♦ application
Apr. 11th, 2011 09:32 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
isoalgorithmThe Player
User Name/Nick: She has no User—wait. Tomato.
User LJ:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
romanitas
AIM/IM: TheTomatoSays
E-mail: il.pomodoro[at]yahoo[dot]com
Other Characters: Fred Weasley (unholeytwin)
And I’m only sixteen and I know I’m a child
But the rules have all changed since our lives have gone while
When there’s no destination what more should we fear?
There’s no use hesitating -- stand back -- let me steer!
The Character
Character Name: Quorra
Character Journal:toseethesunrise
Canon: Tron: Legacy
Age: Physically, mid-20s. Programs don’t really age in the normal sense.
From When?: After she gives Kevin Flynn’s identity disc to Sam Flynn in the Portal, in hopes of getting them both to the Real World.
Abilities/Powers:
Physicality: she is quick and nimble, highly acrobatic, and fully capable of whatever the program equivalent would be of martial arts.
Weapons: Highly skilled with both a light sword and identity disc (a chakram like disc that doubles as a weapon on top of being a form of identity for programs).
Intelligence: the ISOs have unique and super special coding that makes them a slight cut above the rest.
Driving/Piloting: easily adapts to new vehicles and can drive with precision, even on rough terrain.
Power Limitations: None. She can do nothing game-breaking.
Inventory
♦ Light baton – can turn into: lightcycle, lightsword, lightumbrella, lightstaff, lightcable.
♦ Black skintight full-body suit with glowing lights, as seen here and here!
Personality:
Inquisitive? Check. Absolute thirst for knowledge? Check. Quorra is very intelligent, probably due to her program coding, but that is beside the point because the fact of the matter is she is quite smart. She absorbs information like a sponge and is always asking questions, wanting to know more more more. She’ll read any book simply to read it (although her favorite is Jules Verne, for the record). The possibility for something new is beyond exciting, and she turns into a giddy pool of anticipation when learning or hearing about new things. She is a fantastic listener and very observant. Tell her something, a story, a history—she’ll listen very carefully. And she’ll remember a lot of it, storing near boundless knowledge. She retains nearly everything she learns, both because she wants to as well as the simple fact that she can. It’s in her coding.
For all her intellect, Quorra is also very naïve. She is strikingly innocent and light-hearted, very prone to laughter (especially in awkward moments). She can calculate computer functions and marvel at classic literature with the best of them, but she can also be hopeless when it comes to personal interactions, sometimes reading the situation wrong or just not quite picking up on certain undercurrents. Fucking social settings, how do they work. She does not do subtle very well and tends to take things at face value. But she’s the same way in return—Quorra is very honest and upfront, and she generally speaks her mind (unless necessity calls for secrecy). She’s more likely to lie by omission than flat out lie. More often than not, especially when it comes to Real World or User related things, she will take everything someone says quite literally; her imagination is wild, and she’s not afraid to let it run rampant. But she genuinely means well and is fiercely loyal, especially to those she comes to care for.
She is trusting, but at the same time, cautious. The genocide of the ISOs (which will be explained in detail later in the magical history section) left her quite literally alone, and in the Grid controlled by the perpetrator of the Purge, Quorra keeps who she is a secret, never getting all that close, both out of necessity in keeping her identity as an ISO unknown but also for fear of betrayal. But to those she trusts, she does so implicitly. Her loyalty is yours for life, and she will not be afraid to risk herself for you. However—just because she won’t break that trust herself does not mean it cannot be broken; she takes this process very seriously, but if betrayed in the worst possible way, consider Quorra a new enemy. She does not forget betrayals so easily.
She has a very strong sense of right and wrong, although she certainly isn’t afraid to bend the rules for the greater good. Her strategy towards life itself tends to be more aggressive than passive, and she knows this. She embraces it. Prone to spurts of recklessness, Quorra will jump into the fray if deemed necessary, regardless of potential risks. The thrill is exciting, and if the road is a little bit dangerous, even better! She very much enjoys living a little on the wild side, so to speak, as much as she loves curling up with a book. She is never hesitant to dive in and make the first move if she feels the need to.
For as much as she loves charging straight in to something, Quorra is able to keep a level head. She’ll think over the process, even if it’s a short think-over, and calculate the best course of action, whether that includes being reckless, holding back, being sneaky—whatever the situation calls for, she’ll do it. She prefers taking the situation into her own hands rather than letting other people walk all over her, and she’s not afraid to go against advice or the status quo is she thinks something better is possible. She would go at it alone if she felt justified, and she approaches everything with huge amounts of determination. She is not content to be idle if she can help; if something is going on and she can assist, she wants to be involved on some level.
