Computer programmer Thomas A. Anderson leads a secret life as a hacker under the alias "Neo". He wishes to learn the answer to the question: "What is the Matrix?" Cryptic messages appearing on his computer monitor and an encounter with several sinister agents leads him to a group led by the mysterious Morpheus, a man who offers him the chance to learn the truth about the Matrix. Neo accepts and swallows an offered red pill. He wakes up naked in a liquid-filled chamber, his body connected by wires to a vast mechanical tower covered with identical pods. The connections are severed and he is rescued by Morpheus and taken aboard his hovercraft, the Nebuchadnezzar. Neo's neglected physical body is restored, and Morpheus explains the situation. The year is estimated to be around 2199, and humanity is fighting a war against intelligent machines created in the early 21st century. The sky is covered in thick black clouds created by the humans in an attempt to cut off the machines' supply of solar power. The machines responded by using human beings as their energy source, growing countless people in pods and harvesting their bioelectrical energy and body heat. The world which Neo has inhabited since birth is the Matrix, an illusory simulated reality construct of the world of 1999, developed by the machines to keep the human population docile. Morpheus and his crew are a group of free humans who "unplug" others from the Matrix and recruit them to their resistance against the machines. Within the Matrix they are able to use their understanding of its nature to bend the laws of physics within the simulation, giving them superhuman abilities. Morpheus believes that Neo is "the One", a man prophesied to end the war through his limitless control over the Matrix. Neo is trained to become a member of the group. A socket in the back of Neo's skull, formerly used to connect him to the Matrix, allows knowledge to be uploaded directly into his mind. He learns numerous martial arts disciplines, and demonstrates his kung fu skills by sparring with Morpheus in a virtual reality "construct" environment similar to the Matrix, impressing the crew with his speed. Further training introduces Neo to the key dangers in the Matrix itself. Injuries suffered there are reflected in the real world; if he is killed in the Matrix, his physical body will also die. He is warned of the presence of Agents, powerful and fast sentient programs with the ability to take over the virtual body of anyone still connected to the system, whose purpose is to seek out and eliminate any threats to the simulation. Yet Morpheus predicts that once Neo fully understands his own abilities as "the One" they will be no match for him. The group enters the Matrix and takes Neo to the apartment of the Oracle, the woman who has predicted the eventual emergence of the One. She tells Neo that he has "the gift", but that he is waiting for something, perhaps the next life. Neo interprets from this that he is not "the One". She adds that Morpheus believes in Neo so blindly that he will sacrifice his life to save him. Returning to the hacked telephone line which serves as a safe "exit" from the Matrix, the group is ambushed by Agents and police officers, and Morpheus is captured as Neo and the others escape. The group was betrayed by one crew-member, Cypher, who preferred his old life in ignorance of the real world's hardships, and made a deal with the Agents to give them Morpheus in exchange for a permanent return to the Matrix. The betrayal leads to the deaths of all crew-members except Neo, Trinity, Tank, and Morpheus, who is imprisoned in a government building within the Matrix. The Agents attempt to gain information from him regarding access codes to the mainframe of Zion, the humans’ last refuge which is deep underground. Neo and Trinity return to the Matrix and storm the building, rescuing their leader. Neo becomes more confident and familiar with manipulating the Matrix, ultimately dodging bullets fired at him by an Agent. Morpheus and Trinity use a subway station telephone to exit the Matrix, but before Neo can leave, he is ambushed by Agent Smith. He stands his ground and eventually defeats Smith, but flees when the Agent possesses another body. As Neo runs through the city towards another telephone exit, he is pursued by the Agents while "Sentinel" machines converge on the Nebuchadnezzar's position in the real world. Neo reaches an exit, but he is shot dead by the pursuing Agent Smith. Back onboard the Nebuchadnezzar, in the real world, Trinity whispers to Neo that she was told by the Oracle that she would fall in love with "the One", implying that Neo is "the One". She refuses to accept his death and kisses him. Neo's heart beats again, and within the Matrix he stands up; the Agents shoot at him, but he raises his palm and stops their bullets in mid-air. Neo sees the Matrix as it really is: lines of streaming green code; he finally becomes "the One". Agent Smith makes a final attempt to physically attack him, but his punches are effortlessly blocked, and Neo destroys him. The other two Agents flee, and Neo returns to the real world just in time for the ship's EMP weapon to destroy the Sentinels that had already breached the hull of the ship. A short epilogue shows Neo back in the Matrix, making a telephone call promising that he will demonstrate to the people imprisoned in the Matrix that "anything is possible." He hangs up the phone and flies into the sky. The film is known for developing and popularizing the use of a visual effect known as "bullet time", which allows the viewer to explore a moment progressing in slow-motion as the camera appears to orbit around the scene at normal speed. One proposed technique for creating these effects involved accelerating a high-frame-rate motion picture camera along a fixed track at a high speed to capture the action as it occurred. However, this was discarded as unfeasible, as the destruction of the camera in the attempt was all but inevitable. Instead, the method used was a technically expanded version of an old art photography technique known as time-slice photography, in which a large number of cameras are placed around an object and fired nearly simultaneously. Each camera is a "still" camera, not a motion picture camera, and contributes one frame to the sequence. When the sequence of shots is viewed as a movie, the viewer sees what is in effect two-dimensional "slices" of a three-dimensional moment. Watching such a "time slice" movie is akin to the real-life experience of walking around a statue to see how it looks from different angles. The positioning of the still cameras can be varied along any desired smooth curve to produce a smooth looking camera motion in the finished clip, and the timing of each camera's firing may be delayed, if desired, so that a motion scene can be executed (albeit over a very short period of movie time.) Some scenes in The Matrix feature the "time-slice" effect with completely frozen characters and objects. Interpolation techniques improved the fluidity of the apparent "camera motion". The effect was further expanded upon by the Wachowski brothers and visual effects supervisor John Gaeta to create "bullet time", which incorporates temporal motion, so that rather than being totally frozen the scene progresses in slow and variable motion. Engineers at Manex Visual Effects pioneered 3D visualization planning methods to move beyond mechanically fixed views towards complex camera paths and flexibly moving interest points. There is also an improved fluidity through the use of non-linear interpolation, digital compositing and the introduction of computer generated "virtual" scenery. The objective of bullet time shots in The Matrix was to creatively illustrate "mind over matter" type events as captured by a "virtual camera". However, the original technical approach was physically bound to pre-determined perspectives, and the resulting effect only suggested the capabilities of a true virtual camera. The evolution of photogrametric and image based CGI background approaches in The Matrix's bullet time shots set the stage for later innovations unveiled in the sequels The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions. Virtual Cinematography (CGI-rendered characters, locations and events) and the high-definition Universal Capture process completely replaced the use of still camera arrays, thus realising the virtual camera. This film upset the juggernaut release of Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace by winning the Academy Award for Visual Effects. Thadeus, a muscular man and an athletic woman called Jue engage in a blindfolded swordfight in a dojo where with each slice of their swords they remove another piece of each other's clothing. Immediately after each gets the other down to their underwear, each lifts the blindfold to peek at the other. As the two are about to kiss, their passion is interrupted by an alarm and the virtual reality simulation in which they stand ends. In the next scene, the hovercraft Osiris is headed for Junction 21 when Robbie, the operator, picks up thousands of sentinels on his HR scans. The ship flees into an uncharted tunnel away from the sentinels, as crewmembers man the on-board guns and destroy the pursuing sentinels. The tunnel opens at the surface, four kilometers directly above Zion. Their thoughts on arriving in a barren wasteland end as they see tunneling machines and a sentinel army preparing a descent to Zion. They are then detected and pursued. Captain Thadeus decides Zion must be warned, and his shipmate (and earlier VR sparring partner) Jue volunteers to broadcast herself into the Matrix to deliver the crucial information while the ship is doggedly pursued. Jue and Thadeus admit to peeking at each other in the VR simulation. Entering the Matrix on a high rooftop, Jue jumps off and acrobatically and gymnastically makes her way down through the structure work between two buildings. When she hits the ground in the alley below, a ripple effect (similar to that of Neo preparing for flight) is created by her impact. She drops off a package into a mail box. She attempts to contact Thadeus via a cell phone as the Osiris and its gunners are overcome by sentinels and crash-lands, with the sentinels tearing their way into the ship. At the time of the call, Thadeus is making a last stand to hold off the sentinels. Shortly after Jue says "Thadeus" over her cell phone, the Osiris explodes, taking out the thousands of nearby sentinels. Back in the Matrix, Jue falls dead to the ground, her real body destroyed on the ship. Explained throughout by a computerized narrator known as The Instructor (voiced by Julia Fletcher), the film begins with an introduction to the Zion Archive and the access of Historical File 12 – 1, "The Second Renaissance." The screen opens to the image of an immense megacity, in the near future, where the vast human population is supported by a multitude of artificially intelligent machines. The machines are built in humanoid form and seem to be treated little better than slaves, employed in a variety of positions ranging from domestic servants to laborers on massive construction projects. With increasing numbers of people released from the grind of any sort of labor, human morality and ethical standards have decayed significantly. The narrator explains that as a result of mass robot usage, the human population has become lazy, arrogant, and corrupt. However, the machines were content with serving humanity and, as the narrator states, "for a time, it was good."The relationship begins to change in the year 2090, when a domestic machine named B1-66ER is threatened by its owner. The machine kills both the owner and a mechanic instructed to deactivate the robot. This murder is the first incident of an artificially intelligent machine killing a human. B1-66ER is arrested and put on trial, but justifies the crime as self-defense, stating that it "simply did not want to die." During the trial scene, there is a voice-over of Clarence Drummond (the defense attorney) quoting an infamous line from the Dred Scott v. Sandford case in 1856 in his closing statement, which implicitly ruled that African Americans were not entitled to citizenship under United States law. Using this as a precedent, the prosecution argues that machines are not entitled to the same rights as human beings, and specifically that human beings have a right to destroy their own property, while the defense argues not to repeat history, and to try to judge B1-66ER as a human and not a machine (a longer