List of Matrix series characters

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This is a list of characters from The Matrix franchise universe. Many of the characters listed here have names reflecting certain aspects of them, such as their status, personality, or role.

Introduced in The Matrix[]

Main article: The Matrix

Apoc[]

Apoc (played by Julian Arahanga) is a crew member of the Nebuchadnezzar in The Matrix.

Agent Brown and Agent Jones[]

Main article: Agent (The Matrix)

Choi and DuJour[]

Choi (played by Marc Gray) is assumedly a bluepill who appears in the first movie buying illegal software from Neo, for which Choi pays $2,000 in cash. Choi, his latex-clad girlfriend DuJour (played by Ada Nicodemou), and several unnamed and unspeaking friends arrive at Neo's door after he had been mysteriously told to "follow the white rabbit" through his computer. When Neo notices that Dujour has a tattoo of a white rabbit on the back of her left shoulder, he accepts their offer to go with them to a goth club, where he is approached by Trinity. Going to the club and subsequently waking up late for work the following day set the stage for the rest of the film, though Choi, Dujour, and their friends are never seen or alluded to again.

Much of Choi's dialogue foreshadows the rest of the film: "I know. This never happened. You don't exist", "You need to unplug", and "Hallelujah. You're my savior, man. My own personal Jesus Christ."

These names would appear to be inspired by French language; "Choi" and "DuJour" resembles the French phrase "Choix du jour", meaning "Choice of the day".[1]

Cypher/Mr. Reagan[]

Mr. Reagan (a.k.a. Cypher), played by Joe Pantoliano is a central character in The Matrix. In the film, he regrets being "unplugged" and entering the real world. He betrays the crew of the Nebuchadnezzar, offering to give up Morpheus to the Agents in exchange for being inserted back into the Matrix. In the climax of the film, after the visit to the Oracle, he exits the Matrix and murders members of the crew by "unplugging" them. As he is about to kill Neo and Trinity, Tank kills him.

Dozer[]

Dozer (played by Anthony Ray Parker) is the pilot of the Nebuchadnezzar.

Morpheus[]

Main article: Morpheus (The Matrix)

Mouse[]

Mouse (played by Matt Doran) is a crew member of the Nebuchadnezzar.

In the film, Mouse is the youngest crew member of the Nebuchadnezzar and the programmer of the virtual reality training simulation program. One of his stand-out scenes occurs when he is discussing to Neo whether the Nebuchadnezzar’s food tastes like “Tastee Wheat” (a brand of cereal, posters of which can be briefly seen in the train stations shown in The Matrix Revolutions), and adds to the theme of subjective reality by suggesting that the flavor associated with both is not the ‘true’ flavor, but the Machines’ error. He is the creator of the program Woman in the Red Dress, which is used as a distraction in part of Neo’s training. He is a very eager young man, excited to see the possibility that Neo could be the one to end the war. He also offers Woman in the Red Dress in a private session to Neo saying, “To deny our impulses is to deny the very thing that makes us human”.

Mouse is the first victim of Cypher’s betrayal of the crew. As Agent-led SWAT team members storm the building used by Neo and the others as an entry/exit point, Mouse attempts to stop their initial approach wielding dual automatic shotguns (custom made for the film[2]), but is killed by the police.

Neo[]

Main article: Neo (The Matrix)

Neo (born as Thomas A. Anderson, also known as The One, an anagram for "Neo") is the protagonist of the Matrix franchise. He was portrayed as a cybercriminal and computer programmer by Keanu Reeves in The Matrix Trilogy, as well as having a cameo in The Animatrix short film Kid's Story. Andrew Bowen provided Neo's voice in The Matrix: Path of Neo. In 2008, Neo was selected by Empire as the 68th Greatest Movie Character of All Time.[3] Neo is also an anagram of "one", a reference to his destiny of being The One who would bring peace.[4] There are claims that a nightclub in Chicago inspired the name of the character in the Matrix.[5][6] Neo is considered to be a superhero.[7][8][9]

Oracle[]

Main article: The Oracle (The Matrix)

Rhineheart[]

Mr. Rhineheart (played by David Aston) is Thomas Anderson's boss at the software company Metacortex.

Agent Smith[]

Main article: Agent Smith

Switch[]

Switch (played by Belinda McClory) is a member of the crew of the Nebuchadnezzar.

