Architect (Matrix character)

The Architect is a fictional character appearing in the last two films of the Matrix trilogy, created by the Wachowski brothers. The character is played by Helmut Bakaitis.

The Architect is first encountered by Neo appearing as a plump, humorless bureaucrat sitting in a room whose walls are covered by television screens in a pivotal scene in Matrix Reloaded. He reveals himself to Neo as being the creator of the (first) Matrix. A sentient computer program, he appears as a white-bearded old man (bearing a similarity to traditional Christian depictions of God, and diametrically opposed to the preferred shell of the Oracle, that of a black woman). In an extended period of convoluted dialogue, the Architect explains that his role is to "balance the equation" of the Matrix.

The Architect's Role

As alluded to by Agent Smith in the first film, the very first version of the Matrix created by the Architect was a failure, ironically because it was a utopia. Its human denizens refused to accept a world of complete perfection. Thus the Architect modified the Matrix to bring it closer to what the machines understood about human nature by adding various "grotesqueries," ostensibly of both fact and fiction (Persephone and the Oracle allude to mythical monsters such as vampires and werevolves that existed in older versions of the Matrix in The Matrix Reloaded). However, the Architect was again beset by failure as humans could only react to the horrors and problems presented by the Matrix and so rejected this version as well. They were victims of causality, with no real choice to act on their own will.

Crucially, the Architect turned to the Oracle, a program designed to understand the human psyche. The Oracle's role was to add a (un)balancing human element that ultimately allowed humans to accept the Matrix by providing the inhabitants a choice, even if the humans were only aware a choice at subconscious level. While this worked for most humans, the Architect had to deal with the 1% of humans that would not accept the program by allowing some of them to escape the Matrix to create Zion, which would keep the Matrix stable again for a time. However, the systemic anomaly reached a peak when The One manifested themselves, which caused further dramatic fluctuations in the Matrix equations, according to the Architect. To add to the complexity, The One also carried code that was needed to "reinsert the Prime Program", or code necessary to restabilize, or reload the Matrix for another 100 year cycle (Morpheus tells the Zion masses that the war had gone on for nearly 100 years, which fits with the repeating cycle of death and rebirth created by the Architect).

By means of the Prophecy, the Oracle led these non-conformists to believe that they could free themselves from the domination of the machines and establish their own refuge, known as Zion, while they waited for The One who would free all those still connected to the Matrix.

The Architect's control on both Zion and The One was essentially blackmail. Once the One emerged, the Architect would then arrange to have Zion destroyed and the One returned to the Source (the Machine mainframe computer). Since the Architect must always present a choice for any human in the Matrix by its design, the Architect presented two doors to The Ones. One door led back to the Matrix. A second door led to the Source, where The One's code would be disseminated to reboot the Matrix. The One would then be allowed to free a few chosen humans to found a new Zion and start the cycle again. The Architect warned that failure of The One to return to the Source would result in a system crash of the Matrix, which, coupled with the destruction of Zion would annilihate the human race. This persuasive set of events allowed the System to successfully deal with the anomaly without risking the continued survival of the Matrix. This has, according to the Architect, occurred five times in the past: the Matrix that Neo inhabits is the sixth version.

Thus, by the Oracle constantly seeking to unbalance the equation and the Architect consistently seeking to balance it, an equilibrium is created which ensures the continued existence of both the humans and machines, and the preservation of the status quo.

Neo's Choice

Much as the Oracle did in the first film, the Architect offers Neo a life-or-death choice. He informs Neo that the machine army is on the point of finding and destroying Zion. Neo can choose to save the life of Trinity, which both know is about to come under threat, or he can return to the Source, choose a few select humans to restart Zion, and continue the cycle. If Neo opts to save Trinity, the Matrix will collapse, killing every human still connected to it. In conjunction with the pending annihilation of Zion, this would see an end to the entire human race (as well, presumably, as the machines). Neo opts to save Trinity, which the Architect predicts will doom him and his species. But, just like those of the Oracle, the Architect's precognitive abilities cannot second-guess the actions of Neo, who possesses genuine free will.

It is likely, based on the Oracle's second and third conversations with Neo in the saga, that the Oracle's unbalancing equations were meant to intentionally cause The One to appear each cycle and for a small number of humans to reject the Matrix. The Oracle believed that humans and machines must reach the future together, so her contribution to the Matrix not only formed a stable version, but appeared to give the humans a chance to change their ultimate destiny periodically through the eventual anomaly and The One's centennial visit to the Architect.

While the previous Ones maintained the status quo, Neo had two elements that changed the fate of both man and machine: His love for Trinity, which broke the birth/death cycle, and the growing threat of Smith, whose viral behavior, according to the Oracle in The Matrix Revolutions, would not only consume the Matrix but threaten the Machine City itself. In the end, Neo returns to the Source as the Prophecy states, but this time Neo's visions lead him to travel not to the Architect again, but to the Machine City itself, the source of the Source. He successfully brokers a peace between Man and Machine after allowing Smith to assimilate him, which allows the Deus Ex Machina to locate and exterminate all Smith viral code, saving pod humans as well as the Matrix itself.

During The Matrix Revolutions, it is unclear whether the Architect suffers the same fate (absorption by Agent Smith) as the Oracle. It seems that he was not, implying that he was residing somewhere outside the Matrix. However, even as a computer program inside the Matrix, the Architect is protected by the Keymaker, and by killing the Keymaker, Agent Smith cuts off his own access to the Architect. He reappears at the end of the film alongside the Oracle, commenting that she took a "big risk."

The Architect appears to players of The Matrix Online, an online multiplayer game whose story begins after the events of The Matrix Revolutions, as part of a central game objective.

Template:Matrix