»Religious view on the trilogy«

The mobile/limbo point is very interesting. I didn’t realize that before. I like to think that I have somewhat of an understanding of the movies, but the third film was disappointing. It wasn’t disappointing that I didn’t get it, it was disappointing because I DID get it (or at least I’m pretty sure I did) let me know if I’m wrong.
In my opinion, after analyzing the films, reading every single philosophy article on the website, researching Gnosticism, and reading almost everything on this site, I have come to a conclusion. It may not be the correct one, or even a likely one, but I feel like it is the right one. But if anyone posts on this site his or her opinions are always up for attack or feedback, which I would like.
The first movie was awesome, a classic, the second, left me pulling my hair out only hoping that pain would give me an answer I had wanted. I loved it, and for 6 months I anticipated the third film, obsessing (a little too much) over the hidden meaning. I loved the third film, but I was just expecting much more. First problem was it didn’t really close the door on the Merovingian…Who the hell is he? What the hell was with all the confusing speeches he made in the second film? I was trying to relate the “Christian” elements in the film to the battle between Satan and God. And after watching Revolutions for the second time I understood (or at least I think I did, these movies are, and always will always be, open for interpretation) the meaning of the three films.
Now to relate the movies to one religion is nearly impossible. Witch is what the Wachowskis probably intended. The movie is based on a lot of different views on religion, which Gnosticism Christianity does. It still believes that Christ is the savior of Mankind, but it doesn’t believe that the creator God is not good. I’m not going to go any further than that, because it may grind too hard into peoples personal beliefs. If you want to find out more go to

The reply contains my thoughts on the alegory, and clears up who is who in the Matrix.

I think that the Mobil station is supposed to represent purgatory, even though I don't believe in that (I'm not Catholic) but I hadn't figured out the Limbo thing. Good catch.

First off- excellent post -those were a lot of the same things I researched. I forulated some of it differently though. The main thing to realize is that they didnt use just one religion to draw their analogies from, so characters can take elements from lots of different deities and religious figures.

Mankind- we are the children of the unnamed god, we are the gods that formed AI, ala Sophia... creating something we shouldnt have played around with

The designer of the Matrix; the Architect; is like Yaldabaoth. The Oracle is like Satan- as far as gnosticism is concerned- not typical christianity: in gnosticism, Satan is the one who frees makind from the damaged god Yaldabaoth by giving them the knowledge that they are also gods and can make their own choices.

In tradtional christian mythology, Lucifer and Logos were the two highest angels in heaven, Lucifer's job was to watch over the garden of eden. Lucifer wanted glory for himself and raised the issue in heaven of whether it was just for God to ask his creation to obey him. Man was tested by the tree and fruit and the serpent and failed- but the serpent/Lucifer lied by saying man wouldnt die, so Lucifer (actually the actual name of the angel is never said- traditionally it was Lucifer) is renamed Devil and Satan. Satan argues his point in heaven, managing to draw an entire third of the angels to his cause- that God is an unjust ruler. Man loses paradise, and the issue of God's rulership will be played out on earth until judgement day. And of course in that time God's son comes to the earth to pay off man's debt for sinning. Adam was the only other perfect man to have existed as a human, so Jesus' death brings atonement for mankind.

I think Merovingian was the Adam person, I think he was in the first perfect "paradise" matrix along w/ persephone. I think Neo is the christ figure. It would make sense then that persephone says Merv was once like Neo if this allegory is correct. Adam and Christ were equals, yet one turned mankind into slaves and one freed mankind. Yet another alusion to Neo and Merv as being similar is when Merv calls Seraph "Judas": Judas Iscariot betrayed Christ.

Another thing- Smith tells Morpheus it was his job to categorize life forms for the Matrix- a job requiring observation. Maybe he is the traditional angel "satan/lucifer" sent to watch over man until jealousy and selfishness prompted him to rebel. He is also the anti-christ figure; and in the Matrix he functions like anti-matter to Neo's matter- his shadow, his reflection. equal yet opposite.

