It is commonly known that heroes differ from ordinary people, because of their righteous sense of moral to stand up against evil, to use their special abilities to help those in need and their development from “zero” to “hero”. But what is with the protagonists in Cyberpunk stories? How does he or she become a hero or more precisely an anti-hero? Being often an anti-hero doesn’t categorize him or her as good or evil or black and white. The borders are grayish and leave room to speculate out of “what” the typical cyberpunk is made of. In order to establish a conclusion I will compare and contrast the personalities and character developments of  “Neuromancer”‘s Case and “The Matrix”‘ Neo. I will proceed with extracting their similarities in these aspects and show if there is an archetype cyberpunk who repeatedly appears in most movies and novels.

Henry Dorsett Case was once a renown hacker in the underground world of Chiba City who provided his employers with stolen information and data of corporations. After trying to steal from his last employer and getting caught was he punished for his theft by poisoning his nervous- system with a mycotoxin which prevents him to use his “brain- computer interface” and diving into the global computer network of cyberspace. Unsuccessful in finding a cure, Case has to give up his former profession and vegetates on the fringe of the living, highly addicted to drugs, unemployed and suicidal.  He is saved by the offer of an ex- military soldier named Armitage and his mercenary fighter Molly Millions who offers him a cure in exchange for his services as “console cowboy”. Case accepts this deal and undergoes the surgery to his rehabilitation. He soon learns that sacs of the same poison which crippled him in the first place have been positioned in his blood vessels to poison him slowly anew. Case doesn’t have a choice than to work with Armitage who promised to let the sacs be removed as soon as Case is done with his work. His nihilistic attitude at the beginning  accounts for the self-destructive nature of punks as we know them. His disrespect for authorities confirms his actions towards the corporations or his last employer. He does not undergo a great personality change as we see it with other classical heroes. Throughout the book Case is self- centered, because he only tries to help himself. Mostly all of his actions are driven by the one desire to free himself from dependency. At first he is dependent on Armitage and then he is dependent on Wintermute. The AI who used Armitage to get the aids to merge with his other AI half Neuromancer.

Thomas A. Anderson his a computer specialist who leads a double life as a computer programmer in a respectable firm and as a hacker under the name of Neo who steals kinds of important data and sells them. At one evening he wakes up at his computer and finds a mysterious message which tells him to follow the “white rabbit” to get answers to his questions. His path leads him to Trinity his first contact to Morpheus crew, to his first encounter with the “bad guy” Agent Smith and at last to Morpheus. Morpheus gives Neo, as he is now referred to, the choice to choose the red pill (finding out what the Matrix is) and the blue pill (forgetting the incident and continue his usual life). Neo chooses the red pill thus leaves the Matrix and undergoes a kind of “rebirth” of his true body. Shortly after, he gets saved by Morpheus’ crew and gets medicated to rehabilitate  his neglected body. Neo recovers and begins his training with his new mentor. Morpheus explains Neo that the reason why he felt that the world was “wrong” comes from the fact that the reality he lived in is not real. Machines won against humans in the last great war and subdued them to slavery in order to use them as energy source. Neo denies this truth at first, but then realizes that de does not have the choice to turn his back from it. His training resumes and Morpheus tells him about the prophecy of the “Chosen One” by the oracle. He believes that Neo is will become this destined man and free all humans out of their slavery. Although Neo has doubts his course of actions lead him to the path of becoming the “One” and rescuing Morpheus from the treachery of his crew member Cypher. Neo is driven by his unanswered questions and the discovery of truth. The beginning of the movie shows that Neo’s life itself was a lie. He was a lonesome man who lived two lives to a shallow extent and always looked for a reason why he felt the world was “off”. The discovery of the ultimate truth of the Matrix changes Neo in many ways. He opens up to people, finds strength and courage where there was not any and cares for the well being of others.

To cyberpunks information seems to be especially essential for their personal motivations and the development of their character in the storyline. Both Case and Neo deal with data and information in their “underground” businesses. As hackers they share the attitude not to follow the rules society gives them and feel confident that no one can trace them and harm them. But as soon as the first mistake happens do both have to deal with the consequences. Case gets caught stealing from his employer and Neo gets caught by the Agents. Sooner or later they come to the one point where they are not in the position to make an important choice which concern their lives. These new information force Case  to work for Armitage and disobey him and Neo to forget his ordinary life, because of taking the life-altering red pill. Of course do Case and Neo differ from each other greatly when looking at their personal traits and further motivation. On the one hand does Case not become an altruistic character like Neo at the end and only tries to solve his own problems. Neo on the one hand is interested in the Matrix for his own benefit, but changes as he sympathizes with Trinity and Morpheus, excepts his fate as the “One” and helps to rescue mankind from the reign of machines for the benefit of others.

I find it difficult to say if there is an archetype classical cyberpunk which applies to the characters like Neo and Case. There are specific character traits which makes a character fit into a Cyberpunk story, but not ultimately an hundred pro cent cyberpunk. It would be foolish to say that there is something like a pure cyberpunk character, because the example of Case and Neo shows that two characters of Cyberpunk don’t have to be very similar in order to be cyberpunks. The one is just a little more “punk” and the other is a little more “cyber”.