‘Halo’: Did Soren Really Escape or Did Halsey Let Him Go?

We’re already halfway through ‘Halo’ Season 2 and besides the Covenant storming the Reach, Jacob Keyes dying and Vannak -134 dying, we’ve also seen Soren reunited with his Spartan roots. What we anticipated as a brutal vengeance story, in reality, deflated like a balloon as Soren really didn’t do anything except save Halsey’s life. At one point in the episode, Halsey told Soren that practically everything he ever thought was under her control and he never really escaped from the UNSC control, he was let go. So is that really true?

Soren escaped from the Spartan way of life

Back in Season 1, we learned that Soren was one Spartan who got away and seemingly never finished his training because he wanted freedom. Both he and John apparently planned their escape together but Soren was the only one who actually planned got go through with it.

We saw young Soren and young John-117 when they last saw each other that night when Soren escaped. John had a rifle in his face and threatened to call the guards before he was ultimately persuaded to let Soren go and alert the rest of the personnel that he was gone 5 minutes after Soren started running away from the complex. It’s something that adult Soren mentions constantly.

Soren was always sort of a rebel, and he quickly figured out what UNSC was doing to them and he decided to escape. He eventually did exactly what he told John that he was going to do, he moved to the Rubble, got married, became a pirate king, and had a son Kessler. Seemingly leaving his old Spartan life behind.

But, even years later, Soren was still bitter regarding what Halsey did to him and the rest of the children, like Julia Ackerson, and he wanted vengeance. This is why he was chasing every rumor in the universe after it was spread that Halsey was missing and there was a bounty put on her head.

Soren jumped on every opportunity to get his hands on her, and this is what got him arrested in the first place, so I guess you can say that Halsey ruined his life twice.

According to Halsey however, everything that Soren believed and thought happened to him was nothing but a story he told himself to actually cover up a massive failure.

Halsey is known to mess with people’s heads

Ackerson delivered Soren right into Halsey’s cell and Soren himself admitted that he had nothing to say to her after planning for this exact moment for years. Then, the unfortunate Covenant invasion happened and the opportunity presented itself for Soren’s and Halsey’s escape. As they were running away, Halsey asked about Kessler and marveled at the fact that Soren could have a child despite extensive modifications done to his body. She claimed that it was merely a scientific curiosity but it’s obvious that she was keeping tabs on Soren ever since he escaped, as it was keeping her up at night.

Then Halsey mentioned that Soren’s augmentations failed at one moment which made Soren confused, they didn’t fail he escaped. Halsey then implied that UNSC let him escape so as not to shatter the vision of a role model that John-117 had in Soren.

Apparently, Soren’s escape was orchestrated without him knowing, and he was allowed to escape it wasn’t just pure luck. Otherwise, he couldn’t be able to continue with the Spartan training in any case, he wasn’t good enough to be a Spartan.

Obviously, this didn’t sit well with Soren because it would mean that his whole life was a lie, and his whole philosophy of rebellion and vengeance wouldn’t make sense any longer, he was in short, a rebel without a cause.

So, did Halsey really let Soren go?

While it is by no means strange for someone to be removed from the Spartan program due to the fact that the augmentations failed, it’s strange for someone to get out of the program without any long-term consequences. We’ve seen Louis-036, who was removed from the program after he went blind, he lives a normal life after Spartan training but the failed augmentations still left incredible injury on his body. Most candidates just die, however, and Soren so far doesn’t have anything pointing in the direction that argumentations failed.

Second, Soren mentioned in Season 1 how he was severely injured and beaten while he was running away due to Master Chief giving him only 5 minutes to escape, this doesn’t sit well with Halsey’s story that there were no guards guarding the ships.

And third, since Halsey always needs to control everything she likely told him this story to mess with his mind and make herself feel better about losing control of him.

What happened to Soren in the comics and books?

Soren is likely the best-adapted character from the books and graphic novels as his story in the show and in the books is similar, and he did legitimately escape from the UNSC at one point after being horribly disfigured.

Soren grew up in a harsh environment on the Outer Colony of Dwarka. After his mother’s death and a traumatic experience involving his stepfather, Soren fled into the surrounding forest, where he survived on his own for several months. He was ultimately approached by Dr. Catherine Halsey for inclusion in the SPARTAN-II program, which aimed to enhance children with specific genetic markers to become super soldiers, he willingly joined the program.

Soren underwent invasive surgical procedures as part of Project ASTER to augment his body, aiming to make him stronger, faster, and smarter. However, the procedures didn’t go as planned, resulting in severe physical deformities and complications. Following the augmentation procedures, Soren endured a long and painful recovery process. Despite his determination to serve as an active Spartan, he was deemed unfit for combat due to his physical condition and relegated to a desk job.

Feeling resentful and disillusioned with his situation, Soren was influenced by a technician sympathetic to the Insurrection. Eventually, he decided to defect from the UNSC. Along with the technician, Soren attempted to steal valuable information and escape Reach using a commandeered Longsword fighter. During their escape attempt, their Longsword fighter was damaged, and they were pursued by other aircraft. The ensuing chase led to a crash landing, resulting in the death of the technician accompanying Soren.

Despite the wreckage being found, Soren managed to avoid capture and disappeared into the wilderness, using his survival skills honed during his upbringing on Dwarka. Halsey, suspecting that Soren survived, decided to stop the search, considering him more of a lost soul than a threat.

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