Sonya


 * Not to be confused with Sonia.

"I lived in a priory when I was a child, you know. Wearing the same drab habit… Praying day after day after day… Well. no thank you. I’m done with all that. If beautiful women don’t celebrate their beauty, the entire human race loses out. Don’t you agree?"

- 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.

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 Hestia, to Duma. Her supports with Genny in Echoes reveals that Jedah abandoned her and her sisters at a 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. This is seen if the player has her fight against Jedah in Chapter 4, where she refuses to acknowledge him as her father.

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 Sagittae 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 Sagittae, 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. While Sonya is the best unit of her class and Deen is the worst among all Mercenary units, Deen does come with a far more potent item in the Brave Sword (which in Gaiden acts more like a Killing Edge), while Sonya comes with a more generic Steel Shield. Sonya does have more versatility than Deen, but Deen edges her out in offensive potential. Sonya's Promotion allows her to double as a healer, while Deen Promotes to Dread Fighter, arguably the best class in the game. Ultimately, they are both quite good units.

Sonya is an excellent Mage, and her only real downside is that you must lose Deen to obtain her.

Base Stats

 * -|Boss (Normal)=
 * Due to equipped Steel Shield
 * -|Boss (Hard)=
 * Due to equipped Steel Shield
 * -|Ally=

Personal Max Stats

 * 52
 * 41
 * 42
 * 39
 * 38
 * 40
 * 40
 * }

Growth Rates

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

Overall
While Sonya for the most part has the same role as she did in the original, her competition, Deen, has greatly improved, as have the mages obtained earlier, Mae and Boey making the decision between the two much more difficult. Sonya still has a wide variety of spells that she can use and is still a solid mage, but may be redundant if the former two have developed well. In the end the both she and Deen are good additions to the team, but the development of Celica's party should decide which is the superior option.

Supports
Passive Supports
 * Genny
 * None

Death Quote
"My fate's come to an end too..."

- Sonya's death quote

Pre-Battle Quote
"Naughty children. You ought never have made an enemy of Grieth. Still, this is mere business on my part. No hard feelings, I pray."

- Sonya's pre-battle quote

Defeated
"It seems...today is the day...my star...goes out..."

- Sonya's defeat quote

Level up Quotes

 * "I hope this doesn't make me too muscular..."
 * "I feel ravishing today."
 * "Brute force just isn't my style."

Class Change

 * "I'm not usually the pious, obedient type..."

First Turn Selection

 * "I'm unstoppable."

Enemy Dodges

 * "Ugh, how careless of me."
 * "What!?"

Enemy Deals 1 or no Damage

 * "In a rush to die?"
 * "Aww, poor baby."

Upon Being Healed

 * "How considerate."
 * "Thank you."

Critical

 * "Naughty child."
 * "Let's have some fun."
 * "Time for a little discipline."

Finishing Blow

 * "Like that?"
 * "For you."
 * "Here you are!"

Defeated Enemy

 * "You shouldn't have tempted me."
 * "No staying power at all."
 * "They were too ugly to win."
 * "Satisfied?"
 * "Ugh, caked in dirt."

Summary Screen

 * "Over already? How boring."
 * "That took effort, I must be slipping."
 * "*Sigh* I'm completely spent." (fatigued)

Death Quote
"If this is...where my story ends, then so be it... My...sisters..."

- Sonya's death quote

"Well, this is damn infuriating... Sorry, but I'm done for the day. Scars aren't really my style."

- Sonya's retreat quote

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

Echoes: Shadows of Valentia

 * Sonya's search for a cure for women turned into witches took her across the land. Her trail ended in a remote region, after which she was never seen again. Rumors fly, however, that shortly thereafter a new witch took up residence in Nuibaba's abode on Fear Mountain."

Etymology
Sonya (Соня) is a feminine given name that is a Russian diminutive of Sofiya (София / Софія), 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.