Lyoko

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An outside view of Lyoko. The various sectors, clockwise from top, are: Mountain, Forest, Desert, Ice Barrier, and Carthage in the center.

Lyoko (pronounced either l'yoh-koh or lee-oh-koh, IPA: [l'jəukəu]) is a virtual world in the French animated television series Code Lyoko. In some French texts, the word appears as "Lyokô".

[edit] Description

Lyoko is contained within a supercomputer within the factory. It is divided into five separate sectors, all with their own unique features. The first four sectors are arranged around the fifth, like the spokes of a bicycle wheel. Each sector is isolated from the others by the digital sea, also known as the digital void. The Ice Barrier is the first sector. The others are numbered counter-clockwise starting from the first. Carthage is the fifth sector.

There are forty-one towers scattered about Lyoko; ten in each main sector and one in Carthage. They act as data processing nodes, pathways to the real world, and safe haven for those on Lyoko. It is through these towers that Xana can attack Earth. Throughout the four main sectors, giant wires wind their way out from the fifth sector to each of the towers in each of the sectors, acting as conduits for data. Red energy can be seen pulsing through these wires whenever Xana activates a tower, and pulsations follow the wires along the ground. These wires can be severed, which will isolate the tower, much like disconnecting a network cable on a traditional computer.

If the supercomputer is shut down, Lyoko begins to dematerialize from the edges inward. The void seems to remain, though it may just be the last thing to disappear. Any monster or vehicles present when the shut down takes place will dematerialize as well. The supercomputer has never been shut down long enough for the full extent of the shutdown to take place.

In the third season, Xana begins deleting the sectors one by one by using the Scyphozoa to possess Aelita. Once possessed, Aelita heads for the way tower and enters the code "Xana" into the interface at the top, deleting the entire sector. In "Double Trouble", Xana finishes deleting every sector, leaving only Carthage intact. In "Final Round", Xana uses William as a medium to destroy Lyoko's core, thus destroying Carthage and rendering the supercomputer useless.

[edit] History

According to Franz Hopper's diary, Lyoko and Xana were originally meant to destroy Project Carthage, which was a military project designed to disrupt enemy communications. It began sometime in 1974. Franz Hopper left the project roughly twenty years later. From the information given, it is not clear if the project was ever shut down. The sector Carthage seems to be the three-dimensional representation of that project. Why he wished to destroy it is unclear, but he built the supercomputer to accomplish the task.

Lyoko was later adapted to serve as a sanctuary for him and Aelita. This seems to be a result of his suspicions that someone was watching him. He split the keys to Lyoko between himself and Aelita, which would make the pair the absolute masters of Lyoko. The government eventually found him, forcing him to flee to Lyoko with Aelita.

Upon reaching Lyoko, Aelita and Franz were attacked by Xana. Franz tried to reason with Xana, but was unsuccessful. As a last ditch attempt to stop Xana, Franz shut down the supercomputer, and it remained that way for ten years. Once it was reactivated, Xana took control and used it to attack the real world.

After its escape from the supercomputer at the end of the second season, Xana deleted Lyoko's sectors one after the other by possessing Aelita and forcing her to enter the code "Xana" in each sector's way tower. At the end of the season, he possessed William Dunbar and used him to destroy Lyoko's core. The core's destruction collapsed Lyoko in upon itself, leaving only a Xana-possessed William in its wake.

[edit] Benefits

Living on or visiting Lyoko gives people certain benefits, such as enhanced strength, speed, supernatural abilities, and a measure of immortality as long as they remain there.

Within Lyoko, the normal laws of gravity and physics do not fully apply, allowing those in Lyoko to easily achieve feats of acrobatic prowess that would be considered almost (if not completely) impossible for even the most well-trained athlete. As such, anyone that goes to Lyoko seems to gain an increase in speed, strength, and agility. Weapons and various special abilities are also granted based on the subconscious desires of the person.

Fatigue is practically nonexistent on Lyoko. While in Lyoko, people only get tired when hit with the largest of blasts, such as the elliptical laser of a Megatank, and even then they recover fairly quickly. Mental fatigue, however, is a big problem. This is especially true of Yumi and her telekinetic power. Various outside factors or damage (such as laughing gas, scanner damage, and even hunger) can negate some of the physical benefits. The degree to which this occurs is dependent on the factor involved. In addition, the Scyphozoa's attacks tend to wear out its victim. If it is allowed to complete its task, it can actually kill its victim.

