Characters / The Matrix: Nebuchadnezzar

The Matrix Main Character Index
The Nebuchadnezzar | The Mnemosyne | Programs of the Matrix | Zion | IO | The Machines | The Animatrix

The crew of the Nebuchadnezzar.

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In General

• Badass Crew: Neo is The Chosen One and can manipulate the Matrix to an extent. The rest are all capable fighters in their own right, with Morpheus and Trinity in particular being able to hold their own against or even defeat powerful opponents.
• Badass Longcoat: Also common attire for them in the Matrix. Primarily worn by Neo and Morpheus.
• Cool Shades: Most of them wear these in the Matrix.
• Dwindling Party:
  • Mouse is killed by a S.W.A.T. team. Dozer, Apoc and Switch are killed by Cypher, who in turn is killed by Tank for his treachery. Tank dies some time in between The Matrix and Reloaded, and Trinity dies in Revolutions. Neo is taken away by the Machines in the third film, leaving Morpheus as the only member of the original crew.
  • Neo and Trinity both return in The Matrix Resurrections. However, Morpheus is dead per the events of The Matrix Online.
• Five-Token Band: Morpheus, Dozer, Link and Tank (black male)^note Tank's actor Marcus Chong is black on his father's side and Chinese on his mother's, Trinity and Switch (white female), Mouse and Cypher (white male), Apoc (Maori male) and Neo (Chinese-American).
• La Résistance: They are one of many crews serving the human rebellion against the machines.
• Meaningful Name:
  • Neo's name is both an anagram for the word "One" and the Latin word for "new". His given surname in the Matrix was Anderson; "Ander" is the Greek word for "man", making Neo a "New Son of Man".
  • Morpheus helps wake people from the Matrix. He is named after the Greek god of dreams.
  • Trinity is named after the Holy Trinity of the Father, the Son and Holy Ghost in Christian theology. Trinity is the force who guides Neo to his "salvation," as well as commanding Neo to rise up from his apparent death in the first film, implying a further parallel between her character and God. This parallel is further developed in the fourth movie, where she gains the same powers as Neo.
  • Mouse's name works on two levels: he is short and scrawny, and is also a Playful Hacker.
  • Dozer's name is derived from "bulldozer".
  • Cypher works on multiple levels:
    • In the computer language, a cipher is an encryption which changes every letter into another one so that other people cannot read the message. Cypher pretends to be loyal to the resistance, while plotting to betray them. This is also reflected in his request to Smith to have his memories erased.
    • Cipher is also an archaic term for the number zero. As Neo is the human who will free humanity from the Machines, Cypher could be his human opposite, being a human whose betrayal of humanity would keep them subservient to the Machines. As explained by Joe Pantoliano in an interview, Cypher was also scouted to be a potential "One" before falling from grace.
    • In cryptography, Lucifer was the name given to several of the earliest civilian block ciphers. As mentioned above, Cypher is a Fallen Hero.
    • Cypher asks to have his memory erased and to be brought back as an actor. Smith refers to him as "Mr. Reagan", suggesting Cypher is the setting's equivalent of Ronald Reagan, who was an actor before getting into politics and was suffering from Alzheimer's from the 90s to the 2000s.
  • Link is the crew's Mission Control while they are in the Matrix. In other words, he is their "link" to the physical world.
  • Switch's name becomes this if you are aware of the original intention of the character. The idea was that Switch would be male in the physical world and female in the Matrix.
  • Apoc's name could be short for "apocrypha", which refers to works outside of accepted canon of scripture. Apoc is a rebel trying to free humans from the false reality the Machines have imprisoned them in.
• Virtual-Reality Warper:
  • The human "redpill" hackers who work within the Matrix are able to bend the laws of its "reality" to perform superhuman feats within limits: empowering themselves with downloaded knowledge, making themselves stronger and faster than most human beings, and making absolutely impossible jumps appears to be the extent of their abilities.
  • The ultimate example is Neo: as "the One," he has the power to not only bend the rules of the Matrix but break them. Normally, he only uses this for things like flying and stopping bullets in mid-air, though occasionally his powers extend to more impressive feats like telekinesis, phasing through flesh to retrieve bullets, restarting stopped hearts and destroying Agents. Lore indicates that his power extends to warping the very nature of the Matrix itself — to the point that the first One released the first pod-born humans from captivity through sheer force of will.
• Weak, but Skilled: With the exception of Neo, all of them qualify as this in the Matrix. They lack raw power of Neo and the Agents, but make up for it with skill and brains.

Neo

Thomas A. Anderson / Neo

"I know Kung-Fu."

^{Click here to see Neo in The Matrix Resurrections.} 
"I still know Kung-Fu."

