:: DATA FILE ::
NAME: Cypher
SEX: Male
EYE COLOUR: Hazel
HAIR COLOUR: Brown
:: DETAILS ::
Cypher is a lost cause. He was unplugged nine years ago, and he has regretted taking the red pill ever since. He is the all-too-familiar type who just wants to be comfortable in life, who does not care to know what reality is if it does not include plush surroundings with a Jacuzzi thrown in as an extra.
He was once in love with Trinity (which may explain why he held out as long as he did), but that changed for reasons unknown. Nevertheless, he's jealous of Neo and even though he never says it, he resents the newcomer. At the same time, he sympathizes, because he knows how Neo feels, thrown into completely unfamiliar surroundings, told that everything he knew up to that point didn't really exist.
Another angle worth exploring is that the original script hints at other potential Ones, who died as a result of Morpheus' extracting them from The Matrix. This is exemplified in one of the first statements Cypher utters in the movie - 'We're gonna kill him. Do you understand that?' Most agree that this statement doesn't refer to the fact that the Nebuchadnezzar crew is going to cold-bloodedly murder Neo, but rather to the fact that he will die because he will believe himself to be The One, mistakenly.
Another question repeatedly raised in Matrix discussion is whether Cypher was right in doing what he did, individually. Cypher raged at Morpheus for having 'tricked' him - his argument is that he did not know what the red pill was going to bring him, and that Morpheus should have been straight up with those freed from the Matrix about what awaited them on the other side. I can definitely identify with that, if anything. Freedom entails the ability to choose - but what good is choice if it is uninformed? If you do not know the consequences of a choice you are about to make, while someone else knows these consequences and denies you that information [whether by deliberately withholding it or by explicitly denying it], then you did not have complete freedom in making that choice. Someone constrained your cirumstances by denying information that would make or break your decision, and they thus inhibited your freedom.
These points are logical, but I believe that there is a degree of individual freedom which involves the ability to take a leap of faith and make a decision based on a 'gut' feeling. It so often that we make choices that seem apparently detrimental to our existence, yet they turn out to be good for us in the end.
An example of that would be our choice to obey parental guidance. No matter what some people may tell you, it is your choice whether to listen to your parents or not. If you do, the benefits are obvious - you won't get into trouble, you'll receive greater leniency as you get older. If you don't, your home will become a war zone of sorts with a fight over every little thing. This second choice seems, by definition, completely self-defeating - yet many people choose to disobey their parents. They do this for a variety of reasons, few of which are truly logical. However, just because a decision is not based in stone-cold logic does not make it a bad decision - consider when a child goes against their parents' wishes and becomes an artist rather than a doctor. Ultimately, choosing your own profession will result in leading a more fulfilling lifestyle than if you were slaving away in a profession you had no control over. Thus a counter-intuitive decision to disobey one's parents can make for a better individual situation.
The bottom line is, it's really us making the decisions that we make. The fact that we don't always have all the information we need to make the choices we do doesn't matter - that is just life. We'll never have all the answers, and we'll always have to rely on some degree of 'gut feeling' to decide whether to take the red pill or the blue pill - we can't go around blaming those who present us with choices for our own choices gone bad.
It wouldn't be fair to label Cypher as the ultimate bad guy - he had a struggle with himself, and he lost. If that is possible. There is a plethora of sites, bulletin board and newsgroup postings out there comparing Cypher to Judas. I tend to disagree with that comparison. I mean, Cypher didn't KISS anyone, there was no actual money involved (and the number 30 didn't turn up), and Cypher didn't betray Neo (who many claim is a messiah figure - a parallel to Jesus Christ), but Morpheus (who is compared to John the Baptist).
Well sure, he betrayed them all by collaborating with the agents, but the differences from the Bible are principal. Especially seeing that Cypher did not kill himself. You could argue that metaphorically he did, by choosing a lie over life in the real world, or by betraying his crew members (he asked for retribution), but all that sounds a bit too forced to me.