The Purge is a constant dark spot in her memory. Imagine if you were quite literally the last being alive of your kind. She is very alone in this feeling, especially on the Grid, and she knows it. While not afraid to talk about what happened, it constantly haunts her, and she harbors nothing but loathing towards CLU for carrying it out. Because of the Purge, she is terrified of losing more people (IE: Flynn, Sam). She’s already the only remaining ISO alive—everyone she ever knew before was wiped out; she is petrified of being absolutely and truly alone. She herself nearly died, almost welcoming the end before Flynn saved her. Because of this, she is fiercely protective of those she has left, and she without hesitation would do anything for them.
Which means what? Removing herself from the equation? She’ll do it, and she has done it. Quorra is immensely selfless. Even though she is the last ISO, she would gladly sacrifice herself not only to save the life of someone she cared about but if the situation demanded it for their benefit. It just ties into doing whatever she feels is necessary. But she values the lives of others much more than her own, doubly so if they are important to her. What good is it to be a miracle if there's no one else left for you to share that with?
History:
So a little backstory on this magical place called ~The Grid~. Designed by super computer genius Kevin Flynn, the Grid is basically a world inside computers where programs take on personalities and resemble people. It is their little world, and programs live there all hunky dory, designed by their Users in the Real World and carrying out whatever functions they are coded for. Kevin Flynn is one of these Users who designs programs, but to the programs of the Grid, he is also the Creator—kind of a godlike figure, mingling among them (whereas Users usually Do Not enter the Grid. Kevin Flynn is Just That Special). Together with his own created program (CLU 2, or Codified Likeness Unit), and a security program created by his bff Alan Bradley (Tron), Flynn sought to create the perfect system out of this amazing world he found (all of this occurring in the 1980s).
All was going rather marvelously for a while. They were building up TRON City and seeking to expand every potential advancement, all in hopes of creating the perfect system . And then something unexpected happened: the appearance of the ISOs.
What exactly is an ISO? you may be asking. And that is indeed a fair question. ISO is short for Isomorphic Algorithms. ISOs are programs that spontaneously evolved on the Grid—that is, they were not created by a User, which had been the normal and only way for a program to be created thus far. They evolved on their own, coming out of the Sea of Simulation. Even more than the awesomeness of this phenomenon is their coding, something so complex and intelligent that even genius Kevin Flynn has trouble grasping it. The potential within their coding for the Real World would have drastic effects on science, religion, technology, medicine, history, philosophy—basically it would make everything about the Real World better, and Flynn saw them as a miracle. Their capabilities went beyond any normal program. He hoped to use their potential to improve the Real World, while at the same time improving the Grid (although he was probably more focused on their miracle-ness for the Real World than the Grid itself, which would lead to some Bad Things).
Howeverrrrr because we can’t expect something like this to sail smoothly since that would make for a boring movie, conflict started brewing between the Basics (the programs that had been created by Users) and the ISOs. Flynn tried to make peace, and for a while, it seemed like it might indeed come to fruitation. But then CLU was like I MUST CREATE THE PERFECT SYSTEM!!!! And there was a coup in which CLU and his evil army of Black Guards overthrew Flynn; he escaped, but only when Tron stepped in, apparently sacrificing himself to allow it. Flynn was like WHAT WHY HOW but it was a lot more apparent that such a thing was coming to everyone else. Flynn is just a little stupid and was kind of blinded by amazingness of the ISOs.
And then CLU in his maddening search for ~perfection~ targeted the ISOs. Unlike Flynn, CLU saw them as mistakes, flawed, having no place in his much sought after perfection. So he initiated genocide against the ISOs, what would become known as the Purge. He targeted their homes, towers they lived in, completely destroying them. If any escaped, he tracked them down, hunted them in the streets, determined to derezz (ie: kill in User words) every last ISO. They fought back, some programs aligning with the ISOs against CLU, but he had been building a force strong enough to essentially take over the Grid, and with the Creator vanished, fighting back was harder than it looked. CLU was winning.
How exactly does Quorra fit into this? Well the first thing we need to know about Quorra regarding her history is that she is an ISO. And she was very involved in the events leading up to the Purge, putting the pieces together of what was going on, trying to warn other programs, and even witnessing CLU’s betrayal of Flynn and Tron. As an ISO, she too was targeted, but she managed to escape CLU’s dastardly clutches with the help of a program named ANON. Except then they crashed their escape vehicle, ANON was derezzed, and Quorra was left to presumably wander until her systems completely shut down. HOW FUCKING FANTASTIC, AMIRITE. And she would have died, had it not been for the appearance of one Kevin Flynn, who just happened to randomly stumble upon her in the Outlands. He saved her, and the two of them escaped, fleeing before CLU tracked them down.
Over the next twenty years, Flynn and Quorra lived in secret. You see, Flynn found himself trapped on the Grid, unable to leave and return to the Real World because of CLU’s assholic tendencies. Flynn had been traveling back and forth between the two through the magic of the inability of the 1980s to understand computers aka a digitizing laser, which would indeed digitize and transport anything onto the Grid. The Portal closed, trapping Flynn, leading to his son having Daddy Issues but that doesn’t belong in this particular app.
