Sona (Horizon)

Sona is a supporting character in the 2017 video game Horizon Zero Dawn and a mentioned character in its 2022 sequel Horizon Forbidden West. She is the War-Chief of the Nora tribe, as well as Vala and Varl's mother, who takes her duties to utmost seriousness and bravery, all for the sake of the tribe's safety.
Sona is voiced by Adjoa Andon and portrayed by Jen Monilo.
==Appearance==
Sona is a middle-aged woman with black, long hair tied in a ponytail, as well as her having black eyes. She is seen wearing a Nora Brave outfit.
==Personality==
Sona is very focused and serious. She takes her duties as the War-Chief extremely seriously. She commands the utmost respect from the Braves and the rest of the tribe for her skill as a fighter and as a leader. Her son and her relationship suffers as a result of her unreasonably high standards for parenting children, which emphasise discipline above love.
Sona is extremely devout, upholding the taboo surrounding the Old Ones' ruins and displaying a general disdain for the Sundom. She can be convinced to make an exception, though, if the circumstance is warranted.
==Background==
===Past===
Sona had two children, Varl and Vala, with an unknown partner at some time. She most likely went through a divorce before Nora Brave Aloy reached adulthood. Her children followed in her footsteps; Vala was on the same road until being killed by circumstances that endangered the tribe, and Varl became a Brave under her guidance. Sona probably fought against the Carja during the Red Raids, based on her age.
===Horizon Zero Dawn===
The Proving, the tribe's initiation ceremony for young Nora men and women to become Braves, was assaulted by members of a clandestine cult known as the Eclipse, a splinter tribe from the Carja, the year when Aloy became a Brave. Many of the participants in the raid, known as the Proving Massacre, perished, including Vala, Sona's daughter. Sona chased the killers with a huge group of Braves, unwaveringly resolved that they would pay for the attack in blood.
The group located the assailants. However, several of the Braves advanced on the force, allowing their rage to cloud their judgement, and were wiped out as they reached the Eclipse's site. The cultists also employed antiquated Machines that later became known as Corruptors in addition to the element of surprise. These Machines bonded other Machines in service to the Eclipse by using a phenomena known as Corrupted to make them far more hostile and damage-resistant. The force was badly weakened as a result of the Braves who advanced into the camp being either killed or seriously injured.
Sona sent the wounded back to The Embrace, the tribe's capital territory, as she pursued the remaining Braves. The army set up camp next to Devil's Thirst, an Old Ones' ruin. They rediscovered the killers' path there and followed it to a tiny excavation site close to the camp. Sona came into Aloy, a Nora Brave and former Outcast who had single-handedly battled and slain many of the murderers during the Proving Massacre, while investigating the region with a small troop of Braves. Aloy had been appointed a Seeker and given the responsibility of tracing the Eclipse to its source in the Sundom, a region of the Carja. Varl, Sona's son and a Brave, had requested her to locate her.
Sona suggested to collaborate with her in their intended attack on the Eclipse after realising that Aloy, although being a Brave, was a Seeker and so not under her authority. Aloy concurred after seeing the incident in which the leader of the killers killed her guardian. They worked together to plan and execute a successful attack on the dig site that resulted in the death of every Eclipse soldier there.
But Sona understood that the murderers there were but a small portion of those who had assaulted the Proving. Aloy inspected the scene and discovered a lead that pointed to the killers' primary hiding place at the Devil's Grief Old Ones ruin, notably in a building known as the Ring of Metal. In addition, the lead offered a strategy for a successful surprise strike. Sona was adamant about going there, but the fact that it was a site associated with the Old Ones caused her pause.
Varl, who had learned Sona's whereabouts from a Brave who was still alive whom Aloy had spoken to at the spot where the pursuing Braves had been wiped off, nevertheless, came. Sona is persuaded to violate the taboo by Aloy and Varl in order to take revenge for their people's attack by the Eclipse. Aloy agreed to meet Sona, Varl, and the rest of the army when they arrived at Devil's Grief.
Her troops set up camp in Red Echoes, a place close to Devil's Grief. In order to keep word of the murderers' presence from reaching the ruin, Aloy arrived and volunteered to wipe away three of the outposts the killers had established. Sona agreed and dispatched a group of Braves to help. Sona addressed the remaining Braves before the combat as Aloy and the Braves left.
