We've gotten a lot of great email from readers, with a lot of amazing explanations for what's happened in Revolutions and how it affects the overall trilogy. We know a lot of the ideas on this site are from our point of view, so some people agree with them, and some people don't. We figure it's a good idea to let our readers have a say so we can show other points of view. If the author's name is linked, they'd be interested in hearing what you think of their theory.

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Sati | The Oracle | The Anomaly | The Source | Neo's Rescue & Super Burly Brawl | Gold Code | Gold Code II | The Ending

For me, one of the most intriguing characters and the one that raised the most questions in "The Matrix Revolutions" is also one of the least seen, and the least explained. We first meet the girl when we find Neo stuck in the railway station. She exhibits a child’s natural curiosity, questioning Neo about both himself and his reasons for being in the station.

We soon learn that she is a program being smuggled from the Machine World into the Matrix for her own protection. She is a program without a purpose, and as such faces deletion. Her father has decided that he would rather see her exiled that destroyed, and as such has arranged her leave through the Mervigian. She is to stay under the protection of The Oracle.

There is no reason to suspect that there is anything different to the story until the very end of the movie. In fact, there are several points I aim to raise to argue that we are in fact given very subtle hints that she is unique. At the end of the movie, we can see that she is, in fact, very special indeed. But what exactly she is, is never revealed. But I have my theories, two to be precise.

The first of these is that she is an upgrade to The Oracle, designed by her "mother", who we learn in the station is an "interactive software engineer". I can further back this argument up by pointing out that we see her and The Oracle engaged in something we never saw The Oracle do with anybody else, make cookies. Now while this seems innocent enough, we must remember that The Wachowskis have a knack for not mincing their words, or their symbolism. The only other person we saw eating a cookie during the series was Neo, and even then, he only took one when he first met The Oracle, during his phase where he still doubted the prophecy. Perhaps I am reading too much into this, but I believe that the cookies are a method for The Oracle to pass information from her own program to another (after all, what do the cookies in your internet cache do??). The very fact that she was showing the girl how to do this suggests that The Oracle was training her, much in the same way Tank did with Neo during "The Matrix".

We have also learned that the Mervingian has been able to get to and harm The Oracle, resulting in the change in her appearance. Since the purpose of The Oracle is to provide an imbalance to The Architects program, any way to possibly upset this would prove a massive blow to the structure of The Matrix. If there is no imbalance, we would be left with a model not unlike the original Matrix, a "perfect world, a harmony of mathematical balance, a feat equalled only by its failure". Thus, a new, unfamiliar structure would be required to keep this imbalance in play. An upgrade would be required. Finally, the girl was granted something we had only seen given to The Oracle, the protection of Seraph.

My second theory comes from the very end of the movie. We are shown a scene of a wonderfully beautiful dawn right after the deja vue. The Oracle asks the girl if it is for Neo, and the girl nods. This implies that she has a great power over the Matrix, capable of changing it as she wishes. We were told of someone like this before.

"A man was born into the Matrix, who found that he could change the world around him as he pleased." These are the words spoken by Morpheous as he explained the story of The One to Neo in the first movie. Now this statement actually has a contradiction in it, in that we are later told that nobody is ever born into the Matrix, but plugged in once they reach a properly mature state in The Fields. This would imply that the original One was a program, and this is a point backed up by The Architect. He told Neo that The One had to find an affinity with humanity, suggesting that this is something that needs to be learned. He also told him that code would have to be "returned" to The Source, but since Neo was human, when was the code that would need to be returned placed in him? I believe that what was witnessed in the deja vue was the creation of the seventh Matrix, and that all along Neo was never the One, that the One had to be a program, but that Neo was yet another failsafe system place to ensure the safe passage of the "real One" into The Matrix. If Neo was the One, and the one was, as Morpheous put it, capable of "[changing] the world around him as he pleased", why did Neo never exhibit this ability? Neo could do no more than the others, albeit to a greater degree.

Maybe the Wachowskis decided to include the old idiom of "handing the world back to the kids" to their story?

My take on this is that the Oracle was taking a gamble. She's a program with a specific purpose, but somewhere along the line she started to *really* understand humans & perhaps hope for (extrapolate the possibility for) a different kind of relationship between man & machine. Because of her role in the Matrix she has a) the power to set players along a path, and b) the freedom to do it in her own way.

Neo didn't choose the door to the Source. He chose Trin. Why? Because he loved her. The other Ones all went to the Source, but this time something was different. And that something was set into motion by the Oracle via Trin (from 1st movie).

