Soren the Architect

Soren the Architect
Name	Soren the Architect
Aliases	Builder of Worlds (by the Narrator)
Voice actor	John Hodgman
Gender	Male
Species	Human
Occupation	Builder Leader of the Order of the Stone
Status	Alive
Affiliation	Leader of The Order of the Stone
Allies	Gabriel the Warrior Ellegaard the Redstone Engineer Magnus the Rogue Ivor Jesse's Gang Endermen (formerly)
Enemies	Ivor (formerly) The Wither Storm
First Appearance	"The Order of the Stone" (flashback) "The Last Place You Look" (physically)
Latest Appearance	“A Block and a Hard Place” (Seen) "Above and Beyond" (Mentioned)

"Some stories are better left forgotten."

—Soren to Petra, hinting his secret. (Determinant) ^src

Soren the Architect, more commonly referred to as Soren, is the leader of the Old Order of the Stone and a central character in the first season of Minecraft: Story Mode. Renowned as a legendary architect, hence his name, he is the discoverer of the Command Block, and the creator the Order's Amulet.

Soren, like the rest of the members of the Old Order, achieved fame by deceiving the world into believing the Order defeated the Ender Dragon in battle. This fabricated tale cemented their status as legendary heroes in history, despite the truth being far less noble.

Voiced by John Hodgman, Soren first appears in a flashback in "The Order of the Stone" before appearing in "The Last Place You Look" as a major character. His final appearance is in "A Block and a Hard Place," though he is occasionally referenced through easter eggs in the series.

Overview

Appearance

Soren has ginger hair and pale skin. He sports a long, thick handlebar mustache and a chinstrap beard. His main outfit consists of beige-colored armor with black accents, along with fingerless gray gloves and brown pants with pockets. In a flashback, he wears a gray hardhat with tan goggles.

Under Armor (Netflix)

Under his armor, Soren wears a beige waistcoat over a black shirt, complemented by a gray suit jacket with white-colored sleeves. His pants are two-toned, with the top half brown and the bottom half gray. He wears brown dress shoes.

Personality

"I've found out that when you give people what they want, they turn on you."

—Soren to Jesse ^src

Soren is portrayed as a highly eccentric and intelligent man in his early appearances. He was not above putting himself in danger if it contributed to his studies, and spoke of a desire to be anything but himself. Soren preferred working in isolation, away from social distractions, as a means to fully commit himself to his fields of research. Eventually, however, he discovered the Command Block and later became dependent on it, which influenced his actions and decisions.

During his time in the End, Soren became fascinated with the endermen, studying them and even teaching some to build. He eventually developed a preference for them over humans due to their non-treacherous behavior. In "A Block and a Hard Place," Soren expresses genuine concern for the safety of the endermen when they approach the Wither Storms.

As with the other members of the Old Order, it is revealed that Soren's actions were exaggerated in their stories. He used the Command Block to wipe the Ender Dragon out of existence, then falsely claimed that the Order had defeated her in battle. Later, during the battle with the Wither Storms, upon realizing that their original strategy did not work out perfectly, Soren retreated, never to be seen again. This could show a lack of courage and, if Jesse agreed to be his friend, loyalty. Soren is called a "chicken" by Axel because of this.

Killed Victims

The list below shows the victims Soren has killed:

• The Ender Dragon (Alongside the Order of the Stone, zapped out of existence)
• Numerous hostile mobs

Inventory

• Golden Sword
• Super-TNT
• Amulet (Introduction)
• Wooden Sword
• Command Block (Formerly)
• Potato (Determinant, formerly)
• Habits of the Endermen by Soren (Possibly, formerly)
• Walking Among the Endermen by Soren (Possibly, formerly)
• The Redstone Heart by Soren (Possibly, formerly)
• A Man Forever Voyaging by Soren (Possibly, formerly)
• Brave New Enderman by Soren (Possibly, formerly)

Quotes

"I wasn't expecting so many houseguests! There's no way I have enough seashell soaps for all of them."

—Soren. ^src

"Ask me no questions and I'll tell you no lies."

—Soren to Jesse. (Determinant) ^src

"Sometimes, I'd prefer to be anything but Soren...ooh, like a donkey, for example."

—Soren. ^src

"I AM sorry about this, but... it has to look real."

—Soren before hitting Jesse in the head. ^src

"You look... terrible."

—Soren to Petra/Gabriel. ^src

"You seem like a person who appreciates cool stuff that's cool for no reason."

—Soren to Jesse. ^src

"Oh, why are you asking me?! Am I expected to know every last thing in the universe?! Ugh... I need a moment to think."

—Soren to Jesse/Olivia. (Determinant) ^src

"Hush, Ivor, for once!"

—Soren to Ivor. ^src

"Stuff and nonsense, stuff and nonsense."

—Soren to Magnus/Ellegaard. ^src

"Graah! Being emotional is getting us nowhere!"

