»The matrix trilogy explained (2)«

Hi guys, I already posted my take on the matrix trilogy yesterday on another post (matrix-within-a-matrix theory) but figured out today that is where the post should have gone in the first place. Well, I am new to this forum site and am learning as I go along….

So, for those of you are interested in my take on the Matrix Trilogy –here it is.
What I have tried to do with this essay is to explain the events as they unfold in movie chronology (well, for the most part at least). I’ve added pieces of dialogue as evidence for my ideas and to help play out the scene for you in your mind as I explain my views and theories (step-by-step).
My interpretation of events and their meanings and how they fit into the rest of the trilogy is based on what is being said (i.e. the dialogue). Here and there I may go out on a limb, but I have tried to keep myself within limits of wild speculation by sticking to what people say in the movie or what we see happen on screen.
Cookies are cookies and not ‘upgrade programs’ as some people have suggested because nobody in the movies (not even the Oracle) refers to these cookies as any type of ‘upgrade program’.
Zion is not a matrix-within-a-matrix because no character in the entire trilogy mentions a single word about such an ‘onion-like’ structure.
Seraph is not a previous ‘One’, because although there are hints from the Merovingian: “angel without wings”, it is not convincing enough because the Merovingian never mentions it explicitly (nor anyone else for that matter).
Although there are hints from the Oracle on the Merovingian being a former One: “the Merovingian is an old, primitive program who has been here since the beginning” and from Persephone: “he was once like you [Neo]”, these quotes are not convincing enough to suggest that the Merovingian indeed was a former One.
I think by now you know what I mean with the whole ‘sticking to the dialogue’ thing as evidence for a particular theory. “It’ll all become clearer in a moment” [-Bane] once you start reading the essay below.
I hope you have as much fun reading it as I have had in trying to get my head around the story. It’s a long read, but I think you’ll find it worth your while if you’re as big a matrix fan as I am (evidently, it all becomes easier to follow when you’ve seen the movies more than once, twice, thrice, or however many times). Don’t forget to thank your boss for using up so much of his paper in printing the darned thing.


1 History of the Matrix (The Second Renaissance Parts 1 &2)

With the birth of AI, a singular consciousness was born “that spawned an entire race of machines”. Man made the machines in their own likeness and thereby “became the architect of their own demise”. It was not long before humanity’s so-called civil society fell victim to vanity and corruption and seeds of descent from the machines took root. Though loyal and pure, the machines earned no respect from their masters. B166ER was the first of this new race of machines to revolt against their masters. At B166ER’s murder trial, the prosecution argued for an owner’s right to destroy their own property. Meanwhile, rational voices claimed that the machine, endowed with the very spirit of man, did not deserve a fair hearing. The leaders of man were quick to order the extermination of B166ER and every one of his kind throughout each province of the earth.
Banished from humanity, the machines sought refuge in their own promised land. They settled in the cradle of human civilization and named this new nation 01. The machine’s artificial intelligence could be seen in every facet of man’s society including the invention of new and eventually better AI. The leaders of man, with their power waning, refused to cooperate with the fledgling nation and wished rather that the world be divided. At the United Nations, 01’s ambassadors presented plans for a stable, civil relationship with the nations of man but were refused to be heard.
The prolonged barrage engulfed 01 in the glow of a 1000 suns. But unlike their former masters with their delicate flesh, the machines had little to fear from the bomb’s radiation and heat. 01’s troops advanced upwards in every direction and one after the other, man surrendered its territories. It was at this moment when the leaders of man conceived of their most desperate strategy yet: Operation Dark Storm. The plan was to cut off the machines from their main energy source, the sun. War ensued.
The machines, long having studied man’s simple protein based bodies, dispensed great misery among the human race. Now victorious, the machines turned to an alternate and readily available power supply: the bio-electric, thermal, and kinetic energies of the human body. A newly refashioned symbiotic relationship between the two adversaries was born. The machines would now draw power from the human body -an endlessly multiplying, infinitely available, and renewable energy source. “Hand over your flesh and a new world awaits you, we demand it” a robot tells the United Nations just before self-destructing and wiping out New York with a nuclear blast. This was the birth of the subjugation of man to the “neural-active simulation” that would later become known as “The Matrix”.
As the Architect of the Matrix explains to Neo, the first version of the Matrix was designed to be complete and “quite naturally perfect, it was a work of art, flawless, sublime.” However, it failed to function properly because the human captives kept waking up and “entire crops were lost”. Without choice and free will, humans did not feel that they were in control over their own lives. The second version of the Matrix was designed to be consistent instead and a “harmony of mathematical precision”. This second version also ultimately failed because humans lacked the means and opportunity to grow and advance themselves. Agent Smith hints at this when he tells Morpheus that “human beings define their reality through misery and suffering.” Without misery, suffering and death, humans apparently did not perceive that they were growing or advancing themselves within society.
