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Following the question Did Agent Smith absorb The Merovingian and/or The Twins? I came here. I always wanted to ask: did Smith "absorb" (for the lack of better word) the Architect?

it is extremely hard to get in contact with the Architect. Supposedly, only the One is able to do it, at least when the Architect plays 'passive'. On the other hand, the Architect can be seen talking to the Oracle after 'word's end' in the "outside".

Did the Architect survive Smith's takeover attempt in his hideout, or was he absorbed, too?

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    As I said in the other question, it's not covered in the films so any answer is speculative at best – user14002 Jun 10 '13 at 15:58
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    @APaleShadow i'll look through the stuff I have about the matrix online. it's the main source of post-trilogy canon. Initial feelings is that of course not! Remember that the architect's room wasn't even IN the matrix. to get there, neo had to go through the maintenance hallways, a completely separate system all together. There was one door that linked the matrix to the architect's room, and it was in a building that exploded half a second after the door was opened. Neo left the building as it blew, thus the door was gone until the architect re-wrote it. – acolyte Jun 11 '13 at 21:01
  • @acolyte sounds great! aside may I ask, are there MxO resources available somewhere publicly, other than the official history/memorial pdfs? – n611x007 Jun 12 '13 at 21:07
  • @naxa the matrix wiki had a lot of stuff relating to canon materials post-trilogy (animatrix icluded). the site i remember using has shut down, so my bookmark doesn't work. i'll need to check the wiki. – acolyte Jun 13 '13 at 13:07
  • @acolyte thanks! For historical merit and curiosity, may I ask what is your bookmark that was shut down? – n611x007 Jun 13 '13 at 14:07
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I believe the door to the Architect could only be opened at a specific time and could only be opened by the one. Unless there was another path to the Architect, I don't believe Smith copied himself onto him.

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    Obviously the Architect was contractually obligated to appear in a certain number of KFC commercials, meaning that Smith could have attacked him going to or from these productions. – John O Jun 11 '13 at 13:41
  • upvote for that comment...dear lord. – acolyte Jun 11 '13 at 20:58
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    Plus the door blew up. – Cees Timmerman Jun 24 '15 at 9:05
  • @JohnO brilliant! Cracked me up! :D – Cake_Badger Oct 6 '16 at 16:25
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The Architect would never let Smith absorb him. He was too well protected. The only reason Smith was able to absorb The Oracle was because she literally did nothing to protect herself even when she had already seen the future. i.e. she deliberately let Smith absorb her. But if that was excluded, I don't see how Smith could have even got his hands on any of the founding programs. So, No. Smith couldn't have absorbed the Architect.

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After watching the series over again, I came to conclusion that Smith probably could have assimilated the architect but couldn't.

Can Smith assimilate the Architect?

Architect is definitely well protected, probably via a strong firewall. Smith.exe, however, managed to infiltrate to the floor that supposedly can only be reached by the guidance of the keymaker. How he reached can be only speculated, however, assuming that he assimilatied other programs, probably created by the keymaker to guard the architect is a solid assumption. Had Smith.exe assimilated keymaker, he would also obtain his access privileges, so that he would exactly what is necessary to reach that level. This might be why agents prioritize the exile.

It is stated by the keymaker that only the one can access the architect. Here, we can speculate that since some code fragmentation of Neo is copied smith, he might access him and assimilate him.

Did Smith assimilate the Architect?

It is a recurring theme that when smith.exe assimilates a program, he also obtains his privileges. Therefore, assimilating a normal human offers him little advantage while assimilating another agents gives him much more power. That's why smith.exe used Oracle to fight Neo. Oracle, a powerful program that has many capabilities, including accessing to large variety of variables and using them to guess a future state of the matrix is indeed has the highest privileges and capabilities.

Had smith.exe assimilated the Architect, he would definitely used him. Architect, although lacks the intuitive capabilities of the Oracle, has actually designed the matrix and have control over every detail of it. For example, he has full access of Neo's emotions. It is unclear whether Oracle has this access.

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