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| Season | Pokémon: BW Rival Destinies (Season 15) · Driftveil Gym, Chargestone Cave & the Hero’s Ruin arc (BW061–BW066) |
| Episode | Season 15, episode 16 · English episode 717 · Japanese episode 722 · Bulbapedia code BW064 |
| English title | Explorers of the Hero’s Ruin! |
| Japanese title | 黒き英雄の遺跡！シンボラーとデスカーン！！ Kuroki Eiyū no Iseki! Shinborā to Desukān!! — “The Black Hero’s Ruins! Symboler and Desukarn!!” |
| First aired (Japan) | 26 January 2012 · TV Tokyo |
| First aired (US) | 2 June 2012 · Cartoon Network |
| Screenplay | Shōji Yonemura |
| Opening / ending (Japan) | Besuto Uisshu! (Best Wishes!) – Rica Matsumoto · Nanairo Āchi (Seven-colored Arch) – Pokémon BW Choral Gang |
| English opening | Rival Destinies – Alex Nackman & Kathryn Raio |
| Who’s That Pokémon? | Sigilyph (US) |
| Previous episode | Evolution Exchange Excitement! (BW063) |
| Next episode | Battling the Bully! (BW065) |
Plot episodeHero’s Ruin
Explorers of the Hero’s Ruin! is the 16th episode of Pokémon: BW Rival Destinies, the fifteenth season of the Pokémon anime, and the 717th episode of the English dub overall (Japanese episode 722, Bulbapedia code BW064). It first aired in Japan on 26 January 2012 and in the United States on 2 June 2012. It falls within the season’s Driftveil Gym, Chargestone Cave & the Hero’s Ruin stretch (EP61–EP66).
Synopsis
Professor Juniper’s father, Cedric, leads Ash, Iris and Cilan through a trap-filled ruin where the legendary hero of Unova is said to have met Zekrom. Recovering at the base camp, the Zekrom and Reshiram researcher agrees to take the group to the Hero’s Ruin, although he never finishes his warnings in time.
Turning a Venipede statue sends a giant boulder after them, until Pansage digs an escape hole; both suspension bridges turn out to be unsafe; and of three tunnels, the Darumaka path bursts into flame and the Krokorok tunnel’s walls close in, before Cedric admits he knew the Golett path was right all along. In a chamber of glowing pillars lies the Golden Dark Stone, guarded by a Sigilyph whose Mirror Move and Hypnosis force everyone to hide in coffins, one of which turns out to be a Cofagrigus.
When Cedric admits he has pocketed the stone, the Cofagrigus hurl the group into a flooded prison chamber whose mural shows the hero and Zekrom escaping together. Cedric returns the stone, the Cofagrigus lift everyone out, and Cedric notes that their route traced Zekrom’s silhouette. Outside, a Krokorok in sunglasses is waiting for Ash.
Major Events
- The Hero’s Ruin. Cedric Juniper’s trap-filled ruin
- A Raiders of the Lost Ark boulder
- The Golden Dark Stone
- Sigilyph and Cofagrigus
- The chamber reuses designs from the unaired BW023
- The sunglasses Krokorok returns
- TV debuts of Cofagrigus and Sigilyph
Pokémon making their anime debut
Cofagrigus#0563 · BW064
Sigilyph#0561 · BW064
Trivia
- The screenplay is by Shōji Yonemura.
- This is a plot episode: it advances the Unova storyline.
Changes in the English Dub
- Music from Arceus and the Jewel of Life and Zoroark: Master of Illusions
- Boldore’s spine in the Japanese ending, red in earlier airings, is corrected from this episode
Part of our Pokémon: BW Rival Destinies guide. Browse every season of the Pokémon anime.