So they built a snazzy home in the Outlands, not quite the Grid but very much connected to it—sort of like the Real World equivalent of the boondocks. They kept an eye on things in TRON City, Quorra sneaking back in and going all James Bond to keep Flynn up to date. He was kind of stuck even there, in the Outlands, because the moment he stepped on the Grid, CLU would know, and CLU very much wanted to finish what he started (that means Dead Flynn). Initially, factions continued to resist CLU, but his crackdown came to be too much, and the resistance more or less faded to the occasional fringe. CLU more or less consolidated control over the Grid, turning the programs largely against the Creator and all Users.
This carried on for a while before something COMPLETELY AND TOTALLY HOLY LIGHTCYCLES BATMAN UNEXPECTED happened. The Portal opened. This can only be done from the outside, which meant some shit was going down and finally the plot of the movie gets started. Quorra goes to investigate, and what does she find? One Sam Flynn, User and son of the Creator. He was being forced to compete in Disc Wars, basically gladiatorial games for programs, and when CLU found out who Sam was, challenged him to a lightcycle battle which is the pop culture icon you know but don’t even realize you know (glowing motorcycles, pretty much). Because CLU is a cheating bastard, he set out to basically kill Sam because he hates Users, doubly so this one because it’s the son of the Creator. (CLU also has Daddy Issues.)
But then Quorra is awesome. She busts onto the Game Arena, quite illegally, and swerves towards Sam in her Light Runner (basically a car), ordering him to GET IN THE GODDAMN CAR. Only it’s more like just “Get in,” but she has to tell him twice because he’s a failure. And then she outmaneuvers CLU’s best personal enforcer, Rinzler, like a boss and shows off her mad (see: reckless) driving skills, bringing Sam to an undisclosed location in the Outlands. That is how Quorra met Sam, and he probably feared for his life the entire drive. Good times.
She brings him to her and Flynn’s little home in the Outlands, standing awkwardly off to the side while father and son have a reunion in which Sam’s face just makes you go baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaw SAAAAAM because he hasn’t seen his dad in two decades. But then Flynn goes off to be zen, because what else can a guy trapped in a computer do after 20 years, and Quorra gives Sam a tour of their humble abode. After Awkward Family Dinner Times, Flynn and Sam get into an argument about escaping the Grid (Sam wants to head to the Portal and leave, Flynn thinks they need to wait and bide their time), Quorra decides to help Sam, because truth be told, she really doesn’t want to be stuck there forever. She tells him about a friend of hers—Zuse—giving him information on how to find the program in hopes of helping Sam escape.
Zuse had been a friend of Quorra’s, back before the Purge. He sided with the ISOs, serving as a focal point for rebellion against CLU, especially in the early days after Flynn was ousted. But since Quorra went into hiding, she hadn’t heard or seen Zuse since—but he’d helped her once before, and that was enough. He could help Sam get to the Portal.
Or so she thought. Flynn was suspicious, so they set off after Sam in the Light Runner, which turned out to be a wise decision. Zuse, under a new identity known as Castor, was not quite the same program Quorra once knew. Upon finding out who Sam was, Castor alerted CLU, and the Black Guards showed up at the End of Line Club (the place Castor owned) to take out Sam. Swooping in like the fucking badass she is, Quorra saved Sam’s ass (as she tends to do), but she was caught off guard; her arm was derezzed in the battle, and she fell into a catatonic state. Sam proceeded to kick some Black Guard ass until Flynn showed off and used God Mode, essentially turning the tables, and Sam carried Quorra out as they made their escape—but not before Flynn’s identity disc was stolen. Flynn’s disc is the Master Key to the Grid, something CLU has been after for years in homes of using the Portal to get to the Real World.
They went spiraling down a runaway elevator, wherein Flynn once again used God Mode to stop it from crashing and flattening them all, before making their way to a Solar Sailor (basically like a train—it’s a transport system) in hopes of heading to the Portal before CLU. Flynn rebooted Quorra, finding the damaged piece of her coding, and had some bonding time with his son before she finally woke up. Then it was Quorra’s turn to bond with Sam! He’d found out she was an ISO when Flynn was fixing her, and she shared the fact that Flynn had saved her with him. They sat and were adorable, talking about the sun, while Flynn was off being zen, as the transport continued taking them for the Portal.
BUT THEN SHIT GOT REAL. Or, you know, Flynn forgot time passes and there was some unexpected things waiting for them at the Portal. Like an army. That CLU was building to take to the Real World. Because he wanted to take it over. Did I mention CLU is an asshole?
BUT THEN EVEN MORE UNEXPECTED THINGS HAPPENED. Rinzler showed up, tracking them down, and he was very close and practically on their tail. Quorra, wanting Flynn and Sam to escape, gave her identity disc to Flynn and darted off to serve as a distraction, taking on Rinzler, and though she was captured, she did indeed put up a decent fight, especially for not having her Identity Disc. So Rinzler took Quorra to CLU while Sam and Flynn did some father-son things, like I guess plot how to save her and get back Flynn’s Identity Disc.
