Victor/Gloria

Victor/Gloria
Species	Human
Hair color	Variable (Brown, Blonde or Black)
Eye color	Variable (Brown, Light Blue or Gray)
Relatives	Mother
Debut	Pokémon Sword/Shield

Victor/Gloria is the protagonist of Pokémon Sword and Shield. Their name, gender and some details of their appearance are chosen by the player, but the designated names given to the characters for the sake of reference are "Victor" (the male version) and "Gloria" (the female version).

Background

Victor/Gloria was a youth who lived with their mother in Postwick, within the Galar region. They were friends with their neighbor, Hop, who was the younger brother of Galar's champion, Leon. At the beginning of Sword/Shield, Hop took Victor/Gloria to meet Leon while he was visiting the area. When they found him, he presented three Pokémon (Grookey, Scorbunny and Sobble) for the two of them to choose from as presents. As Hop already had a Pokémon, he allowed Victor/Gloria to choose first. After they selected one, Hop chose one that had a type disadvantage to Victor/Gloria's, and the remaining Pokémon went to Leon. Victor/Gloria and Hop had a battle to try out their new Pokémon, which either could have won. They then went to meet Sonia, who installed a Pokédex on their Rotom Phones. Victor/Gloria and Hop wanted to begin a journey and take on Galar's Gym Challenge, but they needed an endorsement from Leon first.

Soon afterwards, they discovered that the gate to the restricted Slumbering Weald was left open, and that a Wooloo had gone missing. Victor/Gloria and Hop entered the Weald in search of the Pokémon. They ended up getting lost in the fog and were encountered by a mysterious Pokémon, one that was far too powerful for them. They ended up fainting and were discovered by Leon, who had also recovered the Wooloo. Afterwards, the two young trainers went to visit Professor Magnolia and got her to help persuade Leon to endorse them. Leon finally agreed to do so, only if they showed him a "brilliant battle". So Victor/Gloria and Hop battled a second time, and once again it was a battle that either could win. Regardless of the victor, Leon officially gave endorsements to both of them. In the aftermath of the battle, Victor/Gloria and Hop discovered a pair of newly-fallen Wishing Stars. Professor Magnolia fashioned those Wishing Stars into Dynamax Bands for each of them, which would allow them to Dynamax their Pokémon at Power Spots. After saying goodbye to their parents, Victor/Gloria and Hop set off on their journeys. They traveled to Motostoke first and underwent the opening ceremony of the Gym Challenge. From their, the journey soon began.

Victor/Gloria made their way through a number of towns to take on the eight gym leaders of Galar's major league and earn their badges. Along the way, they constantly met with Hop and took him on in a number of battles. They also had two other rivals who they battled several times: Marnie and Bede. Bede was particularly aggressive, and Victor/Gloria had to battle him at Stow-on-Side to get him to stand down from attacking a mural. This resulted in Bede being expelled from the gym challenge. The trainer also had a number of run-ins with Team Yell, overzealous fans of Marnie who tried to obstruct the other competitors. Sonia also crossed paths with them a number of times, and Victor/Gloria helped her to unravel the mysteries involving the Darkest Day, a legendary event from Galar's history. Victor/Gloria also met the chairman of the Galar Pokémon League, Rose, who took an interest in the young trainer's potential. There were also some mysterious tremors and an instance of a Pokémon being forcibly Dynamaxed, but Leon saw to those incidents.

After collecting all eight badges, Victor/Gloria traveled to Wyndon to take part in the Championship Cup. In the semifinals, Victor/Gloria defeated their two remaining rivals: Hop and Marnie. Afterwards, they were supposed to have dinner with Leon, but Hop became worried when he did not show up. It turned out that he was stuck in a meeting with Rose, and Oleana did everything in her power to keep them from interrupting it. With the help of Team Yell, Marnie and Piers, Victor/Gloria and Hop made their way to Rose Tower and fought through a number of trainers, ending with Oleana herself, to reach Rose and Leon. They arrived in time to hear Leon turn down an offer from Rose, and he then left with them to have their dinner. The next day was the finals. Bede disrupted the finals to challenge Victor/Gloria one more time, and Leon allowed it. Victor/Gloria defeated him and then defeated several of the gym leaders as part of the tournament that made up the finals. Finally, it came down to Victor/Gloria battling Leon for the championship. But the battle was unable to start, as it turned out that Rose had unleashed the Legendary Pokémon Eternatus, and it had triggered a modern counterpart of the Darkest Day.

