4.1 Zion
Zion is a city in The Matrix films, the last and only human city left on the planet Earth after a cataclysmic nuclear war between humanity and the Machines which resulted in these robots with Artificial Intelligence dominating most of the world.
4.1.1 History
After several desperate attempts to halt the seemingly never-ending waves of robot-soldiers taking over more and more human territories, the human leaders realized that the Machines were winning the war and eliminate them. The United Nations decided to retaliate:
– First by spreading a viscous liquid in the sky to prevent the sun rays to reach the earth.
– Secondly by attacking the newly-established machine civilization of Zero-One with nuclear weapons.
However it backfired, especially after the nuclear attack as the humans suffered more from the heat and radiations that the mechanical robots. When the war ended, the Machines having won, the remnants of humanity were left struggling to survive on the cold, dangerous and desolate surface. The earth surface quickly became uninhabitable due to the cloud created by Operation Dark Storm and the radioactive background. The human leaders decided to construct an underground city, called Zion especially built for the purpose of preserving what was left of the human race.
The Machines had captured or killed almost all humans; those who escaped went to live in the unfinished Zion. The bodies of the captured human prisoners were kept into the newly-constructed bio-electric towers while their minds, fully controlled by a computer, were placed in the Matrix to keep them docile.
Twenty-three prisoners were freed from the Matrix by a mysterious figure referred to as “The One”. They too went to the unfinished Zion where they worked to complete it together with the few humans who escaped at the end of the war. Although now free these 23 people had still a jack implanted in their neck and they were still able to enter the Matrix while the earth-born humans could not. The free humans made the city operational and rebuild some industrial capacities using geothermal energy from the Earth’s core,
‘The One’ told the humans to continue building and maintaining a war effort and to fight the Machines inside and outside the Matrix. After The One’s death, the humans learned to survive on their own and began waging a guerrilla war against the Machines. At the same time they tried to free as many of the Matrix’s population as they could from their virtual prison.
4.1.2 Location
Zion was built entirely underground, four kilometres below the Earth’s surface, just above the Earth’s mantle. The city itself is cylindrical (vertically inclined with respect to Earth’s surface) in design and possesses many levels including:
– Council Chambers: This level is near the bottom area of the middle section of the city. It has a series of chambers that are used as living areas and offices for the members of the Zion Council.
– Gathering Spaces: A level just below the Dock. It contains many areas where homeless or new arrivals rescued from the Matrix gather to live until permanent quarters are assigned.
– Geo-Thermal Generation: This level is near the bottom of the city. It is dedicated to providing power to the city in the form of geothermal energy from the Earth’s core.
– Intermediate Areas: Other areas of the city that have yet to be mentioned and only seen.
– Life-Support Level: The bottom level of the city. It is dedicated to providing life support, in the form of water, warmth, air, etc., to the city’s population. In an ironic twist, the machines that do these tasks are entirely automated, but their human overseers have taken steps to ensure they can never reach sentience, and the machines have built-in kill switches that would shut them down at the first signs of sentience.
– Living Quarters: The entire central middle section of the city. This level is dedicated to providing shelter for all of Zion’s population, numbering approximately 250,000.
– Meeting Hall: A chamber near the bottom of the city. This is where the Council convenes and meets with Zion’s hovercraft Captains and military leaders and plans high-priority missions.
– The Dock: The top level of the city and entrance into the underground tunnel network. The dock is operated and its systems administered by the operators in The Crane Tower. It provides a recharging station and repair area for the hovercraft fleet.
– The Temple: A large cavern below the city itself. This cavern is dedicated to holding religious gatherings for the entire population, and also serves as a last defensive position in the event of a complete invasion by the Machines.
4.1.3 Defences
Zion has many defensive systems commonly known, collectively, as the Zion Defence Grid. The systems consist of:
– Six Double-Barrel Turret Machine Guns: The main defensive system, installed in The Dock, which serves to protect incoming hovercraft from Machine incursions.
– APU Corps: Mechanized bipedal combat suits that are used for heavy support in the event of an attack on The Dock by the Machines. The corps is led by Captain Mifune.
– Infantry: Human soldiers equipped with electromagnetic “lightning” guns plus rockets and launchers. They are trained to defend the city in the event of a Machine incursion.
– Hovercraft Fleet: Electromagnetically powered hovercrafts that continuously fight the Machines in the real world with EMP weapons. Their crews are journeying into the Matrix itself, fighting to free the Matrix’s captive human population.
EMP devices, despite being installed on every hovercraft in the fleet, were never installed in Zion’s defensive grid (even as a last resort), primarily because the city possesses no EMP shielding. Though an EMP could be used to destroy every Machine in its range by instantly disabled it, the defensive grid, APU fighters and virtually every piece of defensive hardware in Zion would be permanently disabled as well, leaving the city with no way to defend itself during a second Machine incursion.
It was later revealed that none of Zion’s defensive systems were sufficient to withstand the juggernaut of the Machines’ army. The city’s total destruction and the death of its entire population were well within the Machines’ power. An attack on the city could be launched at any moment by the Architect.
4.1.4 Leadership
The city is governed by the Zion Council which makes all administrative decisions for the city and the war effort. Qualified officials were recruited to report directly to the Council and carry out their orders on their behalf. This includes the reluctant Supreme Commander of the Zion Defensive Forces, Commander Jason Lock. All the captains of the Zion Hovercraft Fleet have strictly controlled access to key data in the Zion Mainframe. They also have a political role in dealing with the population. Over half of the council is female, and over half of it is non-Caucasian; Councillor Hamann is the only white male on the council.
