Hapu: the Poni Island Kahuna who had to ask twice for her title

Her island's guardian said no the first time. Hapu has her grandfather's accent, a fondness for Ground-type Pokémon and the ambition to succeed him — but when she goes to the Ruins of Hope to inherit the role of kahuna, Tapu Fini doesn't choose her. The post stays vacant, and it's the player of Pokémon Sun and Moon who witnesses, much later in the adventure, her second attempt.

Contents

• An Heir the Guardian Turns Down
• A Title Won Before the Player's Eyes
• In the Anime: Radishes, Mist and Refereeing
• Beyond Poni: Mobile Game, Cards and Z-Noodles
• Hapu at a Glance
• Frequently Asked Questions

An Heir the Guardian Turns Down

Poni Island is the fourth island of the Alola archipelago, the last stop on the journey. Hapu lives there with her grandmother, out by the Ancient Poni Path, and she speaks with a strong country accent — a trait the mobile game would later tie explicitly to her grandfather.

That grandfather was none other than the island's kahuna, and he passed away some time before the story begins. Yet the role isn't passed down by blood: it's Poni's guardian, Tapu Fini, that chooses who holds it.

So Hapu climbs to the Ruins of Hope to put herself forward, and the guardian doesn't choose her. The island is left without a kahuna. Rather than press the matter, the young woman leaves Poni and sets out to travel the rest of Alola: it's on the road, not at home, that the player meets her.

A Title Won Before the Player's Eyes

The first encounters are low-key and scattered. On Route 6, she asks for help driving off two Team Skull Grunts; you see her again in Malie City with Lillie; on Route 12, she lends the player her Mudsdale as a Ride Pokémon.

The main storyline eventually catches up with her. When Lusamine disappears into the Ultra Beasts' dimension, Lillie and the player try to reach Alola's Legendary Pokémon and go to ask Poni's kahuna for support — and it's Hapu herself who has to admit to them that the post is empty.

So she goes back to the Ruins to ask the same question, and this time Tapu Fini accepts. Now kahuna, she escorts Lillie and the player to the altar, putting them through her grand trial along the way and handing a Groundium Z to whoever beats her. Once Lusamine has been brought out, unconscious, she's the one who again helps Guzma bring her back.

🔥 The Ground-type heavyweights have their own shelf: browse our Pokémon figures.

In the Anime: Radishes, Mist and Refereeing

The Sun & Moon series introduces her as the guardian of a vegetable patch: she mistakes Ash and his friends for radish thieves and sends out her Golurk against them. She wins that first battle, then finds Ash taking on Team Skull, who have made off with the Oricorio — and she lends a hand.

She then goes with the group to Vast Poni Canyon, where she watches Sophocles's Charjabug evolve into Vikavolt. Another episode shows her at home, harvesting radishes, when a mist blankets the island: the mist through which Tapu Fini lets people see their departed loved ones again.

Ash and his friends get lost in it. Hapu sets off on her Mudsdale to find them, comes face to face with the guardian and orders it to release her friends before they're lost for good — and it's her late grandfather who appears to tell her that Tapu Fini has chosen her as Poni's kahuna. She later puts Ash through her grand trial, which he wins with Pikachu, before refereeing matches in the Alola League.

Beyond Poni: Mobile Game, Cards and Z-Noodles

The mobile game has featured her since launch, in her canonical outfit and as a sync pair with Mudsdale. Her description there fits in a single line: the guardian chose her during her journey across the archipelago, and she inherited her grandfather's way of speaking.

In the card game, her first appearance comes with the Sun & Moon—Unified Minds expansion, released in France on August 2, 2019. Three media, then, and the same role every time: an island authority, never a rival — even if the games bring her back as a potential challenger at the Alola Pokémon League, with a team of five Pokémon.

One more detail that attentive players know well: you can also run into her at the restaurant in Seafolk Village, provided you order a bowl of Zumongous Z-Noodles there. The Alola games like to place their authority figures in everyday settings rather than up on a pedestal.

Hapu at a Glance

Frequently Asked Questions

• Why does Tapu Fini turn Hapu down as kahuna at first?
  The game gives no reason. It only shows the outcome: Hapu goes to the Ruins of Hope to succeed her grandfather, the guardian doesn't choose her, and the post of Poni's kahuna stays vacant. She then leaves her island to travel the rest of Alola.
• When does Hapu become kahuna?
  In the middle of the story, when Lillie and the player are looking for help to get Lusamine out of the Ultra Beasts' dimension. On learning what has happened, Hapu goes back to the Ruins to ask Tapu Fini for the title, and this time it grants it. It's one of the rare island appointments the player actually sees happen.
• Which Pokémon does the source actually attribute to Hapu?
  The source credits her with six species: Mudsdale, described as her favorite Pokémon, which serves as her Ride Pokémon, her mount in the anime and her partner in the mobile game; Alolan Dugtrio, Gastrodon and Flygon, which round out her team in Sun and Moon; Krookodile, which she adds when she takes on the League; and Golurk, which leads her team in Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon and which she sends out against Ash in their first on-screen meeting.
• What do you get for beating Hapu?
  A Groundium Z. She battles the player during Poni's grand trial, on the way to the altar, and hands over this Ground-type Z-Crystal after her defeat.
• Does Hapu have a role in the anime beyond her island?
  Yes. After being recognized as Poni's kahuna and putting Ash through her grand trial, she serves as referee for some of the Alola League matches.

In short

Hapu is a rare case in the series: a character whose appointment we see play out, fail, then succeed. Kahunas and Gym Leaders usually arrive already in office, long since settled in; she, by contrast, is still waiting when we meet her, turned down by her own guardian, and it's the story's detour through the Ultra Beasts that gives her back her place. Her grand trial makes sense only because she has just earned the title.