Upon seeing Quorra, and recognizing her as an ISO, CLU goes into major creeper mode to which Quorra is Not Happy and quite visibly full of loathing and hatred. Rinzler takes her away, while CLU gives this speech about taking over the User World, Users suck, I’m awesome, WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU FLYNNNNNNNNNN. But when she and Rinzler reach their destination, SURPRISE! SAM FLYNN HAS COME TO SAVE THE DAY! He’d ninja’d his way up to where they were keeping the Master Key, stole it, kicking ass and taking names in the process. Distracted by Sam’s appearance and dropped by her captor, Quorra delivers a nice surprise kick to Rinzler, Sam releases her handcuffs, and they quite literally jump off a balcony to where Flynn is waiting below in a Light Jet to bring them all to the Portal.
Quorra then demonstrates her awesome piloting skills, driving the light jet despite never having used one before. They get into an air battle with CLU, the Black Guards, and Rinzler, during which Quorra steers flawlessly (and probably a little recklessly) while Sam takes care of the shooting. They finally successfully shake off the bad guys (and Rinzler reverts back into Tron! Surprise! Rinzler was a reprogrammed Tron the entire time!), but then Flynn reveals his plan to Quorra. They switch identity discs; she gets the Master Key, and Flynn takes hers. They don’t tell Sam and arrive at the Portal, ready to leave for the Real World.
Except CLU is there. Waiting like a creeper. He confronts Flynn, knocks him back, then with ALMIGHTY RAGE, Sam punches CLU twice. But then CLU turns on Sam and is prepared to take him out. Except Flynn tells Quorra to carry on with the plan, to which she kind of sad faces, before she uses her baton as a light cable to swing under the bridge like a bamf, coming to stand between Sam and CLU as Flynn yells at CLU to remember what he really came for. CLU turns on Flynn, while Quorra restrains Sam from rushing to his father. The bridge starts retracting, leaving Sam and Quorra on the Portal side, with Flynn and CLU on the other.
And then CLU discovers the switch, glaring back at Quorra, who is wearing the Master Key in place of her own identity disc. In a RAAAAAAAAAAGE he takes a flying leap over towards them, but misses and dangles from the edge hahaha asshole. Sam, still trying to get back to his father and yelling that he won’t leave without him, is being consistently shoved towards the Portal by Quorra. Flynn yells back for him to escape, take Quorra to the Real World before CLU’s army arrives and beats them to it.
Quorra tells Sam that it’s what his father wants, holding out the Master Key for Sam to take—which he does, and she grabs a hold of Sam—
And lands in the Wood. Which is probably better than a gritty dirty basement but we’ll see now won’t we.
First Person Sample: this insanely large post that really you probably don’t have to read through almost 300 comments unless you really want to I guess. Happens after the movie’s end, however!
Prose Sample:
The moment the Portal opened, Quorra was off; she didn’t even need to be told. Just a nod from Flynn, a hop in the light runner, and she sped away. She had a little too much fun on the ride over, taking turns too fast and attempting jumps that might have been a little too far—but she was eager, so why not? She had to cut it short, ditching the vehicle just outside the city and making the rest of the way on foot.
Someone came in through the Portal. A User. This was big, big beyond words, and it changed so much. She had to admit, although she recognized the importance of keeping low, on some level, it was driving her crazy; this new development could change that, and she’d be lying if she said she wasn’t at least a little excited by that potential.
She tracked the User to the Game Arena, hardly surprised, although they appeared to be nearing the end by the time she reached it. She was more surprised that no one else had figured out what he was just yet, with the sporadic, random, and completely out of place behavior. And when he went up against Rinzler, revealing himself as a User for the audience, she almost rolled her eyes. Obviously. But then he said his name. Her mouth dropped, although hidden behind her helmet.
Sam Flynn.
If she thought the appearance of a User would change the situation, this was totally unexpected, and it changed everything, more than she realized was possible. And she knew she would have to act fast—there was no way CLU would let Sam Flynn survive for very long, and he was unlikely to get help from anyone else. She scanned the crowd, the arena, watching as Rinzler took Flynn’s son away. She knew CLU’s style, knew his persona—he would be sure to make a grand show in destroying the Son of the Creator, so Quorra scurried off to the Lightcycle Grid, and sure enough, she arrived just as they were bringing Sam out.
When Jarvis started his speech, her suspicions were confirmed, and she quickly made her way back for the Light Runner. Sliding inside, she started it up, speeding not for the entrance, but for the wall of the Lightcycle Grid—a hole in the wall sounded pretty nice. Pretty flashy. Even if Sam Flynn were capable of handling himself, he was very much alone, and CLU was ruthless. It was probably not the best idea, but she had to save him, bring him to Flynn. She knew the Black Guards couldn’t follow her after she went off the Grid, so she’d do whatever necessary in the meantime to reach that point. Beyond anything else, it felt like the right thing to do. No one would know it was her doing the saving. There was too much at stake for her to sit back and see how it all played out.
