What is the difference between a soldier and a warrior? Both are actively engaged in combat and violence, often of a military nature. But the difference between the two is that the soldier obeys orders from higher ranks and has a sense of duty to his country, while a warrior is not strictly limited to those characteristics. A warrior can be genuinely heroic, or be less than heroic. Be that as it may, a warrior is necessarily bound by certain standards, other than his own. To quote Turok: “A soldier follows orders, but a warrior follows his heart“.
By this differentiation, even the knights of old can count as soldiers, since many of them served an army, namely the armies of kings. The exception would be orders of knights who served themselves or various causes, but not the king, or weren’t part of an army. Really, anyone who serves under an army and obeys the orders of higher ranks within that army is a solider. If you’re not that, you’re not a soldier, but you are a warrior, or can be one. If you answer the call of the warrior, you can be one. Someday, I hope to as well.
Aleph's Heretical Domain 