Matrix thoughts
Don't use this for Journal stuff anymore but wanted to write down some Matrix thoughts somewhere so this is as good a place as any. Cut for spoilers.
Obvious things first. Yes this is almost undoubtedly the 6th Matrix. Not only did the Architect explictly say as much in his speech to Neo, it also explains the symbolism of the number 101 seen through-out both movies. Any loop in a program that starts in zero and increases in binary would go 000, 001, 010, 011, 100, 101. Hence 101 = 6th iteration.
Neo and The One
Second most obvious thing to me is that Neo/the One is at least part program. The speech with the Architect gives two clear indications of this. Firstly he says:
"The function of the One is now to return to the source, allowing a temporary dissemination of the code you carry..."
Not "find the source" but "RETURN to the source". The source is where the One was created. In addition the phrase "The function of the One" to me implies creation to fulfill that function. And finally he says:
"Your five predecessors were by design based on a similar predication, a contingent affirmation that was meant to create a profound attachment to the rest of your species, facilitating the function of the One."
The fact that the One was designed with anything in mind is an obvious indication that the One is indeed a program. Now the question for me is - is Neo a program (and by that I mean the human body within which The One resides) too? I see two possibilites for this.
Neo & Zion as a Matrix
First possibility it that that Neo too is a program. In order for this to be true then Zion and the 'real world' must be a second Matrix running alongside the first. There are several reasons to suspect this.
The Architect says that the solution for a stable Matrix involved 99.9% of subjects accepting it. However it was never explained what was done with the 0.1% that was left. The Architect stated "those that refused the program, while a minority, if unchecked, would constitute an escalating probability of disaster". What better way to check this error than to create a second Matrix within which these people would have choices, and would have a virtual freedom whilst still being a slave to the machines in the physical world. Why eject these people from the Matrix at all? Why not simply identify them, kill them and then feed them to the other 99.9%?
Also, at the end of Reloaded Neo finds himself able to sense and in fact control the machines that exist in the Zion world. This ability could be explained as Neo simply awakening to the fact that he is still in a Matrix and he still has his powers. The fact that Agent Smith was able 'download' himself into Bane's body in Zion after taking him over in the Matrix is also a little suspicious. That a pure program may exist in the real world at all is odd, but if Bane in the 'real world' were in fact Bane in a Zion-Matrix then Smith is simply transferring his program from one Matrix to another.
Neo & Zion as the real World
I think what is more likely however is that Zion is indeed the 'real' (i.e. physical) world and that somewhere along the line The Architect figured out a way to download a program into a human mind. All humans who were freed from the Matrix have implants that effectively allow their minds to be uploaded into the Matrix, so it seems at least conceivable that the reverse process might be true. Assuming this were the case then the One is simply a program that has been downloaded into Neo.
To support this theory we have the conversation between Neo and Smith before their big fight after Neo met the Oracle. Smith states that he is unsure how he survived but that perhaps parts of Neo were copied to him, elements of code over-written. Perhaps the code that allowed the One to be downloaded into Neo was copied by Smith and this give him the ability to download his code into Bane in the real world.
I also believe that if Zion were in fact another Matrix then why would the machines have to go to so much trouble to destroy it. Rather than simulate a 3 day war on the humans, if the machines created a Zion-Matrix then why not simply reboot it when it had served it's purpose?
I do think it's obvious that the machines new about Zion all along however. If the previous One fulfilled the Prophecy then the machines freed the chosen 23 and basically "allowed" them to rebuild Zion. Zion serves as a good place to contain the 0.1% who could not exist in the Matrix. The machines wouldn't need to do anything until the number of people in Zion got to a potentially problematic point abd/or the anomaly (i.e. someone like Neo) appears within the Matrix. At which point they just download the latest "One" program into the anomaly, set off the Prophecy again and swoop in and destroy Zion. Also I think that Zion the city is left intact, it's just the humans that get wiped out. There's no way that the city we saw in Reloaded could've been built in a hundred years. It must've existed previously, either as a left over city from the way, or as the same Zion that was used in the previous iteration.
This does mean however that Neo's powers at the end of Reloaded have expanded significantly. He is now able to affect the machines in the real world too, although doing so appears to hurt him greatly. Shutting down the machines appears to shut down his own internal programming, in the same way that setting off the EMP shut down the Smith program within Bane
The Oracle
I believe that the Oracle is indeed one of the most influential programs within the Matrix. It is possible that she is the 'mother' of the Matrix although that title may indeed belong to another. Regardless she is old, and in all likelihood has seen all iterations of the Matrix occur. I believe she told the truth when she said to Neo "I'm interested in one thing Neo, the future, and believe me I know, the only way to get there is together". The Oracle wanted to break the cycle, and in order to do so she engineered the love between Neo and Trinity, and thus changed the choice Neo makes at the end of the film.