Zion seems to represent "hell" at various times: its underground where its warm; the inhabitants have an affinity for disobedience, the color red is everywhere, the plaque on the Neb has a reference to demons recognizing the christ, dialogue repeatedly uses "hell" and "god damn". In this case I think it is to show not evil, but mankind alienated from the machine world, in need of a savior, in need of atonement.

The Matrix is a different kind of hell: the exiled programs are like rebellious or fallen angels and they use the matrix as a sort of haven from the machine world. Merovingian seems to have a seat of power there, as does the Oracle. Plus Merv club is called Hell, and that says something too, as does Persephone's name, since she was married to Hades, or "hell".

Anyway, I hope this doesnt seem like I'm making an argument against what The One said in his post, I agree with him, there tons of possibilities though, and what I wrote here was just some facets I saw things through.

I would like to add that the "underworld" reference which was made by myself, was made without catching something the first time I saw the film. Now after seeing the film over and over the "underworld" scene is pretty obvious. But anyway...Im sure this has been seen so its not like ive made some profound discovery, but when they go down the elevator the button says hell. Cool huh, anyway whats with the no responses (nothing against staticage or magicman) but come on whats with the no responses? Have I answered all the questions that are irritatingly answered with questions? Have I at last lived up to my name? The only regret about my post is the fact that I didnt come to this site a long time ago, in order to talk longer with all of you people. Case closed I AM THE ONE!
Maybe that ought to get some responses....(honestly people im only joking, get a sense of humor)

I thought those posts were great! Just one question tho. If Smith is Satan then how come he simply takes over people when he is supposed to be making them realise the fakeness of the demiurge's world? Also isn't Smith created by the Architect. Maybe I missed something here, but here is my theory.

Smith is sin. Becoming slaves to sin is a natural following from the law according to the Bible. The gnostic interpretation of this piece of theology is that the demiurge is one and the same as the God of the old testament (in the Adam and Eve story in particular). Smith is the natural result of the architect's laws and equations. Neo is required to balance this out.

Yaldabaoth (the architect) is a product of Sophia (or the mother God) (the oracle) and presumably we never see the Father God. I think Sati is the probably the holy spirit.

Anyway - I hope that fits in with what you said. Please write more on this thread. This is just the sort of stuff I came on here to read. Please correct the worst of my mistakes and if possible could you give a gnostic explanation for the previous 5 ones?

Hi, TheOne and Fatpie42

Wow, this is quite astounding and insightful analysis from TheOne, on the religous themes. Regarding the Gnostic implication, I understand there are various interpretations of the Gnostic tradition and some of those are intimately linked with the tradition of the writing of Valentinus. If you go by the Valentinus tradition (one branch of Gnostic), then Sophia the Goddess is the mother, she is also one of the 14 (or 12) offsprings from the Original Divine Source. Sophia, without the permission of the Divine Source, makes a copy of herself. That copy becomes what we might now call God. Sophia does not have a husband, or if you think of God as her child, God does not have a father. Of course, in that way, the Original Divine Source would be the "grand-father" of God.

If the W brothers are truly following Valentinus branch of Gnosticsim, and if we are not overanalyzing, then one FRIGHTENING aspect is that the SOURCE that the Oracle tells Neo about is the Original Divine Source, hence Neo would be truly more powerful than anyone else. Of course, I have absolutely no idea whether the W brothers are following this branch of Gnosticsm.

I gotta say, I am thoroughly impressed by the obvious time and research that people who posted here put in! I definitly have to change some of my theories! I've gotten a much better idea about Gnostic mythology! And, have, fatpie42 come to agree with you on some things I disagreed with in another thread! Sorry about that, please forgive my ignorance.

I would like to post here, for you reading pleasure, my ideas on Trinity and see what y'all think! I already posted this elsewhere, in the "trainman" section I think, I hadn't come across this thread yet!

