Sophocles

Sophocles
Species	Human
Hair color	Orange
Eye color	Brown
Base	Hokulani Observatory, Ula'ula Island
Relatives	Molayne (cousin)
Voiced by	Jeannie Tirado (2019)
Debut	Pokémon Sun/Moon

Sophocles is a Pokémon trainer who appeared as an opponent and supporting character in Pokémon Sun, Moon, Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon. He is one of the seven trial captains of the Alola region and acts as one of the two captains for Ula'ula Island. Specializing in Electric-type Pokémon, he holds the Electric-type Z-Crysal, Electrium Z. He also acts as the host of the games' Festival Plaza.

Background

Sophocles was a bright young boy living on Ula'ula Island. He resided at the Hokulani Observatory, where he studied space and worked on various inventions. He also took care of a number of Electric-type Pokémon and took part in hobbies such as playing video games and watching anime. His frequent collaborator for most of these activities was his older cousin Molayne. The two of them were close and referred to each other by nicknames: "Soffy" and "Big Mo". Molayne was originally a trial captain of the island, but he eventually chose to pass his title on to Sophocles, in a rare example of a captain being chosen by someone other than the island's kahuna (which would have been Nanu for Ula'ula). As a trial captain, he worked on devices to attract Totem Pokémon for his trials. He also created and ran the a virtual hub called the Festival Plaza. It was possible for the player to meet him for the first time there before reaching Mount Hokulani, as the Festival Plaza can be accessed early in the game, and Sophocles would welcome the player whenever they first used it.

During the events of the seventh generation games, Elio/Selene eventually traveled to Hokulani Observatory and challenged his trial. In Sun/Moon, Sophocles attempted to use a device called the Ping Totem Pokémon 2.0, but it malfunctioned and blacked out the area. As part of the security system, Elio/Selene had to answer questions to open the door, but the door would only open long enough to let in a wild Pokémon that was presumably attracted by his device, and eventually it was the Totem Pokémon that appeared. In Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon, Sophocles instead took them to a different room, where he had a pair of devices set up called the Roller and the Pinger to draw in a Totem Pokémon. Elio/Selene had to help arrange the Charjabug to properly power the device, but it malfunctioned and ended up hurting the Charjabug. Sophocles's Togedemaru stepped in to take the blow for them, but then a Totem version of Pokémon stepped in to save it. In all games, Elio/Selene ultimately passed the trial by defeating the Totem Pokémon. Sophocles gave them Electrium Z and taught them the accompanying pose.

After Elio/Selene became the first champion of the Alola region, Sophocles was seen attending the festivities at Melemele Island with the other captains and kahunas. When rechallenging the Elite Four, Sophocles had a chance of appearing as the final opponent in an a Title Defense battle in all versions.

Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon

In the Ultra games, Sophocles also played a role in Mina's trial. She had given out petals of the Rainbow Flower to the other islands' trial captains, and Sophocles had received the Yellow Petal. This ended up being the fifth and penultimate of the petals that Elio/Selene sought out during the trial. The trainer returned to Hokulani just as Sophocles was having an emotional farewell with Molayne. Although it was not stated to Elio/Selene at the time, Molayne was leaving to accept Professor Kuku's invitation to become part of Alola's Elite Four. In Ultra Sun only, he then challenged Elio/Selene to a battle in order to show Molayne his strength. Regardless of whether or not he was battled, he gave the Yellow Petal to the trainer and offered to escort them to Aether House for the next part of the trial. As Molayne departed, he declared that Sophocles now had the observatory all to himself. During the ending festivities after Elio/Selene became champion, Sophocles was seen immediately running up to his cousin to see him again.

After Elio/Selene became champion, Sophocles played a role in an event that acted as a prelude to Episode RR. The Festival Plaza was suddenly hacked and taken over by Team Rainbow Rocket. Sophocles rushed over to Elio/Selene's house in order to enlist the trainer's help. They went to the Festival Plaza together, and Elio/Selene battled a Team Rocket member at rhe Battle Agency in order to buy time while Sophocles ran a full system restore, which booted Team Rainbow Rocket from the plaza and restored it to normal. He did actually like the Team Rocket design and kept it as an optional theme.

In these versions, Sophocles also ran the Battle Agency within the Festival Plaza. He would initially introduce it to Elio/Selene after they cleared his trial, at Molayne's suggestion. While fighting in the Battle Agency, Sophocles could appear as a boss.