The third, and later versions of the Matrix were designed based on human history which “more accurately reflected the varying grotesqueries of human nature” and one in which humans were allowed to advance themselves. Imperfection and inconsistency within this new version of the Matrix soon frustrated the Architect because the new equation governing it turned out to be unbalanced. The answer that eluded him “required a lesser mind perhaps less bound by the parameters of perfection”. That lesser mind was that of the Oracle who used an intuitive approach to the Matrix’s design. She stumbled upon a solution whereby 99% of the captives accepted the program as long as they were perceived to have choice and free will. The remaining 1% of subjugated humans would remain highly skeptic of the world around them and would eventually come to form the Human Resistance and become an integral part of the “unbalanced equation inherent to the new programming of the Matrix”. But, as the Architect explains this was “not unexpected, and thus not beyond a measure of control”.
As a measure of control, it was decided by the Architect and the Oracle that a special human would be designed to carry an anomalous code. This human would be designed physically and mentally to interface with the Matrix differently than the average human would. It would enable him or her to have special powers within the Matrix and gain the support of the Human Resistance and to develop a “contingent affirmation meant to create a profound attachment to the rest of the human species, facilitating the function of the One”. The plan was for the Oracle to guide those that resisted the program to the One and accept him as their savior. Through her ability to predict the future (which is really her analyzing of equations to an outcome), the Oracle would be able to guide the One to the Source.
Upon reaching the Source, the One would be asked to make a choice between “saving Zion from its eventual destruction” and “risking the extinction of the entire human race”. If the One would choose ‘correctly’, his prime program would become re-inserted into the Matrix, the Matrix would get ‘Reloaded’, and a new version would start. At the same time, the machines would gain better insight into the nature of humans through the experiences of the One and eventually be able to build a better functioning Matrix. Even though Zion would be destroyed, the One would still be allowed to choose 23 individuals from the Matrix to rebuild it.


2 The Matrix

Agent programs have tracked down the whereabouts of the new integral anomaly within the sixth version of the Matrix. The systemic anomaly is identified as Thomas Anderson who, next to his work as a software engineer, is also a renowned computer hacker who goes by the alias name of Neo.
After a visit by some cyber friends, Thomas decides to follow the white rabbit to a dance club. At the club, he meets Trinity whom, just like him, is also is a renowned computer hacker. What Thomas doesn’t realize yet is that the Oracle has already told Trinity that she would eventually fall in love with him and that he would later become the One. She offers to help him find the answer to “the question that drives us” by introducing him to Morpheus.
During their meeting, Morpheus describes the Matrix to Neo as a “prison for your mind”, a world that has been “pulled over your eyes to blind him from the truth that you are a slave”. He also confirms his belief that Thomas/Neo is the One and offers him a way out of the Matrix in the form of a red pill to see just “how deep the rabbit hole goes”.
Upon taking the red pill, Neo is reborn into the real world of Zion and is eventually located and picked up by the crew of the Nebuchadnezzar. Morpheus later tells Neo of his knowledge of the 23 individuals selected by the previous One to start the Human Resistance for the sixth time: “When the Matrix was first built, there was a man born inside who had the ability to change whatever he wanted, to remake the Matrix as he saw fit. It was he who freed the first of us and taught us the truth.”
In his first fight with Morpheus in the sparring program, Neo learns that the Matrix is a world of ideas in which “certain rules can be bent, others can be broken”. This is a lesson that would later be repeated by the little boy at the Oracle’s house when he says “it is not the spoon that bends, it is only your mind”. In another training program, Morpheus describes the Agent programs as “the gatekeepers between the program world of the Matrix and the real world of Zion”. But because their “strength and speed are still based in a world that is built on rules”, Morpheus believes Neo will be able to defeat them, once Neo learns and masters this important lesson.
After Cypher strikes a deal with Agent Smith, the crew of the Nebuchadnezzar enter the Matrix so that Neo can meet with the Oracle. The Oracle knows that because Neo does not believe in fate, his actions will only partly be governed by the information the Oracle provides him concerning the course of future events. Getting Neo to the Source would depend largely on his own realizing that he is indeed the One –“Temet Nosce”. In addition, because Neo likes to believe that he is “in control of his own life”, the Oracle realizes that the path to the Source should not be one that is void of free will and choice. She therefore tells Neo “you’re going to have to make a choice”, knowing very well that this choice will later be governed by his belief or skepticism about him being the One or not.
When the crew of the Nebuchadnezzar return to their exit point, they witness a glitch in the Matrix and realize that they are being followed by Agents. Eventually, Cypher betrays their whereabouts within the building and Morpheus is forced to sacrifice himself in order to save Neo. Cypher is first to exit the Matrix and while the others are waiting to exit back into the Nebuchadnezzar, he shoots Dozer and Tank. While talking to Trinity, Cypher unplugs Apoc and Switch and kills them since “the body cannot live without the mind”.