4.1.5 Purpose
Zion was initially built for the purpose of sheltering and saving the free survivors of the human race following the war against the machine armies of Zero One. However a Machine Program named ‘The Architect’, the creator and manipulator of the Matrix, manipulated the situation in two ways so Zion served as a control (or safety valve) for the survival of the Matrix program itself:
– The Machines could always allow any human who did not, or could not, accept the Matrix for what it was to go and live in the real physical world. This reduced dissent within the Matrix’s population and prevented an exponentially-growing rejection rate from its population. A large dissent would cause entire “crops” of humans to die out, reducing the necessary power output. In short, Zion was allowed to exist by the Machines as a giant pressure-release valve on the entire system, allowing the humans that realized the Matrix wasn’t real (statistically, only a fraction of 1% of the whole human population) to be conveniently removed and isolated.
– The Architect would periodically destroy Zion and its inhabitants. This was part of a deal coercing ‘The One’ into reinserting the “Prime Program”, the program code controlling and maintaining the Matrix. It allowed the Matrix to continue and Zion to be rebuilt by chosen survivors without memory of the destruction. The Machines usually timed this to occur when Zion’s population grew in size to the point that it was just beginning to pose a significant threat to them, which was roughly when its population reached about 250,000. This cycle was broken when the sixth instalment of ‘The One’ refused to re-enter the program, and instead brokered a truce with the Machines.
4.1.6 Back-story
The Merovingian’s origins are not revealed but from what both he and the Oracle say he was a program made to regulate behaviour amongst the “Bluepills”. After the collapse of the first Matrix, he became obsolete as the newer versions presented an illusion of choice to the hard-wired humans, causing the behavioural manipulation to be more indirect than the Merovingian’s more straightforward methods. Instead of accepting deletion, he retreated into the programming of the Matrix, disguised as a human, and resolved to aid other programs who have become obsolete.
He is seen as a hero to exiled programs, and as an impulsive and selfish opportunist to others. He is disillusioned by the idea of choice amongst humans, and, in a speech to Neo, Trinity and Morpheus he relates that everything occurs due to cause and effect, and that there is no such thing as choice.
The Merovingian (also known as The Frenchman, and called Merv by Trinity) is a fictional character and the supporting antagonist of the films The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions. The Merovingian provides a safe-haven in the Matrix -as an alternative to deletion- for exiled or obsolete programs. Being an exile himself, the Merovingian’s services are not condoned by either the “Redpills” or the Machines, but they are overlooked unless in direct conflict with either of their goals.
The Merovingian is named after the Merovingian dynasty of Frankish royalty. And there is an old legend that the Merovingian dynasty in ancient France claimed to be the descendants of Jesus and Mary Magdalene, an idea alluded to in the second “Matrix” film. His wife Persephone is named after Persephone, the Greek goddess of renewal and companion of Hades, Greek god of the Underworld. The Merovingian is the guardian of the virtual afterlife where exiled programs can seek refuge from deletion. He owns a nightclub named ‘Club Hel’, as a reference to the Nordic guardian of the afterlife, Hel.
4.2 The cast of the Matrix
– Directed by Andy Wachowski and Larry Wachowski
– Produced by Joel Silver
– Written by Andy Wachowski and Larry Wachowski
– Music by Don Davis
– Cinematography Bill Pope
– Editing by Zach Staenberg
– Studio Village Roadshow Pictures, Silver Pictures and Groucho II Film Partnership
– Distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures
– Release date March 31, 1999
– Running time 136 minutes
– Country United States
– Language English
– Budget $63 million
– Box office $463,517,383 (up to June 24, 2009)
Actors
– Morpheus: Laurence Fishburne. He –as well as Trinity- was well-known in certain underground circle. Agent Smith –and some other people- thought that he was a dangerous terrorist as well as a criminal. His objectives were not widely known.
– Neo, (real name Thomas A. Anderson, also known as The One): Keanu Reeves
– Trinity: Carrie-Ann Moss. Most people were fascinated with her because she was –or had been- a famous well-known hacker.
– Ajax:
– Apoc: Julian Arahanga
– Architect (The): Helmut Bakaitis
– Ballard: Roy Jones Jr.
– Bane: Ian Bliss
– Cas: Gina Torres
– Choi: Marc Gray
– Cypher: Joe Pantoliano
– Dozer: Anthony Ray Parker
– Dujour (Choi’s girlfriend): Ada Nicodemou
– Ghost: Anthony Brandon Wong
– Hamann (Councillor): Anthony Zerbe
– Jue: Pamela Segall
– Keymaker: Randall Duk Kim
– Kid (The) (Michael Karl Popper): Clayton Watson
– Link: Harold Perrineau
– Lock: Harry Lennix
– Maggie: Essie Davis
– Merovingian: Lambert Wilson
– Mifune (Captain): Nathaniel Lees
– Niobe (Captain): Jada Pinkett Smith
– Mouse: Matt Doran
– Oracle (The): Gloria Foster
– Persephone(Merovingian’s wife): Monica Bellucci
– Rhineheart is Thomas Anderson’s boss at the software company Metacortex: David Aston
– Roland (Captain): David Roberts
– Seraph: Collin Chou
– Shimada: Voiced by Kit Harris
– Soren (Captain): Steve Bastoni
– Sparks: Lachy Hulme
– “Spoon Boy”: Rowan Witt
– Switch: Belinda McClory
– Tank: Marcus Chong
– Thadeus: voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson
– Twins (The): Neil Rayment and Adrian Rayment
– Tyndall: Voiced by Kit Harris
– Zee: Nona Gaye
– Agent Brown: Paul Goddard
– Agent Jones: Robert Taylor
– Agent Smith: Hugo Weaving
– In the 2d and 3d movies Agent Smith who has lost to Neo at the end of the 1t movie, is replaced by a new upgraded version with the same name.
