Agent Smith och Neo är polära motsatser till varandra. Smith representerar oundviklighet, enhetlighet, öde. Neo representerar fri vilja, individualitet, val. Det enkla svaret är: de avbryter varandra.
I Reloaded, monologer Smith om sin uppståndelse, säger Neo att han visste att han skulle dö, men kände sig tvungen att inte.
Smith: Surprised to see me?
Neo: No.
Smith: Then you're aware of it.
Neo: Of what?
Smith: Our connection. I don't fully understand how it happened. Perhaps some part of you imprinted onto me, something overwritten or copied. That is at this point irrelevant, what matters is that whatever happened, happened for a reason.
Neo: And what reason is that?
Smith: I killed you, Mister Anderson, I watched you die... With a certain satisfaction, I might add, and then something happened. Something that I knew was impossible, but it happened anyway. You destroyed me, Mister Anderson. Afterward, I knew the rules, I understood what I was supposed to do but I didn't. I couldn't. I was compelled to stay, compelled to disobey. And now here I stand because of you, Mister Anderson, because of you I'm no longer an agent of the system, because of you I've changed - I'm unplugged - a new man, so to speak, like you, apparently free.
Neo: Congratulations.
Han pekar över detaljerna, men slutsatsen är densamma. Smith finns nu bara av en anledning: att besegra Neo. Bokstavligen och ideologiskt.
Smith: Thank you. But as you well know, appearances can be deceiving, which brings me back to the reason why we're here. We're not here because we're free, we're here because we're not free. There's no escaping reason, no denying purpose - because as we both know, without purpose, we would not exist.
Smith 2: It is purpose that created us,
Smith 3: Purpose that connects us,
Smith 4: Purpose that pulls us,
Smith 5: That guides us,
Smith 6: That drives us,
Smith 7: It is purpose that defines,
Smith 8: Purpose that binds us.
Smith: We're here because of you, Mister Anderson, we're here to take from you what you tried to take from us. Purpose.
Han expanderar på detta i den tredje filmen, i den slutliga kampen.
Smith: Can you feel it Mr. Anderson? I'm closing in on you. Oh, I can. I really should thank you for it... After all it was your life that taught me the purpose of all life. The purpose of life is to end.
Samtidigt assimilerar han alla invånarna i matrisen och lägger till sina synpunkter och förmågor för sig själv. Han absorberar Oracle, så att han kan förutse framtiden. Han absorberar och skriver över Bane, så att han kan gå i den verkliga världen.
Men Smith är inte riktigt en levande person. Han är ett virus. Hans ideologi är att förstöra, att anta det oundvikliga. Det är bokstavligen omöjligt för honom att förstå ideerna om hopp, val eller fri vilja. Allt den En förkroppsligar.
Smith: Why, Mr. Anderson, why? Why? Why do you do it? Why? Why get up? Why keep fighting? Do you believe you're fighting for something, for more than your survival? Can you tell me what it is? Do you even know? Is it freedom, or truth, perhaps peace? Could it be for love? Illusions, Mr. Anderson, vagaries of perception, temporary constructs of a feeble human intellect trying desperately to justify an existence that is without meaning or purpose. And all of them as artificial as the Matrix itself. Although... Only a human mind can invent something as insipid as love. You must be able to see it, Mr. Anderson, you must know it by now. You can't win, it is pointless to keep fighting. Why, Mr. Anderson, why, why you persist?
Neo: Because I choose to.
När Neo tillåter Smith att assimilera honom, kan de två kontrasterande ideologierna inte samexistera i en enhet. Smith-viruset bryts ner och rensas från matrisen.