I don't think the Oracle created Smith -- in fact, I think Smith is a "normal" part of the Matrix (er, well, the anomaly part) that just gets deleted when the One goes to the Source & the Matrix gets reloaded -- but I do think she foresaw the possibility of Smith becoming a virus, and realized that the conditions were ripe for a change. Even in letting Smith overwrite her she was simply doing what needed to be done to get the result she wanted: the defeat of a superior problem thru the cooperative effort of man and machine. She prompts Neo at the right moment so that he makes that final choice or comes to that final awareness of what needs to be done.

The Matrix itself doesn't allow for choice. But both humans & machines had a choice in the final accounting. If the humans had continued to fight when the sentinels stopped, there would've been a different outcome. If the machines had killed Neo when he showed up in 01, there would've been a different outcome. But of course they had a choice in these instances, they only moments of choice they've ever really had.

I interpreted the Architect's statement ("you took a great risk") to be acknowledgement of what she'd done in taking a gamble. She set up the Matrix to fail because she believed another outcome was possible. Ultimately it COULD have failed, because there was always the possibility that either man or machine would make a stupid move when restraint & consideration was needed most, but isn't trust the biggest gamble of all?

The Oracle set all of this in motion, but she could only predict this particular outcome, not guarantee it..

Smith has always believed himself to be superior to Neo. Before Neo realized he was the One, Smith was superior. Before Smith realized Neo was the One, Neo was superior. Following Smith's destruction and recreation, neither is superior; they are equal in strength but different in nature (human versus artificial).

Smith is Neo, or Neo's opposite, the result of the Architect trying to balance the equation. The Architect rescued Smith from deletion after Neo's victory in M1, using Neo's code that had imprinted onto Smith to alter Smith's avatar, hence Smith's resistance to deletion and his reinsertion into the Matrix as "a new man, so to speak": the Negative One. The Architect knew that for the equation to balance, Neo and Smith would be required to meet and annihilate, and this is where my only unanswered question arises: how did Neo separate his mind from his body and arrive in the Train Station?

But back on track... As the Architect and Neo concurred in Reloaded, "the problem is choice". No matter how much damage Smith and Neo do to each other, neither can destroy the other without the other's consent. Strength of mind prevents their destruction regardless of how badly beaten they are.

Recall that the Source needed to sample/absorb Neo's code in order to reload the Matrix. The code that Neo had imprinted onto Smith obviously was not all of Neo; the machines needed more. However, when Neo was jacked into the Matrix from 01 (Zero-One), the machines had access to his code.

The machines could not yet destroy Neo and reload the Matrix though. Smith had grown beyond the machines' control, because following Neo's and Smith's initial encounter and the Architect's involvement with Smith, Neo was no longer the only piece of the anomaly -- Smith is the other half of that anomaly that is now threatening the catastrophic system crash about which the Architect warned.

Thus, when Smith took over Neo, the machines had the code of the anomaly both as beginning (Neo) and end (Smith), and they had everything they needed to destroy the anomaly of The Matrix, Version 6, and reload an enhanced, more efficient, and more reliable Matrix: Version 7.

("Conversion: Software Version 7.0! ... How do you control disorder?" Suddenly System of a Down's "Toxicity" is an incredibly appropriate song. But the answer is simple: disorder is controlled by the illusion of choice. Convince someone that they are making their own decisions, and they will serve willingly without even knowing it.)

The Oracle's part in this reaction is vital. Only she has the ability to encourage Neo with exactly what he needs to hear, or exactly what anyone needs to hear for that matter. Recall the dialogue before the Super Brawl began:

Neo: It ends tonight.
Smith: I know it does. I've seen it! 
That's why the rest of me is just
going to enjoy the show, because we 
already know that I'm the one that 
beats you!

Now recall Smith's maniacal laugh in the Oracle's kitchen after he overtakes the Oracle -- he has acquired the Oracle's foresight. It is through this foresight that the Oracle, from within, convinces the collective Smith that the Oracle-Smith would be the one to defeat Neo. It is also the Oracle, speaking from within Smith, who says, "Everything that has a beginning has an end, Neo", and it is at that point that Smith recognizes something is wrong, and Neo recognizes that the Smith he has been fighting is the Oracle.

There was never any requirement for Neo to be taken over specifically by the Oracle's Smith. Rather, she needed to be there to tell Neo what he needed to hear in order that he would choose his end, resulting in Smith's end.

