This following theory is compiled from information on all five sources of the Matrix story:
? The Matix
? The Animatrix
? The Matrix - Reloaded
? Enter the Matrix
? The Matrix Revolutions
? The Matrix Comics
This is an attempt to decipher the directors’ vision using logic - as a machine would. Feedback is encouraged and appreciated.
I have always believed that the story the director?s were trying to show is not the story of the path of the One but the story of the Matrix itself ? it?s actually evident in the title of all their works ? besides Neo: Reloaded in an awful title. All that enigmatic psychobabble in between the CGI, munitions fire, stunt driving and wire-fu all give clues to the nature of the Matrix.
Several questions about the Matrix have been answered at the climax of both The Matrix - Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions. We now know that a program called the Architect created the Matrix. The Architect program?s purpose is to construct a perfectly balanced world to maximize both crop growth overall crop stability. Let?s not even expand it that far ? the Architect?s purpose is to make a balanced system. As pointed out by Agent Smith in the original Matrix movie, that system did not work out as planned.
Agent Smith:
Quote:
Did you know that the first matrix was designed to be a perfect human world where no one suffered, where everyone would be happy? It was a disaster. No one would accept the program. Entire crops were lost.
Architect:
Quote:
The first matrix I designed was naturally perfect. It was a work of art. Flawless. Sublime. A triumph equaled only by its monumental failure. The inevitably of its failure is apparent to me now as a consequence of the imperfection inherent in every human being. Thus, I redesigned it based on your [human] history to more accurately reflect the varying grotesqueries of your nature.
This again failed, according to the Architect since he had not factored in the human element of free will. Enter the Oracle.
Architect:
Quote:
However, I was again frustrated by failure. I have since come to realize that the answer eluded me because it required a lesser mind. Or perhaps, a mind less bounded by the parameters of perfection. Thus, the answer was stumbled upon by another, an intuitive program initially created to investigate certain aspects of the human psyche. If I am the father of the matrix, she would be undoubtedly its mother. … As I was saying, she stumbled upon a solution whereby 99 percent of all test subjects accepted the program as long as they were given a choice, even if they were only aware of that choice at a near unconscious level.
The initial choice the machines give to humans can be postulated as so: Even though this is a computer generated world where all choice and variables are known, would you accept it as real? By accepting the matrix world, your life path would be fully mapped out for you and the Oracle program would facilitate the illusion of choice within your matrix life - just as an author of a ?choose-your-own-adventure book? already knows the paths available to a reader. If you chose against it, you would immediately refuse the program and either be flushed into exile to Zion or liquefied into food for the crops. However?.
Architect:
Quote:
While this answer functioned, it was obviously fundamentally flawed, thus creating the otherwise contradictory anomaly?
Enter The One. (thunderclap)
Architect:
Quote:
Hello, Neo. I am the architect. I have been waiting for you. You have many questions and although the process has altered your consciousness you remain irrevocably human. Ergo, some of my answers you will understand and some you will not. … Your life is the sum of a remainder of an unbalanced equation inherent to the programming of the matrix. You are the eventuality of an anomaly?
The anomaly is a human who by free will decides to accept the matrix at that initial choice even though he or she knows it to be false ? why??we?ll get to the purpose of the One in a bit. Since the One is aware that the matrix is computer generated he or she is privileged with the ENTIRE primary code for the matrix? albeit at a near unconscious level. This is what gives the One power to reconstruct the matrix as he or she sees fit (if and when he or she is ready). It is not completely clear to the One at first since he or she is still human and is irrevocably instilled with free will.
From the Matrix:
Quote:
Morpheus: Do you believe in fate, Neo?
Neo: No.
Morpheus: Why not?
Neo: Because I don?t like the idea that I?m not in control of my own life.
Now let?s see what the architect thinks about the One:
Architect:
Quote:
You are the eventuality of an anomaly, which despite my sincerest efforts, I have been unable to eliminate from what is otherwise a harmony of mathematical precision. ? As you are undoubtedly gathering, the anomaly is systemic causing fluctuations in even the most simplistic equations … [and] if left unchecked, might threaten the system itself. Ergo, those that refused the program, while a minority, would constitute an escalating probability of disaster.
