Pokey vs Ness in EarthBound: the narcissism mirror hidden in a “fun” RPG

Tj Baxter
Dec 4, 2025
2 min read

ChatGPT said:

Alt text: A cute, toy-like blond child character Pokey in a white shirt and blue overalls stands in a cozy bedroom, holding a chocolate soft-serve ice cream and looking at their reflection in an ornate gold-trimmed standing mirror.

Pokey doesn’t just act like a brat—he’s a pixel-perfect blueprint of what narcissistic dynamics feel like: the charm that hooks you, the contempt that makes you doubt yourself, and the sudden discard the second you stop being useful.

And yeah… isn’t EarthBound supposed to be happy and fun? That’s the twist. Under the bright colors and weird jokes, the game hides a painfully accurate mirror—especially in Pokey vs Ness. This isn’t about overanalyzing. It’s about using a story you already love to recognize red flags, name the pattern, and step out of it.

Pokey Minch narcissism traits in EarthBound: grandiosity, blame-shifting, humiliation

Pokey’s “power” is never real power—it’s proximity. If he can’t earn respect, he borrows it. If he can’t feel safe, he tries to feel superior. That shows up as:

Grandiosity-by-association (standing next to stronger people and acting untouchable)
Blame-shifting (nothing is ever his fault)
Humiliation (making others smaller to feel bigger)
Entitlement + sabotage (taking what you earned just to prove he can)

Pokey’s narcissistic pattern in EarthBound: hook → contempt → discard

In EarthBound form, the cycle looks like this:

Hook: he clings when it benefits him (safety, relevance, attention)
Contempt: he flips to insults and devaluation when you don’t serve his ego
Discard: he replaces people the moment a bigger source of power appears

By the end, Pokey is armored in machinery, still taunting—because he’s close to the ultimate evil. He hasn’t become strong. He’s become attached to strength.

Ness as the opp

Two toy-like kids stand on grass in a sunny park. The boy in a red cap and striped shirt looks sad with arms crossed and teary eyes, while a blond boy in blue overalls grins and points while holding up a pair of handcuffs. A chocolate bar wrapper lies on the ground nearby.

osite of narcissism: courage, empathy, and boundaries

Where Pokey preserves himself at all costs, Ness gives:

he risks himself to protect others
he keeps helping without controlling anyone
he faces fear instead of hiding behind power
he chooses connection over dominance

EarthBound’s moral trajectory mirror: what Pokey and Ness reveal about you

Here’s the part that stays with me: EarthBound isn’t just showing you a villain and a hero. It’s holding up a mirror.

Pokey earthbound looks into that mirror and sees what he’s terrified of: smallness, weakness, being ordinary. So he grabs a mask—status, cruelty, borrowed power—and calls it “strength.” The mirror reveals his core problem: he’d rather be feared than honest, rather be close to power than have character.

Ness looks into the same mirror and sees fear too—but he doesn’t run from it or dress it up. He chooses empathy anyway. He chooses courage anyway. The mirror reveals his core truth: real strength isn’t domination—it’s integrity under pressure.

And that’s why this story helps. Because the mirror doesn’t just show you who Pokey is and who Ness is—it helps you recognize the fork in the road inside you, too.

When life gets hard—when you feel powerless—two reflections show up:

the part that wants to protect itself by controlling, blaming, and performing,
and the part that wants to heal by connecting, owning, and choosing what’s right.

EarthBound asks which reflection you’ll feed. Watch This!