– The corrupt: Paul Cotter
– Teen age boy: Clayton Watson
– Zee’s niece: Alima Ashton-Sheibu
– Zee’s nephew: Joshua Mbakwe
4.3 List of ships in the Matrix series
The following ‘hovercraft’ ships appear in the fictional universe of the Matrix series of science fiction films, comic books and video games. The short film “The Second Renaissance”, part of The Animatrix, depicts the war between men and machines which led to the creation of a computer-generated world known as the Matrix. Humans are shown using technology enabling personal vehicles and flying warships to hover above surfaces. The “hovercrafts” used by the human resistance, years after the end of the war seem to use similar technology for propulsion.
Hovercrafts are designed to patrol the sewers and tunnels left over from the megacities that existed before the Man–Machine wars. After the hovercraft is parked their crew enter the Matrix in order to locate and free the minds of humans who are ready to understand the truth of the artificial reality. An operator remains in the ship while the other crew members enter into the Matrix. He has many functions:
– To guide and to supply the crew with navigation data while in the Matrix.
– To ‘hack’ equipment and information required in the form of programs directly to them.
– To move the crew out and back in the ship.
Every hovercraft is equipped with a transceiver, used primarily to broadcast a pirate carrier signal into the wireless network that forms the Matrix. This transceiver is also used to communicate with Zion Control, the security staff monitoring access into the city docks. Typically however, hovercrafts do not attempt to contact Zion or the other hovercrafts while on patrol as this could give away their position to Sentinels, the killing machines that regularly hunt for ships.
Each hovercraft is also equipped with an EMP device which disables any electrical devices in the blast radius including the equipment of the hovercraft itself. Before using the EMP the craft must land and its crew cannot be connected to the Matrix anymore. EMP activation switches are placed on the Operator console. All ships are equipped to varying degrees with ballistic gun turrets (reminiscent of World War II-era bombers, like the B-29) for close-in point defence against Sentinels. They are used when the EMP-weapon is unavailable or its use undesirable. The turrets are controlled by proxy at turret control stations throughout the ships, either with control sticks or by computer interface (touch screen). They also have multiple panels on the outside, which give off an electric shock to any machines in close proximity, such as sentinels on the hull of the ship.
The hovercrafts of the fleet came in a wide range of sizes. The smallest was the Logos, which had a crew of three, while the Mjolnir was capable of carrying at least eleven. Crew members wore tunics while docked at Zion:
– A basic blue (if First Mate or a regular crew member),
– Gray (if an Operator or a regular crew member)
– Red (if captain).
4.3.1 Avatar: It Captain, first mate, pilot, operator and other crew are unknown.
The Avatar appears in the Zion Archives. Its lack of weaponry suggests that its primary function is to transport recently-freed redpills to Zion. In Hindu philosophy, an avatar most commonly refers to the incarnation of a higher being or the Supreme Being (God) onto planet Earth.
4.3.2 Brahma: Kali is its Captain; the first mate, pilot, operator and other crew are unknown.
The captain of the Brahma, Kali, was seen at the captain’s meeting in The Matrix Reloaded, but the ship was never mentioned during Reloaded or Revolutions. It was part of Commander Locke’s defence fleet and in the MMORPG (Massively multiplayer online role-playing game) ‘The Matrix Online’ it is mentioned that the Brahma was destroyed so utterly in the sentinel attack that nothing salvageable or identifiable remained.
It is possible that the hovercraft that resembles the Ganesha design seen landed in Bay 6 when the Nebuchadnezzar returns to Zion in ‘The Matrix Reloaded’ is in fact the Brahma as eventually finished. It is named after Brahma, a Hindu god who is the Creator in the Hindu trinity, Trimurti. Its captain named after another Hindu deity, Kali.
4.3.3 Blue Dreamer: Captain: Cryptos; First mate: Veil; pilot and operator: unknown; Other crew: Barakoa, Viraconrida, Festaneve, Khursun, Exivy, Rejex, Stanten, and Kerevola (Recursion); Tranta, Haigen, Itarrot, Esime and Recant (Syntax); Maruth, Sphectra, Dreami, Sutola and Liparus (Vector)
The Blue Dreamer is the mysterious Cypherite flagship captained by Cryptos in ‘The Matrix Online’. The name of the vessel likely stems from a concatenation of bluepill and the commonly accepted Cypherite slang which refers to human beings still plugged into the Matrix as dream.
4.3.4 Caduceus: Captain: Ballard; first mate: Malachi; pilot and operator: unknown; other crew: Bare
The name of the Caduceus comes from the Greek word caduceus, which is the symbol of two snakes wrapped around a winged staff, commonly associated with the messenger of the gods, Hermes. In Reloaded, its captain, Ballard, offers to remain behind and wait for contact from the Oracle. While receiving her message, the crew member Bane was attacked by Smith, who overwrote his mind. During the defence of Zion, Bane/Smith killed the entire crew and used the ship’s EMP to disable at least five ships (including Caduceus, The Icharus, The Gnosis, and The Novalis). Bane is the only survivor and is saved by the Mjolnir.
