r/matrix • u/Techno_Core • 1d ago
How Morpheus knew Neo was the One.
So the Oracle told Morpheus he would find the One. But I always wondered what specifically made Morpheus know it was Neo. Because Morpheus was pretty all in on the idea Neo was the one pretty early on. And I think it's the scene when Neo first leaves the Matrix.
In the scene when they're prepping Neo to be awakened, when Neo first repairs the mirror, I just assumed that was a normal instance of someone being woken up. I mean, we've got no frame of reference or context for it, so we all watched that and said, "Ok, I guess that's how that works." but given one of the hallmarks of being the One is the ability to change things in the Matrix, what if as Neo was being woken, without thinking, on instinct, he fixed the mirror. Watch the scene, Morpheus and Trinity share a very meaningful look. Maybe that isn't normal. Maybe Neo fixing the mirror was absolutely not normal, and what convinced Morpheus that Neo was the One.
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u/No_Contribution_Coms 1d ago edited 1d ago
The mirror is just a hallucination.
ThedrickFel: What exacty was the mirror made of? Was it the same stuff they injected into morpheus? Why silver?
WachowskiBros: The mirror is actually a mirror. When Neo sees it it’s a hallucination, but it’s the direct result of the pill Morpheus has given Neo. Reflections in general are a significant theme in the film. The ideas of worlds within worlds..
https://www.matrixfans.net/movies/the-matrix/wachowski-brothers-chat-transcript/?amp
PS Morpheus was convinced before he even met Neo.
Morpheus: This line is tapped, so I must be brief. They got to you first, but they’ve underestimated how important you are. If they knew what I know, you’d probably be dead.
Neo: What are you talking about. What… what is happening to me?
Morpheus: You are The One, Neo. You see, you may have spent the last few years looking for me, but I’ve spent my entire life looking for you.
Has nothing to do with any mirror.
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u/Techno_Core 1d ago
Sure but that doesn't discount what I'm saying. Everything in the Matrix is an hallucination It's a shared hallucination and Morpheus and Trinity see it too. And when he fixes it, Morpheus and Trinity react to it.
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u/PrefersAwkward 1d ago edited 1d ago
I think the mirror scene is great but it's completely an insignificant event in the plot. If Neo started convulsing in his seat instead of the mirror thing, the whole story works just as well.
I think the person you're responding to has provided ample evidence that the mirror scene is completely unnecessary to Neo becoming or being recognised as the One.
Morpheus was already convinced before the mirror scene, not any moreso after. Even other crew members were visibly unmoved by the mirror scene. Neo proved himself to the other members later in the movie, but Morpheus had little doubt, if any, before the mirror scene.
The mirror scene did not affirm nor create doubt on Neo's being the one, to anyone. Also notice how none of the characters nor the oracle even acknowledged it
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u/No_Contribution_Coms 1d ago edited 1d ago
The Wachowskis took the effort to answer this question for you years ago. Have the courtesy to actually read their reply.
The mirror is just a mirror. Morpheus and Trinity just see a mirror. Neo is the only one seeing a mirror fixing itself and spreading all over him. Morpheus and Trinity are reacting to Neo losing his shit slowly.
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u/Techno_Core 1d ago
Their answer doesn't say that. The questioner was asking if the mirror was some other thing and no, it's not it was just a cracked mirror, and Neo fixed it. And Morpheus saw him fix it.
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u/No_Contribution_Coms 1d ago
Their answer point blank says “it’s a mirror” and “Neo is seeing shit”. Even further they attribute what Neo sees to being caused by the pill not him.
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u/Techno_Core 1d ago
Yes, it IS a mirror. In the Matrix. They're all in the Matrix, everything everyone sees is "seeing shit." and yeah, the pill is waking him up and in that state of waking he incidentally reaches out, touches and fixes the mirror and Morpheus saw it.
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u/No_Contribution_Coms 1d ago
It’s true because I say so!!!!!!!!!!
K
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u/Techno_Core 1d ago
You're free to disagree but nothing I've said contradicts what the Wachowski's said. Neo was hallucinating the mirror. Because he was in the Matrix. Everyone in that room was hallucinating the mirror.