Remember that the purpose of the architect is to create a balanced system. If the anomaly were to suddenly be freed from the matrix and start unbalancing the system by freeing mind after mind after mind, then a measure of control would need to be initiated by the architect thereby rebalancing the system. A revolution ? in a recycling or resetting sense ? where the freed minority (Zion) would be terminated and the remaining matrix inhabitants are reset back to the initial choice presented to the human race by the machines.
Architect:
Quote:
While it remain a burden assiduously avoided, it is not unexpected and thus by no means without a measure of control which has led you inexorably here. … You are here because Zion is about to be destroyed. Its every living inhabitant terminated. Its entire existence eradicated. ? The function of the one is to now return to the source allowing a temporary dissemination of the code you carry reinserting the prime program. After which you will be required to select from the matrix twenty-three individuals, sixteen female, seven male, to rebuild Zion.
Why twenty-three individuals chosen by the One and how do they rebuild Zion? Also, wouldn’t it be more efficient if the machines just terminate the twenty-three individuals imediately after rejecting the primary program?
First - let’s say that 23 is the given number represeting the lowest percentage of the human populace that will not accept the primary matrix program.
If the twenty-three individuals chosen to rebuild Zion are a requirement of the anamoly, then they are inherent to the anamoly’s function. This would mean that the existance of Zion is inherent to the balancing of the matrix - as is the existance of the anamoly. And, since the anamoly is systemic (unavoidably part of the system), the twenty-three must remain in the system or else the anamoly would replicate throughout - for every twenty-three chosen that are killed imediately after a revolution, a new anamoly would instantly arise - unless of course - everyone is dead.
But this logic brings up another problem. How are these twenty-three individuals still in the system if they are rebuilding Zion and not in the primary matrix program? That would mean that the equation that the Architect is trying to balance would include the human populace of Zion. It would also mean that the machines would have to be partly responsible for Zion’s survival (i.e. the engineering section of Zion). This proves that Zion is technically under the control of the machines.
Now, back to the question before Revolutions came out - is Zion another virtual simulation or is it a controlled populace?
An alternate virtual simulation would not work if the twenty-three individuals were indeed the representation of the percentage that rejects the matrix - if they rejected one, why would they accept another? And if they did accept, wouldn’t the Architect assimilate all variables that led to that choice into the primary program so that it would not be rejected in the first place?
Why doesn’t the Architect maintain the lowest pecentage instead of allowing the Zion population to grow? I beleive this to be an unintentional byproduct of Zion not being a virtual simulation. There is only so much control that the machines can have over this detached populace.
But if the machines are partly responsible for Zion’s survival, wouldn’t they have they keys to their survival systems? They would…until of course Zion changes them:
From the Matrix:
Quote:
Agent Smith: Access codes to the Zion mainframe.
Cypher: No, I told you, I don’t have them. I can get you the man that does.
You may be wondering how the One can comply staying in the matrix even though he or she knows it to be false when ultimately he or she is just a tool used by the machines to control the Zion minority:
Architect:
Quote:
The matrix is older than you know. I prefer counting from the emergence of one integral anomaly to the emergence of the next. In which case, this is the sixth version. ? Your five predecessors were, by design, based on ? a contingent affirmation that was meant to create a profound attachment to the rest of your species facilitating the function of the one.
However, and this is a big HOWEVER, the Architect, as pointed out by the Oracle in The Matrix - Revolutions, cannot see past his own purpose of creating a balanced system ? even if it means destroying the machine race as well. The architect has tried five times to completely balance the program and it simply will not fathom that it cannot be completely balanced. The only possiblity left is to nullify all variables (i.e. destroy the human race) since a nullified set is inherently balanced.
So why doesn?t the Architect just pull the plug on his own? Destroying the human race is not in the parameters of the Architect progam. Having no will of its own, the Architect can only maximize and stabilize crop growth ? not destroy. Only humans recieve the gift of free will. That is why the architect needs a certain iteration of the anamoly (who is errevocably human) to carry out the dasteredly deed of nullifiying his equation. As my alter ego Johnny Flame so eloquently puts it:
Quote:
Mother made you. Mother Fuck You.
Why a certain iteration of the anamoly?
Architect:
Quote:
Hello, Neo. I am the architect. I have been waiting for you. … Your five predecessors were by design based on …, a contingent affirmation that was meant to create a profound attachment to the rest of your species, facilitating the function of the one. While the others experienced this in a very general way, your experience is far more specific. Vis-a-vis, love.
