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Neo's Whole Journey - Analyzed [Editor's note: reader "AgentShaolin" submitted this story, which is his edit of a post written by "RapidRabbit" on a forum at thelastfreecity. I added the hyperlinks. The relationship of the Matrix to Joseph Cambpell's structure has been discussed before, but this article does it a little differently, and adds Reloaded into the mix. -- Tom] I've just read this book: The Hero with a Thousand Faces, by Joseph Campbell (first published in 1948). It contains the same basic formula that the book Writer's Journey (by Christopher Vogler) has, but only the mythological aspects of the journey are more profoundly discussed (which has turned out to be a good thing!). I'll try to describe below the different steps the Matrix trilogy has, according to the book The Hero with a Thousand Faces. I'm afraid the translation back to English (which is not my mother language) may be a little bit erratic in grammar, and with addition to that, the concepts may seem irrelevant to those who have not read the book themselves. However, what struck me most about the book was that the Matrix films seem to be almost a visual blueprint of the book so far! So, If any of you have the time, please read all the way to the bottom (I'll cover Revolutions too!): *** The first Matrix film showed the Hero's journey from beginning to end, but now that there is to be a trilogy, the first film is only the first of the three chapters, which together form the Hero's journey again - only on a larger scale. *** Basically, there are two different stories about the Hero: the Hero either captures the bride (life giving force) who is being held as a prisoner by the monster Father (who is the King of the world), or goes and sees his own Father who he has never known. The Matrix trilogy may be a mixture of both of these stories, but as everything in Matrix philosophy concentrates on recycling the loopy birth of a universe (the biggest theme of myths ever), the latter seems to be more the case; I'm talking about the 'ultimate tragedy', in which the son has to win his own (mother and) father, and he becomes the life-giving King/God of the universe himself, probably at the expense of his own life. BACKGROUND: Myth: When King stops seeing his kingdom's success as the bliss from Oneness (a superior existence behind the cosmos, 'the source' that has pity on humanity), he's no longer a messenger between two worlds of life and supernatural. Because of his own selfishness, now the King is able to see human factors of reality only (birth, life, death); the very idea that has kept the community together before (i.e. Oneness creates life and pities humanity) has been lost. Only forced power, tyranny, keeps the community together now. The monster Father/King (e.g. Architect) wants to preserve his power by making things stay as they are (by reloading the system over and over again), but the Hero (Neo) fights for tomorrow, for what is to come, not for what there already is. In the end of the story the Hero, being one with the Oneness, creates a new beginning for the universe/mankind. The monster Architect’s / King's ultimate fate is to be let down by betrayal. So, the Hero must kill the tyrannical side of the Father, and set free the forces (of him) that keep the universe going. (Both the Hero and the Father ultimately know this is how it is to be, but they won't share that information to anybody else). So to make it short: Architect - bad, Neo - good, Neo will win over the Architect. Chapter One: Departure (The Matrix) 1) CALL TO ADVENTURE (the signs of the calling) Neo gets unplugged. 2) REFUSAL OF THE CALL (it's insane to run away from God) Neo denies the truth of being a slave human battery to the Matrix. (But then he revisits Matrix and sees it differently; his preceding life in it had been empty and without a reason to live, actually). 3) SUPERNATURAL AID (help from unexpected sources for the journey) Meeting the Oracle. 4) CROSSING THE FIRST THRESHOLD Neo goes back to Matrix to save Morpheus, even after Oracle has told him he’s not the One (he is self destructive, ready to die, Neo’s life doesn’t mean anything to Neo anymore). 5) IN THE BELLY OF THE WHALE (switching to the empire of night) "There is a force controlling the door of the threshold, the force swallows the Hero and, for a moment, it seems the Hero dies, but..." ...but Neo beats Smith and is reborn without any ties to the life he had lived before.