Lost Souls are characters in Disney•Pixar's 2020 animated feature film, Soul. They appear when 22 and Joe Gardner land on the Astral Plane.
Background[]
Official Description[]
Lost Souls wander in The Astral Plane while their Earthly selves struggle to break free of obsession. “Some people get caught up in something that isn't necessarily bad—cooking, video games, art,” says director Pete Docter. “But if you do it to the exclusion of everything else in life, you might become a lost soul.”
Role in the film[]
When Joe and 22 arrived in the Astral Plane, Joe soon witnessed several lost souls, one in particular moving about and continuously saying "make a trade". Joe ends up alerting the lost soul to his and 22's presence and it chases after them. However, they were saved by Moonwind and his crew who restrain the lost soul with a net. Moonwind's crew make some music so as to free the lost soul from its trance and its body dissolves to reveal the soul of a hedge fund manager. Once the soul was free, Moonwind helped the soul return to his body where he happily destroyed his computer and tried to get his co-workers to do the same.
Joe and 22 board Windmoon's ship along with him and his crew, and on the way to a thin spot in the Astral Plane, Joe takes notice of even more lost souls, noting how there are so many of them. Moonwind gives some insight on the lost souls and then a soul, determined to find something with a metal detector, is witnessed becoming a lost soul. Moonwind then mentions how he for a time was a lost soul, apparently once having an obsession with the game Tetris.
When Joe returns to earth with the earth pass that 22 begrudgingly gave him, she enters a depression, believing she has no purpose, and goes to the Astral Plane where she eventually becomes a lost soul herself. Fortunately, Joe soon returns to the Astral Plane and manages to free 22 from her lost soul state.
Trivia[]
- A Lost Soul forms when someone is obsessed with something that disconnects with life. As shown with 22, a Lost Soul will change color and their appearance will gradually warp.
- As demonstrated by 22, a Lost Soul can consume someone that sends them into a pocket dimension of the Lost Soul's inner turmoil. As experienced through Joe in 22, the Lost Soul's inner turmoil takes the physical manifestation that represents their insecurities and obsessions. 22's inner turmoil took the form of former mentors and Joe Gardner himself that declares her a lost cause and accuse her of having no purpose.
Gallery[]
