“ If we fail, Neo fails, and that cannot happen at any cost.
”― Niobe[src]
Niobe is a member of the Resistance and the captain of both the Logos and the Logos II. She served on the Logos with her first mate Ghost and operator Sparks.
Niobe serves as one of the two protagonists of Enter the Matrix with Ghost and a supporting character in Reloaded, Revolutions and Resurrections.
Biography[]
Early Life[]
Niobe was once romantically involved with Morpheus, but after he visited the Oracle and dedicated his life to finding the One, they drifted apart. After breaking up with Morpheus, Niobe eventually became involved with Jason Lock. However, she is still in love with Morpheus[2]. During her time with the Resistance, she successfully piloted a hovercraft through mechanical lines (extremely narrow tunnels used by the Machines in the Real World), something that no other member of the Resistance has been able to do[3].
Last Transmission of the Osiris[]
After finding out that Thadeus left a box within the Matrix before his ship crashed, Niobe decides that they should jack in and go retrieve it. While both Ghost and Sparks have reservations about this plan, Niobe believes that the contents of that box are extremely important given the fact that Thadeus has never used the method before, a risky emergency broadcast drop. The box is located within a heavily guarded post office but they are able to get it. After they retrieve the package, Niobe drives with Ghost to an exit located on the rooftop of a building. On their way to the exit they encounter Agent Johnson blocking the telephone. After narrowly avoiding Agent Johnson, they manage to exit the Matrix.
The disk, held within the box, contained the last transmission of the Osiris before it was destroyed and its crew killed. Thadeus explained that they ran into an army of Sentinels just above Zion, tunneling to the city with Diggers. Niobe orders that the data be transmitted to Zion. After Commander Lock views the data, he contacts the Logos and orders that Niobe lead a full recall of all the ships, returning them to Zion.
Saving Axel[]
Due to the number of outcalls being made to all of the captains, Niobe suggests that they use the airport telephones within the Matrix so that the Machines cannot trace them. As they continue calling all of the captains, Niobe contacts the Vigilant and gets an immediate response from Jax, the ship's operator. Warning him about having to talk, Jax informs her that Axel has been captured by Agents. He also reveals that Captain Soren and the rest of his crew went to find him but were cornered by Agents attempting to do so. Meanwhile, the other Agents are moving Axel to the tarmac and fear that, in the eventuality that the plane takes off, Jax will have to kill Axel. Niobe orders Ghost to help Soren with the Agents while she tries to find Axel.
Sparks calls Niobe to tell her that Axel is being taken to the hangar by the Remote Terminal. When Niobe is in the tunnels of the airport, she encounters Agent Jackson and successfully evades his pursuit. She continues to the hangar where she encounters S.W.A.T. guarding the plane. Niobe dispatches the S.W.A.T. and gives chase to the jet already moving out of the hangar.
She is unsuccessful in her attempt to catch the jet and heads back in the tunnel to try and intercept it. Niobe calls Ghost and tells him to shoot out the tires of the plane to buy her some time. While Ghost manages to shoot out the tires and stop the plane, Axel is already being moved to a police car and is driven away to another hangar before Niobe can catch them.
She pursues them in another car, arrives at the hangar, and knocks out the S.W.A.T. at the door. However, even more S.W.A.T. are guarding Axel as he is being carried along and she engages them in a firefight. Unfortunately, she is again late to catch the next plane Axel is on and tries to catch up with him in another car. Meanwhile, Axel is being injected with some sort of drug on the plane. As Niobe drives toward the plane, Agent Johnson opens the hangar and tries to shoot her. She is able to drive on the ramp and into the plane, ramming the Agent into a wall. The large crate that falls on top of the Agent kills him. Before the car is thrown from the plane due to its momentum, she busts out the front mirror and latches onto the door of the hangar just before the car plummets to the ground below.
Before she helps Axel, Niobe goes into the front of the plane to retrieve some parachutes. After freeing Axel and putting his parachute on, Agent Johnson throws Niobe to the wall before she could put her own on and tries to close the hangar doors. Before they shut completely, Axel manages to escape. Niobe reopens the hangar doors and leads the Agent toward the edge, finally knocking Agent Johnson off of it. While parachuting down, Niobe calls Ghost to come pick her up when she lands. With no pilot, the plane crashes below her in the city.
