Soval
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| Soval | |
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| Species: | Vulcan |
| Gender: | Male |
| Home planet: | Vulcan |
| Affiliation: | Vulcan High Command |
| Position: | Vulcan Ambassador to Earth |
| Rank: | Ambassador |
| Portrayed by: | Gary Graham |
In the science fiction television series Star Trek: Enterprise, Soval, portrayed by Gary Graham, is the Vulcan ambassador to Earth in the 22nd century. His main assignment appears to be advising Earth's Starfleet Command.
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[edit] Attitude toward humans
Jonathan Archer, Captain of the Starship Enterprise, is not particularly fond of the Ambassador as he appeared to play a major role in the Vulcan discouragement of Earth's deep space program. He even went so far as to object to Archer's command of the Enterprise. Soval placed T'Pol on board the Enterprise (possibly to hinder what he viewed as the illogical humans), but T'Pol became one of Archer's most trusted officers.
Soval continued his criticism of Enterprise's mission, particularly after the crew, along with a group of Andorian commandos led by Commander Shran, discovered a listening post beneath the Vulcan sanctuary of P'Jem which was being used to spy on the Andorians. Nevertheless, Soval reluctantly agreed to work with Archer when they were both dispatched to mediate a dispute over a planetoid claimed by both the Vulcans and Andorians. The situation was jeopardized early on when their shuttle was shot down while en route to meeting with Shran. Fortunately, Archer was able to defend the Ambassador and discover that Andorian soldiers acting against Shran's order were responsible. After initial talks between Soval and Shran proved promising, Soval conceded that Archer's service had been useful in the situation.
After the Xindi attack on Earth that killed seven million humans, Archer claimed that a mysterious figure from the future who was allied with the Suliban had given him information on the rationale for the attack, and more vitally, the name of the alien race responsible for the attack -- the Xindi. Soval was markedly skeptical of this claim, and personally attempted to discourage Enterprise from entering The Delphic Expanse, the mysterious region of space the Xindi call home.
Soval came to appreciate Archer's efforts in saving Earth, and his attitude toward humans warmed considerably after the man in charge of Starfleet Command, Admiral Forrest, sacrificed his own life to save the Ambassador's during a bombing inside the Earth Embassy on Vulcan (see the episode entitled "The Forge" for more).
It was subsequently revealed that Soval, in fact, had developed a deep affinity and even affection for humans and that his earlier actions were more to protect them than to hinder them. Nonetheless, after Archer and his crew helped to prevent a war between Vulcan and Andoria and exposed corruption within the Vulcan High Command (which was subsequently dissolved - see "Kir'Shara"), Soval agreed with the decision for Vulcan to stop looking over Earth's shoulder in space exploration matters.
Soval represented Vulcan at initial talks held in 2155 aimed at forging an alliance of worlds including Earth, Vulcan, Andoria and the Tellarite homeworld, an organization that, in 2161, would become the United Federation of Planets. Although Soval had initially opposed Jonathan Archer's mission, when Archer gave a key speech at the start of the 2155 summit, it was Soval who led the applause afterwards.
Soval's fate has yet to be chronicled. He is not seen attending the 2161 inauguration of the UFP in the finale episode "These Are the Voyages..." but that is not an indicator of his fate.
[edit] Troubles with the Vulcan High Command
Soval is capable of conducting mind melds, an act considered taboo amongst Vulcans of the 22nd Century. In order to extract information about the bombing of Earth's embassy on Vulcan, Soval conducted a mind-meld between himself and an ailing human MACO security guard at the embassy who had witnessed the attack. This mind-meld is considered to be the first such between a Vulcan and a human.
After the confession of his mind-melding abilities, Soval was forced to resign from the Vulcan High Command. He consequently joined the Enterprise crew in an effort to prevent a Vulcan preemptive strike (based entirely on falsified information) against Andoria. Due in large part to his efforts, a full scale Vulcan-Andorian war never took place, and the Vulcan High Command was swiftly overthrown for its part in attempting to start the war. Soval was subsequently reinstated as ambassador.
[edit] Personality
When first encountered, Soval was surprisingly emotional for a Vulcan. It was suggested in a couple of episodes that this was due to his long-term exposure to humans, and may be one of the reasons why he encouraged T'Pol to return to Vulcan prior to the Xindi mission.
The nature of Soval's relationship with T'Pol is unclear. It has been suggested that the two might be related in some way, but nothing has been confirmed in canon. Speculation that he might be her father was discounted by the revelation that T'Pol's father is dead.
As a child, Jonathan Archer referred to Soval as "Ambassador Pointy".
[edit] Mirror Universe
In the Mirror Universe, Soval is a non-commissioned Starfleet science crewmember aboard the ISS Avenger. After the Mirror T'Pol convinces Soval that Vulcans need not continue to be slaves, Soval attempts to lead Avenger's alien crewmembers in a rebellion against the Terran Empire, but dies when the Avenger is destroyed by the USS Defiant under the command of Jonathan Archer. The Mirror Soval has a goatee, a reference to the Mirror Spock seen in the original series episode Mirror, Mirror.