I have a couple thoughts about who she might be, the most developed of which is this. she is probably a reference to Mary Magdelen in the scriptures of the Gnostics, the holy lover of Jesus Christ. Also, the basic Wiccan concept of deity, of the Goddess, is Three-fold. Maiden, Mother, and Crone. Since Christian Witches acknowledge the Gnostic concept of MM, perhaps Trinity (3) represents both of these ideas in one character. Also, she is certainly Neo's balance, the yang to his yin. Please note, pretty much everywhere you look in the movies there is a yin to yang (Oracle-Arch. Neo-Smith Trinity-Neo Morpheus-Niobe Persephone-Merovingian, it goes on and on you can always find a balance for different aspects of each character). ALSOanother mystery cult that existed around the time of the Gnostics was the math cult of Pythagoras? You might remember that name from Beginning Algebra? well besides a-squared plus b-squared equals c-squared, Pythagoras based a whole religion around math! And he was extremely popular too! In that tradition 3 was considered the "perfect" number. Also, from "http://www.voidspace.org.uk/cyberpunk/matrix_spirit.shtml" "Trinity is in hotel room number 303 and the song titled "Main Title/Trinity Infinity" is playing in the background. (At the end of the movie, Neo ends up in that same room. Also, Neo travels through apartment 30 while trying to outrun the agents.) Interesting, the number zero "0" or a circle represents infinity. Therefore, the number 303 could logically stand for "Trinity Infinity." Trinity can also, according to the book, "The Secret Language of Dreams," "signify the female principle, entry into the mysteries, or a sense of completion." Since Neo means "One", Trinity means "Three", one could say that the character Morpheus must stand for "two." In the book mentioned above, it says that the number two "is the number of duality, divine symmetry, and balance. It represents the coming together of the male and female..." This is very accurate statement of Morpheus, since it is he who brings Neo (the man) and Trinity (the woman) together. He is also the character that bridges the gap between two other opposites--the real world and the matrix."

also, can I please have your permission to use some of your ideas in a paper that I am currently researching? I am writing on the Matrix for my comparitive mythology class and would love to use some ideas I've seen here! This request goes out especially to TheOne and to Fatpie42. PLEASEE?

Plz check out this post and tell me what you think as well. I am certainly now going to be changing some of what I wrote there, LOL, too bad I didn't see this thread first! OY! Also, because the topic falls under this umbrella and not the other I would like to switch the conversation over to this thread! Just to be polite. =) Also, I see that the Merovingian is Old Hat here, but I was very excited about that as I looked around online on my own and found it, hahaha! didn't realize everyone already knew what it was. Anyways! Penny for your thoughts!

I don't know why you need to reference me in your research. I'm hardly a scholar. Simply a student. All I know about gnosticism is simply due to research I did in my spare time. There are a few good links for you on my gnosticism page on my web site

I agree with fatpie, you dont have to ask...go ahead, its not like were gonna track you down and tell your techer your paper has ideas from our posts. Scream HOW DARE YOU! and slap your teacher in the face....
Nah man go ahead, looks like fatpie beat me to the permission but I wanna permit it as well<------ Well anyway i like that everyone has enjoyed my post....keep on truckin....

Hello, Serenity

That's so interesting, there is now a class for comparative mythology using the Matrix? Wow, that sounds like a cool class. I am assuming in some university, is that philosophy or literature?

I think nowadays it is standard academic practice (if you want to abide by them) is that you are free to cite anything on the internet by referencing to it, just as you would if you find it in a journal paper or encyclopedia. So if I am writing a Ph.D thesis and I find something that Fatpie42 or theOne wrote about which I think is refresing, I would use it, and in the reference section or bibliography, I will refer to something like "Internet discussion:

i just wanted to be polite. =) figure if i respect someone enough to let their ideas alter mine that i owe them the courtesy of asking to use those same ideas. hehe.

and no it's not about the matrix, it's a comparitive mythology class, but we are asked to write a paper or do a project based in some form of mythology we haven't studied. i was encouraged to pursue this tho, my teacher is really interested in what i will find! I have heard of such classes tho, the Matrix trilogy is being brought into classrooms in many different disciplines because it just has so much to say!

Blessed Be!
~Serenity~