22 is the deuteragonist of Disney•Pixar's 2020 animated feature film, Soul. After Joe accidentally arrived at the Great Before, he seeks help from 22 to get him back to his body before it's too late. While by Joe’s side, 22 learns what it means and feels like to be alive.
22 (the 22nd soul ever created) is a precocious soul who has spent hundreds of years at The You Seminar, where new souls must meet several requirements before going to Earth. Like every soul before her, 22 has been through the Personality Pavilions, which explains her endearing sarcasm, quick wit and occasional moodiness. She’s met every requirement to go to Earth—except one. But no matter how many visits she makes to the Hall of Everything, no matter how many esteemed luminaries have mentored her, she can’t find the spark she needs to fulfill her requirements and make her way to Earth. That’s fine with 22; the truth is—she’s not interested in life on Earth at all.
The only thing known about 22 is that she has spent eons in the Great Before, and the amount of years she spent there resulted in her dim view of life on the Land of the Living.
Personality
22 is a soul that views Earth as a dim life. She doesn't like the way it is, but when Joe comes along, her views begin to change.
Physical appearance
22's body is shaped like a light bulb. She is light aqua with faded pink cheeks, purple eyes and eyebrows, a buck tooth in her mouth, a tuft of hair, and no legs. However, she is able to form legs whenever she wants, as seen when dancing and running.
As a Lost Soul, in her first form, she still looks the same, but in navy and her eyes along her mouth become cyan, giving her a dark ghost-like appearance. In her second form, she grows a little taller and distorted and her hands become tentacle-like arms, she also gained legs. In her third and final form, she has only one cyan eye, she becomes even taller and more distorted, she gains a buck tooth, The tip of her head vaguely resembling a Santa hat. she also has a hole on her chest where her Earth pass was after she threw it at Joe Gardner.
Trivia
22 has had previous mentors in the form of historical figures such as Gandhi, Abraham Lincoln, Mother Teresa, Muhammad Ali, Copernicus, Archimedes, and Marie Antoinette.
According to 22, she made Mother Teresa cry and she seemed rather giddy about it. One of the Jerrys tells Joe to ignore what she said, hinting that it was personal for Teresa.
22 sounds like a "middle-aged white lady" because, according to her, it is the most annoying voice she could think of, adding that she could sound like whoever she wants.
Whenever 22 shapeshifts into someone, she still has her purple eyes.
The monitor in which Joe was sleeping in the bed inside the hospital also shows the number 22 in it.
When 22 and Joe enter the Astral Plane, she claims that she has been messing with the New York Knicks for decades, which is a reference to the Knicks' reputation of continually losing matches.
Her box contains items such as her previous mentors' name tags, the Pixar Ball, among other items. The name tags are in all different languages, hinting that she understands multiple languages.
Near the end of the movie, when she finally heads to Earth, she is facing Asia, more specifically western China, hinting that her human life will be spent as an Asian/Chinese person. However, the directors hinted at the possibility of 22 being of Indian decent, as that was considered one of the original endings.
Though 22 goes by she/her pronouns, she is not considered female and has no gender, as souls can choose what they sound like.
22 was the twenty-second human soul ever created, presumably in the history of the world. This is of course how she earns her namesake throughout the film.
At one point, the filmmakers considered ending the movie with Joe meeting 22 in human form, but abandoned this idea because every version they tried always felt unfulfilling.
According to 22, she is content being in the Great Before. She has her routine which includes, floating in the mist, doing her sudoku puzzles, and, once a week, is made to attend a You Seminar.
22's personality is very similar to an average teenager's.