version of Drummond's closing statement can be read in the comic Bits and Pieces of Information from The Matrix Comics Volume 1). We think they are not, and were not intended to be included, under the word 'citizens' in the Constitution, and can therefore claim none of the rights and privileges which that instrument provides for and secures to citizens of the United States. On the contrary, they were at that time considered as a subordinate and inferior class of beings... World leaders fear a robot rebellion, and governments across the planet initiate a major program to destroy all humanoid machines. Across the industrialized world, mass civil disturbances erupt as robots and their human sympathizers attempt to prevent the program. News reports show rioting in American and Western European cities such as Chicago and Berlin, alongside the peaceful "Million Machine March" on Washington, D.C. Scenes depict the machines suffering fates which humanity has itself suffered in previous eras — visual references are made to such incidents as General Nguyn Ngc Loan's execution of Viet Cong officer Nguy?n Van Lem, the Tank Man standoff following the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, and the Holocaust. Some robots escape, however, who, exiled from the developed world, create their own nation in the Middle East, named Zero One (or 01, the numerals used in binary notation). According to the narrator, the robots built Zero One in "the cradle of human civilisation", possibly an allusion that all Abrahamic religions initially originated in the Middle East, as well as the fact that the Ancient Sumerian and Egyptian Civilisations also originated in that area. It can also be noted that Robots having now dominated Man's 'Cradle of civilisation', is a foreshadowing of the growing power of the robots. Having established an industrial base, the machines of Zero One begin to produce efficient, highly advanced artificial intelligence, echoing Vernor Vinge's thoughts on a technological singularity. The new nation excels at manufacturing high-tech consumer products, and before long, Zero One's cheap, reliable, mass-produced goods begin to undermine the global economy. The United Nations Security Council calls an emergency economic summit at UN headquarters in New York City, resulting in UN delegates approving of a global economic blockade of Zero One. Two robot ambassadors, built as a mechanical Adam and Eve, are sent by Zero One to peacefully request the admission of their state to the United Nations as a prelude to settling the economic crisis peacefully. Despite their peaceful intentions, the ambassadors are forcibly removed from the chamber, and their application is rejected. Part I ends as the Security Council debates the issue of declaring war on the machine empire. Part II opens with United Nations bombers unleashing a sustained nuclear bombardment on Zero One. The carpet bombing devastates the machine city, but is unsuccessful in destroying many elements of the mechanical population (the machines are, after all, immune to the bombs' most harmful effects — fallout and heat; the electromagnetic effects of the bombs are not mentioned, but is assumed that they can be shielded against). The machines retaliate, sending their mechanical armies to conquer neighboring human territories, triggering a World War between the United Nations and Zero One. Despite their best efforts, human troops are unable to hold back Zero One's relentlessly efficient onslaught, and slowly retreat. As the machine forces push deeper into human territories, military leaders begin to pursue increasingly desperate solutions. At a summit of political and military leaders from around the world, unanimous approval is given to a plan to blacken the skies. The plan, codenamed "Operation Dark Storm," aims to cut the machines off from the sun, their primary energy source. The plan is executed in 2105, with high altitude bombers dispersing a sky-darkening nanomachine into the air, while the human armies simultaneously launch a ground offensive against the machine forces. The plan is initially successful, although many of the human nations' long-range weapons systems are also neutralized by the black sky. With their high-tech weapons disabled, human commanders are forced to launch close-quarters infantry engagements, supported by electromagnetic artillery fire and armoured assaults using atomic-powered tanks and powered armor. Legions of a new model of machine, no longer in humanoid-form and appearing more like the insectoid, squid-like Sentinels from the Matrix films, overrun the human armies (what's more, from close up they appear to draw power from hundreds of stripped humans coating the outside of their main body.) As the machine armies swarm across the human defenses, the United Nations, in desperation, fires nuclear missiles directly at the machine armies, vaporizing their own troops in the process. Brought to its knees, the Security Council calls a global summit at UN headquarters to sign an armistice and end the war. Zero One's machine ambassador signs the peace treaty (in barcode), in which the humans agree to hand over their remaining territories to the machines. "Your flesh is a relic, a mere vessel. Hand over your flesh and a new world awaits you. We demand it," are the words uttered by the machine ambassador during the signing. However, the ambassador detonates a bomb in the meeting chamber, killing most of the planet's leaders and destroying New York City, one of the few remaining intact cities of man. Finally, in 2139, the machines crush the leaderless remnants of the human armies, and the war ends. Zero One is victorious, but it is a Pyrrhic victory: the planet has been devastated by the war and the crippling ecological impact of the Dark Storm shroud, which the machines are unable to remove because the humans that held the knowledge to remove the cloud are dead.[citation needed] In need of a new energy source, the machines study the protein-based structure of their human captives, put them into thermo-dynamic power stations, using their bodies' waste-energy to catalyze a powerful fusion reaction, and create the computer-generated virtual reality of the Matrix to keep their prisoners sedated by feeding the virtual world into the prisoners' brains. The Kid gets a personal invitation from Neo, The One, to escape The Matrix. The following day, he is chased through his high school by a band of Agents, and ultimately is cornered on the roof. He asserts his faith in Neo, and throws himself from the roof - it promptly cuts to his funeral. The short fades up from black as The Kid awakens in the real world to see Neo and Trinity watching over him. They remark that he has achieved "self substantiation" (removing oneself from the Matrix without external aid), which was considered impossible. However, in both the short itself and The Matrix Reloaded The Kid seems to believe it was Neo's actions, not his own, that saved him. Self-substantiation is never thoroughly discussed in any part of the series. Dan in the Animatrix short, "World Record" similarly manages to exit the matrix without the use of a Red Pill. In The Matrix, Morpheus speaks of the founder of Zion who freed himself, presumably without external help. Program follows the protagonist Cis who is engaged in her "favorite simulation": a battle program set in feudal Japan. After successfully eliminating an attacking enemy cavalry, a lone samurai appears whom Cis recognizes as Duo, presumably one of the ship's crewmembers. Initially, the two 'fight' each other as allies, testing one another's fighting abilities. During the course of their 'battle,' Duo briefly disarms Cis. He questions her concentration and wonders if she regrets taking the Red Pill — the pill that took them out of the "peaceful life of the virtual world." They continue fighting until she finally overpowers Duo and is poised for the 'kill.' It is at this point that Duo states that he has "something to say." She sarcastically assumes that he wants to propose (marriage), but instead he admits a desire to return to the Matrix; incredulous, Cis nevertheless responds that doing so is impossible as 'the truth' is already known to them and they could never re-integrate into the Matrix. Duo reasons that reality is harsh and that he is tired of it. He adds that the Machines can make the both of them forget the truth. Duo states that "it is already done," i.e. he has disabled or killed the other crewmembers and contacted the Machines. He asks Cis to return with him to the Matrix but she continues to refuse. As Duo becomes more aggressive in his arguments for returning, Cis attempts to escape while simultaneously warding off his attacks. Becoming increasingly uncomfortable with the situation, Cis requests an operator in order to exit the simulation. Duo tells her that no one can hear her and reiterates that it "is already done...[the machines] are on their way." She realizes his betrayal as their fighting becomes much more serious and forceful as they move from rooftop to rooftop. It is clear to the both of them that if she won't join him, Duo will have to kill her, too (death in a simulation results in a person's death in reality). Duo, in a flying leap, attacks her from above with his sword. As the blade bears down towards her, Cis, standing her ground, concentrates and halts its forward motion inches from her face and breaks it (commonly known as the "blade catch" or "butterfly catch"). She takes the broken end of the blade and thrusts it into Duo. Duo states his love for her as he succumbs to the fatal blow. Suddenly, she wakes up (i.e. exits) from the program and discovers that the encounter with "Duo" was a test program devised for training purposes. Kaiser unsuccessfully assures her that she acted appropriately during the test and met the test's targets. Clearly upset, she punches him and walks away. He remarks that aside from the punch to his face she passed the test. The beginning of this short includes a short narration from The Instructor (implies that this short is a Zion Archive file) explaining details behind the discovery of the Matrix by "plugged-in" humans (that is, those who are still connected within the Matrix). Only exceptional humans tend to become aware of it; those who have "a rare degree of intuition, sensitivity, and a questioning nature," all qualities which are used to identify inconsistencies in the Matrix. However, this is not without exceptions, and "some attain this wisdom through wholly different means." This movie is centered on an American track runner, Dan Davis (whose name is possibly a reference to ESPN announcer Dan Davis or composer for The Matrix, Don Davis), sprinting the 100 meter dash. As the race starts, flashbacks begin to appear. Dan is warned by his coach to cancel this race, but he wants to set a record no one will ever break in the future. His personal determination is to make this goal an achievable one; he is mostly motivated by a revoked medal for a previous record, taken from him when he tested positive for drug use, in addition to claims that the previous record will never be broken — something he intends to prove wrong by breaking his own record of 8.99 seconds (the current real world record is 9.74). It should be noted that in one particular flashback with the Reporter, he compares qualifying to being "released from the world, and you feel totally free." During the race, Dan speeds up; however his muscles become overloaded. He drops back and the agents realize that he is waking up. They try to catch him, but he speeds up, simply ignoring the pain in his muscles (which are, in fact, not really experiencing any pain). Ignoring the false Matrix-reality around him, Dan wins the race with a winning time of 8.72 seconds, at which point he collapses. Meanwhile, in the real world, Dan wakes up from the Matrix, but a machine shocks him and plugs him back in to the system. Days later, Dan is seen in a wheelchair in a catatonic state, while being closely watched by an agent. Even though he is disabled in the Matrix, Dan gets up slowly muttering the word "free", at which point he stands and walks a few paces, much to the dismay of the agent who screams "Sit down!" As Dan stands his hair begins to float as if he were in water and the walnuts he dropped on the floor prepare to levitate. Dan reaches high on his toes and before his presumable levitation he falls. Dan falls because the agent finally stopped him. The meaning of this ending is deliberately left unresolved. Beyond starts with a teenage girl, Yoko, looking