Conversations: Neo & Oracle (M1)
Conversations: Neo & Architect
This conversation is packed with a lot more to explain, so I will be breaking this conversation down into smaller pieces than the conversation in the first movie.
Oracle: Well, come on. I ain't gonna bite ya. |
Why is Neo hesitant to approach this time? Remember that Neo has not seen the Oracle since the conversation they had in M1. (Neo visited the Oracle's abandoned apartment at the beginning of M2, unable to find the Oracle - M1 was probably the last time he saw her). That means Neo only saw the Oracle's shell last time he saw her since Neo didn't yet believe he was the One. This time, Neo is looking at the Oracle's code the same way he saw Seraph's code, realizing she is probably not human, which is why she tells Neo she's not going to bite. He doesn't quite know what to think yet, because all of the other code in the Matrix is green - even the code of the Agents.
Oracle: Come around here, and let me have a look at ya. My goodness, look at you! You turned out all right, didn't you? |
How Neo looks is no surprise to the Oracle. She already knew Neo is the One, and she already knew he'd fall in love with Trinity. In fact, Neo is the sixth One that the Oracle has seen in her lifetime. But in M1, she allowed Neo to believe that he is not the One, and it wouldn't look good if she told Neo she knew all along that he is the One and that she really just needed him to help her create the Smith virus.
Oracle: How do you feel? Neo: I, uh... Oracle: I know you're not sleeping. We'll get to that. |
If you run through this conversation in your mind, you'll realize that the Oracle never does talk to Neo specifically about Neo's difficulty sleeping. But believe it or not, the Oracle actually does "get to that" later in the conversation. Likewise, we will also "get to that" later.
Oracle: Why don't you come and have a sit this time? Neo: Maybe I'll stand. Oracle: Well, suit yourself. Neo: I felt like sitting. Oracle: I know. |
Here, we see a continuation of Neo's struggle with choice vs. fate. He doesn't like the idea that the Oracle was right about the choice he would have to make about Morpheus. He made that choice, not her. He also chooses to sit because he wants to, not because the Oracle invited him to; Neo doesn't believe in that "fate crap." The Oracle acknowledges Neo with, "I know." She is sincere - Neo is legitimately making certain choices, but she still knows what those choices will be, so again, from her perspective, Neo is "fated" to make certain choices.
Oracle: So. Let's get the obvious stuff out of the way. Neo: You're not human, are you? Oracle: Well it's tough to get any more obvious than that. |
The reason it's "tough to get any more obvious than that" is because the Oracle's code appears gold, just like Seraph's. For more on the gold code of Seraph and the Oracle, see Seraph and Oracle.
Neo: If I had to guess, I'd say you're a program from the machine world. So is he. Oracle: So far, so good. |
It has been six months since Neo first saw the Matrix as code in M1. Neo knows very well what the code of humans look like, whether hackers or slaves of the Matrix. He also knows what agents look like. Given that the code of Seraph and the Oracle is gold, this doesn't leave much room for doubt about where they come from.
Neo: But if that's true, that can mean you are a part of this system, another kind of control. Oracle: Keep going. Neo: I suppose the most obvious question is, how can I trust you? Oracle: Bingo! It is a pickle, no doubt about it. The bad news is there's no way if you can really know whether I'm here to help you or not. So it's really up to you. You just have to make up your own damn mind to either accept what I'm going to tell you, or reject it. |
Even though the Oracle is leaving it up to Neo, the Oracle knows exactly what needs to be said in order for him to actually trust her. Neo wants to feel in control of his own mind, and that's exactly what the Oracle is telling Neo to do: make up his own mind. If "diplomacy" is "letting others have your way," the Oracle would be the world's best diplomat.
Oracle: Candy? Neo: Do you already know if I'm going to take it? Oracle: Wouldn't be much of an Oracle if I didn't. Neo: But if you already know, how can I make a choice? Oracle: Because you didn't come here to make the choice, you've already made it. You're here to try to understand why you made it. I thought you'd have figured that out by now. |
This is yet another continuation of Neo's ongoing struggle to understand choice vs. fate. The Oracle is trying to get Neo to understand that while Neo is legitimately making his own choices, every choice he makes is already made. She can already see them. All that is left is to understand the reasoning behind every choice, and that is the key to this conversation, as we will soon see.
As for the candy, I have a hard time buying into the idea that the candy (which resembles the red pill in M1, by the way) is just a piece of candy so we can connect better with the Oracle's "sweet old lady" personality. The candy has to be a program.
So again, the only real question for me is what the candy program did to Neo. For my theory about that, see Oracle: Baking Cookies.
Neo: Why are you here? Oracle: Same reason. |
"Same reason" as who? Same reason as Neo, and Trinity is the reason Neo is here. This will become clearer as the conversation progresses.
Oracle: I love candy. |
With my above candy theory in mind, this line carries quite a double meaning.
