Skip to main content

the matrix - Why did Agent Johnson try to kill the Key Maker?


In Matrix Reloaded, the Agents target the Key Maker right after Morpheus and Trinity rescue him. Agent Johnson (the one who fights Morpheus on top of the trailer) tries to kill the Key Maker which doesn't make sense since the Agents are programs inside the Matrix and The Key Maker is essential for The One to get to the source. Components of a system work together to achieve a mutual goal.


I understand why the Agents were targeting Neo. Maybe they didn't know about his role in the system and all they saw was that he was "breaking the Matrix rules" and could be a potential problem but as for the Key Maker, surely the Agents know about his role in the system. So why try to stop him?



Answer



It boils down to two conceivable reasons, both equally likely;



  1. The Agents are largely (or wholly) unaware of 'THE PLAN' and are simply acting on their instructions.



Although Smith (who appears to be the Senior Agent inside the Matrix) seems to have a wider awareness of the history of the Matrix as well as a solid connection with the outside world, part of the conceit of the Matrix trilogy is that "the One" and his acolytes need to be unaware that Zion is simply a system of control until he meets with the Architect.


If the Agents start letting the heroes proceed unchecked, it would immediately give the game away that something was wrong. Junior Agents therefore follow their instructions to cleanse the Matrix of imperfections like exiled programs, regardless of the potential consequences. The system relies on the strength of the One to overpower any obstacles this might present.


It's also quite conceivable that the Oracle would simply come up with a backup plan if the Key Maker dies; "You must now find the Key Maker's Apprentice..." or some other nonsense.



  1. Killing the Key Maker won't actually result in his destruction


It is only Programs whose function is no longer required that are "returned to the source" after their physical shells are damaged beyond repair. As we see from Smith (and the Oracle and several of the Agents) if a program still has a purpose then it is perfectly possible for them to be reconstituted into a new body.


Arguably, the Key Maker's usefulness only ceases once he's led the One to the Architect. It's possible that he wouldn't die if you killed him. He'd simply pop up elsewhere with a new body and a new plan to infiltrate the Architect's lair.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Did the gatekeeper and the keymaster get intimate in Ghostbusters?

According to TVTropes ( usual warning, don't follow the link or you'll waste half your life in a twisty maze of content ): In Ghostbusters, it's strongly implied that Dana Barret, while possessed by Zuul the Gatekeeper, had sex with Louis Tully, who was possessed by Vinz Clortho the Keymaster (key, gate, get it?), in order to free Big Bad Gozer. In fact, a deleted scene from the movie has Venkman explicitly asking Dana if she and Louis "did it". I turned the quote into a spoiler since it contains really poor-taste joke, but the gist of it is that it's implied that as part of freeing Gozer , the two characters possessed by the Keymaster and the Gatekeeper had sex. Is there any canon confirmation or denial of this theory (canon meaning something from creators' interviews, DVD commentary, script, delete scenes etc...)? Answer The Richard Mueller novelisation and both versions of the script strongly suggest that they didn't have sex (or at the very l...
1 comment
Read more

Why didn't The Doctor or Clara recognize Missy right away?

So after it was established that Missy is actually both the Master, and the "woman in the shop" who gave Clara the TARDIS number... ...why didn't The Doctor or Clara recognize her right away? I remember the Tenth Doctor in The Sound of Drums stating that Timelords had a way of recognizing other Timelords no matter if they had regenerated. And Clara should have recognized her as well... I'm hoping for a better explanation than "Moffat screwed up", and that I actually missed something after two watchthroughs of the episode. Answer There seems to be a lot of in-canon uncertainty as to the extent to which Time Lords can recognise one another which far pre-dates Moffat's tenure. From the Time Lords page on Wikipedia : Whether or not Time Lords can recognise each other across regenerations is not made entirely clear: In The War Games, the War Chief recognises the Second Doctor despite his regeneration and it is implied that the Doctor knows him when they fir...
Post a Comment
Read more

story identification - Animation: floating island, flying pests

At least 20 years ago I watched a short animated film which stuck in my mind. The whole thing was wordless, possibly European, and I'm pretty sure I didn't imagine it... It featured a flying island which was inhabited by some creatures who (in my memory) reminded me of the Moomins. The island was frequently bothered by large winged animals who swooped around, although I don't think they did any actual damage. At the end one of the moomin creatures suddenly gets a weird feeling, feels forced to climb to the top of the island and then plunges down a shaft right through the centre - only to emerge at the bottom as one of the flyers. Answer Skywhales from 1983. The story begins with a man warning the tribe of approaching skywhales. The drummers then warn everybody of the hunt as everyone get prepared to set "sail". Except one man is found in his home sleeping as the noise wake him up. He then gets ready and is about to take his weapon as he hesitates then decides ...
Post a Comment
Read more

warhammer40k - What evidence supposedly supports Tau as related to the Necrontyr?

I've heard of rumours saying that the Tau from Warhammer 40K are in fact the Necrontyr. Is there anything that supports this statement, in WH40K canon? I just found this, on 1d4 chan 1 : Helping Necrons? Or are they Necrontyr descendants? An often overlooked issue is that Tau have no warp signatures, just like Necrons, hate Warpspawns and Warp in general, just like Necrons, have the exact same skull shape,stature and short lives, and the overwhelming need for Technology and beam weapons, JUST LIKE NECRONS. GW may have planned a race that simply prepares a pacified, multiracial galaxy for Necrons to feast upon, supported by Ethereals that have a C'tan phase blade. Then there is a reference of "dark seed in east" by the Deceiver, so the tricky C'tan might give Tzeentch the finger in the JUST AS PLANNED competition. Or maybe GW just has so little creativity that they simply made a new civ conforming to an Old One's standards without knowing it. Is this the connec...
Post a Comment
Read more