Unlike the mental projections of other crews, who usually wear dark clothes and sunglasses, Switch wears white clothes and yellow, translucent sunglasses. Switch and Apoc are portrayed as front-line soldiers while inside the Matrix, acting as "point" and "rear guard" in their escape from the Agents and police and providing covering fire as they make their way into the sewers. Switch's weapon of choice is a Browning Hi-Power pistol. Switch also pokes fun at Mouse, calling him "the digital pimp". Switch is killed when her mind is forcibly pulled from the Matrix by Cypher, who betrayed the crew in an attempt to return to the Matrix as a permanent resident himself. Cypher also kills Apoc and Dozer before being killed by Tank, the ship's Operator.

The character was supposedly originally meant to be a feminine character in the Matrix and a man in the real world, and they decided to change that because they thought it would confuse the audience.[10]

Tank[]

Tank (played by Marcus Chong) is the original Operator of the Nebuchadnezzar

Tank watches over not only the jacked-in crewmembers, but also the ship itself in case the Sentinels (killing machines) detect the ship. Like all Operators, Tank is a skilled programmer who can provide jacked-in crewmembers almost anything they need and guides them to and from dangerous events within the Matrix. One of his more famous lines, is when Tank meets Neo and tells him of the significance that Morpheus found Neo, "It's a VERY exciting time."

Tank dies after the events in The Matrix but before the events in the sequel, The Matrix Reloaded. The character's duties as ship's Operator are handed over to Link, who is married to Tank and Dozer's sister, Zee.

The demise of the character was reportedly due to actor Marcus Chong's salary demands and conflicts with the Wachowskis, the writers and creators of the Matrix series, leading to his removal.[11]

Trinity[]

Main article: Trinity (The Matrix)

Introduced in The Matrix Reloaded[]

Main article: The Matrix Reloaded

Architect[]

Portrayed by Helmut Bakaitis. He is the "father" of The Matrix. The Oracle states that he tries to "balance the equations" of the Matrix while she unbalances them. The character first appears in The Matrix Reloaded when Neo encounters him while looking for The Source. Originally, Sean Connery was offered the role but turned it down because he didn’t understand the story.

Captain Ballard[]

Captain Ballard (played by Roy Jones Jr.), is the captain of the Zion hovercraft Caduceus in the film The Matrix Reloaded and the video game Enter the Matrix.

Bane[]

Bane (played by Ian Bliss) is a crew member of the Zion hovercraft Caduceus in the films The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions.

Captain Mifune[]

Captain Mifune (Nathaniel Lees) is the head of Zion's Armored Personnel Unit (APU) corps.

Cas[]

Cas (played by Gina Torres) is the widow of the Nebuchadnezzar's former pilot Dozer.

Councillor Hamann[]

Councillor Hamann (played by Anthony Zerbe) is a senior member of the Zion Council. He is supportive of Neo even though, by his own admission, he does not understand the nature of Neo's abilities.

Ghost[]

Ghost (played by Anthony Wong) is the guns specialist of the Logos ship in the video game Enter the Matrix and the feature films The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions.

Ghost is described by the Wachowskis as an "ascetic Buddhist killer".[12] A student of philosophy, he quotes and/or refers to Hume, William James, Nietzsche and especially Kierkegaard. Ghost's name may be a reference to the phrase "ghost in the machine", which describes the concept of mind-body dualism.

Ghost's latest appearance was in the MMORPG The Matrix Online. Due to copyright issues with Anthony Wong[citation needed], Ghost is bald and has been completely shaven of all facial hair. Ghost, along with "the Twins", are the only recurring characters up-to-date to lack voice actors for The Matrix Online. Ghost was the first to encounter "Trinity" inside the Matrix after her death, although it was not made clear whether this Trinity was 'real' or a simulation.[13]

Keymaker[]

Main article: Keymaker

Kid[]

Michael Karl Popper (a.k.a. The Kid), played by Clayton Watson, is a Zion-dwelling self-substantiated exile, appears in The Matrix Reloaded, The Matrix Revolutions, and The Animatrix short, "Kid's Story".

Link[]

Link (played by Harold Perrineau) serves as the ship's pilot and operator for the crew of the Zion hovercraft Nebuchadnezzar, replacing Tank and Dozer.

Lock[]

Commander Jason Lock (played by Harry J. Lennix) is the supreme commander of all military defense forces of the human city Zion. His character appears in The Matrix Reloaded, Enter the Matrix, and The Matrix Revolutions.