Played By: Keanu Reeves

Voiced By: Keanu Reeves (Enter the Matrix, The Animatrix), Andrew Bowen (Path of Neo)

Dubbed By: Martín Soto (Latin-American Spanish, The Matrix) Salvador Delgado (Latin-American Spanish, Reloaded), René García (Latin-American Spanish, Revolutions-Resurrections), Jean-Pierre Michaël (European French), Rikiya Koyama (Japanese), Toshiyuki Morikawa (Japanese, The Matrix-Revolutions), Mitsuru Miyamoto (Japanese, The Matrix)

Appearances: The Matrix | The Animatrix: Kid's Story | Enter the Matrix | The Matrix Reloaded | The Matrix Revolutions | The Matrix: Path of Neo | The Matrix Resurrections

"My name... Is Neo."

The protagonist of the film series and the Chosen One to liberate mankind from the virtual world where the machines have imprisoned them. His Matrix identity is Thomas A. Anderson, a software company office employee and computer hacker. He gets freed from the Matrix by Morpheus and his crew, and gradually learns about his destiny.

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• The Ace: Morpheus might be the captain of the Nebuchadnezzar, but Neo's the star player.
• All-Loving Hero: Turns out he was designed by the Machines to behave this way so that he would save humanity and continue the status quo.
• Amazon Chaser: In Resurrections, with his memory wiped and meeting "Tiffany" for the first time, he claims that he feels better than ever after she mentions wanting to break the jaw of a guy she dislikes.
• AM/FM Characterization: In his first scene, he's listening to "Dissolved Girl" by Massive Attack on his headphones.
• Anti Anti Christ: As The Matrix Reloaded revealed, the purpose of The One was actually yet another method of machines controlling humanity in that The One would spare some people in Zion before Zion is destroyed and then the cycle continues, and there were several "The Ones" before Neo and his predecessor. However, Neo rejects this path, and ends up granting humanity true freedom after destroying Smith, and himself in the process.
• Anti-Hero: In the first movie he kills anyone who stands in his way, growing out of it to become The Hero.
• Back from the Dead:
  • After being gunned down by Agent Smith in the first film, Neo, with the help of Trinity, awakens to his power as the One and gets back up.
  • Following his death in Revolutions, Neo has somehow returned in Resurrections. It's revealed that the Machine faction that wanted to keep the Matrix going rebuilt Neo's body and revived him in order for him to serve as the basis for a remade Matrix.
• Badass Longcoat: The duster from the lobby scene in the first movie. In the sequels, part of his standard getup in the Matrix is a coat styled after a priest's cassock.
• Badass Normal: Even before he became The One, he was among the handful of those, if not the only person, who was actually successful in taking out an Agent empty-handed.
• Barrier Warrior: Famously unlocks this power and stops a hail of bullets in its tracks at the end of the first movie, and comes to use it more and more over time. By the time of Resurrections, it's as essential an offensive weapon as his actual punches and kicks.
• Battle Couple: He grew into this with Trinity.
• Big Good: Due to being The One.
• Brought Down to Badass: In Resurrections, Neo initially lacks the full power he demonstrated in Reloaded and Revolutions, but he still has some limited telekinetic power in the Matrix, as well as still possessing all the martial arts skills he learned in the first film.
  Neo: I still know kung fu.
• Character Development: Through his encounters, he learns that the conflict between humans and the machines is not so black and white after all.
• The Chosen One: The Prophecy made him into one. Turns out it's just more manipulation by the machines.
• Cool Shades: A Matrix trademark.
• The Cracker: He was a hacker as a bluepill. Apparently, he found out about the Matrix through this.
• Crucified Hero Shot: His dead body was positioned this way when being taken in Revolutions.
• Deadpan Snarker: Downplayed; Neo is normally very serious, especially after embracing his powers as the One, but he's not above letting out a quip from time to time. For example, in Reloaded, he greets three Agents with a casual "hiya, fellas", dryly congratulates Smith on his "liberation", and he lets out a bit of exasperated sarcasm while talking to Link later in the film.
  Link: Whoa. You're not gonna believe this, but you're in the mountains.
  Neo: [surrounded by said mountains] Really?
• Determinator: Why does he keep going? Because he can, and because he chooses to.
• Disability Superpower: In Revolutions. After the Smith-possessed Bane burns his eyes out with a severed power cable, he develops a sort-of Aura Vision, allowing him to "see" anything connected to the Source (which is everything) as a golden light. The result is that he actually sees way more than anybody else.
