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In The Matrix franchise, Morpheus describes people who can later be freed from the Matrix as unconsciously feeling there's something wrong with the Matrix. In context, he's describing Neo's feelings to Neo, with the implication that this is how Morpheus (and other now-freed people) felt while still in the Matrix. I'm curious about the limitations of this specialness.

Are these people who reject the Matrix immune to becoming Agents? We know that Neo would not be taken over by an Agent due to him being The One, but is this a danger free humans face when freeing other people?

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  • I'm not sure not being taken over has anything to do with him being 'The One'. Even after his battle with Smith he still considers himself 'Just another guy'. Or if you mean the convoluted prophecy-machine relationship I just don't buy that so easily as a reason for immunity.
    – n611x007
    May 27, 2014 at 12:29

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The short answer is no, the people you've described as "future-freed" most certainly are not immune from being taken over by Agents. It's only people who are accessing the Matrix wirelessly (e.g. by broadcasting a hacked signal into the Matrix) that cannot be taken over.

Morpheus makes this abundantly clear in the first Matrix film;

"Sentient programs...can move in and out of any software still hard wired to their system. That means that anyone we haven't unplugged is potentially an agent."

The April 1996 Draft of the Matrix script indicates that Trinity certainly considers Neo to be a threat.

She tears off a long strip of black duct-tape and reaches for his face.

NEO : What are you doing?

TRINITY : This has to be done for your protection and ours.

She seals his eyes shut with the tape.

TRINITY : You can't understand right now, but if you're not one of us, you're one of them.

And we also see a possible "future-freed person" named Ash in the Animatrix short 'A Detective Story'. Trinity certainly seems to think that he certainly has the right mental state to have been freed (e.g. without suffering fatal psychological trauma) yet before this can occur, he is overtaken by an Agent.

As Naxa mentions in his comment below, Ash seems to resist being taken over for a few seconds, long enough for Trinity to shoot him. This slight resistance is obviously a long way from actual immunity.

"Trinity: There's a difference between a test and a choice. [She sighs] For what it's worth, I think you could've handled the truth."

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  • (talky) You could say they are somehow resistant. Ash definitely did better than ordinary humans. Trinity describes him as capable but someone who had choose differently. Ash describes himself old-fashioned.
    – n611x007
    May 27, 2014 at 12:31
  • @naxa - I'll agree with that. He seems to resist the agent for a few seconds, certainly far longer than any of the other takeovers we see...
    – Valorum
    May 27, 2014 at 12:40
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In addition to the answer above, this is also explained by when Neo is on the way to visit Morpheus, Switch puts a gun to his head in the car. When asked why, they say it is for their protection, from Neo.

That is because Neo could have turned into an Agent while riding in the car, and they had to be ready.

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