Sonya

"Hehehe, little girl and company- too bad, but you're going to die!"

- Sonya

Sonya (ソニア Sonia) is a playable character from Fire Emblem Gaiden and its remake, Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia. She is 25 years old in Echoes. Her Japanese voice is provided by Rei Shimoda.

Profile
Sonya serves as a subordinate of Grieth, alongside Deen, who keeps her in check and vice versa. Although she is aware of Grieth's cruelty, and hates him, she stands in Celica’s path, preventing her from crossing the desert. If Celica defeats Deen, Sonya retreats into Grieth's Fortress. After Grieth's death, she joins Celica's army, revealing that she thought that Grieth would get his just rewards eventually.

Her ending in the original Gaiden reveals that she is the youngest daughter of Jedah, who intended to sacrifice her and her older and still loyal sisters, Marla and Heste, to Duma. Her supports with Genny in Echoes reveals that Jedah abandoned her at an priory when she was young.

After the war, Sonya searches for a way to turn women who have been turned into Witches back to normal. She stops in a certain region before disappearing, with rumors circulating that she became a Witch herself and settled in Nuibaba's halls.

Personality
Sonya has a cool and unyielding personality and oozes womanly charm. She is apparently burdened with an awful past, but hates to talk about it. She has a deep hatred of her father Jedah, and in turn anyone like him, for both abandoning her as a child and setting up her older sisters to be sacrificed to Duma.

In Echoes, Sonya can develop a friendship with Genny where they bond over being left at a priory as children by their parents, and Sonya reminding Genny of her mother.

Base Stats

 * -|Boss=


 * -|Ally=

Growth Rates

 * 30%
 * 30%
 * 30%
 * 30%
 * 30%
 * 30%
 * 0%
 * }

Overall
Sonya is the best Mage unit that can be recruited in Celica's route, and arguably the best Mage in the game. She starts with very strong stats for a level 5 Mage, and her overall growth is the highest of any Mage other than Celica. Her stats are split perfectly evenly, making it unlikely that she will have lopsided stats like Mae or Boey who are more oriented towards hard hitting single casts. Part of the reason Sonya is so good is that she has far and away the highest Speed of any Mage in the game, starting at 12, which most Mages likely will not reach even if fully leveled. She will end up above average for all stats when compared to other Mages, though her Luck and Defense are unimpressive in general.

Sonya also comes with one of the best spell sets in the game, losing out only to Celica. She has Angel for fighting monsters. She has Arrow for raw damage (though the spell's Weight will likely ruin her chance to Double Attack), She has Excalibur, which has low Weight and allows her to utilize her high speed, as well as an innate 20% Critical rate to compound with her already high Skill/Critical rate. Lastly, she has Thunder which allows her a range of 3. Her spell list is versatile and nearly perfect, though she lacks Ragnarok and instead has Arrow, which is what makes Celica's spell set slightly better. Also, upon Promotion to Priestess, she is given the ability to wield Swords, allowing her to become a formidable (if vulnerable) physical fighter on top of being a fearsome Mage.

One of the only downsides that Sonya has is that you must choose between her or Deen. Generally speaking, Sonya is usually preferable to Deen as she is the best unit of her class while Deen is the worst of his. Sonya is also just a better, more versatile unit in general. Sonya also comes with a Steel Shield, an item that can be used by anyone and is thus more versatile. However, Deen comes with a Brave Sword (which in Gaiden acts more like a Killing Edge), a much more potent item, though it can only be wielded by Sword users.

Despite the minor downsides, Sonya is an amazing unit, and is easily among the best available in the game.

Base Stats

 * -|Boss=


 * -|Ally=

Growth Rates

 * 40%
 * 45%
 * 50%
 * 35%
 * 30%
 * 40%
 * 4%
 * }

Supports
Passive Supports
 * Genny
 * None

Gaiden
"Her two older sisters, Marla and Heste, had been reborn as witches to be sacrificed to Duma…  Sonya would never forgive their father Jedah for making his three daughters into sacrifices." 

Echoes: Shadows of Valentia
"Sonya wandered the land searching for a cure for the women turned into witches. While doing so, she stopped in a certain region, and what she did next is unclear. A plausible rumor says that around the same time as her disappearance, a new witch settled into the halls of Nuibaba."

Etymology
Sonya is a feminine given name that is a Russian diminutive of Sofiya, which is the Russian, Ukrainian, and Bulgarian equivalent of the Greek name Sophia, meaning "wisdom".

Trivia

 * Sonya has a fondness of bitter and refined food and detests sweets.