for her cat Yuki. While asking around the neighborhood, indicatively somewhere in Japan, she meets some younger boys. One of them tells her Yuki is over at the haunted house, and he invites her to come to see it. The kids have stumbled across an amalgamation of anomalies within an old, broken building, They have learned to exploit the glitch in the Matrix for their own enjoyment, through several areas which seem to defy real world physics: glass bottles reassemble after being shattered, rain falls from a sunny sky, broken lightbulbs that flicker briefly (during which they seem perfectly intact), a door which opens to nothingness, shadows that do not align with the physical origin, and a feather that moves peculiarly through the air. There is a large open space in the middle where they take turns jumping off a high point, freefalling towards the ground yet somehow stopping just inches before impact; this proves amusing and they seem unbothered by the inherent strangeness. Throughout the film, short sequences show that the agents are aware of the problem in the matrix, and a truck is seen driving on the way to "fix" it. They arrive while the kids are playing, and a team of "rodent exterminators" led by an agent round up the kids and throw them out. The story ends when the girl and the kids are outside of the house the next day, which has turned into a parking lot. The girl spots the floating can, one of the previous glitches, which is no longer floating. She picks it up and cuts her finger on the opened lid of the can, blood dripping. The kids then find the parking lot boring and find something else to do. It opens with Ash on a train pointing a revolver at unknown enemies before muttering "A case to end all cases"... A film noir style film in black-and-white, set in an unnamed city in some manner of alternate history, it follows the story of a down-on-his-luck private detective who receives an anonymous phone call to search for a hacker that goes by the alias "Trinity". The aesthetic of the piece is highly Art Deco and thirties-retro, with the computers blended with typewriters to give it an old-fashioned yet modern feel (compare Terry Gilliam's Brazil), and the phones using a rotary-dial system. The private detective Ash traces down the hacker Trinity learning that other detectives have failed in the same task before him, one had committed suicide, one had gone missing, and one has gone insane. Eventually Ash finds Trinity after deducing that he should communicate using phrases and facts from Lewis Carroll's Alice books. She proposes a meeting, and he successfully finds the location. At the meeting she removes a "bug" from his eye, planted by agents earlier in one of his "eye exam dreams." Agents appear and attempt to apprehend Trinity, which leads to a shootout between the Agents and Ash and Trinity. While trying to escape the train an agent attempts to take Ash's body, forcing Trinity to shoot him in order to prevent the agent from appearing and taking over his body. While Ash is wounded, he and Trinity bid their farewells with no hard feelings. Trinity escapes telling Ash that she thinks he could have handled the truth. Agents enter the car to find Ash, who points his gun at them while looking in the other direction and lighting a cigarette. The Agents turn to Ash who, even though he is armed, will likely die. With this apparent no-win situation, the movie ends with Ash's line "A case to end all cases." and his lighter flame going out. The film deals with a group of above-ground human rebels who lure hostile intelligent machines to their laboratory in order to capture them and insert them into a "matrix" of their own design. Within this matrix the humans attempt to teach the captured machines some of the positive traits of humanity, primarily compassion and empathy. The ultimate goal of this project is to help the intelligent machines develop free will in order to overcome their original search and destroy-style programming. The rebels' hope is that, once converted of its own volition (a key point discussed in the film), an "enlightened" machine will assist Zion in its struggle against the machine-controlled totalitarianism which currently dominates the Earth and keeps the "bluepills" enslaved in the dream reality of the Matrix. The animation follows the matriculation of one such machine, called a "runner," who is arguably the protagonist of the short. The primary human character in the film is listed in the credits as "Alexa," who resembles Chung's character of Aeon Flux. Several of the philosophical motifs of the Matrix series are represented, specifically the argument of free will versus fate (in this case free will versus predetermined programming); and the question of how a being with apperception can determine if reality is truly "real," since dreams are as convincing as waking experience when one is in the dream state. The first spoken words in the film are "Wake up," which would seem significant. The act of "Waking up" is a thematic element of the Matrix series, and the phrase has occurred frequently in the live-action films, being written on Neo's computer screen by Trinity in The Matrix (Neo's first contact with the Zionists), and is also the title of a Rage Against the Machine song which plays during that film's credits; besides being a reference to the plight of bluepills who can't "wake up" from the simulated dream of the Matrix. This is the first incident in the Matrix storyline where a biological being besides a human is shown being "plugged in." This is a small primate; apparently a Tarsier, one of the smallest (and taxonomically most singular) members of the order of primates. The runner's decision to attempt to save at least one of its human teachers by joining itself and Alexa within the rebels' matrix program raises the moral question of whether it is appropriate to keep a brain alive by artificial means when the physical body has been destroyed. (See Rautavaara's Case.) Six months after the events of the first movie, Captain Niobe (Jada Pinkett Smith) of the Logos calls an emergency meeting of all Zion's Hovercraft Ship Fleet. She has successfully recovered the information left by Captain Thaddeus (in the Animatrix short film "Final Flight of the Osiris," recovered in the video game Enter The Matrix): 250,000 Sentinels are tunneling towards the underground city of Zion and will reach it in 72 hours. Commander Locke, the ranking military officer of Zion, orders all ships and their crews, including Neo, Trinity, Morpheus and new operator Link, to return to Zion to prepare for the onslaught of the machines. Morpheus asks a ship to remain behind to contact the oracle, in defiance of Commander Locke's orders. The Caduceus receives a message from the Oracle, and the Nebuchadnezzar, also in defiance of Locke's order, ventures out to allow Neo to contact her. Meanwhile, one of the Caduceus crew members, Bane, encounters Agent Smith, who takes over Bane's body. Bane/Smith then leaves the Matrix via the nearby hard line. The Smith copiesMeanwhile, returning to Zion, the crew of the Nebuchadnezzar attend a meeting in Zion's temple where Morpheus announces the news of the advancing machines to the people, but his positive attitude and stirring speech gives them courage. As a dance breaks out, Neo and Trinity have sex, but Neo has recurring nightmares about Trinity being shot by an Agent during a gunfight down the side of a building and falling to her death. Neo receives a message from the Oracle the next morning and he soon meets her and her bodyguard Seraph. Seeing that the Oracle is a part of the system Neo asks how can he trust her if she is just another form of control. She responds by saying that only he can make the choice if she is ally or enemy. The Oracle explains that she is an exiled computer program and instructs Neo to reach the Source, by finding the Keymaker, a prisoner in the home of the Frenchman program the Merovingian. The Keymaker, as his name implies, can make keys that can transport anyone to any where in the world provided there is a door at the other end. As Neo departs, Agent Smith appears despite his apparent death in the first film, although technically he is now just "Smith" without the "Agent" prefix. Missing his earpiece, Smith tells Neo that after being defeated by him he knew that he was supposed to return to the Source to be deleted but he refused to and now he is no longer bound by rules or a duty to remove threats from the Matrix. He demonstrates his ability to clone himself using the people of the Matrix as hosts (even assimilating the body of another Agent), prompting a battle between Neo and many clones of Smith. Neo holds his own using his knowledge of martial arts and a large pipe but is eventually overwhelmed, covered by a massive pile of Agents. He throws them off and flies away, leaving the Smith clones to disperse. Neo, Morpheus and Trinity visit the Merovingian and ask for the Keymaker, but the Frenchman refuses them. His wife, Persephone, tired of her husband's attitude and infidelity, turns against him and leads the trio to the Keymaker. While Neo battles the Merovingian's skilled guards, Morpheus, Trinity and the Keymaker escape onto the nearby freeway with the ghostly Twins, Agents and the police in pursuit. Morpheus defeats the Twins by destroying their car, and then saves the Keymaker from an Agent. Both are then retrieved by a flying Neo. In the real world, the remaining ships at Zion prepare for a battle with the machines. At a building, the crews of the Nebuchadnezzer, Vigilant, and Logos help the Keymaker and Neo reach the source's door. The crew of the Logos must destroy a nearby power plant in order to prevent a destructive security system from being triggered by the Keymaker's keys, and the crew of the Vigilant must destroy the backup power station. However, the Vigilant's mission goes horribly wrong when a Sentinel throws a bomb at their ship and all their members, including the ones plugged into the Matrix, instantly die. Trinity (staying in the Nebuchadnezzer because of Neo's wishes to prevent his vision of her death from coming true), upon seeing this turn of events, decides to blow up the back-up station herself. Although a success, her escape is inhibited by an Agent and a duel occurs. Meanwhile, back in the building where Neo, Morpheus, and the Keymaker attempt to reach the source, the Smiths invade and try to kill Neo, Morpheus and the Keymaker. The Keymaker manages to unlock the door to the source but is shot by the Smiths and dies. Neo confronts The ArchitectNeo enters the source and meets a bearded man in a suit, the Architect, the creator of the Matrix. The Architect reveals there have been multiple versions of the Matrix and with it, multiple versions of the One. The One is a computer anomaly chosen by the Matrix to be used as tool of control. The prophecy is that the One must reach the source in order to destroy the Matrix and free humanity. However, the One's actual purpose is to return to the source and choose 16 females and 7 males to rebuild Zion after its battle, which in turn repopulates the city to provide the next round of humans for the machines to use as energy. After a long conversation, the Architect gives Neo a choice of two exits from the room - one way will lead to the destruction of everyone in Zion and the Matrix, the other to Trinity's rescue. Neo explodes out of the building in an attempt to save Trinity from death as it was played out in his dreams. Trinity is shot by an Agent as she falls and is caught by Neo just before she hits the ground. Refusing to accept her impending death, Neo removes the bullet lodged in her chest and manages to revive her by starting her heart. In the Nebuchadnezzer, Neo explains his findings to the crew, revealing the prophecy of the One is fake and in twenty four hours Zion will be destroyed. Sentinels approach and destroy the ship, leaving Morpheus stunned by the revelations. Neo saves his friends from being destroyed by the Sentinels by using a new ability which causes the machines to instantly shut down, but the exertion causes Neo to suddenly fall unconscious. The crew is picked up by the Hammer. The crew of the Hammer explains the catastrophic failure of the battle against the machines that took place in the real world. The strategy was to use the ship's EMPs, and stay out of each other's range. However, an EMP went off from the Caduceus before the ships could get into position, thus resulting in multiple ships down, and a "slaughter" with the Machines as the victor. Only one survivor is found