Special Notes: nada
User Name/Nick: She has no User—wait. Tomato.
User LJ:
romanitasAIM/IM: TheTomatoSays
E-mail: il.pomodoro[at]yahoo[dot]com
Other Characters: Fred Weasley (
unholeytwin)But the rules have all changed since our lives have gone while
When there’s no destination what more should we fear?
There’s no use hesitating -- stand back -- let me steer!
The Character
Character Name: Quorra
Character Journal:
toseethesunriseCanon: Tron: Legacy
Age: Physically, mid-20s. Programs don’t really age in the normal sense.
From When?: After she gives Kevin Flynn’s identity disc to Sam Flynn in the Portal, in hopes of getting them both to the Real World.
Abilities/Powers:
Physicality: she is quick and nimble, highly acrobatic, and fully capable of whatever the program equivalent would be of martial arts.
Weapons: Highly skilled with both a light sword and identity disc (a chakram like disc that doubles as a weapon on top of being a form of identity for programs).
Intelligence: the ISOs have unique and super special coding that makes them a slight cut above the rest.
Driving/Piloting: easily adapts to new vehicles and can drive with precision, even on rough terrain.
Power Limitations: None. She can do nothing game-breaking.
Inventory
♦ Light baton – can turn into: lightcycle, lightsword, lightumbrella, lightstaff, lightcable.
♦ Black skintight full-body suit with glowing lights, as seen here and here!
Personality:
Inquisitive? Check. Absolute thirst for knowledge? Check. Quorra is very intelligent, probably due to her program coding, but that is beside the point because the fact of the matter is she is quite smart. She absorbs information like a sponge and is always asking questions, wanting to know more more more. She’ll read any book simply to read it (although her favorite is Jules Verne, for the record). The possibility for something new is beyond exciting, and she turns into a giddy pool of anticipation when learning or hearing about new things. She is a fantastic listener and very observant. Tell her something, a story, a history—she’ll listen very carefully. And she’ll remember a lot of it, storing near boundless knowledge. She retains nearly everything she learns, both because she wants to as well as the simple fact that she can. It’s in her coding.
For all her intellect, Quorra is also very naïve. She is strikingly innocent and light-hearted, very prone to laughter (especially in awkward moments). She can calculate computer functions and marvel at classic literature with the best of them, but she can also be hopeless when it comes to personal interactions, sometimes reading the situation wrong or just not quite picking up on certain undercurrents. Fucking social settings, how do they work. She does not do subtle very well and tends to take things at face value. But she’s the same way in return—Quorra is very honest and upfront, and she generally speaks her mind (unless necessity calls for secrecy). She’s more likely to lie by omission than flat out lie. More often than not, especially when it comes to Real World or User related things, she will take everything someone says quite literally; her imagination is wild, and she’s not afraid to let it run rampant. But she genuinely means well and is fiercely loyal, especially to those she comes to care for.
She is trusting, but at the same time, cautious. The genocide of the ISOs (which will be explained in detail later in the magical history section) left her quite literally alone, and in the Grid controlled by the perpetrator of the Purge, Quorra keeps who she is a secret, never getting all that close, both out of necessity in keeping her identity as an ISO unknown but also for fear of betrayal. But to those she trusts, she does so implicitly. Her loyalty is yours for life, and she will not be afraid to risk herself for you. However—just because she won’t break that trust herself does not mean it cannot be broken; she takes this process very seriously, but if betrayed in the worst possible way, consider Quorra a new enemy. She does not forget betrayals so easily.
She has a very strong sense of right and wrong, although she certainly isn’t afraid to bend the rules for the greater good. Her strategy towards life itself tends to be more aggressive than passive, and she knows this. She embraces it. Prone to spurts of recklessness, Quorra will jump into the fray if deemed necessary, regardless of potential risks. The thrill is exciting, and if the road is a little bit dangerous, even better! She very much enjoys living a little on the wild side, so to speak, as much as she loves curling up with a book. She is never hesitant to dive in and make the first move if she feels the need to.
For as much as she loves charging straight in to something, Quorra is able to keep a level head. She’ll think over the process, even if it’s a short think-over, and calculate the best course of action, whether that includes being reckless, holding back, being sneaky—whatever the situation calls for, she’ll do it. She prefers taking the situation into her own hands rather than letting other people walk all over her, and she’s not afraid to go against advice or the status quo is she thinks something better is possible. She would go at it alone if she felt justified, and she approaches everything with huge amounts of determination. She is not content to be idle if she can help; if something is going on and she can assist, she wants to be involved on some level.
The Purge is a constant dark spot in her memory. Imagine if you were quite literally the last being alive of your kind. She is very alone in this feeling, especially on the Grid, and she knows it. While not afraid to talk about what happened, it constantly haunts her, and she harbors nothing but loathing towards CLU for carrying it out. Because of the Purge, she is terrified of losing more people (IE: Flynn, Sam). She’s already the only remaining ISO alive—everyone she ever knew before was wiped out; she is petrified of being absolutely and truly alone. She herself nearly died, almost welcoming the end before Flynn saved her. Because of this, she is fiercely protective of those she has left, and she without hesitation would do anything for them.