• Distressed Dude: One could argue Neo is this, due to being apprehended by agents on multiple occasions, such as the first film where a tracking bug is placed in his belly button. Sometimes Trinity saves him and other times he saves himself.
• Doesn't Like Guns: After the first film, he no longer uses firearms when jacked into The Matrix. Although, it's more down to no longer needing them than disliking them.
• Do Not Call Me "Paul": "My name... Is Neo." However, Smith almost always calls him Mr. Anderson in the sequels and Neo doesn't say either of these to him.
• Endearingly Dorky: Has shades of this, especially in the first film. Announcing that he knows kung fu, being unaware of Trinity's crush when being told by the Oracle and falling off a building after failing to imitate Morpheus to name a few.
• Eye Scream: He loses his eyes in Revolutions when the Smith-possessed Bane shoves a severed power cable in his face, but they’re repaired in Resurrections.
• Follow the White Rabbit: Neo is told to do this through his computer, and shortly after follows a girl with a white rabbit tattoo to Trinity, and then Morpheus, and beyond. Again in Resurrections as Bugs showing off rabbit tattoo convinces him again.
• Gone Horribly Right: According to the Architect, The One is explicitly designed to have an affinity for humanity. This is so that he/she will choose to save some humans rather than watch them all die when the cycle mentioned above repeats. However, Neo is such an All-Loving Hero and so in love with Trinity that he would rather risk everything to save everyone. Luckily for all concerned, Smith's threat gives Neo a major bargaining chip when negotiating with the Machines.
• Good Is Not Soft: Neo is a very kind man and a true hero, but he won't hesitate to go through anyone who gets between him and his goals.
• Guns Akimbo: Neo's general preference in armed combat is this. The lobby scene in the first movie alone features Neo's almost exclusive use of several pairs of guns.
• Handicapped Badass: Has his eyes completely burned by Bane!Smith, but kills him anyway thanks to his machine-like vision. However, they are fixed in the process of his resurrection by the Analyst.
• The Hero: Considered as "The One," after all.
• The Hero Dies: At the end of Revolutions, he commits a Heroic Sacrifice to stop Agent Smith.
• Heroic Sacrifice: He sacrifices himself to bring peace to Zion.
• Instant Expert: Justified since information can be downloaded directly into the brain.
• It Sucks to Be the Chosen One: He should've been more careful for what he wished to know about The Matrix. He gets his computer hacked, he's chased about and "bugged" by Agents. Shortly after being forcefully and painfully ejected from the Matrix, he learns the truth about the Matrix and completely loses it for a bit. He gets a little fun when learning how to bend the rules of virtual reality, but when Agent Smith and others put them to the ultimate test, he's bludgeoned silly before having the full mag of a Desert Eagle emptied into him. Even after getting Enlightenment Superpowers, he realizes they have a limit. He can hardly get a moment's peace with Trinity because of all the hero worship he gets. His purpose eludes him until he realizes that Smith, a fatalistic abomination, must kill him to save everyone in and out of the Matrix. He learned that You Can't Fight Fate, but you can trick it.
• Legacy Character: Zion legend had it that the guy before Neo was powerful enough to make the Matrix his own playground and freed the first of the rebels to found Zion. Upon death, he was prophesied to one day return and free all humans from the Matrix finally ending the war. It's later revealed in Reloaded there were actually 5 Ones prior to Neo. Each of Neo's predecessors met with the Architect who gave them a Sadistic Choice of either letting all humans die with the Matrix crashing or selecting 23 people to found the new Zion after the previous one was destroyed. This was all part of a Vicious Cycle by the Machines of perpetually rebooting the Matrix to continue enslaving humanity. In other words, the "prophecy" of the One returning to save the Zionites happened 6 times, and it was only with the sixth time that it stuck.
• Living Battery: Like most humans, he used to be a prisoner in the Matrix producing energy for the machines while believing a fantasy. After his death, the machines revive him due speculating that his powers of the One could produce even more energy for them than with legions of humans, which turns out to be true provided he is near to Trinity.
• Meaningful Name: "Anderson" can be translated as "Son of Man" (a moniker traditionally ascribed to Jesus), hinting at his destiny as the savior of humanity. More subtly: since "Anderson" is the name that Neo chooses to reject in favor of his chosen identity, it also hints at his story being an allegory for the trans experience (an interpretation confirmed as intentional by the creators); "Ander" can be translated as "man", while the suffix "-son" means "male child", both of which allude to traditional masculinity, symbolically hinting at the story being about casting aside one's assigned gender. This is reinforced by Smith taunting Neo by calling him "Mr. Anderson", meaning that he effectively calls him "Mr. Man-Boy".
