There's a short conversation between Seraph and Agent Smith where Smith says "I remember chasing you was like chasing a ghost" and Seraph says "I have beaten you before".
What's the story between Seraph and Agent Smith? what point in the timeline did they end up meeting and how did they end up becoming enemies?
I know Seraph is a program like Smith but it's never really explained (to my knowledge) how these two characters already know each other.
Unfortunately that is one of those things we will never know, unless it is apart of some other connected spin off at some point in the future. I have looked the same thing up and no clue. All we know is they've met before. It is interesting
shareI've been putting some thought into this and the only thing I can really think of....
The Oracle told Seraph about the Smith program and she sent Seraph to stop him (This would have happened before the events of the first film and before Neo even comes into the picture).
Seraph succeeded in stopping the Smith program but only temporarily. Smith gradually grew more and more powerful as time went on and when he found out how to copy himself, it made him the most dangerous program inside the matrix.
Smith says to Seraph "I remember chasing you was like chasing a Ghost". what I can gather from this quote is Smith had a lot of trouble with Seraph during their past encounter(s), indicating Smith was probably a pretty weak program in his early days.
After The Oracle realized how powerful Smith had grown, she knew Seraph wasn't going to be able to do anything against him anymore and then went in search of Neo, knowing he was the only one powerful enough to stop Smith.
If anyone has anything else to add, please do so. I'd love to shed some more light on this.
Did you understand that the whole story had been happening over and over for a while?
Different versions of Zion, of the Matrix, of Neo etc. Smith was looking for the Oracle. Seraph was protecting her so yes they met before.
Seraph was a rogue program from an older version of the Matrix who decided to remain exiled there instead of being deleted, probably using Merovingian's help. (That's why Merv called him "my little Judas", because he worked for Merv as payment for helping hide him but then betrayed him by going to serve the Oracle.)
As an agent of the system, Smith would have been charged with hunting down Seraph once he went into exile and deleting him. (Just like the agents were going to delete the Keymaker when they found him.)
Matrix Reloaded. Seraph fought Neo to a standstill. So it’s not a stretch to think he would beat Agent Smith.
The question would be how Seraph is just as good as Neo and Agent Smith though.
Can't remember where I read this years ago, or where it came from, a video game or a comic book or whatever... but supposedly it's canon... take it with however many grains of salt you wish.
Seraph is from an early version of the Matrix where instead of Agents, there were Angels who kept kept watch over the humans. Probably the "paradise" version of the Matrix i.e. the origin of the whole 'Book of Genesis' motif. When that version was decommissioned, naturally all of the Angel programs were to be deleted, but Seraph went rogue and ended up being one of the first to join the Merovingian and work for him. Eventually Seraph betrayed Merv, and Merv's punishment was to take away his angel wings. This is why Merovingian's men refer to him as "Wingless" and Merv himself greets him in French with something like "Ah, it's the angel without wings."
Anyway, as a rogue program in the Matrix, the Agents were out to delete him every chance they got, hence Seraph's prior clash with Smith.