Marnie

Marnie
Species	Human
Hair color	Black
Eye color	Green
Base	Spikemuth
Voiced by	Cristina Vee (2021)
Debut	Pokémon Sword/Shield

Marnie is a Pokémon Trainer who acts as a rival character in Pokémon: Sword and Shield. She acts as a recurring opponent throughout the game and later succeeds her brother as the Gym Leader of Spikemuth. She specializes in Dark-type Pokémon.

Background

Marnie was a native of Spikemuth, a Galar town that had fallen into a dilapadated state, because it was overlooked for not having a power spot. She had an older brother named Piers who was always looking out for her. Piers caught her first Pokémon for her, a Morpeko, when she was five yeas old. Marnie was described as being timid and more of a "crybaby" when she was young, but she became more cheerful after gaining her Morpeko, even if she also had to deal with the Pokémon's mood swings. Marnie became a skilled trainer, to the point where Piers felt that she was better than him. Piers would later become the Gym Leader of Spikemuth, in an attempt to help put the town on the map. He felt that Marnie was more worthy of becoming the Gym Leader, but she was too young at the time. Marnie became somewhat of a local celebrity regardless. Her expression rarely changed, even when she got angry, although she was capable of staying angry for quite some time.

During the events of Sword and Shield, Marnie departed from Spikemuth to take on the major divison of Galar's gym challenge. Her goal was to become the champion and to give Spikemuth the attention that it needed. She ended up being followed by a devoted fanbase that wore costumes and called themselves Team Yell. She was unaware that they were actually Spikemuth Gym Trainers in disguise. Although she appreciated their support, she did not personally care about being famous, and she was also well aware of how overzealous they could get. She first met Victor/Gloria after the trainer got into a battle with Team Yell at the Budew Drop Inn. She shooed away Team Yell and introduced herself to the fellow challenger. After taking on the first two gyms, they met again at the Budew Drop Inn when staying there the night before challenging Kabu. Marnie battled Victor/Gloria for fhe first time to gauge if she was ready for the next leg of the gym challenge. She was defeated and proceeded to turn in for the night. The next day, she gave the trainer Kabu's League Card and a pair of Burn Heals.

Marnie continued her gym challenge and confronted Victor/Gloria right after she had gained her fifth gym badge at Ballonlea. Seeing that the trainer had collected four badges, she declared that they were someone who she would have to look out for, but she then expressed surprise that Morpeko was fond of the trainer despite having had a "serious battle" with them. Marnie proceeded to give Victor/Gloria her League Card, declared them rivals and hoped that they would meet in the Finals of the Championship Cup. The gym battle continued until only two gyms were left tor the challengers to complete, one of which was Spikemuth. Marnie came to Spikemuth, only to find that the main entrance to the city had been shuttered by Team Yell, in an attempt to sabotage Marnie's competitors. Marnie knew of a secret entrance and clued Victor/Gloria in on it. Because of their rivalry, she only agreed to let them through if they could beat her in a battle. They managed to beat her again, so she showed them into the city and declared that she would get her revenge at the Championship Cup. Marnie later told off members of Team Yell for shutting down the city and for their misguided attempts at helping her to become champion. After Victor/Gloria defeated Piers, Marnie showed up to challenge her brother next. Piers announced that he would be retiring as gym leader and wanted Marnie to take over as gym leader. Marnie was aware of this, but she refused due to being intent on becoming the champion instead.

She ultimately collected all eight of the gym badges and went to compete in the Championship Cup at Wyndon. Marnie battled Victor/Gloria in the first round of the Semifinals and was defeated. Despite her loss, she was glad that their battle had excited the audience. She went to join Piers in the stands to watch the rest of the battles. She was later called upon by Piers to help Victor/Gloria and Hop to find their way to Rose Tower. Although she claimed to be tired from her battle with the trainer, she still worked with Piers and Team Yell to help them, and she gave Victor/Gloria's Pokémon a boost by cheering the on in one battle. With Victor/Gloria ultimately winning the cup and becoming the new champion, Marnie finally accepted her brother's offer and became the new gym leader of Spikemuth. Afterwards, she could be found by the Pokémon Center at Spikemuth, where she could be challenged to an exhibition match. After being defeated, she would give the trainer her rare League Card. Marnie could also appear at other tournaments held by Victor/Gloria (either by invitation or at random) and at the Star Tournament, both of which came with a possibility of a rematch. The player could also team up with her as a partner in the Star Tournament, and as an opponent she could team up with Piers, Hop, Avery, Klara or Sordward. She could also be seen visiting areas of the Isle of Armor with her Pokémon.

Pokémon Roster

• Croagunk/Toxicroak: Croagunk evolves between the first two battles with Marnie.
• Scraggy/Scrafty: Scraggy evolves between the first two battles with Marnie.
• Morpeko: Morpeko is usually out of its PokéBall and standing by Marnie's side outside of battle.
• Liepard: Liepard is present from the second battle onwards.
• Grimmsnarl (Gigantamax): It is present for the third battle onwards.

For battles in the Star Tournament, she used only Scraftly, Morpeko and Grimmsnarl.

In Other Pokémon Games

In Pokémon Masters EX, Marnie and her Morpeko were made available as a playable sync pair that could be unlocked at random through the game's Sync Pair Scout feature, and they were only available during limited time periods starting in February 2021. She also had several variants that were also available only during limited time periods: a Summer 2021 variant that was paired with Grimmsnarl which was first made available in July 2021, a Palentine's 2022 variant paired with Mawile (capable of Mega Evolution) and was first available at the end of January 2022 and a Champion variant paired with Galarian Moltres that was first available at the end of February 2023. A Toxicroak could also be unlocked as an alternate partner for her default version by reaching Friendship Level 100 with her at the Trainer Lodge starting in August 2022. This game depicted her as if she had not yet become Gym Leader, as Piers was still referred to as a Gym Leader and could mention his plans to leave the gym to Marnie in the future as a Pokémon Center conversation.

