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Hidden within the two articles about Decius Wadsworth in the latest edition of The Sentinel is the entire history of the Matrix up until the sixth version when Neo appeared. For all intents and purposes, just consider Decius’ story a cipher which, once understood, will reveal some very interesting things about how the Matrix came about.
First let’s deal with the obvious stuff, especially since Hexediter and Surprised have already guessed it. Decius Wadsworth represents the Merovingian. I say “represents” because it hasn’t been 100% proven that he is indeed the Frenchman. But once we start seeing how the pieces fit together, it should be very clear that he either IS the Merovingian or his story is revealed as an ALLEGORY of the Merovingian. Either way, we’re going to find out some very interesting things about our favorite baddie from Club Hel.
As we read about Decius Wadsworth, we see a brief comparison with Steve Wozniak’s “US” concerts of the 80’s—the co-founder of Apple Computers. Wadsworth downplays the similarity, but if we explore this a little, it will reveal quite a bit.
Quote: | | It was a passion for practical jokes that first got Decius “Deece” Wadsworth tinkering. |
Steve Wozniak’s nickname is “Woz.”
Quote: | | [a device] which caused vending machines to vend multiple sodas or candy bars on a single coin landed him before a judge. |
This is a reference to the Blue Box, which was sold by Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs. It was a device which allowed people to make free calls from a payphone.
Quote: | | Soon thereafter, with a couple of friends, he founded Metacortex. |
Steve Wozniak founded Apple along with his friend Steve Jobs.
Obviously there are some interesting, albeit not very compelling similarities between Wadsworth and Wozniak. It should be pointed out, however, that the very mention of Wozniak at all is an indicator that these things did not actually happen in the storyline of the Matrix (whether in the Matrix or in the Real), but that this entire background story of Wadsworth is an allegory for something else. But we’ll get back to that later.
Fast forward to Wadsworth’s current shindig—the Piece of Blue Sky concerts. There is actually a reason for the name of these concerts, and it relates to Scientology. There is a book named “A Piece of Blue Sky” written by a man named Jon Atack, who wanted to expose L. Ron Hubbard as a charlatan. The following is a quote from the book.
Jon Atack wrote: |
It was 1950, in the early, heady days of Dianetics, soon after L. Ron Hubbard opened the doors of his first organization to the clamoring crowd. Up until then, Hubbard was known only to readers of pulp fiction, but now he had an instant best-seller with a book that promised to solve every problem of the human mind, and the cash was pouring in. Hubbard found it easy to create schemes to part his new following from their money. One of the first tasks was to arrange "grades" of membership, offering supposedly greater rewards, at increasingly higher prices. Over thirty years later, an associate wryly remembered Hubbard turning to him and confiding, no doubt with a smile, "Let's sell these people a piece of blue sky." |
Whatever you believe about Scientology, L. Ron Hubbard, or the validity of this quote is irrelevant. What’s important is the idea being expressed. Here you have a man who is trusted by millions, yet admits to being no more than a con artist who believed that people were such suckers that you could sell them something you couldn’t possibly be able to deliver—a piece of blue sky. What is this saying about Wadsworth? He started out like Steve Wozniak, with just a touch of sly craftiness and a lot of creative drive. Now he’s more like a swindler who is lying to the public and using them to further his own machinations and enlarge his empire. The Anniversary Event in The Matrix Online verified that the Piece of Blue Sky concerts were indeed a lie that was designed to put all redpills to sleep and revert them into bluepills. And just as L. Ron Hubbard seemingly spoke about the piece of blue sky thirty years after beginning his empire, Wadsworth has the Piece of Blue Sky concerts thirty years after founding Metacortex. Coincidence? I think not.
So far it’s sounding very much like the Merovingian. When he came to the Matrix, he was like Neo. Like Steve Wozniak, Neo performed a few antisocial antics in his younger days (Neo was, after all, a hacker). But unlike Neo, the Merovingian gave in to his dark side. Now let’s go back to Decius Wadsworth and look at some more juicy tidbits.
One of the first games Wadsworth created was Green Rain. The comparison to the green code of the Matrix is undeniable. It’s also interesting to note that this was merely a game. When the Merovingian’s infidelity is pointed out, he insists that it’s only a game. Seems that the Merovingian has this point of view of life in general. Trying to find the Why in everything in order to have some power is a game he plays.
