The Prophecy Was A Lie - The Oracle Lied

What is a lie? A false statement made with a purpose to deceive. Without a doubt, the Oracle lied to Morpheous. It all goes back to M1 and the conversation between Morpheous and Neo.

Morpheous: * * * When the Matrix was first built, there was a man born inside who had the ability to change whatever he wanted, to remake the Matrix as he saw fit. It was he who freed the first of us, taught us the truth. As long as the Matrix exists the human race will never be free. After he died the Oracle prophesied his return and that his coming would hail the destruction of the Matrix, end the war, bring freedom to our people. That is why there are those of us who have spent our entire lives searching the Matrix looking for him. I did what I did because I believe that search is over.

To summarize, according to the prophecy, Neo's coming is supposed to (1) hail the destruction of the Matrix, (2) end the war, (3) bring freedom to our people. Let's discuss each of these individually, out of turn.

No. 2 (ending the war): Certainly, thanks to Neo, the war ended. At least for now.

No. 3 (freedom to our people): Supposedly, per the Oracle's conversation with the Architect, humans will now have a choice as to whether they remain in the Matrix or live in the real world. Since humans now have this choice, they are no longer entrapped inside the matrix, and can no longer be described as "slaves." So far so good.

No. 1 (the destruction of the Matrix): This is where the prophecy proves to be a lie. The Matrix has not been destroyed. Rather, the Matrix has simply been altered by increasing the amount of choice - the choice to stay inside the Matrix or not. The Matrix has not been destroyed, it has been upgraded. Thus, when the Oracle claimed that the One's return would hail the destruction of the Matrix, she was lying.

Now, I understand that some of you may not think the Oracle was lying - that she was only telling Morpheous what he needed to hear. If you think this way, I offer that this is still a lie - a false statement made with the purpose to deceive. It is irrelevant whether the lie was told with the good intentions of creating a truce between the machines and mankind. It is still a lie.

Nevertheless, when the Oracle made these statements, she did not make them with the good intentions of creating a truce. Do not forget that she led the five previous One's astray. Otherwise, the war would have already ended. Likewise, she was attempting to lead Morpheous and the rest of the gang astray. It was not until later that, for some reason (probably because she grew tired of the repititious and cyclical struggle between man and machine, inside and outside of the Matrix), the Oracle wished to end the war and create a truce, and she believed that Neo could broker such a deal. At this point, this is when Oracle began to betray the system. She made the "choice" to help Neo, and this choice cost the Oracle her "shell."

Although an amicable agreement was eventually reached between man and machine thanks to the assistance of the Oracle, considering that the Matrix still exists, the Oracle's prophecy was just a lie.

The prophecy was always a lie...and the Oracle, though good...only did it because it was what she was programmed to do....it happened the first five times with the previous Ones (was it five or six?) anyway.....yes, Neo eventually did end the war fullfilling the prophecy anyway but that was because he did the opposite of what he was supposed to do

It's incorrect to proclaim that the Oracle is good. After all, she did facilitate the five previous destructions of Zion. The only reason the Oracle facilitated a new result was because she had to - Smith was overtaking the Matrix, and would destroy it.

Who says that the war isn't over now? Now that the Architect (thus, the machines as well) have given the humans a choice to stay in the matrix or not, what would be the point to destroy them. It would be going against all morality. Why give them a choice, and then kill them for giving a choice. The war could be over.

But personally, I think there could have been cooler ways to end the movie...

Originally posted by joezgirl
Who says that the war isn't over now? Now that the Architect (thus, the machines as well) have given the humans a choice to stay in the matrix or not, what would be the point to destroy them. It would be going against all morality. Why give them a choice, and then kill them for giving a choice. The war could be over.

But personally, I think there could have been cooler ways to end the movie...

I have to agree. I think the story line is far from over. Wether it's continued in the online game, more animated shorts, another sequel or whatever, I think the matrix itself will inevitably destroyed/dismanteled.

Personally, I think it will continue in a sequel 5-10 years down the road. IMO I think Sati and the machines will come up with a way to cleanse the blackened sky and thus, balancing out the loss of power from the people who choose to be unplugged.

Nah the oracle lost her "shell" because of Merv! She wanted to save Sati and that's what it costed her.
And she never lead anyone astray, she merely "informs" them of certain choices they have to make, and she has never forced anyone to take a particular course of action. Its always like "its up to you if you want to make that choice.. etc".
Also, the matrix is destroyed if you think about it. Ok so what is the matrix? Its a system of control in place to make the humans unaware that the machines are using them as an energy source.
Now if you give people a choice whether they want to stay within or to live outside in the underworld, then it no longer becomes a "system of control" because they are *aware* of what is happening to them. Its more like doing them a favor by letting them live in blissful ignorance (just as Cypher wanted it). And that to me is not what the matrix is, instead it merely becomes a sort of virtual reality alternative for the humans.

The oracle was programed to lead all the ones into a trap, for the better of the matrix. So she couldn't necessarily be bad nor good. Both her a seraph "sensed" that Smith was coming in Reloaded at the park scene, and they didn't do or hint anything about it, just left Neo high and dry.

And just because humans have a choice, doesn't still mean anyone will choose to leave the matrix. How the heck are they going to know that there's this alternate true reality going on behind their backs?