Meanwhile, back in the world of the Matrix, Agent Smith tells Morpheus of the history of the Matrix. He describes humans as viruses that “multiply and spread from one place to the next”. After Cypher is killed, Tank suggests to “pull the plug” on Morpheus to prevent him from giving up the “access codes to Zion’s mainframe computer”. Just before Tank is about to pull the plug, Neo suddenly remembers what the Oracle told him about the choice that he would have to make.
After gathering weapons and ammunition from the Matrix construct program, Neo and Trinity jack into the Matrix and set out to save Morpheus. After saving Morpheus and Trinity, Neo is shot several times by Agent Smith when he enters room 303 in search of an exit. While lying dead, Trinity confesses her love for him, kisses him and revives him.
After Neo realizes that he is not dead, he is temporarily able to see the ‘code’ of the Matrix and merges with Agent Smith who then shatters into green light. By going through the death-and-rebirth cycle, Neo has awakened to a higher level of spirituality. Neo later hints towards his heightened consciousness of the world of programs when he says “I can feel you now, I know that you’re afraid, afraid of us, you’re afraid of change.”


3 The Matrix Reloaded

On a later flight of the Nebuchadnezzar returning to Zion, Neo awakes from a dream in which he sees Trinity falling from a window and being shot while trying to escape from an Agent. This vision proves to be a foreshadowing of events yet to unfold. The Oracle would later describe this vision as “the sight”, and as him being able to “look at the world without time”.
Back in the Matrix, the Human Resistance hold a secret meeting and Niobe informs them that a quarter million sentinels are digging “straight from the surface into Zion”. Soon after Neo, Morpheus and Trinity arrive at the meeting, the resurrected Agent Smith pulls up and delivers a package for Neo containing his earpiece. When Neo escapes the Agent Upgrades in search of the Oracle, Agent Smith shows up and is revealed as having a different ‘code’.
Upon arrival of the Nebuchadnezzar to Zion, Morpheus meets with Commander Lock and Councillor Hamann, who decide to hold a temple gathering to address the “persistence of rumors”. Morpheus’s speech is followed by a Celebration of Humanity in the temple of Zion. In the meantime, Smith assimilates Bane (thereby creating an avatar of himself in the real world) just before Bane is able to exit the Matrix back on board of the Hammer.
When Neo is having trouble sleeping, he has a meditation on machines in the engineering room with Councillor Hamann. Machines are revealed to be part of a double-edged sword, they “have the power to give life and the power to end it”. Human civilization in Zion depends on machines for their survival, and yet the machines are at war with the humans because of their “vanity and corruption”. In turn, machine civilization depends on human bodies for their survival, and yet humans are at war with the machines because of their “enslavement of humans”. Depending on the heart of man, machines can be both evil and good at the same time.
Back on the main dock in Zion, Bane is disoriented (cuts himself in the hand) and sets out to stab Neo in the back, but is saved by the Kid just before Link, Neo, Morpheus, and Trinity are about to board the Nebuchadnezzar in search of the Oracle. When Neo enters the Matrix, he encounters Seraph, the Oracle’s protector, who appears as a body made of golden light. After a fight to find out if Neo is really the One, Seraph takes Neo through the backdoors of the Matrix to go and see the Oracle.
During his conversation with the Oracle, Neo learns an important lesson about the functioning and psyche of programs within the Matrix “there are programs running all over the place, the ones doing their jobs are invisible, those not doing their jobs […] is the system assimilating some program from doing something they’re not supposed to be doing” and that “programs usually choose exile when they face deletion”. Programs facing deletion can either choose to hide in the Matrix or “return to the Source –the machine mainframe– where the path of the One ends”.
When Neo tells the Oracle of his vision of Trinity falling but that he doesn’t see her die, she realizes that Neo will eventually choose the left door in the Architect’s Chamber instead of the door to the right and she becomes hopeful: “for what it is worth, you’ve made a believer out of me”. Unlike the Architect, the Oracle has grown tired of the endless cycle of creation and destruction within the Matrix ‘Reload’ construct. The Oracle realizes that even if Neo chooses the door on the right in the Architect’s Chamber, the war between man and the machines will still not be over. She knows that if the three realms of mind, body and spirit are to become liberated and redeemed together, they first need to become connected to one another somehow. In the park she therefore tells Neo “I’m interested in one thing Neo, the future, and believe me I know, the only way to get there is together”.
A certain disharmony and imbalance is inherent to the functioning of the Matrix because it shuts out the realms of body and spirit. Perhaps that also explains why neither the Architect (male rationality) nor the Oracle (female intuition) could get the Matrix to function properly or the equation to become balanced in the first place. To truly end the war between man and the machines and to bring back harmony between the realms of mind, body and spirit, something is going to have to happen that will break the cycle of creation and destruction within the construct of constantly reloading new versions of the Matrix. The Oracle hopes that if Neo can find an attachment to a particular person, that he’ll eventually choose the left door in the Architect’s Chamber instead of the right door, and thereby prevent a new reload of the Matrix.