After successfully clearing the outposts, Aloy and her group joined the troops outside Devil's Grief. The killing squad was outnumbered, and they also had Corrupted Machines. Aloy, however, suggested breaking into the Ring of Metal and using the information she discovered in the lead she discovered at the murderers' dig site at Devil's Thirst: a supply of blaze that, when lit, would blow a hole in the ring's outer wall large enough for the entire force to pour through, completely blinding the murderers. Varl was ordered to accompany Sona after she accepted. Varl and Aloy entered the Ring of Metal undetected and found the Blaze cache.
While Aloy travelled to the store and lit it, Varl returned to the force. As planned, the Blaze tore a hole in the outside of the ruin, scattering the murderers in shock. Aloy fought with Sona and the troops as they marched into the ruin and eliminated all the murderers and Corrupted Machines. Following the fight, Sona praised Aloy for her bravery and talent and wished her luck on her mission. She then led the troops to the Nora fort Mother's Crown.
Sona oversaw the strengthening of the fort's fortifications at Mother's Crown. She did, however, run into a difficulty since she required Chillwater and a Lancehorn's lens. She also required the delivery of a stockpile of signal arrows to a watchtower south of her. Aloy, who was travelling through on her way to the Carja Sundom, offered the remedy. Aloy was tasked by Sona to gather the materials and deliver the arrows. In doing so, Aloy once more won Sona's admiration and appreciation.
Sona again took the lead in the tribe's fight against the Eclipse a long time afterwards. This time, though, the Eclipse arrived with the intent to wipe out the Nora and destroy the Sacred Lands. They also had a unit of the most dreaded Corrupted Machine, the Thunderjaw, which had been corrupted along with even more lethal ancient Machines, called Deathbringers. The cult focused its assault on The Embrace, the area of the tribe with the highest density of people.
The previous Eclipse assault had drastically reduced the Braves' numbers, and they were powerless to stop the cult from conquering and destroying the area. The populace sought safety inside their Sacred Mountain, which was the most secure location. The Corrupted Thunderjaw's disc launchers were used by the cultists to assault the mountain, forcing Sona and the Braves to flee as well.
Aloy's intervention, like with the Eclipse's earlier assault, tore triumph from the jaws of loss. After escaping from Helis, the commander of the Eclipse, Aloy went to the Sacred Lands to take part in the invasion. She confronted the Thunderjaw after fighting her way up the holy mountain. When Sona realised this, she instantly brought the Braves to her side so they could help. Aloy defeated and killed the Thunderjaw while Sona and the Braves were killing the cultists.
After the war, Sona testified that Aloy lifted the siege on the High Matriarchs by himself. She then observed as Aloy entered what they thought to be the chamber of their deity, All-Mother, alongside the Matriarchs and the gathering Nora. Some time later, when Aloy emerged from the room, Sona and the rest of the tribe prostrated before her in reverence, supposing her to be the All-chosen Mother's one.
However, Aloy yanked her and the others to their feet fiercely. Aloy, who insisted she should not be worshipped, informed Sona and the group that there was a vast world beyond of their borders and that it, along with all of its tribes, including the Nora, were in danger owing to a threat whose nature she had discovered during her Seeker's journey. Aloy requested that all fit fighters travel to Meridian, the Carja capital, where the battle would take place, in response to Varl's question on how the Nora might assist. Sona consented to lead a Braves battle party to the city.
As promised, Sona led a war party to Meridian as a member of the multi-tribal alliance that Aloy had put together. After arrival, Sona conveyed her extreme unease at being there to Aloy. She and the other members of the war party could not imagine such a thing, but she was steadfast in her desire to battle against the threat to Nora and the world that Aloy had described. In fact, a conflict broke out later, and the coalition won.
Sona will be one of three hunters who will fight with Aloy in the decisive battle if the Hunter's Lodge side quests are not finished before The Face of Extinction. If they had, Sona will be discovered close to the top of the Alight, still alive but unable to fight; Talanah will take her place.
===Current Status===
Sona led the remaining Nora to the Sacred Lands after the fight, with the exception of Varl, who opted to go after Aloy. Sona disagreed with Varl's choice, but she reluctantly accepted it, according to Varl.
==Trivia==
*If the side quest "Shortage of Supplies" is not completed prior to the main quest "The Heart of the Nora", Sona can be found on both Mother's Crown and All-Mother Mountain.
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