»Deploy the sentinels?«

(I know this is really long, but it's something to ponder.)

There has been endless speculation about possible grandiose plot revelations in the third movie, everywhere from the MWAM theory to Kid being the One. But there is a fundamental question I need cleared up before I can accept any of this: why do the machines attempt to kill Neo in the first movie?

Specifically, I'm referring to the end of M1, where the sentinels are deployed by Smith (as an agent) to wipe out the Neb.

Before I even get into that, there's another shaky area: in M1, when Neo is "bugged". Why is it that the agents who are trying to bring Morpheus in decide to use this method to locate him? We know that Neo at this point is still a part of the Matrix system, and therefore, agents can easily track him at any time and take his body over. Unless I'm missing something, it would seem to me the easiest way to get to Morpheus would be to monitor Neo's progress up to the point where he makes contact with him, and then take him over.

One could say that the reason they didn't take him over was because they already knew that Neo was the One. The Architect would have already told the agents to spare his life, as his continued existence was necessary for the survival of the Matrix. If Neo was to be the sum of the remainder of an unbalanced equation, they couldn't just kill him off.

So then why is it that they try so hard to do so? Now, if they knew Neo was the One, it wouldn't be a problem to send agents after him and his companions, as it would be presumed that Neo was unstoppable (if he was killed, then he wouldn't really be the One, would he?). In attacking, they might be able to get rid of other key players, if not Neo himself.

But the inexcusable action is the sentinel deployment. They could try whatever they wanted to against Neo in the Matrix, and it would just contribute to the illusion that the function of the One was against the machines' needs. However, if sentinels are deployed to destroy the Neb within the "real world", Neo would die, causing that cataclysmic system crash the Architect talks about.

In M2, sentinels are deployed to take out the Neb again, this time successfully. At this point, Neo has already made his choice, and thus is no longer needed. The machines will keep trying to kill Neo until he convinces the machine leader in M3 that they need him to destroy Smith.

It's just that one single part that doesn't tie-in right. Now, if the W bros. were to disregard everything that I said and work off the fact that the agents didn't know he was the One when the sentinels were deployed. there is still a gap. Not only would it not make sense that they bugged Neo instead of take him over, but there would have still been time for the machines to break off the attack. Once Neo "destroyed" Smith, there were a few seconds between the two agents running away and Neo running back to the phone where the other two agents could have called it off. It would have required fast acting on the machines' part, but because destroying the One would be a terrible loss, they would have double-timed it.

I have a theory in the brewing about the M1 agents working against the machines (it would explain a lot if Smith was renegade from the beginning and dragged his companions into his scheme) but I need more time to piece it together. If anybody can think of anything, let me know!

KingTutSJP wrote:

Specifically, I'm referring to the end of M1, where the sentinels are deployed by Smith (as an agent) to wipe out the Neb.

I've seen this mentioned a few times, except that he didn't did he?

He said "deploy the sentinels" as an instruction to the other agents.

I've always taken it that they then radio the instructions to some unseen power - sentinel control? who does the actual deploying.

KingTutSJP wrote:

in M1, when Neo is "bugged". Why is it that the agents who are trying to bring Morpheus in decide to use this method to locate him?

Who know whether it's only to locate. Maybe it's also a bomb? Or a signal disruptor?

KingTutSJP wrote:

But the inexcusable action is the sentinel deployment.

There is so much irrefutable evidence that either the agents do not know of the One, or they are working on their own agenda. Here are the facts:

-There is no reason for Smith to have been interrogating Morpheus for the codes to Zion's mainframe if the machines could easily have drilled through to Zion instead. After all, the architect said they were getting increasingly efficient at it, so the whole mainframe thing seems to have no purpose.

-They attempt to blow up the Neb.

-Smith very obviously believes that Neo is dead when he shoots him in the hallway at the end of M1...

-HOWEVER, the other two agents clearly saw Smith's code being blown to bits, a clear indication of the One at work.

-Unless they simply didn't understand what had happened. Still, they are replaced by upgraded versions in Reloaded, who might not have witnessed the same events, and therefore do not know of him.

-But the biggest proof that they DO know of the One is when they first barge down the door in M2 and refer to Neo as the anomaly. They were considering whether to fight him or not (knowing that he is more powerful than them) and decide to on account that he's still only human.

-They work to delete the keymaker in the freeway chase scene, Neo's ticket to the source.

-And another occurrence which people don't always think about is this: what is the simple reason for Neo to have picked the door on the left? An AGENT attacked Trinity.

Therefore, ultimately one cannot really say that the agents are just "enhancing the illusion of the One's purpose", as they get too close to destroying him too many times, and they also call him the anomaly. Plus, if their job is to police the Matrix, why don't they go after bad programs like the Merovingian or vampires, etc.? So ultimately, their are two possible explanations:

-The agents are renegade programs, bad code within the system, that are against the cycle of the One being reinerted to the code. REMEMBER that once the One is back in, there is presumably no more reason for them to exist. As Smith adequately puts it, "We're here to take from you what you tried to take from us - purpose." Perhaps the whole point of getting Zion's mainframe codes was that the agents could somehow take over that mainframe and exist there when the One begins working (I'm no technical expert, so I don't know how true that could be). Smith's "purpose" is kept vague throughout the whole of M2, and it is indicated near the end when Neo says "What do you want, Smith?" in the backdoor hallway that Neo has no idea either. It could be revealed in Revolutions.

OR...

-The Architect lied. The door on the left doesn't actually lead to the destruction of the Matrix, and there was no elaborate scheme to get him to the Source. Let's remember that Neo required a choice, true, but did the Architect have to tell the truth? What if the original prophecy was true, and if Neo chose the door on the right, he would have ended the war? The Architect used the agent to attack Trinity to lead Neo the other way, knew that his emotion would bring him away from his ultimate goal. That explains why the agents want him dead - the machines want him dead as well. The Architect is simply their last security measure against the One's power.

I prefer the first theory, as the Architect scene would have been, from a movie standpoint, just an excuse to extend the movie to a trilogy (in other words, it could have been over at 2). PLEASE discuss all of this, I feel like I'm on to something.

I dunno if this has been said... but maybe Smith gained control of the sentinals somehow. And because of Neo's connection with Smith, he is able to stop the sentinals which are controlled by him.

the Agents in reloaded know very well Neo is the one:

[agent 1] It's him.

[agent 2] The Anomaly.

[agent 3] Do we proceed?

[agent 2] Yes.

[agent 3] He is still...

[agent 1]...only human.

While Zion has been destroyed 6 times according to the Architect, it seems as if every time they find a "more efficient" way to destroy it.

MAYBE: Even Smith going into Zion to stop the counter attack was also a part of ONE of the machine's plans, it is a more efficient way to destroy Zion as oppose to let themselves be surprise by an EMP counter attack.

I think as the path of the One changes upon his previous choices, many things are still unclear about the agents. Remember in the first movie the Agents had no inmidiate necessity to kill Neo till he proved to be the One. Also if everything meant to happen as explained by Morpheus, then if he wasn't captured, then Neo wouldn't have identified as the One.

Smith is like Neo APPARENTLY FREE.
He is still bound to two choices DELITION or EXILE
It seems as if, he want neither so Neo is in the same situation when facing the Matrix of choices in the Architects room.