The Oracle is a fictional character in The Matrix franchise. She was created by The Wachowskis, and portrayed by Gloria Foster in the first and second film and Mary Alice in the third film. The character also appears in the video game Enter the Matrix and the massively multiplayer online role-playing game The Matrix Online.
Character history
Appearances In the first film, the Oracle is depicted as a cheerful old lady who smokes cigarettes and bakes cookies. She possesses the power of foresight, which she uses to advise and guide the humans attempting to fight the Matrix. Later, she is revealed to be a sapient program who is integral to the very nature of the Matrix itself.
The Oracle is played by Gloria Foster in The Matrix and The Matrix Reloaded, and by Mary Alice in The Matrix Revolutions and Enter the Matrix, one of the franchise's video games. In reality, Mary Alice played the Oracle because Gloria Foster died of complications from diabetes before her role in Matrix Revolutions was shot. Neo meets with the Oracle three times over the course of the series. In The Matrix, Neo meets the Oracle in an apartment filled with various "potentials" — children whose ability to control their surroundings suggests that they may be The One. During Reloaded, he returns to the apartment only to find it empty, then later finds her waiting for him in a paved courtyard between city buildings. She has with her a purse filled with candies that resemble the red pill Neo took to free himself from the Matrix. In Revolutions, the two meet in the kitchen of the apartment, sometime after Morpheus and Trinity seek her advice in the living room.
The Prophecy of the One In The Matrix, Agent Smith reveals that the first Matrix was a failure because it was too perfect for humans to accept (dubbed in The Matrix Online continuity as the Paradise version of the Matrix). The Architect confirms this (and his own responsibility for its creation) in Reloaded, adding that he also created a second failed Matrix based on human history, mythology, and nature (as he perceived it without the Oracle), nicknamed the Nightmare version of the Matrix. By including the Oracle, whose investigations into the human psyche yielded the answer to creating a functional simulation that humans would accept, a semi-stable system was created with the third version of the Matrix. However, an anomaly within the system still existed. In order to preserve the Matrix's integrity, the prophecy of the One was created to ensure its continuity in cycles. As the Architect explains in Reloaded, he and the Oracle have very different roles to play in maintaining this cycle, and therefore the Matrix's stability. First, the Oracle spreads a prophecy of The One's final victory over the machines, and those humans who choose to follow this belief are allowed to disconnect from the system voluntarily. They create the real-world settlement of Zion; when its population grows large enough to become a threat to the Matrix's stability, the Architect takes action. He launches a machine offensive campaign to destroy Zion and reunite The One with the Source, rebooting the Matrix and keeping control over the humans. Zion is allowed to be rebuilt, with the One and twenty-three other freed humans (sixteen female and seven male) leading a new generation as the cycle repeats itself. When Neo and the Architect meet, this cycle is about to complete its sixth repetition.
The Oracle's Gambit In The Matrix Revolutions, the Oracle hints at her program's true purpose: to correct the anomaly in the Matrix's coding. Whereas the Architect has balanced the equation so the One is created and the cycle repeats endlessly every hundred years, the Oracle unbalances the equation in her attempts to solve the anomaly. Through dialogue in Reloaded, it is clear the Oracle has concluded that the way to finally solve the anomaly is by ending the war. The Matrix films chronicle her attempt at this.
The Matrix As The Matrix begins, The Oracle attempts to unbalance the equation by telling Trinity she will fall in love with the One. Understanding Trinity and Neo's compatibility, she orchestrates their romance. She also gives Neo a cookie when they first meet, which he eats. In Reloaded, the Merovingian reveals he can manipulate the programming of food in the Matrix to change someone's code. It's possible the Oracle does the same to Neo, changing his code so that he becomes the One. By predicting Neo will prove himself to Trinity as they attempt to rescue Morpheus (in a clear rejection of her own prophecy), the Oracle sets the stage for Neo to understand his own role as the One and his confrontation with Smith. When Trinity confesses her love for Neo, thereby 'confirming' his destiny as the One despite his failure to pass various tests, the Oracle has succeeded in creating a self-fulfilling prophecy. This sets up a new variable to unbalance the Architect's equation: love.
Enter the Matrix and The Matrix Reloaded Previous Ones were trained to understand their duty to humanity as a whole, thereby always opting to return to the Source and allow humanity to carry on, despite Zion's destruction. However, Neo is torn between saving humanity and the doomed Trinity, whom he loves. Ultimately, he rejects the Architect's designs and rescues Trinity - a choice no previous Ones needed to make. At the same time, Smith resurfaces following his defeat in The Matrix, and begins assimilating other programs into duplicates of himself - an ability implied to be given to Smith by the Oracle herself, as she created him. During the events of Enter the Matrix, the Oracle chooses to help programs Kamala and Rama Kandra save their daughter Sati by giving her safe harbor as an Exile in the Matrix, rather than let her return to the Source where programs are destroyed. The Merovingian allows Sati safe passage into the Matrix via the Trainman, though it comes at the cost of the Oracle's termination code, forcing her to inhabit a new form.
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