Why Did The One Have to Do It?

Paul Martin
Spoilers

The question that I get asked the most is this: Why did it have to be Neo that fought Agent Smith and ended up dying and sacrificing himself for the people of the Matrix and Zion?

Well, here’s an explanation starting with the purpose of the Agents. What was their purpose? To stop the rebels from removing people from the Matrix. Agent Smith made it his own purpose to destroy Neo.

A program is deleted when it is no longer needed, and when it’s purpose has been completed. Which is precisely why it had to be Neo.

You see, Neo was Smith’s opposite. While Neo was alive, Smith was going to keep taking over people in the Matrix, until all were dead. But while Neo was alive, the machines couldn’t delete Smith. It’s all Machine logic. So Neo had to jack in to allow Smith to destroy him, but he did so, in exchange for peace. This was the only way that it was possible to save, not only the people, but the machines as well.

After Neo’s sacrifice, Smith asks “Is it over?” and that is a sign that indeed, it is over, his goal is complete. He is no longer needed. The Deus Ex Machina proceeds to delete Smith.

What do the Titles of the movies mean?

Okay, “The Matrix” is simply what the whole trilogy is centered on. In the first, it is seen as a controlling place, a place that you don’t want to be. It’s a world within the world.

The Matrix Reloaded is what happens when the One reaches the Source. It builds a stronger version of the Matrix, and it is precisely what would have happened in the movie, had Neo taken that path, however, he chose another path and this choice was left for the third film, when it did happen at the end of the film.

The Matrix Revolutions is quite simply put, the cycles of the Matrix. A revolution is a cycle, a turning of a wheel 360 degrees. This was yet another spin of that wheel, and it’s the end of the next Revolution.

The answers to everything that happened in the trilogy are most simply found in the titles, once you understand what the titles mean. It’s so brilliant, yet so simple.