• Messianic Archetype/Composite Character: While he is deliberately designed to be Jesus of their era, he also takes cues from Buddha, founder of Buddhism:
  • He leaves all of his worldly possessions behind to go on a quest, in which at the end he comes upon a world-view epiphany (aka Obtains Enlightenment), then spends time as a humble teacher.
  • Generally for all Ones, once he dies, his followers will know he will come back in another person's body via Reincarnation.
  • Specific to Neo, he fights for everyone (machine and humans), and asks for peace instead of surrender.
  • He also shares other things that Buddha and Jesus had in common, like being humble, but not a pushover.
• My Name Is Inigo Montoya: The above-mentioned line, after which he smashes Smith into the ceiling in the first show of his power as The One.
• Nice Guy: Even before he becomes The One. After all, what can be nicer than helping his landlady take out the garbage?
• Not in Kansas Anymore: When he first wakes up in reality. Right before this, Cypher warns him:
  Cypher: Buckle your seatbelt, Dorothy, 'cause Kansas is going bye-bye!
• Not So Invincible After All: Downplayed; while fighting the Merovingian's henchmen in Reloaded, Neo stops one of their swords with his bare hand, leaving a small cut. The Merovingian points out that Neo is "just a man" and can presumably be beaten. Neo, however, still thoroughly demolishes all of his opponents; just because he's not invincible doesn't mean they stood a chance.
• Older Than They Look: 60 years pass between Revolutions and Resurrections, but physically Neo has only aged around 20 years because of modifications the Machines made to his body.^Note Assuming that Neo was around the same age as his actor was during the events of Revolutions (Keanu Reeves was 39 by the time The Matrix Revolutions was released in 2003) then that would make Neo around the ballpark of 100 years old!
• One-Man Army: In Reloaded, he fights against the Merovingian's goons. Even though one injures him, all of them go down to him. And the more said about that fight he had with many Smith clones, the better.
• The Power of Love: This is used by both him and Trinity to resurrect each other.
• Reality Warper: Played with and to a certain extent. He has abilities like this only when he's inside the Matrix as they derive from the Source and he only acquires them after he's officially revealed to be the One. However, the ending of Reloaded and the entirety of Revolutions shows a few of these abilities extend into the real world as well.
• Screw Destiny: See the spoiler at the top.
• Significant Anagram: Neo can be scrambled to be spelled as One, as in "The One."
• Spared by the Adaptation: The Path of Neo game, maybe.
• The Stoic: His voice is flat and his posture is collected.
• Superman Substitute: He's a Flying Brick and Messianic Archetype who is considered humanity's last and greatest hope. He had a mild-mannered civilian identity, has a committed relationship with a confident, dark-haired woman, and his main enemies (the Machines and Smith) are not so different from Brainiac and Luthor.
• Superpower Lottery: He has super strength, super reflexes and agility, flight, and can even disable machines with his mind.
• Taking You with Me: At the end of Revolutions, he dies after destroying Agent Smith and freeing Zion.
• Took a Level in Badass:
  • Actually, several levels for that matter. Went from a rebellious geek who can't fight at all to a world-class martial artist in 10 hours, thanks to Neural Implanting.
  • Taken even further when he chooses to be The One, gaining powers inside the Matrix, and further still, when he starts gaining outside of it.
• Virtual-Reality Warper: As "the One," he has the power to not only bend the rules of the Matrix, but break them. Normally, he only uses this for things like flying, stopping bullets in mid-air and occasionally destroying Agents, but from time to time, he performs more elaborate feats like removing a bullet from Trinity by phasing his hand through her chest and bringing her back to life via physically touching her heart. lore indicates that his power extends to warping the very nature of the Matrix itself - to the point that the first One is said to have released the first pod-born humans from captivity through sheer force of will.
• Walking Armory: In the first film, he carries a ridiculous number of guns underneath his Badass Longcoat in the Lobby Scene. Around a dozen by some counts.
• What Beautiful Eyes!: Mocked by Cypher in the first film.
• Worf Had the Flu: Downplayed in Resurrections. Neo is able to still fight once he regains his memories, but the new programs are updated and fight faster than him, Smith included. This is all presumably done by The Analyst to keep him in check and not become as powerful as he was before.

