Project Carthage

Not to be confused with Sector Five, sometimes mistakenly called "Carthage", the fifth sector on Lyoko.

Project Carthage
A photograph of Project Carthage. (With Waldo Schaeffer circled on it)
First appearance	New Order (end credits)
Purpose	Blocking enemy communications
Creator(s)	Multiple scientists, including Franz Hopper

Project Carthage was a secret military project conducted by the Swiss government that began in 1974. Franz Hopper and Alan Meyer were part of it.

Background

The project is described by Franz Hopper in his diary as a means to "block enemy communications" and was a multi-agent system, similarly to X.A.N.A. The project's name is a reference to the Punic Wars where two powers were at play: Carthage and Rome, similarly to the Western and Eastern blocs in Europe during the Cold War era at the time.

In the Seasons 2-4 end credits, some information about the project is revealed in the form of various photographs from a dossier about Waldo Schaeffer, with one particular photo showing there were at least 15 scientists involved in the project and that, while Franz Hopper was young during its early years, his wife Anthea fell pregnant with Aelita, gave birth and sufficient time passed for Aelita to grow to the age of 12 (by 1994).

Hopper was unaware of Project Carthage's true purpose, and defected once he discovered it. The Men in Black later kidnapped Anthea from their chalet in the Swiss Alps as a result. Franz and Aelita subsequently fled to France and went into hiding, with Waldo changing his name from Waldo Schaeffer to Franz Hopper. He consequently built the Supercomputer, created Lyoko and lastly X.A.N.A. to destroy the project to "stop the threats of electronic war in the world". Lyoko's fifth sector gains its access code from a reference to Carthage.

After this, the Men in Black found them, again, and Franz and Aelita fled to Lyoko to escape them. There, X.A.N.A. imprisoned both and used the information contained in Sector Five to try and destroy humanity. What became of Project Carthage after this point is unknown.

Current Events (Seasons 2-4 and Evolution)

In the present day of the series, Project Carthage is first mentioned during the events of Franz Hopper, where X.A.N.A. Franz Hopper reveals that X.A.N.A. started out as a program meant to counter a military project that was based on a multi-agent system. This detail is confirmed in The Key, where Franz Hopper identifies the project in his diary as Project Carthage.

However, following these two episodes, Project Carthage is not mentioned directly again. Only at two points in the series are any events shown that are directly linked to Carthage. Aelita reveals how X.A.N.A. rebelled against Franz, while Distant Memory shows Anthea's kidnapping by the Men in Black, who are assumed to be related to the project. Beyond these episodes, however, Project Carthage is never mentioned, or shown again, and ultimately does not factor in the Lyoko Warriors' quest to stop X.A.N.A.

During Season 5, the Lyoko Warriors, trying to figure out the mystery of X.A.N.A.'s return, discover a virtual world known as the Cortex, run by Professor Tyron, who, at least according to a piece of archived security footage, used to work with Hopper, but whether or not it was during, before, or after Project Carthage is never confirmed. However, it is confirmed that Tyron's base of operations is located in Switzerland, the country where research related to Carthage took place, and that Anthea is working with him for reasons unknown. Tyron later tells Aelita that one of his goals is to retrieve Hopper's archives, but whether or not this relates to Hopper's diary or other pieces of work is unknown. In the end, while it is certain Tyron plays a more direct role concerning Project Carthage, the season ends without any solid confirmation of what that role is, and the Project fades away into the background once more.

Chronicles (Alternate Continuity)

In the alternate continuity of the novels however, the forces behind Project Carthage are finally revealed and take center stage. It's also revealed Anthea was involved with the project as well. Originally, Project Carthage started out as a humanitarian project meant to revolutionize communication systems, holding at its core a virtual world known as the First City, which had a futuristic and medieval blend in its theme. However, the First City had a "dark zone" secretly installed that would work as an override to turn the project into the system Hopper described in his diary, a system that could override all forms of communication across the globe and put them under the control of whomever activated this dark zone. Waldo and Anthea discovered this in time and took their work elsewhere, abandoning the project and leaving it incomplete. It is unknown who slipped the coding for this override into the First City.

