegends from legends for the purpose of competitive formats.
But if you're wondering about a particular Pokémon (ie: why is Urshifu sub and Calyrex main?), it usually makes sense as soon as you look at their stats, with sublegends being 570-600 or lower, while main legends are more in the 670-720 range, or start a lot weaker but reach that range in their fused forms.
2.Why are the UBs considered legendary at all?
The Pokemon Company has on ocassion treated UBs as a group separate from legendaries..but also separate from Pokémon in general. The game code considers them sub-legendaries (you can check the Pokedex in SM/USUM to see that they have the green "background", just like the Tapus and Type:Null, as the color of the Pokedex in those games is based on these categories). One could argue that the "sublegend" marker in the data collectively stands for "sublegend or UB", but other than that, UBs are purely a lore-based distinction.
3.Why is Deoxys/Keldeo a Mythical?
Some Mythicals have been made available through regular gameplay in certain games, however their Mythical status is unaffected by that, as they return to being Event-only in the following generation (Deoxys was handed out as an Event in Generation 7 with the other Mythicals, despite being a regular encounter in the Delta episode of ORAS).

(Artworks of individual Pokémon are owned by Nintendo/Gamefreak/Pokémon company, used merely for purposes of informative nature)

UPDATE (8th June 2022): added new designs from Legends:Arceus and redesigned the infographic quite a bit.

Description

Made this overview image of all existing legendary Pokémon, primarily because I wish more Pokémon fans would be aware that there is a canonical distinction between the stronger and weaker legendaries.
Note, the distinction between sub-legendaries and main-legendaries is what determines whether a legendary Pokémon is allowed to be used in regular competitive formats (sublegendaries are always allowed), whether they are normally banned and only allowed in special rulesets (which usually allow 2 main legendaries per team), or whether they are banned in even in special rulesets (Mythicals are pretty much always banned due to not being obtainable for everyone)
There is often a sentiment that "there is too many legendaries", which I personally don't think holds much weight when nuance is added. In other words, it seems to me that people take the term "legendary" to mean something more extraordinary than what legendary Pokémon are meant to be, making it an expectation of literal godlike creatures that manipulate the laws of the universe etc. When in practice, Legendary Pokémon are just supposed to be very rare (one encounter per game), strong (just great stats OR broken stats) have a bit more mythological inspirations put into their designs, but can ultimately range from just standing in some cave waiting to be discovered, to having some major creation myths told about them (which don't have to be taken as literal facts about the history of the Pkmn world either).
So I personally don't think there is too many or that they've been increasing the amount added per generation too much (except when they bring them ALL back to a single game.... then it's a bit much obviously). To me the sub-legendary category in particular, is just a fun way for Gamefreak to add a couple additional interesting designs into the roster which have a good shot at being competitively viable. In other words, they're like another Dragonite/Metagross/Etc, just without the pre-evolutions.
FAQ:
1.Why is __ not in a different category?
These categories are based on code in the game data that distinguishes sublegends from legends for the purpose of competitive formats.
But if you're wondering about a particular Pokémon (ie: why is Urshifu sub and Calyrex main?), it usually makes sense as soon as you look at their stats, with sublegends being 570-600 or lower, while main legends are more in the 670-720 range, or start a lot weaker but reach that range in their fused forms.
2.Why are the UBs considered legendary at all?
The Pokemon Company has on ocassion treated UBs as a group separate from legendaries..but also separate from Pokémon in general. The game code considers them sub-legendaries (you can check the Pokedex in SM/USUM to see that they have the green "background", just like the Tapus and Type:Null, as the color of the Pokedex in those games is based on these categories). One could argue that the "sublegend" marker in the data collectively stands for "sublegend or UB", but other than that, UBs are purely a lore-based distinction.
3.Why is Deoxys/Keldeo a Mythical?
Some Mythicals have been made available through regular gameplay in certain games, however their Mythical status is unaffected by that, as they return to being Event-only in the following generation (Deoxys was handed out as an Event in Generation 7 with the other Mythicals, despite being a regular encounter in the Delta episode of ORAS).

(Artworks of individual Pokémon are owned by Nintendo/Gamefreak/Pokémon company, used merely for purposes of informative nature)

UPDATE (8th June 2022): added new designs from Legends:Arceus and redesigned the infographic quite a bit.