Finally, the question of Neo's final destination at the end of Revolutions arises. We witness the destruction of Neo both inside and outside the Matrix... or do we? The Smith that took over Neo has completely annihilated; they were opposites, so their beings destroyed each other. Neo's body outside the Matrix is presumably dead; white light emanating from it can not be a good thing.

But what of Neo's intellect, his mind, the source of all his strength? There is still room for Neo to survive. The replication and annihilation processes, as well as being directly loaded into the Matrix from 01, probably all had significant effects on Neo's being. A new question now arises: does Neo still "remain irrevocably human", as the Architect once stated, or has the process so altered his consciousness that he now may exist only as software? Certainly, the machines had the ability to download Neo's intellect, and even to revive him as a program inside the Matrix.

Will Neo survive and revive for an indefinite term in the Matrix?

Morpheus: I do not believe it to be a
matter of hope; it is simply a matter 
of time.
Lock: Hope is an indulgence I don't 
have time for.
Oracle: I suspect so... 

In Reloaded, the oricle says "the path of the one ends at the source", and neo replies "the machine mainframe" and she says "yes". This means that the machine mainframe is the source, simple.

So i went to dictionary.com to find out all the possible meanings for mainframe, the one that makes most sense for the matrix is as follows : "the part of a computer (a microprocessor chip) that does most of the data processing; the CPU and the memory form the central part of a computer to which the peripherals are attached".

NEO can see the source. In Revolutions when he sees the golden code, he is seeing the machine processes. The Central Processing Unit (CPU) of the machines is the MACHINE CONCIOUS. NEO can see all the processes and thoughts of the machines. He is able to "Hack" (symbolised by NEO being a hacker in the matrix world) into these processes and rewrite them, and change them.

Why is neo able to see the source code?

Simple. Neo has two consiousnesses. He has two minds.

When Neo comes back from his encounter with the architecht, his mind is so focused on reaching trinity who is falling to her death. When Neo is able to fly, and change the rules of the matrix, he is interacting with the basic programming of the matrix program ( the green code of the matrix). He is focusing so hard to fly faster to reach trinity in time that he reaches past that code and reaches the code underneath that, the processes which process the green code.

Maybe because he encountered the architect and went through the white light when opening the door or maybe because he was focusing so hard on saving trinity that something changed in Neo. Neo is constantly changing and evolving and after a certain point something happens to him.

Neo's Consious is split into two. His consious now runs through the machines processes (gold code) and also his mind in the real world.

At the end of M2 when Neo stops the sentinals he is interacting with the other half of his consious which is running through the sentinals. Its a tricky idea to imagine but think about it for a couple of minutes.

When Neo stops the sentinals his whole mind is meeting again which results in him collapsing and his "real "world mind being sent through the machines to mobile ave (which means place of limbo) when Trinity comes to rescue Neo she brings him mind, back into the matrix, and then from there, back into his real world brain.

Now Neo is ready to touch the source, and that is my explination for his being able to.

Neo's Rescue from the Merovingian: Revolutions mimics a minor greek myth about Persephone, the wife of Hades, ruler of Hell. When the fabled musician Orpheus's beloved wife dies, he descends to the depths of Hades (Hell) to rescue her, and the passion of his music is so powerful that the guardians of Hades let him pass. Persephone, who was generally unhappy with her life in hell, is so moved by Orpheus that she pleads to her husband to let them go.

Trinity also travels to Hell ("Hel Club") to confront it's ruler (the Merovingian) and plead for the life of her beloved. Even though Morpheus and Seraph are there, Trinity's deep passion is the only thing that ultimately rescues Neo. Notice that Persephone is moved to plead for Trinity's case, like she pleaded for Orpheus.

This has interesting possibilities for the Trainman and Mobil Ave. We already know that "Mobil" is an anagram for "Limbo", a place between Heaven and Hell "where souls await judgment". Mobil is analogous for the River Styx, the border between Hades and the world of the living. Thus, the Trainman is Charon, the Ferryman of Styx. It is said that if you died but did not "pay the ferryman" you were doomed to wander as a ghost. Both Neo and Sati were in Mobil, trapped between life and death ("You should be dead, but apparently you weren't ready for that either..."). Sati's parents paid the fee, but Trinity's passion allowed for a one-time exception.

