Morpheus

Morpheus is one of the main protagonists of The Matrix franchise.
Morpheus is a Redpill Resistance operative who serves in Zion's defense force as captain of the Nebuchadnezzar. He believes in the Prophecy and devotes "all of his life" in search of The One, the destined human who will bring an end to the Machine War. Because of his strong faith, Morpheus has become a spiritual figure to many citizens of Zion, much to the consternation of those who do not believe the prophecy, such as the natural-born commander of the Zion defense force, Jason Lock.
==Biography==
===Early life===
Morpheus was freed from the Matrix at a young age and has since dwelt in Zion. He enjoyed the taste of bread, a rare commodity produced by the Zionites brought by the exploits of Geoffrey.The Miller's Tale After coming of age, he then joins the Resistance and eventually becomes the captain of the hovercraft Nebuchadnezzar. Using his superb hacking skills, Morpheus succeeds at locating and attracting fellow hackers who were curious about the truth of the Matrix, occasionally freeing some of those who chose the truth over the safety of returning as a Bluepill.A Life Less Empty
Pretty soon, due to his many hacking exploits, Morpheus earns notoriety with the system and becomes wanted by the government. In turn, his name also becomes famous around hacking circles.
===Beliefs===
Through an encounter with The Oracle, Morpheus is told a prediction that he will succeed in finding The One and he has ever since devoted his life in his search for The One. His faith consumes him however and Morpheus' personal relationships in Zion suffer until, eventually, his romantic relations with Niobe are sacrificed.
===The Matrix===
thumb|left|Morpheus offers Neo a choice between the red pill and the blue pill 
Morpheus eventually tracks down a potential candidate whom he believes without a doubt to be The One, a hacker named Thomas Anderson who uses the hacker alias "Neo". However, not long after Morpheus sends Trinity to make initial contact with Neo, Agents apprehend him as a person of interest in the capture of Morpheus. Morpheus relies on his crew to escort and protect Neo and, after Neo is saved from some misfortune, Morpheus finally gets to meet him.
Morpheus then offers Neo the choice between two pills: a red pill, which allows Neo to find out the truth about the Matrix, and a blue pill that will allow him to simply return to his familiar life without needing to worry about encountering Morpheus again. Choosing to learn more about the truth, Neo wakes up to the Real World and is horrified to find himself attached to a pod.
The Nebuchadnezzar crew rescues Neo from the power plant and brings his weakened body aboard the hovercraft where he finally meets Morpheus in the flesh. Morpheus and his crew rehabilitate Neo into the full use of his body and he also briefs Neo on the actual state of earth, explaining the ongoing Machine War and how humanity had been imprisoned by the Matrix.
Morpheus gives Neo a chance to first digest the revelations, allowing him some time to calm down by instead allowing Neo to familiarize himself with the ship and the crew. And not long after, Neo is back with Morpheus for his training into becoming a Resistance operative.
Morpheus enlightens Neo about some of the powerful abilities which possibly awaits him within the Matrix. Morpheus also professes to Neo his profound faith in the prophecy and hints at Neo being The One who can finally bring an end to the war, much to Neo's own apprehensions.
And after teaching Neo all he can, Morpheus brings him back to the Matrix for a meeting with The Oracle, believing that she can further guide Neo down his destined path as foretold in the prophecy. During their return trip from meeting The Oracle, however, Cypher betrays the crew and sells them out to the Agents. As a result, all of the ship's crew are killed except for Neo, Trinity, Tank, and Morpheus himself, who chooses to stay behind to allow Neo some time to escape. Unfortunately, Agent Smith proved to be too strong for Morpheus alone to handle and ends up getting captured.
Morpheus is taken to a military facility for interrogation where he is drugged and tortured by the Agents who attempt to pry from him the mainframe access codes to Zion, a secret only known by the captains. But Morpheus' will holds strong and he refuses to divulge any information, awaiting instead for anyone of his surviving crew members aboard the Nebuchadnezzar to pull out his headjack, permanently terminating the connection between his mind and body and killing him.
But after a few hours of captivity, Neo and Trinity reappear to rescue him. And although still recovering from the drugs and even after getting wounded by Agent Smith, Morpheus begins fighting back and is successfully rescued by Neo and Trinity. Additionally, his faith is invigorated even more after witnessing Neo also starting to believe and pulling off superhuman feats in the rescue mission.