Maggie[]

Maggie (played by Essie Davis) is a crew member on the Mjolnir (nicknamed Hammer).

Merovingian[]

The Merovingian (also known as the Frenchman) is a character in The Matrix Reloaded, The Matrix Revolutions and The Matrix Resurrections. He is portrayed by French actor Lambert Wilson in both films and voiced by Robin Atkin Downes in The Matrix: Path of Neo. He also played a prominent role in The Matrix Online role-playing game. He reappears in The Matrix Resurrections where the Merovingian is shown to have lost much of his power, prestige and sanity over the sixty years that have passed since the end of the Machine War.

Niobe[]

Main article: Niobe (The Matrix)

Persephone[]

Main article: Persephone (The Matrix)

Roland[]

Roland (played by David Roberts) is the captain of the hovercraft Mjolnir. He appears in the feature films Reloaded, Revolutions and the video games Enter The Matrix and The Matrix: Path of Neo.

Seraph[]

Seraph is described as the personification of a sophisticated challenge-handshake authentication protocol which guards the Oracle. He is portrayed by Collin Chou. As a challenge handshake authentication protocol, Seraph is effectively a login screen that fights the user to authenticate their identity. The role was initially offered to Michelle Yeoh, but she declined due to a scheduling conflict. The character was changed to a male, with Jet Li being offered a role. As Li declined the role,[14] Chou signed on.

The Twins[]

Main article: Twins (The Matrix)

The twins (portrayed by identical twins Neil and Adrian Rayment), are henchmen of the Merovingian. They are believed to be older versions of Agents from a previous iteration of the Matrix, before they became "Exiles", or rogue programs.[15]

Zee[]

Zee (played by Nona Gaye) is a native Zionite who experienced the pain of losing her brothers Dozer and Tank (from the original Matrix film), both of whom were killed while serving aboard the Nebuchadnezzar. The role of Zee was originally given to singer/actress Aaliyah, who was killed in a plane crash on August 25, 2001, before she could complete shooting her part for The Matrix Reloaded. Many singers and actresses were named as potential replacements, including Eva Mendes, Samantha Mumba, Brandy Norwood and Tatyana Ali.[16] Ali actress Nona Gaye was named as Aaliyah's replacement in April 2002.[17] Gaye was nominated[16] for an NAACP Image Award along with co-star Jada Pinkett Smith for the role of Niobe.

Introduced in The Matrix Revolutions[]

Main article: The Matrix Revolutions

Deus Ex Machina[]

Deus Ex Machina (motion-captured by Henry Blasingame, voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson) is the central interface of the Machine City that debuts in the third movie. It consists of a vast swarm of tiny Sentinels that emerge from hatches in a frame plate to form a three-dimensional image of a human face.

Sati[]

Sati (portrayed by Tanveer K. Atwal in The Matrix Revolutions and Priyanka Chopra-Jonas in The Matrix Resurrections[18]) is a sentient program, listed for erasure in the Machine World because she serves no purpose within it. Her 'parents', Rama Kandra and Kamala, arrange to have Sati smuggled into the Matrix with the Merovingian in exchange for termination codes for the Oracle. After being brought into the Matrix through Mobil Avenue, a limbo-like space created by the Trainman, and meeting Neo, Sati is delivered into the care of the Oracle, but is overwritten by Smith. She returns to normal after Smith is destroyed and the Matrix is rebooted. Sixty years later, Sati helps to mastermind the rescue of Trinity from the Matrix, revealing that her father had been the one to design the Anomaleum where the resurrected Neo and Trinity were imprisoned.

Sparks[]

Sparks (played by Lachy Hulme) is the operator and general-purpose crewmember of the Logos in the film The Matrix Revolutions and the video game Enter the Matrix.

Trainman[]

The Trainman (played by Bruce Spence) appears in The Matrix Revolutions. He is a program in the employ of the Merovingian, tasked with transporting programs from the machine world to the Matrix when they seek exile.

Introduced in The Matrix Resurrections[]

Main article: The Matrix Resurrections

Bugs[]

Bugs (portrayed by Jessica Henwick) is the captain of the hovercraft Mnemosyne. She had long been searching the Matrix for Neo, after being set free from it as a consequence of seeing him attempt to fly. She discovered a node within the Matrix in which Neo's influence recreated a version of the events leading up to his original release from the Matrix. It is during this that she comes into contact with a version of Agent Smith - though this version is based on an amalgamation of two figures central to Neo's original rise: Agent Smith and Morpheus. Bugs frees 'Agent Smith' and he takes on the moniker of Morpheus and joins her crew, and the two continue their search for Neo within the Matrix.

