Sonia: the Galar Professor who investigated a myth

Her research subject isn't a species, it's a tale. Sonia enters the story as the assistant to Professor Magnolia, who is also her grandmother, with a case that has more to do with archaeology than biology: establishing what is true in the tale of the Darkest Day. She will come out of it with a published book, the title of Pokémon Professor, and two aristocrats on her case.

Contents

• Wedgehurst, a Rotom Phone and a Pokédex feature
• The Darkest Day, a case investigated in the field
• Yamper, Leon, Nessa: what keeps her going
• Sonia's Book, and the nobles it upsets
• The Crown Tundra: the researcher has others do the searching
• In the anime, the legend proves true before her eyes
• Sonia at a glance
• Frequently Asked Questions

Wedgehurst, a Rotom Phone and a Pokédex feature

The first meeting takes place at the Wedgehurst Pokémon Lab, where Sonia welcomes the player and her friend Leon. The game presents her as a young and already very knowledgeable researcher, employed by Professor Magnolia, who happens to be her grandmother.

Her first move is a technical one. The player already carries a Rotom Phone: Sonia adds the Pokédex feature to it, a gift from her grandmother. She then sends the player to the house on Route 2, where Magnolia is waiting, and meets up with them again in Motostoke to walk them to the Pokémon Center.

She is no armchair lab theorist. Sonia was a Trainer herself and took on the Gym Challenge in Sword and Shield, the full circuit, alongside Leon. So she is watching a journey she has already made.

The Darkest Day, a case investigated in the field

The mission her grandmother gives her concerns the Hero of Galar, a legendary figure. The story goes that a man drove back giant Pokémon that were ravaging the region, armed with a sword and a shield, during the event the land calls the Darkest Day.

Sonia tells the player the story at the Budew Drop Inn, where a statue depicts the hero. This isn't local color, it's her ongoing investigation: the story has her turn up again in Turffield, then in Stow-on-Side and finally in Circhester, wherever the legend left a physical trace.

Her interest in the subject predates her job. Hop mentions, without naming her, a childhood expedition: the researcher's granddaughter had slipped into the Slumbering Weald, a forbidden place, and got a stern telling-off for it.

Yamper, Leon, Nessa: what keeps her going

Yamper never leaves her side. It's there when she welcomes the player to the Wedgehurst lab, and again in the stands of the stadium in Wyndon when she comes to watch a battle. It's the companion she is seen with in the games and on screen alike.

Her friendship with Leon predates the adventure: they did their Gym circuit together, and Sonia was there when the future Champion of Galar lost his way, which happened to him a lot. He still drops by to ask her about powerful Pokémon, and he loves her cooking.

The anime has her say the rest. She's the one who explains to Goh that the public hero isn't the real Leon: a big kid who gets overexcited the moment a Pokémon comes into view, and whom Pokémon pulled out of his loneliness.

She met Nessa during that same Gym Challenge, and the bond has held: the Gym Leader regularly sends her seafood caught in Hulbury. In Pokémon: Twilight Wings, it's Sonia who gets her back on her feet after a loss, over an afternoon snack, then convinces her to embrace being both a Gym Leader and a model.

Sonia's Book, and the nobles it upsets

The promotion comes right after the player beats Raihan. Magnolia then takes stock of what her granddaughter has achieved and decides the time has come to hand over the position of the region's Pokémon Professor.

With the main story wrapped up, Sonia puts out her first publication: Sonia's Book. In it she sets down what she has established about Galar's myths, and in particular the role played in them by Zacian and Zamazenta.

The book ruffles some feathers. Sordward and Shielbert, two aristocrats who claim descent from the original Hero, hatch an underhanded scheme to tarnish the reputation of the two Legendaries — going as far as planting one of their admirers as an assistant in Sonia's lab. Once the affair is settled, the vacant position goes to Hop.

⚔️ Galar's Legendaries have their own section: see the Legendary Pokémon.

The Crown Tundra: the researcher has others do the searching

In the Crown Tundra, the focus of her investigation changes: three other Legendaries, Cobalion, Terrakion and Virizion. She has just found a footprint when she runs into the player, and she immediately asks them for a hand.

The job she hands out is a field survey, not a battle: roaming the region to collect footprint samples, species by species. Completing the set for one of the three triggers what comes next.

Sonia then runs the samples through a device that pinpoints the Pokémon and makes it possible to catch. Once all three Legendaries have been caught and shown to her, she congratulates the player and heads back to her lab: the division of labor is clear, she analyzes, the player collects.

In the anime, the legend proves true before her eyes

The anime first casts her as a storyteller, in front of the golden statue that stands in the entrance hall of Wyndon Stadium. But she doesn't just recite the tale: she lists what is still unknown — how much of the story is true, what the black storm really was, who the hero was, where the shield and the sword disappeared to.

The investigation turns into an expedition when she takes Goh along. She turns a Wishing Star that fell at their feet into a Dynamax Band for him, then, in Stow-on-Side, a mural destroyed in the middle of a brawl reveals a statue of two heroes accompanied by two Pokémon — and the inscription at their feet finally gives names.

The final answer comes at the top of the tower, during the battle against Eternamax Eternatus: the two weapons of the myth weren't weapons at all, but the two Pokémon themselves. Sonia reports this to her grandmother, who decides then and there to hand her the title.

She then brings her new title to bear on the region's toughest case. With Magnolia, she has the Legendary's Poké Ball unsealed and sets out to teach it to live alongside humans, with Leon lending them a hand. The two professors' reasoning is simple: Galar is going to need it. The Pokémon comes out of it more docile.

Sonia at a glance

Frequently Asked Questions

• Who is Sonia in Pokémon Sword and Shield?
  Professor Magnolia's assistant and granddaughter. She welcomes the player at the Wedgehurst lab, adds the Pokédex feature to their Rotom Phone, and investigates the myth of the Darkest Day on her grandmother's behalf.
• Does Sonia become a Pokémon Professor?
  Yes. As soon as the player defeats Raihan, the last Gym Leader, Magnolia decides her granddaughter's work makes her a worthy successor and hands over the position. Sonia goes on to focus her research on the history and myths of Galar.
• What is Sonia's Book?
  Her first published research, released after the end of the main story. In it she details what she discovered about the region's legends, notably the role of Zacian and Zamazenta, which irritates two nobles, Sordward and Shielbert.
• Which Pokémon accompanies Sonia?
  A Yamper, at her side both at the Wedgehurst lab and in the stands of Wyndon Stadium.
• What does Sonia do in the Crown Tundra?
  She investigates Cobalion, Terrakion and Virizion. She asks the player to collect footprint samples, then uses a device to locate the Legendary and make its capture possible.

In short

Sonia is the researcher who turned a children's story into a field investigation. She doesn't collect species, she cross-checks statues, a geoglyph, a mural and an inscription, until she establishes that the two weapons of the story were two Pokémon. The title of Professor doesn't just fall into her lap: it comes after the report, and the book only comes out after that.