The Matrix Trilogy Explained

Anderton Prime

Anderton Prime

2,760
Neo. Trinity. Morpheus. The Oracle. The Architect. The Merovingian. The Machines. The Humans. Zion. And of course, Agent Smith. I have the answers now, and am eager to share them with all of you.

Instead of writing my entire theory down in a gigantic post, I've decided to make this a sort of question-and-answer format. If there is anything you did not fully understand while watching any of the three movies, just ask and I'll do my best.

And please do not bring stupidity in here; any posts containing questions too broad ("What does the Trilogy mean?") or too moronic ("Why did Reloaded and Revolutions suck?") will be ignored. This is an opportunity for educated, civilised and enlightened discussion. If you don't feel you can contribute constructively, just leave without opening your mouth please.

I'm not up for defending the integrity of these movies in here. I am only interested in speaking to people who share a common interest and fondness of them, and wish to find answers. If you want to bash, find one of the other forums - particularly the one started by Famine - and post in there.

A large part of the knowledge and insight into these movies I have gained and been able to share with all of you can be credited to the essays of Brian Takle:

http://www.wylfing.net/essays/matrix_revolutions.html

Thanks,

-AP
 
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Well, to understand this part you need to realize that the whole purpose of the "Neo factor" (that is, why Neo exists in the first place, since he was undoubtedly created by the Machines, specifically, the Oracle) is to create a union between humans and machines. When the Oracle says, "I'm interested in one thing, Neo: the future. And believe me I know, the only way to get there is together," she reveals the desire most machines have to be one with their creators (humans). She knows that since machines have no concept of "growth" and change like humans do, without humanity the machines' existence will stagnate.

Now back to the blindness. Since Neo is a creation of the machines, he is connected with them beyond the Matrix. If you can accept the fact that Neo and SMith are two halves of ONE character, you can begin to see how, throughout the Trilogy, Neo is moving closer to the machines (he can "touch" the sentinels and stop them) and at the same time Smith, though doing so by different means, is moving closer to humans (he has bridged the gap between the Matrix and the real world by downloading himself into Bane, the character through which he blinds Neo in Revolutions).

Hope that helped. If not, ask for clarification.
 
The Merovingian is one of the guardians of the "Holy Grail," which in the Matrix Trilogy simply means truth and spiritual enlightenment; it is Neo's quest to bring humans back into the Garden and reunite man with God, humans with robots. The Merovingian is named after a line of Frankish Kings who, according to the Grail legend, believed they were directly descended from the bloodline of Christ and Mary Magdalene. The legend states that there are two opposing angel "guardians" of the Grail, one working against man and his search for answers, and the other working for man, helping him.

One is of course the Merovingian, who was cast out of the Machine City and forced to live in the only other place available, the Matrix. The Merovingian, angry at the machines, sought power and prestige, and has a certain type of control inside the Matrix. He also plays the part of Hades, or Lucifer if you like. He is the guardian of both the Grail and the Underworld, controlling everything that goes in and comes out of the Matrix. The Trainman would then logically be his boatman, who ferries people across the river Styx both from Limbo to the Underworld and vice versa, not in a boat but in a train. This would explain why the train station is called Mobil, as you can simply rearrange the letters to get Limbo. More evidence of the Merovingian as Lucifer is that his wife is named Persephone, who was Hades' wife in Greek mythology.

The other protector of the Grail, the one working to help man reach it, is Seraph. He is a fallen angel with a different agenda. He is consistently referred to as "Wingless" (by the henchmen outside the Merovingian's underground club which, coincidentally, is called Club Hel) and as "L'ange sans ailes" (the wingless angel) by the Merovingian himself. Obviously, Seraph is a fallen angel, who's had his proverbial wings clipped. Now ask yourself, "Fallen from where?" and you will see the only logical answer is that he too was cast out of the Machine City, but for reasons we will never know.
 
Because Neo is, in fact, a creation of the machines. He has always had a connection with both man and machine; he is the One, who will bring the two species together. As well, the Architect tells Neo that travelling to the Source has altered him in fundamental ways. Presumably, it has brought him closer to the machines, since he is expected to choose the proper door and be reabsorbed into the Matrix. This evidently alters the "real world" Neo as well, since they are one and the same.

Something to ponder: Neo was created by the Oracle, and is the human expression of the subconscious desire of machines to reunite with their God, their Creator, mankind...

Here's something to ponder: Neo was created by the Oracle; he is the human expression of the machines' subconscious desire to reunite with their God, their Creator, mankind...
 
Anderton Prime
Because Neo is, in fact, a creation of the machines. He has always had a connection with both man and machine; he is the One, who will bring the two species together. As well, the Architect tells Neo that travelling to the Source has altered him in fundamental ways. Presumably, it has brought him closer to the machines, since he is expected to choose the proper door and be reabsorbed into the Matrix. This evidently alters the "real world" Neo as well, since they are one and the same.
Click to expand...

So that allows him to sense them without being able to see? That allows him to destroy the sentinels at will? I'm not seeing it. What exactly is he doing that allows him to alter the machines in any way?
 
