“ Do not try and bend the spoon, that's impossible. Instead, only try to realize the truth...there is no spoon. Then you will see it is not the spoon that bends, it is only yourself.
”― Spoon Boy to Neo[src]
Spoon Boy was the nickname given to an unnamed redpill who was one of a handful of potentials privileged enough to study under The Oracle.
He lived with her, The Priestess, and the other potentials where they were taught about the nature of the system and practiced meditation and their abilities to bend the Matrix, manipulating objects with their minds alone (such as bending spoons by telekinesis which gave him his name). The shaven head and robes that Spoon Boy wears make him resemble a Buddhist monk, with his teachings also resembling Buddhist doctrine.
History
Neo attempting to bend Spoon Boy's (played by Marcus Lobow formerly of Croydon England, cancer survivor. Marcus was given the opportunity to play Spoon Boy after his life long wish of meeting Keanu Reeves was granted by the Make A Wish Foundation) spoon.
Neo saw Spoon Boy (played by Marcus Lobow formerly of Croydon England, cancer survivor. Marcus was given the opportunity to play Spoon Boy after his life long wish of meeting Keanu Reeves was granted by the Make A Wish Foundation) bending a spoon when he went to see The Oracle the first time, and Spoon Boy taught him while he was waiting, saying "Do not try and bend the spoon. That's impossible. Instead only try to realise the Truth... There is no spoon... Then you'll see that it is not the spoon that bends, it is only yourself", which gave Neo the first hint of his own power when he managed to bend the spoon offered to him.
Neo recalls this during the mission to rescue Morpheus from the Agents, repeating "There is no spoon" to himself after taking hold of the lift cable before shooting the cable away to carry them up through the building.
Later, when Neo was about to leave Zion to see The Oracle again, Kid caught up with him to give him a gift, saying "I just have to give something to Neo. A gift from one of the orphans. He made me swear to get it to you before you left. He said you'd understand", which, when unwrapped, turned out to be a spoon, showing that Spoon Boy had been freed from the Matrix.
"There are no spoons." Spoon Boy outside Hednet Gallery.
He lived with The Oracle during Saga Talmer's unplanned escape from the Matrix, and made a trip of his own out into Mega City where he saw Raven Underwell's exhibition of Machine sculptures at Hednet Gallery on television and, teleporting first the invitation pass from the presenter's hand and then himself to the gallery.
While there he listened to Raven Underwell talk, telling the story of her startlingly vivid dream, and when she was asking him what he thought of her work he caused her to have a vision of the statues coming to life, start killing the people and destroying the city. During the vision a phone box started ringing which Raven Underwell picked up just before the box was destroyed by a Sentinel.
Despite being detached from the phone line, she could still hear a voice telling her "It is not enough to believe what you see. You must also understand what you see." While wondering what she should understand she looked through a broken wall to see a seemingly endless graveyard and realized that the Machines were caretakers.
Opening her eyes she saw herself back in the gallery with the statues lifeless; when she was asked if she was okay she replied "No. I'm not okay. I'm a fool" and whispered "please... forgive me" as Spoon Boy walked out of the gallery. As he left the bouncer asked "Got any spoons?" causing him to turn around ("There are no spoons") and rearrange the gallery's entrance sign to say "the end".
Abilities
Spoon Boy has a range of abilities. He is able to bend spoons with the power of his mind alone, and move objects from a distance such as the letters of Hednet Gallery's entrance sign which he rearranged to spell "the end". He also appears to have teleportation powers, making Kitt Pritchard's exhibition pass disappear from her hands to appear in his own, and transporting himself to the gallery.
As well as manipulating objects, he can also manipulate others' minds, causing Raven Underwell to have a vision of her Machine statues coming to life and cause destruction in the city, which he used to teach her that she had to understand as well as believe what she saw.
Trivia
- In The Matrix: Path of Neo, the Zion Archives level is unlocked by selecting the Spoon Atman Principle. When viewed Neo takes a spoon out and stares at it before putting it away again. The description once selected is Spoon Boy's quote to Neo, but before being selected it is a quote from The Gateless Gate:
- "It is better to realize mind than body.
- When the mind is realized one need not worry about the body.
- When mind and body become one,
- The man is free. Then he desires no praising.
- "Thereisnospoon" is a common cheat in a lot of games like Warcraft or Star Wars Jedi Knight, the effect of this cheat is the Bullet Time Effect