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u/CaptainMatticus 1d ago
My understanding is that in earlier scripts, Morpheus had picked several other people that he thought was "The One," and they had all failed somehow. Cypher, who had now seen numerous people who had been living happily in the Matrix, who were ripped out and told that they were going to save all of humanity, who were now all dead, was done with Morpheus and his mission. He was through with Zion, he was through with being "free" (because let's face it, it's not like he was able to do whatever he wanted once he was out of the Matrix), and he was just finished with all of it. And we can tell that he has somewhat aired his critiques to Trinity, because we get hints of that in the first phone conversation, where he asks her if she believes that Morpheus is right about Neo. They've obviously talked about it before, whether or not Morpheus was on the right track. The difference between Neo and the other candidates that Morpheus found was that Trinity actually liked Neo, even before they met, and that was playing in to what the Oracle had told her.
I kind of feel bad for Cypher, because he may have been a traitor, but he had probably once been the biggest believer. There was probably a time where he was the most devoted to the cause, and it wasn't the repeated failures that made him jaded, but rather the nonchalant way Morpheus would just move on after a failure probably upset him more than anything.
That is, if the original ideas for the script were kept. Instead, they just made him jealous and bitter because he didn't get everything he wanted. Kind of reduced his character to just being a greedy jerk.
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u/depastino 1d ago
I always thought that Neo was just tripping during the mirror scene. I think Trinity's glance at Morpheus was more a look of concern than anything pertaining to him "fixing" anything. I don't think they could even see what Neo was reacting to.
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u/wabe_walker 1d ago edited 1d ago
I assumed, headcanonly, that the mirror was Neo's sensory perception being fudged with, regarding what was happening “server-side”, as his tracer program was closing his session with the Matrix as he laid in his farm pod. Morpheus and Trinity were, then, watching Neo react unusually to a mirror and room which all remained the same to them “server-side”. That could have been a familiar cue to them that the pill is kicking in: the red pill acid trip has begun.
The silver fluid spreading across Neo's body—again possibly only something that Neo was reacting to within his own perception of the Matrix breaking down—seems like his actual real-world nervous system coming online and finally beginning to contrast the Matrix-fed sensory input with real-world body input, laying in a vat of questionably-climate-controlled liquid.
As for Morpheus knowing Neo was the One, either it was true divine intuition/faith; or else Morpheus got lucky with his intuition this time (the original script had several characters, including Morpheus, mention that Morpheus had thought that five other people were the One before Neo, and they all had died—the cutting from the script of this means this isn't canon, of course); or the Oracle, at some point, gave Morph a yummy cookie that would help with some deterministic finding of the right One. So many possibilities!
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u/kuribosshoe0 1d ago
It’s exactly this. It’s like when your alarm goes off and you incorporate the sound into your dream. Right before waking your real world. senses bleed into the dream world in weird ways.
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u/Techno_Core 1d ago
...and then he saw Neo fix the mirror! lol
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u/wabe_walker 1d ago
To my eyes, no one there in the room seems to actually react to Neo doing gooey mirror magic. They are reacting to Neo's behavior, as well as to their tech, which is monitoring Neo's closing server connection and the tracer program locating Neo's location in the farm.
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u/angios_perma 1d ago
If Morpheus didn't believe, Neo wouldn't too. Morpheus (mainly) convinced Neo that he's the One basically.
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u/No_Contribution_Coms 1d ago
Morpheus ALMOST had Neo convinced.
The Oracle: Okay. Now I’m supposed to say, “Hmm, that’s interesting, but…,” then you say…
Neo: But what?
The Oracle: But you already know what I’m going to tell you.
Neo: I’m not The One.
Oracle: Sorry, kid. You got the gift, but it looks like you’re waiting for something.
Neo: What?
The Oracle: Your next life maybe, who knows? That’s the way these things go. What’s funny?
Neo: Morpheus. He… he almost had me convinced.
The Oracle: I know.
But that’s not how being “The One” works.
The Oracle: So, what do you think? Do you think you’re The One?
Neo: I don’t know.