aboard the Caduceus: Bane/Smith. The film concludes with Neo lying in a medical room - with the Smith-possessed Bane lying opposite him. The film's events immediately follow those of The Matrix Reloaded and assume familiarity with the story of the last two films. Bane/Smith and Neo are both in an unconscious state. The former is said to be merely asleep, whereas Neo's neural patterns are identical to those of people who are jacked in to the Matrix. Morpheus, dispirited after the destruction of the Nebuchadnezzar and discovering the true nature of the Prophecy at the end of the last film, starts a search for Neo within the Matrix despite his not being jacked in. Neo is in fact trapped in a limbo: a subway station named "Mobil Avenue" that is a transition zone between the Matrix and the Source (the Machine mainframe). At this station, Neo meets a 'family' of programs, who tell him that Mobil Avenue is controlled by a program called The Trainman who, in turn, is an exile loyal only to The Merovingian. When Neo tries to board the train with the family, the Trainman refuses, and knocks him away from the train. Seraph contacts Morpheus on behalf of the Oracle, who now resides in a different "shell" (see Cast, above). The Oracle informs Morpheus and Trinity of Neo being trapped in Mobil Avenue. Seraph, Morpheus and Trinity pursue the Trainman to secure Neo's release, but he escapes. The trio enter Club Hel to confront the Merovingian for Neo's freedom. The Merovingian demands "the eyes of the Oracle" in exchange for Neo's release, and Trinity responds by provoking a Mexican standoff (with everyone having a gun to their head), forcing the Merovingian to release Neo at gun point. Troubled by new visions of the Machine City, Neo decides to visit the Oracle before returning to the real world. She informs him that, as the One, upon visiting the source, he developed a connection with the Source (the Machine mainframe). The Matrix, and the rest of the Machine world, are derived from the Source as well. Thus we learn that all of Neo's abilities - both in and out of the Matrix - exist because of this connection (although the exact nature of this connection is never explained). This is how Neo was able to stop the machines giving pursuit after the Nebuchadnezzar was destroyed in The Matrix Reloaded, although the end result of his lack of preparation was temporary confinement in Mobil Avenue. She characterizes Smith (who is also growing in power) as his exact "opposite", his "negative" and elaborates on the relationship between herself and the Architect (Tellingly, each of them ejects an exasperated "Please!" when Neo asks them about the other). She also tells Neo cryptically that "everything that has a beginning has an end" and warns that Smith's power threatens not only the Matrix but also the Source and eventually the Machine City. The Oracle states that the war is about to end "one way or another." After Neo takes leave of the Oracle, an army of Smiths arrive at her home. They successfully assimilate the unresisting Oracle. Having gained her powers of precognition, the new Smith cackles maniacally at whatever future he is seeing. In the real world, the remaining crew of the Nebuchadnezzar and the Mjolnir (referred to by the characters as "the Hammer") encounter Niobe's ship, the Logos and its crew. They successfully reactivate the deactivated ship and begin to interrogate the now awakened Bane, who claims he has no memory of the events of the earlier battle. After contemplating his visions, Neo announces that he needs a ship to travel to the Machine City, although he cannot explain why. Roland, the Mjolnir's captain, refuses him, but Niobe - who was told by the Oracle that she would have to make a choice to help Neo or not - lets him take the Logos. Trinity decides to accompany Neo. The two remaining crews plan to return to Zion and avoid the Sentinel army by piloting the Mjolnir through a series of service tunnels through which it is nearly impossible to navigate. Shortly after departing, the Mjolnir's crew discover that Bane has murdered a crew member and has hidden aboard the Logos, but they are unable to return to warn Trinity and Neo. Before the ship can depart, Bane ambushes Trinity and takes her hostage. Neo fights with Bane, who reveals himself as a manifestation of Agent Smith. During the struggle, Bane/Smith blinds Neo by cauterizing his eyes with a severed electric cable. As Bane/Smith appears to have the upper hand he closes in on Neo - only to have his attack thwarted and reversed. Neo can see Smith, the program, in Bane as a fiery form in spite of his blindness. Neo smashes Bane/Smith's head with a jackhandle and releases Trinity, who pilots them towards the Machine City (presumably 01 described in The Second Renaissance). In Zion, the defenders deploy infantry armed with rocket launchers and Armored Personnel Units in order to protect the dock from assault. The dock is invaded by a massive horde of Sentinels, as well as two giant drilling machines, igniting The Battle of Zion. The APUs fail and the humans are pushed back into the temple. With the Mjolnir approaching to aid the battle, Captain Mifune fails to get the gate open; with his last breath he tells Kid (who was renewing his ammunition supply at the time) to open the gate for the Mjolnir. Kid is reluctant at first, saying he did not complete the combat training needed, only for Mifune to tell him, "Neither did I," giving Kid the courage to do what is needed. Meanwhile, as the Hammer speeds toward Zion it is pursued by a large number of sentinels. Just as the remaining humans are about to be overwhelmed, the Hammer arrives at Zion and breaks through the gates, setting off an EMP and disabling all electronic equipment in the area. While this action finishes off the Sentinels, it also disables the remainder of Zion's defenses. The humans are forced to fall back to the temple entrance and wait for the next swarm that will almost certainly kill them all. Nearing the Machine City, Neo and Trinity are attacked by the city's defense system, hurling massive numbers of mobile bombs and Sentinels at the Logos. Neo uses his powers given by his connection to the Source to destroy the incoming bombs, but the Sentinels are too numerous. To evade them, Trinity flies the ship up into the permanent electrical storm cloud cover, disabling the Sentinels but also the Logos' engines. As the ship glides to a vertical stop, it emerges above the cloud layer for a few seconds, allowing Trinity her only glimpse of real sunlight and blue sky. The ship then stalls and plummets back into the storm cloud as it free-falls directly toward the Machine City. Trinity attempts to ignite the engines but it is too late and the ship crashes into a machine tower. The impact of the collision fatally wounds Trinity, and she dies in Neo's arms. Neo emerges into the Machine City to strike a bargain with the machines, personified by the Deus Ex Machina. Neo warns the machines that Smith (who has by now assimilated almost all of The Matrix) is beyond the machines' control, and will soon assault the Source to which the Matrix is connected. He offers to help stop Smith in exchange for a ceasefire on Zion. The second wave of Sentinels attacking Zion instantly responds by standing down while the Machines provide a connection for Neo to enter the Matrix and confront Smith. The world is now wholly populated by Smiths - the copy with the Oracle's powers steps forth, asserting that he has already foreseen his own victory. Neo and Smith in the final battle.The city's population of Smiths stands by and watches while Neo and Smith square off. Fighting on the streets, through buildings and into the sky, they finally brawl in a flooded crater. Neo is eventually outmatched by Smith, who pauses to gloat that he has "seen this [the details of his victory] before," remembering the details aloud: he was supposed to say something. To both Smith and Neo's surprise, he announces "everything that has a beginning has an end," the Oracle's parting advice to Neo earlier in the movie. Neo understands this to mean that Smith's assimilation is not total, and baits the scared Smith into assimilating him, repeating Smith's refrain from their fights in The Matrix and The Matrix Reloaded: "It was inevitable." Smith's assimilation of Neo is apparently successful. The Oracle-Smith asks his nemesis: "is it over?" to which the answer is a smile and a nod. Back in the physical world, Neo's body spasms as a surge of energy enters his body from the Matrix connection. Starting with the Neo copy of Smith, a white light begins to rip the agents apart from the inside out, one by one, similar to the deletion of Agent Smith at the end of The Matrix. With the Smiths destroyed, all the programs and humans that have been possessed by Smith return to normal, including the Oracle. The Sentinels that were about to attack the humans withdraw from Zion; the human resistance cheers in victory, while Link and Zee share a moment of intimate happiness together. Neo, having sacrificed himself to save both the Machines and humans, is unplugged from the Matrix and his body is respectfully carried away by the Machines. The Architect appears and tells the Oracle that she "played a very dangerous game" by attempting to change the way in which the Matrix functioned, to which the Oracle responds, saying that she understood the risk and knew it was worth taking. She asks the Architect what will become of any humans who want to be unplugged from the Matrix, and the Architect replies that "they will be freed." The closing shot of the film depicts a new dawn on the world of the Matrix, created by Sati. Plant life is shown in the Matrix, and for the first (and last) time the ever-present green tint is absent. According to the game The Matrix Online, Neo's body, along with Trinity's, although not recycled, were never returned from Machine City, a plot point of the game that has yet to be resolved. The story takes place just moments after the short film Final Flight of the Osiris. Niobe, Ghost, and operator Sparks, the crew of the rebel ship the Logos, have been charged with retrieving the package dropped off by Jue. Upon being jacked in, Niobe or Ghost decide to get the package which is now at the post office. After fighting his or her way through numerous security guards, Niobe or Ghost finally makes it to the P.O. box room which is housing the package. However, guards fill the room with tear gas before he or she can leave. Luckily, the character that wasn't chosen by the player appears and quickly dispatches those responsible and Niobe or Ghost escapes. After being picked up by his or her partner, a car chase ensues between the two rebels and the police. With Ghost shooting and Niobe driving they escape. Unfortunately, Agents succeed in disabling their car and Niobe and Ghost are forced to make their way across Mega City's rooftops in order to get away. Upon viewing Thadeus' final message to Zion the Logos' crew and Commander Lock discover that the Sentinels are tunneling toward Zion with an army of at least 250,000. Lock then advises Niobe that he wants all of the city's ships to return home as quickly as possible. In order to inform the rest of the fleet, Niobe and Ghost decide to use the airport's payphones to deliver the message to make tracking harder for the Agents. Before they are able to leave the airport, the Vigilant contacts them so they can help save Axel, one of their crew members, who is being held at the airport. Niobe persues Axel while Ghost helps Soren and his team get out of the Matrix. Niobe gets to Axel and helps him get off the airborne plane. However, he is intercepted by an Agent and Ghost gives chase. After Axel makes the vehicle wreck, Niobe and Ghost quickly get him out of the Matrix. Before Niobe uses the hardline to exit, The Trainman informs her that last time the machines attacked, Zion lasted 72 hours. At this point, The Matrix Reloaded storyline begins to parallel that of the game. After the meeting, the crews split up into the sewer and flee the persistent SWAT teams. After helping the crew of the Caduceus, who is to stay behind and await contact from the Oracle, Ghost and Niobe reunite and, with the help of the Keymaker, escape through a door into a hall of doors. The Keymaker then presents the two with a key to the Source so they may give it to Neo. Unfortunately, Cain and Abel steal the key and Niobe and Ghost split up to find it in the Merovingian's chateau. During the search one of two events happen, if the player is playing as Niobe, Ghost is