For anyone who hasn't seen the Matrix Revolutions or played Destiny 2, potential spoiler warning.

I've noticed a few striking similarities between The Matrix movies and Destiny. Enough that I really wonder if it partially inspired Bungie's vision of Destiny in some ways. The Matrix movies came out between 1999 and 2003, and the first Destiny teaser was hidden in Halo 3 ODST which launched in 2009.

Look at this pic on the left, of the shock wave over the city in The Matrix Revolutions when Agent Smith hits Neo with a haymaker, compared to the Traveler hovering over the last city in Destiny, on the right.

Now the same Matrix pic again on top, but after the shock wave expands some more, compared to the Traveler and it's "light" shock wave expanding in Destiny 2, on the bottom.

Next, in the top pic, there's the Deus Ex Machina that controls the machine city who Neo must confront before he fights Agent Smith, while in the bottom Destiny pic, is Sepiks Prime, a boss enemy you must fight.

Below you have a crew from The Matrix Revolutions in the top pic, and a fireteam from the OG Destiny live action trailer in the bottom pic.

What's interesting about the above pics, is that both The Matrix crew and Destiny fireteam are "Guardians of the last city". What's even more interesting is the male co-pilot on the left goes by the name "Ghost", just like the hologram AI "Ghost" that each Guardian has in Destiny. To top it off, the more important Matrix Guardians in the top pic, Niobe, Ghost, and Roland, plus all three Guardians, have matching gender and clothing color. Niobe in the front right and the Warlock are in burgundy, Ghost to her left and the Hunter with his Ghost are in black and grey, and behind him, Roland and the Titan, are both in grey. (The guy in the back right behind Niobe only has a few lines and play's little part in The Matrix movie trilogy)

I also find what happens to Neo after the haymaker punch from his enemy Agent Smith, to be quite similar to the start of Destiny 2 when your Guardian first meets their enemy, Ghaul. Neo is almost TKO after the punch and Smith body slams him from the sky into the ground. Neo barely gets up and gives what little fight he has left to stay alive. Ghaul blocks the "light" and renders you useless, then literally kicks you off of his ship which is high in the sky near the Traveler, and you fall to the ground. You are barely able to get yourself up and give what little fight you have left to stay alive.

There is also the number 3 connection between them. The Matrix definitely has some spiritual meaning like the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, who are represented by the main characters Neo, Morpheus, and Trinity, in the films. These 3 are fighting to end The Matrix and take their "rightful" place back on Earth in reality. In Destiny, the Traveler is in a way looked upon as a God and it uses fireteams of 3 Guardians each, a Hunter, Titan, and Warlock, who have 3 class abilities each, that fight "The Darkness" to protect the people of the last city and reclaim their "rightful" place spanning the solar system.

In The Matrix, you have AI machines that have created a real life VR experience that everyone is plugged into, and when the people slowly start "waking up" inside The Matrix, "The One" will emerge, who will be guided by "The Oracle", which leads to the system ending, and everything getting rebooted and starting all over again. While Destiny hasn't been totally explained by any means, you have enemy machines called "The Vex" that can manipulate time and travel through it. You also meet someone who seems to be from the future, who knows what your doing and what you should do next. She gives you a gun that apparently shouldn't exist because it has tech that "hasn't been developed yet". Your Guardian can also can die and come back to life, like Neo can basically control in The Matrix.

“All of our lives, we have fought this war. Tonight I believe we can end it. Tonight is not an accident. There are no accidents. We have not come here by chance. I do not believe in chance. When I see three objectives, three captains, three ships. I do not see coincidence, I see providence. I see purpose. I believe it our fate to be here. It is our destiny. I believe this night holds for each and every one of us, the very meaning of our lives.”    - Morpheus

I myself can only assume that the two characters from The Matrix named Link and Zee, who are a couple, must certainly be paying homage to The Legend of Zelda, which is all about the Triforce.

I'm sure there are plenty of other things I've missed, or maybe I'm reaching a little bit with a few of my points. What do you think? Anything to add?

A few more to add. The rabbit hole goes even deeper.

When we first meet Neo, he wakes up at his computer to find he's been hacked and they message him saying "follow the white rabbit" and then "knock knock". There is then a knock at the door and it's a group who's come to pick up illegal software. They mention to Neo that he looks like crap and should get out and come with them to a club. Neo refuses, until a woman shifts her body, which reveals to Neo the white rabbit tattoo on her left shoulder. The female Warlock from the Destiny live action trailer also has a white rabbit logo on her left shoulder pad. Notice The Matrix woman has a gold neck piece, and the Warlock has a gold helmet.

The rabbit in Destiny is directly referred to as the Jade Rabbit, which is a gun in the game, and comes from Asian mythology. If you take into account how I pointed out in the above post, that Niobe from The Matrix matches up with this Warlock in a few ways, it's ironic that the actress who play's Niobe, is named Jada.

The Titan has a magic 8 ball hanging from his belt in the live action trailer. 8 signifies life, death, and resurrection, infinity, a never ending cycle, like how Guardians in Destiny fight, die and are constantly resurrected by their Ghost, to keep fighting. Just like how The Matrix is a never ending cycle of the "One" being born, fighting, then dying, and the system rebooting and starting all over again.

The 8 ball may also stand for prophecy and fortune telling. "The Stranger" in Destiny seems to know what your doing and how to direct you to move forward. The hope is to defeat "The Darkness" and reclaim the solar system and renew the golden age of man. In The Matrix, the Oracle is constantly consulted about how to move forward, and is the individual who predicted the coming of "The One" and the end to The Matrix, freeing all humans and allowing them to reclaim the real world.

“Everything that has a beginning has an end. I see the end coming, I see the darkness spreading. I see death, and you are all that stands in his way”. -The Oracle

The Hunter in the Destiny live action trailer has a gun that's labelled "we come in peace", which signifies the want for peace eventually, yet the Guardians wage war, just like "The Darkness" against them, to claim victory. The kill mark tally on the gun, right next to the label shows hypocrisy, and the possibility that peace may never come because it can't be won fighting fire with fire, or that it simply all comes down to balance, constant life and death. Neo as well as the other humans want peace, yet fight for peace, and peace is what Neo offer's the Deus Ex Machina to do what he must to end the cycle and reboot The Matrix. What Neo finds out is that fighting fire with fire leads to the fight lasting forever and never ending, and that life and death is inevitable, like Agent Smith keeps telling him.

In the Matrix Reloaded, Agent Smith gains the ability to be able to hack other programs and copy himself onto them, which leads to him having a massive army to fight Neo and the rest of the humans. In Destiny you come across Oryx, the Taken King, who is an enemy that can basically use "The Darkness" to steal the "weaker souls" I guess you could say, of other enemy races, allowing him to use them to fight the Guardians.

I'll think about maybe trying to consider reading all of this eventually... Not sure.

Maybe Destiny got some of that from the same sources The Matrix copied?

yeah whatever little creativity destiny has is not theirs lol

I think you're reaching honestly...

I can literally do this with anything. On a planet with 7 billion people we can expect more than 1 person to have the same idea

I'm not saying Bungie should be ashamed of it if they did take inspiration. If they did, they definitely have their own version of it that's different enough, considering I've followed the game from the start and just noticed this. People can have similar idea's no doubt. The Matrix more than likely also took inspiration from Tron.

I guess I'm just curious as to where the Destiny story leads/ends up. Based on what's known about the lore, a similar story line to The Matrix, could be on the table. So could just about anything else though.

april fools?

I'm starting to think I should go with that, otherwise the fool may not be April.