Oracle: We're all here to do what we're all here to do. I'm interested in one thing, Neo, the future. |
I take her first sentence to mean that no machine or program - not even an exile - can deny its core purpose. "We programs are all just doing what we were created to do." Neo asked the Oracle why she's here, and she's beginning to tell him by first stating that she is, by her very created design, interested in the future. She may now be the new Prime Program, but the Oracle was first created as an intuitive program to study the human psyche. Seeing further into the future and improving understanding of the human psyche are the same goal since one cannot occur without the other. The Oracle is still carrying out her original designed purpose.
The Keymaker makes a similar statement later in the movie to an agent when he says, "We only do what we're meant to do." (In other words, he doesn't deserve to be killed by the system because he's only doing what the system created him for.) I will support this further on the Smith: Purpose page as well as on the Oracle page.
Oracle: And believe me, I know - the only way to get there [the future] is together. Neo: Are there other programs like you? Oracle: Oh, well, not like me. But... Look, see those birds? At some point a program was written to govern them. A program was written to watch over the trees, and the wind, the sunrise, and sunset. There are programs running all over the place. The ones doing their job, doing what they were meant to do, are invisible. You'd never even know they were here. But the other ones, well, we hear about them all the time. |
You might think the Oracle's quote (specifically, the part in yellow bold) contradicts the point I make above about the fact that programs cannot deny their core purpose. But think about what the Oracle is negating by saying "the other ones." There is a big difference between talking about programs that are "not doing what they were meant to do" and talking about programs that are "doing what they were not meant to do." The first scenario means that programs go against their core programming, and the second scenario means that programs fulfill their core programming but do other naughty things in addition to their core programming. I think the Oracle is speaking in the latter context, especially considering how similar the choice of words are between the Keymaker and the Oracle:
The Keymaker is free from the system but still continues to make keys, doing what he is meant to do. In addition, he is also doing what he is not meant to do by the mere fact that he chose exile. Even if he sits on his couch eating Cheetos while he watches football all day, he is still compelled to make keys, and yet he would still be doing what he is not supposed to be doing by avoiding deletion.
Neo: I've never heard of them. Oracle: Of course you have. Every time you've heard someone say they saw a ghost, or an angel. Every story you've ever heard about vampires, werewolves, or aliens is the system assimilating some program that's doing something they're not supposed to be doing. |
The Oracle is elaborating on what she previously said about the "other ones," and notice she is more clear about the negation this time: it's not about programs denying purpose, it's about programs doing things in addition to their purpose, mainly in terms of programs choosing exile.
I also believe this statement of the Oracle gives insight into what is actually going on in "Beyond" from the Animatrix, which I will go over in more detail on the Animatrix: Beyond page.
Neo: Programs hacking programs. Why? Oracle: They have their reasons, but usually a program chooses exile when it faces deletion. Neo: And why would a program be deleted? Oracle: Maybe it breaks down. Maybe a better program is created to replace it - happens all the time, and when it does, a program can either choose to hide here, or return to The Source. |
Regarding the Oracle's use of the word "usually," it is probably programs' ability to continue carrying out their core purpose that most strongly motivates them to choose exile in the first place. For example, every time a particular kind of insect, bird or animal goes extinct, the program that governs that animal would have no reason to hang around and would perhaps choose deletion. In the Keymaker's case, since the Source and backdoors still exist, the Keymaker can still fulfill his core purpose of making keys.
That said, we learn in The Matrix Online video game that programs (or machines) do choose exile even when they are no longer able to fulfill their designed purpose. To read more about this, see Sati: Rama-Kandra ("The Assassin?" section).
Oracle: ."..or return to The Source." Neo: The machine mainframe? Oracle: Yes. Where you must go. Where the path of The One ends. You've seen it, in your dreams, haven't you? The door made of light? Neo: [nods] |
Remember when the Oracle said above, "We'll get to that," regarding Neo's trouble sleeping? Here is where the Oracle finally does. Of course, we actually already knew this dream is what keeps Neo from sleeping. The dream is what woke Neo up in the beginning of M2 (i.e., why Neo is having trouble sleeping).
Oracle: What happens when you go through the door? Neo: I see Trinity, and something happens, something bad. She starts to fall, and then I wake up. Oracle: Do you see her die? Neo: No. Oracle: You have the sight now, Neo. You are looking at the world without time. |
Note the Oracle's use of the word "now" when she says, "You have the sight now, Neo." I believe this confirms that Neo did not have the sight last time he saw her six months ago in M1. That tells us that Neo's sight is not merely a symptom of being the One. Neo is the summation of rejection in the Matrix, and there is no rejection whatsoever that would "cause" accurate visions of the future.
Neo can't see his conversation with the Architect or anything else that is about to happen, so the Oracle merely gave him a single vision of a single event in the future. And for all we know, she may not have even given Neo true "vision" in her cookie but instead just gave him a recording of her own vision. In other words, rather than giving Neo the tools to generate that vision himself (like video recording tools), she might have pre-generated the vision and just copied it into Neo's mind (such as a video file). To read more on how she transmits the vision, see Oracle: Baking Cookies.
