Why did The Merovingian destroy The Oracle's shell?

Question

In the third movie, we can see that The Oracle looks completely different. Obviously, this is because the original actor died, but the Wachowski's worked that into the plot. Unfortunately, I haven't quite figured out what that plot is.

Obviously, The Merovingian is responsible for this act. I did some more Googling on the topic and came across a small transcript from the Enter the Matrix video game that indicated the destruction codes were traded to The Merovingian by Rama Kandra. Rama Kandra got to keep his daughter safe and The Oracle got Sati whom she believes is very important to the future of both The Machine and Humans. But this doesn't explain why The Merovingian wanted to hurt The Oracle in the first place. Some people have suggested that it's because she helped Neo and the others steal The Keymaker, but this makes no sense as the code was traded before The Keymaker was stolen.

Another thing that makes no sense is The Oracle's indication that the reason she lost her shell is because she made a choice to help Neo and the others. What choice did she make? It can't have anything to do with The Keymaker for the reasons I specified above. Is this a case of contradictory canon or is there a solid explanation?

Answer 1

Looking at the various wiki type articles about the Merovingian they all state, in various ways, that the Merovingian and the Oracle were at odds. From matrix.wkia.com

The Merovingian is a strong proponent that causality is the true nature of existence within the Matrix, not choice. As a result, his ideology directly conflicts with the efforts of the Oracle. In fact, the Merovingian's behavior strongly suggests that he despised the Oracle so much as to want her termination, suggesting that Trinity can bring him the "eyes of the Oracle" as ransom for Neo's release from Mobil Avenue.

On the other side The Oracle is a strong proponent of choice:

The bad news is there's no way if you can really know whether I'm here to help you or not, so it's really up to you. You just have to make up you on damned mind to either accept what I'm going to tell you, or reject it.

So it seems that their conflict stems from their opposed viewpoints. Now that might be a fairly weak motivation for humans, but for sapient programs, whose defining characteristics are their beliefs, it would be a much stronger motivation.

Answer 2

The Merovingian requests the eyes of the Oracle. It is her ability to see "the future". The Merovingian, according to the Oracle, simply wants more power, and since he describes himself as a trafficer of information who knows everything [he] can, he would simply gain more power if he got the eyes of the Oracle.

I think this is what he first wanted, and then Rama Kandra got it for him. But he didn't know, that it is unusable if it is taken by force. This is shown when he says in Revolutions that It is said they cannot be taken, they can only be given. In other words it is possible that he was after them in the first place but it didn't work out, so now he tries to trade them instead of taking them by force.

Answer 3

Both the Merovingian and the Oracle traffic in information, except that the Oracle knows the future while the Merovingian only knows information about the past and present. In other words, the Oracle is just like the Merovingian, only better. This fact, combined with other evidence listed in my answer to another question about the Merovingian, strongly suggests that the Oracle is the Merovingian's replacement. And given what the Oracle explained to us about the deletion and exile of programs, this means the Oracle rendered the Merovingian obsolete and is therefore responsible for his exile. Needless to say, the Merovingian has hated the Oracle for a long time, and well before he lost the Keymaker.

Thus, the Merovingian sought to delete the Oracle's shell, which presumably would have killed the Oracle or otherwise prevented her from carrying out her purpose had she not found an alternate shell. Not only would the Merovingian get revenge on the Oracle, but her deletion would mean that the Merovingian would no longer be obsolete (he would be the best trafficker of information remaining) and he could possibly return from exile. After this failed, the Merovingian attempted to deal with Trinity in Club Hel for the eyes of the Oracle. This would have accomplished the same thing: he would now be able to see into the future, and as a result he would replace the Oracle as she replaced him.

The specific choice that cost the Oracle was to consult with Rama Kandra, allowing him to make the deal with the Merovingian which would allow the Merovingian to delete the Oracle's shell. In Mobil Avenue, Rama Kandra tells Neo:

I consulted with [the Oracle] before I met with the Frenchman. She promised she would look after Sati after we said goodbye.

It's not immediately clear how this choice helped guide Neo, but it's part of her general opposition to the Merovingian (who in turn opposes Neo, the path of The One, etc.).

Answer 4

During Neo, Trinity and Morpheus' meeting with The Merovingian in 'Reloaded', he tells them that he's a trafficker of information. That's a very large and important tell. That being the case, he would want inside info about anything (especially about a rival) that he could use to his advantage at some later date. He also made it clear to them that he held the Oracle and them in contempt.

After they had freed the Keymaker and it became clear to The Merovingian that the Oracle had helped Neo and the gang accomplish this, he would obviously use any pre-acquired information to exact revenge on her for such presumption. But, as the Oracle told Neo; "We're all here to do what we're all here to do." That included The Merovingian. That was his role; to be the counterpoint to the Oracle.

Answer 5

The Merovingian collects eyes though. In Enter the Matrix, in the cells were people with their eyes missing. I don't understand that. There is probably some underlying relationship with him being an analog of Lucifer that has to do with his hunger for eyes.

I believe that the oracle lost her shell because she is watching over Sati. She needs to care for her until she is older. Sati is possibly the chosen one for an insane future. And for her to be able to watch her, she needs to be younger. I do believe that the actress that plays the second oracle is younger than the first.

Regardless, I'm glad they wrote the actor change into the movie rather than just leaving you to be confused like with aunt Vivian in fresh prince.

Answer 6

I wanted to add that the Oracle allowed herself to be assimilated by Smith to force Deux Machina to grant Neo's request for peace and an end to the assault on Zion.

The Architect could have just deleted the 6th Matrix removing the threat of the virus Smith but the assimilation of The Oracle program changed everything. Her assimilation by Smith meant future versions of The Matrix will end up failing like the first one.

It would have made the Merovingian happy if the 6th Version was just deleted with The Oracle program with it. It would have made him relevant again but due to his programs lack of comprehension with the idea of choice which lead to the catastrophic failure of the first his resurrection as a relevant program again was not a possibility.

Answer 7

I think something people are failing to include in this discussion that the Architect defines rather clearly the Oracle's origin. He refers to her as "an intuitive program, originally designed to investigate certain aspects of the human psyche." He refers to her as the mother of the current Matrix, in the sense that she was the other major player in the creation of the current Paradigm, however he says that she stumbled upon the solution. She also refers to the Merovingian as one of the oldest of us. I don't think the US in that sentence refers to all Machine intelligence, but rather exiles. If the Oracle therefore was an exile, who came to The Matrix rather than face deletion, and through her unique skill set stumbled upon something that was a game-changer in their ability to successfully operate that virtual reality, I think it unlikely that she was designed as a replacement for the Merovingian.

They certainly seem to have complementary skill sets. The Merovingian can extrapolate past and present into probability. If you look at the Oracle skill-set though, she seems to have great insight into how the probability turns into actuality. Therefore while the Merovingian might be very clear on what potential Futures could be probably in a more comprehensive sence then her, she certainly has a skill that he lacks in being able to Define that exactly.

Given the arrogance of the Merovingian, I think it's safe to assume that he would probably prefer no one to have a skill that he didn't already have, certainly not in his own area of expertise, which gave him plenty of reason to attempt to destroy her over her helping with the key maker. That being said, he was willing to achieve those ends of obtaining her skill through bargaining after having exacted what he felt to be appropriate Justice and adequate warning.