—Soren. ^src

"Enderman move blocks, it's what they do..."

—Soren to Jesse. ^src

"Yes... yes, that's it! They'll be caught between a rock in a hard place!"

—Soren, talking about the plan to lure the Witherstorm with the Amulet. (Determinant) ^src

"And to make matters worse, we've gone from one Wither Storm to three! Our plan was a total failure!"

—Soren. ^src

"Tinkering with the Far Lands is nothing to laugh about!"

—Soren to Petra. (Determinant) ^src

"It's as though Ivor learned nothing from my lectures on organizational methodology!"

—Soren to Jesse in Ivor's Lab. ^src

"You know, I've really enjoyed meeting you and all, but..."

—Soren's final words to Jesse's gang before running away. ^src

"We used that damned Command Block!"

—Soren's confession. ^src

"If you'd only been there... It was a fight for the ages! We'd spent weeks preparing for our greatest battle ever. But even so, the Ender Dragon was stronger than even I had imagined. I realized it was drawing strength from the Ender Crystals -- and that the crystals had to be destroyed. I hit the first with a perfectly placed arrow. The second, I destroyed by launching myself on the shockwave of Magnus' TNT! Using only my strength and my wiles, I steered the foul beast towards the third crystal. I flew the dragon directly towards the final crystal! Only then did Gabriel deliver his famous final blow. We became heroes, and eventually, legends. The greatest the world has ever known."

—Soren's false account about The Order's battle against the Ender Dragon. ^src

"Understand -- when I found that blasted block, we were nobodies. But with its help, we became stronger. Faster. We could do so much more! The others had no idea what I was doing... yet the more I used it, the more we came to depend on it. I knew it was only so long before someone would find out. So I concocted a plan. I would use the Command Block to blink the Ender Dragon out of existence... Securing our status as legends... forever."

—Soren telling the true story behind the quest to defeat the Ender Dragon. ^src

"Welcome to the Far Lands, my friends."

—Soren to Jesse's gang, when they arrive at the Far Lands. ^src

Trivia

• Soren's books are scattered across various locations in the game:
  • Isa's throne room in Sky City: Habits of the Endermen by Soren
  • The White Pumpkin's lair under the mansion: Walking Among the Endermen by Soren
  • Harper's secret laboratory in Crown Mesa: The Redstone Heart by Soren
  • Hadrian's palace: A Man Forever Voyaging by Soren
  • Fred's house in Fred's Keep: Brave New Endermen by Soren
• In "The Last Place You Look," Soren does not wear his hat like similar to Magnus and Ellegaard in "The Order of the Stone."
• Soren has aviophobia, the fear of flying, as revealed in "A Block and a Hard Place"
  • If Gabriel has Wither amnesia, he mentions that Soren was terrified of flying on Ellegaard's flying machine.
  • Jesse can also call out Soren's fear during his fabricated tale of riding the Ender Dragon.
• The Minecraft: Story Mode skin pack for the console and Bedrock Editions of the original game includes a skin depicting Soren without his armor.
  • This skin also exists in the Minecraft: Story Mode game files, but is never used.
  • However, it is used in place of the armored version in the Netflix adaptation.
• The battle with the Ender Dragon is the only mission of the Old Order of the Stone explicitly revealed to be falsified using a Command Block. In "A Block and a Hard Place," Soren can admit that the Order would not have stood a chance without the Command Block, if Gabriel was rescued in "Order of the Stone."
  • Magnus or Ellegaard can tell Gabriel that they (Magnus/Ellegaard) were the only member of the Order who did not rely on the Command Block. This implies that the Old Order did use the Command Block for all their missions.
• If Jesse looks out from the second story of Soren's Laboratory, an Enderman with a peculiar appearance can be seen in the bottom left corner, who might be Soren in disguise.
• Soren is the first character to sing in Minecraft: Story Mode. His song, "Soren's Farewell Song," is followed by Jack's "Jack's Lament" and Radar's "Taste My Bravery."
• Radar mentions on Season 2 multiple times how soren has followers, telling jesse how they are weird and creepy, it is implied it's some kind of cult to him.
• Soren was originally intended to be an Old Builder, but the concept never became canon.
• Eric Stirpe, lead writer of the series, expressed enthusiasm for reintroducing Soren in the Portal arc or Season 2, potentially as an Old Builder or Admin, but new characters were prioritized.
• In Eric's headcanon, Soren retreated to the End, building an airship to explore deeper into the dimension and isolating himself out of guilt.
• Eric had written a scene for Season 2 where Jesse visits Ivor and Harper's lab seeking help with the Gauntlet. Jesse finds Ivor's many notes and devices dedicated to finding Soren, before Harper, although supportive, encourages Ivor to let go. The scene was ultimately cut; however, the final version still hints at Ivor's attempts to locate Soren.

Gallery

For all images related to Soren the Architect, see Soren the Architect/Gallery.