The Analyst[]

The Analyst (portrayed by Neil Patrick Harris) is a program responsible for the seventh version of the Matrix. He was present when Neo sacrificed himself to stop Smith at the end of the Machine War. Following the War, the Analyst saw the potential Neo had, and witnessed as the large amount of humans being awakened from the Matrix caused an energy crisis and infighting amongst the Machines. The Analyst suggested a method in which to resolve this crisis: Neo and Trinity, who had also been recovered and repaired by the Machines, could be inserted into an Anomaly Tower, close to each other but not too close, in order to create enough energy to offset the energy lost by mass awakenings. The Analyst created the seventh iteration of the Matrix, and took on the guise of Neo's therapist in order to suppress Neo's memories and ensure that he and Trinity remain plugged into the Matrix. He also discovered Smith's continued existence thanks to his link with Neo, and opted to turn that link into a 'chain' by similarly suppressing Smith's memories and forcing him to act as Thomas' business partner. He is defeated by Neo and Trinity with some help from Smith. Neo and Trinity later visit the Analyst, thanking him for giving them a second chance with his actions and warning him against trying to take over the Matrix again.

Other[]

Main articles: Enter the Matrix, The Matrix Online, and The Animatrix

Jue[]

Jue (voiced by Pamela Segall) appears in the Animatrix film "Final Flight of the Osiris".

Shimada[]

Shimada, voiced by , is Kid's second-in-command of the organization E Pluribus Neo in the MMORPG game The Matrix Online.

Tyndall[]

Tyndall appears only in The Matrix Online, in which she is voiced by .

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ (in French) [1] Archived 2004-02-20 at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ "Interview with armourer for the first Matrix film". Retrieved 2007-04-07.
  3. ^ "The 100 Greatest Movie Characters/ 16. Neo / Empire / www.empireonline.com". Empire. Bauer Consumer Media. Retrieved 2010-04-23.
  4. ^ Nutu, Ela (2006). Black, Fiona C. (ed.). Red Herrings in Bullet-Time: The Matrix, the Bible, and the Postcommunist I*. The Recycled Bible: Autobiography, Culture, and the Space Between. Society of Biblical Lit. p. 71. ISBN 9781589831469. Retrieved 12 August 2014. the name Neo can, in fact, be an anagram for 'one'.
  5. ^ "Neo - Chicago Bar Project Review". www.chibarproject.com. Retrieved 22 February 2018.
  6. ^ "Whoa! Neo Announces Weekend DJs as Nightclub Preps Move". Retrieved 22 February 2018.
  7. ^ Lee, Nathaniel (August 13, 2018). "How one film can fix the superhero genre". Business Insider. Axel Springer SE. Retrieved 27 May 2020.
  8. ^ Sternbergh, Adam (4 February 2019). "The Matrix Taught Superheroes to Fly". Vulture.com. Vox Media. Retrieved 27 May 2020.
  9. ^ Muir, John Kenneth (2008). The Encyclopedia of Superheroes on Film and Television, 2d ed. McFarland & Company. p. 26. ISBN 978-0-7864-3755-9.
  10. ^ Fitzsimons, Tim (August 5, 2020). "Lilly Wachowski confirms 'Matrix' series is a transgender allegory". NBC News. Retrieved August 5, 2020.
  11. ^ "The Mystery of Larry Wachowski". Rolling Stone. 2006-01-12. Archived from the original on 2008-08-04.
  12. ^ Making of Enter the Matrix dialogue
  13. ^ The Matrix Online chapter 12.1
  14. ^ "Taking a Fast-Track Career in Stride". Los Angeles Times. July 4, 2001.
  15. ^ "Matrix Twins Revealed". IGN.com. 3 October 2002.
  16. ^ a b "35th NAACP Image Awards Nominations Announced". NAACP. 2004-01-08. Archived from the original on 2006-05-25.
  17. ^ "Nona Gaye Replaces Aaliyah As Zee". KillerMovies. 2002-04-20.
  18. ^ "The Matrix Resurrections: Priyanka Chopra As Sati All You Need To Know About The Film In 5 Points". NDTV.com. Retrieved 2021-12-02.
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