Because those on Lyoko are digital rather than organic, they do not age. A clear example of this is given with Aelita, who spends ten years on Lyoko after arriving there around the age of twelve. She does not age at any point during those ten years, though her voice and intelligence change significantly in her slumber.. The same benefit would also pass to Odd, Yumi, and Ulrich, but their overall exposure to Lyoko is not enough for any noticeable difference to be seen.

According to Jeremie's explanation of the five senses in "Cruel Dilemma", those on Lyoko have two (and a possible half) of the five senses: sight and sound. However, other episodes have shown that Odd, Ulrich, and Yumi have the other three senses (taste, touch, and smell) to a certain degree. This could be due in part to a phantom limb-like condition caused by their virtualization.

Finally, thsoe who have been to Lyoko build up a natural resistance to Xana's ghosts. Jeremie, having never successfully gone to Lyoko before "Mister Pück", was easily possessed by Xana while both Odd and Ulrich were resistant to the ghosts. Jeremie went to Lyoko at the end of the episode to correct that problem.

[edit] Towers

Main article: Tower (Code Lyoko)

The towers serve as data processing nodes for the supercomputer, and as a link between Lyoko and the real world. By infecting these towers (usually one at a time, but sometimes more) Xana can attack the real world. Aelita, Jeremie, and Franz Hopper can operate the towers in the same manner, but nowhere near as skillfully as Xana can. Xana can take over towers activated by Jeremie, and Franz can do the same with both Jeremie's and Xana's towers. Aelita is capable of deactivating any tower.

[edit] Sectors of Lyoko

[edit] Ice Barrier

True to its name, the Ice Barrier (also known as the "Glacier," "Polar," or simply "Ice" sector) is cold and icy. Composed of large glaciers and thin paths covered in a thin layer of snow, the Ice Barrier is just as slippery as any ice-covered area in the real world. While not dark, there is no visible sunlight in this region. Many of the towers in this sector are only accessible through various caves and tunnels, which sometimes forces the group to slide through the tunnels to reach their destination. Additionally, in the episode "The Girl of the Dreams", Odd mentions that Aelita may be "in a storm or snowbound," referring to a blizzard, but this phenomenon has yet to be observed in any episode.

Simulated water exists in this sector, and like actual water can be swum through. Xana's monsters have proven to be less than proficient swimmers, as four Tarantulas drowned in the episode "Temptation". Odd, on the other hand, has no trouble swimming through the water in the episode "Vertigo". With enough speed, Ulrich can run across the top of the water.

This is the only sector Xana was unable to delete. Instead, Aelita willingly deleted it in a Pyrrhic victory in "Sabotage" so Jeremie could repair the supercomputer.

[edit] Desert

The Desert, like any desert worth its name, is dry and sandy as far as the eye can see. It has an oasis, but the water stored there is just an illusion. It leads to a lower platform. The biggest danger is falling off the edge (plateaus are rather small here) and into the digital void below. The Desert is very sunny, reflecting the bright and dry climate of regular deserts.

Xana has the ability to create sandstorms in this sector (only seen in the episode "Log Book"), as well as tremors that cause the plateaus to break apart. Additionally, in the episode "Plagued", Xana was able to tilt a plateau to a ninety degree angle. Aelita, Odd, and Ulrich were on the plateau at the time and would have fallen into the digital void had Aelita not used her creativity to save them. The Krabes were able to traverse the tilted plateau easily thanks to their scythe-like legs.

[edit] Forest

Mystery reigns in the enchanted-looking Forest. Graceful trees, suspended in mid-air, let their roots dangle into the void. The Forest can be considered the most beautiful of the five sectors. It also has narrow paths rather than plateaus, though the chance of falling into the void here is less than in the Desert. Despite that, this is the only sector where someone has actually fallen into the void. The trees also provide excellent cover, which can lead to traps. Like the Ice Barrier, there is simulated water in this sector, but in a much smaller quantity. The Forest is typically bright, but not as much so as the Desert. The Forest noticeably changes in the transition between the first and second season. In the second season, it is far brighter than before, appears to have more trees, and has larger land masses than it previously had. Throughout the series, the Forest sector is the center of Lyoko's plot-related events.

[edit] Mountain

Its peaks craggy and its stones sharp, one false move in the Mountain and the group will topple off the rocks into the gaping void beneath. The Mountain is full of moving platforms and tricky obstacles, and is known for having further platforms underneath the "cloud cover," obscuring the digital void in some areas. These clouds make it difficult to aim oneself onto the lower plateaus. Xana can extend and thicken the fog. If one of the players falls a sufficient distance, regardless of whether or not they land properly, twenty life points are lost on impact. Though not dark, no sunlight is visible in this sector, as the cloud cover obscures it. The actual mountains in this sector are double sided, with the top being the smaller side.