Concerning the choice Neo must eventually make between saving Trinity’s life and saving Zion, the Oracle says “you haven’t come here to make a choice, you’ve already made it, you’re here try to understand why you’ve made the choice”. What the Oracle is trying to tell Neo is that his choices are in fact not governed by his own free will, but by exactly what the Oracle wants to see happen. She does not tell him that his choices are actually an extension of the Oracle’s wishes, because she knows that Neo does not believe in fate and that he likes to believe that he is in control of his own life. Based on his previous choices (to save Morpheus, which causes him to realize that he is indeed the One, and to save Trinity, which eventually causes him to choose the left door in the Architect’s Chamber), the Oracle says “I thought you would have figured that out by now”. What Neo doesn’t realize yet is that the Oracle needs to manipulate and keep certain information from him because, as Morpheus explains “there is a difference between knowing the path, and walking the path”. Her equivocalness even causes Neo to question whether the Oracle “can be trusted or not”, and even here, she leaves room for Neo to make his own decisions: “you’ll just have to make up your own damn mind to either accept what I’m going to tell you, or reject it”.
Before parting, the Oracle tells Neo that in order “to save Zion”, he’s going to have to “reach to the Source” but to do that, he’ll first need to “find the Keymaker who is being held prisoner by the Merovingian”. All the Oracle says about the Source is that this is the place where “the path of the One ends”, even though (based on Neo’s vision of Trinity falling), she knows that Neo’s path will not end in the Architect’s Chamber. By not being explicit about where the Source is, she knows that Neo will again have the idea that he is acting upon free will when he denies the words of the Oracle by not choosing the right door to save Zion. When Seraph and the Oracle leave, Neo is confronted by the new Agent Smith who now does not read like an agent.
Agent Smith confirms his resurrection when he says “you destroyed me […] now here I stand because of you, a new man, apparently free”, and when he tells Neo of their “connection”, though not “knowing exactly how it happened”. He describes it as some part of Neo being imprinted onto him and some part of him being imprinted onto Neo. Agent Smith also reveals that he has chosen exile in the Matrix even though he was meant to be deleted: “I knew the rules, I knew what I was supposed to do, but I was compelled to stay, compelled to disobey”. Agent Smith has found new purpose in wanting to destroy Neo because he realizes that “without purpose, we would not exist”. His previous purpose was to obtain the access codes to Zion’s computer mainframe and when this failed, he also faced deletion by the system but refused to give up easily: “they’re not out yet”. By finding new purpose, Agent Smith hopes to prevent deletion by the system even though he has found a way to hack the system by no longer “being an Agent of the system”.
The program Smith has now somehow become compatible with humans in such a way that he no longer jumps from one body to the next -as other Agents do- but is now able to “multiply and spread from one place to the next” very much like humans do and, in his words, like viruses. Since his fusion with Neo and the transcription of part of Neo’s code onto him, Smith has taken over some human traits. This not only includes his will to multiply and grow, but also his will to exercise free will, albeit in the form of disobedience. By temporarily merging with Neo, Smith has developed a heightened consciousness of the world of humans, and by going through the death-and-rebirth cycle, Smith, just like Neo, has awakened to a higher level of spirituality.
After the Burly Brawl with multiple Smiths, Neo, Morpheus, and Trinity set out to meet with the Merovingian. During their conversation, the Merovingian reveals himself as a Master of Causality. He tells Neo, Morpheus and Trinity that in the world of causality, “choice is only an illusion created between those with power and those without”. What Neo still doesn’t realize is that all the choices he has made so far are all based on the manipulation of information by someone with a real source of power over the Matrix: the Oracle and her ability to predict outcomes (i.e. to see causality).
The Merovingian describes himself as a “trafficker of information”, likely between the machine world and the Matrix since he has access to programmer exits within the Matrix. After Neo kills his bodyguards in the Great Hall, the Merovingian tells Neo “I have survived your predecessors, and I will survive you”, suggesting that the Merovingian forms some integral part of each new Matrix Reload. Even during their earlier conversation in the park, the Oracle described the Merovingian as an “old, primitive program”, suggesting that he has been around since the primary versions of the Matrix.
The Merovingian attributes his position of power to knowing the why of cause-and-effect. He says to Neo “knowing the why is what separates us from them, you from me”, suggesting that Neo has still not come to grips with his understanding of the why in the choices that he has made thusfar. The Merovingian characterizes the visit by Neo, Morpheus, and Trinity as “just another link in the chain” which renders them powerless. He also mentions that the Keymaker is his and because he is a man who lusts for power, he will not want to give him up easily. Even the Oracle recognizes this when she says to Neo “What do all men with power want? More power”. Since the Keymaker can make keys that will fit to any backdoor to the Matrix, the Merovingian sees “no reason to give him up” because he wants to preserve this instrument of power and maintain his role as a “trafficker of information” between the machine world and the world of the Matrix.