Well, you've got to step outside a literal translation of the whole thing. Neo is a Messiah of sorts; he's here to save the world. When he visited the Source, which is outside the Matrix, he was altered. He was never supposed to go through the door back to the Matrix; he's the first incarnation to have done so. I can only speculate as to HOW exactly he can stop the sentinels, but there has to be some religious / mystical / spiritual explanation, or the Oracle wrote it into the Neo program and it was there all along, but took his trip to the Source to be awakened. He has a connection to the machines, and as I've said before, he was created by them, so perhaps he's not entirely human. This might explain how he is able to enter and exit the Matrix at will, though he's put himself in a coma and gotten trapped in the Train Station because he wasn't fully prepared to exercise his powers. The Oracle says it herself clearly, because in case you've forgotten, Neo asks her the same question you are asking me: How did he stop those Sentinels?

She says that the powers of the One extend beyond the Matrix. They reach all the way to the Source (which is the Machine Mainframe, remember). Since the Source controls the Sentinels, Neo can use his powers to stop them.
 
Anderton Prime
She says that the powers of the One extend beyond the Matrix. They reach all the way to the Source (which is the Machine Mainframe, remember). Since the Source controls the Sentinels, Neo can use his powers to stop them.
Click to expand...

I think she said "They reach all the way back to the source of the one." If that's the case, then its ambiguous. She could mean the Architect, but he didn't really create Neo since he doesn't engineer human personalities and minds. I assumed she meant that Neo's powers stemmed from THE SOURCE (ie: God). Something (I don't remember what) led me to believe that she referred at some point to the "source" of the real world.
 
It is referred to as the Machine Mainframe by Neo in Reloaded (courtyard scene). The Architect had nothing to do with Neo's creation. He is the God of the Matrix, in that he created it, but he has nothing to do with its upkeep. There is a blurred line, however, that seperates what the Oracle can and cannot foresee. She remains in her apartment knowing full well that Smith is coming, and knowing what he is going to do. Why? Because she knows that, outside of the Neo cycle, the only way into the future is for humans and robots to unite. How fitting, then, that she created her Neo project with a hidden link to the machines, which exists in both the Matrix and the real world.

Something else to chew on: Smith refers to the Oracle as "Mother" right before he clones himself into her. But wait, isn't the Architect supposed to have designed the Agents? Why on earth would the Oracle have had anything to do with Smith's creation? Because Neo and Smith are two halves of the same person! Neo is an expression of humanity moving closer to machines, and Smith is an expression of machines moving closer to humans, albeit somewhat unwillingly. Human existence is defined by change and growth, something the machines cannot comprehend without the help of humans. The Oracle knows that without human help, the machines and their existence will eventually stagnate. Neo's growth is fully realized when he travels to the Machine City to offer himself as a sacrifice. On the surface, the purpose of this is to stop Smith, but in reality it is to teach the machines about growth and irrationality. (By the way, for those of you who thought that the Deus ex Machina uploaded some sort of destructive virus into Smith via Neo at the end, you're wrong! It was Neo, and Neo alone who stopped Smith, and bridged the gap).

Smith's growth, on the other hand, is expressed in the only way he knows how. Once the human desire to grow and seek enlightenment is instilled upon Smith after Neo destroys him at the end of The Matrix (not instilled by Neo, but obviously instilled by the Oracle) he begins to grow in the only way he, a machine, knows how: by replicating. How delightfully ironic! Recall Smith's speech to the handcuffed Morpheus in the first movie. He compares humans to viruses, growing exponentially until all natural resources are expended and then spreading to another area. What in the hell is SMith doing in Reloaded? Wow!! He;s becoming more human! Logically, Neo must be becoming more machine, and that's the best explanation I can offer for how he stopped the Sentinels.
 
Wow Anderton, from looking at your avatar I got the feeling that you like matrix, but now it kinda feels outspoken.....I still haven't seen revolutions. I got a question tho, do you know if they are going to expand on the matrix more? like a tv series or more movies?
 
I did catch little bit from Christianity in the Matrix series(with Neo being the Messiah as the most obvious one), but this is the best explanation I've read so far. Good job! :) 👍
 
Ahh, so it wasn’t planned. This is what I get for not caring about celebrities …

Blake
 
Wow. I had no idea. I guess she died of diabetes before they even finished filming the "Reloaded"...... :indiff:
 
Anderton Prime
Something to ponder: Neo was created by the Oracle, and is the human expression of the subconscious desire of machines to reunite with their God, their Creator, mankind...

Here's something to ponder: Neo was created by the Oracle; he is the human expression of the machines' subconscious desire to reunite with their God, their Creator, mankind...
Click to expand...
Was that a glitch in the matrix there?
 
No no. Neo is, as the Architect reveals, "irrevocably human." However, you must admit he's no ordinary human. He has been created with a purpose (as has Smith, though he cannot see his purpose because he's restricted due to his machine nature). Neo is the bridge, the connector, the one who will eventually lead creation back to creator and restore unity.
 