Marnie was featured in the "Champion Time" Story Event, where she, Leon and Piers had just recently arrived in Pasio, and a set of exhibition matches were arranged. Marnie lost her battle against Karen, but she received encouragement from the others. There were also several extra scenes in which she bonded with characters from other regions such as Rosa, Gladion, Hau and Lisia. She was also featured in her summer outfit in the "Beachside Rivalry" Story Event. In that event, Marnie agreed to help run a pop-up eatery at the beach with Gloria, but she became insecure when some customers found her to be intimidating due to her lack of a smile. She tried to practice smiling and was joined by Marley, but they then found out that some reformed Team Break members had lost their own customers to the pop-up shop. Marnie switched over to join their shop for the day in order to help them out, as they reminded her of Spikemuth's residents, and she saw this as another way to be a rival to Gloria. With some advice from Gloria, she decided to hold Pokémon battles to draw in customers, as battles got her to smile genuinely. With Team Break's shop back on its feet, Marnie decided to rejoin Gloria at the end of the day. She also appeared in the "Howling Shield of Eternity" Story Event, in which she helped deal with an outbreak of Dynamax Pokémon. In the "Mushroom Mania" Solo Event, she enlisted the player's help in gathering mushrooms to feed her 'hangry' Morpeko.

She was also featured in her Palentine's variant in the "Sweet Shenanigans" Story Event. Marnie and Bea were both new to Palentine's Day and worked together to make chocolates for the people they cared for. Marnie made chocolates for Piers and Gloria, and she promised to make one for Scottie/Bettie if they could keep that a secret. Their chocolates were later stolen by Team Heartbreak, and they worked together to catch them. Marnie offered to make chocolates for Team Heartbreak if they shaped up, only to discover that they already ate all the chocolates. Piers and Gloria were still happy with the sentiment of her planned gift. In an extra scene, it turned out that the chocolate that Marnie had prepared for the player had not been stolen, and so she gave them a homemade Fudge Heart, while asking them to keep it a secret while she worked on redoing Piers and Gloria's presents. Marnie was also featured in the Neo Champion Event "Fight for the Future", in which she teamed up with Hop and Bede (each of them wielding one of Galar's legendary birds) to compete in a Neo Champion Tournament in which they had to battle Leon, Victor and Gloria. They used their knowledge of their opponents to strategize in the following battle and ultimately earned the title of Neo Champions, which came with their Champion outfits. During the Main Story's Villain Arc, she played a role in the Galar Arc, where she and Piers showed up with Team Yell to cheer on battles hosted by Leon, and she also fought on a team with Gloria and Hop against Saturn, Mars and Jupiter in the competition between Lear and Rose's factions. During the Final Chapter of the Villain Arc, she joined Piers and Team Yell in teaming up with Guzma, Plumeria and Team Skull against the forces of Team Rocket.

Other Appearances

Other Media

• Marnie was featured as a supporting character in the Pokémon Adventures manga during the Sword/Shield arc. She made several appearances during the gym challenge and helped Hop to enter Spikemuth safely. She took part in the efforts against Rose's followers and Eternatus, and she later traveled to the Crown Tundra with Hop and Bede in search of the missing Henry Sword. Marnie also defeated Peony in a battle in order to get him to let Peonia leave his expedition, with the rest of them joining his expedition team instead.
• In Pokémon: Twilight Wings, Marnie made several cameo appearances. She was seen eating at a cafe with her Morpeko in the fourth episode and watching Leon's match on her phone in the the seventh episode. She then made a speaking appearance during the eighth episode, where she encouraged her brother after they were invited to the Galarian Star Tournament and was later seen in the tournament's opening ceremony.
• In Pokémon Evolutions, she made a cameo appearance in the first episode, where she was seen seated with her Morpeko and next to Bede while they spectated the championship battle between Leon and Victor.
• In the main Pokémon anime, Marnie was featured in one episode of the Pokémon Journeys series as a high-ranking competitor in the World Coronation Series. She was ranked 29th and entered the tournament in order to popularize Spikemuth. Although Team Yell attempted to trick Ash Ketchum into missing out on his battle with her, Piers ultimately helped him to reach the battle in time. Marnie was ultimately defeated by Ash, but she succeeded in sparking the audience's interest in her hometown. She later made a cameo appearance watching the championship battle between Ash and Leon.

Trivia

• Her Japanese name is "Mary", derived from "rosemary". Her English name of Marnie may have been chosen to sound similar to Mary and may also be referencing "Rosemarinus", the name of the genus that contains rosemary.
• Marnie's League Number is 960, which can be read in Japanese as a word meaning "hardship" or "black".
• Her Pokémon are kept in Dusk Balls.
• After the championship cup, there is an extra scene where she can be found in a room at the Budew Drop Inn, where she practices smiling in front of Morpeko for the sake of her fans. She is embarrassed when she realizes that Victor/Gloria saw this and runs away.
• She is the only gym challenger whose endorser is never revealed, although it could have possibly been Piers.
• After becoming a gym leader, she is still referred to during battles with the title of "Pokémon Trainer", even though Bede's title changed to "Gym Leader" after his own promotion.