Melony: The Ice-Type Gym Leader Whose Gym Split a Town

Locals have nicknamed her stadium "the frozen hell," and it has nothing to do with the temperature. Melony runs the Gym in Circhester, but half of all players will never run into her: she exists in only one of the game's two versions, while the other hands the very same venue to her son. That son isn't just one more line in her biography — he's the fault line running through her entire story.

Contents

• A Gym That Changes Hands Depending on the Version
• "The Frozen Hell," or a School That Shows No Mercy
• The Mother-Son Battle That Split Circhester in Two
• Three Lineups, One Lapras
• Melony at a Glance
• Frequently Asked Questions

A Gym That Changes Hands Depending on the Version

Melony runs the Circhester Gym, in Galar, and she specializes in the Ice type there. The Badge she awards is named after her specialty, which places her in the classic line of regional League Gym Leaders.

What sets her apart lies elsewhere. You only face her in Pokémon Shield; in Pokémon Sword, the Gym goes to her son Gordie, who specializes in the Rock type instead. One town, one building, but two Gym Leaders and two specialties depending on which cartridge you bought.

Beating her isn't for nothing, either. Victory earns you 6,720 Pokémon Dollars and the TM that teaches Icy Wind — the move that opens nearly all her battles, which she therefore hands over to the Trainer who just beat her.

"The Frozen Hell," or a School That Shows No Mercy

Her League Card gives the one word the game settles on to describe her: strictness. She has held the post since her twenties, and her reputation as a coach carries at least as much weight as her record as a battler.

The text plays on an easy but telling contrast: her mittens suggest softness, but her hand says exactly the opposite. The Gym Trainers who make it through her program come out with an unspoken guarantee — anyone who lasted under her has what it takes to go far.

Hence the nickname that regulars have pinned on the building. Her official profile adds a far less flattering rumor: if she battles this harshly, it's supposedly because of her difficult relationship with her son. The game doesn't settle the question; it simply passes the rumor along.

The Mother-Son Battle That Split Circhester in Two

The rare version of her League Card spells out what the disagreement is really about. Melony wanted Gordie to be the next leader of her Gym; he was set on specializing in the Rock type. The matter didn't stay within the family.

Mother and son settled it with a battle, and the townspeople took sides. Since then, the two have refused to see each other. Yet the game slips in a detail that contradicts their very public feud: Melony is said to be the very first member of her son's fan club.

The anime plays out the scene just as described. In the short series devoted to Galar, the Gym Leader faces Gordie in an official match at Wyndon Stadium, her Gigantamax Lapras against her opponent's Gigantamax Coalossal. The staging never shows her directly: you only catch sight of her on the giant screens broadcasting the match to the spectators.

She reappears a little later in the same series, in a lighter vein: sitting at a café over a milkshake, she gives a TV interview. She's asked what she thinks of Leon, then at the top of the regional League, and her answer comes down to a single adjective — relentless.

Three Lineups, One Lapras

The Gym battle is a four-Pokémon affair. Frosmoth, a Galarian Darmanitan and an Eiscue lead off, between levels 40 and 41, all following the same type logic and the same barrage of icy attacks.

The fourth one changes the nature of the fight: Lapras comes in at level 42 and takes on its giant form. It's the Gym Leader's signature Pokémon, the only one on her team to go Gigantamax, and the only one to bring the Water type into a team otherwise built on Ice.

Two other encounters raise the stakes. At Wyndon Stadium, she battles with five Pokémon and adds a Mr. Rime to the roster, with the whole team around level 60. At the Galarian Star Tournament, she's back to three — Mr. Rime, Galarian Darmanitan and Lapras — but above level 70.

Outside the core games, the franchise's mobile game added her on October 5, 2022, in her original outfit: a main sync pair with Lapras, which can also Gigantamax, and a second pair built around Frosmoth. The card game had beaten it by a year, with her first card released in France on June 18, 2021, in the Sword & Shield—Chilling Reign expansion.

❄️ Melony's signature partner is just the right size for a hug: browse our Pokémon plushies.

Melony at a Glance

Frequently Asked Questions

• In which version do you face Melony?
  Only in Pokémon Shield. In Pokémon Sword, the same Circhester Gym is run by her son Gordie, who specializes in the Rock type instead of the Ice type.
• Which Pokémon does Melony use?
  In her Gym: Frosmoth, a Galarian Darmanitan, an Eiscue and a Lapras that can Gigantamax. At Wyndon Stadium, she battles with five Pokémon and adds a Mr. Rime. At the Galarian Star Tournament, she sticks to Mr. Rime, Galarian Darmanitan and Lapras.
• Why are Melony and Gordie on bad terms?
  She wanted him to succeed her at the Circhester Gym; he wanted to specialize in the Rock type. Their disagreement led to a battle that divided the town, and the two have refused to see each other ever since — even though she's said to be the first member of her son's fan club.
• Why is the Circhester stadium nicknamed "the frozen hell"?
  Because of how harsh Melony's training is. Her League Card stresses her strictness and presents the Gym Trainers who last to the end of her program as battlers with real potential.
• Does Melony appear in the anime?
  Yes, in the short series devoted to Galar. She battles Gordie at Wyndon Stadium without ever being shown except on the stadium's giant screens, then comes back to give a TV interview in which she calls Leon relentless.

In short

Melony is a half-invisible Gym Leader: one buyer in two never meets her, since the other version of the game puts her son in her place. Those who do come across her find a coach whose stadium has earned a less-than-welcoming nickname, a giant Lapras waiting at the end, and a family story that two League Cards tell before the animated series brings it to the screen. She specializes in the Ice type, but everything the game says about her boils down to a conflict that's anything but cold.