Which means what? Removing herself from the equation? She’ll do it, and she has done it. Quorra is immensely selfless. Even though she is the last ISO, she would gladly sacrifice herself not only to save the life of someone she cared about but if the situation demanded it for their benefit. It just ties into doing whatever she feels is necessary. But she values the lives of others much more than her own, doubly so if they are important to her. What good is it to be a miracle if there's no one else left for you to share that with?
History:
So a little backstory on this magical place called ~The Grid~. Designed by super computer genius Kevin Flynn, the Grid is basically a world inside computers where programs take on personalities and resemble people. It is their little world, and programs live there all hunky dory, designed by their Users in the Real World and carrying out whatever functions they are coded for. Kevin Flynn is one of these Users who designs programs, but to the programs of the Grid, he is also the Creator—kind of a godlike figure, mingling among them (whereas Users usually Do Not enter the Grid. Kevin Flynn is Just That Special). Together with his own created program (CLU 2, or Codified Likeness Unit), and a security program created by his bff Alan Bradley (Tron), Flynn sought to create the perfect system out of this amazing world he found (all of this occurring in the 1980s).
All was going rather marvelously for a while. They were building up TRON City and seeking to expand every potential advancement, all in hopes of creating the perfect system . And then something unexpected happened: the appearance of the ISOs.
What exactly is an ISO? you may be asking. And that is indeed a fair question. ISO is short for Isomorphic Algorithms. ISOs are programs that spontaneously evolved on the Grid—that is, they were not created by a User, which had been the normal and only way for a program to be created thus far. They evolved on their own, coming out of the Sea of Simulation. Even more than the awesomeness of this phenomenon is their coding, something so complex and intelligent that even genius Kevin Flynn has trouble grasping it. The potential within their coding for the Real World would have drastic effects on science, religion, technology, medicine, history, philosophy—basically it would make everything about the Real World better, and Flynn saw them as a miracle. Their capabilities went beyond any normal program. He hoped to use their potential to improve the Real World, while at the same time improving the Grid (although he was probably more focused on their miracle-ness for the Real World than the Grid itself, which would lead to some Bad Things).
Howeverrrrr because we can’t expect something like this to sail smoothly since that would make for a boring movie, conflict started brewing between the Basics (the programs that had been created by Users) and the ISOs. Flynn tried to make peace, and for a while, it seemed like it might indeed come to fruitation. But then CLU was like I MUST CREATE THE PERFECT SYSTEM!!!! And there was a coup in which CLU and his evil army of Black Guards overthrew Flynn; he escaped, but only when Tron stepped in, apparently sacrificing himself to allow it. Flynn was like WHAT WHY HOW but it was a lot more apparent that such a thing was coming to everyone else. Flynn is just a little stupid and was kind of blinded by amazingness of the ISOs.
And then CLU in his maddening search for ~perfection~ targeted the ISOs. Unlike Flynn, CLU saw them as mistakes, flawed, having no place in his much sought after perfection. So he initiated genocide against the ISOs, what would become known as the Purge. He targeted their homes, towers they lived in, completely destroying them. If any escaped, he tracked them down, hunted them in the streets, determined to derezz (ie: kill in User words) every last ISO. They fought back, some programs aligning with the ISOs against CLU, but he had been building a force strong enough to essentially take over the Grid, and with the Creator vanished, fighting back was harder than it looked. CLU was winning.
How exactly does Quorra fit into this? Well the first thing we need to know about Quorra regarding her history is that she is an ISO. And she was very involved in the events leading up to the Purge, putting the pieces together of what was going on, trying to warn other programs, and even witnessing CLU’s betrayal of Flynn and Tron. As an ISO, she too was targeted, but she managed to escape CLU’s dastardly clutches with the help of a program named ANON. Except then they crashed their escape vehicle, ANON was derezzed, and Quorra was left to presumably wander until her systems completely shut down. HOW FUCKING FANTASTIC, AMIRITE. And she would have died, had it not been for the appearance of one Kevin Flynn, who just happened to randomly stumble upon her in the Outlands. He saved her, and the two of them escaped, fleeing before CLU tracked them down.
Over the next twenty years, Flynn and Quorra lived in secret. You see, Flynn found himself trapped on the Grid, unable to leave and return to the Real World because of CLU’s assholic tendencies. Flynn had been traveling back and forth between the two through the magic of the inability of the 1980s to understand computers aka a digitizing laser, which would indeed digitize and transport anything onto the Grid. The Portal closed, trapping Flynn, leading to his son having Daddy Issues but that doesn’t belong in this particular app.
