Agent Smith
From The Black Vault Encyclopedia Project
Agent Smith (later merely "Smith") is a fictional character featured in the Matrix film series, played by actor Hugo Weaving. The struggle between Neo and Smith ends up becoming the main plot underlying the events of The Matrix.
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As an Agent of the System
According to Morpheus, the tutor of the protagonist Neo, Smith is an Agent, an artificial intelligence manifested in the artificial world and possessing extraordinary powers to manipulate his surroundings (including superhuman strength and the ability to flawlessly dodge incoming bullets). However, Agents still have limitations, being "based on a world that is built on rules." Thus, he cannot fly, walk through walls, or perform any other actions outside the boundaries of his programming. Like all Agents in the Matrix, he was originally programmed to keep order within the system by terminating troublesome programs and human avatars which would otherwise bring instability to the simulated reality. To expedite such tasks, he and other Agents have the ability to take over the simulated body of any human that is a part of the Matrix, converting it into a copy of their own. If that body is killed, or an Agent needs to change his location quickly, he can assume the shell of any other human hard-wired to the Matrix in a matter of seconds. Agents also have the ability to communicate with each other instantaneously, represented via their earpieces (thus, when Agent Smith removes his earpiece during the first Matrix movie, he is severing his link with the other agents).
Stylistic genealogy
The look and manner of Smith and his fellow Agents seem to be drawn from the common pool of paranoia and American pop culture. One influence appears to be the popular image of CIA agents as ruthlessly efficient automatons who carry out their duties with cold precision and Midwestern accents. Some sources say that the agents are based on the Secret Service agents of the JFK era. The appearance and personality of agents seem to mirror the stereotype of a "Corporate American" businessman. Some may suggest a more explicit allusion to the Men in Black of UFO and conspiracy lore.
Agents wore dark sunglasses with corners or smooth angles. Agent Smith's sunglasses changed after his transformation in The Matrix Reloaded from the square Agent-style into lenses shaped similarly to the protein capsule of certain viruses. Additionally, they more closely resemble the shape of Neo's sunglasses; but while Neo's have rounded edges, Smith's remain angular.
All Agents are Caucasian males (with a minor exception of female Agent Pace from the Matrix Online game), which also provides a dynamic when the majority population of Zion is very diverse, with many cultures and walks of life. The Caucasian male Agents simply show a blandness and an apathy for the human race, with the exception of Smith's obsession with destroying Neo.
The police guards that provide security to many heads of state, such as the U.S. Secret Service dress is a similar manner to Smith and his agents, and have the same type of earpieces.
Following the naming pattern for Agents within the Matrix, Smith can be seen as a template for the everyman (or perhaps an antithesis thereof). The name is thought by some to imply the square, "whitebread" connotations of propping up "The Establishment." Other Agents have names like Brown, Johnson, and Thompson — bland, common, innocuous, Anglo-Saxon names.
In addition, the name "Smith" is explicitly attributed (on the license plate of Smith's car in Reloaded) to the Book of Isaiah 54:16 from the Old Testament:
- Behold, I have created the smith that bloweth the coals in the fire, and that bringeth forth an instrument for his work; and I have created the waster to destroy.
In creating such a program to carry out menial tasks, the Machines have laid the foundations for their own destruction, a direct parallel to the creation of AI by humankind.
The two later films in the series make much of a dualistic opposition between Smith and Neo. Smith is pitiless and single-minded, focused on finality, conformity and "inevitability." As such, Smith represents determinism. By contrast, Neo, with his unpredictable, emotional, human nature, represents unbounded free will and the power of choice. Neo's solitary role as The One is contrasted by Smith, who, by replicating himself, becomes everyone. When Neo asks the Oracle about Smith, the Oracle explains that Smith is Neo's opposite and his negative.
Agent Smith's weapon of choice, as standard with all agents of the Matrix, is the '.50 AE' very similar to the Desert Eagle.
