Sonia
| Sonia ソニア Sonia | |
 Art from Pokémon Sword and Shield | |
| Gender | Female |
|---|---|
| Eye color | Aqua |
| Hair color | Peach |
| Hometown | Wedgehurst (Route 2) |
| Region | Galar |
| Relatives | Professor Magnolia (grandmother) |
| Trainer class | Former Trainer and Gym Challenger Pokémon Professor (post-game) |
| Generation | VIII |
| Games | Sword and Shield |
| Game animation debut | Early-Evening Waves |
| English voice actor | Allegra Clark |
| Japanese voice actor | Lynn |
| Anime debut | Toughing It Out! |
| English voice actor | Brittany Cox |
| Japanese voice actor | Marina Inoue |
Sonia (Japanese: ソニア Sonia) is a character introduced in Pokémon Sword and Shield.
In the games
Sonia is the granddaughter and assistant of Professor Magnolia. She is also Leon's childhood friend. Sonia and her partner Pokémon Yamper participated in the Gym Challenge with Leon, but they eventually dropped out. Sonia spends the duration of the main game discovering what she wants to do with her life, eventually choosing to pursue the truth behind the legends of the first king of Galar and the Darkest Day. Together with the player and Hop, she discovers the existence of Zacian, Zamazenta, and Eternatus; and publishes her findings in a book, a feat that helps her be recognized as a Professor just like her grandmother.
In the Crown Tundra expansion, Sonia stays at a house in Freezington and requests the player to investigate some unusual footprints of a certain trio of Legendary Pokémon. Once the player catches and shows Cobalion, Terrakion and Virizion to Sonia, she returns to the Pokémon Research Lab.
Pokémon
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| Yamper is Sonia's only known Pokémon. He helps Sonia in her investigations, and is known to help Leon, whose sense of direction is terrible.
None of Yamper's moves are known. | ||
| Debut | Pokémon Sword and Shield | |
|---|---|---|
Quotes
- Main article: Sonia/Quotes
Artwork
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| Artwork of Sonia from Pokémon: Twilight Wings |
In the anime
Main series
Prior to Pokémon Journeys: The Series, Sonia was a childhood friend of Leon, and the two began traveling together when they became Trainers. However, a rift was formed in their friendship when Rose took an interest in Leon's potential and began mentoring him.
Sonia debuted in Toughing It Out!, where she overheard Ash and Goh's proclamations of Leon being a hero and mumbled to herself about it, which was noticed by the two young Trainers. Sonia explained to them about the golden statue behind them, which was modeled after the hero who stopped the Darkest Day.
As Ash introduced himself and his Pikachu, Sonia became infatuated with the Mouse Pokémon, gushing over Pikachu and caressing his ears, despite Pikachu's annoyance. She subsequently caressed Raboot's ears, being just as enamored with the Rabbit Pokémon. She then properly introduced herself as Professor Magnolia's assistant and granddaughter. Then, Sonia explained that it was her "homework" to study the Darkest Day.
In Sword and Shield, Slumbering Weald!, Sonia was driving a car to chase Dynamax energy falling from the sky, and she picked Goh up along the way. The two decide to travel together to find out what was happening in the region, without realizing that they were being followed by someone at Oleana's behest.
In Sword and Shield: The Darkest Day!, Sonia takes Goh to Turtfield, both visited the town to see its famous geoglyph, theorizing what connection it could have to Dynamax. From there, they head to Wedgehurst where Sonia introduced her grandmother to Goh and handed him a Dynamax Band from a Wishing Star that Sonia and Goh found. When they meet Magnolia, she tells about her progress in researching the Galar legend up until that moment, some time later they decide to travel to Stow-on-Side, but before that Magnolia warns her granddaughter and Goh about the danger that Rose represents. When she and Goh arrive at the city mural, they are approached by the mysterious man sent by Oleana, who decides to battle Goh. During the battle, Goh's Rabbot accidentally destroys the mural, thus revealing a statue of Zacian and Zamazenta.
In Sword and Shield: From Here to Eternatus!, still studying the statue, Sonia and Goh are approached by more of Oleana's subordinates, which forces the two to flee. Their next stop after that is on Slumbering Weald, when they go deeper into the forest, Sonia and Goh meet the legendary Pokémon. Sonia and Goh end up finally finding the altar where Zacian and Zamazenta rested. Goh ends up finding the Rusted Sword and Rusted Shield and decide to leave for Hammerlocke where Ash and Leon were. Before they can enter the Hammerlocke Gym, they have several Macro Cosmos thugs waiting for them, in order to buy time for Goh, Sonia asks him to move on. When henchmen use their Pokémon, Sonia with no way out is saved by Raihan's arrival.
In Sword and Shield... The Legends Awaken!, it is shown that Raihan managed to defeat the henchmen easily, with that and with the fury of Eternatus starting to destroy the place, Sonia decides to go to the place of the battle. There she finds Leon almost defeated and tries to help him. When everything seemed lost, Zacian and Zamazenta join Goh and Ash to defeat the Pokémon. When they finally defeat the huge Pokémon in its last form, Goh and Ash capture it, and Sonia and Leon thank them for their work. In the end, Sonia is seen talking about everything that happened. And Magnolia decides to leave the responsibility of looking after Eternatus, now sealed in a safe, with her new position as Professor.