So they built a snazzy home in the Outlands, not quite the Grid but very much connected to it—sort of like the Real World equivalent of the boondocks. They kept an eye on things in TRON City, Quorra sneaking back in and going all James Bond to keep Flynn up to date. He was kind of stuck even there, in the Outlands, because the moment he stepped on the Grid, CLU would know, and CLU very much wanted to finish what he started (that means Dead Flynn). Initially, factions continued to resist CLU, but his crackdown came to be too much, and the resistance more or less faded to the occasional fringe. CLU more or less consolidated control over the Grid, turning the programs largely against the Creator and all Users.
This carried on for a while before something COMPLETELY AND TOTALLY HOLY LIGHTCYCLES BATMAN UNEXPECTED happened. The Portal opened. This can only be done from the outside, which meant some shit was going down and finally the plot of the movie gets started. Quorra goes to investigate, and what does she find? One Sam Flynn, User and son of the Creator. He was being forced to compete in Disc Wars, basically gladiatorial games for programs, and when CLU found out who Sam was, challenged him to a lightcycle battle which is the pop culture icon you know but don’t even realize you know (glowing motorcycles, pretty much). Because CLU is a cheating bastard, he set out to basically kill Sam because he hates Users, doubly so this one because it’s the son of the Creator. (CLU also has Daddy Issues.)
But then Quorra is awesome. She busts onto the Game Arena, quite illegally, and swerves towards Sam in her Light Runner (basically a car), ordering him to GET IN THE GODDAMN CAR. Only it’s more like just “Get in,” but she has to tell him twice because he’s a failure. And then she outmaneuvers CLU’s best personal enforcer, Rinzler, like a boss and shows off her mad (see: reckless) driving skills, bringing Sam to an undisclosed location in the Outlands. That is how Quorra met Sam, and he probably feared for his life the entire drive. Good times.
She brings him to her and Flynn’s little home in the Outlands, standing awkwardly off to the side while father and son have a reunion in which Sam’s face just makes you go baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaw SAAAAAM because he hasn’t seen his dad in two decades. But then Flynn goes off to be zen, because what else can a guy trapped in a computer do after 20 years, and Quorra gives Sam a tour of their humble abode. After Awkward Family Dinner Times, Flynn and Sam get into an argument about escaping the Grid (Sam wants to head to the Portal and leave, Flynn thinks they need to wait and bide their time), Quorra decides to help Sam, because truth be told, she really doesn’t want to be stuck there forever. She tells him about a friend of hers—Zuse—giving him information on how to find the program in hopes of helping Sam escape.
Zuse had been a friend of Quorra’s, back before the Purge. He sided with the ISOs, serving as a focal point for rebellion against CLU, especially in the early days after Flynn was ousted. But since Quorra went into hiding, she hadn’t heard or seen Zuse since—but he’d helped her once before, and that was enough. He could help Sam get to the Portal.
Or so she thought. Flynn was suspicious, so they set off after Sam in the Light Runner, which turned out to be a wise decision. Zuse, under a new identity known as Castor, was not quite the same program Quorra once knew. Upon finding out who Sam was, Castor alerted CLU, and the Black Guards showed up at the End of Line Club (the place Castor owned) to take out Sam. Swooping in like the fucking badass she is, Quorra saved Sam’s ass (as she tends to do), but she was caught off guard; her arm was derezzed in the battle, and she fell into a catatonic state. Sam proceeded to kick some Black Guard ass until Flynn showed off and used God Mode, essentially turning the tables, and Sam carried Quorra out as they made their escape—but not before Flynn’s identity disc was stolen. Flynn’s disc is the Master Key to the Grid, something CLU has been after for years in homes of using the Portal to get to the Real World.
They went spiraling down a runaway elevator, wherein Flynn once again used God Mode to stop it from crashing and flattening them all, before making their way to a Solar Sailor (basically like a train—it’s a transport system) in hopes of heading to the Portal before CLU. Flynn rebooted Quorra, finding the damaged piece of her coding, and had some bonding time with his son before she finally woke up. Then it was Quorra’s turn to bond with Sam! He’d found out she was an ISO when Flynn was fixing her, and she shared the fact that Flynn had saved her with him. They sat and were adorable, talking about the sun, while Flynn was off being zen, as the transport continued taking them for the Portal.
BUT THEN SHIT GOT REAL. Or, you know, Flynn forgot time passes and there was some unexpected things waiting for them at the Portal. Like an army. That CLU was building to take to the Real World. Because he wanted to take it over. Did I mention CLU is an asshole?
BUT THEN EVEN MORE UNEXPECTED THINGS HAPPENED. Rinzler showed up, tracking them down, and he was very close and practically on their tail. Quorra, wanting Flynn and Sam to escape, gave her identity disc to Flynn and darted off to serve as a distraction, taking on Rinzler, and though she was captured, she did indeed put up a decent fight, especially for not having her Identity Disc. So Rinzler took Quorra to CLU while Sam and Flynn did some father-son things, like I guess plot how to save her and get back Flynn’s Identity Disc.
