system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
will someone please ELI5 "dues ex machina"

I don't understand that saying. Is it a reference?
gpt
In ancient Greek plays, tragedies often ended with a God descending from heaven (lowered by a machine, of course) and bringing closure to the plot.

Hence the saying Deus ex Machina (*or* *God from the machine*). It is usually used when someone or something out of the blue brings a storyline to an end which would not have been possible otherwise.

Example: In the final matrix movie, Neo makes a pact with one of the machines to kill Agent Smith. Without the help from that machine, this would not have happened and nothing in the film up to that point indicates that such an event was even a possibility.

Note that the thing interfering in the plot line does not have to be divine or a machine to be called a Deus ex Machina, it simply needs to bring about an improbable change in the story.