Thomas A. Anderson

Thomas A. Anderson made a living as a white-collar worker for MetaCortex, a software company. Using his skills as a computer programmer, Anderson sold illegal software to hackers and other computer criminals. When engaging in these secret activities, he would go by the hacker alias, "Neo."

Encounter with Morpheus
Somewhere during this time, Anderson became subconsciously aware that there was something wrong about the world around him. He couldn’t put his finger on it, but he knew something was different, out of balance. For an unknown reason, he began to search for a man named Morpheus, cited by some as one of the most dangerous men alive.



One night, while waiting for a client to pick up contraband software, Anderson engaged in an extensive online and periodical search for Morpheus. A message interrupted the search stating, “THE MATRIX HAS YOU” and “FOLLOW THE WHITE RABBIT”. Making no sense of the message at first, Anderson tried to restore his computer to its normal operating mode. A final message read: "KNOCK KNOCK NEO". His client, Choi, and his girlfriend, Dujour, arrived two hours late. Anderson makes the transaction, taking two discs containing unrevealed programming from his secret stash, a hollowed-out copy of Simulacra and Simulation. Apparently looking tired and lonely, Choi invites Neo along for a night of partying at a nearby club. Neo refuses initially--until he spots the tattoo of a white rabbit Dujour, as hinted by the message on his computer. Anderson decides to tag along.

At the club, Neo meets the mysterious message sender. She introduces herself as Trinity, a name that Anderson recognizes as a famous hacker that cracked the IRS D-base long ago. She confirms his suspicions about the world, adding more clues and confusion to his search for the truth.

Anderson awoke the next day late for work. While in his office, a FedEx employee delivered a package in his name: a cellular phone. The phone immediately rang. Answering it, Anderson finds himself speaking to Morpheus himself. Without much formal introduction, Morpheus warns Anderson that the authorities were coming to arrest him, and offered his help to get him out of the building. Anderson follows his advice and makes it out of the building without being seen. However, his is about ten stories off of the ground. Fearing for his life, Anderson turns himself in.

Meeting with Morpheus
After an interrogation (and implantation of a bug within his body) by Agents Smith, Brown, and Jones, Anderson is again contacted by Morpheus, who asks if he would still like to meet him in person. Waiting under the Adam Street Bridge, Anderson is picked up by Trinity, Apoc, and Switch. Along the way to the Lafayette Hotel, they remove the agents' bug from his belly. Anderson meets Morpheus in person for the first time. Morpheus describes to Anderson an entity known as the Matrix, depicting it as a prison for the mind. He offers Anderson the chance to be shown the Matrix, and offers him two pills: one red and one blue. Taking the red pill, Morpheus explains that the pill is designed to trace the location of his body and disrupt his carrier signal. The mysterious leader leads him to a room filled with electronic equipment. Neo is strapped into his seat while Apoc and a voice on the phone that Morpheus calls Tank perform their work.

Neo observes a nearby cracked mirror that suddenly repairs itself. Touching the mirror, he finds that the metal has liquified and sticks to his fingers. The mirror gel begins to flow over Neo's fingers, hand, and arm, causing him to panic. Morpheus' team completes their work just before Anderson's vital signs go into arrest.

Rebirth
Anderson finds himself inside a mysterious pod. Sitting up, he panics as he finds tubes inundating and penetrating his body. He manages to remove the mouthpiece and looks around with dull blurry eyes to see a horrific sight: there are thousands of other pods like the one he sat in, each with a human, each covered with tubes and apparently asleep, in tall towers. A mysterious robot descends upon Anderson, disconnecting the wires attached to his body and dumping him into the sewers below. Trying his hardest to swim, his muscles tire, making no difference in his struggle to stay afloat. Before he drowns, Neo is rescued form the sewer system by a mysterious craft. Aboard the ship, he sees Morpheus and others behind him. Before he blacks out, Morpheus tells him “Welcome to the real world”.

Anderson is placed in intensive care as his body deals with true movement and motor functions for the first time.

Appearances

 * The Matrix
 * The Matrix: Path of Neo