Entertainment
 

Cypher

From The Matrix Wiki

Cypher
Biographical information
Real name

Mr. Reagan

Hacker name

Cypher

Physical description
Gender

Male

Height

176 cm

Hair color

Brown

Eye color

Blue

Chronological information
Appearences
  [Source]

Cypher[1] was a redpill assigned to the Zion hovercraft Nebuchadnezzar under the command of Morpheus.

Cypher's job, as with all other operatives, was to free human minds trapped within the Matrix. Unlike most operatives, Cypher was dreadfully unhappy with the nature of reality in comparison to the relative comforts found within the illusory world of the Matrix.

At the start of The Matrix, viewers witness Cypher's plan taking hold to return himself to the power plant. Knowing that Trinity is enamoured with watching the bluepill known as Thomas Anderson, he allowed a call he received from Trinity to be traced by agents. While Trinity barely escaped death when discovered and pursued by the agents, Cypher gained the trust of the agents (Cypher apparently revealed Trinity as method of his "good intentions").

Although a former bluepill, Cypher had skills on the operator console that allowed him to monitor the virtual reality broadcast feeds. When Neo quietly approached from behind, Cypher (hard at work at something mysterious) was startled, then slowly switched off one of the the displays at the console. He offered Neo a drink of the crew's homemade alcohol, which startled Neo in return from its powerful concentration. Cypher chided Neo on his selection by Morpheus' and his belief of being The One: "Jesus...what a mind job." He warned Neo to do the same thing that all other Zion operatives do when they see an agent: run.

Moments later, viewers see what Cypher was preparing for on the console. Apparently, Cypher had hacked the operator console to allow himself to jack in by himself to allow a illicit face-to-face negotiation with Agent Smith. Eating a steak, Cypher enjoys the sensation, asking that, in exchange for Morpheus[2], Cypher's body would be reattached to the power plant and his memory of his life outside of the Matrix erased ("ignorance is bliss"), replaced by a persona of "someone important, like an actor." Despite Smith's persistence, Cypher had no knowledge of the codes to the Zion mainframe (of which Morpheus only knows) that would make it easier for Zion to be compromised.

Cypher's plan begins as Morpheus takes Neo to see the Oracle for the first time. He drops his activated cell phone into the trash, which allows the agents to trace Morpheus' and his team's location. When Morpheus returns to the Lafayette Hotel, the agents activate their trap, suddenly changing the hotel's programming so that all windows and doors are blocked. Neo, fortunately, sees a cat behave in the same way twice, and says "De'ja vu," which alerts the others to the trap.

Morpheus alerts Tank to find the wetwall of the building (the maintenance hollow where plumbing is placed within a building's walls) and leads his team to safety. But dust that Neo kicks up makes Cypher sneeze, leading one police officer to discover them. Agent Smith possesses the policeman's body and grabs Neo through the wall, but Morpheus jumps the agent, breaking his hold on Neo. While Morpheus' team escapes hastily down the wetwall, Morpheus fights Smith, but is quite over matched and is captured for later interrogation.

Cypher manages to separate himself from his escaping comrades and jacks out before the others at an old TV repair shop. As Tank is guiding the rest to the same location, Cypher picks up a lightning rifle and blasts Tank. The beam glances off Tank's chair and Tank attempts to counter before a second blast knocks him away. Tank's brother, Dozer, attacks, but Cypher gets a direct hit and kills him. Dropping the weapon and taking the operator headset, he calls the TV repair shop and reveals his plan to Trinity and the team.

Sadistically, he unplugs Apoc and Switch's headjack from their bodies, killing them instantly. As he prepares to do the same to Neo (darkly testing the theory that Neo can't be killed if he is actually The One), Tank manages to recover sufficiently to kill Cypher with a generous lightning rifle burst.

Cypher's damage is partially undone; Morpheus is later rescued by Neo and Trinity, but the agents realize that Cypher, their informant, may have failed, since Morpheus was still alive but no further communication from Cypher was received. They order a Sentinel strike against the Nebuchadnezzar, which is stopped moments after Neo, now empowered as The One, returns to the ship after his later encounter with agents.

[edit] References

  1. An archaic definition for the term, "cypher," is "zero," making the character the (human) opposite of "The One," Neo, who encounters a negative later in his adventures.
  2. Cypher's role is akin to the role of the biblical figure Judas and his betrayal of Jesus Christ.