Matrix Wiki:Manual of Style

The following are a few style guidelines for articles here in the Matrix Wiki, and should be followed unless there is good reason to ignore them.

These aren't set in stone however, and while this page is protected against vandalism, use the talk page to discuss any point you would like to see added, removed or changed.

In general we try to follow the style of other similar wikis and Wikipedia, but there are some specific points that need clarifying:

Reality

“

What is Real? How do you define Real?

”

― Morpheus^[src]

In-universe articles (that is, all articles other than those tagged in Category:Real-world articles) should be written from the point of view of the Matrix universe as if it is real, and not alluding to real-life things like actors or the films that characters are in.

Specific sections are an exception (e.g. Trivia and Appearances, including those in infoboxes), which are the only places such things are to be kept; the rest of the article should be written without reference to our world.

History

Articles should be written as if we are documenting the history of the Matrix universe, like most other fan wikis do for theirs. This means that everything is written in the past tense. For example, instead of writing "Character X is a Zion operative", write "Character X was a Zion operative", and continue to write their history in the past tense.

The exception to this is for plot summaries, which should be written in the present tense, following the action of the story. These sections are only relevant in the real-world articles on the films, Animatrix, comics and games.

Past tense should also be used on real-world articles (such as the films of the Matrix series), whose real-world history we are also recording.

"The" capitals

“

Man, what a bunch of egomaniacs

”

― Bluepill^[src]

As many things in the Matrix series have names prefixed by the word "The", a standard is needed for whether or not to include this word when referring to them, and when relevant, whether to capitalise the spelling or not.

When unique characters have it in their name (such as The Oracle, The Architect etc.) should have "The" with an initial capital, as it is part of their name, not simply a "definite article" before their job description.

Places, however, should be lower case (unless it starts a sentence of course), following "the Matrix" which is used to help distinguish it from the first film: "The Matrix".

Italics vs. quotation marks

Titles of works in the Matrix series should either be in italics or have "quotation marks" surrounding them.

As there are are only a few works in the series, it is best to follow the Wikipedia distinction between a major and minor work for these articles, and use italics for the title of all the works, with quotation marks for the names of scenes, chapters etc.

Other media, either real-world or mentioned in-universe, should follow the Wikipedia style. The following are examples:

• Canon
  • Films titles should be in italics (The Matrix, The Matrix Reloaded, The Matrix Revolutions)
    • Film scenes should be in quotation marks ("Trinity in a jam", "The Architect" etc.)
  • The three major games should also be in italics (Enter the Matrix, The Matrix: Path of Neo, The Matrix Online)
    • Game levels should be in quotation marks ("Closing Time", "Distorted Dimension" etc.)
  • The Animatrix as a series should be in italics
    • So should each of its short films (Final Flight of the Osiris, The Second Renaissance etc.)
  • The Matrix Comics, each of the published volumes (The Matrix Comics Volume 1, The Matrix Comics Volume 2), and each individual short story and comics should be in italics too (e.g. Goliath, Get It?)
• In-universe media should be treated either as a major work in italics (books, films, music albums etc.) or minor works (short stories, short films, music tracks etc.)
  • E.g. Simulacra and Simulation, "Dissolved Girl"
• Real world media other than The Matrix franchise canon, should also follow the Wikipedia style.
  • E.g. Exegesis of the Matrix, "Matrix Butterfly"

Titles

Normally, article names avoid characters' in-universe titles (e.g. Jason Lock rather than Commander Lock, Mifune not Captain Mifune); this is a pretty standard procedure in wikis, however there are some examples that make this a bit more difficult:

• Councillor Grace vs. Grace
• Agent Ash vs. Ash
• Agent Bird vs. Bird (as in, the animal...)

In such cases, disambiguation may be needed by including the character's title when they are first mentioned. The rest of the article may then assume that the disambiguation was made clear and should proceed as is normally written unless the article has need to keep enforcing the disambiguation.

In other cases, the titles seem pretty integral to their names:

• Mr. Black
• Dame White (also, Agent White exists)
• MtrWhite
• Madame T (note that this is an alias, like Trinity, Neo or Morpheus)
• Mister G, Mister P & Mister Y from An Easy One (also aliases)
• Master Sting
• Mr. Po
• Mr. Bishop
• Capt. Falco
• Captain Sinclair
• Father Mike
• Father Jonas
• SaintDaniel (another clear alias)
• Sister Margaret
• The Colonel / Torres
• Baron Montesquiou

Abbreviations

Abbreviations should follow in-universe usage to help readers who are more familiar with how the terms are used within the films. To further help readers, the first occurrence of an abbreviation may be expanded.

Initials

• Gerrard E. Krause (in-universe)
• Nicky G. (in-universe)
• Dane A. Davis (same person as Dane Davis?)
• Kevin E. Carpenter (same person as Kevin Carpenter?)
• David E. Campbell (same person as David Campbell?)

Nicknames

If redpills are known by their hacker aliases rather than their bluepill names (it would be a bit weird if we described the plot of the Matrix films referring to Neo as "Thomas A. Anderson" throughout), how about bluepills with nicknames?

• Peter Williford/Pete
• Jimmy Scarvone/Fingers

Also

• Sammy "Lilac" Wien/Sammy Wien/Lilac (an Exile)
• Belinda "Bling Bling" Bernelli
• Hardhat McCoy
• Stephen Rollins/Rollins (Resistance operative known by his surname)
• Jason Lock/Deadbolt
• The Merovingian/The Frenchman
• Seraph/Wingless

Companies

Should company suffixes be included, avoided, or follow common use (/common sense)?

• Markov Corp

Unnamed

Characters with no names should their names as credited in the films and other sources.

EngVarMatrix

The American spelling of words should be used except for the following, which seems to be consistently used in the franchise:

• Councillor
• Theater
• Dialog