Upon seeing Quorra, and recognizing her as an ISO, CLU goes into major creeper mode to which Quorra is Not Happy and quite visibly full of loathing and hatred. Rinzler takes her away, while CLU gives this speech about taking over the User World, Users suck, I’m awesome, WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU FLYNNNNNNNNNN. But when she and Rinzler reach their destination, SURPRISE! SAM FLYNN HAS COME TO SAVE THE DAY! He’d ninja’d his way up to where they were keeping the Master Key, stole it, kicking ass and taking names in the process. Distracted by Sam’s appearance and dropped by her captor, Quorra delivers a nice surprise kick to Rinzler, Sam releases her handcuffs, and they quite literally jump off a balcony to where Flynn is waiting below in a Light Jet to bring them all to the Portal.
Quorra then demonstrates her awesome piloting skills, driving the light jet despite never having used one before. They get into an air battle with CLU, the Black Guards, and Rinzler, during which Quorra steers flawlessly (and probably a little recklessly) while Sam takes care of the shooting. They finally successfully shake off the bad guys (and Rinzler reverts back into Tron! Surprise! Rinzler was a reprogrammed Tron the entire time!), but then Flynn reveals his plan to Quorra. They switch identity discs; she gets the Master Key, and Flynn takes hers. They don’t tell Sam and arrive at the Portal, ready to leave for the Real World.
Except CLU is there. Waiting like a creeper. He confronts Flynn, knocks him back, then with ALMIGHTY RAGE, Sam punches CLU twice. But then CLU turns on Sam and is prepared to take him out. Except Flynn tells Quorra to carry on with the plan, to which she kind of sad faces, before she uses her baton as a light cable to swing under the bridge like a bamf, coming to stand between Sam and CLU as Flynn yells at CLU to remember what he really came for. CLU turns on Flynn, while Quorra restrains Sam from rushing to his father. The bridge starts retracting, leaving Sam and Quorra on the Portal side, with Flynn and CLU on the other.
And then CLU discovers the switch, glaring back at Quorra, who is wearing the Master Key in place of her own identity disc. In a RAAAAAAAAAAGE he takes a flying leap over towards them, but misses and dangles from the edge hahaha asshole. Sam, still trying to get back to his father and yelling that he won’t leave without him, is being consistently shoved towards the Portal by Quorra. Flynn yells back for him to escape, take Quorra to the Real World before CLU’s army arrives and beats them to it.
Quorra tells Sam that it’s what his father wants, holding out the Master Key for Sam to take—which he does, and she grabs a hold of Sam—
And lands in the Wood. Which is probably better than a gritty dirty basement but we’ll see now won’t we.
First Person Sample: this insanely large post that really you probably don’t have to read through almost 300 comments unless you really want to I guess. Happens after the movie’s end, however!
Prose Sample:
The moment the Portal opened, Quorra was off; she didn’t even need to be told. Just a nod from Flynn, a hop in the light runner, and she sped away. She had a little too much fun on the ride over, taking turns too fast and attempting jumps that might have been a little too far—but she was eager, so why not? She had to cut it short, ditching the vehicle just outside the city and making the rest of the way on foot.
Someone came in through the Portal. A User. This was big, big beyond words, and it changed so much. She had to admit, although she recognized the importance of keeping low, on some level, it was driving her crazy; this new development could change that, and she’d be lying if she said she wasn’t at least a little excited by that potential.
She tracked the User to the Game Arena, hardly surprised, although they appeared to be nearing the end by the time she reached it. She was more surprised that no one else had figured out what he was just yet, with the sporadic, random, and completely out of place behavior. And when he went up against Rinzler, revealing himself as a User for the audience, she almost rolled her eyes. Obviously. But then he said his name. Her mouth dropped, although hidden behind her helmet.
Sam Flynn.
If she thought the appearance of a User would change the situation, this was totally unexpected, and it changed everything, more than she realized was possible. And she knew she would have to act fast—there was no way CLU would let Sam Flynn survive for very long, and he was unlikely to get help from anyone else. She scanned the crowd, the arena, watching as Rinzler took Flynn’s son away. She knew CLU’s style, knew his persona—he would be sure to make a grand show in destroying the Son of the Creator, so Quorra scurried off to the Lightcycle Grid, and sure enough, she arrived just as they were bringing Sam out.
When Jarvis started his speech, her suspicions were confirmed, and she quickly made her way back for the Light Runner. Sliding inside, she started it up, speeding not for the entrance, but for the wall of the Lightcycle Grid—a hole in the wall sounded pretty nice. Pretty flashy. Even if Sam Flynn were capable of handling himself, he was very much alone, and CLU was ruthless. It was probably not the best idea, but she had to save him, bring him to Flynn. She knew the Black Guards couldn’t follow her after she went off the Grid, so she’d do whatever necessary in the meantime to reach that point. Beyond anything else, it felt like the right thing to do. No one would know it was her doing the saving. There was too much at stake for her to sit back and see how it all played out.
Special Notes: nada
