Unown is a minor corruption of 'Unknown', as these Pokémon do not have a designated official name.

There has been some arguments in the Pokémon Institute as to whether Unown can be considered Pokémon at all, due to their hive mind behaviours and discoveries of ancient writings using Unown-like cuneiform.

The Unown's Psychic element designation is due to the way they are able to harness the thoughts and feelings of a target being, converting it into a form of energy. They are unable to use telepathy.

The majority of Unown live in Mindspace, but some remain dormant upon the walls of various sacred locations.

Each shape of Unown bears a slightly different variant of ability. As singular Pokémon are quite weak - they are only able to activate their full potential when all working together. They are extremely sensitive to the emotions of others and are able to manifest structures and seemingly living organisms using information from the mind of their chosen 'target'.
 

Pokédex Entry

Unown bodies look like shapes of an ancient alphabet. Their power only emerges when a group of them are present.

History

The Unown were created by Emperor Sai, harnessing the power of Jirachi. His intent was to use the Unown to bend reality to his will.

The original Unown were sealed into Taragirite-infused stone tiles which worked in a similar way to modern capture devices.

However, upon discovering his motives, the Agrarian Seers and their Pokémon moved in to shut the scheme down, trapping the case of Unown tiles inside the Library of Alph. However the tiles were unoccupied, the Unown themselves having escaped into Mindspace in the resulting battle. There, they multiplied.

For many years it proved ultimately quite difficult to make any extensive physical studies of the Unown due to their location. Therefore, the majority of information on them had been mostly unclarified theory based on tablets dug up during an archaeological expedition in Kanto - 1995FD. Two years later, Professor Hale discovered the remains of the ancient Library of Alph, thought to have been obliterated following The Divergence.

Within one of the library's chambers, he and his assistant, Jonathan Schuyler discovered a case containing 28 small stone tiles, each with an Unown shape engraved upon it. These tiles attracted the Unown from Mindspace.

References

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Evolution

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An illustration depicting Kato Sai and his Unown.

The formations seen created by these Unown are used to improve Aura flow between each member of the species.

The tablet case containing the original Unown tiles.