Trinity

Trinity

"Dodge this."

^{Click here to see Trinity in The Matrix Resurrections.} 
"We were on our way to remake your world."

Played By: Carrie-Anne Moss

Dubbed By: Nancy MacKenzie (Latin-American Spanish, The Matrix and Reloaded), Rebeca Patiño (Latin-American Spanish, Revolutions-Resurrections) Danièle Douet (European French), Keiko Toda (Japanese, The Matrix), Yurika Hino (Japanese)

Appearances: The Matrix | The Animatrix: A Detective Story | Enter the Matrix | The Matrix Reloaded | The Matrix Revolutions | The Matrix: Path of Neo | The Matrix Resurrections

"It's the question that drives us, Neo. It's the question that brought you here."

The second-in-command of Morpheus' crew and Neo's eventual love interest. She is an amazing fighter and steals most of the fight scenes during the trilogy.

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• Action Girl: Her introductory scene establishes her as a more than competent fighter.
• Action Girlfriend: She and Neo are a Battle Couple.
• Aloof Dark-Haired Girl: She usually keeps to herself and is unfettered.
• Badass Longcoat: She dons a trenchcoat in the Matrix, though she drops it later.
• Battle Couple: With Neo.
• Captain Smooth and Sergeant Rough: Trinity is more abrasive than Morpheus, being his Number Two; she drags Neo's foot down when Morpheus goes to fight Smith to let the others escape and later tells Neo that if he doesn't like Trinity helping to bring back Morpheus then he can go to hell.
• Came Back Strong: In Resurrections, she’s not only brought back to life, but gains the same powers of the One as Neo.
• Cool Shades: A Matrix trademark.
• Given Name Reveal: Resurrections gives her the name Tiffany. She absolutely hates it. Though it's not really a "reveal" as the Analyst implies at the end of the movie that it's a name he himself came up with as a joke, so it's not Trinity's original bluepill name.
• Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: In Revolutions, she dies when she gets impaled by power cables after their hovercraft crashes.
• Meaningful Name: She's one of the three most significant members of the Nebuchadnezzar crew, and one of three who remains with the crew until the war's final days—making her part of a "trinity". She's also one of the two most important people in the life of Neo (who's a messianic figure destined to save humanity), making the term's biblical connotations all the more fitting.
• Number Two: She is the first mate of the Nebuchadnezzar.
• Older Than They Look: 60 years pass between Revolutions and Resurrections, but physically Trinity has only aged around 20 years because of modifications the Machines made to her body. They have advanced medical technology from centuries of growing humans, and they spared no expense in keeping her and Neo alive as long as possible.
• Samus Is a Girl / There Are No Girls on the Internet: Neo believed Trinity to be a man before meeting her, and in The Animatrix, three other people refer to Trinity as "he" before they meet her. This is apparently quite common, yet they're not that surprised to learn Trinity is a she.
  Neo: Jesus, ummm...
  Trinity: What?
  Neo: Well, it's just, um... I thought you were a guy.
  Trinity: (Slight smile) Most guys do.
• Spanner in the Works: It turns out that the prophecy of "The One" was actually manufactured by the Machines as part of an elaborate scheme to keep humanity under their thumb, and Neo has been an Unwitting Pawn of the Machines all along; his true purpose isn't to defeat the Machines and free humanity, it's to reboot the Matrix and choose a new generation of free humans to rebuild Zion after it's destroyed—ensuring that humanity's struggle against the Machines will continue indefinitely with no chance of success. The Machines just didn't count on "The One" falling in love, and certainly didn't count on Neo's love for Trinity being so strong that he would willingly turn his back on his "destiny" to save her, throwing their entire plan out of whack. Notably, we learn that Neo is actually the sixth person to take up the mantle of "The One", yet there's no indication that any of his predecessors had an equivalent of Trinity in their lives...meaning that she may very well be one-of-a-kind.
• Statuesque Stunner: She is taller than most of the men. Well, Carrie-Anne Moss is actually 5'8", which isn't particularly tall, but Trinity fights wearing high heels which make her look taller.
• The Unchosen One: While Neo is the prophesied savior, Trinity is just another human resistance fighter. However, the Analyst deduces in Resurrections that Neo needs Trinity to become the One, as his powers manifest based on his desire to protect her. This relationship between the two is so strong that not only does it produce magnitudes more energy for the Matrix, it also turns Trinity into such an anomaly that, once she finally awakes, she also attains the powers of the One.
• Troll: In Resurrections she toys with the Analyst by breaking his jaw, slicing him at the neck, rewinding the effect after each attack and joking about both with Neo - as the latter stands back and watches while petting Deja Vu.
• [Verb] This!: Her "Dodge this." comment to the Agent she head-shoots in the first movie served as the former Trope Namer. She pulls a similar line on Persephone in Reloaded when Persephone asks to sample "the feeling of love" from Neo.
  Why don't you sample this instead? *points her gun at Persephone*
• Violently Protective Girlfriend: She will not hesitate to end you if you hurt Neo. She even pulls a gun on Persephone when she demands a kiss from him.

Morpheus

Morpheus

"You think that's air you're breathing now?"

Played By: Laurence Fishburne

Dubbed By: Arturo Casanova (Latin American Spanish, The Matrix and Reloaded), Gerardo Vásquez (Latin-American Spanish, Revolutions-Resurrections), Pascal Renwick (European French, 1999-2005)

Appearances: The Matrix | Enter the Matrix | The Matrix Reloaded | The Matrix Revolutions | The Matrix: Path of Neo | The Matrix Online

"I'm trying to free your mind, Neo, but I can only show you the door. You're the one that has to walk through it."

The most notorious terrorist in world of the Matrix and the captain of the Nebuchadnezzar. He is the first who reveals the existence of The Matrix, and becomes Neo's mentor and teacher.