4.3.5 Calappidae: Captain, first mate and pilot: unknown; operators: Parr, Red; other crew: Maggie, Rollins, Lena
The Calappidae, called the Grey Ghost, is featured in the comic Broadcast Depth. One of its crew members, Maggie (coincidentally sharing the name of a crew member on the Mjolnir), is the mother of two children who decide to find her in the Matrix as a birthday present for her. They accidentally alert the Sentinels to the position of the ship, and its entire crew is killed. The ship resembles a crab, and the name is probably taken from the family Calappidae.
4.3.6 Devildog: Captain: Fenshire; first mate: Symmetric; pilot: Raddclif; operator: Fuses; other crew: Ricksonol, Covenant, Adesina, EyesOnly, Disseminated, Aesiri, Verq, Siindbad
The Devildog is a Mark IV Sentinel Killer Class Gunship. It is outfitted with eight synchronous turrets, two short range guns, and two laser targeted heavy impact cannons. It requires a crew of two to operate, and holds up to twelve crew members comfortably. Modified from the Mark III, it has an enhanced recharge time from igniting an EMP, and the cannon heads have been fitted with a swivel mechanism to allow for multidirectional fighting. Originally built to handle its own against a squad of Sentinels, this class of gunship was still in planning in the last days of the war. The HvCFT Devildog is the first of the Mark IV line of Sentinel Killer Class Gunships.
It is one of four Zion ships, along with four EPN ships, that were involved with transferring Commander Lock during an intense battle with Machine, Cypherite, and Merovingian hovercraft. It was named after the US Marine Corps slang for a member of the Marines, “Devildog”. During his bluepill life, Captain Fenshire was once a Marine.
4.3.7 Ganesha: Captain, first mate, operator and other crew: unknown
The Ganesha appears in a concept design sketch by artist George Hull, and in the Zion Archives. A vessel matching the concept design sketch can be seen landed in Bay 6 when the Nebuchadnezzar returns to Zion in The Matrix Reloaded, but this hovercraft is actually more likely to be the Brahma. Presumably, the Ganesha is part of the fleet sent to intercept the invading Sentinels. The ship was not initially disabled when Bane sets off the EMP, but nevertheless must have been destroyed shortly after. Its name derives from Ganesha, the Hindu god, considered as the remover of obstacles.
4.3.8 Gnosis: Captain: Ice; first mate, pilot: unknown; operator: unknown but possibly Jacob); other crew: Corrupt, Wurm and Jacob.
The Gnosis crew is featured in ‘Reloaded’ and ‘Enter the Matrix’. When the Zion ship captains meet within the Matrix, Gnosis crew members Corrupt and Wurm are assigned to guard the door to the meeting place. When Smith arrives “looking for Neo”, Corrupt speaks with him. Both Corrupt and Wurm warn the captains of the arrival of “the Feds”, a trio of Matrix Agents. When the Nebuchadnezzar returns to Zion, Neo is worshiped by some residents who believe he has the power to save them (he is clearly not comfortable with this). One elderly woman asks him to watch over her son, Jacob, who serves aboard the Gnosis. He can not have been shown on screen, however, because the only time a Gnosis crew member appeared on screen, they were in the Matrix, and Jacob must have been a native to Zion, barring the remote chance that both he and his mother were redpills (unlikely considering that Morpheus mentioned that they do not free a mind after a certain age). However, in the “Enter the Matrix” Game, the player is asked to save Ice and his partner, Jacob, from the Gnosis. This would then imply to him being a Redpill. The Gnosis is part of the fleet sent to intercept the invading Sentinels. The ship is disabled when Bane sets off the EMP and subsequently destroyed. The name of the Gnosis derives from the Greek word gnosis, meaning knowledge, with reference to themes of Gnostic Christianity which are evident through the Matrix series.
4.3.9 Icharus: Captain: Ajax; first mate, pilot, operator: unknown; other crew; unknown but one is a female
The Icharus is a ship in the fleet sent to intercept the invading sentinels in The Matrix Reloaded. Earlier in the film, when the Nebuchadnezzar returns to Zion, and Neo is caught by Worshipers, One of them asks him to “Watch over her daughter aboard the Icharus”. However, the ship is disabled when Bane sets off the EMP on the Caduceus, and the Icharus is subsequently destroyed. The name of the Icharus derives from Icarus, a character in Greek mythology. Its captain is named after the Greek hero Ajax the Great.
4.3.10 Logos: Captain: Niobe; first mate: Ghost; pilot: Niobe; operator: Spark; no other crew
The Logos is a hovercraft in ‘Reloaded, Revolutions, and Enter the Matrix’. The smallest vessel in the fleet, it supports a crew complement of only three Zion personnel: Niobe, Ghost, and Sparks. Built for sheer speed over any other attribute, the Logos has the purpose of relaying urgent information as well as serving as a carrier for its two pod-born crewmen. Its combat abilities are technically negligible when compared with other ships in the fleet, but Ghost’s skill with its guns allows it to nevertheless be a significant threat to attacking Sentinels. The Logos is Mark XIV Number 14 and built in 2101. Mark 14:14 reads “And wheresoever he shall go in, say ye to the Goodman of the house, The Master saith, Where is the guest chamber, where I shall eat the Passover with my disciples?” When Zion’s attack becomes imminent, the Logos crew coordinates the recall before joining the rest of the fleet in Zion. When the Council inquires of the fate of Morpheus and his ship the Nebuchadnezzar, the Logos and the hovercraft Vigilant search for the Neb, eventually participating in a skirmish within the Matrix involving Agents and minions of the Merovingian. The Logos is later disabled when it is attacked by a massive horde of Sentinels as well as a Sentinel Tow Bomb, necessitating the use of its EMP. As a result, it survives the assault, but it is depowered as an unavoidable side effect. The hovercraft Mjolnir finds it shortly, rescuing the crew of the destroyed Nebuchadnezzar and giving the Logos a jump-start. Later, Niobe does give the Logos to Neo and Trinity so that they can travel to the Machine city, in an attempt to stop the war with the Machines. The Logos is rendered inoperable on impact when it crash-lands in the Machine City. “Logos” is the Greek word which literally means Word and refers to the Christian use of it in referring to Jesus as “The Word” – John 1:1.