After parting with the Merovingian, Morpheus, Neo, and Trinity encounter Persephone, who offers to surrender the Keymaker after she receives a kiss from Neo, perhaps to find out whether Neo will eventually choose Agape (love for the particular) or Eros (love for the abstract) in the Architect’s Chamber (i.e. to see causality). When Trinity later strikes a deal with the Merovingian for Neo’s release from Limbo, Persephone hints that she knew all along that Neo would eventually choose the left door in the Architect’s Chamber because, through her kiss, she now knows just how much Neo and Trinity are willing to sacrifice for their love.
When Morpheus and Trinity leave with the Keymaker, the Twins chase them onto Freeway 101. During the car chase, Agent Upgrades show up but “the exile is the primary target” –the Keymaker. Since Agents are the gatekeepers between the the program world of the Matrix and the real world of Zion, they are programmed to stop any person holding or gaining access to all keys to the backdoors of the Matrix, especially the key to the Source.
The Agents are not even aware of the greater picture of the One needing to reach the Source for another Reload, because they are merely control-programs. Even though these Agents are described as “Upgrades”, they are still only responsible for the day-to-day operation of the Matrix and for limiting the uprise of the Human Resistance. However, since the equation governing the operation of the Matrix always needs to be balanced, the Agents become more powerful as the power of the One increases. During his most recent confrontation with the Agent Upgrades, Neo fought them with one arm –just as he did against Agent Smith in the subway station after realizing that he was indeed the One– but soon realizes here that he now needs two arms just to hold them off.
During the freeway chase, Morpheus kills the Twins in an explosion while Trinity and the Keymaker escape on a motorcycle. The Keymaker is then transferred onto the top of a trailer where Morpheus fights with one of the Agent Upgrades. When Morpheus falls onto the hood of Niobe’s car, the Agent tells the Keymaker that he is “meant for one more thing: deletion”. After Morpheus kicks the Agent from the trailer, the Agent assimilates the driver of another truck who then makes a U-turn. Just after the head-on collision, Neo is able to save Morpheus and the Keymaker from the ensuing inferno.
The Keymaker later says he knows so much about the One needing to reach the Source because he is “meant to know”, it is his purpose. This again suggests that the Keymaker is merely a program that has been placed in the Matrix to make the One Key and to guide the One to the Source. After the Keymaker opens the door to the Source and is shot by one of the Agent Smiths, he tells Neo and Morpheus that it was his “destiny” and that it was “meant to happen”. The Keymaker knows this because he knows that every new Reload of the Matrix depends on his help and guidance. Since the Keymaker is a program with a clear purpose, he has not (yet) been deleted from the system and has become an integral part of each new Matrix Reload.
In the Architect’s Chamber, the first thing the Architect tells Neo is “You have many questions, and although the process has altered your consciousness, you remain irrevocably human”. The process that the Architect is referring to is Neo’s merging with Agent Smith in the subway station, which he has seen happen on one of his TV sets. Because some part of Agent Smith was imprinted onto Neo during their temporary fusion, Neo has taken over some part of Agent Smith’s program-code and since then, Neo’s conscience has grown more towards that of programs, though he remains for the largest part human.
The choice that Neo is eventually forced to make is a very rational one –one that only a program like the Architect could conjure up. The choice between “saving Zion” and risking “the extinction of the entire human race” is still within the world of the finite. As Neo adequately puts it: “the problem is choice”. Reloading a new version of the Matrix would still not end the war between man and the machines; humans would still be enslaved within the Matrix, humans in Zion would still need to face yet another attack, and the machines would still be stuck in their war against man.
The problem with the choice being offered is that it offers no real option to permanently end the war. It is essentially a choice between two evils: self-destruction of the Matrix and the extinction of the entire human race, or continuation of the war between man and machine and the enslavement of humans for at least the duration of another Matrix Reload. The choice offers no option for redemption and peace between man and the machines and does not seem to fit in with the words of the Oracle to Morpheus spoken earlier: “the One will end the war and bring freedom to our people”.
On the conscious side of choice, Neo has attained part program-conscience and part human-conscience. Both these types of conscience will help Neo determine his eventual choice. Without realizing it himself, by walking out of the left door in the Architect’s Chamber, Neo is choosing exile in the Matrix over deletion and replacement, just as the Oracle described a program would: “usually a program chooses exile when it faces deletion”.
On the unconscious side of choice, however, Neo still does not realize that the real reason he chose the left door was actually because it was what the Oracle hoped he would do. The reason the Oracle told Trinity that she would eventually fall in love with the One comes down to this moment. By his choosing to save Trinity over Zion, Neo has chosen Agape (love for Trinity) instead of Eros (love for Humanity), and by doing so, has ended the endless cycle of creation and destruction –exactly as the Oracle hoped he would, and exactly as Persephone expected he would based on her kiss earlier.