In the first film Trinity admitted that the Oracle had told her that she would fall in love, and that person would be the One. In both the first and second films the Oracle also offers Neo food which he takes. Later in the film in Merovingian's restaurant it is established that consuming food can be the equivalent of accepting new code. Thus I believe Neo is being manipulated by the Oracle in the same way. She wanted him to fall in love with Trinity so that when faced with a choice of saving humanity or saving Trinity he breaks the Prophecy and chooses Trinity.
When Seraph said "I protect that which matters most" he was telling the truth. The only hope the humans had for the cycle being broken was in fact the Oracle. If Neo had chosen to reload the Matrix then the cycle would repeat and the Oracle would have another 'the One' whom she could try to influence to break the prophecy. If however the Oracle was lost before the prophecy was broken then the cycle would've been doomed to be repeated indefinitely until someone else interfered.
Merovingian
This guy I'm not sure about. Clearly he exists now as a rogue program, but what was he before that? My personal opinion is that he was the One in a previous iteration of the Matrix. He fulfilled the prophecy but after it was done and he faced deletion he avoided it and still exists in the Matrix. I think he was manipulated by the Oracle in the same way as Neo is, only he was made to fall in love with Persephone. Several of Persephone's comments hint at this as she says to Neo "He used to be just like you" and when talking of Neo's love for Trinity she said "I used to know love like that once". She also says to Trinity "A thing such as this is not meant to last" perhaps hinting at the fact that she knows their love is 'fake' and that when Neo fulfills the prophecy it will end.
Learning that he was manipulated by the Oracle would go some way to explaining Merovingian's obvious dislike of her. The fact that he fulfilled the prophecy exactly according to the Architect's plan would also explain his belief that there is no choice, only cause and effect.
Also, I've done a little bit of research on the Merovingian name as names are obviously immensely important in both films. The Merovingian line was an ancient bloodline of French kings supposedly descended from Christ. Another possible connection to him being a previous One.
The Council
I believe there were 18 of these in Zion - 12 women, 6 men. Accounting for deaths due to old age or injury I think it's entirely probable these were amongst the original 23 (16 Women, 7 men) who were freed and allowed to rebuild Zion when the 5th "One" fulfilled the prophecy in the last iteration of the Matrix. Perhaps they know the full story and what Neo must do, perhaps they do not. If they did it would certainly explain Councillor Hamann's conversation with Neo. In it he talked about the dependance of man on machine and vice versa. Perhaps this was to an attempt to guide Neo towards the 'correct' path of choosing to reload the Matrix, and thus re-establishing that dependancy. In addition full knowledge of the Prophecy would also explain the Council's decision to let the Nebuchadnezzer leave Zion so they they could broadcast, and later on to send ships to find the Nebuchadnezzer and in turn help Neo.
Pointless Scenes
A lot of people have complained about pointless scenes in Reloaded. I don't think such a thing exists. I think every scene, and probably every line of dialogue had meaning. It's just a matter of discovering that meaning.
The Rave
I can see a couple of reasons for this. It obviously shows the defiance of Zion in the face of imminent destruction by the machines. Also, for me the scene does a good job of seperating Neo and Trinity from the rest of Zion. The Zion scene is very lustful and carnal, whereas the scene between Trinity and Neo is much more 'textbook' love to me. For me this is another possible hint that the feelings between Neo and Trinity are somewhat manafactured when compared to the genuine passion of Zion.
In addition this scene highlighted the high proportion of ethnicity within Zion. I don't think this was done for show either. If there was a war with the machines in the past who would be the survivors? One presumes that the developed western world would be the major targets and that less developed nations would be less of a priority. Hence a much higher proportion of african, asian, etc people left.
The Spoon
I've heard it said that the gift of the spoon to Neo from the Orphan was cheesy and unnecessary. It should be noted that the kid shouting after Neo & Co was the only thing that caused them to turn around and see Bane-Smith sneaking up on them. The Orphan with the spoon was clearly gifted, perhaps he had seen, dreamt or in someway sensed the assasination attempt by Bane-Smith on Neo and he sent the spoon to interfere with that.
The girl in Merovingian's restaurant
This relates to the earlier thoughts about the Oracle. Merovingian clearly demonstrated it was possible to modify a program's code by introducing new code into their system - in this case through food. I don't think it's a coincidence that the Oracle has twice fed Neo, and I think this scene hints at her manipulation of him.
