#Sonia Magnolia

[cherryroselock22]

how has no one done this with sonia yet

[pokeattorney]

AQUAHEARTS ‼️‼️

[desertsportshipping]

"You're going to spoil them," Wes says, as if he doesn't also spoil them.

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[a-stone-slab]

“The Galar Region, and the Tragic Story of Sonia Magnolia”; an Essay to theorize the Reason Why Sonia Magnolia dropped out of the Galar Gym Challenge

Sonia is the newest Professor in the Galar Region of the Generation 8 games (which released back in 2019 already, holy shit). She’s the granddaughter of Professor Magnolia, and childhood friends/ex-rival to the Undefeatable Champion Leon. Her only pokemon is Yamper, and she dropped out if the gym challenge because she didn’t know what she wanted to do with her life.

A simple story for a character, yes? Well, not exactly.

Using other details and pieces of information from all sorts of different Pokémon Media such as the anime, manga, side games, etc., and even using more information hidden in different parts of the Generation 8 games, we can start to piece together a much larger story. A much more tragic story, detailing several reasons as to why exactly Sonia suddenly dropped out of the Gym Challenge as a young girl.

Part 1: A Girl From Wedgehurst (or: Sonia’s Childhood)

Sonia Magnolia grew up in Galar, and is presented to have grown up in Wedgehurst. With no parents in sight, and her childhood room being in her grandma’s house, we can safely assume she grew up with her grandparents for one reason or another.

We know she was childhood friends with Leon, a boy from Postwick, the next town over. Her starting pokemon was a Yamper, while Leon’s was a charmander.

The two were extremely close friends, and after a while, Sonia caught a Rookidee. Leon and Sonia battled each other often, with Sonia apparently being the only person that could always defeat Leon, no matter how many times they battled, as confirmed by the Pokémon Journeys arc of the pokemon anime.

Part 2: The Gym Challenge Issue (or: When Did She Quit?)

At some point, the two of them entered the galarian gym challenge, with Rose endorsing Leon and Sonia being endorsed by an unknown person, presumably her own grandmother.

Leon and Sonia battled through the gym challenge as rivals, battling along the way. However, Leon had such an abysmal sense of direction that Sonia and her Yamper had to make sure Leon didn’t get lost on his own and then they would show him the right way to go, with them traveling together a lot in the process.

Now, Sonia is stated to have dropped out of the Gym Challenge at some point. We can assume it was sometime after Opal’s gym, as we learn Opal has a note specifically about Sonia. The note reads:

"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." - Gym Leader Opal

The note mentions Sonia having lots of talent and skill as a trainer, but panics easily due to the high-expectations placed on her as the granddaughter of Professor Magnolia. This can imply she beat Opal easily due to her skill, but if Professor Magnolia or the expectations on her are mentioned, she panics and can’t calm down easily.

Now, with that in mind, we know she quit after Gym 5 in her challenge. Next, we need to figure out when exactly that is.

First, according to Pokémon Masters and the general public in the Generation 8 games, Sonia could never officially defeat Leon. Meaning that any official matches they ever had usually ended in her defeat. However, she had quit being a trainer after her gym challenge, and there aren’t any “battle another challenger” style gym quests in the Galar League, leading any logical train of thought to arrive at Leon and Sonia had a battle during the Champion’s Cup, the only official way they could both battle each other and the entire population of Galar would know the results.

This means that Sonia got all eight galar gym badges, made it all the way to the Champion’s Cup, and dropped out inbetween matches.

Now, however, let’s figure out why she dropped out.

Part 3: Fear Is A Powerful Thing (or: Why Did She Quit?)

Looking back at the information shown so far, we can start to piece together why exactly Sonia quit being a trainer despite being so close to her childhood dream.

Looking back at Opal’s notes about Sonia:

"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." - Gym Leader Opal

According to Opal, Sonia gives up quickly due to stress.

Looking back at Pokemon Masters, we also know that Sonia not only quit being a gym challenger, but also quit battling as a whole.

In the Pokemon Masters event Winter Wishes, she tells Nessa:

"Ever since I got here, I feel like I'm getting back in the groove for battling again!" -Sonia Magnolia

“I feel like I’m getting back in the groove for battling again!”. That doesn’t sound like she quit, instead it sounds she was “shaken up” and lost her “groove” in battles. With this, we can infer that she was, somehow, scared into never battling ever again.

And to discuss why she would have been scared so badly that she quit after losing a major official match against Leon, we’ll have to go into the history of the Galar League.

Part 4: Corruption in the Galar League (or: Rose’s Corruption in Office)

The Galar League is run by the Macro Cosmos organization, or more specifically, its chairman, Chairman Rose.

Chairman Rose has led the Galar League for years, bringing it into economic and political prosperity, turning it into a spectacular form of entertainment for the citizens of Galar, using his construction company to build massive stadiums and the Dynamac Band created by him and Professor Magnolia (which was later revealed to be an invention by a woman named Oleana, not Rose and Magnolia). Using the popularity of the Galar League, Rose was able to solidify himself as an important name in Galar’s history and culture.

A former Gym Leader, a man named Mustard, was the longest-running champion in galar’s history, gaining the title before chairman rose took over as chairman.

After a few decades of being champion, Mustard’s first partner pokemon passed away due to unknown circumstances. Stricken with grief, Mustard began faltering in battles, until one day he suddenly began winning more matches again. However, he later quit after finding out that the matches he was fighting were rigged in his favor, challengers being forced to lose to further lengthen Mustard’s reign as Champion.