Axel is in the backseat of the car that Ghost obtained and the three of them drive to an exit. Before leaving the Matrix, Axel thanks them and promises to inform Soren that the meeting will be held at midnight. Just after Ghost leaves, the Trainman appears and tells Niobe that Zion lasted 72 hours the last time it was attacked.
Full Recall[]
Niobe and Ghost arrive at the Crisis Meeting where Soren
thanks them for their help earlier. All of the representatives of the various ships are present with the exception of the Nebuchadnezzar, which is late. With very little time, Niobe informs them that the Machines are digging toward Zion with an army of Sentinels. After Morpheus arrives, she tells them of the plan to return to Zion. Morpheus asks for a volunteer from one of the captains to remain at broadcast depth to await contact from the Oracle. Ballard, captain of the Caduceus, agrees to stay behind. Corrupt and Wurm warns them that Agents are here and Niobe orders everyone to leave the Matrix.
Along the sewers, both Niobe and Ghost assist fellow Resistance members such as Ice, Corrupt, Malachi, and Bane. Eventually, Niobe and Ghost are chased through the sewers by Agent Jackson, who forces them into a seemingly dead end. Before they open fire on the Agent, the Keymaker appears at a then-locked door at the end of the corridor and leads them through to the backdoors of the Matrix.
The Keymaker explains to them that he has been held against his will by the Merovingian and asks both Niobe and Ghost to bring a key to the One. At that moment, Cain and Abel appear. They say that they left the Keymaker's door unlocked in order to get the key that he just revealed to Niobe and Ghost. After they leave through the door, the Keymaker pleads for Niobe and Ghost to retrieve the key before it is too late.
Retrieving the Key[]
When they enter the Chateau, Niobe and Ghost split up to search for the key; Ghost goes to the roof while Niobe searches the main part of the building. Niobe is eventually knocked out and captured by Vlad, who takes her to an attic. When she regains consciousness, she breaks free of her restraints and picks up a wooden stake, which she uses to stab Vamp programs in the heart. She ends up facing Vlad but is not able to kill him before he flees.
The Keymaker comes to the attic and leads Niobe through a doorway behind a bookshelf to continue her mission of finding the key. She faces more Vamps as she moves through the Chateau and eventually confronts Vlad a second time in Persephone's bedroom. Niobe is able to drive the wooden stake through his heart, killing him.
The Keymaker is eventually caught by the Merovingian and reimprisoned. Not wanting to face the possibility that the Merovingian would find out about the key and discover that they let the Keymaker's door unlocked on purpose, Abel tells the Merovingian about the key, which is returned to the Keymaker.
Niobe and Ghost meet the Keymaker again in his dungeon and he gives them a key that will get them out of the Chateau. The key leads them into a garage where the Twins are waiting for them. Niobe and Ghost get into a car and drive off with the Twins close behind them. Sparks assists them in finding a path away from the Twins and toward and exit. Both Niobe and Ghost are able to jack out of the Matrix.
Jason Lock[]
The Logos returns to Zion with most of the ships in the Dock excluding the Caduceus and the Nebuchadnezzar. Just after Niobe enters her quarters, Jason Lock knocks on her door. After he enters, he questions Niobe on why she allowed Morpheus to ask for volunteers stay behind. When she answers that there was nothing she could do to stop him, he reveals that the true reason why he's there is to ask for advice concerning the behavior of Morpheus.
Jason wonders if Morpheus is disobeying his orders because he is jealous of the relationship that he and Niobe now have. Niobe informs him that Morpheus is honest about his belief in the Prophecy and that his actions are a reflection of that. When Lock considers putting Morpheus in the stockade, Niobe says that Morpheus has a positive effect on the citizens of Zion, an effect that she believes they need right now considering the recent news of the Machine army. Lock thanks Niobe and they agree to meet after the gathering later that night.
During the gathering, Mopheus meets with Niobe after he makes his speech to the citizens of Zion. Niobe says that Morpheus used to be a good dancer, to which Morpheus suggests that he still is. Their conversation is cut short when Lock appears, making Niobe and Morpheus part ways. Later, Lock informs Niobe of a plan to attack the Machines using all of the ships EMPs, with the exception of the Logos. He convinced the Council that the ship was too small to have any sort of meaningful impact on the Machines. Frustrated by this, Niobe is embraced by Lock, who tells her that he did it out of love for her.
