The Potentials

Redopsin

In the first Matrix, in the Oracle's apartment there are women, who are referred to in the script as Priestesses. The children the care for are referred to as 'the Potentials', but what are they? The most obvious answer is that they're exile programs, but this begs the question why stay with the Oracle? And why refer to them as potentials? How are they different from other programs? I think this is one of the most open-to-interpretation things in the trilogy. Your thoughts?

Wqaa

Well what I think was meant by Potentials was that the kids had the potential to become the One. The kids themselve were actual kids because the "spoon-boy" Neo talked to when he first went to the Oracle's house was later released from the Matrix. On Reloaded just before Neo and the rest left Zion, Kid runs up to him and gives him a gift that he said was from one of the orphans and that Neo would understand what it meant. The gift was a spoon so it leads one to believe that it was from the boy Neo talked to at the Oracle's house.

**sospechoso_1**

I believe the priestess escorted Neo to the living room to wait with the other potentials, implying that Neo was a potential.

Please correct me if I'm wrong since I'm too lazy to put on the movie and watch that scene.

**Fractor**

I suppose they had the potential to be the 'One' like neo but they were only kids and neo was the only adult and he became the 'One'. So I don't see how they had potential if it was going to be an adult to be the 'One' unless one of the previous 'Ones' was a child.

HugeMatrixFan

The potentials, are children who are potentially going to take the red pill. The One is a program which is created by the machines, its just another form of control. This program is inserted to someone who is plugged into the Matrix, think of it as a cycle. In fact, those children have absolutely nothing to do with being The One.

00Zero

But if you read the comics Spoonboy and a little girl(cant recall her name) do some amazing things that normal blue pills or red pills can not do. So IMO being a potential means that you have above "normal" neural kinetics which makes a "potential" canidate to harbor the one code(which the source grants?).

**FrozenFyre**

According to the Matrix comics, Potentials are "Defined as those who
posess specific qualities of enligjtenment , awareness and/or the
ability to bend the Matrix to their will." So they are definitely human
and sometimes have specific abilities such as telikenesis, altering
their RSI etc.

**Anubias**

My Character, Anubias is a potential...here is the biography, I hope it fits whatever is decided here :smileytongue:

Anubias was born on June 3, 1976. Nothing is known of his parents, except they named him and left him on the doorstep of the Mara Congregational Church. He was found by Sister Margaret there and taken to a nearby orphanage where he was spent the first nine years of his life. Not much is known of Anubias's life during these early years except from his teachers who reported Anubias as having a "high intelligence" and certain "psychic powers", namely telekinesis and telepathy. It was these "psychic powers" which brought the Oracle to the orphanage to adopt Anubias.

Upon adoption, Anubias stayed under the supervision of the Oracle for the next few years. There are even fewer reports during this time. All that is known is from a few neighbors of the Oracle who reported,"He is one of her kids". Anubias also met his best friend when in the Oracle's custody, Tyndall. Though Tyndall was a couple of years his junior, the two children displayed an immediate bond. Anubias stayed with the Oracle until he was extracted from the Matrix at age 12, the same day Tyndall was removed. This was 11 years before Neo was freed by Morpheus.

Upon removal from the Matrix, Anubias lived with a black-op corpsman named Hollis and his wife in Zion. Anubias spent the next few years in Zion mainly studying at the Temple where he took interest in religion and philosophy. It is reported Anubias was admired by his peers and was often able to diffuse arguements that are common among pre-teens. The priests of the Temple were very impressed with Anubias and have stated that Anubias was able to "talk like an adult about very complex ideas". During this time, there was also sightings of Anubias talking with Morpheus about philosophy and other things that interested them both. Tyndall was said to be a frequent visitor to the Hollis household, especially when Hollis had returned from missions in the Matrix. Tyndall and Anubias liked hearing about his adventures inside the Matrix.

When Anubias was 17, Hollis was killed in the Matrix and this affected Anubias greatly. Councilor Hamann took a interest in Anubias during this hard time in his life and became Anubias's surrogate father. Some speculate that Hamann was "grooming" Anubias to become a future Council member because of his quick wit and level head. Anubias had little interest in this though and joined the Zion Military when he became of age to follow in Hollis's footsteps.

Anubias's military file is "Top Secret" by orders of the Council and no more information can be attained at this time. What is known is that Anubias is now 29 and was Captain of the Hovercraft Delphi, and eventually became Commander of Archimedes Lever (as Commander Cascade had to step down) and currently returning from Zion after several months of "down time" following Morpheus's death. He currently resides as First Mate on HvCFT Guardian of the Omega Syndicate.

