May 19, 2003

The Matrix Reloaded: What the Heck did the Architect Say?

Warning: this post contains SPOILERS for MATRIX RELOADED.

We’ve got what appears to be the full text of the Architect’s speach (see previous entry). But it seems fairly incomprehensible as written. Posters on Usenet seem to be figuring it out – or possibly even improving it over the movie. It seems the posters on Usenet may be making more sense out of it than the Wachowski brothers did when they wrote the film.

A poster using the screen name Johnny Newsreader has a particularly good take on it.

The choice that Neo is given is essentially this:

1) The door to his right (the one Neo doesn’t select) will reload the
Matrix, as has happened five times before. The inhabitants will stay alive
for the new version; their minds will just be reset. Hopefully by now, the
Architect will have tweaked the Matrix enough to fix the bug and, if not,
there will be a seventh Neo, a seventh Zion, etc. In this scenario, Trinity
will die (since she’ll be killed in the Matrix), her body liquified and fed
intravenously to infants, etc.

2) The door to his left (the one he chooses) does NOT reload the Matrix,
letting the bug continue. Trinity gets to live (for now), but the bug will
eventually destroy the Matrix, and everyone connected to the Matrix will
die. The machines will have to formulate alternatives to the bioelectricity
that the humans provide, as all of humanity will be dead.

In other words, door #1 reloads the matrix, the unstable element (i.e. all
the people) in Zion is wiped out, but all the individuals get to go on
living (in their little dream worlds). Door #2 doesn’t reload the matrix,
but the flaw will eventually bring down the Matrix itself, and everyone will
die who is connected to it.

What Happened at the End of the Matrix? Full Text of the Architect’s Speach to Neo

Warning: SPOILERS ahead for THE MATRIX RELOADED. The following contains a scene from the end of the film.

For all those trying to figure out what the heck happened at the end of THE MATRIX RELOADED, helpful souls on Usenet have posted what is claimed to be the full text of the scene between the Architect and Neo.

THE ARCHITECT Hello, Neo. NEO Who are you? THE ARCHITECT I am THE ARCHITECT. I created the matrix. I’ve 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 of them you will not. Concordantly, while your first question may be the most pertinent, you may or may not realize it is also irrelevant. NEO Why am I here? THE ARCHITECT 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, which despite my sincerest efforts I have been unable to eliminate from what is otherwise a harmony of mathematical precision. While it remains a burden to sedulously avoid it, it is not unexpected, and thus not beyond a measure of control. Which has led you, inexorably, here. NEO You haven’t answered my question. THE ARCHITECT Quite right. Interesting. That was quicker than the others. The responses of the other Ones appear on the monitors: Others? What others? How many? Answer me!’ THE ARCHITECT (CONT’D) 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. Again, the responses of the other Ones appear on the monitors: Five versions? Three? I’ve been lied too. This is bull.