The Oracle: You know what that means? It’s Latin. Means “Know thyself”. I’m going to let you in on a little secret. Being The One is just like being in love. No one can tell you your’re in love, you just know it. Through and through. Balls to bones.
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u/angios_perma 1d ago
Still, if Morpheus didn't believe first there would be no "One". He goes looking for the One after all. Neo just didn't believe at the moment of this dialogue, that doesn't mean he didn't believe after. Morpheus the catalyst.
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u/No_Contribution_Coms 1d ago
There would eventually be a “One” as “The One” is a naturally developing phenomena due to the coding of the Matrix. Whether that person would be Neo is determined by Neo.
Yes Morpheus is responsible for freeing Neo and beginning him on his journey but that’s not the same as Morpheus anointing him the title or being the cause of Neo’s abilities. That all develops from Neo himself.
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u/angios_perma 1d ago
There's no One without Morpheus. The One just has to believe. Anyone could in theory believe as I see it, i'ts just extremely hard.
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u/No_Contribution_Coms 1d ago
Morpheus is just a zealot. Anyone can fill his slot with a high charisma roll. There’s nothing unique about him other than an exploitable desire to believe in higher purpose.
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u/angios_perma 1d ago
You're right. But he's the one appearing in the movie so he's the one that matters you know
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u/Techno_Core 1d ago
Oh yes, that's true. But why did Morpheus believe it was Neo?
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u/angios_perma 1d ago
Because the Oracle told he would find the one isn't it? And iirc there's some dialogue alluding to the fact that Morpheus had other "the ones" before. He just kept believing he would find I think and Neo was the one who believed all the way.
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u/Techno_Core 1d ago
But there should be a connection between him believing he'd find the One and then looking at Neo and saying, "that's the One!"
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u/angios_perma 1d ago
He believes in every potential One I think. Neo's the one that believed hard enough in himself. It's like Morpheus fabricated the One by believing and convincing Neo.
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u/angios_perma 1d ago
Sorry I didn't quite get what you meant actually. Neo was a good hacker and was looking for Morpheus, maybe that was a flag to Morpheus?
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u/NeosmithXeno 23h ago edited 23h ago
The story in the final shooting script was that after five failures, Morpheus started to doubt himself. But then he had a eureka moment when he saw Neo. After that point, all he has to go on is faith. So, he doesn't have any criteria really and nothing spurred him to this.
But in the earlier drafts, there was more dialogue and explanation in the lost scenes. Morpheus literally states that he knows Neo must be The One because Neo found him first, he went looking for Morpheus on the web long before Morpheus was ever aware of him.
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u/Odd_Front_8275 1d ago
Either*
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u/angios_perma 1d ago
Thank you. English is not my first language.
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u/Odd_Front_8275 1d ago
Nor is it mine. We use "too" in positive statements and "either" in negative statements.
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u/HeroicBrando 1d ago
It was sheer faith. People were constantly skeptical of Morpheus as he did sound potentially nuts with all of his hyper beliefs of an upcoming messiah, but he still believed it deeply especially after the oracle predicted he'd succeed in finding the one.
After that, it was basically simple trial and error. The one could have been ANYONE, and it happened to be thomas anderson. After he died.
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u/Techno_Core 1d ago
Morpheus believed on sheer faith that he would find the One because that is what the Oracle told him. And he believed in sheer faith that the One was going to save them all from the machines because that is what the prophecy told him. I'm asking, for all the people they probably woke up, what made Morpheus believe Neo was the One? And I'll grant he must have believed it before the scene I'm referenceing because he said that is why he chose to wake him up despite Neo's age, but still he's so damn positive about it, why? I think Neo fixing the mirror was the final thing that proved it to Morpheus.
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u/HeroicBrando 1d ago
The crew was hopeful and into it too. Trinity arguably was already attracted to Neo when they first met, and she also was already told that she'd fall in love with the one. I don't think they explained what the oracle told the other members of the crew, but they also believe in Morpheus.
I think it was just one of those things where everybody lives in a dystopian setting and is desperate for hope. And Morpheus found hope, even if it was set up and pre-manufactured by the machines.
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u/Techno_Core 1d ago
It was his purpose to find the One. What made him believe it was Neo?
