Some say that Lugia's claims to lead the other legendary birds originated as nothing more than an empty boast by the people of the Whirl Islands, a silly claim that their god was better than those of Kanto. Yet its casual acceptance even in the other birds' homes belies the weakness of that explanation, and perhaps the real reason is the same reason why it was once worshiped like it was Arceus, and even today is called its assistant. Humans may be eager to ascribe weather or strange occurrences to the gods, but they find it difficult to imagine how birds or dogs or even Arceus itself can create. Lugia, however, has hands.

According to many of Lugia's followers in Johto, it was these enormous hands which crafted the continents themselves and hurled the stars and moon into the sky. Across the lands it is said that Lugia grabbed the elements themselves and fused them to other flying pokemon (which ones change in each region) to create the legendary birds. In the far north, it is said that Lugia is locked in a perpetual embrace with Ho-oh, the sky is Lugia's arm-wing, and the northern lights are Ho-oh's wing peeking through Lugia's fingers. For the fishing communities of the Whirl Islands, conversely, Lugia sleeps beneath the waves, and the islands themselves are its heavy fingers; its many whirlpools and earthquakes are created when Lugia must adjust its position beneath the weight of the lands which have grown upon it. Many more stories have been ascribed to Lugia's hands; they are too numerous to even attempt to summarize here.

In reality, Lugia is a psychic-type, it creates with telekinesis, and its hands are mostly for decoration: it can not even use Double Slap.