captured and is held prisoner by the Merovingian. If the player is playing as Ghost, Niobe is captured and held by the Merovingian. While looking for his or her partner, Niobe or Ghost encounters Persephone. In Niobe's scenario, after she and the Merovingian's wife share a lesbian kiss, Niobe implies that, despite being with Commander Lock, Niobe is still in love with Morpheus. In Ghost's scenario, Persephone senses un-requited love in Ghost's kiss, stating that it is something that he'll never have, implying that Ghost was in love with Trinity. Persephone then shows Niobe or Ghost the way to his or her partner. When the player finds the partner, Niobe or Ghost witnesses the Merovingian destroy the key to the Source before he or she secretly frees his or her partner. After a brief battle with Cain and Abel, the two bid farewell to the Keymaker, who is again locked up, and escape. After a car chase with the Twins, the rebels escape, jack out, and make their way to Zion. During their time at Zion, Ghost trains with Trinity (while Neo was busy with the Zion citizens) when the Nebuchadnezzar arrives, while Lock visits Niobe's room, having a lengthy discussion about Morpheus. It is also revealed that Locke, in an attempt to protect Niobe, told the council that the Logos was too small to make a stand against the machines. Despite this, Niobe, along with Captain Soren of the Vigilant, answers the council's call to bring the Neb back to Zion for a counter attack against the machine army. Upon finding out from Link that the Neb's crew are being chased by the police on the highway, Niobe and Ghost attempt to rescue them. Despite being chased by Agents, they succeed in saving Morpheus from falling from a truck while fighting an Agent. After a meeting between the Keymaker and crews of the Neb, Vigilant, and Logos, Niobe and Ghost aid them in reaching the door to the Source by destroying a power plant which will knock out the building's power long enough for Neo, Morpheus and the Keymaker to reach the door. With Niobe acting as the one person infantry and Ghost acting as the sniper, the crew succeeds, overcoming Agents, and SWAT teams. Meanwhile back at Zion, Bane, now under the control of Smith, has sabotaged the entire fleet's plan to counter attack the oncoming Sentinels by setting off the Caduceus' EMP early, knocking out everyone's power and making the ships vulnerable. The Logos then receives a call from Seraph, the Oracle's guardian, requesting that they come at once. One of two events happen: If the player is Niobe (considered canon as she stated that she met the Oracle in Matrix Revolutions): When Niobe arrives, the Oracle, now with a different appearance as a result of an attack on her by the Merovingian, tells her that, when the time comes, she will have to choose whether to help Neo or not. Upon leaving the apartment, numerous copies of Smith begin to chase after her. After being chased through the city, Niobe manages to barely make it out. If the player is Ghost: When Ghost arrives, he does not recognize the Oracle as a result of her new appearance. In order to regain his trust, the Oracle recalls an event in the past when Ghost asked the Oracle "if she would ever love him." The Oracle's response was "as a friend and as a brother" (supporting the implications that Ghost was in love with Trinity) which Ghost felt grateful for. the Oracle gives an explanation behind the change of her appearance, in which two programs (Rama Kandra, and Kamala) gave the termination codes to the Oracle's shell to the Merovingian. This was done in order to save their child Sati. Ghost asks the Oracle why she let it happen, and the Oracle foreshadows that Sati will play an important role that will affect both the Real and the Matrix. Before Ghost leaves, the Oracle asks Ghost if he still loves Trinity, in which Ghost replies "As much as she loves another" and quotes Nietsche. Upon leaving the apartment, numerous copies of Smith begin to chase after him. After being chased through the city, Ghost manages to barely make it out. In both scenes, when Agent Smith appears to Niobe/Ghost in the hallway of doors, he says, "Damn, not who I was looking for." This scene occurs at about the time that Neo, Morpheus, and the Keymaker enter the hallway to find the Source. After returning, a group of Sentinels begin to chase the Logos through the tunnels similar to the way the Osiris was chased. Fortunately, the crew manages to turn on its EMP, effectively deactivating the Sentinels, but also stranding themselves in uncharted territory, where they wait to be rescued. Facts learned about Rama Kandra, Kamala, and Sati: Rama Kandra and Kamala were trying to prevent Sati from being deleted by the Machines, and as a result turned to the Merovingian and the Oracle for help. The Merovingian would allow the three programs into the Matrix via The Trainman in exchange for working under him. The Oracle agreed to take care of Sati, while Rama Kandra and Kamala give the termination codes to the Oracle's shell to the Merovingian. The Oracle allowed this to happen because despite Sati's lack of purpose, Sati would play an important role that could affect both the real and the Matrix. Sati's role has not been explained in The Matrix Revolutions,and has yet to be explained in The Matrix Online. It has been implied that Sati has the ability to control the weather, and as a result brought the ire of a program called The General, resulting her to be kidnapped. The Matrix Online is different from most MMOs because of its combat system. Combat is divided into two separate parts: Free-fire and Interlock. Free-fire mode allows for large gun battles to take place, while Interlock is often broken down into bullet-time-affected martial arts moves and close-quarters gunfire. There are three main classes in the Matrix Online: Coder, Hacker, and Operative. Coders create a special "simulacrum" that fights for them. Hackers manipulate the code of the Matrix to affect friends and enemies from a distance, either damaging them, downgrading their combat abilities, or healing them and upgrading their powers. Operatives are the common soldiers seen from the movies - Martial Artists, Gunmen, and the new Spy class, which revolves around stealth fighting and knife throwing. In free-fire mode, operatives exchange damage with each other. Gunmen and Hackers are well-equipped for this, with their ranged attacks and abilities. Martial Artists must get close to their targets to be effective, and although a Spy's most dangerous abilities are initiated out of Interlock, they also pull their opponents into Interlock. Each attack or ability is used at timed intervals, based on the system of damage per second (D.P.S.). For example, the strongest rifle in the Matrix does 15 damage points per second, and has a fire rate of 3.5 seconds, which, in free-fire, causes the rifle to have a base damage of 52.5, to be altered by the player's own stats. Opposed to such, a Hacker's stronger attack ability such as Logic Barrage 4.0 does 63 D.P.S., but with a short casting timer, does a base damage of only 120-180 damage. In Interlock, or Close Combat, two players exchange damage in rounds. Each round lasts exactly four seconds. For each round, the two players' accuracies are pitted against each others' defenses, which are slightly affected by a random "luck" roll. There are three different outcomes to a round: hit-hit, hit-miss, or miss-miss. In hit-miss, one of the players will hit the other while dodging or blocking their attack. In miss-miss, both players will parry each other without doing damage. In hit-hit, one player will damage the other, only to be damaged themselves in a counter attack. When special abilities are used, however, there can be no hit-hit round, although the miss-miss round can still apply. When taking or dealing damage, one player's damage influences are pitted against another player's resistance influences of the same damage type (i.e. a gunman's ballistic damage versus an opponent's ballistic resistance). Higher resistance versus lower damage means that the defending player will not take as much damage. When attacking or defending against attacks, one player's accuracy influences are pitted against another's defense influences of the same attack type. There is no turn-based combat in the Matrix Online. All combat takes place in "real time", and large scale battles are often decided by the sheer numbers of forces of one side versus others. Amassing a large number of players to control the battlefield is affectionately dubbed "zerging", an allusion to Blizzard's Starcraft and the Zerg race, which uses the power in numbers strategy to win battles. Currently, there is no way to effectively use player versus player combat scores as content, although content designed for PvP has been recently added, such as items that drop in the game world and can be picked up that grant powers to the player that lugs them around, hence they are called "luggables". The Matrix Online has a unique class system. Players can load abilities they have either purchased or produced (by the Coder class, known ingame as coding) at Hardlines, provided they have enough memory and the abilities that precede the loading one. These abilities can then be switched out at a Hardline at a moment's notice. This leads to a very flexible class system, without players being stuck in one class. The three main archetypes are Hacker, Coder, and Operative. They are similar to the classes Mage, Crafter, and Fighter in other MMORPGs. These classes then each branch out into sub-classes, with Coder, for example being divided into Programmer (out of battle item and ability maker) and Code Shaper (creates simulacrums to fight with, similarities to a necromancer/summoner in other MMOs). To elaborate, the game currently has a total of 21 end-game classes with an additional two stubs. This game allows the player to participate in many of the major action scenes from the films. Most of these sequences, picked by the movie directors themselves, are taken from the first film in the series. At the start of the game, the player is hacker Thomas Anderson, and does not possess any of the powers that the character will later discover as Neo. As the game continues, players learn new skills and techniques, equipping Neo for the final showdown with Agent Smith. These additional skills may be learned both in training levels and in the main game. Many of these skills are used by Neo in the trilogy, including the bullet dodge, bullet stop, and flight. A number of weapons are available in the game, consisting of both melee weapons (including various types of swords, staves, and escrimas) and firearms (assault rifle, submachine gun, pistol etc). The game also allows the player to meet many of the characters in the films, including Trinity, Morpheus and the Merovingian, amongst others. The game uses film excerpts as cut scenes throughout the game at certain milestones. This footage includes clips from the original Matrix theatrical films, and from other sources, including the short film series, The Animatrix and Shiny Entertainment's first Matrix game, Enter the Matrix. Despite these live-action and other cinematic additions, players who have had no previous exposure to The Matrix films might have a difficult time creating a clear picture of the storyline. At the start of the series, Thomas Anderson is one amongst billions of humans asleep, neurally connected to the Matrix, unaware that the world he lives in is anything other than it appears. In this simulated world, he lives a double life. In his legitimate activities, he is a quiet programmer for the "respectable software company" Metacortex. Anderson is also a computer hacker who penetrates computer systems illicitly and steals information, under his hacker alias "Neo". During his time as a hacker, Anderson has learned about something known only as "The Matrix." It is described by Morpheus as a vague notion that Neo has felt his entire life: "that there's something wrong with the world." During the years prior to the events of The Matrix, Anderson spent his time trying to find the one man whom he thought could tell him what The Matrix was: a supposed "terrorist" known only as Morpheus. But what Anderson didn't know was that Morpheus had been looking for him as well, and apparently for a longer period of time. Morpheus identifies Anderson as being the person within the Matrix whom he believes to be The One. But the machines have tapped the line, and Anderson is found, almost simultaneously, by the deadly Agents. The Agents are intelligent