Who Is Soren-066 from the Halo TV Show? And Is He from the Games?

The Halo TV series continues to introduce new characters to the roster as we get to see people who are set to become important personalities in the show’s narrative. One such character that we got to meet in episode 2 of the Halo TV series is Soren-066, who we saw both as a young teenager and as an adult in the episode. So, who is Soren-066 in the Halo TV show, and is he from the games?

Soren-066 was a Spartan-II candidate that escaped from the training and treatment facility and deserted during his teenage years so that he could be free. In the game’s lore, he was also a Spartan-II candidate that escaped the program using a ship but was shot down, but his body was never found.

The thing about the Halo TV series is that a good part of it was taken from an already established lore in the video games, even though the showrunner had mentioned that the series is in an alternate universe. That said, it shouldn’t be surprising to see characters like Soren getting introduced to the series. Now, let’s look at what we know about Soren-066 in the Halo TV series and the games.

Who Is Soren-066 In The Halo TV Show?

One of the things that the Halo TV show has done well enough is introducing different characters that are set to play huge roles in the overall narrative of the series. The same held true in episode 2 when new characters were introduced to the series because they played and will continue to play important roles in the show’s story.

Arguably the most important character introduced in episode 2 was Soren, whose backstory was shown during the earlier part of the episode when he and John-117 were still just teenagers in the Spartan training facility. He was later revealed as an adult who ended up helping Master Chief in getting to know more about the mysterious artifact that he recovered in Madrigal. That was when Soren introduced Master Chief to his family, to the surprise of John-117, who probably didn’t think that they were capable of siring children. 

As Master Chief showed the artifact to Soren, he claimed that he, too, didn’t know anything about it. Nevertheless, Soren told the Spartan that he knew someone who could possibly know something about the artifact.

That was when he introduced Master Chief to Reth, who used to be a captive of the Covenant but was now living in a cell in Rubble. After that, John-117 left Kwan Ha under the care of Soren, who was willing enough to help his friend through what was a challenging period in the Spartan’s life. In that regard, Soren has become one of the most important characters in the entire Halo TV series because of his relationship with Master Chief. But who exactly is Soren?

As shown in the flashback involving the young John-117, Soren-066 used to be a Spartan-II candidate. However, he ended up deserting the UNSC and leaving the Spartan-II Program for good to become a free man. He actually urged John to join him, but Master Chief’s loyalty to the UNSC kept him there. Nevertheless, the younger version of Master Chief gave Soren five minutes to escape before warning the entire base that one of the Spartan candidates had escaped.

When Soren had matured into an adult, he was able to find himself in Rubble, an asteroid belt that houses people who felt that they didn’t belong anywhere in the world. From what it looked like, Soren had become the leader of the people of Rubble, probably due to his training as a Spartan.

Why Did Soren Leave The UNSC?

It wasn’t a secret in the episode that Soren decided to leave the UNSC as a deserter during his teenage years and was eventually able to rid himself of them when he found himself in Rubble. So, why did Soren leave the UNSC?

Soren’s background story is a clue that ultimately points out why he left the UNSC. Spartan-II candidates were genetically and mechanically modified during their youth years. However, some of the treatments and enhancements didn’t work on Soren, and that forced the UNSC to replace his arm with cybernetic parts.

After that, Soren felt that he was out of place in the UNSC and that he didn’t feel like he belonged among the rest of the Spartan candidates. Still, he was able to form a close bond with John-117, who he treated as family.

Of course, Soren also wanted freedom from the UNSC because he felt that the Spartans were only used as tools to meet an end that the UNSC wanted to achieve in their efforts against the Covenant and the colonies that were inciting insurrections all over the galaxy. 

As Soren told John, the UNSC was giving them “treatments” that inhibited some of the things that made them human, such as their emotions. On top of that, it was also those treatments that kept them from being able to sire children, and that is why Soren was able to have a family of his own in the form of his wife Laera and his son Kesler. 

He urged John to reconsider returning to the UNSC after learning about what the artifact could do because he believed that Dr. Halsey and the UNSC were only going to use Master Chief as a tool. Nevertheless, Master Chief returned but asked his friend to keep Kwan Ha safe.

Is Soren-066 In The Halo Games?

One of the things that we know about the Halo TV series is that it is a story that’s based on the Halo games but isn’t exactly canon because it is set in an alternate universe. However, just because it isn’t set in the same universe, it doesn’t mean that there aren’t characters who were taken from the video games. In fact, almost all of the characters were taken from the video game franchise lore. So, is Soren-066 also from the video games?

Technically, Soren isn’t in the video games but is still found in the Halo main timeline. Instead, he can be found in Halo: Evolutions – Essential Tales of the Halo Universe, which are short stories and poems about the Halo main timeline universe. One such story involved Soren-066. That means that, while he may not be in the video games, he still belongs to the same main timeline universe that the video games belong to.

Soren’s backstory in the main timeline is similar to his story in the Halo TV series. In the short story called Pariah, Soren had the same history in the sense that he was a Spartan-II candidate that wanted to leave the program because he felt out of place.

He did indeed have a chance to leave the program and was able to board a ship. However, he was shot down by the UNSC before he could fully escape. Nevertheless, in the short story, his body was never recovered, but Halsey believed he was still alive. Believing that Soren was not going to become a threat to them and was merely a lost soul, she urged the UNSC to forget about finding him because she knew that Soren was not going to be found unless he wanted to.

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