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• The Artifact: In Revolutions, with his character arc having been completed, he spends most of the film as Niobe’s sidekick.
• Badass Longcoat: An ankle-length snakeskin duster, no less.
• Bald of Authority: He is bald and The Leader of the Nebuchadnezzar crew.
• Bald Mystic: In the first film, Morpheus acts as Neo's spiritual and mental guru, introducing him to the world of the Matrix and training him both as a fighter and as a thinker to fulfill his role as The Chosen One.
• Benevolent Boss: He lets himself get captured by Agent Smith so that Neo can escape.
• Big Good: He's this even though Lock leads the rebels in Zion. This is mainly in the first movie until he is usurped by Neo himself. As the most infamous terrorist in the Matrix, he's the main symbol and inspiration that people have in the fight against the Machines.
• Bring It: The most important thing he taught Neo? That awesome stance.
• The Captain: His official role is as the captain of the Nebuchadnezzar; everything else is his personal mission.
• Contemplate Our Navels: He's very prone to go into philosophical lectures.
• Cool Shades: Super-reflective pince nez sunglasses. They don't even have earpieces, only a nose bridge.
• Curb Stomp Cushion: Though Agent Smith easily beat Morpheus into submission in the first movie, Morpheus managed to get in a few good hits and block many of Agent Smith's relentless attacks until caving in.
• Deadpan Snarker: He's usually more straight-laced than Neo but he has a moment when Smith says he wants everything and Morpheus has this to say:
  Would that include a bullet from this gun.
• A Father to His Men: The crew of the Neb would follow him to their deaths without hesitation.
• Heroic BSoD: He didn't take it very well when he learned everything he believed in was "another system of control."
  I have dreamed a dream... But now that dream has gone from me.
• It Has Been an Honor: "The honor is mine / is still mine."
• The Mentor: Fulfills every aspect except the "dying to save the hero" bit; the closest he comes to this is allowing himself to be captured so the others can escape. Neo refusing to leave him behind is one of his most important decisions.
• Mentor Occupational Hazard: Defied by Neo in the first movie, and it sticks that way. Morpheus is the only lead to make it through the trilogy.
• Mr. Exposition: He delivers several key Info Dumps to Neo in the first movie; The Oracle picks up the slack in the sequels.
• Nice Guy: He says he owes Neo an apology for shocking him with the reality of the real world. He also doesn't mind other people not believing what he believes about the One, as his conversation with Locke in Reloaded shows.
• Rank Scales with Asskicking: Is the captain of the Nebuchadnezzar, and before Neo ascends as 'The One', the strongest fighter in the crew. And even afterwards, he's still one of the better fighters in the story and manages to defeat an Agent mostly on his own.
• Religious and Mythological Theme Naming: He wakes people up from the illusion world they live in. Morpheus is the Greek God of dreams.
• Reverse Arm-Fold: Likes to assume this position.
• Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: Uses very big words during some of his talk.
• Single Tear: At the end of Revolutions when the war ended. In a way, the prophecy did come to pass.
• Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome: He passed of old age during the 60 years between Revolutions and Resurrections.
• Supporting Leader: Despite being The Leader of the Nebuchadnezzar crew, Neo is The Hero of the story.
• There Is No Try: "Stop trying to hit me and hit me!"
• Took a Level in Badass: Went from getting his ass kicked by Smith in the first film to being able to fight evenly with Johnson, an upgraded agent, in Reloaded.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: He's still a Nice Guy, but in Revolutions, he's quite short tempered with Niobe when she tells him to keep up, most likely a result of him being done over by the prophecy.
• Waistcoat of Style: At least in Reloaded.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: A rare heroic example.
• What Measure Is a Mook?: Morpheus views every human who is unconsciously in The Matrix (which is 90% of mankind) as a potential enemy, and blasts them away without a second thought. Justified since, as he explains to Neo, anyone in that situation can become an Agent at any moment.
• The Worf Effect: When Neo and Morpheus first start training, Morpheus is shown handling him with ease for most of the fight and seems to be both skilled and insightful. Agent Smith establishes just how much of a threat he is when he effortlessly beats down Morpheus in a fight. Though Morpheus did state to Neo back in the training simulation that everyone who had stood their ground against an Agent (before then) died.
• The World Is Not Ready: He explains that most people are not ready to be freed, as they've become dependent on the system. He goes on to explain that some are "so inured, so hopelessly dependent on the system, that they will fight to protect it."
• Working with the Ex: He works the guns on the Mjolnir while Niobe pilots as they race to Zion in Revolutions.

Cypher

Cypher/Mr. Reagan

Played By: Joe Pantoliano

Dubbed By: Genaro Vasquez (Latin American Spanish), Gilles Tamiz (European French)

Appearances: The Matrix | The Matrix: Path of Neo

"Ignorance is bliss."

A crew member of the Nebuchadnezzar. He's actually a spy for the Machines.

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• All Love Is Unrequited: He apparently had feelings towards Trinity.
• Bald of Evil: Unlike the crew, who are shaved-headed in real life, Cypher is bald both in The Matrix and reality.
• Beard of Evil: He also has a natty goatee.
• Broken Pedestal: He's grown to despise his mentor Morpheus for taking him from the Matrix.
• Cool Shades: A Matrix trademark.
• Deadpan Snarker: The snarkiest of the crew, without a doubt.
• Disc-One Final Boss: Despite killing Dozer, Apoc & Switch, he doesn't get far in his traitorous rampage as Tank quickly annihilates him.
• Face–Heel Turn: He makes a deal with the Machines to doom Zion in exchange for being plugged back into the Matrix.
• Foil:
  • Like Neo, Cypher did not take the reality of The Matrix and humanity's fate well but while the former was able to quickly get over it, the latter did not to the point of making a deal to be reinserted into The Matrix with his memory erased.
  • Neo is a Humble Hero and The One with a number of abilities no other Red Pill human has demonstrated while Cypher doesn't even display the normal superhuman abilities, as well one of the requirements for being reinserted is to be made "someone important" such as a politician or a movie star.
  • The Deal with the Devil the two make with the Machines is a perfect symbolism: Cypher's would've led to the death of every person in Zion and dooming humanity to being trapped in The Matrix. Neo's is made to bring a truce between the two forces and gave his life to ensure it, one of the caveats was humans being free to choose to leave.
• Green-Eyed Monster: He expresses some jealousy towards Trinity's affection of Neo.
• High-Voltage Death: He dies when Tank fries him with a plasma gun.
• Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: At first he seems like a cynical but loyal member of the rebellion. Then he's revealed to be working to capture Morpheus.
• Karmic Death: Tank kills him with the very same Lightning Gun he used to kill Dozer.
• Laser-Guided Karma: After he killed most of his team, he began to boast how nothing would stop him from unplugging and killing Neo. Cue Tank frying his ass with a plasma gun.
• The Mole: He spies on the crew for the Agents.
• Obviously Evil: If his bald head and natty goatee is enough of an indicator.
• Rage Against the Mentor: He hates Morpheus for taking him from the Matrix and rants how if he had told him 'the truth,' Cypher would've told him to 'shove the redpill up his ass.'
• The Resenter: He comes to hate Morpheus for "lying" in order to have him leave The Matrix, stating that any person who was told the truth before taking the red pill would've "shoved it up his [Morpheus'] ass."
• The Sociopath: While Agent Smith is an Artificial Intelligence, Cypher is a cold and murderous human.
• Team Killer: After his betrayal, he kills two members before trying to kill Neo.
• This Cannot Be!: He's horrified about Tank surviving and aiming a weapon at him.

