Pomegranate Cookie ✧(ᓀ ‸ ᓂ)✧


Media: Cookie Run Ovenbreak,
Cookie Run Kingdom

Birthday: 28 September 2018

Pronouns: she/her

Korean VA: Bae Jeong-mi
(배정미)


" Dressed in her scarlet ceremonial attire with glimmering pomegranate drop decorations, Pomegranate Cookie was raised in the land of powerful sorcerers as a young priestess to the Sacred Pomegranate Tree. But when she was foretold to follow a great darkness, she started to doubt her upbringing. When an unstoppable dark force overran her homeland, Pomegranate Cookie already knew she had met her destiny, and gladly joined her mysterious new Master... "

Pomegranate Cookie is an antagonist in the Cookie Run Series. She is a member of Cookie of Darkness, and a faithful right-hand man of Dark Enchantress Cookie. She used to be a high prietess in the Pomegranate Village, worshipping the Sacred Pomegranate Tree, until she burnt down her home and betrayed her people for her new Master. Through out the story, not only did she display powerful powers capable of controlling deities, she's also shown to be very cold-hearted, willing to hurt anyone who blocks her way with little remorse.

Therefore in the fandom, she is either hated badly, hoped to be redeemed in the future and run away from Dark Enchantress Cookie, or praised for being gaslight, gatekeep, girlboss.


Why I like this character

If you know me, you likely already know Pome is one of my top favourite characters. Pomegranate has been on top of my blorbo list for over four years ( since October 2018 ), being by my side during rough or happy days.

You might be surprised to hear this, but I did not immediately fall for her when I first see her. Yes, I was quite excited to see her on Cookie Run Youtube channel's community post, but that's all I thought and nothing much special. It's not until the affection system was implemented, and that one Pome sprite was added, that I actually started liking her, because it looks like she's winking at me. *falls off stairs*

Pomegranate Cookie sprite which looks like she's winking

( Seriously, isn't she adorable? )

Ever since then, she became my most favourite character in Cookie Run and all of media (sorry Avocado). I always looked forward to any Pome content from CROB and fan content, especially when a new update comes, hoping it's darkness related. During that time, I kept expressing my love for Pome in various social media and Discord servers, whenever I see Pome in any media I immediately point out and say "Pome" and share it to others. Also for a long time, I drew a lot of Pome and rarely any other characters, my drawing paper is filled with Pome. Pretty sure Pomegranate Cookie gave me brainrot. Unfortunately, despite being quite lore-relevant, she did not have much content... until 2021 November.

The teaser for CRK was released, I watched the video with my heart beating insanely fast. And yes, Pome is there. As I was dying of happiness, new waves of content continued coming for a long time. However, as Pome's character becomes more fleshed out, I learnt what a character being a villain really means.


Pome's crimes

In the Cookies of Darkness story, Pomegranate Cookie Tortured Dark Choco Cookie by showing him his memories of hurting his own father. That part is very disturbing with the visuals and Dark Choco VA's fantastic performance. Everyone in the fandom was extremely distraught by Pome's actions, including me, and some even hated her, not including me. I felt extremely hurt that so many people started despising my favourite character, and felt like dropping her out of my fav character list at some point. However, I eventually accepted that Pome is unapologetically a bad person, I mean, it IS more interesting than being plainly good. You know what they say," Don't be the one with the tragic backstory, be the one who causes other's tragic backstory. "/j

In the next stories, Pome continued to commit awful crimes, so I complied a list of her crimes.

- Cursed Millennial Tree Cookie ( Oct 2018, CROB, Millennial Tree Cookie debut )
- Corrupted Wind Archer into Night Raven ( Sep 2018, CROB, Pomegranate Cookie debut )
- Sealed Moonlight away ( December 2018, CROB, The City of Wizards event )
- Burnt down Pomegranate Village and the Sacred Pomegranate Tree ( CRK, Chapter 5 )
- Cursed Churro Tribe ( Jan 2021, CROB, The Hidden Truth of the City story )
- Corrupted Sugar Swan ( CRK, Chapter 5-6 )
- Attempted to hurt Pomegranate Village the second time ( CRK, Chapter 5-6 )
- Psychologically tortured Dark Choco ( Feb 2021, CRK, Cookies of Darkness )
- Psychologically tortured Pure Vanilla, trapping him in a jar ( Apr 2021, CRK, Cookies of Darkness )
- Manipulated and betrayed Starfruit Cookie ( March 2021, CROB, The Battle for Fate! )
- Attacked Gingerbrave and his gang multiple times ( CRK, many times )
- Cursed Dark Cacao and accidentally caused him to become a ghost-like monster ( Feb 2022, CRK, Chapter 14 )
- Attacked the Cremé Republic ( Jul 2022, CRK, The Heroes of the Light )
- Cursed a seed Millennial Tree given to her, and planted in the forest where Millennial Tree is. ( Oct 2022, CROB, Curse of the Sacred Forest )
- Attempted to attack Golden Osmanthus Cookie ( Jan 2024, CRK Chinese Server, Golden Osmanthus Event that I don't know the name )
- Kidnapped Butter Roll Cookie ( Feb 2024, CRK, The Cookie Laboratorium )

?Just eat her

A long time has passed, I got to knew some people due to mutual interest in Pome. I currently have less interest in Cookie Run in general, but Pome still has a special place in my heart. One thing I wish is that Devsisters will elaborate on Pome's backstory.

Pomegranate Cookie running while smiling

Analysis and speculations

When you think deeper, Pome is insanely powerful. Her magic is capable of cursing four gods ( MT, WA, ML, Sugar Swan ) and two ancient heroes, maybe this is why she was the high priestess of Pomegranate Village. And perhaps she's interested in studying magic, judging from her impression of Kumiho " What a curious spell she uses... ".

