Black cat in Hotel Lafayette.
The black cat was a cat program in the sixth and seventh iterations of the Matrix. A black cat was noticed by Neo as an example of déjà vu in the Matrix during the Hotel Ambush. One also woke Sati after the reload. It is not clear whether the same program controlled one or many cats, and whether the cats mentioned were the same or different entities.
Instances
Hotel Ambush
The Matrix - Deja vu
After meeting with The Oracle, Neo and the rest of the crew were headed towards an exit located at Hotel Lafayette. But since Cypher had earlier betrayed their movements to the Agents, the enemy already knew where they were going to be and were waiting in ambush.
The black cat was then first seen before the hotel ambush. While the crew were heading up the hotel staircase, the cat walked pass one of the stairwell entrances. Neo paused and noticed the cat as it momentarily shivered mid-crossing. As Neo turned to continue up however, the Agents changed the code of the hotel to brick up and seal its external doors and windows in an attempt to trap the crew inside the hotel. This caused the building to reload within the Matrix, causing the cat to re-spawn at its earlier position just before the reload.
When Neo looked back at the doorway once more, he again noticed the same black cat crossing to the other side and shivering midway, in the exact same manner he had just observed moments before. Neo muttered an audible, "déjà vu" in light of the phenomena. The rest of the crew then froze upon hearing the words, realizing its implications, and were suddenly alert to the probability that the Agents already knew where they were and had just made a change in the Matrix.
Reload
In the wake of the final battle between Neo and Smith, Mega City ended up being badly damaged while the programs and bluepills that Smith had previously replicated himself into had returned to their original shells. In one of the damaged streets, a black cat could be seen walking in the rain before the Matrix was reloaded. As a result, the rain stopped and the city was rebuilt. The cat momentarily disappeared and then reappeared before continuing to run over to the unconscious Sati who was lying on the ground. The cat licked her face, waking her. When Sati greeted the cat as she begins to stand, it then ran off.
Interpretation
- A black cat crossing your path is considered bad luck in western folk-lore.
- The Matrix' shooting script describes it as "a black cat, a yellow-green-eyed shadow that slinks past them and pads quickly down the stairs."