'Inception' ending: 'Lost' showrunner Damon Lindelof's theory

Dom Cobb was the SUBJECT throughout the whole movie. And at the end of the movie was the only time he was acctually awake. The clues are obvious once you realize that he was the subject and not Fisher.
Dom Cobb even said in one scene, the only way I can get to see my kids again is if I get back to the real world. At that scene the architect ran into the elevator real fast so he didn’t realize that he was being incepted.
There was no Cobol or Cobal however you spell it.. This whole plan was a setup to plant an idea in Dom’s head so that he could realize what the real world was. The person behind the idea was Michael Caine’s character, thats why he was at the airport. The real extractor was Saito.
It’s obvious he was in a dream throughout the whole movie. And they said that the totum was so that you knew that you were never in someone elses dream, not reality. Thats why when he went to the indian guys place he went to sleep and woke up in a someone elses dream. Thats why he never got to spin the totum in the bathroom.
Another thing.. Dom never got attacked throughout the whole movie, because he was the subject! Everybody else was getting attacked. Especially in the scene when the train came crashing through the middle of the street. Do you remember Dom being attacted in that scene? I didn’t think so.
There were flashbacks of Dom in the real world, but the Inception started when the so called “cobolt guy” told him that it was now or never, and gave him airplane tickets. Rember, there is no cobolt and that guy was part of the team in performing the inception on Dom. This explains why the kids are in the same spot when he got home wearing the same clothes. Because he was only asleep for a few hours.
Dom realized they planted the inception on him when he arrived back to find Saito sitting at the table an old man, the Dom says with a bewildered look on his face, I’ve come to remind you something, that this world wasn’t real. Thats when he realized he had the inception done to him. As he awoke on the plane you see everybody sitting there with a smile on their face knowing that they just did it to him, otherwise Fisher would have been like, you were in my dream and you and you were there and you were there! Right?
Think about all of the clues given to us. Its actually obvious if we pay attention a little harder. And about the top, it clearly started wobbling and no it did not start spinning again before the movie went to black.

At least his Twitter profile is accurate.

But WHY was he under Inception? and how could they bring him back if he was in limbo? annnd was the movie all just a dream, or the ending? Raises a good question cause they were smiling and not cheering him on returning and accomplishing the task, Saito looked pissed for some reason too. Very questionable if he was really dreaming in the beginning or just the very end because he went into limbo. but remember, once in limbo all your thoughts and memories get scrambled and your mind slowly deteriorates.

I'm equally excited by this to-be the sci-fi classic of 2010s too.

Allow me to offer two pts that I noticed many audience haven't noticed.

Let's assume the entire Inception is a real exercise.

The scene of meeting between Cobb n the aged Saito provides critical clue to the mysterious ending.

A few leading questions will help ....
1. How old was the aged Saito? 80s or even 90s n it meant he has been trapped in limbo for some perhaps 40 or 50 yrs.
2. Where was aged Saito? He died in Level3 n therefore limbo was at Level4.
3. How long do u think Saito was trapped to experience aging? Going by the math, depending the time delay factor, I'd say another 8 hrs real time at least to produce that time effect.
4. Do they have that long time on the flight? Bear in mind, they've planned the 3 levels Inception exercise by utilising the flight time. There u r ... u get the math right! If the meeting between Cobb n aged Saito really took place limbo, ie resulting from Saito got killed at the L3 dream (snowny castle). Sorry guys ... the wake up scene n how Saito made phone call to clear immigration for Cobb could not possibly happen at real life. The flight time wasn't long enough to allow that to happen. Therefore, the rest n the conclusion wasn't at real life.

To satisfy yr curiosity, u may wonder why Cobb didn't age? That was equally critical. After Cobb saying goodbye to Ariadne at L4 (when she was about to jump at the building edge with Fischer to provide a kick to bring back the dying Fischer ... nb Fischer hasn't died yet n that also explain how the Forger could bring Fischer back to L3 n continue the mission to open up Uncle's secret. (I'll come back on this pt later.)

Cobb must have found another way to provide a kick himself to come back L3 the Snowny castle, locate Saito, n enter his scrambled mind of limbo (Saito's L4). This'll explain why Cobb wasn't aged. It's reasonable to assume locating Saito in his limbo could take time from L3.

I concur that the aged Saito may have pulled the trigger to commit suicide in order to provide a needed kick to come back to life. He may be failed but that doesn't matter. As I said, timeline won't fit to real life.

Even we can't be sure if aged Saito has killed himself or even Cobb, Saito n Cobb couldn't possibly awakened in time.

My best guess is if Saito lucky enough to come back, this must hv happened sometime after landing at a hospital, like a coma patient awakens!

Another important not being mentioned at all, is the role of the Forger - Eames. He was v creative n could make things happened, eg magically take out a big gun at the garage in the L1 dream. Forger was "seeding" the message to Fischer while Fischer thought he was "extracting" from his uncle, but was turned out to be his own projection.