4.3.11 Logos II: Captain: Niobe; first mate: Ghost; pilot: Niobe; operator: Spark; other crew: Soluma and Amithist (Vector server liaison), Caelifera, Merrit and Rylet (Recursion server liaison), Harkee (Syntax server liaison)
Logos II is Niobe’s current ship in The Matrix Online. It is named after her original ship.
4.3.12 Mariner: Captain, first mate, pilot and operator: unknown; other crew: Deuce, Speedy, Rocket
The Mariner is featured in the comic, “There are no Flowers in the Real World”. It has been attacked by Sentinels and all but one member of the crew, Rocket, has died. He survives for days without any real food or water, but then is killed by an agent just before he is found.
4.3.13 Mjolnir (“Hammer”): Captain: Roland; first mate: Colt; Pilot and operator: AK; other crew: Maggie, Mauser
The largest ship in Zion’s fleet, Mjolnir is the ship that locates the crew of the Nebuchadnezzar after their ship is destroyed by a sentinel tow bomb at the end of ‘The Matrix Reloaded’. They have also picked up Bane, who appears to be the only survivor of the battle between the Sentinels and the Zion fleet, but has in fact been taken over by Smith. Much of ‘The Matrix Revolutions’ takes place on the Mjolnir. Against Captain Roland’s better judgment, Niobe lets Neo and Trinity (and a stowed-away Bane) take the Logos in an attempt to reach the Machine City. With the remaining crew of the Nebuchadnezzar and the Logos, the Mjolnir races back to Zion, relying on Niobe’s piloting skills to steer the ship through the narrow mechanical tunnels. The ship’s position is discovered by a large group of Sentinels when trying to reach the mechanical tunnel (the hull scraped a piece of rubble), and the Sentinels attack. Niobe’s opinion of the ship’s construction is that it ‘has a fat ass.’, as she commented during her travel of the mechanical tunnel. Reaching the city as it is under attack by thousands of sentinels, and with their communications antenna destroyed, the Mjolnir crash lands in Zion’s dock and sets off its EMP. This destroys the attacking sentinels, but as an angry Commander Lock warns Roland and Morpheus, they have also crippled the city’s defences against any subsequent attacks. This ship’s name is derived from Mjölnic, the hammer of the Norse thunder god, Thor. Because of this, most characters refer to the ship as the Hammer. Except for Roland, all members of the crew have gun-related names: “Maggie” is short for “magazine” or “Magnum”; AK is named after the AK series of assault rifles; Colt is named after the Colt line of pistols; and Mauser is named after the Mauser pistol (and possibly rifles). Roland may be named after the protagonist of The Dark Tower, who was a gunslinger, or the Roland from the medieval epic La Chanson de Roland, or the Roland surface-to-air missile system, or Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner from the 1978 Warren Zevon song, or Roland, the King of Planet Druidia from Spaceballs or more likely renowned French-Canadian gunman Roland Sigfried. Also note that Charles “The Hammer” was the great grandfather of the Roland from the medieval Chanson. The Mjolnir’s commissioning plaque reads “Mark XIV No. 62 Made in the USA Year 2111”. Mark 14:62 reads “And Jesus said, I am: and ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.”
4.3.14 Nabonidus: Captain: Morpheus; first mate: unknown; pilot: unknown (possibly Morpheus); operator and other crew: unknown
The Nabonidus is Morpheus’ second ship, following the Nebuchadnezzar’s destruction. It is the hovercraft from which he enters the Matrix in the MMORPG ‘The Matrix Online’. Recently, months after his still debated death, the Captain’s beacon of the Nabonidus was traced in the Matrix. A code pulse device set off by the Kid revealed a transparent RSI that resembled Morpheus and appeared to be in pain, implying that Morpheus is alive and still in possession of the Nabonidus, hidden somewhere in the real world. It was later revealed that the Morpheus RSI making appearances across The Matrix was in fact a simulacrum created by The General in hopes of deceiving his followers into thinking he had in fact returned. The General, furious at the fact that his Sim had been discovered, tried to de-activate it, but to his surprise, the Morpheus Simulacrum had taken on a life of its own and turned on its creator. It refused to submit to The General’s will and a battle between both The General and the Morpheus Simulacrum ensued. The General was defeated by the Morpheus Sim and escaped to the shadows once again. The Morpheus Sim now resides within The Matrix a free program because of the faith of Morpheus’s followers. The program itself admitted that it was their faith in him, and the fact that it didn’t want to let them down, that made him want to fill the shoes of the great captain of Zion. It is not known if there is any connection between the real Morpheus and the Morpheus Simulacrum. The name is derived from Nabonidus, the last king of the Neo-Babylonian Empire.