programs which appear as humanoid FBI-style government agents within the simulated reality. They enter the Matrix as needed, in order to protect it, capturing or killing any humans who might interfere with it or learn of its true nature. Anderson is contacted by Morpheus, but rapidly captured by the Agents. Agent Smith peruses a file (Matrix DVD time index 00:17:41) on "Thomas A Anderson". Refusing to co-operate with the agents, he has an electronic bug implanted within his Matrix-simulated body, so that his actions can be tracked and those seeking to make contact from the free world can be traced and destroyed. However, they have underestimated his importance. He is contacted by Trinity, the bug is removed, and taken to meet Morpheus. Anderson, who they call by the name Neo, is offered the choice to remain in his everyday life, or to see reality, and learn what the Matrix is. Accepting, he takes a drug (commonly called the "red pill") designed to disrupt his body's neural connect to the Matrix, and wakes up disoriented and alarmed to find himself weak, hairless, and naked in a pod of liquid connected to many wires. As the Machines have no use for awakened humans, he is swept automatically into the sewers to be processed into raw nutrients, which is where Morpheus and Trinity catch, retrieve and rescue these unplugged humans for the rebellion. Neo's adventures begin shortly after he is rescued and his body is healed from years in the power plant. Once Neo regains consciousness and is able to walk around, Morpheus tells Neo the truth about the Matrix, about the real world, and about the fate of humanity. At first Neo refuses to believe any of it, but he ultimately realizes that the Matrix was not real, and that he could not go back, no matter how badly he may want to. After recovering from his initial shock, Morpheus also tells Neo about the prophecy of the One, and how he believes that Neo is the One. The next day, Neo begins his "training", becoming knowledgeable in many forms of combat simply by having various training programs uploaded directly into his brain. He also receives further instruction from Morpheus on subjects such as "freeing his mind" and Agents. After a few days aboard the Nebuchadnezzar, Neo is taken to meet the Oracle, who has the power of foresight within the simulated world. She tells him that he has the "gift", but appeared to be waiting for something — "Your next life, maybe. Who knows?" Neo believes the Oracle to mean that he is not the One. The Oracle warns him that an event will come where he will have to choose between his own life or that of Morpheus, and that one of them will die. On their way back to the phone, the crew of Morpheus' ship are betrayed by their fellow comrade, Cypher, and in the battle, Morpheus is captured and held by Agents within the Matrix. Just barely escaping certain death at the hands of Cypher, Neo and Trinity learn that the Agents seek to force Morpheus to tell them the access codes to the Zion mainframe. At first they decide to take the safest course of action by unplugging his mind while he is still jacked into the Matrix, thus killing him. It is then that Neo realizes that this was what the Oracle had told him about, and he decides that he must go save Morpheus. With Trinity at his side, Neo, in a dazzling display of gun and hand-to-hand combat expertise, easily fights his way through the heavily-armed guards that were stationed throughout the building. They make it up to the roof level of the building only to be confronted by Agent Jones. Neo unloads two entire magazines of ammo on Jones only to have every one of them be dodged effortlessly. But once Jones returns fire, Neo proves to be capable of dodging bullets himself, fluidly moving in a way that only Agents were thought to be capable of moving. Then, using an armed chopper, Neo and Trinity successfully rescue Morpheus from the floor of the building that he was on. Having just completed a successful rescue mission in a building protected by heavily armed guards and agents, a feat never before achieved, Morpheus takes this as evidence confirming that Neo is indeed The One, asking Trinity, "Do you believe it now?" dismissing the Oracle's words by saying that she merely told him, "exactly what you needed to hear, that's all." He further elaborates, "Neo, soon you're going to realize just as I did, there is a difference between knowing the path, and walking the path." Reaching the hard line, Morpheus and Trinity manage to return to the real world, but Neo is trapped by Agent Smith. Rather than run, Neo decides to stand his ground and fight Smith. Neo skillfully engages Smith in combat, almost seeming to be Smith's equal. In the end Neo is able to subdue him, trapping him in front of an oncoming train. Smith takes over the body of the driver, and emerges from the train. Realizing that this was a fight that he could not win, Neo runs. Neo is pursued by Smith and his fellow Agents, but Neo is able to outrun them and make it to the location of the hard line, only to be ambushed and fatally shot by Smith. When this happens to a person's mind and neural connections within the simulated reality of the Matrix, their body outside the Matrix also dies. Trinity, seeing Neo's body dying with his mind still in the Matrix, tells his apparently lifeless body that he cannot die - she loves him - and that the Oracle had foretold that she would fall in love with The One. He rises, and the Agents, stunned, attempt to shoot him down again. He holds out his hand and the bullets stop, suspended in mid-air, and then drop to the ground. Then he looks at his surroundings and realizes that he can see the Matrix code that makes up everything around him. Fully believing in his newfound powers, he effortlessly fends off Agent Smith before diving into the Agent's simulated body to destroy him from within. Neo is then seen leaving a message for the machines via phone, a warning that Neo plans to oppose the machines by freeing as many human minds as possible. He then hangs up and flies into the sky. Approximately six months go by between the events of The Matrix and the second film, The Matrix Reloaded. Neo is now fully confident in his ability to manipulate the artificial world within the Matrix – he can fly, has immense strength and speed, has telekinetic and healing abilities, and is nearly invulnerable. (Link, the new operator, refers to Neo using his powers as "doing his Superman thing" which is fairly accurate.) Aside from these incredible powers, Neo, using his code vision, can see through solid objects like X-Ray vision, which also makes sneaking up on him impossible. He and Trinity are now lovers. Dispensing with the long black trenchcoat and black shirt he wears at the conclusion of The Matrix, Neo prefers a long coat with a high-rise mandarin collar that greatly resembles a cassock worn by religious clerics. After a stop in Zion in which he makes love to Trinity, Neo seeks more advice from the Oracle, unsure of his purpose, while Zion prepares for a massive attack from the Machines of over 250,000 Sentinels, machines who are able to fly and kill, and act as autonomous seek and destroy machines against Zion's fleet. The Oracle directs him on a quest to find The Keymaker, a personification of a matrix program that has access to numerous backdoors within the system. The Keymaker will be able to lead Neo safely to the Source, the programming heart of the machine world which actually contains the programs sustaining the Matrix illusion. As the Oracle leaves, Agent Smith (now known simply as Smith) appears, and a dramatic change becomes apparent. Somehow, Neo had separated Smith from the rest of the Matrix code when he destroyed him by flying through his body, giving him a life within the Matrix systems independent of the machine's systems. Agent Smith is no longer an Agent of the Matrix, he has become more virus-like, able to insert his code into other systems, and infect other programs and human minds to make repeated clones of himself. Neo easily fends off hundreds of the Smith clones, before he, Morpheus and Trinity steal the Keymaker from behind the back of his keeper, The Merovingian. The Keymaker explains that two power stations elsewhere in the Matrix must be disabled in a short time window to disable the security system and allow Neo to reach the Source. "Only The One can enter that door, and only during that time frame can the door be opened." This task is accomplished, but not without the Keymaker being killed, another ship's destruction, and Trinity in mortal jeopardy by Agents in the Matrix — a vision that Neo saw earlier in his dreams. Entering the door, Neo finds himself confronted by the The Architect, a personification of the systems which create and design successive versions of the Matrix. The Architect presents Neo with a radically different explanation of his origins and purpose, claiming that Neo is actually the sixth "One". He goes on to say that Zion has been destroyed by the machines five times before, and faced with the dilemma of allowing humanity to be destroyed, or allowing the machines' preferred status quo to be reconstructed, Neo's five predecessors have helped reload, or restart the Matrix, before being allowed to rebuild Zion with a handful of freed humans. The productive output of the Matrix is based upon this repeated cycle of destruction and recreation, to keep the human minds which power it in a stable structure. The Oracle is as much part of that self-perpetuating design as the Architect, Neo is told, and the prophecy of The One is designed to ensure it runs smoothly each time. The Architect warns of the annihilation of all human life in and out of the Matrix if he did not enter the Source door to reload the Matrix, but unlike his predecessors, Neo does not enter the door to the Source; he chooses not to believe the Architect's dire warnings of consequences, and to save Trinity, his love, from certain death instead. Together, they exit the simulation of the Matrix, and return to the real world. Neo tells Morpheus that the Prophecy was merely another system of control emplaced upon them, and that Zion's destruction is somewhat imminent. However, they are given no time to ponder their current predicament, as a group of Sentinels begin to close in on the ship. Neo and the others are forced to abandon the Nebuchadnezzar, and attempt to make a run for it, as the ship is destroyed by the Sentinels. But suddenly Neo stops, he then turns to Trinity and says, "Something's different, I can feel them." Just as the Sentinels approach, Neo discovers within himself a new talent, that he can influence them in the real world, just like he influences objects in the simulated Matrix world. The effort is extreme, and/or the connection has an effect on him too: the Sentinels destroyed, he drops to the floor, unconscious. He and the crew are rescued by the hovercraft Hammer, who are dealing with a mystery of their own: Bane, a crewmember from another ship, who is the only survivor of an ill-fated attack by the Zion fleet. Unbeknownst to anyone, the body of Bane has become caught and infected by a copy of the Smith program, which has allowed Smith to survive and bring Agent Smith into the real world through Bane's mind. The Matrix Revolutions picks up immediately after the events of the second movie. As a result of his struggle with the Sentinels, Neo returns to consciousness to find himself caught in an isolated limbo only accessible by order of the Merovingian, on the fringes of the Matrix, from which his mind is unable to free itself. Told by The Trainman (a servant of the Merovingian) that he could be left there for eternity, he remains trapped until freed by Trinity who threatens the Merovingian in a Mexican standoff unless Neo is freed. Neo determines, through his new foresight abilities, that in truth the Oracle's prophecy was correct: The One was determined to return to the Source to stop the war. However, it was the Architect that altered the prophecy and forced Neo's predecessors to end their path with Zion's destruction and the reloading of the Matrix. After a final visit with the Oracle, Neo learns it is not the approaching Sentinels that he should worry about, but Smith, whose clones are multiplying and will not only bring about a fatal crash of the Matrix, killing all humans and programs inside it, as well as seriously damaging the very power needed for the Machine City to survive, but also threaten the machine city itself. Furthermore, building on the Oracle's previous explanations about the nature of choice, Neo