The Meaning of the Super Burly Brawl: Neo and Smith are exact opposites. They are Good and Evil, Light and Dark. Together they are the most powerful forces in and out of the Matrix, and yet both are dominated by their Purpose, each to destroy the other. As Smith says in Reloaded:

"Without purpose we would not exist. It is purpose that created us. Purpose that connects us. Purpose that pulls us, that guides us, that drives us. It is purpose that defines. Purpose that binds us." Purpose is a guide and also a burden. They fight and fight, yet neither can ever win.

"Why? Why do you do it?" asks Smith. "Why keep fighting?" Neo replies: "Because I choose to." Their Purpose is the direct result of their Choice; the fight is in fact their own creation. As long as they choose to resist each other, the Brawl will last forever. "No one can see beyond their choices." When we give up our choice, we lose our purpose and also our direction, which is a terrifying feeling that we are losing control. When Neo relaxes, gives in to his destiny, Smith controls him and consumes him and the opposites are joined. They both disappear in a mysterious white light. (It is not because the machines unplugged Neo, which happened after the fact.) Thus the Matrix is reloaded, reborn, but it as a better place. It is now Sati’s world.

Purpose and Sati are also opposites. Sati means "being", which is simply a lack of purpose. We can "be happy" or "be active", but if we have no purpose, we simply exist, we are "being." Sati is also a type of Buddhist transcendence, which oddly enough, was reached by joining two conflicting opposites. During meditation, when you dropped any attachments with outside world and stopped fighting against the forces within yourself, you reach Sati, a supreme bliss.

To tie this all up: Neo went through a process of giving up his worldly attachments: first his home, his friends, then his sight and senses, and finally the woman he loved more than anything else. None of it ultimately mattered as much as winning a true peace with the machines. With nothing left to hold him back, Neo entered the Matrix, a world inside his head, a kind of meditation. There Neo fought with Smith, his own dark side. When Neo finally joined with Smith, two became the One and they transcended. Because Smith had multiplied to every corner of the Matrix, Neo’s transcendence was also the Matrix’s transcendence. Neo spread like a ghost over the Matrix, and the code he carried reloaded it. Only this time, the Matrix was different, more peaceful and more beautiful.

All because Neo stopped fighting. So the entire trilogy is basically a huge metaphor for the Beatles song "Let It Be."

First-off, I'm not sure if I believe this theory or not myself, but I thought it was interesting nonetheless. This theory attempts to explain Neo's ability to see the world in gold light after he becomes blind in Revolutions.

Throughout the trilogy, Neo gains more and more abilities. This is not only apparent in the Matrix, but in the real world as well. In the Matrix, Neo flies, stops bullets, and is faster and stronger than everyone else (except Smith). He can do all of these things because he is the One, the "result of the remainder of an unbalanced equation inherent to the programming of the Matrix; the eventuality of an anomaly." Outside of the Matrix, Neo destroys sentinals and can see the world in gold light. The Oracle explains his ability to destroy sentinals by telling him that his power extends back all the way to the Source (the machine mainframe), and that he manifested that power to destroy the sentinals. After Neo becomes blind, he can see the supposed real world in gold light. This ability is never completely explained in the trilogy, which is why there are many theories that try to explain it.

My theory: The gold light that Neo can see in the real world is actually the code of another Matrix, or level of the Matrix. Thus, the world where Zion exists is really part of a Matrix, or a "Real World Matrix."

There are many instances in the movies that support this. The Oracle could easily have been lying when she told Neo why he could destroy the sentinals (she has avoided telling him the whole truth before (i.e. in Reloaded she doesn't tell him about the Architect)). Since he is the One, he should have power in the "Real World Matrix," as well as the normal Matrix, so he could use that power to destroy the sentinals. Also, after Neo is blinded by Bane/Smith, he can see Smith in his "gold light vision." However, Smith is just a program, existing only in the Matrix. Neo should see Bane, because he is what exists in the real world. It would make more sense here if the "Real World Matrix" existed, because Smith could appear in a Matrix. Another situation that supports the idea of a "Real World Matrix" comes in the Architect scene in Reloaded. Referring to the death of all human beings, Neo tells the Architect "You won't let it happen. You can't. You need human beings to survive." The Architect replies "There are levels of survival we are prepared to accept." I doubt that the Machines would give Neo a choice that would result in the extinction of the human race and would dramatically affect the Machine's "lives" as well. It would be much safer for the Machines if the "Real World Matrix" existed, so no matter what choice Neo made, in reality it wouldn't really matter.

If a "Real World Matrix" existed, it may not have been possible for humanity to ever be free of the Machine enslavement.

