Sona

Their story, step by step

1. Step 1

   A silent foundling

   Sona was left as a baby at a monastery in Galrin, Ionia, with only a strange stringed instrument, the etwahl. She could not speak, but she comforted the other children and taught herself to play. No visiting musician had seen an instrument like it.

2. Step 2

   A new family in Demacia

   When Noxus invaded Ionia, the monastery sent its orphans out with a Demacian trader. Lord Barrett Buvelle and Lady Lestara, patrons of the Illuminators, adopted Sona. The family made their own sign language and kept her magic hidden from the Mageseekers, who enforce Demacia's laws against magic. She gave public recitals and became popular in Demacia.

3. Step 3

   Loss and flight

   Sona performed a lament in Ionian at the state funeral of Xin Zhao, and met Lux there. Her adoptive father was later killed by Noxian mages at the Gates of Mourning. She felt that the eulogies did not capture him, and that the Mageseeker lord's speech misrepresented him. With persecution of mages growing, she tried to leave Demacia, but her mother caught her and went with her.

4. Step 4

   Back in Ionia

   Ionia was being rebuilt after the war and had been changed by suffering. Sona went with Ryze to Hirana Monastery to help him gather a World Rune, and she used her etwahl to protect him from the Navori Brotherhood. She learned about his search for world-ending relics and questioned the danger. In the end she decided she did not belong there and returned to Demacia with her mother.

5. Step 5

   The concert

   After Jarvan III's assassination Demacia fell into unrest and the Mageseekers gained power. At a concert she gave at an inn, Mageseekers saw magical shapes in the air and attacked. She made them dance until they collapsed with no memory of it, then fled into the forest. She refused to join Sylas's rebellion, believing it would only make things worse for mages.

Turning points

• Evacuated from Ionia and adopted by the Buvelles
• Lost her adoptive father at the Gates of Mourning
• Helped Ryze in Ionia
• Used her magic against the Mageseekers at the inn

Where their story stands now

Sona is in Demacia, hiding her magic in a kingdom that still persecutes mages. She opposes both the Mageseekers and Sylas's violent rebellion, and has no clear alternative. Her own parentage and the reason the etwahl was left with her remain unknown.

Who they are tied to

• Lux →They met at Xin Zhao's funeral, where Sona sang as part of the choir.
• Taric →She knew of Taric before his exile from Demacia, but the lore describes little contact between them.
• Ryze →She traveled with him to Hirana Monastery and defended him from the Navori Brotherhood while he sought a World Rune.
• Jarvan IV →She was frustrated with his early rule, thinking he could fix many of the kingdom's problems with a single decree.
• Sylas →She refused to join his rebellion because she thought it would create more problems for mages.
• Jhin →A meticulous killer who treats murder as performance art.

Where this fits in the story

1. Demacia · step 1

   A refuge from the Rune Wars

   Demacia was founded as a refuge from the Rune Wars, when World Runes reshaped entire nations. It built its identity on order, law and keeping magic at arm's length.

2. Demacia · step 2

   Petricite and the fear of magic

   The Demacians discovered petricite, a magic-dampening stone, and made it central to their defense. Persecuting mages became state policy, carried out by the Mageseekers.

3. Demacia · step 3

   The long rivalry with Noxus

   Demacia and Noxus fought for generations. One of the best-known clashes ended with the Noxian Sion killing King Jarvan I.

4. Demacia · step 4

   Turmoil at home

   The assassination of King Jarvan III shook the kingdom, and Sylas rose against the persecution of mages. The cruelty of the Mageseekers is now openly questioned, and Jarvan IV rules a kingdom that is changing.

Read the full story of Demacia