Mega City (The Matrix)

Mega City is an enormous virtual megacity in which the inhabitants of the Matrix live their lives in the Matrix series. The City is a conglomeration of many cities, fused into one large city with a gigantic downtown and an impressive skyline.

Design and description

The city was designed to represent an amalgam of any number of major cities in the United States during the 1990s; i.e., gray and utilitarian with small pockets of color and entertainment.

According to the films' graphic designer Suzanne Buljan, companies and utilities in the city were uniformly given generic "City" names which are seen on signage and vehicles throughout the films, such as City Metro, City Waste, City Rail, City Post and City Power:

Philosophy and hyperreality

The concept of the City in The Matrix and its sequels is an archetype of the hyperreality theory proposed by Jean Baudrillard and developed by Umberto Eco; that is that the virtual "city" constructed by the machines controlling the society is more convincing and realistic to its inhabitants than the "real world" – a dystopian futur noir portrayed in stark contrast to the virtual one.

Hel

Hel or HEL may refer to:

In arts and entertainment:

Places:

In science and technology:

Other uses:

See also

Hel (band)

Hel is a Swedish viking rock band, based in Eskilstuna, Södermanland. The band's name is derived from the Norse goddess Hel.

History

Hel formed in 1999 following the disintegration of Völund Smed, three of the Hel's five members having previously played in that band. A major change from Völund Smed's lineup was that Hel would feature two female vocalists, Malin Pettersson and Ulrica Pettersson. The first release of Hel's material was on the vikingarock compilation album, Carolus Rex IV. As a result of the compilation's commercial success, Hel was initially signed to vikingarock group Ultima Thule's label, Ultima Thule Records, but later formed their own label, Peanut Music AB.

The band toured internationally between 2001 and 2004, finally breaking up following the departure of violinist Cia Hedmark in 2004 to reform Völund Smed.

In 2008, Malin Pettersson, Ulrica Pettersson, and Adde Norlin debuted a new band called Tales of Origin. Whereas Hel sang in Swedish, Tales of Origin sings in English. Their first album was titled "Through Virgin Eyes."

Hel (location)

In Norse mythology, Hel, the location, shares a name with Hel, a female figure associated with the location. In late Icelandic sources, varying descriptions of Hel are given and various figures are described as being buried with items that will facilitate their journey to Hel after their death. In the Poetic Edda, Brynhildr's trip to Hel after her death is described and Odin, while alive, also visits Hel upon his horse Sleipnir. In Snorri Sturluson's Prose Edda, Baldr goes to Hel on his death and subsequently Hermóðr uses Sleipnir to attempt to retrieve him. "Hel-shoes" are described in Gísla saga.

Etymology

The old Old Norse word Hel derives from Proto-Germanic *haljō, which means "one who covers up or hides something", which itself derives from Proto-Indo-European *kel-, meaning "conceal". The cognate in English is the word Hell, which is from the Old English forms hel and helle. Related terms are Old Frisian, helle, German Hölle and Gothic halja. Other words more distantly related include hole, hollow, hall, helmet and cell, all from the aforementioned Indo-European root *kel-.