The "Gold Code" is in my opinion is simply the energy force of the machines in 01 (Machine City). That's all it is, the catch about it, the thing to bake your noodle, is why Neo can see it. But then again, I think the answer is quite obvious: Neo is the One. I have read some theories on the One, but I can't agree with them for the simple reason of them denying Neo of the power that everything in the movie conveys him to have or be about. Neo is the One; he can modify the Matrix as he sees fit, to some extent yes, of course he is limited. He can stop bullets in midair but he can't manifest them in out of air. The Matrix is based on rules, it is a simulation of real life, made to be that way so the humans would embrace it and not wake up. So that it will seem all the more "real" and less dream-like. Although a lot of big things may happen, like a man flying on the freeway, it is still small on a certain level.

This is why he can't make guns appear, because everything is based on rules of what the machines think humans will accept to be reality. Some of these rules he can bend, others he can break.. He is of great power, and it is obvious that this power extends beyond the stupendous world of the Matrix and into the real world. Hence, he can down sentinels by the dozens, he has the sight without time (vision of the future). He is a child of the system, of the Matrix; it is in him as it is in every single person born into it. His command on it is greater because of the code in him. The extra code, per say. The code that makes him the anomaly. This power has matured as he has into realizing the goal he needs to fulfill. He is now able to make a direct link with the machines, he can destroy them, and he can see them in his mind. He can see their power/energy/"coding". Think of it as wi fi and you may get my point. Thanks for reading!

Regarding the Revolutions FAQ that asks What happens at the end?, your answer is a reasonable literalist interpretation - by which I mean it is based on the idea that the Matrix trilogy portrays a fictional universe, and answers to questions can be grounded in literal facts about that universe. However, I was thinking about the symbolism of the choice of Agent Smith as Neo's nemesis, rather than Brown or Jones. I believe I can interpret the ending in a more human-centered way.

The name Smith in our culture signifies the Everyman. Examples include Jefferson Smith in the movie "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington," Winston Smith in Orwell's "1984," who represents the disenfranchised lower-class, and the common habit of anonymously signing hotel registers as John Smith.

At the end of the Matrix Neo says: "...I came here to tell you how it's going to begin. I'm going to hang up this phone, and then I'm going to show these people what you don't want them to see. I'm going to show them a world without you. A world without rules and controls, without borders or boundaries. A world where anything is possible. Where we go from there is a choice I leave to you."

Reloaded starts with everything in the matrix apparently as it was months ago. It seems as though Neo hasn't been able to show anyone the truth. However, through the course of Reloaded and Revolutions Smith takes over the virtual bodies of every living thing in the matrix. He literally becomes Every Man. Now the final confrontation takes on a different complexion.

Agent Smith asks: "Why, Mr. Anderson? Why do you do it? Why get up? Why keep fighting? Do you believe you're fighting for something? For more that your survival? Can you tell me what it is? Do you even know? Is it freedom? Or truth? Perhaps peace? Yes? No? Could it be for love? Illusions, Mr. Anderson. Vagaries of perception. The temporary constructs of a feeble human intellect trying desperately to justify an existence that is without meaning or purpose. And all of them as artificial as the Matrix itself, although only a human mind could invent something as insipid as love. You must be able to see it, Mr. Anderson. You must know it by now. You can't win. It's pointless to keep fighting. Why, Mr. Anderson? Why? Why do you persist?" To which Neo answers: "Because I choose to."

And there is the key to fulfilling Neo's promise at the end of the first movie. Smith is Everyman, and he interrogates Neo as Everyman, enabling Neo to show everyone (Everyman) what the machines don't want them to see: the true power and consequences of choice. This enables them to reject Smith, reject the 'rules and controls' of the 'neural-interactive simulation', and take control of the Matrix. Thus the reboot of the Matrix is effected by the choice of all plugged in humans to take control of their lives and destiny and create 'a world where anything is possible.'

There is also a more human-centered choice that is less radical and more in line with a literalist interpretation. When Smith takes over Neo, incorporating him into the Everyman, each plugged-in human receives part of Neo's code, just as Smith did "...some part of you imprinted onto me, something overwritten or copied...." Perhaps this imprints or copies onto every plugged-in human the power that Neo evidenced at the end of the first movie... the power to thrust Smith out of their virtual bodies and occupy them themselves. This alone wouldn't save the matrix, but coincidentally it fulfills the design of the architect in an unexpected way, effecting a "...temporary dissemination of the code [the One carries], reinserting the prime program...."