Deus Ex Machina

“
We don't need you! We need nothing!
”

― Deus Ex Machina to Neo^[src]

The Deus Ex Machina^[1] is the central interface of the Machine City. It creates a humanoid "face" similar to that of a human baby's from a swarm of flying insect-like droids, which it uses to communicate.

History

Neo, after managing to fly past the city defenses in the hovercraft Logos, confronts the Machine entity and offers a proposal: In exchange for removing the out-of-control program, Smith, the Machines call a truce against Zion and humanity in the centennial Machine War.

The Deus Ex Machina, reflecting the intolerance that humanity once showed Machines, initially rejects Neo's assessment that Smith will destroy both the Matrix and the Machine City. However, Neo manages to convince the Deus of the truth.

After Neo is jacked into the Matrix, the Deus monitors the situation. It appears that, after Neo willingly allows himself to be assimilated by Smith, two objectives occur that allow Smith's deletion: First, Smith is now directly connected to Neo's avatar, which is a hard-line connected entity (Neo is "plugged in" directly to the Deus itself). Second, by assimilating Neo, Smith completes the very purpose he defined for himself.

Moments after Neo is assimilated, the Deus appears to send a massive surge of energy through Neo's body. This "surge" presumably sends a deletion program that wipes out the Smith/Neo avatar and destroys all other copies of Smith's code throughout the Matrix, although this is only strongly implied and not explicitly expressed.

The Deus reverently gathers Neo's body in preparation for reinsertion of the Prime Program to reload the Matrix. Within the Matrix itself, a black cat walks quietly in the rain through the rubble of a heavily damaged street. It shivers as it disappears into code, and the Matrix is reset, repairing the street; the cat reappears and gives the same shiver, referencing an earlier explanation for déjà vu in The Matrix, when Neo notices the same black cat pass by twice (it is explained to Neo that the phenomenon of déjà vu is actually a sign that an "adjustment" or "change" has been made to the code within the Matrix).

Demface color adj05 — Concept art of Deus Ex Machina

The "face" of Deus Ex Machina is the face of a human, formed by thousands of tiny, almost insect-like machines. The body of the Deus is a large, half-globe with hundreds of long spines.

Personality

The Deus Ex Machina was the most powerful being in Machine City. His personality was grave and proud. He shares with many other powerful machines^[2], a low opinion of humanity. He initially rejected Neo's help before being convinced by him that he needed it to defeat Smith.^[3]

Trivia

The face of Deus Ex Machina is based on a baby's face, according to the developers.
Deus ex Machina translates in Latin as "god out of the machine"; and is used as a plot device when a seeming dilemma is suddenly and abruptly solved with the contrived and unexpected intervention of some new event, character, ability, or object, i.e. the machines helping Neo, or Neo helping the machines.
The Deus is effectively the 'deity' of the Matrix, adding an element of literal truth to its name.
Voiced by voice actor Kevin Michael Richardson, who also did the voice of Thadeus in the Animatrix entry "Final Flight of the Osiris".
While the Architect could be considered as 'god' inside the matrix, the Deus Ex Machina is like a god figure to the machines outside of the matrix, ('deus ex machina' translates to 'god out of the machine').

Gallery

Appearances

The Matrix Revolutions

Notes

↑ This is the character's name, directly from the credits. "Deus ex machina" literally means "god from a crane". While the character itself may be seen to serve the literary purpose of a deus ex machina, the name may be ironic, as Neo himself serves this purpose from the Machines' perspective: he is essentially a "god" of the Matrix, created by the Machines, and it is his sudden presence in the Machine City which allows the Machines to deal with Smith.
↑ such as Architect and Agent Smith
↑ The Matrix Revolutions

[1] This is the character's name, directly from the credits. "Deus ex machina" literally means "god from a crane". While the character itself may be seen to serve the literary purpose of a deus ex machina, the name may be ironic, as Neo himself serves this purpose from the Machines' perspective: he is essentially a "god" of the Matrix, created by the Machines, and it is his sudden presence in the Machine City which allows the Machines to deal with Smith.

[2] such as Architect and Agent Smith

[3] The Matrix Revolutions

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