In Pokemon Scarlet & Violet, there are certainly a lot to be confused. After all, it’s one of the first open-world games in the franchise, so it would be weird if there wasn’t a fair amount of confusion. But, one thing that makes gamers scratch their heads is the existence of a mysterious padlock icon. It looks like this icon is seen in the Pokemon summary, on the far right, next to gender. What does it mean?
What does the padlock symbol in scarlet and purple mean?
To be honest, the answer is… not clear, the best. Editors on r/PokemonScarletViolet were curious about that very enigma. It seems there is several possibilities:
- the lock icon is an unused property left visible for some reason.
- it’s an indicator that says ‘my cannot be released or exchanged.
- it’s an indicator that says ‘my cannot be renamed.
Related: How to rename Pokémon Surprise Trade in Pokémon Scarlet and Purple
If the first idea is correct, it would be barely to be the most surprising thing about Pokemon Scarlet & Violet. But, and maybe it’s the young optimist in me, I want to believe the symbol means something. In the subreddit, a user claims to have tested the third hypothesis. They claim to have acquired a ‘my stranger, and while the icon was still dark, they were unable to rename it. So, at the time of writing, it would appear that the most likely possibility is the second: the icon lights up when a ‘mon cannot be freed or exchanged. If this is found to be incorrect at any time in the future, we will update this article accordingly.