This is why the Architect interfered with Neo going directly to the source. As the sentinals destroy Zino, the Architect has found, in Neo, the version of the anamoly who will choose to save his love over his species.
Of course this would be disastrous for both races even though the Architect, blinded by his need to balance his equation, furthur manipulates Neo into believing it won?t. Less subtle clues are also laced within the longwinded conversation between Councilman Hamann and Neo in the engineering section of Zion.
From The Matrix - Reloaded:
Quote:
Hamann: These machines are keeping us alive while other machines are coming to kill us. Interesting isn?t it? The power to give life and the power to end it.
Neo: We have that same power.
Hamann: Yeah, I suppose we do?but down here, I think of all those people still plugged into the matrix. And when I look at these machines, I can?t help thinking that we are plugged into them?.If we wanted, we could smash them to bits. Although if we did, we?d have to consider what would happen to our lights, our heat, our air.
Neo: So we need machines and machines need us. Is that your point councilor?
And finally, the complete compliance of the Machine Army on Neo?s offer of peace at the end of The Matrix ? Revolutions concedes that the machines, as a race, also do not want extinction.
Which now brings us to the purpose of the One as envisioned by the Oracle.
Oracle:
Quote:
We?re all here to do what we?re all here to do. I?m interested in one thing Neo ? the future. And believe me, I know. The only way to get there is together.
It seems that the councilman and the Oracle share some common ground in the unity of man and machine. It isn?t until the end of revolutions that Oracle?s true intentions have been revealed. The One has returned to the source, the matrix has revolutioned, but Zion still stands along with the 23 from the newly rebalanced matrix that have been freed. And now a standing peace has settled between man and machine. Hopefully, these are the initial steps to cleaning the sky.
Things I really liked:
? Seeing half a million sentinals swarm into the dock.
? Having the machines equate love with insanity.
? Having Neo give Trinity the sky (only a geek/nerd would think of something so sci/fi-romantical)
? Understanding the Architect?s subtle wording to manipulate Neo into choosing to save Trinity.
? Neo?s ultimate return to the source. The futile fight with Agent Smith ended when the positive anamoly was cancelled with the negative anamoly (mutated Smith program). Canellation equals deletion. Deletion equals a return to the source. ? right before the Machine Army is about to storm the last stand at the Zion temple.
? Big Poppa’s interpretation as the Anamoly being the Smith Anti-virus.
? Realizing that the Merovingian was a tool for the audience. His speech on causality coupled with Smith’s speech on purpose is the template to many of my interpretations ? and without it, I would not have easily been able to theorize why things are they way they are in this story. How fitting that his speech ends with a woman orgasaming.
? Procreating programs. You first have to break down how a program would procreate. If we compare it to bilogical procreation (in a sexual as opposed to asexual context), we could say that procreation is the process of a new code created by two half code strings donated by two seperate parental codes a la RNA to DNA. We can apply this to the complex relationship between the anamoly, the agents, the Oracle and the Architect. Agents are responsible for keeping the integrity of the matrix (keeping the balance ? purpose inherited from the Architect program).
Morpheus (from the Matrix):
Quote:
Agents. Sentient programs that can move into anyone still hardwired to the system. They are guarding all the doors. They are holding all the keys. Inside the matrix, they are everyone and they are noone.
As such they would need to have integral knowledge of all the possible choices within the system (purpose inherited from the Oracle program) to maintain it’s stability. Wouldn’t that make the agents as powerful as the one or as omnipotent as the Oracle, you ask? Not quite. The qualifier here is “to maintian the system’s stability” whereas the One can deconstruct at will (when he or she is ready) and the Oracle can facitlitate choice, the agents are trapped in the context of only stablizing the system.
? The power of the One extending into both worlds. This is probably the deepest aspect that I found in this movie. This is actually a testament to the power of the Archtiect program…and something else. If you remember from the Architect’s speech, the One is the remainder of an otherwise balanced code. This would mean that the architect program has refined the primary code to as close to the laws of nature as possible - almost proving chaos theory. The remaining equation is the only thing that the machine cannot solve for - some beleive the balancing equation to the chaos theory would be the true name of God expressed mathamatically (as if there were any other way to express it).