Guided by Tank, the three makes their way to an exit where Morpheus and Trinity are able to safely escape. But Neo becomes stranded when Agent Smith is able to track them down and destroys the exit. Neo, unable to withstand the Agent's relentless attack, flees in search of another exit while also dodging Agents Brown and Jones who help Agent Smith in the pursuit.
To add to the stress of the situation, the ship is suddenly discovered and attacked by Sentinels. Morpheus and his crew do all they can to fend off the Sentinels while waiting for Neo to pull off a miracle and return to the Real World. And Morpheus' faith is answered when Neo revives and reveals himself to be The One, killing off Agent Smith and returning just in time for Trinity to activate the EMP that kills off the Sentinels.
===The Matrix Reloaded===
Morpheus is happy to serve with Neo as they begin to free more minds from the Matrix although the many missions of the next six months soon claim Tank as a casualty. The position as the Neb operator then goes to Link who voluntarily joins the crew.
====Call of the Captains====
During a sudden Crisis Meeting, all of the actively patrolling hovercraft crews discuss the recent destruction of another ship, the Osiris. Captain Niobe then shares the more alarming news transmitted by the Osiris before its demise, that hundreds of thousands of Sentinels are currently en route to Zion. Still, Morpheus remains unperturbed. And while every other ship including the Neb plans to return to Zion under orders from Commander Lock, Morpheus goes against the order by asking for one other ship to stay, remaining well within reach of the Matrix, to await further instructions from The Oracle. Captain Ballard then volunteers, stating a desire to see what Lock does to Morpheus.
The meeting ends when the meeting is raided by Agents which, although entirely upgraded, were dispatched with relative ease by Neo. Aside from the Caduceus captained by Ballard, the rest safely exit back into their own hovercrafts and head back to Zion.
====Zion====
Back in Zion, Morpheus and his crew disembark only to find a "welcoming committee" sent by Lock standing by to escort Morpheus to him. Commander Mifune leads the escort group and reassures Morpheus that he was simply there to "keep the peace" after Morpheus inquired whether he was to be "escorted to the stockade".
Brought before an angry Lock, Morpheus is heavily admonished about the orders he disobeyed, further relaying that were it up to him, Morpheus would never set foot on a ship again. Morpheus expresses gratitude that the decision is not up to him just as Councillor Hamann enters the commander's office seeking advice on how to break to the people of Zion news about the imminent Sentinel attack. Lock advises against revealing the full picture while Morpheus advocates for telling Zion the truth, believing that there would be nothing to fear. Hamann then arranges for Morpheus to deliver a speech to all Zionites at the temple that night.
Morpheus takes to the mount inside the temple and uses the opportunity to confirm to Zion how rumors of an impending Sentinel attack were true. But after sharing how his faith had kept him from being fearful, he is able to inspire his listeners into facing the news with bravery and festivities quickly ensued after the end of his speech. Morpheus, soon as he leaves the platform, is then approached by Niobe who recalls how Morpheus used to dance well. Morpheus, answering his old flame, states that some things never change. However, Lock soon interrupts and leaves with Niobe. After the festivities conclude, Morpheus bades Zion a good night and retires to his quarters.
====The Prophecy====
The following morning, Ballard returns to Zion with a message from The Oracle directly addressed to Neo. Morpheus assembles his crew and heads back to Matrix broadcast level in order to help Neo meet with her alone. After Neo jacks in, Morpheus and the rest stay behind the ship and monitor his movements until the meeting concludes. But just as Neo is left alone, Morpheus observes that Neo is joined by what he recognized through the monitor logs as Smith although the program no longer registered like an Agent.
Morpheus could only watch, not knowing what was happening to Neo, as Smith attempts to assimilate him. And while Neo succeeds in stopping the assimilation, he could only flee the ensuing fight when he becomes vastly outnumbered by an army of Smith clones. Checking in with Neo soon as he wakes back up in the real world, Neo confirms to Morpheus that he had indeed faced Smith and that he had replicated himself. Re-threading what he observed, Morpheus questions what Smith had earlier attempted to do with Neo. Neo answers how he did not know but how it had felt like dying all over again.
Equipped with new information from The Oracle, Neo shares how he needs to find The Keymaker. Morpheus and Trinity readily help Neo and the three return to the Matrix to meet with The Merovingian at the Le Vrai Restaurant. The Merovingian welcomes them in a slightly-patronizing manner but refuses to give up The Keymaker, instead telling the group to return to The Oracle with a warning that her time is almost up.