4.3.15 Nebuchadnezzar (“Neb”): Captain: Morpheus; first mate: Trinity; pilots: Dozer, Link; operators: Tank, link; other crew: Apoc, Cypher, Mouse, Neo, Switch
The Nebuchadnezzar, nicknamed the Neb, is the main hovercraft featured in ‘The Matrix and Matrix Reloaded’; it is used by the main characters Morpheus, Neo, and Trinity. The dedication plaque on its core read “Mark III No. 11; Made in the USA; Year 2069.” In The Matrix, the crew of the Nebuchadnezzar is searching for Neo, whom Morpheus believes to be The One. When they find him, he is trained and taken to see the Oracle. While returning from the Oracle, Cypher betrays the crew, gives Morpheus to the Agents, and kills Dozer, Apoc, and Switch, Mouse being already dead. Neo and Trinity manage to save Morpheus from the Agents, after which Neo becomes the One, now being able to see coding in the Matrix and manipulate it. The ship was heavily damaged when Sentinels invaded the ship while Morpheus, Trinity and Tank were waiting for Neo to return to the real world through a portal before detonating the EMP, disabling the ship and the Sentinels. In Matrix Reloaded, the ship is seen again. Since the events of the first film, Tank has died, and Link has replaced him as operator. After Neo visits the Oracle again and confronts the Smith virus, the crew goes to a restaurant called Le Vrai and takes the Keymaker from the Merovingian’s captivity. Later that night, with the help of the crews of the Vigilant and the Logos, and the exile Keymaker, Neo enters the Source and speaks to the Architect. The Nebuchadnezzar is destroyed by a Sentinel’s tow bomb at the conclusion of Reloaded, after Neo leaves the Architect and rescues Trinity. The crew escapes before the ship’s destruction thanks to Neo’s newfound ability to identify and assume limited control over Sentinel hardware using his powers as The One as shown at the conclusion of the film. The Sentinel hurls the bomb from outside EMP range, detonating on contact with Nebuchadnezzar, The crew are found by the hovercraft Mjolnir very shortly after. The name Nebuchadnezzar is a Biblical reference to Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon, from the Book of Daniel. King Nebuchadnezzar (‘the Great’) was famous for his conquests of Israel in Biblical times (specifically Judah and Jerusalem). He also built the Hanging Gardens of Babylon (one of the lost Seven Wonders of the Ancient World) for his wife. He has a dream he cannot remember but keeps searching for an answer. Morpheus makes reference to this after the Nebuchadnezzar is destroyed with the line “I have dreamed a dream; but now that dream is gone from me”. Nebuchadnezzar’s dream is found in Daniel 2:1-49. The Nebuchadnezzar was named after the largest sized bottles used in wine production. While writing the Matrix, the Wachowski brothers asked about the name of the giant display bottle of Veuve Cliquot Ponsardin at the cafe they frequented in Chicago. The bottle was a “Nebuchadnezzar.”
4.3.16 Neo’s Hope: Captain: Kid; first mate: Shimada; pilot and operator: unknown (may be filled by Shimada); other crew: Reposco and Rootlith (Recursion liaisons), Fuscienne and Catalyn (Syntax liaisons), Adenias ((Syntax crew member), Pentothal (Vector liaison)
Neo’s Hope is Kid’s designated ship in ‘The Matrix Online’ and the flagship for the E Pluribus Neo splinter organization.
4.3.17 Novalis: Captain: Tirant; first mate, pilot, operator, other crew: unknown
The Novalis is referenced in Reloaded as part of the fleet sent to intercept the invading sentinels. It is disabled when Bane sets off the EMP on the Caduceus, and is subsequently destroyed. In the MMORPG The Matrix Online, it is mentioned that the wreckage of the Novalis was in fairly good shape, and the ship was quickly rebuilt using spare parts available in Zion, and renamed the Novalis II. Its name comes from Novalis, an 18th century German novelist and poet.
4.3.18 Novalis II: Captain: Sawayaka; first mate: WanNi; pilot: Neurophyte; operator: Tamarin; other crew: Vashuo, Lelan, Toorima, Oniyuzu, Odran, Al3xandra
In ‘The Matrix Online’ it is said that the Novalis II was built from the salvaged wreckage of the Novalis.
The following is an excerpt from Tyndall’s personal records:
Novalis II, Refitted Pacer Class Hovercraft, designated 227. Novalis II is our first new hovercraft, even if it is one of our old ones… The war was hard on everyone in Zion, but the Zion Military took perhaps the hardest hit. With almost every single one of their trained redpills killed, and almost all of their hovercrafts destroyed, there was a faction within the Military that wanted to write off the Matrix entirely. Luckily for today’s redpills, an aggressive training program began instead – hoverbarges were built, redpills recruited, and the Matrix continued to be the centre of the battle for the future. It was soon discovered, however, that an older style of hovercraft was needed. These hovercraft were fast, and stealthy, and most important, they allowed a group of redpills to work independently of Zion without eyes looking over their shoulders. With that in mind, the Military set out to survey what was left of their old fleet. Many hovercrafts, like the Brahma, were destroyed so utterly that nothing usable could be salvaged. Others, like the wreckage of the Novalis, were in fairly good shape. The Novalis’ flight-frame was more or less intact. With replacement parts already present in Zion, it was soon up and running. The only question remained: who would crew this ship?
Concurrent with the lack of hovercrafts, the Zion Military was faced with a shortage of trained redpills. Most were killed at the end of the war, and those who remained were either in training or too inexperienced to take command. It was these first days after Neo’s Truce that Zion faced a crisis of confidence. Faced with a need to move fast and talk its way out of most of its problems, Zion most needed a person able to handle the pressures of being the first hovercraft captain after the Truce. This new captain needed to be able to talk when talk was needed, but fight hard when the going got tough. With the resurrection of the Novalis, now named by her captain Novalis II, came the promotion of a promising young redpill, Sawayaka. Sawayaka found herself in a unique situation. Both the Machines and Exiles placed unusual emphasis on her appointment. Considered the forerunner of a new era, Sawayaka and her crew became more than the first new hovercraft… they became a symbol of the new Zion emerging from war. Combining the roles of diplomats, soldiers, and even entertainers, the crew of the Novalis II has emerged from these critical first months ready to help Zion and humanity find their way. Neurophyte was infected by a kill code virus while inside the Matrix.
