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"I am  Seraph, guardian of the Oracle. I can take you to her, but first I must apologize. For this."

Seraph is  the name of a fictional character (played by Collin Chou) in the science fiction film saga, The Matrix. He is  portrayed as the personification of a sophisticated CHAP which guards the Oracle.

The role was initially offered to Michelle Yeoh, but she declined due to a scheduling conflict. The character was changed to a male and  Chou was signed instead.

[edit] The Matrix

In The Matrix Reloaded and  The Matrix Revolutions, Seraph is  seen acting as a "guardian angel" of the Oracle. In fact, he refers to himself several times as "Seraph, Guardian of the Oracle," but in actuality he held this position since long before the timeframe in which the first film took place. We also learn from a scene later in the movie that Agent Smith has tried to hunt him before, but Seraph confounded him in these attempts; Seraph also points out that he has "beaten him before," implying that the two may have  in fact met in battle before. The scenario is  different this time now that Smith has become disconnected from the Matrix and  has become an  entity unto himself.

Over the course of the Reloaded and  Revolutions plot arcs, he has three brief altercations with warriors of Zion. The first was with Ballard, which he staged in order to get to know him; the second, with Neo, to prove he was the One. After the conclusion of Reloaded but before the beginning of Revolutions, Seraph summons Niobe to meet the Oracle. He first tests her with another battle, in order to "test her heart's resolve" (or, more  technically, a Challenge-response authentication).

In Revolutions, Trinity and  Morpheus meet with the Oracle so that she could help them locate Neo. She explains that he lay within a place that was neither the Matrix nor the Real World: a construct created by the Trainman. Seraph, she said, knew how to find him, and  would lead them to him.

The trio departs to the Megacity's subways. Seraph tracks down the Trainman in short order, but after a short chase and  exchange of fire, he escapes. Without further action to take to this end, Seraph deems it  right that they should meet the Merovingian, for whom the Trainman worked.

At that moment, the Merovingian was holding court at Club Hel, a decadent nightclub owned by the Merovingian. The three make their way to the club and  have a battle with a number of the Merovingians guards, whom they dispatch with relative ease. They then exchange threats with the Merovingian; Trinity's threat seems to hold greater gravity than the Merovingian's (thanks to a gigantic Mexican standoff she creates), and  the crew of the Nebuchadnezzar are  reunited.

Some time later, Seraph flees with Sati from the increasingly more  powerful Smith, to little avail. In due course, Smith catches up to them. Seraph mentions that he has defeated Smith in the past. Smith assimilates them both, adding two more  copies of himself to his growing collective of Smiths.

Upon Smith's destruction at Neo's hands, however, all the minds that Smith had infiltrated were freed from his abduction, including Seraph's.

[edit] The Matrix Online

At this time, Seraph's alignment is  uncertain. In The Matrix Online he claims he isn't allied with any of the three Factions, that he protects the Oracle and  Sati - and  that he will use force to protect them if need be. However, there is  some speculation that he has actually allied himself with the Merovingian or  has at least worked for him in the past; when Seraph aids Morpheus and  Trinity's raid on Club Hel, the Merovingian says to him, in a voice thick with disdain, "The Prodigal Child returns!" implying Seraph had left his service to protect the Oracle, and  also calls him a 'Judas' implying that Seraph betrayed the Merovingian at some point of his service. He also calls Seraph "L'ange sans ses ailes", which is  French for "The angel without his/her wings". In the guide to the Matrix: Path of Neo, he is  actually stated to have  worked for the Merovingian at some point in the past.

It has been hinted that Seraph was one of the Seraphim, programs from an  earlier Matrix, that facilitated the function that Agents provide, save that they were caretakers. ^{[citation needed]} it  is rumored, that Seraph lost his wings, when he betrayed the function of the Seraphim, as protectors and  guardians, when he killed a human or  group of humans, for undisclosed reasons. ^{[citation needed]} He was then stripped of his wings (torn from his back, making him wingless, hence the moniker) and  then cast into Blackwood, the infamous exile prison. ^{[citation needed]}

He was the first to escape from Blackwood, after he realized his calling and  went back to become a protector, for both humans and  the Oracle and  the exiles allied to her. ^{[citation needed]} There was an  occasion, where Seraph was seen speaking to his former Seraphim brethren. ^{[citation needed]} When they choose to ignore his pleas for help, Seraph was forced to defend himself against his brethren, defeating wave after wave of his brethren, with some help later on, from nearby redpills. ^{[citation needed]}

His skills as a warrior are  almost unmatched, and  he is  evenly matched against Neo. Despite not having his wings, Seraph is  still able to hyperjump beyond the range of many exiles and  redpills.

[edit] Etymology

Seraph is  a biblical allusion to the first of nine orders of angels, the Seraphim. This allusion is  also evidenced by the fire-like appearance of Seraph when Neo sees him in his coded form. The word 'seraphim' comes from the Hebrew word saraph meaning 'burning'. In the short fight right before the "coat check" fight in Revolutions, one of the guards is  seen calling him "wingless".