What type of gem is in Espeon's head?

Question

Is it one of the Pokemon world Gems, or a gem that exists in real life? Or is it neither?

Comments

I don't think that it's even supposed to be a specific gem, just some sort of orb. Why does it matter?

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I was curious. It states that there is a gem in Espeon's head, but nothing actually goes into detail.

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The Pokedex only ever describes it as an orb. I highly doubt that it's been stated that it's specific gemstone.

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This is what I found When I searched "kinds of red gemstones". Hope it helps!

Images found for the query kinds of red gemstoneswww.gemselect.com
Red Gemstones
Gemstones that possess a red hue are as follows: Carnelian, Coral, Ruby , Star Garnet, Andesine Labradorite, Fire Opal, Spinel, Pyrope Garnet, Tourmaline, Rhodolite Garnet, Zircon, Star Ruby , and Rubellite Tourmaline. Aug 8, 2017

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I don't know them from the top of my head but I know that some certain stones are said to be spiritual or psychic in nature, so I'm assuming those gems are the inspiration

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The question asks about Espeon. This doesn't answer the question...

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I would wager that there is no direct answer available. This is a suggestion as to what it *could* be.

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Converted this answer because it's hypothetical answer. There probably is no exact answer. Nothing in pokedex descriptions or biology review on bulbapedia.

Answer 1

This is quite an interesting topic, I had to do a lot of research.
Espeon's Bulbapedia article says that its feline apperance and the fact that it wears a jewel on it's head mean that it was probably based off of a monster called the Carbuncle, a monster described in The Book of Beasts that also had a jewel on it's head. Carbuncle is also the nickname of a red gemstone (wowee, everything lines up now) typically used to mean Red Garnet. There you go. Espeon wears Garnet on it's forehead.
Does this mean that Espeon was born in January? ill leave that up to you.

tl;dr: Espeon wears Garnet on it's head.