At the Council meeting concerning the Machine army headed for Zion, the Council asks for two volunteers to help find the Nebuchadnezzar. Both Captain Soren and, to Lock's consternation, Captain Niobe volunteer. Lock questions her after the meeting, but she is firm in her decision. On the Logos, both Ghost and Sparks are skeptical of her decision as well, but follow her orders and jack into the Matrix.
Contacting the Nebuchadnezzar[]
In the Matrix, Niobe contacts Link and informs them that they need to be brought back to Zion. Link says that Morpheus is in trouble on the freeway. They head there, eventually being chased by both police and Agents Jackson and Thompson for a period of time. They arrive at the semi Morpheus is on just in time to catch him on the hood of the car as he falls from the truck.
They move him toward the front of the semi so that Morpheus can have a clear shot at Agent Johnson. He jumps from the car, killing the Agent and saving the Keymaker. Niobe and Ghost are rammed by the semi, now controlled by Agent Johnson, and swerve off of the road in time to avoid the collision of that truck and another semi, now driven by Agent Thompson. Neo flies in and rescues both Morpheus and the Keymaker from the large explosion that followed.
Sparks informs them that Morpheus needs the help of the Logos after Niobe and Ghost jack out. While Sparks thinks it would be comparable to suicide to go and help the Nebuchadnezzar, reasoning that it must be something extremely dangerous if Neo isn't able to do it, Niobe decides to help them. They go back into the Matrix and meet the crew of the Nebuchadnezzar, along with the Keymaker and the crew of the Vigilant. The Keymaker informs them that, in order for the One to reach the Source and end the war, he must enter a building that leads to a specific location within the backdoors of the Matrix.
Only the One can open the door that leads to the Source. However, if they enter the backdoors of the Matrix within this building while the power is still activated, it will trigger a bomb that will kill them. If they do manage to shut off the electricity to the building, Neo only has a small amount of time to get to it, which means that the Logos must destroy the power plant while the Vigilant deactivates the emergency systems. Niobe voices her doubts about the Prophecy, but Morpheus says that the possibility that they could end the Machine War tonight is a risk they should undertake. Understanding what they have to do, Niobe and Ghost drive to the power plant.
Destroying the Power Plant[]
Niobe and Ghost, each armed with a detonator, will try to reach the core of the power plant individually and destroy it. Inside the power plant, Niobe makes her way toward the core with assistance from Ghost, who helps snipe from above. They meet up just before a pit lined with pillars and filled with snipers perched on top of high ledges. Niobe tells Ghost that she'll draw them out along the path so that he can get a clear shot at them.
The plan is successful and she continues to move deeper into the power plant. They meet up again on a catwalk. Sparks tells Ghost to plant his detonator in the augmented radioactive waste area and Niobe to head toward the Logistical Control center to unlock the area for Ghost. Once she accesses a control panel in the tower, Ghost is able to continue. Sparks tells her that her bomb should be placed in the generator room, which she also unlocks.
Inside the generator room, Sparks tells Niobe to find a generator marked number one and place the detonator there. Once she places the bomb on the generator, she heads for the Core Control room, where Ghost is waiting for her. She hands him a grenade and calls Sparks for the next phase of the plan. Niobe informs Ghost that she will reach the top of the reactor while Ghost covers her and keeps the control room clear.
When she reaches the top, Ghost will use the controls to open the core so that she is able to place her bomb inside the core casing. Then, Ghost will have to drag up the control rods while she evacuates the area. Ghost has serious reservations about this plan as it will mean that Niobe will be directly exposed to the radiation, but Niobe reminds Ghost that if they don't accomplish this, it will mean a continuation of the Machine War.
When Niobe arrives at the doors of the room containing the core, Ghost opens them and she is able to set up the bomb. As she is leaving the power plant before the blast consumes it, Niobe runs into Agent Johnson, who opens fire. Avoiding his bullets, she throws a grenade his way and a grenade at her blocked path. She momentarily stuns Agent Johnson who pursues her through the hole that she made.
Niobe jumps onto a lift, narrowly avoiding the Agent. While she is being chased, in the Real World, Sparks gives her an injection to help her performance against the Agent. Niobe continues to avoid Agent Johnson and is able to escape the power plant with Ghost before it explodes.
