Soma the Painter is one of the foundational pieces of lore for the Forerunners, in just four short pages it tells us SO MUCH about their culture and society.
It’s a story that a lot of people have sort of skipped over, and many find confusing because it’s so different to many other pieces of Halo media, so I thought it would be a good idea to explore some of the seeds it planted that the Forerunner Saga later picked up on.
Who is ‘Soma the Painter’ is he/she a canon character or actual artist working with 343 Industries?
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> Who is ‘Soma the Painter’ is he/she a canon character or actual artist working with 343 Industries?
Soma was a 417 year old Forerunner who lived on the planet Seaward (G617 g1 from Halo 3’s Terminals), the first planet that the Flood attacked upon their return.
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> > Who is ‘Soma the Painter’ is he/she a canon character or actual artist working with 343 Industries?
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> Soma was a 417 year old Forerunner who lived on the planet Seaward (G617 g1 from Halo 3’s Terminals), the first planet that the Flood attacked upon their return.
Oh so a canon Forerunner, cool. 
I wouldn’t mind learning about her (assuming it’s a her) full name and rate.
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> > > Who is ‘Soma the Painter’ is he/she a canon character or actual artist working with 343 Industries?
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> > Soma was a 417 year old Forerunner who lived on the planet Seaward (G617 g1 from Halo 3’s Terminals), the first planet that the Flood attacked upon their return.
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> Oh so a canon Forerunner, cool.
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> I wouldn’t mind learning about her (assuming it’s a her) full name and rate.
I have transcripted the story in the article, within which it is explicitly stated she is a female. She doesn’t have a rate, and her name does not conform to typical naming conventions within Forerunner society - she’s part of a Forerunner group that is separate from the oppressive Builders, which is what some of the article explores.
Oh man, I always get super excited whenever you post articles. Gonna read it later today!
I always loved the stories in Halo: Evolutions. They expanded the universe quite a lot and opened up so many doors for new stuff.
I wonder why Soma has a relatively basic name for a Forerunner as opposed to the elaborate ones we see in Greg Bear’s novels and even compared to Filial Devotion from the Halo 3 terminals.
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> I wonder why Soma has a relatively basic name for a Forerunner as opposed to the elaborate ones we see in Greg Bear’s novels and even compared to Filial Devotion from the Halo 3 terminals.
He just explained it to me… lol 
> I have transcripted the story in the article, within which it is explicitly stated she is a female. She doesn’t have a rate, and her name does not conform to typical naming conventions within Forerunner society - she’s part of a Forerunner group that is separate from the oppressive Builders, which is what some of the article explores.
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> I wonder why Soma has a relatively basic name for a Forerunner as opposed to the elaborate ones we see in Greg Bear’s novels and even compared to Filial Devotion from the Halo 3 terminals.
Maybe it’s more of a title rather than an individual name? Kind of like how Shadow-of-Sundered-Star adopted the title “Didact” during his career as a military teacher.
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> I wonder why Soma has a relatively basic name for a Forerunner as opposed to the elaborate ones we see in Greg Bear’s novels and even compared to Filial Devotion from the Halo 3 terminals.
Soma appears to be rateless, very much like the Forerunners who abandoned their rates to join the renegade Miners who were making their own bastion of society and culture at Uthera Midgeerrd prior to the Didact’s exile (the Uthera Midgeerrd society was basically like a prototype Seaward, I’ve added this to the article).
Soma is actually a word as well, scientifically it means “the cell body of a neuron”, so she could have once been a Miner or Lifeworker with a longer name but shortened it down to this when she moved to Seaward.
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> > I wonder why Soma has a relatively basic name for a Forerunner as opposed to the elaborate ones we see in Greg Bear’s novels and even compared to Filial Devotion from the Halo 3 terminals.
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> Maybe it’s more of a title rather than an individual name? Kind of like how Shadow-of-Sundered-Star adopted the title “Didact” during his career as a military teacher.
Maybe it is like a “tip of the hat” to philosopher Homer, who was the author of the tales of Odysseus… we know that the Forerunner aptly name such things after Greek matriarchs… Phaeton, Promethean etc.
Plus ‘Soma’ means body distinct of mind, soul and physche… a very spiritual name; she was distinct of the Builders jurisdiction and influence.
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> > > I wonder why Soma has a relatively basic name for a Forerunner as opposed to the elaborate ones we see in Greg Bear’s novels and even compared to Filial Devotion from the Halo 3 terminals.
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> > Maybe it’s more of a title rather than an individual name? Kind of like how Shadow-of-Sundered-Star adopted the title “Didact” during his career as a military teacher.
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> Maybe it is like a “tip of the hat” to philosopher Homer, who was the author of the tales of Odysseus… we know that the Forerunner aptly name such things after Greek matriarchs… Phaeton, Promethean etc.
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> Plus ‘Soma’ means body distinct of mind, soul and physche… a very spiritual name; she was distinct of the Builders jurisdiction and influence.
Okay, this makes much more sense than the definition of the word I looked up. Very fitting indeed.
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> > > > I wonder why Soma has a relatively basic name for a Forerunner as opposed to the elaborate ones we see in Greg Bear’s novels and even compared to Filial Devotion from the Halo 3 terminals.
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> > > Maybe it’s more of a title rather than an individual name? Kind of like how Shadow-of-Sundered-Star adopted the title “Didact” during his career as a military teacher.
> >
> >
> > Maybe it is like a “tip of the hat” to philosopher Homer, who was the author of the tales of Odysseus… we know that the Forerunner aptly name such things after Greek matriarchs… Phaeton, Promethean etc.
> >
> > Plus ‘Soma’ means body distinct of mind, soul and physche… a very spiritual name; she was distinct of the Builders jurisdiction and influence.
>
>
> Okay, this makes much more sense than the definition of the word I looked up. Very fitting indeed.
I agree. I do love the subtle hints within the naming conventions of the Forerunners.