Smith doesn't get any more powerful than Neo, nor does he beat him in the end. The two are matched for power, which is why the fight is a lot of charging full-throttle at each other and then being thrown backwards with equal force.

As for Smith "defeating" Neo, I wouldn't say Neo was beaten into submission before he was defeated. He could have kept getting up and fighting, and he probably would have defeated all the Smiths in turn. However, he realized something Smith did not, or could not, and that was that fighting was NOT the way to win. Humans and machines have been fighting for at least a century, which would make it the longest war in human history, and it has gotten humans nowhere. In fact, Neo knows it has gotten them exactly back at the beginning, as it has been a repeating cycle of defeat. Couldn't Jesus, the son of God, have raised his hand and defeated the Romans who imprisoned and crucified him? Of course, but he chose to lay down his "sword" and show people that there was another way. The same thing applies to Neo here. He accomplishes several things by NOT fighting Smith to the death. Most obvious would be that he shows the machines that humans have the capacity for enormous courage through self-sacrifice for the greater good. He showed them that there is a way into the future that does not necessarily have to involve fighting humans; there is a way to coexist. As well, the machines can learn a lot from humans, and vice versa.

The second thing he accomplishes is of course defeating Smith. Actually, it would be more correct to say he fools Smith into defeating himself. And Smith realizes it's a trap, even says it in the movie:

"Get away from me! It's a trick!"

However, he is apparently overcome by his anger and what he has prescribed to himself as his "purpose," that is, to kill Neo and eventually rule the world above both man and machine.
 
Anderton Prime
"Get away from me! It's a trick!"

However, he is apparently overcome by his anger and what he has prescribed to himself as his "purpose," that is, to kill Neo and eventually rule the world above both man and machine.
Click to expand...

I thought he said something like, "I've seen this before...." And was quite concerned about how it ended.

I could be wrong as I only saw revolutions once...for obvious reason. :indiff:
 
Come on, you've got to watch the movie, it will mean nothing if someone just tells you what happens!

Swift: Yes, since it is the Oracle-Smith that fights Neo, he does say before they fight that he already knows it's that version of SMith that will defeat Neo, because he's "seen it." However, his sight fails as soon as Neo stops fighting. Neo lays down his power as the Light One and completes his transcendence, and it baffles Smith. He begins to realize he's not fully in control, and for reasons unknown to him he rushes Neo and plunges his hand into him. During this scene, remember Neo is completely calm and collected; he almost seems to welcome Smith's invasion of his body. The Smith that is created is new and different; Oracle-Smith is almost afraid of him, asking in an uncertain voice, "Is it over?" In more ways than one, the new Smith replies with a nod.
 
Watch it and find out.


I have to say Anderton, I'm impressed with your explanations there, well done.
 
Anderton Prime
Smith doesn't get any more powerful than Neo, nor does he beat him in the end. The two are matched for power, which is why the fight is a lot of charging full-throttle at each other and then being thrown backwards with equal force.

As for Smith "defeating" Neo, I wouldn't say Neo was beaten into submission before he was defeated. He could have kept getting up and fighting, and he probably would have defeated all the Smiths in turn. However, he realized something Smith did not, or could not, and that was that fighting was NOT the way to win. Humans and machines have been fighting for at least a century, which would make it the longest war in human history, and it has gotten humans nowhere. In fact, Neo knows it has gotten them exactly back at the beginning, as it has been a repeating cycle of defeat. Couldn't Jesus, the son of God, have raised his hand and defeated the Romans who imprisoned and crucified him? Of course, but he chose to lay down his "sword" and show people that there was another way. The same thing applies to Neo here. He accomplishes several things by NOT fighting Smith to the death. Most obvious would be that he shows the machines that humans have the capacity for enormous courage through self-sacrifice for the greater good. He showed them that there is a way into the future that does not necessarily have to involve fighting humans; there is a way to coexist. As well, the machines can learn a lot from humans, and vice versa.

The second thing he accomplishes is of course defeating Smith. Actually, it would be more correct to say he fools Smith into defeating himself. And Smith realizes it's a trap, even says it in the movie:

"Get away from me! It's a trick!"

However, he is apparently overcome by his anger and what he has prescribed to himself as his "purpose," that is, to kill Neo and eventually rule the world above both man and machine.
Click to expand...


^^That's plausible.

Isn't it also possible that Neo simply could not beat Smith and chose self-sacrifice since there was no other way?
 
danoff
^^That's plausible.

Isn't it also possible that Neo simply could not beat Smith and chose self-sacrifice since there was no other way?
Click to expand...

I really think that the Christ analogy was better. By dying, christ was able to literally go into hell and take all the from the devil. By becoming "part" of Smith, Neo was able to spread his systematic anomoly throughout all the Smith's and destroy his code. Pretty slick if you think about it. He basically did the same thing he did in the first one but reversed. :sly:
 
I thought it was more that the two opposites canceled eachother out.

Like acid and alkaline. Created a balance that destroyed them both.
 

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