Obvious things first. Yes this is almost undoubtedly the 6th Matrix. Not only did the Architect explictly say as much in his speech to Neo, it also explains the symbolism of the number 101 seen through-out both movies. Any loop in a program that starts in zero and increases in binary would go 000, 001, 010, 011, 100, 101. Hence 101 = 6th iteration.
Neo and The One
Second most obvious thing to me is that Neo/the One is at least part program. The speech with the Architect gives two clear indications of this. Firstly he says:
"The function of the One is now to return to the source, allowing a temporary dissemination of the code you carry..."
Not "find the source" but "RETURN to the source". The source is where the One was created. In addition the phrase "The function of the One" to me implies creation to fulfill that function. And finally he says:
"Your five predecessors were by design based on a similar predication, a contingent affirmation that was meant to create a profound attachment to the rest of your species, facilitating the function of the One."
The fact that the One was designed with anything in mind is an obvious indication that the One is indeed a program. Now the question for me is - is Neo a program (and by that I mean the human body within which The One resides) too? I see two possibilites for this.
Neo & Zion as a Matrix
First possibility it that that Neo too is a program. In order for this to be true then Zion and the 'real world' must be a second Matrix running alongside the first. There are several reasons to suspect this.
The Architect says that the solution for a stable Matrix involved 99.9% of subjects accepting it. However it was never explained what was done with the 0.1% that was left. The Architect stated "those that refused the program, while a minority, if unchecked, would constitute an escalating probability of disaster". What better way to check this error than to create a second Matrix within which these people would have choices, and would have a virtual freedom whilst still being a slave to the machines in the physical world. Why eject these people from the Matrix at all? Why not simply identify them, kill them and then feed them to the other 99.9%?
Also, at the end of Reloaded Neo finds himself able to sense and in fact control the machines that exist in the Zion world. This ability could be explained as Neo simply awakening to the fact that he is still in a Matrix and he still has his powers. The fact that Agent Smith was able 'download' himself into Bane's body in Zion after taking him over in the Matrix is also a little suspicious. That a pure program may exist in the real world at all is odd, but if Bane in the 'real world' were in fact Bane in a Zion-Matrix then Smith is simply transferring his program from one Matrix to another.
Neo & Zion as the real World
I think what is more likely however is that Zion is indeed the 'real' (i.e. physical) world and that somewhere along the line The Architect figured out a way to download a program into a human mind. All humans who were freed from the Matrix have implants that effectively allow their minds to be uploaded into the Matrix, so it seems at least conceivable that the reverse process might be true. Assuming this were the case then the One is simply a program that has been downloaded into Neo.
To support this theory we have the conversation between Neo and Smith before their big fight after Neo met the Oracle. Smith states that he is unsure how he survived but that perhaps parts of Neo were copied to him, elements of code over-written. Perhaps the code that allowed the One to be downloaded into Neo was copied by Smith and this give him the ability to download his code into Bane in the real world.
I also believe that if Zion were in fact another Matrix then why would the machines have to go to so much trouble to destroy it. Rather than simulate a 3 day war on the humans, if the machines created a Zion-Matrix then why not simply reboot it when it had served it's purpose?
I do think it's obvious that the machines new about Zion all along however. If the previous One fulfilled the Prophecy then the machines freed the chosen 23 and basically "allowed" them to rebuild Zion. Zion serves as a good place to contain the 0.1% who could not exist in the Matrix. The machines wouldn't need to do anything until the number of people in Zion got to a potentially problematic point abd/or the anomaly (i.e. someone like Neo) appears within the Matrix. At which point they just download the latest "One" program into the anomaly, set off the Prophecy again and swoop in and destroy Zion. Also I think that Zion the city is left intact, it's just the humans that get wiped out. There's no way that the city we saw in Reloaded could've been built in a hundred years. It must've existed previously, either as a left over city from the way, or as the same Zion that was used in the previous iteration.
This does mean however that Neo's powers at the end of Reloaded have expanded significantly. He is now able to affect the machines in the real world too, although doing so appears to hurt him greatly. Shutting down the machines appears to shut down his own internal programming, in the same way that setting off the EMP shut down the Smith program within Bane
The Oracle
I believe that the Oracle is indeed one of the most influential programs within the Matrix. It is possible that she is the 'mother' of the Matrix although that title may indeed belong to another. Regardless she is old, and in all likelihood has seen all iterations of the Matrix occur. I believe she told the truth when she said to Neo "I'm interested in one thing Neo, the future, and believe me I know, the only way to get there is together". The Oracle wanted to break the cycle, and in order to do so she engineered the love between Neo and Trinity, and thus changed the choice Neo makes at the end of the film.