Departure from the norm
Agent Smith complains at one point that the Matrix and its inhabitants smell disgusting — an odd observation for an artificial entity. It is perhaps a metaphorical statement. Smith has a strong hatred of humans and their weakness of the flesh. He compares humanity to a virus, a disease organism that would replicate uncontrollably to destroy their environment were it not for the machine intelligences keeping them in check.
During Morpheus' imprisonment:
“I’d like to share with you a revelation, I’ve had during my time here. It came to me when I tried to classify your species that I realized you aren’t actually mammals. Every mammal on this planet instinctively develops a natural equilibrium with its surrounding environment, but you humans do not. You move to an area and you multiply, and multiply until every natural resource is consumed. The only way you can survive is to spread to another area. There is another organism on this planet that follows the same pattern. Do you know what it is? A virus. Human beings are a disease, a cancer of this planet. You are plague, and we...are the cure.”
At the same time, Smith also secretly despises The Matrix itself, feeling that he is as much a prisoner of it as the humans he is tasked with watching over. It is perhaps these sentiments that later drive him to possess an immense desire for the destruction of both mankind and machines alike.
Smith also appears to be the leader of other Agents in that he has the authority to launch Sentinel attacks in the real world. It is unclear whether or not sentience was a part of his initial programming or developed through experience in dealing with Zion rebels. Unlike other Agents, Smith does not approach problems through a pragmatic point of view, but rather with brute force and questionable rage. The fact that he refers to The Matrix as a prison, if interpreted as a reference to his own condition, could be an indication that he had become self-aware, a mind existing outside of the machines' control.
The Wachowski brothers have commented that Smith's gradual humanisation throughout The Matrix is a process intended to mirror and balance Neo's own increasing power and understanding of the machine world.
Free Agency
As a result of being partially overwritten by The One, Smith also begins to exhibit stronger, more virulent human behaviors and emotions such as unpredictability and wry humor (this is a clear departure from his stern demeanor in the original movie.) He makes the claim that Neo has set him free, indicating that he now has not only the vision but also the ability to break free of the machines' control and exist as a singular being. He is now allied with no one but himself, rendering him an outlaw to both the Matrix and the human minds which populate it. Being free of burden, however, Smith is also compelled to feel that he is still crushed by the weight of purpose. He essentially correlates purpose with imprisonment, and because he still exists within The Matrix, there is an unseen purpose which binds together Neo and himself.
The idea of Smith's transformation from being an Agent of the System into becoming a "free Agent" is similar to Lucifer's Fall from Grace. In both cases, a former Agent of the System (in the two sequels, Smith is no longer referred to as "'Agent' Smith", but simply as "Smith") becomes able to move freely, and comes to have a dangerously rebellious and opposite nature.
Revelation of purpose
Agent Smith appears to have been destroyed by Neo at the end of the first movie in the Matrix trilogy, but he makes a calculated return in The Matrix Reloaded with somewhat altered abilities and motivations, in addition to dropping the title "Agent". His appearance has changed from the first movie as well — his sunglasses are of a different, more angular shape than the square ones the Agents wear and his suit is now black instead of dark green: physical signs of his connection with Neo. Smith also lacks the earpiece most Agents wear on their right ear, showing he is now "unplugged". Subsequently, Smith can take over new human bodies and programs alike (including Agents) without leaving his previous body, replicating himself much like a computer virus might. Smith loses his ability to phase into any body connected to the Matrix at will, as he is no longer a part of the system. Instead, Smith is now infectious through touch; by jabbing his hand into the body of another being in the Matrix, a Smith can convert that being into another Smith.
- Although Smith gains the power to copy over Agents, in truth Smith only copies the body the Agent was possessing at that time. The program of the Agent can move to another body, as demonstrated in The Matrix Reloaded.
- It may also be that in place of the normal power of the Agents to leap into any shell connected to the Matrix, that Smith has the ability to enter the shell, although permanently now.
- Smith is also able to copy over redpills, something regular Agents cannot do. When he does copy over redpills, he can inhabit their physical bodies when he jacks out of The Matrix, as in the case of Bane. Fortunately, most redpills were in Zion at the time of Smith's return, making Bane the only one possessed by Smith. However, Smith was nearly successful when he attempted to absorb Niobe and Ghost, two other redpills in Enter the Matrix. Like Neo, they were able to repel the attack and managed to elude Smith.
