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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 some of the stronger and weaker legendaries.
The distinction between sub-legendaries and main-legendaries is what determines whether a legendary Pokémon is allowed to be used in regular competitive formats (sub-legendaries are always allowed), whether they are normally banned and only allowed in special rulesets (which usually allow 1 or 2 main legendaries per team), or whether they are banned 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 Pokémon world either).
So I personally don't think there is too many nor 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). 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 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.Are the Ultra Beasts not legendary?
They used to be. For the first time in Generation 9 we saw Pokémon having their legendary-category changed in the game data.
Specifically, all of the Ultra Beasts were demoted from being sub-legendary to just regular Pokémon.
My personal speculation for why this change happened, is the introduction of Paradox Pokémon. UBs and Paradox Pokémon have a lot in common (I'd even call them conceptual counterparts, each being the concepts of "Pokémon" being pushed to the extreme, for UBs spatially, but for Paradox Pokémon temporally)
So currently, both UBs and Paradox Pokémon are purely lore-based categories.
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)

Gen 8 version: www.deviantart.com/adeptcharon…

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 some of the stronger and weaker legendaries.
The distinction between sub-legendaries and main-legendaries is what determines whether a legendary Pokémon is allowed to be used in regular competitive formats (sub-legendaries are always allowed), whether they are normally banned and only allowed in special rulesets (which usually allow 1 or 2 main legendaries per team), or whether they are banned 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 Pokémon world either).
So I personally don't think there is too many nor 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). 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 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.Are the Ultra Beasts not legendary?
They used to be. For the first time in Generation 9 we saw Pokémon having their legendary-category changed in the game data.
Specifically, all of the Ultra Beasts were demoted from being sub-legendary to just regular Pokémon.
My personal speculation for why this change happened, is the introduction of Paradox Pokémon. UBs and Paradox Pokémon have a lot in common (I'd even call them conceptual counterparts, each being the concepts of "Pokémon" being pushed to the extreme, for UBs spatially, but for Paradox Pokémon temporally)
So currently, both UBs and Paradox Pokémon are purely lore-based categories.
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)

Gen 8 version: www.deviantart.com/adeptcharon…