Quote: | | But it was the operating system, commissioned in Metacortex's fifth year ("we were more broke than anybody knew ," says Wadsworth ) by Ouroboros Corporation, a leading manufacturer of industrial computers and other electronics, that launched the company into the stratosphere. Within five years they broke ground on their famous headquarters (infamous for the number of window washers who have died outside its complex contours) in Morrill. |
In Metacortex’s fifth year, it was purchased by the Ouroboros Corporation. The name “Ouroboros” is important, as well as the fact that it purchased Metacortex in its fifth year. The Matrix Online reveals that there were four versions of the Matrix before the Oracle’s: Heaven, Hell, feudal Japan and pre-1999. All four versions—along with their unique agent prototypes—failed miserably. It wasn’t until the Oracle took over and introduced the idea of granting the option to humans to accept or reject the Matrix that it really saw some success. So the fifth year of Metacortex/Matrix was the first year of choice being introduced. Ouroboros is the symbol of the snake eating its own tail and represents cycles. The Oracle’s version was the first one which contained cycles. The Oracle, therefore, is Ouroboros. Less than five years after the Oracle’s version began, Metacortex built their headquarters. The five years is a reference to the five cycles before Neo.
Quote: | Most Wadsworth-watchers agree that he began to lose enthusiasm after the Ouroboros Corporation purchased Metacortex. The change in corporate culture, a new emphasis on integrated product lines and market control, all contributed to his restlessness. He was also rich beyond his dreams.
One could hardly blame him for wondering: what next?
Wadsworth retired four years ago, living a mostly hermetic lifestyle in his famously inaccessible mountain chateau, Spindrift , designed by architect Giovanni Porta |
The Merovingian disliked the Oracle’s version of the Matrix and severed his previous reason for being in the Matrix to become an Exile. The "integrated product lines" is a reference not only to the Wachowski Brothers' beliefs in the integral method, but also the Oracle's belief that the only way to the future is together. Disgusted by this new trend, the Merovingian retired after the first iteration of the Oracle’s version was completed. But we all know about the reloads, and how they wipe out every Exile that is running around in the Matrix. How did he survive?
Quote: | About this time Wadsworth started work on Spindrift , his Xanadu-like retreat in the mountains north of the city. No reporter has ever been there, but workmen speaking anonymously describe an eccentric modernist villa, improbably thrusting out over an abyss, with secret rooms and passages, stairways to nowhere, and an abundance of carved, cryptic symbols. Most of it was fabricated off-site and helicoptered in at a cost estimated to range from 70 to 140 million dollars.
The cost may yet rise; rumors say Wadsworth , with the blessing of his architect Giovanni Porta , is still adding to the installation. |
Spindrift is the Rennes le Chateau, the Merovingian’s lair north of the city. The word “spindrift” is the spray blown up from the surface of the sea during a gale. And while this speaks of the chateau’s ability to survive during the stormy reloads, I believe it might also be a reference to the spacecraft of the same name from the 1960’s sci-fi TV show “Land of the Giants.” In that show, humans inside the Spindrift crashed on another planet that resembled Earth in many ways—including typical American culture of that day—except for the fact that the residents are giants. The way between the two planets was a wormhole, which is what the Spindrift went through accidentally. This speaks of Mobil Ave, the connection between the Matrix and the Machine City.
But who built this chateau? Was it Wadsworth himself? No. It was his architect. THE Architect. And with the Architect’s blessing, the Merovingian hopes to expand his empire even further. This is the real mind-screw. Not only was the Architect the one who built the chateau which enabled the Merovingian to survive the reloads, but he seemingly supports the growth of his empire as well. How insane is that? Even after all this time with the Merovingian messing around with the One and the success of the reloads, the Architect still gives him his blessing. [Intell, are you reading this?]
Let’s look at some more goodies. The names of all the people mentioned in those two articles are all real-life cryptographers. Every one of them. Decius Wadsworth, Pliny Earle Chase, Steve Wozniak (to a small degree), Giovanni Porta (aka Giambattista della Porta) and Agnes Driscoll. Oh yeah, that last one is Wadsworth’s longtime companion. There’s Persephone for ya.
Decius Wadsworth (the Merovingian) was a Colonel in the Ordnance Corps of the United States Army. In 1817 he developed a progressive cipher system based off a 1790 design by Thomas Jefferson, establishing a method that was continuously improved upon and used until the end of World War II.
Pliny Earle Chase developed what is known as the fractioning or tomographic cipher in 1859. I’m not sure who he represents from the Matrix mythology, or if he even does.
Giovanni Porta (the Architect) published a book about cryptography in 1563 titled “De Furtivis Literarum Notis. He was reputed to be the most outstanding cryptographer of the Renaissance, who towers like a giant in regard to bodies of work that can be studied.
Agnes Meyer Driscoll was a United States cryptanalyst who broke a multitude of Japanese naval systems and developed early cipher machine systems.
The word processing program Probable Word developed by Metacortex is a reference to the probable word method, which is used to break ciphers.
Anyway, that should be sufficient to get the conversation really rolling.
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