The next champion was a man named Peony, who was also a former gym leader, a father of two, and Chairman Rose’s brother. Peony held the title for a short while, before allegedly quitting due to two reasons:

He disagreed with business practices from his brother.

He didn’t want to be stuck listening to his brother forever.

With that in mind, one can easily understand that Chairman Rose rigged matches for Champion Mustard, causing him to retire early due to shame and resentment from fighting rigged matches. Champion Peony quit shortly after learning of corrupt tactics in the league, which can easily be assumed to be the idea of rigging matches in the league.

Years later, Rose began using his power in galar to perform shady business deals, getting wishing stars needed to further personal endeavors (later revealed to be awakening Eternatus), and used gym challengers he endorsed (such as Bede) to do the dirty work for him.

This led to theft and destruction of public property in order to collect more wishing stars, in which case he would “throw away” any challengers he didn’t need once they were useless to him.

With this in mind, we can learn that Rose is a man willing to do whatever it takes to gain more power and resources for himself, to further his own goals.

Now, with that out of the way, it’s time to explain why that was necessary.

Part 5: Threats and Hard Bargains (or: The Reason Sonia Quit)

So! We now reach the final part of this essay, and the reason why Sonia gave up on her dreams.

Before I continue, I’d like to create a timeline of what we know so far

Rose becomes chairman

Mustard quits due to apparently fighting rigged matches

Peony becomes champion, quits shortly after due to ideas he didn’t agree with

Leon and Sonia become trainers, and rivals, with Leon being unable to defeat Sonia in any of their battles

Leon is endorsed by Chairman Rose, and Sonia is endorsed by an unknown individual and both enter the Galar League

Leon and Sonia pass Opal’s gym

Sonia and Leon arrive at Wyndon, and enter the Champion’s Cup

Sonia loses an official match against Leon

Sonia quits her entire career as a trainer, scared into no longer battling

With that out of the way, this timeline shows one strong reason as to why she quit: Sonia had been threatened into throwing a match, and it scared her into no longer being a trainer.

Chairman Rose endorsed Challenger Leon, and had a lot riding on Leon becoming Champion. Because of that, he needed to make sure Leon won. So he did what he’s done before, and attempted to rig the match in Leon’s favor. And since the opponent would be his superior rival, Sonia, Rose had to ensure Sonia couldn’t win.

So, Chairman Rose presumably pressured Sonia into a loss. And since he knew Professor Magnolia and knew the pressure being put on Sonia, one can assume he used that to his advantage in some way, since many people in Galar knew the results of her match against Opal, it would’ve been common knowledge that she would quit easily if stressed out.

This means that Sonia was somehow caused a lot of stress, and so she panicked during her battle against Leon, losing their battle in the Champion’s Cup, causing her to drop out of the competition and quit being a trainer afterwards.

[golden-hourglass]

Sonia and Yamper lazing around at home together~

Commissions Are Open!

[kisenth]

Sonia is just so done with Raihan at times like these, there are no words-

[artrantia]

Pokemon Acrylic Charms

Having a big sale on etsy for all merch this weekend! In addition, use code GET5 to get 5USD off your total when you hit a minimum of 25USD (Only for US, UK and Canada residents)!

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[diaclarity]

i cant think of a funny caption bc i genuinely dont remember what the thought process here was other than "omg she just like me fr"

[iconstore]

Pokémon SPECIAL Sword and Shield - Sonia icons

[poipurr]

I just think Piers and Sonia Pokemon should kiss!!! We love a bi king and queen!!!

[galarfiend]

the various pokemon characters that i have as headers on my notes for school. they provide emotional support/pressure to do good on my assignments because i dont want to disappoint them

[theangrycomet]

this is probably just me being picky on semantics but does any one else get annoyed at how Sonia’s considered a Pokemon Professor?

I know sword and shield has some of the worst writing for a pokemon game but Sonia’s arc was especially frustrating for me

like- the whole time she’s researching the myths (if it can really called that) she’s treating it either as some chore assigned to her by her grandma or some sort of game. All the conversations she has with the MC, it feels like the player is either pointing out the obvious to her or handing her the answers. It barely implied that she’s done any thorough research beyond joining the MC to historic sights.

heck if it weren’t for Bede destroying the mural in Stow-on-Side (which for some reason NEITHER of the local gym leaders choose to address themself) she probably would’ve just stopped with what she had.

than she’s just, decreed a Professor by Magnolia at Hammerlocke?

I know Pokemon takes liberties with the title “Professor” but it’s been established that it takes some degree of schooling AND apprenticeship/interning.

I’m sorry but with what the game shows us she is not a Pokemon professor- she is a galarian historian at best- WHICH IS FINE!

I probably would have liked it better if she decided that she didn’t want to pursue pokemon research like her grandma and pursue history. But instead everyone treats her as though she’s the next big thing in pokemon research instead of how her work points out how much has been hidden from the public.

[desertsportshipping]

Leon is very smart. He is also a dumbass.

[ambipotent]

“Lesbian kiss steals spotlight at Galar anti-gay protest.”

This was Nessa’s idea.

Inspired by those two girls (who weren’t gay btw) kissing in front of an anti-gay protest in France, because they’re allies (original pic under the cut). 

[golden-hourglass]

Sonia in a fancy lace decorated cocktail dress

Commissions Are Open!