- Keeping in the theme of machines, Smith's behavior is very similar to a computer virus, which also copies its programming into or over other files. This is somewhat fitting — Smith notes in The Matrix he considers human beings a "virus", and in the process of becoming more human, Smith has also become a virus. In a bizarre irony, he becomes what he hates most about humans: something which consumes all resources before moving on and acting without reason or logic.
Against the Anomaly
In The Matrix Revolutions, Smith's presence in The Matrix has consumed all of the "Core Network" (the underlying foundation of the inner workings of The Matrix), thus rendering him immutable by even the machines themselves. The Oracle explains to Neo that he and Smith have become equal in power, and that for Smith to be eliminated, the "equation must be balanced." Smith succeeds in absorbing all the inhabitants of the Matrix; every single human being plugged into it, and every single program functioning inside it, including the Oracle. When he absorbs the Oracle, the process apparently granted him her powers of foresight as well as reality-bending powers equivalent to those possessed by Neo. Towards the end of the movie, Neo engages a single Smith, the one that was created from the Oracle, in the final showdown between superhero and supervillain, a seemingly endless struggle between two forces of equal might. In the middle of this struggle, Smith explains to Neo his final nihilistic revelation, he has come to realize that "the purpose of life is to end." It instantaneously becomes apparent to the viewer that Smith also intended to conquer the real world as well, and had Neo not defeated him he would have downloaded himself out of the Matrix so that he could assimilate the Zion Rebels.
After an arduous battle in midair, Neo is smashed into the ground by an enraged Smith, making a large impact crater. As he gets up, Smith asks him why he fights, becoming enraged as he begins suggesting possible reasons for Neo to fight: "Is it freedom or truth? Perhaps peace? Could it be for love?" Smith proceeds to say these reasons are "temporary constructs of a feeble human intellect trying desperately to justify an existence without meaning or purpose, and all of them as artificial as the Matrix itself." Demanding again to know why he persists, Smith is enraged by Neo's simple and irrational answer: "Because I choose to."
Ultimately, Smith prevails, beating Neo unconscious. Suddenly recognizing the scene from prophecy, he stands before Neo and says, "Everything that has a beginning has an end, Neo." This is the only time (excluding a line in The Matrix Reloaded: "I'm looking for Neo.") that Smith does not call him "Mr. Anderson," and Neo gets up, to Smith's complete surprise. Neo surrenders to Smith, who absorbs him, seemingly conquering his enemy. However, at that moment, a mysterious force causes Neo's body to radiate in a blinding light of ascension, which subsequently causes all Smiths to overload and be destroyed. This force could be provided by the Machines, through whom Neo is currently plugged into The Matrix.
Theories of Smith's Deletion
Note: More than one theory may apply.
- The most straightforward and computer-oriented theory is that when Smith copied himself into Neo, his code became accessible to the machines through Neo's uplink. Then, as they suddenly found themselves with a viable copy of Smith's code, they were able to quickly find a weakness or make an anti-virus sort of program. This would explain why the Machines seemed to shock Neo's body after he was taken over: they were attacking the code in Neo's brain, which allowed them to delete that copy, and then subsequently destroy all of the Smiths throughout the Matrix.
- Neo may have defeated Smith in the same way he did it in the first movie, hence the beginning and the end happening the same way. The shock to Neo's body was Smith becoming one with Neo (as a partnership.) Neo using the power of the Source (knowing it would kill him to use it), a knowledge of his own code and now also Smith’s; first destroyed his digital self and then moved his consciousness through the former Agent’s clones from the inside (shown that he has the ability to detach his mind from his body.) Also destroying himself as well to ensure Smith couldn’t escape and wasn't reborn.