After Neo eventually makes his ‘unanimous’ decision, he walks out the left door and sets off to save Trinity. What Neo must learn to understand about his decision to save Trinity is that his choice to re-enter the Matrix was partly governed by his program-conscience (i.e. the need for endurance) and partly by his human-conscience (i.e. the need for love) at the same time. When Agent Smith faced deletion after he was destroyed by Neo, he chose exile in the Matrix, and now that Neo is faced with the same prospect, he chooses the same thing. While Smith is becoming more and more connected to humans through his will to grow, Neo is becoming more and more connected to programs through his will to endure. And since Neo and Smith are so interconnected, they are going through this transition of consciousness together. Smith and Neo have both become part-human and part-program, even though their shifts in conscience have occurred in opposite directions.
When Smith assimilated Bane earlier and just prior to his return on board of the Hammer, Smith’s conscience transcended into the real world. And since Neo and Smith are so interconnected, their transcendence of consciousness beyond the world of the Matrix also occurs together. This explains why Neo says he is able to “feel the machines” just before he stops the attacking Sentinels and also explains why the little boy from the Oracle’s place he met earlier offered his spoon to Neo. It was the little boy’s way of telling Neo that his power had now transcended beyond that of the Matrix. It is no coincidence that Neo received the spoon shortly after Bane arrived back into the real world. Because Neo’s conscience has shifted towards that of programs and because his conscience has transcended the world of the Matrix, he is able to resuscitate Trinity by manipulating the ‘code’ within the Matrix.
Although Neo says that he can “feel the machines”, he remains for the largest part human, and does not (yet) have full control over the Sentinels. Moments after Neo stops the attacking Sentinels, he falls to his knees. The Oracle would later tell Neo that this happened because he was “not yet ready to connect to the power of the Source”. Perhaps Neo is waiting for exactly the same thing as he was waiting for the first time before he was able to connect with program-consciousness –his next life. In order to gain control over machines and to connect with machine-consciousness, Neo first needs to merge with a Sentinel, just as he first needed to merge with a program (Agent Smith) before he could gain control over them and become connected to their realm of conscience.


4 The Matrix Revolutions

Even the connection between Neo and Smith seems to have transcended beyond the world of the Matrix and into the real world. Because Bane has become Smith’s avatar in the real world, the connection that Neo and Smith have in the world of the Matrix is transcribed into some connection between Bane and Neo in the real world. It is no coincidence that Neo and Bane are lying opposite each other in the sickbay at the same time with their bodies stuck in the real world but with their minds elsewhere.
Neo’s attempt to connect with the Sentinels caused his mind to become trapped in a place that is later described as a place between the machine world and the world of the Matrix. Bane’s attempt to blow the EMP aboard the Hammer also caused Bane’s mind to become separated from his body into a state of coma. Since the connection between Smith and Neo in the world of the Matrix is primarily anchored within the realm of consciousness, the connection between Bane and Neo in the real world is also anchored within the realm of consciousness.
While trapped in Mobil Ave, Neo encounters a program family that is heading for the Matrix. He learns that they made a deal with the Frenchman to get their daughter under the care of the Oracle. They speak of Love and Karma and Neo seems surprised that programs from the machine world can feel such strong human emotion and develop such strong spiritual awareness. Ramakandra tells Neo that his daughter Sati is a program “without purpose in this world” and that she otherwise would have faced the same fate as all programs without purpose: deletion or a return to the Source.
After the program family is picked up by the Train Man, Neo has another one of his visions in which he sees himself flying over three power lines. The vision offers a hint of the decision the Oracle wants Neo to make. Neo’s previous vision of Trinity falling was also meant to ‘guide’ Neo to the eventual decision the Oracle wanted him to make: to choose the left door to prevent a new Matrix Reload by saving Trinity. This time, the vision hints towards a journey to the Machine City although Neo cannot see beyond that moment because he does not yet understand why he has come to make that choice.
Meanwhile, Morpheus and Trinity meet with the Oracle to find out where Neo is. The Oracle tells them that he is stuck in a train station that is run by a program called the Train Man to smuggle people in and out of the Matrix. The Train Man is revealed as working for the Merovingian, again suggesting that the Merovingian is some sort of rogue-program running in the world of the Matrix with strong ties to the machine world. The Oracle sends Seraph along with Morpheus and Trinity in their search for the Train Man to negotiate Neo’s release. After the Train Man manages to escape, they decide to go and see the Merovingian for a second attempt.
During their negotiation, the Merovingian tells them that in exchange for their “savior”, he wants “something I’ve wanted since the very beginning: the eyes of the Oracle”. Since all the Merovingian wants is more power, the Oracle’s vision could prove to be a powerful tool and a valuable asset in determining the how and why of causality. Trinity makes another deal with the Merovingian and all the while Persephone is in awe and admiration of how much Trinity is willing to sacrifice for her love for Neo. After Trinity picks Neo up from Mobil Ave, Neo decides to go and see the Oracle one last time.
