Persephone is a fictional character in ''The Matrix'' franchise. She is portrayed by

Monica Bellucci Monica Anna Maria Bellucci (; born 30 September 1964) is an Italian actress and model who began her career as a fashion model before working in Italian, American, and French films. She has an eclectic filmography in a range of genres and langua ...

. In the films ''

The Matrix Reloaded ''The Matrix Reloaded'' is a 2003 American science fiction action film written and directed by the Wachowskis. It is the sequel to ''The Matrix'' (1999) and the second installment in the ''Matrix'' film series. The film stars Keanu Reeves, L ...

'' and ''

The Matrix Revolutions ''The Matrix Revolutions'' is a 2003 American science fiction action film written and directed by the Wachowskis. The direct sequel to ''The Matrix Reloaded,'' it is the third installment in ''The Matrix'' film series, released six months foll ...

'', Persephone is married to the

Merovingian The Merovingian dynasty () was the ruling family of the Franks from around the middle of the 5th century until Pepin the Short in 751. They first appear as "Kings of the Franks" in the Roman army of northern Gaul. By 509 they had united all the ...

. She seems bored with her existence in the

Matrix Matrix (: matrices or matrixes) or MATRIX may refer to: Science and mathematics * Matrix (mathematics), a rectangular array of numbers, symbols or expressions * Matrix (logic), part of a formula in prenex normal form * Matrix (biology), the m ...

, and is dissatisfied with her husband (possibly because of his constant infidelities).

Films

In ''

'', Persephone meets Neo,

Trinity The Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the Christian doctrine concerning the nature of God, which defines one God existing in three, , consubstantial divine persons: God the Father, God the Son (Jesus Christ) and God the Holy Spirit, thr ...

and Morpheus when they come to talk with The Merovingian, her husband. Though her husband declines to help the human resistance, Persephone is sexually attracted to Neo and offers to help him if he kisses her with the same passion with which he has kissed Trinity. Reluctantly, he complies and she helps him free the

Keymaker The Keymaker is a fictional character, portrayed by Korean-American actor Randall Duk Kim, in the 2003 film ''The Matrix Reloaded''. He is a computer program that can create shortcut commands, physically represented as keys, which can be used b ...

. Later, she kills one of her husband's employees. In ''

'', Persephone warns the Merovingian that Trinity would indeed kill everyone in

Club Hel ''The Matrix'' is an American cyberpunk media franchise consisting of four feature films, beginning with ''The Matrix'' (1999) and continuing with three sequels, ''The Matrix Reloaded'', ''The Matrix Revolutions'' (both 2003), and ''The Matrix ...

to free Neo from the Train Station, simply because she is in love. This suggests that Persephone perceives and understands love, and may be disheartened by the cynicism of her husband, who seems to be driven solely by greed and

lust Lust is an intense desire for something. Lust can take any form such as the lust for sexuality (see libido), money, or power. It can take such mundane forms as the lust for food (see gluttony) as distinct from the need for food or lust for red ...

. In ''

The Matrix Resurrections ''The Matrix Resurrections'' is a 2021 American science fiction action film co-produced, co-written, and directed by Lana Wachowski, and the first in the ''Matrix'' franchise to be directed solely by Lana. It is the sequel to '' The Matrix Re ...

'', Persephone makes a quick

cameo appearance A cameo appearance, also called a cameo role and often shortened to just cameo (), is a brief guest appearance of a well-known person or character in a work of the performing arts. These roles are generally small, many of them non-speaking on ...

through archive footage from ''Reloaded'' while Neo remembers his past adventures sixty years after bringing peace to humans and Machines. While the Merovingian and some of his henchmen are revealed to have survived The Analyst's purge over the Matrix, Persephone's status is unconfirmed.

''Enter the Matrix''

In the video game ''

Enter The Matrix ''Enter the Matrix'' is a 2003 action-adventure video game developed by Shiny Entertainment and published by Infogrames under the Atari brand name. The first game based on ''The Matrix'' film series, its story is concurrent with that of the ...