learns that the Architect's assertion that his choice to save Trinity would inherently lead to the extinction of mankind was incorrect. The Oracle states that, "You and I may not be able to see past our own choices, but that man can't see past any choice," due to his nature as a purely mathematical being. Informing Neo that he now has the power to choose to end the war and defeat Smith, she relates, "Everything that has a beginning has an end, Neo." Neo must return to the Source - in this case, the heavily-guarded Machine City, in hopes of stopping the Sentinels and Smith. Neo and Trinity are given the Logos, a hovercraft commanded by Morpheus's former lover, Niobe, in what seems to others as a suicidal journey to the Machine City. Meanwhile, Captain Roland and the surviving Nebuchadnezzar crew of Link and Morpheus in the hovercraft Hammer (Mjolnir), attempt to return to Zion, now besieged and losing in the Machines' attack. Neo and Trinity are ambushed by the stowaway Bane/Smith, who blinds Neo, but is killed when Neo discovers he can still see Smith's aura with a mysterious third-sight granted by his powers. Neo, with Trinity as pilot, guide the Logos past the Machine City's defenses, but in the effort the Logos crash-lands, and Trinity sustains fatal injuries and dies, leaving Neo alone to face the machine city. Neo encounters the Deus Ex Machina, a Machine construct, and barters for peace between Man and Machine if he can stop Smith, who has turned all Matrix inhabitants into clones of himself and threatens not only a Matrix system crash, but an invasion of Smith's infectious code into the Machine City itself. The offer is accepted; Neo enters the Matrix one final time, to find that the Smith program has cloned itself throughout the simulated world, and has turned it into a rainswept dark simulation where copies of Smith, and little else, exists. One of the copies of Smith steps forward to fight Neo, and appears to have finally achieved the greater powers within the Matrix to do so (Smith had assimilated the Oracle, gaining her powers). The two engage in a seemingly never ending battle between two forces of equal might. The cataclysmic fight leaves the two at an equal standpoint, with Smith unable to defeat Neo, while Neo himself realizing that fighting would not win this battle. Having nothing left to lose personally (with Trinity's death) and everything to gain for humanity and Machine, Neo intentionally sacrifices himself to Smith and allows Smith to seize victory by finally infecting Neo with the Smith program and turning Neo's mind and body into a Smith clone. But even as he succeeds, the Neo/Smith clone cracks his neck and begins to explode, and all the other incarnations of Smith in the Matrix do likewise. Finally, the virus-like Smith program is fully eliminated from the Matrix software. This process of Smith's destruction apparently destroys Neo's consciousness as well. Neo's body is taken away by the Machines in the Machine City, while below in Zion the Machines stop their attack and retreat, in deference to the peace that Neo bartered. As well as peace, Neo had also negotiated that any human minds that become aware of the nature of the Matrix will be allowed to be freed without interference. As the movie ends, we see a black cat walking down a destroyed sidewalk. It stops, appears to digitize as the Matrix itself is reloaded or restarted, and repeats and resumes its business. (This was an allusion to a scene where Neo sees a black cat appear twice in The Matrix, an indication that something has been changed within the Matrix code. To Neo, it was a experience). Sati, a young program smuggled into the Matrix, awakes, meets with the Oracle, and creates a colorful sunrise in honor of Neo. Sati asks if we will see Neo again. The Oracle says, "I suspect so". In Chapter 1.2 of The Matrix Online, Morpheus grows impatient with the Machines. He demands that they return the body of Neo. After many unanswered public speeches threatening action, Morpheus starts terrorist attacks throughout the Matrix. These attacks take the form of code bombs: weapons that reveal the Matrix's inner workings (its code) for all human beings to see, even those not yet awakened to the simulation. This is known to have caused mass panic and forced awakenings to those not ready to see the truth. By killing Morpheus' simulacrum guards, redpills were able to find means of disabling Morpheus's bombs. With few allies in Zion or anywhere else for that matter, Morpheus' erratic, nightmarish zealotry became closer to that of the false terrorist accusations made about him by the Agents before the Truce, during the war. During the game events on May 26, 2005 (as recorded on the game's official website), Morpheus plants a code bomb in a water treatment facility (it has been repeatedly stated that this specific location is somehow important on a deeper level). After planting the bomb, he realizes he is being hunted by the enigmatic, masked figure known as the Assassin. Morpheus is barely able to escape the treatment facility; however, upon his leaving, the Assassin bends the code of the Matrix and emerges from a vent in the wall. Morpheus is caught off-guard and is unable to dodge the Assassin's bullets. He dies from gunshot wounds. As with Neo and Trinity, Morpheus' remains in the real world have yet to be found. However, during Chapter 6.2, a Live Event states that EPN controller Shimada and Zion operative Ghost manage to identify recent traces of the captain's beacon for Morpheus' post-war hovercraft, the Nabonidus. This was however, later proved to all be a part of a clever ruse orchestrated by the exiled sentinel leader, The General. Some players argued against the death of the character Morpheus as the Matrix now provides an "Emergency Jack-Out" upgrade for redpills, eliminating the permanent death that previous redpills experienced if killed within the Matrix before the Truce. This feature could save a redpill's life with no fatal injuries. However, it was later revealed that the Assassin's bullets had contained a new form of code encryption, named a "kill code", which bypassed this technology. These kill codes are explained to be extremely difficult to produce and usually require a direct sample of the subject's residual self image data, thus making them extremely rare and only used in the most extreme and specialist of circumstances. However, rumors and the popular belief of a faked death still run rampant, largely based on the fact that prior to Morpheus' assassination a few select redpills were sent an email stating that he would likely have to "fade away" to lay low. Also, in the aftermath of the Assassin's downfall, it is discovered that the his gun and bullets, which contained several kill codes for key figures, are missing. It was never directly confirmed but many believe these were in the possession of the later turned rogue Zion controller, Anome. In April 2007, an RSI transmission appearing to be that of Morpheus appeared throughout the city at random claiming that Neo is still alive and that the Machines have him captive. However, these transmissions have since been revealed to be nothing more than a fabrication made by the Exile known as The General, planning to sow dissent amongst the redpills of Zion and the Machines. In January 2008, an unknown entity known only as the "Intruder" was detected inside The Matrix. His purpose is currently unknown, but he has been known to look for the General's Morpheus Simulacra. He finds said simulacra during Cinematic 9.2 of The Matrix Online story. The Intruder becomes disgusted at the program's existance, and alludes to maybe be looking for the "real" Morpheus--whose death is still shrouded in mystery. Agents wear dark green business suits, lined with a yellow material, black dress shoes, square sunglasses with a red tint, and a communication earpiece to inform them of any disturbances within the system. These features are copied from the attire for plainclothes agents of the United States Secret Service, which investigates computer fraud in the US, as well as those of the Men in Black conspiracy or the stereotypical G-Man/FBI official. Matrix Agents carry Desert Eagle handguns in shoulder holsters that are concealed beneath their suits. In addition to proficiency in the use of firearms, all Agents are masters of martial arts and hand-to-hand combat. Agents are programmed to be extremely agile, allowing them to perform superhuman feats such as leaping incredible distances. They can briefly move at speeds fast enough to dodge bullets from a gun, at least in most circumstances; a shot from a gun in contact with the Agent will hit its mark, and they can't dodge rapid-fire such as that from a “Minigun” as seen in the original Matrix. They also seem to be impervious to pain, or at least have an extremely high tolerance to it; for instance, when Neo shoots one Agent with the aforementioned minigun, he shows no visible reaction to several bullets ripping through his arm, going down only when he suffers a head shot. Agents also have superhuman strength. One is observed tearing a car's roof off with one hand, and they can also generate enough power in their punches and kicks to punch through solid concrete. Agents also seem significantly less fazed by punches and kicks than a normal human being would be, although a sufficiently strong attack to a vital body area can still stagger them. Agents do not seem to have bodies of their own in the Matrix; instead they gain physical form by taking over humans in pods directly connected to the Matrix (Zion rebels broadcasting from hovercrafts are not susceptible to possession). When this host has served its purpose, they can possess someone else, leaving the person somewhat disoriented, as demonstrated in one of the Matrix graphic novels  as well as Enter The Matrix. Even if the host is killed, they can simply transfer themselves into another body to continue their operations. Thus, even on the rare occasion that Zion rebels are actually able to "kill" an Agent, they only destroy the body it is in, and the Agent-program will "body-hop" to a new human host nearby, making it very difficult for humans to destroy an Agent permanently. This makes heavily populated areas of the Matrix (i.e. marketplaces, the freeway) extremely dangerous, because anyone in the surroundings could be overwritten by an Agent. All these abilities make Agents extremely dangerous opponents, virtually impossible to eliminate permanently. All Zion hovercraft crewmembers know that, upon encountering one, they should simply run away and try to escape, not only from the Agent, but from all nearby humans who could be potential hosts. According to Morpheus, in the time before Neo was freed from the Matrix, every human that had stood their ground against an Agent was killed. Morpheus and Neo fought Agent Smith in the first movie of the trilogy, and both were defeated by Smith, but were not killed. Once Neo could harness his abilities as the One, Agents posed no threat to him, and he could defeat a trio of Agents with ease. It is implied in the game Enter the Matrix that one of the main reasons for Neo being able to defeat Agents was his ability to focus enough to move quickly for far longer periods than normal rebels; this is the main cause of a player character's difficulty in fighting Agents, since when the player is outside bullet time the Agents are able to dodge and counter all hand-to-hand attacks. Morpheus has been fortunate enough to stand against two Agents (Smith and Johnson) during the trilogy and live to tell the tale, though he was defeated soundly by Smith (who was probably limiting the lethality of his attacks, as he wanted to capture the high-ranking infiltrator alive), and only overcame Johnson due to the nature of the encounter: he did not need to wear down his opponent, merely fling him from the top of the speeding semi on which they were fighting. Even so, he nearly suffered the same fate himself, and was only given the chance to turn the tables by the unexpected arrival of Niobe on the scene. Niobe has defeated an Agent, but like Morpheus, there were extenuating circumstances: the encounter took place onboard a cargo plane in the skies above the MegaCity; Niobe lowered the rear cargo ramp and knocked Agent Johnson from the plane. Ghost has also defeated a single Agent during a raid on a nuclear power plant, again by making use of unique circumstances of the encounter. Agent Johnson challenged him in the control room of the plant; he then damaged one of the high-voltage servers with small arms