Afterwards, the events described in the background details section took place, with the mastermind behind Anthea's kidnapping revealed to be one Mark Hollenback, who later took on the identity of Hannibal Mago, holding Anthea ransom in order to force Waldo to return to the project. It is later revealed that ultimately, Carthage proved to be too uncontrollable in its current form, with many of its backers abandoning the project, followed with the end of the Cold War essentially rendering the project as surplus and not needed. The Men in Black from the United States then led the charge in utilizing the technology created during the project's research to erase the memories of everyone related to it.

This however, extended to Lyoko, which was revealed to have been created from Carthage's old templates. However, the "dark zone" that had been placed in it could not be removed, prompting Hopper to program the surface sectors and Sector Five as a firewall in the virtual world in order to keep this zone inaccessible, as well as to create Code: DOWN, a self-destruction code that would delete the supercomputer's data, rendering the hardware inoperable and destroying the virtual world for good.

In the end, under threats from the Men In Black, Hopper had his research team's memories erased, and utilized a piece of technology known as the "Memory-Snatching Glove" to implant his backup data into Aelita's brain before making his escape to Lyoko.

Throughout the novels, the forces concerning Carthage are revealed to come from the U.S. Men In Black (Which, while not named, are likely the CIA), who seek to destroy all of the technology and data from Carthage, and the Green Phoenix, a mafia-like terrorist organization who benefited from the technology Carthage created, having previously been the main benefactors to the research concerning Lyoko, albeit without Hopper's knowledge, being currently led by Hannibal Mago himself, the man who had kidnapped Anthea, and had now used the Memory-Snatching Glove to erase her memories and make her into his subordinate.

Ultimately, after much trial and tribulation through discovering these secrets, the Lyoko Warriors, with the help of a reformed X.A.N.A. and new allies in the form of Eva Skinner, Robert DuPuis, and various adults throughout the series who were more connected to Carthage than thought (In particular Susanne Hertz and their own parents) manage to stop the Green Pheonix from turning Lyoko's systems into a weapon, and utilize the Code: DOWN to render Lyoko inoperable, preventing its data from being utilized again and ending the threat that Carthage posed to the world.

Canon?

It should be noted much of what is discussed in this section is heavily summarized in several areas, and belongs to an alternate continuity, holding details that seem to contradict what was shown in the main series.

According to Sophie Decroisette, who co-wrote Code Lyoko's backstory, the writers of the novels had the original concept documents as a starting point. She has not read the novels and initially could not say whether they diverged from what she had written. She later confirmed they had after reading a summary of them, saying: "There are similarities, but it is by no means identical. This backstory is much more detailed but there are things that have nothing to do with what I wrote. The memory stealing gloves, the Broulet [and Brothers], the stories of the [First C]ity, Dido..."

Trivia

• During production of Season 4, Sophie Decroisette revealed they didn't plan on telling the backstory of Project Carthage in the show, describing it as "very complicated... dense and [not] really important to the story".
  • Plans to adapt it separate from the series were discussed, but ultimately fell through. At an event in July 2007 that served as a preview for Season 4, producer Nicolas Atlan revealed they were in talks to adapt it as a series of special episodes roughly 60-70 minutes long, possibly as a trilogy. Decroisette said in 2014 that she would have liked to make an episode that would reveal Franz Hopper's backstory. Although legal issues prevent her revealing details in event it's ever made, she did say "the original idea is that [Franz Hopper’s] problems were caused by him creating something that overran him. And... he had an enemy, who caused his downfall". She revealed his enemy was a scientist named Alan Meyer and still alive during the main series, but dormant. While Meyer would serve as inspiration for Tyron in Evolution, she clarified that the unrevealed backstory was not used by the producers of Evolution "at all", suggesting they are not the same character role-wise.

Gallery

Front cover of the dossier on Waldo Schaeffer from the season 2 - 4 ending.

Image of Waldo Schaeffer and a pregnant Anthea Schaeffer from the dossier in the season 2 - 4 ending.