scientificpokedex:

Being consumed in Chandelure’s flame burns up the spirit, leaving the body behind.

Chandelure, like most ghost pokemon, is plain spooky. According to this entry, its flames don’t burn anything except for the soul. Fire is generally regarded as hungry, uncontrollable, spreads relentlessly. So is there such a thing as a fire only burning up a specific substance, leaving everything else untouched?

Short answer, no, there is nothing like this in our world. But, for the sake of science, let’s explore this more.

Fire is a pretty strange substance. Its not really a substance at all in the way that solids, liquids and gas are. Instead, fire is a chemical reaction. The fire we’re familiar with is burning oxygen. Without any oxygen, there is no fire. 

So we may be on to something here. Chandelure’s fire could be a new, strange kind of fire that doesn’t consume oxygen but rather is fueled by souls. But, we run into a problem very quickly. Our fire spreads quickly. It will burn trees, skin, a marshmallow, pretty much anything it can get its hands on. Chandlure’s flame doesn’t do this, even though its blue, indicating that it is very hot.

But, it is possible to play with fire and not get burned. If you’ve ever seen someone walk on hot coals, or juggle torches, you might be thinking this now. In this case, its not that the performers don’t get burned, but rather the heat doesn’t have enough time to transfer to the skin to harm it enough.

Now we’re finally getting to the point. There’s a popular magic trick that involves setting a dollar bill on fire, but remarkably, it doesn’t burn up or crumble to ash like you would expect paper to do. In fact, immediately after the flames are out, it doesn’t even feel warm.

(Obligatory do not try this at home). The trick is that money is first dipped in a solution of alcohol and water. Alcohol, gasoline, and similar compounds as you probably know, are easier to burn than water. In this case, because the alcohol is easier to burn, the fire consumes the alcohol without even touching the rest of the bill.

So it might not be that Chandelure is incapable of burning anything but the soul, but rather the spirit is far easier for it to burn than anything else, so it will consume it without touching the rest.

To Chandelure’s flame, souls are far more readily combustible than anything else. Therefore, the fire will quickly burn up the spirit without even touching the rest of the body.

I wouldn’t go sticking your hand in it to test it, though.