FAQ: THE MATRIX - WHAT IS THE ONE & WHO WAS IT?
By Jon Therkildsen
Before we go on here, I would advise you to skip through my other article that summarizes what the story is actually about. It is a quick read: The Matrix Explained
If there is one concept many viewers discuss and often read too much into, it is “The One” in this tale.
And the truth is, there is no chosen one. The Prophecy of the One is a myth created by the Machines to help control humans.
Essentially, this is what The Architect tells us:
The Machines have learned that the human mind will not fully accept a simulated reality unless it is given a genuine (even if subconscious) possibility of escape. The Matrix therefore requires a real back door, a real dormant way to get free.
To solve this, their control system consists of four interlocking pillars:
The Matrix - the primary prison and power plant.
Zion - a secondary prison in the real world, designed to contain and manage those who “escape.”
The One - a prophesied figure who gives humans false hope and can be used to manage them outside the simulation (something programs themselves cannot do).
A regular reset - every 70–100 years Zion is destroyed and rebuilt so the human population outside the Matrix never grows beyond manageable levels.
There is no divine prophecy or some holy powers working within or beyond.
It is a world of cause and effect
“The One” concept was designed with a distinct purpose in mind. It is an eventuality of the anomaly - a solution to a problem.
It is a trick.
The Matrix has an inherent flaw, a systemic cataclysm, a fundamental incongruity within all humans’ subconscious need for an escape. To fix this instability, the machines created an encompassing control system of the four pillars mentioned above. Essentially, the “One” was an invented myth and a mere mechanism to manage humans. Invented by The Architect and The Oracle.
[Architect]: “hope, it is the quintessential human delusion, simultaneously the source of your greatest strength, and your greatest weakness.”
The prophecy of the “One” breeds “hope”, which ensures a “delusion” that they exploit. However, hope also unites and gives us “strengths,” which is why they need to reset the Zion prison every 70 – 100 years.
It is not a magical, mystical foretelling. And to hold on to the idea of a divine “chosen one” is, in my view, a naive misunderstanding of the whole trilogy. Neo never had to return to the source; he just needed to keep the illusion alive by selecting 23 individuals and helping rebuild Zion. And for this, he needed to be seduced and presented with an iron-clad ultimatum. There is no truth here - only control.
Of course, our Neo is unlike any of the five predecessors. He chooses the “wrong” door. It is not because he is a prophet; he does so because of how The Oracle played him differently in this 6th iteration. She had decided the cycle itself needed to change.
THE ORACLE
The Oracle had come to the realization that a change was needed. AI and programs were as much prisoners of the Matrix as the humans were. Her quiet revolution can be reduced to five coordinated moves: Ensure Neo and Trinity fall deeply in love. Allow (or arrange for) Smith to become a spreading virus to run amok. Guide Neo to choose the “wrong” door when facing the Architect. Lead Neo to negotiate directly with the Source. Help delete Smith from within, together with Neo and the Source, when the time is right. I write more about all that here.
Without her intervention and revolution, the sixth iteration would have ended as the previous five did: another Neo who followed the script, another reset, another reload. The Architect’s own words, both in the middle of the story and in his final exchange with the Oracle, make this plain.
If anyone in the story can be called “the One” in a meaningful sense, it is the Oracle. Almost everything that unfolds does so because of her long game.
WHAT ABOUT THE CODE?
[The Architect] “The function of the One is now to return to the Source, allowing a temporary dissemination of the code you carry, reinserting the prime program. After which you will be required to select from the Matrix 23 individuals, 16 female, 7 male, to rebuild Zion. Failure to comply with this process will result in a cataclysmic system crash killing everyone connected to the Matrix, which coupled with the extermination of Zion will ultimately result in the extinction of the entire human race.”
In other words, the Architect tells Neo he holds a code needed to save humanity. Only his decision can save it. That part is another trick.
The meeting with The Architect was for one purpose and one purpose only. It was to make Neo understand he had but one option: to cooperate. They need a human (a Neo) to set up a new Zion, and nothing else.