'', Persephone encounters and takes a kiss from either

Niobe Niobe (; : Nióbē) was in Greek mythology a daughter of Tantalus and of either Dione or of Eurythemista or Euryanassa. She was the wife of Amphion and the sister of Pelops and Broteas. Niobe is mentioned by Achilles in Homer's ''Iliad ...

Ghost In folklore, a ghost is the soul or Spirit (supernatural entity), spirit of a dead Human, person or non-human animal that is believed by some people to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely, from a ...

(depending on whose story the player follows). She seems to be able to deduce the feelings and emotions of those she kisses, noting Niobe's love for Morpheus, or Ghost's

unrequited love Unrequited love or one-sided love is love that is not openly reciprocated or understood as such by the beloved. The beloved may not be aware of the admirer's deep affection, or may consciously reject it knowing that the admirer admires them. Me ...

for Trinity. She apparently takes deep pleasure in sampling the emotions of others.

''The Matrix Online''

In the MMO ''

The Matrix Online ''The Matrix Online'' (abbreviated as ''MxO'') is a discontinued massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) initially developed by Monolith Productions and later, a few months after launch, by Sony Online Entertainment. It was adve ...

'', Persephone gave the location of the Assassin's hide-out to Zion operatives in a critical mission relating to the Death Of A Destroyer event.

Cultural references

The character's name is taken from that of

Persephone In ancient Greek mythology and Ancient Greek religion, religion, Persephone ( ; , classical pronunciation: ), also called Kore ( ; ) or Cora, is the daughter of Zeus and Demeter. She became the queen of the Greek underworld, underworld afte ...

Greek mythology Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of ancient Greek folklore, today absorbed alongside Roman mythology into the broader designation of classical mythology. These stories conc ...

, who is the daughter of

Zeus Zeus (, ) is the chief deity of the List of Greek deities, Greek pantheon. He is a sky father, sky and thunder god in ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, who rules as king of the gods on Mount Olympus. Zeus is the child ...

and

Demeter In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, Demeter (; Attic Greek, Attic: ''Dēmḗtēr'' ; Doric Greek, Doric: ''Dāmā́tēr'') is the Twelve Olympians, Olympian goddess of the harvest and agriculture, presiding over cro ...

( Ceres), and whom

Hades Hades (; , , later ), in the ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, is the god of the dead and the king of the Greek underworld, underworld, with which his name became synonymous. Hades was the eldest son of Cronus and Rhea ...

took to the

underworld The underworld, also known as the netherworld or hell, is the supernatural world of the dead in various religious traditions and myths, located below the world of the living. Chthonic is the technical adjective for things of the underworld. ...

to be his queen. Before shooting her husband's employee in ''The Matrix Reloaded'', Persephone wonders aloud, "How many people keep silver bullets in their gun?", implying that the employee is a

werewolf In folklore, a werewolf (), or occasionally lycanthrope (from Ancient Greek ), is an individual who can shapeshifting, shapeshift into a wolf, or especially in modern film, a Shapeshifting, therianthropic Hybrid beasts in folklore, hybrid wol ...

. In behind-the-scenes footage, Persephone herself is compared to a "

vampire A vampire is a mythical creature that subsists by feeding on the Vitalism, vital essence (generally in the form of blood) of the living. In European folklore, vampires are undead, undead humanoid creatures that often visited loved ones and c ...

that seeks after emotions" by actress Monica Bellucci.

In popular culture

In a 2012 survey by Empire Cinemas, Persephone was listed among the sexiest characters in cinema. Likewise,

Nettavisen ''Nettavisen'' is a Norway, Norwegian online newspaper, launched in 1996 as the first online-only newspaper in Norway. The current editor is Gunnar Stavrum. As of 2015, it was one of Norway's most popular news websites. History The online newspa ...

declared in 2009 that the role of Persephone qualified Monica Bellucci as one of the 25 sexiest women of all time.

References

External links

Persephone in ''The Matrix Reloaded''
''Guardian'' Film {{Matrix The Matrix (franchise) characters Film characters introduced in 2003 Fictional artificial intelligences Fictional bisexual women Fictional empaths Fictional female warriors Fictional socialites