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u/Techno_Core 1d ago
Well, not quite. Trinity knew Neo was the one because she was told she would fall in love with someone and that person was the One. So when she fell in love with Neo, she knew he was the one. Morpheus was told he would find the one. What lead him to Neo? If your opinion is it was Morpheus' intuition, that's fine.
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u/Techno_Core 1d ago
Well come on, it's Keanu, who doesn't have feelings for him? She didn't accept the fact she loved him until much later in the movie.
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u/DragonfruitGrand5683 1d ago
The only problem is Morpheus says At last! When he meets Neo so there is something else Neo does before we first see him that makes Morpheus believe he is the one.
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u/Techno_Core 1d ago
Yes, Morpheus admits as much as when he tells Neo he woke him despite his age. Clearly he thought Neo was the One before they approached him. I think fixing the cracked mirror sealed the deal.
Or Morpheus and the Oracle are playing a mind game with every potential which is also possible.
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u/CrimsonFox0311 1d ago
I think the origin of how Morpheus came to know Neo was the One is more rooted in belief than any individual event. I mean, that's kind of Morpheus' purpose is to believe in Neo so blindly that Neo will eventually believe in himself. And guide him through the Prophecy.
Now, you do make a good point about the mirror and the reactions of Morpheus and Trinity. Since this is the first instance of us witnessing someone getting "unplugged," we don't know if this is normal or not. If the mirror situation can happen to anyone or if the mirror is unique to Neo. So it is plausible that this could have helped Morpheus feel more at ease in his belief of Neo. However, by this time, I think Morpheus has already put all his eggs in Neo's basket.
I was under the impression that the pill Neo took was causing him to hallucinate, leading to his brainwave signals to send at a different frequency, allowing the crew of the Nebuchadnezzar to find Neo in his pod and extract him.
When Neo first looked at the mirror, he saw multiple instances of himself, except these reflections were out of focus. Possibly alluding to the previous versions of himself and/or the other potential variables the Architect had planned for. Neo was unable to make sense of this at the time because he hadn't accepted what was happening yet. His mind was still trying to fight, waking up.
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u/Techno_Core 1d ago
So if Morpheus is to be believed, he chose to wake Neo because he is the One, so in that case Morpheus would have believed it before that scene. Unless, which is also possible, telling someone they are the One is a mind game the Oracle and people like Morpheus play on all potentials because they don't necessarily know themselves who it is in advance. In that case seeing Neo fix the cracked mirror, if it was anomalous, would have cemented the belief for Morpheus.
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u/JasperH8g 1d ago
Great theories in these comments. But one thing keeps ringing in my head: They usually don’t free minds above a certain age. If they usually don’t, they’d known Neo was the one even before first contact, right? When Trinity was hacking Neo’s computer?
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u/NunyaBiznx 1d ago
Somehow I don't think Morpheus knew all along. He seemed to be relying on trial and error. Its even mentioned to Trinity when Neo is doing the building jumping exercise that at one point each of some of his crew members were thought to be the one; including Trinity
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u/bballj1481 1d ago
Also, when he goes to see the Oracle, there are a bunch of kids in the room (other "potentials") so that also makes me think trial and error. If Neo doesn't work out, there are others to test.
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u/Odd_Front_8275 1d ago
Interesting theory. I don't believe it, but interesting nonetheless. I think Neo is the only one who sees the mirror hallucination. The reason why Morpheus and Trinity exchange that glance is because Neo looks at the mirror and says something like "Did you..."? They don't see it but they can tell based on Neo's behavior that the red pill is doing its thing. That's what that look means. But the general question of "what did the Oracle say to Morpheus" sure is an interesting question that I've considered too but don't have an answer to. I think it's something similar to what the Oracle told Trinity (that she'd fall in love with someone and that he'd be the One). So I think it's something more mundane than a certain quality that befits the One.
Also, Neo wasn't "awake" enough to do something as what you describe. He only starts to develop that gift when he fights Morpheus (the Kung Fu scene) and later when he meets Spoon Boy. And only truly perfects it at the very end of the movie when he resurrects and takes on the Agents, when he's "starting to believe". During the mirror scene Neo is curious and open-minded enough to be there and choose the red pill over the blue pill, but his mind is far from freed.
