Giratina is a massive gray dragon-like Pokémon with a striking appearance: three gold half-rings frame each side of its elongated neck, while a crown-like gold structure crowns its head with two sideways-pointing horns. A thick black stripe runs down its front, crossed by five red horizontal bands. In its Altered Forme—which it defaults to outside its home dimension—it sports two large black ghostly wings with three red-tipped claws on each side. These wings flow like liquid or gas, and its six sturdy legs end in golden claws, each pair decorated with golden half-circles that look like shackles. The tail bears two band-like markings. Rather than walking, Giratina typically levitates itself through the air.
Giratina is known for being intensely aggressive and territorial, fiercely protective of its domain. According to legend, it inhabits a reverse dimension on the other side of the Pokémon world and has been spotted in ancient burial grounds. It's capable of tearing holes in reality—creating space-time distortions that can drive other Pokémon berserk. Fans often note that Giratina is said to match Dialga and Palkia in raw power. Though it was banished by Arceus for its violent nature, the anime has shown it possesses a gentler side around humans. After a confrontation with Arceus and subsequent loss to a human from another era, Giratina began changing course and eventually became a protector of the universe against threats like Cyrus. Its violent reputation led ancient people to suppress Giratina's history entirely. The lore suggests it silently observed the real world from its home dimension, and the anime reveals it can open portals through reflective surfaces. Giratina's actual role is maintaining balance between both worlds—a responsibility reflected in titles like "the banished Pokémon," "Arceus's shadow," and "the Pokémon of Shadows."
Giratina can shift between two forms. In its Origin Forme, it takes on a serpentine appearance with legs reduced to golden-tipped spikes and four additional golden spikes near the tail's edge. The six gold half-rings become prehensile, tipped with black ghostly tendrils ending in red spikes. Its horns point backward, and the golden crown structure now flanks its mouth, splitting open like insect mandibles when it feeds. The black stripe fragmentizes down its body. This form represents Giratina's true state and grants it full power—it can only maintain Origin Forme within its home dimension, the Distortion World, or while holding a Griseous Orb or Griseous Core. With enough power, it can sustain the form in the real world without items, potentially rivaling Arceus himself. In Origin Forme, Giratina gains the ability to travel through and control dimensions beyond just time and space, though shifting between worlds causes it to revert to Altered Forme due to dimensional gravity. It can transform itself into shadow and merge the Distortion World with reality, though doing so risks dimensional distortion and potential destruction.
Content compiled by AnimeList.moe from publicly available sources.