Therefore I tend to think the Inception exercise was a success n everyone came back except for Cobbn n Saito.

Enjoy ... any more question?

See? It CAN be done. You can write a complex, intriguing story with a GOOD ending!!!

Dear Mr. Nolan,

Dug your flick. Highly inventive ideas and nicely paced -- except for the snow sequence. Here are 21 bits of logic I was too stupid to figure out…

DREAM LOGIC:

1) In my dreams, which I believe are pretty standard as far as dream-logic goes, I can't create projections that work independently of my observation of them. Everything in my dream, POV wise, is relegated to my mind's eye. So, outside of my peripheral vision would be nothingness -- otherwise it would be like building a 360 movie set, but only photographing 20 degrees of it, which would be pointless, not to mention a huge waste.

2) If I can create independent projections to fend off security breaches, why can't I also hear everything in my dreams, like when trespassers are talking about their plan to screw me over?

3) Why can't Cobb (Leo DiCaprio), who's a professional dream trespasser, just simply wave his hand and wipe out the dreaming victim's projections? I mean the forger character, Eames (Tom Hardy), was able to do this when he said to Cobb's partner Arthur (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), "You've got to think bigger, Dear" and manifested a grenade launching gun. This is a BIG logic fail for me and pretty much ruins the dream-logic of the entire film for me -- not dissimilar to when Neo decided to stop flying away and flight all the Mr. Smiths in the two "Matrix" sequels.

4) I'll try not to nitpick on how many times dream-logic is violated, but as a prime example, when their target businessman, Fischer (Cillian Murphy), is re-hooded and placed in the van as they take off for the bridge, they give him a drop of some sleeping agent that causes him to pass out. How can he not see the liquid agent -- with the hood on -- and still know he was given something to "pass out" on? It's his dream, he needs to see this and BELIEVE that he will pass out from it. Also, he can't pass out because he's dreaming, otherwise he should be tethered to the "dream machine" to go with them to the next level, right?

5) Lucid Dreams: I've had several and what I remember most about them most is that I can do whatever the hell I want to in them. When I know I'm sleeping I can fly, kick-***, and rescue the girl. No one has power over me. That's the point. So, how can someone co-opt me? Also, it would have been fun to make reference to the old adage that we mostly dream in black and white.

6) Who's dream is it really?: If I'm dreaming, then I'm in my dream, right? My dream state and my dreams are the same thing, right? Hmm. So how can I ever enter someone's dream without it also being equally my dream? And if it's also my dream, why can't I, especially if I've had years more training than my victim, not create my own super-army to wipe out the other guys projection-army at will? I know Arthur missed it in his research that Fischer has had some training -- but so what? They're supposedly the best at this. They can manifest a badass army at the drop of a hat. One that they've used and perfected over and over again on other missions.

STORY LOGIC:

7) The Dream Machine AKA "PASIV": They never convincingly explained how you enter someone else's dreams. This worked for Freddy Kruger because it was a supernatural movie, not a painfully serious "realistic" sci-fi thriller like this is selling itself to be. How come so many people know about this machine that the government created and OWN? This technology would be under lock and key, and yet, Miles (Michael Caine) taught his son in-law (or father?) how to use it in his class? WTF? He just didn't want him to use it for bad? Pleeeease.

8) How come Cobb co-opted his "dead" wife Mal's (Marion Cotillard) totem top? Why not create his own totem like everyone else did? And Mal was alive when Arthur knew her, so Arthur knew enough to create one. So how come Cobb never had his own?

9) It's mentioned that Eames the forger/character-impersonator can't spell, setting us up for something that will reveal Cobb is in a dream state, but we never see this -- unless you made that bit for the DVD version that will allow people to pause on every document shown in the movie, i.e. the passports, news clippings, etc…

10) Ariadne (Ellen Page) asks Cobb if anyone else knows about Mal leaking into his dreams and Cobb says "no." However, Arthur asks Cobb in the first action opening sequence "What's she doing here?" So, he was obviously aware of her presence in the dreams. Are we supposed to believe Cobb's just now starting to lose control of his dead wife? Also, the going back-and-forth of her showing up in his dreams feels too contrived as a way to show he's being haunted by her. He's a master at dream control, right? Why wouldn't Cobb just send her on her way, kill her every time she makes an unwanted guest appearance? Also, HOW COME not all of the sleep levels had gravity issues?

11) In the movie's bookend scenes of Cobb meeting with his Asian client Saito (Ken Watanabe), how come Cobb holds his spoon like a convict? What, in limbo land you forget basic table manners? Is he supposed to be so weak from washing up on the beach that he can't hold a spoon? Speaking of Saito, why did he go on the Fischer dream-mission again? Wouldn't Fischer know who his competitors are? What they look like? These fortune 500 guys keep up with each other. And lastly on Saito, this guy's a bit of a nefarious dude, why are we rooting for his plan to destroy Fischer's power empire? Is Saito more worthy of benefiting from the power than Fischer? Why?