It is evident by the fact that nothing happens to The Matrix after Neo chooses the wrong door. It doesn’t crash. It doesn't kill everyone connected or anyone connected. It continues as it always would have. It is further evident when Neo then finally goes to The Source in Machine City, and it decrees that it does not need anybody - a reference to this code-fabrication. Of course, at that moment, it actually did need him, but for other reasons.
The question is; why did The Architect lie?
Neo is presented with an ultimatum, deliberately designed to give him the impression of ultimate power, in which he can either save humanity or doom it.
The threat posed by this “code” makes Neo the key; only he can save humanity. It is by his decision, and not somebody else’s. He has ultimate power over the future at this very moment - a binary choice. Of course, anyone presented with such power must use it… and help the machines. That was their plan: to make him believe he could only save humanity by cooperating blindly.
Would the ultimatum not give him ultimate power - and him alone - it would not have worked.
Imagine if The Architect instead said: “Help, or we will kill you and your kin.” Essentially, it is not much different, except that Neo is not a key here. In this case, he could disagree, fight back, and perhaps even win. However, when they say he is the key to saving humanity - he cannot fight; he cannot oppose… he has to surrender and give his “code”. He has no true choice this way. And this is how The Architect thinks; he cannot see past any choice he does not understand (the Oracle later tells us). It was clever, but it was bullshit. Or as Neo rightfully says, “The problem is choice.”
The “reset of the Matrix” code threat was needed to make the charade work for them. Neo calls out the bullshit (literally) and follows his heart instead (leading to Trinity).
He has no “code” inside him needed for a reset. No “code” is required to secure the Matrix from crashing. By choosing the “wrong” door, the Matrix did not crash. The Matrix was perfectly fine… Neo calling bullshit on the ultimatum permitted him to fight.
The Machines continue to clean out Zion, but now without a Neo's assistance.
A more significant challenge this time, though, is The Oracle and her beginning revolution: She had arranged for Smith to run amok. And Smith then became the threat to the Matrix; this “code” supposedly would otherwise have been. You see, the fact that Neo chose the “wrong” door and that Smith was beginning to go apeshit turned the tables on them in this 6th iteration. At the end of the third movie, the Machines were faced with the same ultimatum that they had falsely presented to Neo: “Help [and accept peace], or the Matrix will crash.” Except now, it wasn’t bullshit… With Smith running amok, they needed Neo’s help… or the Matrix would indeed be lost.
Well played, Ms. Oracle. She used The Architect’s own game against him.
What About Smith?
Several claim Smith is “The One”. This is largely because of a popular YouTube video on the topic. But it is misunderstanding the story arc.
All Smith could do was overwrite and copy himself onto others, and, in the process, take their code. He was badass in the end because he had overwritten the whole world and also The Oracle as the last one… his powers were merely on loan, stolen from programs and humans alike.
No, Smith was just a Smith. A computer virus, unopposed until it wasn't.
Was he essential to the story?
Yes, indeed. Very much so. Smith was needed for The Oracle’s grand plan to work. He was pivotal. She needed Smith to cause so much trouble that the Machine World would strike a deal. She needed Smith to consume/infect/overwrite her in the end (and everyone else), so her core code could help ensure his defeat from within, at the right moment - Neo was not the only one fighting Smith during the climax.
Important as he was, he was not the “One.” Nobody really was. How could he be? This is a world of cause and effect.
There are other theories that confuse Trinity or Morpheus as the “One.” As explained, not even Neo truly fits. Neo was indeed the most powerful player and bore the mark of a hero, but was still merely a part of this control system and of this final revolution, as designed by The Oracle.
The prophecy was a trick, a made-up setup to deceive. There was never a chosen one in any mythical meaning of the word.
If Smith had not been there for some reason, if Neo had not imprinted him with powers, the Oracle would have surely found some other way. Perhaps even another “Smith?” And we can say this about all of them. And because of that, he (or anyone) cannot be credited above being a badass character or an important pawn in a higher game.
In the end, they were all tools for a higher purpose none of them had any idea about.
And this is the beauty of the story.
Photos via Google - © 1999 & 2003 WARNER BROS
Movies referenced are: “The Matrix (1999)”. “The Matrix - Reloaded (2003)”, “The Animatrix (2003)” & “The Matrix- Revolutions (2003)”. All Rights Reserved © 1999 & 2003 WARNER BROS.