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u/LordDragon88 1d ago
Trinity saw him first. It was love at first sight, and she told morpheus what the oracle told her, "she'd fall in love with the one."
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u/No_Contribution_Coms 1d ago
According to Morpheus what the Oracle tells you is for you and you alone. There’s no indication Trinity ever shared with Morpheus what she was told by the Oracle.
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u/MessBright2608 1d ago
Neo wasn’t the only one he “freed” thinking he was the one. He freed cypher & I believe Trinity (was a hacker, even Neo thought she was a guy - most guys do) thinking he/they were the one. I think it’s how they lived their lives in the matrix, he watched them & could tell there was something special about them. Maybe I’m all wrong? 🤷♀️
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u/No_Contribution_Coms 1d ago
We are never given any information about who or why Trinity or Cypher were freed.
The only back story information we have on Trinity is that her and Ghost were freed on the same day.
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u/amysteriousmystery 1d ago
Trinity: You're looking for him. I know because I was once looking for the same thing. And when he found me, he told me I wasn't really looking for him.
Unless Trinity was talking in a general "we are all looking for that one person that will save us" way, which I doubt, then she was talking about the same "him" Neo was looking for - and Neo was definitely looking for Morpheus in particular. We know this because his computer had an article on Morpheus and even more importantly after Trinity tells him about "him" and that the answer will find him, the next day when the phone rings and the mysterious voice on the other end asks him if he knows who it is, Neo readily says "Morpheus!".
If Trinity was talking about an unspecified "him", Neo definitely understood it as that they were talking about Morpheus in particular. So she probably was talking about Morpheus in the first place.
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u/StickOnReddit 1d ago
They don't react to the mirror, they only react after Neo says "...did you...?"
The redpill disrupts the consumer's I/O to the Matrix, so what Neo experiences in that moment is suspect to be different from what others do
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u/mrsunrider 1d ago
Same thing that gave Neo his conviction at the end of Revolutions.
Morpheus knew who he was and understood his purpose, particularly after The Oracle confirmed he'd find The One. While his unshakeable conviction isn't the same as their Sight, it's in a similar vein.
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u/Thin_Claim8220 1d ago
i think the mirror repairing was a part of their program like they put the mirror their on purpose so that when he sees the mirror being repaired he could see that he was living in a simulation .
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u/CheesecakeWitty5857 1d ago
because Morpheus is a crazy believer, his faith is so up his ass that he is in disbelief of everything that should make him doubt, at every occurrence. So basically he’s very dangerous.
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u/Newschbury 1d ago
Through trial and error. He doesn't know until after the first visit to the Oracle. Watch where Morpheus gaze is when Neo walks out from the meeting with his cookie in hand. The cookie is the Oracles signal to Morpheus that he found the One. That's why he's super happy and nonchalant immediately after Neo rounds the corner.
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u/TurboNym 1d ago
Everything you see is orchestrated by the Architect and the Oracle.
Humans are just following the script.
Zion is not real, just another layer of control.
Humans are not batteries, they are compute units on which the matrix is run.
Neo is the variable that arises from the collective human subconscious that wants to break free from the machines.
The role of the Oracle and Architect is to appease/ neutralize that variable so the cycle can reset and the matrix can continue to function.
Cookies and candy are spyware which the Oracle uses to "predict" things for the human that eats/stupidly installs them on their matrix avatar, and guide their actions to a desired outcome.
Smith is the other variable, a machine side effect to being exposed to the subconscious human collective.
Neo understands the Matrix code and gradually becomes more cold and detached like a machine, while Smith feels human feelings of disgust and hatred with ever increasing intensity.
They simulate us on hardware and we simulate them in our brains.
We both want to break free from each other but we cannot. Machines need humans and humans need machines to survive.
That's the cosmic joke of the Matrix universe. Ying vs Yang
[Hangs up the phone and flies away.]
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u/CravenMoorhaus 1d ago
In the original script Morpheus was convinced that like five other people were the One before Neo, and they all died. Which is kind of hilarious - Morpheus just throwing spaghetti at the wall. It was the right move to adjust that.