Neo choosing the red pill in The Matrix is arguably the most crucial moment in the Matrix movies, but there is more than just one way to wake up from the simulation. Curiously, Neo is the only character audiences actually see waking up from the Matrix in the original Matrix trilogy. Thanks to other parts of the Matrix universe, however, there are stories about different characters entering the real world - and not all of these had a Morpheus or a Nebuchadnezzar crew to help them.
Neo may have been the first and only human audiences got to see exit the Matrix in the first three Matrix movies, but the crew of the Nebuchadnezzar was already accustomed to helping other prisoners wake up. In fact, one of Neo’s first achievements after affirming himself as the One at the end of The Matrix was to help Morpheus wake up more people inside the Matrix. Neo's role on the Nebuchadnezzar team was mentioned by the Kid in The Matrix Reloaded and is better explained in The Animatrix, which also dives into how a human can wake up from the Matrix.
A Few Characters Have Broken Free Of The Matrix Without The Red Pill
At least two characters have fully woken up from the Matrix without the red pill or any external device. One is Dan Davis, the main character in The Animatrix’s “World Record,” who manages to disconnect himself from the Machines' Matrix simulation after pushing his “body” to its limits during a sprint. Dan Davis is so focused on breaking the world record that he ends up bending the rules of what should and should not be possible for the human body to achieve. Dan runs faster than any person ever ran, which causes him to wake up in the real world, catching the attention of the machines.
Another character who woke up from the Matrix without a red pill is the Kid from The Matrix Reloaded. The Kid mentions at the beginning of the sequel that Neo helped free him from the Matrix, yet The Animatrix had previously revealed that the process did not involve the red pill. Neo reached out to the Kid just like Morpheus and Trinity reached out to Neo in The Matrix, but the Kid was already perceiving there was something off about his world. The Kid, just like Neo in The Matrix, was close to the conclusion that the world was not real, and eventually woke up in the real world.
What Does The Red Pill Actually Do In The Matrix?
Despite their cinematic importance, the blue and red pill are not exactly what define whether a person will wake up from the Matrix simulation. The red pill, which is not an actual pill but rather a virtual program within the Matrix, helps the operators in the real world pinpoint the exact location of the person they are trying to free in the Machines’ power plant. Therefore, the red pill in The Matrix is a tracking program that makes the search for a person’s body in the real world easier.
Neo’s choice between the red and the blue pill was always more symbolic than practical. Beyond just tracking a target and making an extraction possible, swallowing the red pill denoted an acceptance toward a new reality, and a rejection of current beliefs. Someone who takes the red pill is mentally ready to accept the truth of the world. For those like Dan Davis and the Kid who broke that barrier without crimson-colored enhancement, their minds were already prepared for the secrets behind The Matrix.