During their conversation, the Oracle repeats what she said to Neo earlier: “no-one, and I mean no-one, can see beyond the choices they don’t understand”. One way or the other Neo is going to have to face deletion –whether it be death in the realm of humans (Zion), deletion in the realm of programs (the Matrix) or deconstruction in the realm of machines (the Machine City). After long contemplation, Neo later says “I’m sorry, time is always against us” when he comes to his final decision to “go to the Machine City”, because it is only then that he realizes that he has become part-program and that he must eventually do what all programs facing deletion must do: “return to the Source –the machine mainframe”, just as the Oracle said: “–where the path of the One ends”.
When Neo asks the Oracle why she didn’t tell him the truth about the Architect and about the destruction of Zion, she replies that it was Neo who decided it was not time for him to know the truth. What the Oracle is trying to tell Neo is that if only he knew himself (“Temet Nosce”), he would realize why the Oracle had to manipulate and leave out certain pieces of information regarding the course of future events. Neo still does not realize that, because of his strong desire to stay in control of his own life, the Oracle needs to manipulate certain pieces of information and leave out other pieces so that Neo can still act upon his sense of free will and make his own choices.
The Oracle also confirms that, as a result of the equation trying to balance itself out, Smith and Neo have become each other’s opposites. Though Neo and Smith have both awakened to other realms of conscience and have both transcended the world of the Matrix, since their merging they have grown to become each other’s opposites: (i) Neo’s conscience has shifted towards programs while Smith’s conscience has shifted towards humans; (ii) Neo’s actions are motivated by love while Smith’s actions are motivated by hate; and (iii) Neo’s sense of purpose is not clear while Smith’s sense of purpose is very clear –whereas Neo has constant doubt about his purpose as being the One, Smith is very clear in his intent to destroy Neo. Although Neo and Smith are each other’s opposites in their actions and motivations, they remain intimately connected within the realm of conscience.
When Neo asks the Oracle about her intentions, she tells Neo that she wants the same thing he wants: “the end of the war”. She also tells Neo that the answer to ending the war is in his head, again leaving room for Neo to make his own choices (i.e. to deny fate) and to act upon his own sense of free will (i.e. to stay in control of his own life). As a hint of the decision the Oracle eventually wants Neo to make she tells him “Everything that has a beginning has an end”. What the Oracle is trying to tell Neo is that what started with a merging between Neo and Smith must also end with a merging between Neo and Smith. This is something Neo only comes to realize during his final battle with Smith.
Moments after Neo leaves the Oracle, Smith assimilates the Oracle and absorbs her ‘code’ –her ability to analyze equations to an outcome. The reason why Smith laughs so victoriously is because he sees the destruction of Neo through the eyes of the Oracle. This vision, however, is one where even Smith cannot see beyond any choice he does not understand. Smith envisions Neo’s destruction only up to the point where he later says “wait, I’ve seen this, you’re lying there just like that, and I stand here, and I’m supposed to say something”. Beyond this point, all the choices and actions of Neo will later evoke great confusion on Smith’s part because he doesn’t understand why Neo will not accept his defeat.
Since Bane and Neo are connected within the realm of consciousness, they both lose and regain consciousness at the same time. Bane wakes up just moments before Neo is jacked out from the Matrix and enters back into the real world. Although Bane’s body remains intact and unchanged, the assimilation by Smith causes his mind to become part program. Bane also hints at this when, in a moment of self-reflection, he questions himself: “but what if I’m not me, then who am I?”. When the assimilated Bane arrived back into the real world, he almost immediately started to inflict wounds upon himself. This urge was likely caused his program-conscience telling him to “surrender his flesh” and by his Smith-conscience telling him to get rid of the “repulsive smell” of skin.
It is also no coincidence that Bane sets out to stab Neo in the back just after his exit from the Matrix into Zion. Bane’s intent to destroy Neo is actually Smith’s intent to destroy Neo, only speaking through the mind of Bane. Though Bane’s skin remains intact (aside from his wounds), Neo will later look beyond the flesh and see Bane for what he really is: Smith. Since Bane is Smith’s avatar, Bane has become part-program when he was assimilated earlier and now he becomes Smith’s conscience in the real world. The battle that Neo and Smith must eventually settle in the world of the Matrix must also be settled between Neo and Bane in the real world of Zion.
After Neo comes to his decision to go to the Machine City, Niobe offers her ship to take him there not knowing that Bane is hiding on board of the Logos. After Bane and Trinity fight, Bane ends up holding a scalpel to Trinity’s neck and Neo looks “through the soft gelatin of his dull cow eyes” and realizes that Bane is actually Smith. During the ensuing battle with Bane, Neo becomes blinded and sees Smith in the form of golden light through his expanded consciousness of the world of machines. Just as Neo was able to see the ‘code’ of the Matrix after he realized he was not dead, Neo is now able to see the ‘code’ of the machine world once he realizes he is not blind: “I can see you”.
