Merovingian's Thugs - Former Ones?

[chosenone]

Raising the subject of Merovingian's thugs again, I noticed upon viewing the Reloaded DVD that, except for the Twins, and Cain and Abel, there are five other thugs present for the Restaurant/Chateau scenes. Then I started wondering if that has any more meanings. As we all knew, there were five other Ones before Neo, and each was (supposedly) more powerful than the first, if you consider the stuff Neo could do and the people he managed to amaze by doing it. So, is it possible that those five thugs of Merovingian's are actually former Ones like Neo?

Well, this might not be too far off if one considers who Merv is. He smuggles information, including sentient programs, in and out of the Matrix, when they no longer have a purpose. Isn't that what happens to the One when he touches the Source and reloads the Matrix? And if Merv had the opportunity to get the One under his wing, wouldn't he do so? Maybe, after touching the Source, the One wouldn't feel ready to leave the Matrix/world, and would strike a bargain with Merovingian in order to live on as a program, even if it meant serving Merv. If this is true, then it's very nice to see that the former Ones were of several different races, and not carbon copies of Neo, as seen in the Architect's chamber. Furthermore, consider how well they (whoever they were) fought against the One at the Chateau. Those thugs did stuff no one else in the Matrix, no even Morpheus, was able to do...

I know this theory may be totally insane and way off, but doesn't the idea make you go hmm?

[spiderman_2k]

Dont think so, IMO they would have put much more story into the characters, I think it's just coincidence that they have 5 of them, and it's only natural that the Merovingian would have people around to fight for him.

[chosenone]

Something I forgot to say above: if this theory is true, and if Merovingian does smuggle the last One back into the Matrix after he reloads, then does that mean that we'll be seeing Neo in the upcoming Matrix Online, or even get to fight with him? That would be awesome!

[Brock Landers]

Originally posted by chosenone
Something I forgot to say above: if this theory is true, and if Merovingian does smuggle the last One back into the Matrix after he reloads, then does that mean that we'll be seeing Neo in the upcoming Matrix Online, or even get to fight with him? That would be awesome!

You know what would have been cool for that ENTER THE MATRIX game? If they let you fight as Neo in a "unlockable" level, say like you beat the game once over, which was very easy to do, and if you do that you get to fight as Neo in the Burly Brawl or the Chateu fight.....

[chosenone]

Maybe so, but they're most definitely not vampires, as far as I can tell, and it seems more likely that they might be former Ones. And considering what we know of Merv, it would be logical for him to have someone around to fight for him, but it would be even more logical for that someone to be former Ones... Merv could pull it off, I'm sure of it. And we'll never know until the Matrix series really is over, which will take at least the Matrix Online to happen.

[spiderman_2k]

As I have said, if they were previous ones, the W.Bros would have dropped many more hints, and made more of a story out of it, I think you are just grasping for what isn't there IMO.

[chosenone]

Yeah, I know. I am, aren't I...? But it's a cool theory. The only snag is the huge "what if" somewhere in the middle of it... I'll just have to admit I'm obssessed with those five thugs...

[spiderman_2k]

I just think they are 5 random thugs thrown into the mix to be Neo's Programmable kickbags...No other purpose than that IMO

[Tazsi]

I cant remember, did the thugs bleed? I dont recall seeing them bleed, wich would make them only programs.

[spiderman_2k]

Agents Bleed....

[chosenone]

Another little mistake... I don't know who those five guys in the Chateau are, but Agents shouldn't definitely be able to bleed...

[Rain]

well if the one isnt ready when they touch the source, which all ones must do to reload the matrix, they do get trapped in an area merv controls, thus possibly forcing them to work for him considering their body and all their friends are gone in the real world. so this theory makes a lot of sense to me.

and one question: why does the keymaker bleed?

[spiderman_2k]

Obvisouly all the programs bleed in the sequel...

Its the line "You see he is just a man" that destroys this theory for me, If they were previous ones, they are men or were men at some point, so it wouldn't make sense for the Merovingian to say this...

[chosenone]

To me, it sounds like he says it just to encourage them to keep fighting. *If* (notice the if) they are former Ones, then yes, they are or were men once too, but they also could perform much of the stuff Neo could. The only difference was that he was much faster, much more in control of the Matrix code, and so they were liable to get intimidated fighting him and run off, or something. Merv says "You see, he's just a man", but unfortunately, he doesn't openly refer to what the five guys are. He could mean just that, or he could mean "You see, he's just a man like you, so keep fighting". I guess we'll never know.

[chosenone]

I also do believe that, with all the between-the-lines symbolic materials that the Wachowskis put into the movies, the former Ones had to be in there somewhere. Some people have suggested that Seraph might be the One before Neo. That's a likely theory, though I don't yet remember reading any proofs to back it up. I find it much more likely that Merv's henchmen were the Ones, since there are *five*, and they can bend the Matrix like few people have done before. Remember the bullet time sequence with them leaping across the hall and over the staircase banister after Neo? What do you think the Wachowskis meant to say by shooting that? I could be wrong about this, but I'd really like to believe the Matrix is more about symbolism than it is about shooting cool special effects scenes...

[spiderman_2k]

That wasn't bullet time, just Slow Motion, and IMO programs that are protecting the Merovingian would be able to do stuff like that, they really though dont do much more than a normal person could, all they do is jump around abit...

[chosenone]

Well, in Enter The Matrix, bullet time is the same as slo-mo, so that's probably my bad... And speaking of the programs protecting Merovingian, that's precisely one of my points. Notice the way Neo took out Abel/Cain? A single kick... And yet it takes more to kill those thugs than it did to do in three Agents... Maybe I'm grasping at straws, but it's a point worth considering.

[spiderman_2k]

You are grasping at straws, IMO thats the way the wachowskis did it, the Agent fight at the beginning was to give the viewers a peek at Neo's strength and speed, then show them much more, then show neo using some bad ass weapons, I mean he hardly touches them before a killing shot anyway, It's more weapons hitting each other.

[bbf2]

Why is this here? There IS a Matrix fo.....oh, nevermind.