Through out the story, Pome showed heavy devotion towards Dark Enchantress, it feels like everything she says and does is for Dark Enchantress. In CROB and CRK, Pome mentioned she would do anything for DE, even if she crumbles (dies). That was not an exageration, in CRK chapter 6, when Pome faced Gingergang, unlike Licorice Cookie and Dark Choco Cookie, who retreats after defeat, she stood there until she fell unconscious. And in Chapter 10, when she was defeated along with other Dark Cookies, she revived them with her spell. It seems like she is not the type of give up easily, imagine in the future she ends up in a life-threatening situation...

It is unknown what the thought process is which made her follow Dark Enchantress, did she betrayed her village just because she believed that's her future? My counter-arguement is that Pome is unlike Dark Choco, who also unwillingly became a part of darkness. Dark Choco was very depressed about his situation, while Pome was quite happy about being with DE, probably at the very moment she learnt the "truth". I would expect her to be more cynical if she were forced to join DE.

Other theory some people have is that Pome is brainwashed by magic. My counter-arguement is her attitude towards Matcha Cookie " The place beside Her is mine, not yours...! ", which seems to be a sign of jealousy. If DE were to brainwash a cookie to follow her, wouldn't jeolousy be a bit counterproductive?

I doubt it was because the priestesses disliked Pome as well. If you visit Pomegranate Village in chapter 5, and click on Priestess A, she seemed to be very hurt about Pome's betrayal, like she trusted Pome a lot. This shows the priestesses has good impression of Pome unless those hated Pome are killed.

One clue is that in this interview, it is said that DE saved Pome from suffering. Nothing about her backstory is said, but it implies Pome did not like how it was in her past.

In the map of chapter 5, the Pomegranate Village is located in a forest with lots of poisonous mushrooms, and in the artbook, it is said the path to this village is so rough, no cookies ever set foot there. Assuming those mushrooms weren't placed by Poison Mushroom Cookie, perhaps the life in this village is quite rough. Moreover, Pome seemed to relate to Starfruit Cookie when Starfruit mentioned being a leader is stressful, maybe Pome was telling the truth, being a high priestess at a young age is strefful to Pome.

Another thing that bothers me is the Sacred Pomegranate Tree seems to not do anything, ever. To be honest, majority of the legendaries in this series are quite useless or lazy or the one who's causing trouble. But if we compare this tree to Millennial Tree, he at least tried to protect the Churro Village and gave Churro Cookie powers, but the Sacred Pome Tree only stood there when Pome was destroying the place. Maybe Pome trusted the Tree fully, until she realised the Tree was not as reliable as the village believed, then decided to leave everything behind, feeling betrayed.

Perhaps the how DE convinced Pome to join her is through slow manipulation. DE is capable of using specters, tricking Gingergang into releasing her with the illusion of White Lily. By pretending to be White Lily, Pome assumed that was not the evil DE, but an innocent cookie. DE befriended Pome, maybe even comfort her while Pome was feeling stressed about the village. And when DE gained enough trust, she revealed that she was DE all along, casted an illusion in Pome's fortune-telling mirror, tricking her into believing that she was destined to join DE, and Pome accepted without a doubt.


Theory

There is a theory that one day Pome will be redeemed. In Sea Fairy Cookie's relationship chart, this is what she thinks about pome: " One day, Pomegranate will learn to fight her own fate... " This implies Pome might run away from DE, learning to live on her own. However, what if we got it wrong? The "fate" DE given to her is just an illusion, and the truth is that darkness will be defeated, when Pome realises this, instead of becoming good, Pome continues to fight for DE and the darkness, for DE is her everything. Maybe that is truly why Sea Fairy has tension with Pome.

I couldn't shake the feeling if DE is defeated in the future, Pome will be the next leader of Darkness. Pome seemed far mor cruel than DE ( well at least on screen, DE did have killed many soldiers during the Dark Flour War ), while DE was " saddled with unnecessary feelings /ref ", Pome suggested to get rid of Pure Vanilla Cookie as soon as possible. I'm not sure what would Pome do if DE gets redeemed, she might follow DE and become good also. However, in the scenario where DE dies, Pome might take DE's place in grief, becoming a successor far more villainous than DE.


Random facts

- Despite being hostile towards almost every one, Pome is very patient towards Poison Mushroom Cookie, and Poison Mushroom seems to like her as well. Through out Cookie Run's story, Shroomy often mentions Pome, for example, in the costume set Fall Camping Trip, Poison Mushroom Cookie seemed to miss Pome a lot when they got emotional listening to Clover Cookie's Ballad. And in Shroomy's relationship chart, they said "Hehe... I like you as much as I like shroomies!" They are like mother and child, so fucking wholesome.

- In an event for Millennial Tree Cookie's release, when you complete the event, there is a sprite which Pome kneels down in defeat. However, the sprite is not found anywhere, not even in the official Dropbox.

- Is it just me but is Pome kinda scary-looking when she's smiling?

- In CROB, Pome's title is " Faithful To One ", but it just so happens that Churro's title is " The One ". Pome is going to kill someone-

- In the first Grand Champions League Round 5, Pome was the meta for the map. With her speed 10% combi bonus, both speed treasures and the map speed, she became the fastest non-blast-skill cookie. This is why some people and me joke that she is as fast as sonic. Here's a video to show how fast she is.


Gallery

( Hover to see my comments )

Drawing of pome Pome digital painting Bithday art for Pome Pome color pencil Pencil drawing of Pomegranate Cookie in a trophy cup Pome art on phone case Digital drawing of Pomegranate Cookie in fancy clothes Digital drawing of Pomegranate Cookie