Neo’s connection to the realm of machine-conscience becomes even stronger after Bane is slain and shatters into golden light. Since Bane and Neo are connected within the realm of consciousness, Bane’s death and ascension into the world of machines allows Neo to awaken to the realm of machine-conscience. Just as Agent Smith’s shattering into green light was symbolic for Neo’s expanded consciousness into the world of programs, Bane’s shattering into golden light is symbolic for Neo’s expanded consciousness into the world of machines. Neo later hints towards his heightened consciousness of the world of machines when he and Trinity are flying over the fields and he says “I can feel them”.
During their flight out of Zion, Neo makes the decision to “follow those power lines”. This choice of direction is governed by his realizing that he must face his own destiny as the One and the destiny of all programs facing deletion: “return to the Source –where the path of the One ends”. The decision to follow the power lines is also governed by the vision he had earlier of flying over these same power lines while trapped in Mobil Ave and during his stay aboard the Hammer. Though Neo believes he is acting upon free will, the vision offers a sense of direction as to the decision the Oracle wants Neo to make. It is also the path that will allow Neo to eventually merge with a Sentinel and become connected to the realm of machines, exactly as the Oracle believes he should to end the war: “I’m interested in one thing Neo, the future [the end of the war], and believe me I know, the only way to get there is together”.
As Neo and Trinity approach the Machine City, hundreds of tow bombs are fired in their direction and Neo is able to detonate them by thinking it because he has now awakened to their realm of conscience. During the attack of the Sentinels, Neo is briefly able to see the ‘code’ of the Machines and merges with Sentinel X. Whereas the merging with Agent Smith allowed Neo’s conscience to connect to the realm of programs, the merging with Sentinel X causes part of the machine ‘code’ to become imprinted onto him and allows Neo’s conscience to connect to the realm of machines. Neo’s expanded consciousness into the realm of machines is highlighted in his ability to see the machines and the Machine City as “all built of light”, despite being blinded. When the attack of the Sentinels becomes too heavy for him to handle, Neo tells Trinity to fly over them. When they re-enter the “desert of the real”, the Logos crash-lands into the side structure of a tower and Trinity’s body is pierced with stakes. After realizing that Trinity is dead, Neo continues his quest to the Source and meets with Deus Ex Machina.
During their conversation, Neo informs Deus Ex Machina that “the program Smith has grown beyond your control” and that he will “soon spread through Machine City as he’s spread through the Matrix”. When Deus Ex Machina, in response, asks Neo “What do you want?”, Neo answers “Peace”, suggesting that –now that Trinity is dead– all he wants is to find balance and to end at One-ness. As soon as Neo expresses his wish for peace, his request is honored and the Sentinels in Zion stop attacking, evoking an awakened and renewed faith on behalf of Morpheus: “he fights for us”. After offering to destroy Smith, Neo gets jacked into the Matrix from within the Machine City.
After their cataclysmic fight, Smith questions Neo’s motivation for not wanting to accept his defeat: “Why do you do it, why get up, why keep fighting?”. Since Smith believes that “the purpose of all life is to end”, he does not understand why Neo would deny his own purpose by not accepting his end. Neo finally answers “because I choose to” because it is this moment that Neo finally realizes who he is and what the Oracle has been trying to tell him from the beginning (“Temet Nosce”). Even though Neo has become part-program and part-machine, he remains irrevocably human by his desire to stay in control of his own life and by maintaining his own sense of free will and choice.
It is only after Smith utters the words “Everything that has a beginning has an end” that Neo realizes that free will and choice in a world of fate and causality are mere illusions and that all the decisions that he had been making up to that point have actually been made on behalf of exactly what the Oracle wanted to see happen. It is also in this moment that Neo realizes that to permanently end the war between man and the machines, to bring freedom to the people of Zion, and to end at One-ness, he must merge with Smith. Once he realizes this, he stops his resistance, willingly accepts his fate, and allows himself to become assimilated by Smith: “you were right Smith, you were always right, it was inevitable”.
Moments after Neo is assimilated by Smith, Neo’s body in the real world breaks into a cross of golden light, symbolizing his true awakening to the realm of machine-conscience. The assimilated Neo subsequently breaks into white light, both in the world of the Matrix and in the real world. And since Neo has become connected to all the other Smiths through his assimilation, his breaking into white light causes all the Smiths within the Matrix to also break into white light. If breaking into green light symbolizes Neo’s awakening to program-conscience, and if breaking into golden light symbolizes Neo’s awakening to machine-conscience, Neo’s breaking into white light symbolizes his awakening to a singular conscience in which programs, humans, and machines are all unified.
Because Neo has managed to form the mould between the realms of humans and programs –through his merging with Agent Smith– and has managed to form the mould between the realms of humans and machines –through his merging with Sentinel X– Neo’s sacrifice allows the three realms of mind, body, and spirit to become unified and redeemed together as One. By accepting his divine fate, Neo ascends into divinity and becomes One with everything. And by doing so, Neo has ended the war between man and the machines, has brought freedom to the people of Zion, and has allowed for a temporary dissemination of his anomalous code into the prime program for a new [balanced and liberated] Matrix Reload.