At the time, there were nine servers, and each one had a different fate for Neurophyte:
– On Regression, Proxy, Iterator, Enumerator, and Output, she was recovered by Zion and restored to full health.
– On Linenoise, she was recovered by Zion but died in the process of extracting the killcode embedded in her brain.
– On Method, the Machines recovered her and restored her to full health, and she became a Machinist operative as a result.
– On Heuristic and Input, the Machines recovered her and extracted the killcode at the cost of her life.
Vashuo was killed by Toorima when she betrayed Zion and joined the Cypherites. She was captured and put under arrest, but was freed by either Gemaskeerd or Enmascarado, two of her fellow Cypherite operatives. It was after her escape that she revealed herself as Veil, the Controller for the Cypherite organization (alongside its leader, Cryptos, a former Zion captain). At this point, her whereabouts are unknown and she is wanted by all three organizations.
4.3.19 Osiris: Captain: Thadeus; first mate: Jue; pilot and operator: Robbie; other crew: five people, name unknown
Its commissioning plaque reads “Mark VI No. 16 Made in the USA Year 2079”. In the New International Version, Mark 6:16 reads “But when Herod heard this, he said, ‘John, the man I beheaded, has been raised from the dead!’ “. The Osiris is named after the Egyptian god, Osiris, who was raised from the dead by his wife Isis. In the Animatrix film “Final Flight of the Osiris”, this ship discovers the Machine army digging down towards Zion. After they are attacked by Sentinels the crewmember Jue enters the Matrix to send a desperate message using an emergency broadcast drop:
“This is Thadeus, captain of the Osiris. It is 18:03 on 12-14, and I fear this will be our last transmission. Less than two hours ago we were pinned between two search units near BZ 2-18. We tried to outrun them on the surface when our sensors went completely berserk. We didn’t believe what our equipment was telling us until we ran smack into the middle of it: an army, their army. It’s massive, hundreds of times the size of anything we’ve fought. We are under heavy pursuit and have sustained critical damage. We are going to attempt an emergency broadcast drop in the Matrix. After that, all we can do is hope that somehow this disk reaches Zion, and if it does, then it is not too late.”
Just after Jue has dropped this message, the ship is destroyed by Sentinels. Its message, however, is retrieved by the Logos with an emergency operation by Captain Niobe and First Mate Ghost in Enter the Matrix, and Zion is warned of the army.
4.3.20 Pequod: Captain: Flint; first mate, pilot, operator and other crew: unknown
The Pequod was mentioned in both “There are no Flowers in the Real World” and “Hunters and Collectors”. In the former story, the ship is on a rescue mission to save Rocket, a crew member jacked in aboard the Mariner after all of the other crew members had died. In the latter story, this ship has been destroyed in a Sentinel attack and the only surviving member is its captain Flint, who spends much of his time collecting artefacts from the surface to learn about human history before the Matrix. The ship’s core reads “Mark III No. 9 Made in the USA Year 2096”. It could possibly be an error, because the Nebuchadnezzar was Mark III No. 11 and made in the USA Year 2069. However, Mark 3:9 reads, “And he spake unto his disciples, that a small ship should wait on him because of the multitude, lest they should throng him.” The biblical passage indicates a proposed exit Jesus could make to “rescue” him from the crowd. The biblical passage would be an appropriate derivation for “There are no Flowers in the Real World”, being that the Pequod was sent to rescue Rocket. However, if the Mark III hovercraft series was constructed in 2069, it would have been most likely retired soon after. The 2096 models might have been something similar or completely unrelated. The relation of Mark III between the Nebuchadnezzar and the Pequod is currently unknown. The name of the Pequod is a reference to the name of Ahab’s ship in the novel Moby-Dick. “Hunters and Collectors” borrows from the novel and even features it in the ruins of a surface city. The relationship to a ship called Mariner is a further reference to the novel.
4.3.21 Polaris: Captain, first mate, pilot, operator: unknown; other crew: Nova
The Polaris is mentioned in the comic “Hunters and Collectors”. Nova, the narrator, was a member of its crew. The ship’s name is derived from Polaris (also known as Alpha Ursae Minoris), the current northern pole star.
4.3.22 Prometheus: Captain, first mate, pilot, operator, other crew: unknown
A message to players of The Matrix Online was broadcast from the hovercraft Prometheus. The ship is named for Prometheus, one of the titans from Greek mythology. This Titan is responsible for giving Fire to humanity.
4.3.23 Saltpillar: Captain: Neoteny; first mate and operator: Wanzer; pilot: Microcoulomb; Other crew: Ryumanjisen, Shinte
The Saltpillar is a Mark XIV (model number 27) small reconnaissance class hovercraft originally outfitted for the purpose of scouting the tunnels of the Real for threats to the city of Zion. In its time, the ship has, however, been refitted with stronger plating and armaments, though it retains a great deal of manoeuvrability. The Saltpillar is also known as one of the smaller ships in the Zion fleet as far as crew size is concerned, at one time being occupied solely by its captain, Neoteny, and his first mate, Wanzer. The mission of this ship has, since its inception, been the elimination of the Cypherites. The second goal of ending the war in Zion’s favour was added to the mission statement of the Saltpillar when the Truce was shattered. The Saltpillar was one of the four Zion hovercraft involved with the transport of ex-Commander Jason Lock, and was the only Zion/EPN coalition hovercraft to be disabled during the battle. The name Saltpillar is derived from the biblical story of Lot, whose wife was turned into a pillar of salt when she turned to look back at the city of Sodom, which God had ordered them to flee.