- The Oracle hinted that Neo should have returned to the Source at the end of Matrix Reloaded. When explaining to him what happened she says, "The Source. That's what you felt when you touched those Sentinels, but you weren't ready for it. You should be dead, but apparently you weren't ready for that, either." In Reloaded, the Architect says that "The function of the One is to return to the Source, allowing a temporary dissemination of the code you carry, reinserting the prime program." Which is the same as saying that once the One returns to the Source, the Matrix will "reboot." After Neo was consumed/deleted by Smith, he was able to return to the Source. Since the power of the One extends to the Source, and since Smith took that power from Neo, Smith was also dragged to the Source and deleted. After which, the Matrix was more or less "rebooted" and returned to normal.
- The Oracle was the binding point between Neo and Smith. She was the one who foretold the prophecy and kept the search on for The One. She surrenders when Smith comes to her, thus giving both Neo and Smith an entry point back into system. According to The Architect, Neo was an anomaly and after being consumed by Neo, Smith became one as well, only the exact opposite to Neo. It was Oracle within Smith who said "Everything that has a beginning has an end, Neo." and showed Neo the way to end the conflict which was the remaining choice for him.
- Smith was deleted at that moment. Smith's purpose was to kill The One. Once a program's purpose is fulfilled, it is deleted according to the Keymaker. Smith's purpose was fulfilled, and thus made him eligible for deletion - this is the central objective in garbage collection and fits with the garbage collector robot that picks up Neo's body in Zero-One afterwards. The same is true for Neo due to his purpose of returning to the source and saving Zion. This is false as the Oracle states of Smith, "Soon he will have the power to destroy this world, but I don't think he'll stop there, he can't. He won't stop until there isn't anything left." This implies that Smith's purpose was to destroy everything. When Smith would achieve this, he himself would be destroyed in the act of defeating the Souce as he is a program.
- In Revolutions, the Oracle told Neo that Smith was "the result of the equation trying to balance itself out." This equation, which is a metaphor for the Matrix, becomes unbalanced with Neo's realization of his powers as the One. In order to keep the system balanced, Smith is "created". When Smith destroys Neo, the equation becomes unbalanced again and thus must destroy Smith to rebalance itself. The yin-yang, balance/unbalance reasoning is used throughout Revolutions and though a possibly unimportant detail, if one looks closely enough one can see the Oracle's earings are jade yin-yangs, adding relevancy to this theory.
- For the cause of the "mysterious force" is that because Neo is The One (positive), and Smith his exact opposite (negative), adding the two together results in zero, which eliminates both Neo and Smith and returns order.
- On a philosophical level, the ending draws heavily on the Hindu/Buddhist concept of the cycle of rebirth (as seen in the use of Sanskrit lyrics in the music played during the climatic scenes). The endless copying of Smith is a depiction of the individual trapped in the process of continual reincarnation. By sacrificing himself, Neo renounces the self and thus offers the potential of nirvana. Where Smith seeks control of the Matrix and fails, Neo achieves oneness with the Matrix and succeeds.
- Neo is the series' Christ figure, created to be the savior of humanity. Neo, like Jesus, walked alone to the fight and surrendured himself to Smith. Like Jesus, the only way he could save humanity was to die and become sin himself (the one thing he hated most). Smith's plan might just be a mirror to scheme of Satan that if he was to kill Neo, the prophesied savior, humanity would be damned; instead Smith destroyed himself and allowed humanity to be saved.
Copyright
"Original data received from Wikipedia on May 05, 2006. Credit given to original authors can be seen Here."
| The Matrix series (edit) | |
|---|---|
| Films | The Matrix | The Matrix Reloaded | The Matrix Revolutions |
| The Animatrix | Final Flight of the Osiris | The Second Renaissance | Kid's Story | Program | World Record | Beyond | A Detective Story | Matriculated |
| Games | Enter the Matrix | The Matrix Online | The Matrix: Path of Neo |
| Characters | Neo | Trinity | Morpheus | Smith | Agent | Oracle | Architect | Minor characters | Programs and machines |
| Locations | Matrix | The City | Club Hel | Mobil Ave | Zero One | Zion | List of ships in the Matrix series |
| Other topics | Matrix Source Code | The Matrix Character Names |