It may be confusing at first that Neo says he does not see Trinity die, because he does see someone smash into the roof of a car. The very first time we see Neo's dream, there is no reason for us to suspect that Neo will catch Trinity before she hits the ground, so we assume Trinity does crash into the car. But Neo does not know yet if it is Trinity or the Agent falling into the roof of the car.
Now, here's the key to why the Oracle gave Neo the vision. The following is the most critical part of the Oracle's meeting with Neo:
Neo: Then why can't I see what happens to her? Oracle: We can never see past the choices we don't understand. Neo: Are you saying I have to choose whether Trinity lives or dies? Oracle: No. You've already made the choice, now you have to understand it. Neo: No, I can't do that. I won't. Oracle: You have to. Neo: Why? Oracle: Because you're The One. Neo: What if I can't? What happens if I fail? Oracle: Then Zion will fall. |
First, remember that the Matrix is a big brain, and each human in the Matrix is like a neuron in the brain. The Oracle has such direct access to this brain, that it might as well be considered "her" brain. (It's also the brain of the Merovingian and Architect, but the Oracle's algorithms are much better, giving her far better sight into the future than the Architect and Merovingian. She can see beyond trillions of human choices in the future, while the Merovingian and Architect can't even see past one single choice - even the simplest choice.) Everything that Neo sees (or will see), or anything that anyone else in the Matrix sees or will see, the Oracle already sees. If Neo is destined to make a choice that he doesn't understand, the Oracle already knows that choice is going to take place and can already see that he doesn't understand it. She can see the choice as if she were the one making it.
The Oracle cannot see past a certain choice Neo is going to make if Neo himself doesn't understand the choice. Nor can the Oracle see past a choice she makes herself if she doesn't understand it. To repeat her words, "We can never see past the choices we don't understand." From a computational point of view, how would the Oracle handle certain input in order to see the future when the source of that input is confused? The Oracle needs Neo to understand why he chooses the left door so that the Oracle's computations can extend beyond that point in time.
Or... does she?
As it turns out, while all of the above is certainly true, the Oracle already knows what decision Neo will make. If Neo were to choose the right door, the choice would be a rational one that Neo would understand - a utilitarian decision that sacrifices his lover in order to save billions of people. But since the Oracle cannot see past Neo's choice, she already knows he will choose the left door. She also knows that asking Neo to try to understand this choice right now is silly. For crying out loud, Neo doesn't even know he will speak with the Architect yet. He doesn't know the choice will be between Trinity and the human race. He doesn't know squat about the choice. And yet she still asks him to try to understand it. She's asking for the impossible, and she knows it.
Furthermore, the Oracle never fails at what she sets out to do. She can certainly see beyond the conversation she's having right now with Neo, and she already knows she won't be able to get him to understand his choice before the conversation begins, so why even try? It would be an incredibly stupid thing for her to do if that were the only reason. Obviously, there is another reason she's doing this.
The Oracle needs Neo to take the vision of Trinity dying seriously. If he dismisses his vision as a silly nightmare, then he would not have the courage to ask Trinity to stay out of the Matrix, which means Trinity will not be available to go in at a later time when she can save Neo, Morpheus and the Keymaker from certain death via a building bomb.
So, even though it is true that the Oracle would benefit if Neo were somehow able to understand such an irrational decision, this is really just another one of her baked noodles (see Oracle: Baking Noodles). In fact, it's just like the broken vase in M1: the process of showing Neo the vision of Trinity falling out the window is exactly what makes it come true!
Oracle: Our time is up. Listen to me, Neo. You can save Zion if you reach The Source, but to do that you will need the Keymaker. Neo: The Keymaker? Oracle: Yes, he disappeared some time ago. We did not know what happened to him until now. He's being held prisoner by a very dangerous program, one of the oldest of us. He is called the Merovingian, and he will not let him go willingly. Neo: What does he want? Oracle: What do all men with power want? More power. Oracle: Be there, at that exact time, and you will have a chance. |
Referring to the bolded statement above, how in the world could the Oracle not know what happened to the Keymaker until recently? And why was the Keymaker scheduled for deletion? For my theory about this, see Keymaker.
Seraph: We must go. Oracle: Seems like every time we meet I've got nothing but bad news. I'm sorry about that, I surely am. But for what it's worth, you've made a believer out of me. Good luck, kiddo. |
The need for the Oracle to "believe" in Neo indicates that she still cannot see past his choice to save Trinity. If Neo were going to choose the right door, the Oracle would know what Neo is going to do after the choice rather than just believe in it. But again, this wasn't really about the Oracle, because even before they began this conversation, she already knew this. This conversation was about getting Trinity to stay out of the Matrix so that she can be there to save Neo, Morpheus and the Keymaker.
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