Being mostly empty sky, the Hornets have the advantage over the group in this sector. In contrast, the narrow paths discourage the use of Megatanks in this sector, since falling off of the edge is quite easy. However, the Megatank's attack makes them effective blockcades on narrow paths, since one Megatank can effectively blockcade a tower on its own without having to worry about retaliation.

[edit] Carthage

Carthage, commonly called Sector 5, is a sector hidden deep within Lyoko, discovered in the second episode of the second season, "Unchartered Territory". Carthage is accessible by the special password SCIPIO (from Scipio Africanus, who defeated Hannibal of Carthage in 202 B.C.). This summons the Transport Orb to the edges of the other sectors furthest from Carthage to carry its passengers to the sector's core, called the arena. In the episode "Double Trouble", Jeremie found a program allowing him to virtualize the warriors directly into Carthage. Carthage is the very core of Lyoko itself.

The sector itself is shaped as a giant blue sphere. On the outside surface of the sphere is a barrier covered with images of binary code similar to those seen in the towers. Floating in the middle of the sector is the main body of Carthage – a smaller, but still massive, blue orb. Four data streams feed from equidistant points on its surface to the four other sectors. Everything in Carthage is blue and geometrically shaped. In this sector, the digital void has been replaced by a data barrier similar to the ones in the towers, but falling into it seems to be just as bad as falling into the void.

The interior of the orb is an ever-changing maze, designed to act as a security feature to prevent intruders from finding their way around. The interior rooms and corridors of Carthage are composed of planes, cubes, and rectangles that can slide freely over, around, and against each other. Therefore, this sector can reconfigure its topography at will.

Upon accessing Carthage, the labyrinth will reconfigure into a random pattern and a three-minute countdown will begin, allowing the user(s) try to traverse the labyrinth and disable the security system. The security system is disabled by pressing an Eye-shaped switch (called a "key") somewhere within Carthage. Like the rest of the sector, the key is moved with each visit. Failure to deactivate the security system results in the user(s) being trapped in Carthage and having to wait on someone else to reset the maze from the arena. They do have about a minute or so to escape before this happens, though.

After the security system is shut down, a pathway out of the maze opens up. This leads to a multi-directional elevator. It only stops at one point, so a carefully-timed jump is needed to board it. The elevator moves on tracks around the outer surface of the sphere. It will eventually pause to allow its passenger(s) to disembark. It always pauses at the same spot; another platform that leads to the outer surface of Carthage. On the surface is a special interface that allows full access to the supercomputer, Lyoko, and Xana's data. While the interface is being used, the user controls in the lab are locked out.

Leaving the sector can be achieved one of two ways: the user(s) can either head back to arena and take the Transport Orb or they can head to the surface and wait for Jeremie to open one of the data streams. The first option allows the user(s) to be dropped off anywhere in Lyoko. The second allows them to exit through an exit tower in the sector that corresponds to the data stream they use.

Within this sector are unique monsters that call it home. The first of these are the Creepers. These monsters never leave Carthage. They aren't very tough, but they do almost as much damage as a Megatank and can scale the walls of the sector as if they were walking upright. Another are the Mantas. They usually hatch from the outside surface of the sector to prevent intruders from leaving, but have traveled to other sectors on occasion. The last is the Scyphozoa. Unlike the other monsters, the Scyphozoa is nearly, if not completely, invincible. To date, it has yet to be destroyed. There seems to be only one. This monster's main purpose is to steal memories, usually Aelita's. It first appeared in Carthage, but now travels wherever it is needed. No other monsters appear in this sector, likely due to its unique layout and purpose.

Carthage is the only sector which can actually devirtualize the heroes without the help of monsters. Various traps exist in this region that can remove a hero in one or two hits. One such set of traps are the walls and ceiling of Carthage, which can easily be moved into positions that will flatten the heroes. Pieces of the ceiling can also be shaken loose, producing the same, albeit less-controlled, effect. As one would expect, getting flattened automatically devirtualizes them. Odd has been the victim of this trap the most; he compares the experience to being run over by a steamroller. Another less-common trap are security lasers. These have only appeared in the episode "Exploration", and cause 90 points of damage in a single hit.