4.3.24 Scanline: Captain, first mate, pilot, operator: unknown; other crew: Strayshot, Acheronia, Theptism, Trifid (Recursion), Alethiana, Daxil, Derouter, Leton, Runtrace (Syntax), Betzalel, Kaveri, Palliate (Vector), Hynek (Recursion)
Scanline is an independent crew of informants and data scroungers. Their Motto, “Scan for Truth”, is generally spoken at the end of any conversation with an operative in the Matrix, and they spread information about the goings on behind all organizations to anyone willing to listen. Distribution of this information may occur in person, but Scanline also sends out transmissions which can be obtained via a Scanline Receiver, which crew members will sometimes hand out. Notably, Strayshot was highly involved in an investigation of Dr. Rajilich’s notes, which culminated in September 2007, after several dedicated operatives broke the numerous encryptions on files and gained access to data nodes which gave the positions of an exile program known as 991. Theptism, after he was involved with the disappearance of Cypherite liaison Viraconrida, and was keeping her imprisoned on a downed hoverbarge somewhere in the Real, was captured by the Merovingian liaison, MadHattah, and kept locked away in a prison construct. Additionally, the newest member of Scanline, Trifid, is also the most recently deceased. Trifid was originally a member of E Pluribus Neo, who was not prominent until he defected to the Cypherite cause and became “Maskharah”. After having plans to export weapons caches through the Matrix foiled by members of the E Pluribus Neo organization, Trifid was captured and interrogated, only to be rescued later by Scanline, and to become one of their crew. Resuming his original handle of Trifid, he was an active member of the crew until the end of the Truce, when his Emergency Jackout Protocol malfunctioned, and he was gunned-down by EPN liaison Reposco.
4.3.25 Shiva: Captain, first mate, pilot, operator, other crew: unknown
The Shiva appears in the Zion Archives. It can be briefly seen when the Nebuchadnezzar returns to Zion in The Matrix Reloaded, landed in Bay 10. Presumably, the Shiva is part of the fleet sent to intercept the invading Sentinels. The ship was not initially disabled when Bane sets off the EMP, but nevertheless must have been destroyed shortly after. Shiva is the third form of God as the Destroyer, one of the Trimurti (popularly called the “Hindu trinity”).
4.3.26 Vigilant: Captain: Soren; first mate: Vector; pilot Unknown (perhaps Jax); operator: Jax; other crew: Axel, Binary
The name of the ship Vigilant means “watchful and alert”, and its commissioning plaque reads “Mark XIII No. 32 Made in the USA Year 2106.” Very fittingly, in the New International Version Mark 13:32 reads: “No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.” In Enter the Matrix, Vigilant crew member Axel has been captured by Agents. The crew of the Logos happen to turn up at the airport, just as he is being transported, and they undertake a perilous rescue attempt, Niobe gets him off of the plane where he lands in the hands of an Agent. Ghost continues to pursue when Axel buckles his seatbelt and careens the car out of control, killing the agent, but severely wounding his leg, which is indicated in The Matrix Reloaded by his use of a leg brace. When Morpheus makes his case to the Zion Council that only Neo can save them from the oncoming Machine onslaught, Soren is the first to offer the services of his ship and his crew to Morpheus’s plan. The Vigilant crew is assigned the task of hacking into the city’s power grid to disable the security systems of the Source building. As Soren and his team make their way to the control room, in the real world, a group of sentinels has located the Vigilant. The sentinels fire a tow bomb at the ship, and as Axel and Jax rush to take action, a walkway collapses (weakened earlier when Axel’s limp dislocates one side of the rail), causing Axel to fall, and a sharp prong from the walkway to impale Jax. The bomb hits the ship and explodes, killing all on board. Inside the Matrix, Soren and his crew collapse as their real-world bodies die.
4.3.27 Vishnu: Captain, first mate, pilot, operator, other crew: unknown
The Vishnu appears in a concept design sketch by artist George Hull, and in the Zion Archives. It can be briefly seen when the Nebuchadnezzar returns to Zion in The Matrix Reloaded, landed in Bay 5. Presumably, the Vishnu is part of the fleet sent to intercept the invading Sentinels. The ship was not initially disabled when Bane sets off the EMP, but nevertheless must have been destroyed shortly after. The ship’s name is derived from Vishnu, the second form of God as the Preserver in the Trimurti.
4.3.28 Unnamed ships
There are five unnamed ships included in The Matrix Comics and one from The Animatrix. One is a ship used for carrying potentials and is unnamed. Another crashed in the foetus fields, and only one of its crew members survived. He found a strange man who knew nothing of the Matrix but was convinced that the foetus harvesters were dragons. A third was stolen by a group of rebels who attracted agents for the thrill of it and were not allied with Zion. The fourth ship was used to destroy money that had a virus attached to it and the fifth and final unnamed ship was used by a crew that saved a girl who could change her residual self-image. The fifth ship from The Animatrix was featured in Program.
4.4 Soundtracks
– The Matrix: Music from the Motion Picture
– The Matrix: Original Motion Picture Score
– The Matrix Reloaded: The Album
– The Matrix Reloaded: The Complete Score
– The Animatrix: The Album
– The Matrix Revolutions: Music from the Motion Picture
– Enter the Matrix: Original Soundtrack from the Videogame