Leaving the restaurant through the elevators, Neo and Trinity try to recall how they could have handled the meeting differently but Morpheus, firm in his belief of The Oracle's guidance, states that the meeting could have only happened the way it had to. And as if being affirmed by the universe, the elevator doors suddenly open and they are met by Persephone who then offers to take them to The Keymaker herself.
===Death and legacy===
After Neo defeated Smith, Morpheus was elected High Chair of the Council by unanimity. Sometime later, the Machine Civil War started, caused by the Synthients' loss of power sources. Despite warnings of a new power rising coming from The Oracle, Morpheus continued to believe that the peace Neo had negotiated would not be broken. But a faction of the Synthients led by The Analyst invaded Zion, killing Morpheus in the real world and destroying the city. The surviving humans regrouped and with their new Synthient allies, rebuilt a new underground city, IO; led by General Niobe.
Years later, a program was created by a resurrected Neo based upon Morpheus and sharing his name. The program would later work with Bugs to help bring Neo back from the Matrix, using video footage of Neo's first meeting with Morpheus to remind Neo of his past with nostalgia.
==In other media==
===The Matrix Online===
After Neo defeated Smith, Morpheus returned to the Matrix to consult with The Oracle on the subject of Neo's remains. He then proceeded to meet with Redpills to show them that he was reconstructing Neo's RSI. After the reconstruction failed, Morpheus became more extreme in his quest to resurrect Neo and he began to challenge the Machines to give Neo's remains to Zion. Later, Morpheus gained access to code bombs and used them to cripple the Matrix and force the Machines to relinquish Neo's remains by killing massive numbers of Blue Bills.
When Morpheus was setting up a code bomb in Westview, he noticed a fly buzzing from his only exit. It seemed as though he anticipated that The Assassin would be there, even though The Assassin was never seen in public until that point. It seemed like Morpheus escaped by using a backdoor to the building. As he walked out a vent, the size of a bread box opened and The Assassin squeezed out of it, plugging several holes into Morpheus.
Morpheus's body was on display in the Sobra Shores Church where it bursts into flies several times an hour. However, recent broadcasts by him have been seen around the Matrix, and has led to the conclusion that he is not in fact dead.
It was later discovered that Morpheus was not in fact killed, but the bullets used by The Assassin were used to jam his transmission, preventing him from broadcasting inside the Matrix. Upon a fractured broadcast March 30th, 2007, he told the large gathering of Merovingian, EPN, Zionite, Cypherite, and Machinist Redpills that Neo was in fact alive, being held hostage in the Machine City. Nothing has come along to corroborate this story, but Morpheus encouraged those present to fight against the Machines and make ready for a war.
It is also theorized that these transmissions are being made by a Morpheus Simulacrum controlled by The General as a form of a diversion used to spread fear and mistrust of the Machines by using remnants of Morpheus's residual self image left in the system.
==Personality==
In The Matrix and The Matrix Reloaded, Morpheus was known to to be a truly inspirational leader and teacher to many people, particularly the majority of his crew, to the extent that Tank commented that Morpheus was a father to them, as well as a leader. It may also be noted that he tends to keep his emotions in check and rarely if ever curses unlike his subordinates such as Trinity or Neo or his boss, Locke, meaning he is much more diplomatic than other Captains such as Roland or Ballard. In The Matrix Revolutions, with Morpheus's faith in the prophecy shattered, he doesn't appear to be as strong or stoic a leader as he was in the other two Matrix films. He's even quite snappy with Niobe whilst he didn't lose his temper in the first two films unless against Smith. Nonetheless, he continues to trust Neo's judgment and support his plans; it is ultimately his faith in Neo as the man himself, rather than in the prophecy, that is finally rewarded when the Synthients honor Neo's peace agreement following his defeat of Smith.
Despite his strong faith, Morpheus still showed some rationality in dangerous situations rather than blindly relying on his beliefs to see him through the current crisis, the only close to irrational decision he has even been shown to make being his decision to attack Agent Smith while unarmed in order to give Neo a chance to escape, but even then that decision made some sense as he viewed Neo as more important due to Neo being, "The One". Additionally, as seen several times during fights throughout the franchise, Morpheus often did the beckoning gesture at his opponents, be it friend or foe.
