>>58089828
>>58089835
Usually a character being dumb would just turn them into comic relief, but this is the Pokemon universe where the magic nonverbal dumbass animals usually double as morality pets (nature/animals le good, humans le bad) because Shintoism. Even if Pokemon can't talk/act stupid/shit on the carpet, humans are expected to always treat Pokemon with respect and listen to what they have to "say". Inversely, ignoring and mistreating Pokemon = disrespecting nature = disrespecting the gods.

Which is why Sapphire's tarzan shit making her animal-like actually gives her a similar role to an actual Pokemon: despite being dumb, the manga's story takes her thoughts and feelings seriously (well at least that's the intention) and the universe technically punishes Ruby for ignoring her when she has a point. ORAS even makes her mute for awhile which was mainly just an annoying attempt to nerf her, but it could've also been a way to make Sapphire more Pokemon-like since most Pokemon can't speak, which puts more responsibility on humans to let the Pokemon be heard. It's actually the same aesop that Pokespe recycles constantly:
>omg trainer why weren't you listening to your poor Pokemon, you ignored their feelings omg apologize IMMEDIATELY
Except when it comes to the Hoenn arcs, it's the same moral except Sapphire is literally substituted for Ruby's Pokemon:
>omg Ruby why weren't you listening to your poor Sapphire, you ignored her feelings omg apologize IMMEDIATELY

Anyway Sapphire's stupidity is both plot relevant and thematically relevant, so she'll literally always be dumb. Cute