The Nebuchadnezzar | The Mnemosyne | Programs of the Matrix | Zion | IO | The Machines | The Animatrix
The characters inhabiting the city of IO, the last bastion of peace between humans and the machines.
open/close all folders
The City
IO
An underground city constructed and inhabited by humans and machines that desired peace in the wake of the machine civil war and the fall of Zion.
- A World Half Full: They've managed to thrive and flourish to a greater extent than the original Zion ever did, to the point that they've even had some limited success restoring the dead biosphere, by re-engineering real crops like strawberries. The city was also built by humans and robots working together, living proof that an apocalyptic war to the death between the two kinds is not inevitable.
- Artificial Outdoors Display: In a vast improvement over Zion, the underground cavern that IO is built into has its own artificial sky of sorts. Based on lines spoken by Freya, the plant life she and Quillion are rebuilding have been tweaked enough to be able to photosynthesize the light from this sky.
- Hidden Elf Village: Is this compared to Zion, which the machines presumably had always known the location of until it eventually fell. The city is built into a massive underground cavern and hidden by holographic projections, and staying under the machines' radar is of the utmost importance, with protocols put in place by IO's fleet to ensure the city's safety. Protocols which Bugs and the Mnemosyne crew disobey when they freed Morpheus and Neo.
- Insistent Terminology: Very much downplayed but similar to the machine populace of IO preferring the term 'Synthient' over 'Machine,' the intelligent programs that call the city home prefer the term 'Digital Intelligence' over 'Artificial Intelligence,' most likely because of the implication that artificial means fake.
- Meaningful Name: IO looks a lot like the number 10 (one-zero), which is in line with the machine city 01. Also, "10" in Binary represents the number "2", which may be a reference to humanity's and the machines' second chance to coexist peacefully.
- Alternatively, IO is also the acronym for Input/Output, a possible reference to humans plugging into the Matrix.
Niobe
Freya
Freya
Played By: Telma Hopkins
Appearances: The Matrix Resurrections
IO's head of botany.
- Ambiguously Gay: Is implied in one scene to be in a relationship with Niobe.
- Meaningful Name: Freyja is the Norse goddess of, among other things, fertility, which seems appropriate for someone whose job involves the creation of life.
Quillion
Quillion
Played By: Max Mauff
Appearances: The Matrix Resurrections
A digital intelligence from the Matrix that lives in IO and serves as the city's lead digitologist, working with Freya to recreate extinct flora and fauna using code from the Matrix.
- Nanomachines: Uses the same technology as Morpheus in order to exist in the real world.
Sheperd
Sheperd
Played By: Max Riemelt
Appearances: The Matrix Resurrections
Niobe's right-hand man, who is responsible for helping with administrative questions and security.
- Fanboy: Downplayed somewhat but he is one of Neo, much like many in IO's population, and he expresses an interest in Neo's powers while in the Matrix, namely his ability to fly.
- Knight in Sour Armor: Expresses a little resentment to Neo that it seems that most of IO had "given up" and are content with hiding from the machines. As he puts it, it feels like the Matrix had won. Despite that, he has Undying Loyalty toward Niobe and is among the captains of IO's fleet to volunteer for a dangerous rescue mission.
Kujaku
Kujaku
Appearances: The Matrix Resurrections
A machine entity that is a friend of Niobe and a connection to a section of the Matrix where Sati was hiding.
- Meaningful Name: "Kujaku" means "peacock" in Japanese. Kujaku has a birdlike form and blue Tron Lines.
- Mechanical Animals: While most machines have bodies that resemble squid or insects, Kujaku’s form resembles a cross between a bird and a manta ray.
- Mysterious Informant: All of the residents of Io are stunned at Kujaku's arrival and draw arms. Niobe does not and orders the others to disarm, identifying Kujaku as a friend.
- Rogue Drone: A machine who defied its programming and is a connection between Sati and the humans on Io.
- Tron Lines: Their body features blue glowing lights at their seams, unlike most synthients whose lights are red.