Link

Link

"Goddamn, it's good to be home again."

Played By: Harold Perrineau

Dubbed By: Arturo Mercado (Latin American Spanish, Reloaded), Alfonso Obregón (Latin American Spanish, Revolutions), Daniel Lobé (European French)

Appearances: Enter the Matrix | The Matrix Reloaded | The Matrix Revolutions | The Matrix: Path of Neo

"All I know is that ship needs an operator. And right now that operator's me."

The new operator on the Nebuchadnezzar, Link is Tank and Dozer's brother-in-law, married to their sister Zee. He provides comic relief for the films, often being bamboozled by Neo's powers.

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• Big "YES!": His reaction to Neo saving Morpheus and the Keymaker on the freeway.
• Heel–Faith Turn: Link is given a religious pendant by his wife to bring him home, but he does not share her faith. By the end of the films, Link is so happy to have survived that he swears never to take it off.
• Muggle Best Friend: Link thinks Morpheus is crazy but is starting to believe in him because of Neo's powers.
• Playful Hacker: While he's just as serious about his Operator duties as Tank was, Link seems to have a more loose and carefree attitude overall.
• Plucky Comic Relief: His reactions to the events in the second film are hilarious.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: When Marcus Chong, who played Tank in the original film, left the film after a contract dispute it was established that operator Tank had died in between the first and second film. Link, who plays much the same role, suddenly appeared as his brother-in-law.

Tank

Tank

Played By: Marcus Chong

Dubbed By: Jesse Conde (Latin American Spanish), Maurice Decoster (European French)

Appearances: The Matrix | The Matrix: Path of Neo

"We're supposed to start with these operation programs first, but that's major boring shit, so let's do something a little more fun. How about... Combat training."

Tank is the Nebuchadnezzar's Operator, who oversees the team's operations in The Matrix and controls the various training simulations. He's very close to Dozer, his older brother.

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• The Cracker: As the ship's Operator, he sets up the hack that gets the crew into The Matrix, then monitors the coding to let the team know what's going on and download hacks to them.
• Killed Offscreen: He's mentioned in the opening of Reloaded as having died from his injuries, while he was definitely alive at the end of the original.
• Made of Iron: Tank stoically fights through the pain of his plasma burns to resume his Operator duties.
• Mission Control: In charge of putting Neo and the others inside The Matrix as well as getting them out.
• Mutual Kill: He manages to kill Cypher and save the day, but eventually dies offscreen from the wounds Cypher inflicted on him.
• Oh, Crap!: During the "déjà vu" sequence when he realizes that their exits have blocked by newly-created brick walls and then says "Oh no" when they both realize Mouse is trapped in the safe house.
• Playful Hacker: He's effortlessly friendly to Neo and is thrilled at his potential of being The One. Neo starts to see some of that potential himself when Tank skips the red tape and uploads a ton of combat data for him to use in the Matrix.
• Pre-Mortem One-Liner: Spoken to Cypher.
  "Believe it or not, you piece of shit, you're still gonna burn!"
• Real Life Writes the Plot: Marcus Chong's behind the scenes behavior was the reason Tank got removed from the sequels.
• Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome: Tank dies at some point between the first and second movie from his injuries.

Dozer

Dozer

Played By: Anthony Ray Parker

Dubbed By: Francisco Colmenero (Latin American Spanish)

Appearances: The Matrix

The pilot of the Nebuchadnezzar. He's very close to Tank, his younger brother.

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• Ace Pilot: Dozer pilots the Nebuchadnezzar during the scene that introduces the Sentinels.
• Big Brother Instinct: Lunges after Cypher after he attacked Tank with the plasma gun.
• Big Guy Fatality Syndrome: He dies trying to stop Cypher from killing the crew after he returns from The Matrix and shoots Tank.
• Big "NO!": Gives one as his last words as he lunges at Cypher, notifying Cypher to him and getting himself killed.
• Genius Bruiser: He gives the explanation of the food goop's components during the breakfast scene.
• High-Voltage Death: Cypher fries him with a plasma gun after shooting Tank.
• Military Moonshiner: He brews up some sort of liquor in his spare time.
  "It's good for two things: de-greasing engines and killing brain cells."
• Oh, Crap!: When he sees that Cypher attacked Tank.