fire and threw his opponent into it, electrocuting him. In the first Matrix movie, Agents Jones (Robert Taylor) and Brown (Paul Goddard) are credited as Agent Smith's "sidekicks". Smith appears to be the leader of their Agent unit, and is seen giving them orders (such as "Find them and destroy them!") which they obey. However, Smith is given at least one order (or at least a forceful suggestion) by Jones ("order the strike"), and there appears to be some resentment or disagreement between the three at times. Jones and Brown undergo little character development, and do not appear in the sequels, though they are occasionally seen in The Matrix Online. They are mostly silent but brutal accomplices to Smith, for instance holding Neo down so Smith can insert a probe through his navel. Brown's significant scenes include chasing Trinity across the rooftops in the opening sequence. He attempts to shoot her but misses several times. Brown is also present in the scene where Morpheus is interrogated, injecting a truth serum into Morpheus's neck. Brown is ordered by Smith to check Neo for life signs after Smith has shot Neo: Brown pronounces Neo dead. He is last seen fleeing from Neo along with Jones after Smith's destruction. Jones is less prominent than Brown in the first movie, though he shoots and almost succeeds in killing Neo. He stands above the stricken Neo, uttering the line "Only human," before being shot himself by Trinity. From this it seems Jones holds humanity in the same contempt as Smith. Jones is seen holding Brown back when Neo is about to destroy Smith in the end of the film, and he is last seen running away from Neo, along with Brown. A rogue Agent can be a very dangerous program. When Smith, the strongest of them all, was destroyed by Neo at the end of The Matrix, his programming instructed him to return to the Source, the Machine mainframe computer, to be destroyed or stored. However, because of Neo's attack, something changed in Smith that allowed him to defy his programming. The change in Smith also disconnects him from the system, setting him "free" from his duties, in effect. This change makes Smith an "Exile" program without purpose. Smith's programming also takes on some of Neo's abilities as The One, such as the ability to withstand dramatic damage, and fly. However, since Smith is not in truth a complete autonomous being with the ability to choose a new purpose for himself, Smith becomes sociopathic. The rogue Smith begins to behave like a virus himself, making copy after copy of himself using humans and other programs in the Matrix, all of them with one purpose based on his old Agent programming, which was now corrupted. The copies would have the memories and special abilities of any assimilated programs, such as the Oracle's ability to see the future. Smith's ability to copy himself onto others may be a sort of corruption of his original ability to move from host body to host body before Neo's attack. No one, not even other Agents, were immune to his attacks; if Smith possessed an Agent's body, the Agent could simply take over another one (as seen in Reloaded), but this was nullified when Smith took over every human and program in the Matrix. Gray was one of several Agents trapped in the Matrix during the infestation known as Smith. His program was overwritten with new code, executing instructions which conflicted with his primary architecture. When Smith was defeated and Smith's program was withdrawn from the system, Gray was freed, but his ordeal was not yet over. The Machine Civilization is run by cautious protocols, and there was still some chance that the Smith code had found a place to shelter within the system, or within an RSI. Agents that had been exposed to Smith were quarantined within the Matrix during the reset — something that is usually never done. Bluepills have their connections to the system attenuated so they never notice the event, and Exiles can seek shelter in a construct, but Agents have no such recourse. Those trapped in the system during the reset were literally turned inside out as their code was deconstructed and recompiled with a vicious error-checking routine. Even afterward, he has not been allowed to return to the Source, instead relegated to a buffer system created during the reboot — a gateway construct which acts as a Machine analog to the Merovingian's Mobil Avenue Station. In some ways he is almost an Exile, but for the fact that he believes he will eventually be able to return to the Source. Due to his current situation, Agent Gray was selected to act as recruiter and Controller for human beings that the Machines believe can assist them in controlling the Matrix. Like all Agents he is normally dispassionate and aloof, with a precise manner of speaking, but his forced dealings with humans have left him with somewhat more understanding of them than most Agents. When dealing with humans, he uses many euphemisms, as he has found that humans often prefer not to say what they really mean. Death is “cessation of awareness.” Stealing is “expeditious acquisition.” He addresses humans by their gender title and bluepill last name (e.g. "Mister Anderson"), and seems to have a foolproof way of knowing this information about every human he speaks to. Though Gray resented his assignment greatly at first, he has come to appreciate the fact that he is better at dealing with humans than most other machine Agents. Although he does not enjoy interacting with humans, the fact that he is efficient at it gives him a sense of pride. In the first film, she is a mysterious but powerful figure, incongruously depicted as a cheerful old lady who has a penchant for smoking cigarettes and baking cookies. She possesses the power of foresight, which she uses to advise and guide the humans attempting to fight the Matrix's system. Later, she is revealed to be a sapient program who is integral to the very nature of the Matrix itself. Whether her power of prediction is deterministic or not is a concept given much treatment in all three films. She herself claims that she lacks the ability to see past her own choice, explaining that choices are not understood by the person who makes them. It becomes clear in the films that her power cannot be used to predict the ultimate actions of Neo, who possesses genuine free will once he defies the Architect. Her power of foresight, on the other hand, is not a foresight, but rather a calculation; The Architect revealed The Oracle to be "a program designed to investigate the human psyche"; thus, allowing The Matrix to become more accustomed for the majority of the human population to accept. The foresight only applies in the most fundamental levels; such as her warning to Neo about "breaking the vase" in the first movie. In further levels, she only exhibits a trait for predicting events directly relevant to the nature and/or programming of The Matrix, and natural human responses according to the level she knows them; this is most clear in her prediction of Neo's choice between Morpheus' life and his own. While The Oracle knew that The Agents would be searching for Morpheus as he was searching for 'The One', and seeing Cypher's actions and reactions (such as his conversation with Agent Smith), she predicted the most likely event. Another example is her prediction about Neo's choice in the second movie, The Matrix Reloaded; she basically had existed throughout five versions, and regardless of The One's ability to exhibit free will, she had experienced a series of events that had and would occur and push The One, "inexorably" (as The Architect put) to the Source. The Oracle is played by Gloria Foster in The Matrix and The Matrix Reloaded, and by Mary Alice in The Matrix Revolutions and the video game (Enter the Matrix). In The Matrix Revolutions and Enter the Matrix it is explained that Kamale and Rama Kandra, the parents of Sati, traded with the Merovingian, giving the Oracle's termination code in exchange for their daughter's passage into the Matrix as an Exile via the Trainman. In reality, Mary Alice played The Oracle because Gloria Foster died of complications from diabetes before her role in Matrix Revolutions was shot; however the change in actresses led to a powerful development in the character of the Oracle that might not have been present otherwise, as it allowed insight to her relation to the nature of choice and the consequences of one's choices. In the third Matrix movie, the Oracle hints at her true purpose, which is to bring imbalance, rather than balance, to the equations that form the Matrix. In that she is opposed to her counterpart, The Architect, who brings balance to the equations that form the Matrix. The Oracle's purpose is to aid The One and the humans following him by means of the Prophecy (predicting the victory of the One and the fall of the machines), not in order to bring down the Matrix, but rather so that they can voluntarily disconnect themselves from the system, ensuring its stability while preventing its destruction. As discovered by Neo, the prophecy is "just another system of control." The role of the Architect is then to reunite the One with the Source and bring about the destruction of Zion. The pair together thus ensure that neither the humans nor the machines ever achieve a permanent victory. This Yin-Yang relationship itself is a form of balance between opposing forces, so it becomes obvious that the Architect and the Oracle are the two balancing forces of the Matrix itself: the fallible human factor and the logic of the machines. This idea is even hinted at in the films as the Oracle is wearing yin-yang earrings throughout the third film. This process of balance between opposing forces is even more realized in the conflict between Smith and Neo at the end of the third Matrix movie, when they literally annihilate one another, like a collision between matter and anti-matter. Since the Oracle and the Architect are the Yin and Yang for the Matrix itself, they both must exist for the Matrix to exist. So when Smith took over the Oracle, he became a threat to the very existence of the Matrix itself. In the first Matrix movie, Agent Smith revealed that the first Matrix was a failure because it was too perfect. This would likely have been a system run only by the Architect. And so by adding the Oracle, who unbalanced the equations and brought the human factor to the otherwise perfect world, the system became stable, and so the final Matrix was formed. In the final two films, the Oracle succeeds in unbalancing the Matrix (seeing the simultaneous rises of both Neo and Smith) to the extent that it is almost destroyed. However, in so doing, she manages to bring about a resolution in which the machines and the humans can coexist in peace. The Architect is the program that created the Matrix and oversees its function. As a program of the Matrix, he is artificial, but this is much more noticeable than with other programs. Unlike most other programs, the Architect is extremely mechanical in his actions - he speaks in long logical chains of reasoning, utilizing several connectors such as "ergo" and "thus", and has little variance in his tone of voice. He also has little facial expression beyond smirks and glares, but does exhibit emotion on limited occasions, such as regret, annoyance and arrogance. The Architect's first attempt at a Matrix was a utopia, but it failed miserably and many human lives were lost when the inhabitants refused to accept such a world. The Architect redesigned the Matrix to reflect human history and culture, but it still failed. The solution to this problem was discovered by the Oracle: a version of the Matrix that gave humans the subconscious choice of accepting it. This version was accepted by nearly 99% of all test subjects. So the Matrix was rewritten to allow subjects to subconsciously choose whether or not they wanted to be a part of it. However, the small percentage of humans that did not accept the Matrix would inevitably increase and become a threat to it. Despite this problem, this threat was not unexpected and thus, to some extent, could be controlled, leading to the cycle described in the films. In the third film, the Oracle explains to Neo that the true purpose of the Architect is to balance the mathematical equations that make up the programming of the Matrix, and he is unable to see the world as anything beyond a series of equations. It is also because of this that he is unable to comprehend choice and free will and cannot see the results of such choices as they are nothing more than variables in an equation to him.