While Leon went to confront Eternatus, Victor/Gloria and Hop went to the Slumbering Weald in search of the mysterious Pokémon that they found there. Sonia explained to them that there were two Pokémon that acted as the heroes of the Darkest Day: Zacian and Zamazenta. Victor/Gloria and Hop explored the Weald and found the altar which contained two relics associated with the respective Pokémon: the Rusted Sword and Rusted Shield. They each claimed one of the relics and then traveled to Hammerlocke to help Leon. At the Energy Plant, Victor/Gloria confronted Rose and defeated him in battle. They then arrived on the top of the Energy Plant in time to watch Leon fail in his attempt to capture Eternatus. It was up to Victor/Gloria and Hop, with the help of Zacian and Zamazenta, to take down Eternatus. In Sword, Victor/Gloria had the Rusted Sword and worked with Zacian; in Shield, they had the Rusted Shield and worked with Zamazenta instead. Together, they took care of Eternatus and brought the Darkest Day to an end. The next day, the championship battle was finally held. Victor/Gloria defeated Leon and was named the new champion of Galar.

Victor/Gloria returned home to Postwick, where Leon had left them a Charmander as a gift. Afterwards, Victor/Gloria and Hop went to the Slumbering Weald and tried returning the relics to the altar. They were interrupted by Sordward and Shieldbert, a pair of eccentric brothers who claimed to be descended from Galar's legendary heroes. They were angry about the findings of Sonia's research, which claimed that the legendary heroes were actually the Pokémon Zacian and Zamazenta. Victor/Gloria and Hop battled the two brothers to defend the relics (Victor/Gloria battling Sordward in Sword and Shieldbert in Shield), but Hop lost his battle and his relic to them. Afterwards, Sordward and Shieldbert began forcing Pokémon to Dynamax at Power Spots across Galar's gyms, and they also stole the remaining Wishing Stars from Sonia. Victor/Gloria, Hop and Piers traveled across most of the gyms and calmed the Dynamaxed Pokémon by defeating them. In the end, they confronted Sordward and Shieldbert on top of the Energy Plant. The brothers used the Galar particles from the Wishing Stars to drive the Pokémon associated with Hop's relic (Zamazenta in Sword, Zacian in Shield) into a berserk rage. Victor/Gloria defeated the Pokémon in battle, and other Legendary Pokémon arrived to drive it away. Victor/Gloria then had a chance to battle and catch the Legendary Pokémon associated with their relic. Then they returned to the Slumbering Weald, where Hop had succeeded in fully calming and catching the one associated with his relic. He then challenged Victor/Gloria to one more battle.

Afterwards, there were several more things that Victor/Gloria could do as the champion. They could continue to hold tournaments at Wyndon Stadium, and they could also challenge the Battle Tower.

Pokémon Roster

Like all protagonists of the series, Victor/Gloria's Pokémon are a variable decided by the player. In this game, some of the Pokémon that the trainer absolutely gains throughout the game are the chosen starter Pokémon (Grookey, Scorbunny and Sobble), a Toxel that is received as a gift and Eternatus when it is caught at the end of their showdown. The player can also receive a Charmander as a gift from Leon (which will evolve into a Charizard that can Gigantamax) and has a chance to catch Zacian (in Sword) or Zamazenta (in Shield).

Other Appearances

In Other Media

• In Pokémon Adventures, both versions of the protagonist have been featured in the Sword/Shield arc, where they are introduced as assistants of Professor Magnolia. The male character is known as Soudo Tsurugi (both names being different words for 'sword') and specializes in repairing weapons or other tools that are used by Pokémon in battle. The female character is Shirudomiria Tate (both names being taken from different words for 'shield') and is known for being energetic.

Trivia

• Their names are derived from the words "victor" and "glory". These names seem to reflect the intended themes of Sword/Shield, which were the idea of strength and striving to be the strongest or greatest.
• Victor/Gloria's uniform number is set by the player, but the number used in official artwork in '227'. This number can be read in Japanese as a word meaning "safely", and it could also refer to February 27th, which was the original release date of Pokémon: Red and Green Versions.