Character
Like her game counterpart, Sonia is quite intelligent, though a little distracted. During her trip with Goh, she proved to be a wild driver, although she doesn't admit it. In the past, she was Leon's childhood friend and traveling companion, much like the games, but their relationship changed as Leon became closer to Chairman Rose. This made Sonia decide to pursue her own course, far from what Leon was looking for.
During the time she was traveling with Goh, Sonia showed a good relationship with the young Trainer, including encouraging him to continue his research and indicating that he could be a Professor in the future.
Pokémon
Traveling with
 Rotom Phone |
Voice actors
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Pokémon: Twilight Wings
In Early-Evening Waves, Sonia comforted Nessa after the latter's defeat in the Champion Cup. She later talked to Nessa on the phone and learned about her future plans as a Gym Leader.
In Moonlight, she talked with Leon over the phone.
In Sky, she watched the battle between Leon and Raihan with her Yamper.
In The Gathering of Stars, she set off for the Crown Tundra. Before leaving, she handed Hop an invitation letter for the Galarian Star Tournament.
Pokémon
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| Yamper is Sonia's only known Pokémon. Yamper was with Sonia as she watched the battle between Leon and Raihan.
None of Yamper's moves are known. | ||
| Debut | Sky | |
|---|---|---|
Voice actors
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GOTCHA!
Sonia briefly appeared in GOTCHA!.
In the manga
Pokémon Journeys: The Series
Sonia appeared in JNM13 and JNM14, where she played the same role as she does in the anime.
Pokémon Adventures
Sonia debuted in PASS06. She encountered her grandmother Professor Magnolia and her assistants Sōdo, Shirudomiria, and Marvin at the Budew Drop Inn. Sonia explained the inn's statue and its connection to the Darkest Day. When Magnolia's trailer car broke down, she lamented not being able to research the geoglyph at Turffield and asked Sonia and her assistants to go in her place. After arriving in Turffield, Sonia investigated the geoglyph while Sōdo and Shirudomira challenged the Gym. Once Sōdo's match ended, he and Marvin met with Sonia, who concluded the geoglyph was a drawing of the Darkest Day.
Later, in Hulbury, Sonia and Sōdo had dinner with Rose at the Captain's Table restaurant. Noting that Sonia was investigating the Dynamax phenomenon, Rose invited her to investigate the vault in Hammerlocke. Afterward, Sonia received a call from Nessa, who vented about her losses against Sōdo and Shirudomiria.
Later, in Hammerlocke, Sonia accidentally stepped on a wild Oranguru's fan, angering it. She was saved by Sōdo and Raihan, who both teamed up to calm the Oranguru down. Afterwards, Sonia and Sōdo entered the vault, where they found tapestries depicting two heroes involved in the Darkest Day instead of the singular hero portrayed on the statue in the Budew Drop Inn.
Pokémon
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| Yamper is Sonia's only known Pokémon.
None of Yamper's moves are known. | ||
| Debut | PASS06 | |
|---|---|---|
In the TCG
- Main article: Sonia (Rebel Clash 167)
Sonia was introduced as a Supporter card in the Pokémon Trading Card Game during the English Sword & Shield Series (the Japanese Sword & Shield Era). It was first released in the Japanese VMAX Rising subset and the English Rebel Clash expansion, with artwork by Yusuke Ohmura. It was also released as a Full Art card and Secret card in the same Japanese and English expansions, with artwork by Naoki Saito. It allows the player to search for up to two Basic Pokémon or basic Energy cards then put them into their hand.
Trivia
- Sonia failed Opal's audition despite getting all three answers correct. Opal's notes on Sonia are: "You have talent, that's for sure, but you give up a little bit too quickly. Then again, I imagine it's not easy being the granddaughter of Magnolia."
- Sonia is the first character to gain the position of Pokémon Professor over the course of the games or anime.
Names
| Language | Name | Origin |
|---|---|---|
| Japanese | ソニア Sonia | From Sandersonia or possibly Parkinsonia |
| English, Spanish, Italian | Sonia | Same as her Japanese name |
| German | Sania | Similar to her Japanese name |
| French | Sonya | Similar to her Japanese name |
| Korean | 소니아 Sonia | Transcription of her Japanese name |
| Chinese (Mandarin) | 索妮亞 / 索妮亚 Suǒníyǎ / Suǒnīyà | Transcription of her Japanese name |
| Chinese (Cantonese) | 索妮亞 Soknèih'a | Mandarin-based transcription of her Japanese name |
| Russian | Соня Sonya | Transcription of her Japanese name |
| Brazilian Portuguese | Sônia | Similar to her Japanese name |
| Thai | โชเนีย Sonia | Transcription of her Japanese name |
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| See also: Pokémon Horizons characters | ||||||||||||||
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This game character article is part of Project CharacterDex, a Bulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on each character found in the Pokémon games. |