Visiting the Oracle[]
When they jack out of the Matrix, Sparks tells them that their plan didn't work, explaining that backup power is on, that the ships that were supposed to attack the Machines with their EMP didn't, and that there is no sign of the crew of the Nebuchadnezzar. Just then, they get a call from Seraph that they must meet the Oracle immediately. Niobe jacks in and goes to Seraph's tea house at the end of Wo Ping Avenue. When she enters, Seraph fights Niobe to measure her heart's resolve before he takes her to see the Oracle.
Niobe does not recognize the Oracle but notices that she sounds the same. The Oracle explains to her that she made a deal with the Merovingian, which is why she does not look the same as Niobe remembers her. She says that Niobe will have to make a choice whether to help Neo or not. The Oracle also explains that Neo separated his mind from his body and is trapped in a place between Niobe's world and her own. When Niobe asks if Neo can be freed, the Oracle says that Trinity will be able to rescue him. Seraph informs the Oracle that Niobe must depart and leads her to the backdoors.
As Seraph closes the door, Smith enters from another, looking for Neo. As she prepares to fight him, more Smiths enter from different doors. Niobe avoids the Smiths by going through a backdoor that leads to a skyscraper. Sparks guides her down toward the streets, leading her to an elevator, going through the backdoors, and ending up in Chinatown once again. Dodging and running from the Smiths, Niobe reaches a church where there is a ringing telephone in one of the rooms. After she jacks out, Sparks tells Niobe that Sentinels were headed for the ship before they stopped just short of EMP range. Moving quickly, Niobe pilots the Logos away from the Sentinels through the tunnels.
Tunnels of the Real[]
In a desperate move to outrun the Sentinels, Niobe takes the Logos through uncharted tunnels. The Sentinels end up launching a Tow Bomb which locks in on their location. Niobe tries to evade it while Ghost attempts to shoot it down. He is successful but the blast brings the Logos crashing down in the tunnels. Sparks charges the EMP, however Niobe waits until all of the Sentinels are in range before she uses it. The Logos is now stranded in the tunnels and awaiting rescue.
The Mjolnir eventually finds them along with the crew of the Nebuchadnezzar. Morpheus greets Niobe on the surface, telling her that he was worried that she was hurt or possibly killed.
Niobe asks if they managed to get Neo out and Morpheus confirms that they did. Onboard the Mjolnir, Roland tells the various crewmembers of his plan to get back to Zion using the Mjolnir's EMP to destroy most of the Sentinels blocking their path so that the Logos can have a clear path back to Zion. However, Niobe believes that they can sneak past the Sentinels using a mechanical line. Roland is skeptical of this plan because it means that, even if Niobe can navigate through it, the Mjolnir won't be able to follow them.
Before they can continue their conversation, Neo enters the room and apologizes for his absence but requests to take one of the ships to 01. Roland flatly refuses this request but Niobe lends Neo and Trinity the Logos. She says that she can pilot the Mjolnir to Zion through one of the mechanical line tunnels, a very difficult path. Morpheus questions Niobe on her choice and she replies that even though she doesn't believe in the One, she believes in Neo.
Niobe says goodbye to the Logos as she pilots the Mjolnir to the mechanical line. A little over a kilometer from the opening, Niobe orders Ghost to use as little power as possible and only keep the bottom four pads powered on. However, before they reach the opening, the ship scrapes an object on the surface, alerting the Sentinels of the ship's presence. With no option to remain concealed, Niobe orders all crew members to man the guns, including Ghost, their best sharpshooter, and for Morpheus to take co-pilot's seat as she pilots the hovercraft at full speed.
The Dock[]
At they speed that Niobe is flying, Morpheus finds it difficult to co-pilot the Mjolnir but he manages to follow orders. The ship reaches the end of the mechanical line and makes a 90 degree turn. Close to Zion, Morpheus says that there are Sentinels already inside the Dock. Meanwhile, Sentinels are continuing to inflict damage on the hovercraft, destroying its pads and gun turrets. Roland suggests that they have to use the EMP now but Niobe keeps piloting the Mjolnir toward Zion. Both Niobe and Morpheus see that Gate 3 is half-opened in front of them. She diverts the remaining power of the hovercraft and punches through the gate. Link activates the EMP and the Sentinels in the Dock are destroyed. Morpheus thanks Niobe for getting them safely to Zion.