Pokémon Roster

• Togedemaru: This Pokémon often accompanies Sophocles outside of battle and is nicknamed Togemaru.
• Magnezone
• Electivire
• Vikavolt
• Golem

Sophocles uses his full roster for Title Defense battles. When fought as part of Mina's trial in Ultra Sun, he uses only Togedemaru, Magnezone and Golem. He can also use any of those Pokémon for his three-Pokémon team at the Battle Agency. He also only uses Electrium Z during Title Defense battles in the Ultra games (where it is used by Golem) or at the Battle Agency (where it can be used by Vikavolt or Togedemaru). At the Battle Agency, there is also a chance that his Vikavolt will use Groundium Z instead.

He also has nine Charjabug that live at the observatory that help to charge machinery. They have nicknames corresponding to numbers (from Onejabug to Ninejabug).

In Other Pokémon Games

In Pokémon Masters EX, Sophocles and his Togedemaru appeared together as a playable sync pair that could be recruited at random through the game's Sync Pair Scout feature. Alolan Golem could later be unlocked as an alternate sync partner for Sophocles by spending Battle Points, starting at the end of August 2022. He was also shown to own ten Voltorb during an expedition event with a naming scheme similar to his group of Charjabug from the mainline games, with Sixtorb being a Shiny Voltorb while Seventorb evolved into Electrode. Within the game's Main Story, Sophocles was initially featured in Chapter 11 of the PML Arc. He had formed a team with Hau, but after they lost to Scottie/Bettie, Sophocles convinced Hau to join their team in order become stronger, while he focused on observing the trainers for his invention. In Chapter 26, it was shown that he worked with Clemont and Molayne on an invention called the Sync Pair Pinger, that was designed to attract powerful sync pairs. They were left confused on whether or not it worked properly, as it initially seemed to only be reacting to them, but it later drew in Blue.

Sophocles was also featured in the "New World Dilemma" Legendary Event, where he conversed with Cyrus and formed an unlikely bond. He tried to convince Cyrus to believe in the human spirit so that they could be friends. Cyrus ultimately rejected his notions and chose to stick to his given path, but Sophocles still maintained hope in him. Sophocles was also mentioned in the "Give and Take" Legendary Event, where he and the other technologically-gifted trainers had worked together to disarm Lysandre's weapon, and he also made an appearance in a short scene for the "Trials on the Isle" Story Event, where he discovered Volkner's modifications and wanted to learn from him. Sophocles was also featured in the "Search for the Ball Pokémon!" Expedition Event, in which he and Molayne enlisted Ball Guy's help to track down his ten missing Voltorb. During the Sinnoh chapter of the Main Story's Villain Arc, Sophocles accompanied the trainers who went to confront Cyrus in an attempt to get him to change his ways. Ultimately, their combined efforts managed to reach him and get him to revise his goals. In the Alola chapter, Sophocles fought off Team Rocket members and rogue Aether Foundation members alongside Acerola, Lana, Mallow and Kiawe. He was also among the technologically inclined trainers who Rose courted to create inventions based on sync stones in the Galar chapter, but the offer ultimately fell through as the group did not like the restrictions that Rose wanted to put in place.

Other Appearances

Other Media

• In the Pokémon anime, Sophocles appeared as one of the main characters during the Sun/Moon-based series of the show. He was one of Ash's classmates along with other characters who had been captains in the games. As trial captains were not used in this series, Sophocoles and his classmates instead became a task force called the Ultra Guardians over the course of the series. Hokulani Observatory was also shown to be inhabited only by Molayne. The series also expanded on Sophocles's character by showing his parents and revealing a repressed traumatic memory Sophocles had of a Minior perishing. Sophocles competed in the Manalo Conference near the end of the series, where he defeated Mina but lost to Kiawe. He ultimately went to visit Mossdeep Space Center in Hoenn with his cousin because of his dreams of becoming an astronaut. He also appeared in several episodes of Pokémon Journeys, in which Ash and Goh visited him at the Mossdeep Space Center while he worked on safely guiding a probe back home, and the classmates later reunited at Alola.
• In the Pokémon Adventures manga, Sophocles appeared during the Sun/Moon arc, where he helped Molayne as well as the other captains and kahunas in the effort against the Ultra Beasts and other enemies. Sophocles made an attempt to use a device to call Totem Pokémon for help, but it did not work.

Trivia

• He is named after the Hawaiian flower known as Sophora chrysophylla. His Japanese name is Mamane, from the Hawaiian word for the flower.
• His shirt bares the image of a Game Boy connected to a Link Cable. This references the original method of linking Pokémon games together, which was succeeded by Sophocles's Festival Plaza in that generation. It also resembles the symbol used for Pokémon that have been sent through the Poké Transporter.