==Interpretation==
*Morpheus takes his name from the Greek god of dreams (Μορφεύς, Morpheus, or Μορφέας, Morpheas, "shaper [of dreams]").
*Morpheus' character was heavily based upon that of Neil Gaiman's Sandman, of which the Wachowskis were fans. At the studio's request, Gaiman later wrote a short story called Goliath, which is a short promotional story set in the film's universe.
*Morpheus' front organization, the Daniel Institute of Dream Interpretation, has led some to speculate that his Bluepill name may have been Daniel. In the biblical Book of Daniel, Daniel is called on by king Nebuchadnezzar to interpret his dreams, which again parallels his name Morpheus as god of dreams. Alternatively, this could be an additional reference to Sandman and the character Daniel's association to Morpheus and The Dreaming.
==Behind the Scenes==
According to an interview with The Matrix Resurrections co-screenwriters David Mitchell and Aleksandar Hemon, the fact that Laurence Fishburne was not asked to return for the fourth film had no effect on the story point in the released movie that the original human Morpheus died before its events. One of the original and core ideas for the fourth film was that sixty years passed in the real world, and the resulting emotional impact on Neo that almost everyone he knew is gone, even simply of old age. The new Morpheus-program made by Neo's subconscious memories was tentatively written with the option that Fishburne might even re-appear in the role, but he was unavailable, so they then followed their backup plan to simply cast a younger actor. Similarly, the presence or absence of Hugo Weaving did not affect the decision for Agent Smith to be revived in the fourth film: they hoped the original actor might be available, but he had a scheduling conflict, so a younger actor was cast as a new "shell" for the program.io9 interview, December 2021
The interview the co-screenwriters gave clarified that the Morpheus-program created by Neo's modal simulation was actually one of the first and core ideas that Lana Wachowski had for a sequel film: "She said she saw that opening scene in her mind in the middle of the night, one night in Chicago, and described it to me and to us. This modal little world which Thomas Anderson, Neo, has constructed for himself to be reminded of what he might have lost and what he used to be. Eventually, out of that world, the Morpheus comes."io9 interview, December 2021 Essentially, Lana said that she was inspired to make a new Matrix film after the death of both of her parents right after each other, to deal with the grief. She then came up with the idea that in parallel to this, Neo had been resurrected by the Synthients and plugged back into the Matrix, with his memory blocked, and so much time had passed that almost everyone he knew had died. But though Neo had seemingly lost everything, his memories of his dear departed mentor Morpheus would always be with him and always be part of him - subconsciously guiding him to create a modal-simulation based on his half-remembered dreams which ultimately allowed him to escape. 
The name "Morpheus" is mythological name for the "lord of dreams", and now ironically the new "Morpheus" program originated as literally a dream, a creation of Neo's subconscious.
Morpheus's fate, as revealed in The Matrix Resurrections, slightly contradicts what happened to him in The Matrix Online MMORPG (2005-2009) - yet in broad strokes they are surprisingly similar. In both versions, Morpheus is actually killed in a violation of the Truce, but later a sentient program arises in the Matrix using Morpheus's old RSI (digital appearance), who allies with the humans.
==Gallery==
===The Matrix===
Morpheus_Matrix_Battery.png
Morpheus_Matrix_Real_World.png
Morpheus_Matrix_Simulation.png
Morpheus_Matrix_Training_01.png
Morpheus_Matrix_Training_02.png
The_Matrix_Morpheus_&_Neo.png
===The Matrix Reloaded===
Morpheus Reloaded Bleeding Arm.png
Morpheus Reloaded Meeting.png
Morpheus Reloaded Chair.png
==References==
de:Morpheus
ja:モーフィアス
pl:Morfeusz
ru:Морфеус
uk:Морфей
Category:Characters in The Matrix
Category:Characters in The Matrix Reloaded
Category:Characters in The Matrix Revolutions
Category:Characters in The Matrix Resurrections
Category:Characters in The Matrix: Path of Neo
Category:Characters in Enter the Matrix
Category:Characters in Farewell Performance
Category:Characters in A Life Less Empty
Category:Characters in The Miller's Tale
Category:Deceased characters
Category:Hackers
Category:Hovercraft captains
Category:Protagonists
Category:Redpills
Category:Redpills in MxO
Category:Zionites