Niobe, Morpheus, and Roland meet with Lock, who informs them that not only did their EMP disable the Sentinels, it disabled all of the APUs present within Zion. The three of them are ordered to meet with the Council where Niobe explains her actions in giving Neo her ship. Later, she joins the rest of Zion inside the Temple to make their last stand against the Machines.
When the Digger makes it through the Living Levels of Zion, the Sentinels start to descend on them. Before they attack, the Sentinels stop just short of the Temple entrance and wait. Niobe, confused by this behavior, is even more confused by Morpheus as he puts down his lightning rifle. However, they soon realize that Neo and Trinity were able to reach 01 and postpone the Sentinel attack. When the Sentinels start to leave Zion after Neo is victorious, Niobe embraces Morpheus and thanks Neo for ending the Machine War.
Rebuilding[]
Over the next sixty years, Niobe becomes one of the leaders of humanity and the Machines, attaining the rank of General and helping to build the combined human-Machine city of IO. However, over the decades, Niobe becomes more focused on rebuilding than saving people from the Matrix, something that becomes a point of contention between her and Bugs who Niobe had freed from the Matrix herself.
Reunion with Old Friends[]
Sixty years after the end of the Machine War, Bugs and her crew rescue a resurrected Neo from the Matrix and bring him back to IO where he is reunited with the elderly Niobe. However, Niobe is concerned with protecting the city and the reasons why Trinity might've been kept alive and she refuses to help him rescue Trinity, having Sheperd lock Neo up until they can come to an understanding. Bugs and her crew mutiny and break Neo out, but one of Niobe's friends tries to convince her to let them go, knowing how much Niobe hated locking Neo up and that there's a part of her that's relieved now that he's gone. Niobe admits that she's scared since they've worked so hard to keep IO safe.
Later, another hovercraft sent by Niobe to shadow Bugs and her crew forces them to return to IO as a swarm of Sentinels closes in. Niobe angrily tells Neo off for his disrepect towards her and his intervention on Bugs' behalf. Enraged at being called short-sighted, Bugs accuses Niobe of caring more about growing fruit than freeing minds from the Matrix and claims that Niobe has given up on people. Their argument is interupted by the arrival of Kujaku who convinces Niobe to take Neo into a meeting with Sati. Sati reveals to Neo and Niobe that she had known that Neo and Trinity were both still alive, leaving Niobe shocked and angry. Sati defends that both the humans and the Machines needed Niobe to build IO for both of their sakes and had she known, Niobe would've faced a difficult choice. With the Analyst threatening to kill Trinity in order to get Neo to willingly return to the Matrix, Sati convinces them to take this extraordinary opportunity to rescue Trinity.
Having regained some of her old fire, Niobe addresses a gathering of her captains to ask for volunteers to join the rescue mission. Although Bugs volunteers, Niobe states that she is ordering Bugs to go. Without even hearing Niobe's full explanation, all of her captains volunteer for the mission, surprising Niobe. Sheperd simply states that they know her and if Niobe says that the mission is important, none of them are going to choose to stay home. Touched, Niobe thanks them and exchanges a fistbump with Shepherd, wishing her people good luck.
Skills and Capabilities[]
Within the virtual world of the Matrix, Niobe is one of Zion's most gifted martial artists. She has "killed" at least one Agent, survived multiple encounters with the Merovingian's superhuman thugs, faced Seraph in one-on-one combat, and even managed to survive and escape from a confrontation with the replicating entity Smith.
In the real world, she is the most skilled pilot among the rebel forces. She demonstrates this on several occasions. She maneuvered the hovercraft Mjolnir (which is the largest hovercraft in the fleet) through the narrow, cluttered passage of a mechanical line (while under heavy attack and pursuit by Sentinels), a feat no other pilot has successfully performed. She also performs a 270-degree flip with the hovercraft, as an evasive maneuver, which apparently no previous pilot had even attempted before.
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 New ‘Matrix Resurrections’ Images Confirm Jonathan Groff’s Character
- ↑ Persephone confirms that Niobe is still in love with Morpheus in the video game Enter the Matrix.
- ↑ Niobe mentions this onboard the Mjolnir in the film The Matrix Revolutions.