»Is the Architect God?«

there are alot of analogies that could prove this, such as the fact that he knows everything going on in the Matrix, everyone, all the time. Just like God. he also is a master of Control. post more

the architect and the oracle are opposites. Much like smith and neo. They balance each other out. So if he is god, the oracle is satan.

U guys r wasting ur time discussing whether the architect is the god or not.
Instead read all threads regardin "is there god in our world?" & u'll realize he can't be the god if there any.

he hacks.

I think that the Architect represents the the false God from Gnosticism who creates an imperfect world to imprison human souls. Gnostics hold that the God that created the Earth is not the true God, but just a powerful being (an accidental creation of the true God) who fancies that he is in fact the true God. They say that this false God created the world and all things material in order to trap human souls so that he can maintain power. Anyway, the Architect is the God of the Matrix, but not a necessarily a "good" God. The Oracle would represent Sophia "Wisdom" who is also an aspect of the true God, but she helps to guide the human souls back to divinity.

There is a problem with this Gnostic analogy though because it inevitably implies that the true God is Deus ex Machina, but i don't think the Wachowskis meant for us to take the analogy in that direction. But the Wachowski brothers have definitely corroborated that there are Gnostic themes and symbols in the movies.

Is the architect the same person as the Deus Ex Machina? I thought it was a bit strange that no one else seemed to think that other than me.

I don't think that the Architect is Deus Ex, he has a very closed mind, obsessed by the logic to the point that he loose the comprehension of the world.
Without the intuitive program, he would have never found the solution to the Matrix 's choice problem.
But Deus Ex don't seem to be that narrow-minded and moreover we see that 2 differents actors play the voice, once the "we don't need you" and once the "and if you fail", meaning that Deus ex is probably a collective intelligence, maybe the source itself.

You know, Fatpie, I thought so too (that the Architect was Deus Ex) when I was watching the movie. But, reading the script, I'd have to say that they were different. Or else, why would they give him two different names in the script? Then again, come to think of it, I'm not reading an official script. Is there an official script? Does it list the Deus ex Machina separate from the Architect?

What I was going to point out, though, is that when a character has two different names or personas, it is listed on the script (at least the script that I'm reading) like Smith/Bane.

So anyway, theologically, it would have been a lot nicer to have the Architect and Deus ex Machina be the same, but I don't think we can interpret it that way. However, I'll have to look into finding an official script.

Oh and one more thing, the Architect says at the end of his meeting with Neo that they won't meet again. And those programs have a nasty habit of knowing what's going to happen.

Bachsoffice,

there is the cast section on the official site where you see that Deus ex is played by 2 different actors, and none of them is the actor playing the Architecte.

About the "we won't meet again", we know that the Architect cannot see past any choice. He was mistaken by pretending that Zion would be destroyed. So maybe was he too for that meeting.

But anyay, I see more the Architect as the engineer responsible for the functionning of their power plants, while Deus ex is the official leader that decide weither or not they will have a deal. So I don't think that Architect = Deus ex.

Yeah, I tend to agree with Apocryphe on this topic. I think the Architect is program that was designed to create and watch over the Matrix. I believe his purpose stops there. In fact, because of bachsoffice's allusion to Gnosticism, I tend to believe that the Deus Ex probably created the Architect. However, all of this is spectulation.

GPieters wrote:

I think the Architect is program that was designed to create and watch over the Matrix. I believe his purpose stops there.

Yup. His purpose is to improve the matrix but don't think it tops there!

Quite simply put, the Deus Ex is to the machines as The President of the United States (or any other powerful leader) is to us (although, the machines don't bicker and question who their leader is).

Just as the President is, the Deus Ex is aware of all going's on within the machine network, and when a threat appears, he is the first thing to assess and face it. The Deus Ex is is simply the most prominent machine. One would also suppose that he possesses the strongest connection with the source.

Keep in mind, the name 'Deus Ex Machina' is not what the machines, or anyone in the Matrix universe wuld call it. The name is a reference to ancinet Greek theatre and refers to a stage device which would re-direct the plot. It was most commonly used to save the hero of the story when he was in a hopeless situation. This is what it does for Neo. It allows him to re-enter the Matrix, it forges a deal with him and authorise the peace, and, if you disagree with the 'Neo and Agent Smith's equation is balanced theory', some believe that it is the Deus Ex itself that destroys Smith.

The Architect is just another program. Dominant and powerful, but just another program in the network.

I think the name "Deus ex Machina" is kind of a pun and not really referring to the Stage device. It is literally translated as "God from Machine" and I think we are to take it as it's literal translation.

Also, good analogy with the president, but I think Deus ex is closer to a fuhrer. In fact, let me throw this comparison out for the Trekkies. I think Deus ex is similar to (if not exactly like) the Collective Intelligence of the Borg. Each Borg is an individual plugged into a collective consciousness. This Collective consciousness is not only alive, but it is the Hive queen of the whole society. That's why it refers to itself as "We". what do you think? (besides the fact that I'm a Strar Trek geek)

Architect, from Hindu perspective also, can be viewed as the creator, Brahma who is worshiped as god but is depicted as having a donkey as his vehicle to imply a clueless streak in him. Nevertheless, he is considered as God who is knowledgeable and is revered, but not worshiped as enthusiastically as Vishnu who saves and Shiva who brings peace and liberation.

Yes, Gnostic view about creator gets a little more critical. There creator is a very defective God because his creation can be a source of misery.

Bach, Deus Ex as “collective consciousness” is pretty good analogy. Though I think Architect is the one who creates everything, the machines and hence their bee queen also.

The Borg anaolgy is good. One I've always likened to the machines. But there ARE some differences.

Mainly, while the borg exist as one consciousness with a Queen at the forefront, I think the machines, while very much sharing a connection with eachother (The netowrk) which is connected to the source, they are still, for a lack of a better word, individuals. Individuals who share exactly the same goal. Only the exiles difer from this unity.