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The Matrix: Where is the Machine City Located?
Much of The Matrix series takes place within the titular computer program, but its machine architects actually live in the Machine City, which is situated somewhere in the physical world. When Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne) first proclaims Neo (Keanu Reeves) to be the One, the machines are positioned as the primary antagonists of the films. But following his encounter with Neo in the first film, Agent Smith (Hugo Weaving) becomes something akin to a sentient computer virus whose destructive capabilities represent a threat to humanity and the machines alike.
In The Matrix Revolutions, Neo follows the cryptic advice of the Oracle and ventures to the Machine City. There he finds an audience with the Deus Ex Machina, a powerful entity that serves as the machines' leader and pseudo-deity. Despite representing the two sides of the Machine War, they both agree that cooperation is needed to defeat Smith, which Neo eventually manages to do, saving both the real and virtual worlds.
What is called the Machine City by the remaining humans is more properly named 01, or Zero-One. Located in or near the Fertile Crescent region of the Middle East, the technological metropolis is the central home of the planet's agglomerated artificial intelligence. The location in the Fertile Crescent is significant because, in the same way that the area (and Mesopotamia in particular) is known as the "cradle of civilization" for humanity, so too did it serve as the birthplace of machine culture. This parallel, although barely touched upon in the films, serves to link the oppressive actions of the machines to the influence of humanity.
But the Machine City did not begin with belligerent intentions. As shown in a segment of The Animatrix, the Machines initially wanted to be recognized as an equal partner of humanity, with 01 operating as their capital. Humanity was weary of the the machines' economic influence, however, and violently rebuffed the new nation with nuclear attacks, beginning the Machine War, which the humans would ultimately lose miserably, owing to both their own self-destructive tendencies and the Machines' vastly superior resources.
Because its sovereignty was established on the eve of the war, Machine City still exists on the Earth's surface during the time of The Matrix films. Zion, on the other hand, was contrived by the machines after the war and was constructed below ground, in accordance with the severe environmental damage that resulted from the conflict. At first glance, this positions the last vestiges of humanity as the underdogs, contrasted with the nascent, still-thriving artificial intelligence. But when considering the events that led to the situation, one could see the machines and 01 as being comparatively both more resilient and more resourceful, even going so far as to create the messianic prophecy of the One, which leads Neo to embrace his role as the films' protagonist.
The Matrix 4 (2022)
Release Date: Apr 01, 2022