12) And I thought it was very cool that Cobb was catching the bullet shells as he was killing the projections in Saito's lair at the beginning of the film, but why? If Saito can't hear everything in his dream, like people conspiring against him, why be quiet then? Are we supposed to believe these projections can communicate with each other if they hear a shell hit the ground -- but they can't communicate this to Saito? Seriously? This happens all over the place in the verbose James Bond climax. Also, couldn't a projection get wounded too and not just killed? Hmmm.

13) I have real trouble rooting for someone who would abandon his kids and go off for 50 frigg'n years in some manufactured dream world with his wife -- a world by the way that looking like some post-modern architectural hell! There's no people, no trees, no restaurants, no theaters to play Chris Nolan movies! WTF!

14) Towards the end, Saito got Cobb past U.S. Customs, but big deal. As soon as his neighbors see him, or anyone who wanted to put him in jail for killing his wife - the authorities for one -- his *** is toast. And his mother-in law hates him for "killing" her daughter -- and she has custody of the kids! D'oh!

15) How would Cobb's wife, Mal, find Fischer in limbo and kidnap him if Cobb hadn't gone to limbo yet? After all, she is only Cobb's projection, right? How can she be there already, unless it's all his dream?

ENDING LOGIC:

16) Was the whole movie a dream starting from the moment he tested Yusuf's extra special sleep agent? After all, we never see him spin his little totem top after he wakes up from the test. He gets interrupted. Also, we never see him wake up in the van, like everyone else.

17) Nice spin, Mr. Nolan, on Kubrick's "2001: Space Odyssey" set design ending. How you reversed the all-white and lit from below death-bed scene in "2001" with the all black and lit from mostly above death-bed of Fischer's father. Also got the rectangle florescent lighting in Cobb's dream-lab warehouse that you knocked from the war room in "Dr. Strangelove." Very surreal and clever.

18) When Cobb calls his kids they are older over the phone then in his visions of them. The daughter sounds like she's at least nine, so we can assume he wasn't dreaming then, right? Also, at the end the daughter also seems taller, even though she is in a similar dress, but with different shoes. However, when he spins the top on the table at the end, it spins in an unusually perfect way and for WAY too long for it to be reacting normal, so I am claiming that he is still in a dream state -- end of story… or until the sequel. And lastly, if this means Cobb was in a dream state all along, and possibly just came out of it at the end of the film with the help of his wife all along, does that also mean he never fled the country in the first place and his wife is still alive -- then where is his wife at the end?

19) If his wife was actually in the right all along re: trying to wake him from a dream, then it seems weird he would also intercut his dreams with his partner tying up everyone and dumping them in an elevator -- among other separate actions scenes.

20) I like endings that don't spell it out for you, but I can't help feeling you, Mr. Nolan, never created a final ending for yourself. If that's true, which I'm sure its not -- again, I'm probably just stupid -- that would be very half-assed, a major cheat, and awfully gimmicky at best… IMO.

21) Lastly, the music is wall to wall. I was aware of it and that's never good for an audience. Wall to wall music is always used to cover up bad, or slow, scenes, or heavy exposition, which should be avoided at all costs. I didn't feel there were bad scenes, though there was a bit too much exposition, so I might have pulled back a bit on Hans Zimmer's brilliant music -- let your dynamic sound design carry more… IMO.

Well, there you have it, Chris. Again, I want to reiterate what an amazing achievement "Inception" is, though I may not understand it all. Tonight I will break into your dreams and "extract" all the answers and use "inception" to get you to tell us all WTF really happened in your movie!

Cheers,
Dean

You forget the #1 Rule about totems. You don't touch another persons totem. The top was NOT his totem!! It was his wifes. This trapped him and skewered his view on reality and trapped him in dream/limbo.

All the hints had to be hand fed to Cobb by the extraction team in a SUBTLE way to sell him. That is the way you extract someone, to make them believe it is THEIR idea. She REMINDS him subtlety that you are not supposed to touch anothers totem, by reaching out for his. Also subtle hints by Saito "Do you want to be an old man filled with regret?". Over and over it is fed to you like Damon states. The fact that Cobb is using her Totem seals the fact he is trapped.

Inception Explained.

Basically you kick to get out.
Leo's character and his wife get stuck in limbo somehow cause he incepted her for some reason to find something about her?
They get back to real world but limbo made Leo's wife sick.
Wife kicked unnessesarily.
Leo cant go home.
Leo works for the asian guy's company.
Leo in the end gets his kids back.

@ the dued: Your theory sounds good up to the point where you say Dom is never attacked. He is indeed attacked in Cobal's backyard, when they went to see the chemical guy.

Hmm another thing that has been bothering me is why didn't Dom age like Saito when he went back to save him at the end?