This sector is not connected to the regular materialization program, which means that if the characters lose their life points here, they will not automatically return to Earth unless the proper program is run. In the episode "Exploration", Aelita was forced to sort through the data contained within the sector in order to find the proper materialization program.

It has been discovered that there is at least one hidden tower inside Carthage that Xana can activate without fear of Jeremie's super scan detecting it. It is possible that Xana displaced one of the other forty towers to accomplish this, which would explain why it is not used consistently.

This sector was the first sector to exist, even though it's classified as the fifth. The original Project Carthage, as described by Franz Hopper, seems to be represented by this sector, even though the project existed before the supercomputer did. Its purpose was to disrupt enemy communications. For a reason that has yet to be revealed, Hopper sought the destruction of this place. To that end, he designed the supercomputer, Lyoko, and Xana to destroy it. He never went through with this plan, though. Instead, he reworked the rest of Lyoko to serve as a sanctuary for him and Aelita. When they were finally forced to travel there, Xana rebelled. It isn't clear why it did so, but it is clear that Xana took control of the sector instead of destroying it as Hopper had intended.

Within the heart of Carthage lies Lyoko's core, the code which maintains the virtual world. Should it be destroyed, Lyoko and anyone on it would go with it. The core is suspended near the top of Carthage's inner chamber by three conduits. The core itself is a miniature version of Lyoko. Surrounding the core are two transparent cubes, both of which act as shields. A large amount of sustained laser fire is required to break through them. Since these shields regenerate with each failed attempt to destroy the core, destroying it takes a long time. The core is only accessible through a passage on the bottom of Carthage, and the passage is protected by a door that rapidly alternates between open and closed. A key similar to the one that shuts off the timer is present just past the door, and produces a staircase into the actual room.

[edit] Digital Void

The Digital Void (also referred to as the Digital Sea) is the empty space in Lyoko. It surrounds all five sectors. Like a sea, the edge of the void waves and moves like water. Falling into the void causes permanent virtualization. On top of that, those that fall in are lost in the void. Jeremie can track down those lost and use his materialization program to recover them, but he still doesn't recommend falling in since finding them is a difficult task. Yumi is the only one that has ever fallen in (in "Cruel Dilemma"), and she was recovered shortly after, though only barely; Jeremie had not yet mastered the more complex materialization used to make Aelita human, and was only able to save Yumi because Odd had inadvertently entered the proper code earlier, creating a one-time materialization program.

Monsters will be and have been destroyed if they fall into the void. They explode on contact, producing a column of energy. The same rule applies for the vehicles. Aelita would probably have suffered a similar fate if she fell in, but whether or not it would have produced a similar effect is unknown. Of course, now that Aelita is fully human, her fate would be the same as anyone else should she fall in.

In "Tidal Wave", Xana raises the level of the digital void to engulf Lyoko, preventing any access to its surface. Aelita and Odd make it to Carthage before this occurs, allowing Aelita to retrieve the necessary data to reverse the process. After Lyoko's destruction, the void is the only thing that remains.

[edit] Virtual Limbo

Seen only twice (once in "Frontier" and again in Jeremie's dream in "Code: Earth"), the virtual limbo exists as a null space between Lyoko and the real world. It exists within the supercomputer's memory, which Aelita is linked to. Jeremie was accidentally trapped here when he first attempted to go to Lyoko. The scanner memory had been cut off before the process had completed, trapping him in the limbo.

Upon his arrival, Jeremie was able to speak to Aelita through her link to the supercomputer's memory. Through the link, Jeremie was able to tell the others how to free him. After travelling to all four regions and collecting the scanner memory from all four passage towers, Aelita was able to travel into the limbo and free him. During that time, their minds were melded, allowing them to sense the other's feelings.

[edit] After Lyoko's destruction

In the fourth season, Lyoko's destruction is not as complete as it seems. Jeremie and Aelita manage to restore Carthage to working order, allowing Jeremie to send his friends into the internet after Xana through the digital sea. Within the digital sea are islands, known as "Replikas," that resemble smaller versions of Lyoko. Behind each of these Replikas is a supercomputer under Xana's control. To destroy Xana, these supercomputers must be destroyed. To this end, Jeremie develops a new materialization process known as "Translation", which allows him to materialize his friends at the location of the supercomputer behind a Replika. Furthermore, they are materialized in the Lyoko forms, which Jeremie has improved in the fourth season, not their regular human forms, giving them the necessary tools to destroy each supercomputer.[1]