**GlueVane**

Fractor wrote:
I suppose they had the potential to be the 'One' like neo but they were only kids and neo was the only adult and he became the 'One'. So I don't see how they had potential if it was going to be an adult to be the 'One' unless one of the previous 'Ones' was a child.

Well, childs have an amazing power... with the time, they grow and become an adult! lol They didn't know when the One will appear SMILEY

FeralBoy

One of the things that needs to be kept in mind about the One are the two aspects that make him the One.

1) the code he carries

2) the power he receives from the Source

The code the One carries is the integral anomaly. What that means is that when someone rejects the Matrix, that "wrong" decision is in the form of code. This code creates glitches in the programming of the Matrix because it is not designed to accept rejections. Over time as more and more people reject the Matrix, this code builds up enough to the point where it's not just annoying but actually a threat to the system. Luckily, at this point it also converges and becomes attached to a single human.

However, that is only half of the equation. The integral anomaly does not provide its human host with any powers. It is merely bad code that needs to be disseminated at the Source. But to ensure that this human reaches the Source, the subprogram known as the Path of the One was created. The Path of the One is the "prime program" spoken of by the Architect. The Architect empowers the recipient of the integral anomaly with power from the Source to enable him to become a messiah-like figure. This serves many purposes, not least of which is to protect this human and make sure that he doesn't die on his way to the Source, even though the tests along the way are difficult and seemingly life-threatening for him.

So the One is a naturally-occurring phenomenon because of the anomaly, but is also manufactured because of his connection with the Source. So in effect he is both human AND machine. The Bible states that Jesus is a mediator between God and man, and that's what the One is--a mediator between man and machine. He has elements of both and therefore understands both sides.

**phi**

I agree with FeralBoy except you are forgetting one thing. Neo was unusual as a "One" in that his physical body and his ... for want of a better word ... mind were not bound exclusively to each other. This is demonstrated by Neo's ability to affect machines in the Real and ability to survive with his mind in Mobil Avenue train station (in the machine systems) and his body not physically connected to the Matrix.

FeralBoy

phi wrote:

I agree with FeralBoy except you are forgetting one thing. Neo was unusual as a "One" in that his physical body and his ... for want of a better word ... mind were not bound exclusively to each other. This is demonstrated by Neo's ability to affect machines in the Real and ability to survive with his mind in Mobil Avenue train station (in the machine systems) and his body not physically connected to the Matrix.

That's a great point. And this all happened after Neo chose the door that none of the previous Ones had. So anything that Neo accomplishes after that is absolutely going to be different. I'm sure that the previous Ones could have also gone on to achieve similar feats, but if you can imagine what it would feel like to know that you helped kill a quarter of a million people, you would probably not feel like too much of a savior. Flexing your god-like muscles in the Matrix would probably lose a lot of its appeal at that point.

TehTiny

I have decided tha Anubias obviously stole that from my bio. Thief! I have a confession to make. I am T3H 0N3. Only until Niobe breaks out of her cocoon of power. Stupid temp jobs.

Jevex

AnubiasLightner wrote:

Anubias also met his best friend when in the Oracle's custody, Tyndall.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't Tyndall ALL human.

She can't jack in...:smileyindifferent:

FeralBoy

Jevex wrote:

AnubiasLightner wrote:

Anubias also met his best friend when in the Oracle's custody, Tyndall.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't Tyndall ALL human.

She can't jack in...:smileyindifferent:

Javex, here is Tyndall's dossier, as posted at http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/the-matrix-online/586886p1.html. I remember reading this exact same dossier on DN1 (which wasn't called DN1 back then) way back during beta, so it's all true. Enjoy!

Tyndall was awakened at a young age and spent her formative adolescent years in Zion. She took to the philosophy offered by Morpheus, but she saw the struggle against the Machines as a quest larger than any one person, and so could not accept the prophesy of The One as fact. She much preferred the more pragmatic approach of Jason Lock, relying on the resources and abilities of the people of Zion to save themselves, without waiting for a savior.

When she came of age, Tyndall eagerly became a Zion operative in the Matrix. She served capably during the war, working her way up to a senior position, but retired from field duty in the aftermath of an accident that rendered her unable to jack into the Matrix safely any longer. An agent dropped a 220kV power line on her as she was jacking out, causing feedback that damaged her neural jacks in the real world. She was almost killed.

Today she is only able to jack into controlled environments such as the control center construct or training programs. The unpredictable nature of the Matrix broadcast signal could overload her damaged jacks and cause permanent or fatal damage to her. Still, she had a tremendous amount of experience in the Matrix, so instead of becoming a hovercraft captain, she accepted a position as Commander Lock's liaison to field operations in the Matrix.