In the first film Trinity admitted that the Oracle had told her that she would fall in love, and that person would be the One. In both the first and second films the Oracle also offers Neo food which he takes. Later in the film in Merovingian's restaurant it is established that consuming food can be the equivalent of accepting new code. Thus I believe Neo is being manipulated by the Oracle in the same way. She wanted him to fall in love with Trinity so that when faced with a choice of saving humanity or saving Trinity he breaks the Prophecy and chooses Trinity.
When Seraph said "I protect that which matters most" he was telling the truth. The only hope the humans had for the cycle being broken was in fact the Oracle. If Neo had chosen to reload the Matrix then the cycle would repeat and the Oracle would have another 'the One' whom she could try to influence to break the prophecy. If however the Oracle was lost before the prophecy was broken then the cycle would've been doomed to be repeated indefinitely until someone else interfered.
Merovingian
This guy I'm not sure about. Clearly he exists now as a rogue program, but what was he before that? My personal opinion is that he was the One in a previous iteration of the Matrix. He fulfilled the prophecy but after it was done and he faced deletion he avoided it and still exists in the Matrix. I think he was manipulated by the Oracle in the same way as Neo is, only he was made to fall in love with Persephone. Several of Persephone's comments hint at this as she says to Neo "He used to be just like you" and when talking of Neo's love for Trinity she said "I used to know love like that once". She also says to Trinity "A thing such as this is not meant to last" perhaps hinting at the fact that she knows their love is 'fake' and that when Neo fulfills the prophecy it will end.
Learning that he was manipulated by the Oracle would go some way to explaining Merovingian's obvious dislike of her. The fact that he fulfilled the prophecy exactly according to the Architect's plan would also explain his belief that there is no choice, only cause and effect.
Also, I've done a little bit of research on the Merovingian name as names are obviously immensely important in both films. The Merovingian line was an ancient bloodline of French kings supposedly descended from Christ. Another possible connection to him being a previous One.
The Council
I believe there were 18 of these in Zion - 12 women, 6 men. Accounting for deaths due to old age or injury I think it's entirely probable these were amongst the original 23 (16 Women, 7 men) who were freed and allowed to rebuild Zion when the 5th "One" fulfilled the prophecy in the last iteration of the Matrix. Perhaps they know the full story and what Neo must do, perhaps they do not. If they did it would certainly explain Councillor Hamann's conversation with Neo. In it he talked about the dependance of man on machine and vice versa. Perhaps this was to an attempt to guide Neo towards the 'correct' path of choosing to reload the Matrix, and thus re-establishing that dependancy. In addition full knowledge of the Prophecy would also explain the Council's decision to let the Nebuchadnezzer leave Zion so they they could broadcast, and later on to send ships to find the Nebuchadnezzer and in turn help Neo.
Pointless Scenes
A lot of people have complained about pointless scenes in Reloaded. I don't think such a thing exists. I think every scene, and probably every line of dialogue had meaning. It's just a matter of discovering that meaning.
The Rave
I can see a couple of reasons for this. It obviously shows the defiance of Zion in the face of imminent destruction by the machines. Also, for me the scene does a good job of seperating Neo and Trinity from the rest of Zion. The Zion scene is very lustful and carnal, whereas the scene between Trinity and Neo is much more 'textbook' love to me. For me this is another possible hint that the feelings between Neo and Trinity are somewhat manafactured when compared to the genuine passion of Zion.
In addition this scene highlighted the high proportion of ethnicity within Zion. I don't think this was done for show either. If there was a war with the machines in the past who would be the survivors? One presumes that the developed western world would be the major targets and that less developed nations would be less of a priority. Hence a much higher proportion of african, asian, etc people left.
The Spoon
I've heard it said that the gift of the spoon to Neo from the Orphan was cheesy and unnecessary. It should be noted that the kid shouting after Neo & Co was the only thing that caused them to turn around and see Bane-Smith sneaking up on them. The Orphan with the spoon was clearly gifted, perhaps he had seen, dreamt or in someway sensed the assasination attempt by Bane-Smith on Neo and he sent the spoon to interfere with that.
The girl in Merovingian's restaurant
This relates to the earlier thoughts about the Oracle. Merovingian clearly demonstrated it was possible to modify a program's code by introducing new code into their system - in this case through food. I don't think it's a coincidence that the Oracle has twice fed Neo, and I think this scene hints at her manipulation of him.