Mouse

Mouse

Played By: Matt Doran

Dubbed By: Ricardo Silva (Latin American Spanish), Christophe Lemoine (European French)

Appearances: The Matrix | The Matrix: Path of Neo

"To deny our impulses is to deny the very thing that makes us human."

The youngest crew member of the Nebuchadnezzar and the programmer of the virtual reality training simulation program.

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• Awesome, but Impractical: His last stand involved using two custom made fully automatic shotguns, one in each hand. The recoil of which causes him to not hit a single SWAT member before they take him down.
• Blood from the Mouth: As he is being riddled with bullets in the Matrix while screaming, his body is shown jerking and twitching in his chair, then going limp with blood running from his mouth.
• Dying Moment of Awesome: Despite being trapped, he chooses to go out in style fighting against the S.W.A.T. teams.
• Ditzy Genius: He's a good hacker but he thinks going up against professionally trained sub-machine gun welding SWAT cops with two fully automatic shotguns is a good idea it gets him killed.
• The Hedonist: His offer to hook Neo up with the woman in the red dress (along with revealing she's a character program he made), followed by his rebuttal of Switch and Apoc's teasing and line about denying impulses, hint at a rather perverted side to him. In the safe house within the Matrix, before the machines spring their trap and he gets killed by a SWAT team, he's seen looking at a centerfold of the woman in the red dress (there wearing red lingerie) while he waits for everyone else.
• Motor Mouth: He has a tendency to slip into this when excited, which is most of the scenes he's in.
• Multiple Gunshot Death: He gets repeatedly shot down by the police.
• Oh, Crap!: Mouse says "Oh, no." when he discovers he is trapped inside the safe house with no chance of escaping as the S.W.A.T. team is about to barge into it.
• Playful Hacker: Builds training programs and then alters them for... more fun purposes like inserting ladies in red dresses.
• Plucky Comic Relief: That ends the second he gets backed into a corner and the armored personnel under the command of the Agent overwhelm him with their combined gunfire, leaving him dead as a doornail.
• Shoo Out the Clowns: The film gets darker after he gets offed.

Switch

Switch

Played By: Belinda McClory

Dubbed By: Cristina Camargo (Latin American Spanish), Ivana Coppola (European French)

Appearances: The Matrix | The Matrix: Path of Neo

"Listen to me, copper-top. We don't have time for 20 Questions. Right now, you have two choices: Our way, or the highway."

A member of the crew of the Nebuchadnezzar. Unlike the mental projections of other crews, who usually wear dark clothes and sunglasses, Switch wore white clothes and yellow-orange, translucent sunglasses.

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• Ambiguously Gay: Along with her masculine haircut and suit, her comment about Mouse being "the digital pimp, hard at work!" after he tries to hook Neo up with the woman in the red dress, along with Mouse referring to her and Apoc as "hypocrites," implies that she may have taken Mouse up on that very offer.
• Mauve Shirt: Cypher kills her shortly after Apoc, in the same manner.
  Switch: Not like this... Not like this.
• Cool Shades: Wears yellow-orange sunset sunglasses.
• Deadpan Snarker: She's a lot more skeptical than the optimistic Trinity.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Isn't particularly welcoming to the One, but is firmly on the side of good.
• Light Is Good: While most of the main characters sport black leather or dark suits in the Matrix, along with dark sunglasses, Switch stands out in a white suit and yellow-orange sunset shades, to match her shocking bleach-blonde hair.
• Supernaturally-Validated Trans Person: The original intention for the character which didn't make the final version of the film. Switch was supposed to appear female within the Matrix and male in the real world (with different actors playing each presentation). Her androgynous appearance and final words are often seen as a nod to this dropped plot thread.
• Vasquez Always Dies: She's more of a hardened Action Girl than Trinity and the first one to die.

Apoc

Apoc

Played By: Julian Arahanga

Dubbed By: Arturo Mercado (Latin American Spanish)

Appearances: The Matrix | The Matrix: Path of Neo

"I hope the Oracle gave you some good news."

A crew member of the Nebuchadnezzar.

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• Nice Guy: He's low-key more welcoming to Neo than Switch is and he gives Neo his pistol when the Agents trap them in the Hotel.
• Sacrificial Lion: He is the first to be killed by Cypher, who yanks his Matrix jack out of his head.
• The Stoic: He is the most cool and collected of the group, and seems to have little patience for Mouse's jibber-jabber.
• Take Up My Sword: The first gun Neo took possession of was Apoc's who handed it to him prior to Morpheus' capture. Cypher kills him later on.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: Of all the characters of the Nebuchadnezzar to perish, the audience definitely knew him the least. He was a stoic, no-nonsense guy and that's it.

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