Inceptionis one of Christopher Nolan’s most praised and popular works, and its ending is one of the most talked-about of the 2010s, as Nolan left the huge question of whether Cobb is still dreaming or not. Christopher Nolan’s works stand out for the themes he often uses in them, such as identity, time, and memory. In 2010, he brought these together and mixed them with the complexity of dreams inInception, starring Leonardo DiCaprio as Dom Cobb, a very special type of thief: he specializes in infiltrating other people’s dreams to extract or plant information.
Cobb is offered a deal by Saito (Ken Watanabe) to perform an ‘’inception” on one of his business rivals in exchange for Cobb’s criminal record being erased, allowing him to return home to his kids. Cobb puts together a team of experts to help him, but it turns out to be a lot more complex than he thought. Atthe end ofInception, Cobb and Saito escape limbo and the whole team and their subject wake up, with Saito honoring their deal and Cobb returning home – however,due to some details, it’s unclear if Cobb truly wakes up or not.
Cobb’s Spinning Top Totem Seems To Wobble At The End Of Inception
The Top Was About To Fall
Cobb is a professional and has a lot of experience in infiltrating dreams, so he knows the risks and dangers of this unique job. Cobb and every member of his team carry a personal totem through which they can know if they are in a dream or the real world. Cobb uses his late wife’s totem, which is aspinning top that, if it keeps spinning, it means he’s in a dream, but if it falls, then he’s in the real world, as it has a special structure and weight that only he knows.
Every totem must have a specially modified quality in the real world that only its owner knows (such as a distinct texture, weight, or balance), so that, if they are in someone’s dream, the totem won’t have that defining characteristic. Following that logic, if Cobb spins the top while in a dream, it will continue to spin until someone or something stops it. Now, at the end ofInception, when Cobb arrives at his house, he spins the top on the table before seeing his children.
All 5 Totems In Inception & Their Meanings Explained
Inception is a complex bundle of reality and dreaming, but Christopher Nolan used a brilliant method to help the characters discern their realities.
The camera then pans from Cobb hugging his children to the top spinning on the table, andit begins to wobble before it cuts to black. Despite this being a clear hint that Cobb is not dreaming anymore at the end ofInception, Nolan’s decision to cut to black before the audience can see the top fall has created a lot of debate among viewers for years.
Cobb Sees His Children’s Face When He Returns Home
Cobb’s Memories Didn’t Show Him His Children’s Faces
ThroughoutInception, Cobb is haunted by the death of his wife, Mal (Marion Cotillard), her presence in his subconscious mind, and the last time he saw his children. Dom and Mal worked on dream sharing and the power of the subconscious together, and she came up with the idea of totems to separate dreams from reality. When Cobb insisted they go deeper into the layers of dreams, they became trapped in Limbo, where they spent around 50 years building a city created from their memories. Cobb eventually grew tired of Limbo, but Mal decided to forget about reality instead.
How Cobb & Mal Went Into Limbo In Inception
In the world of Inception, Limbo is an “expanse of infinite raw subconscious” at the deepest dream level. Here’s how Mal and Cobb got there.
Cobb performed inception on Mal to give her the idea that her reality (Limbo) was a dream, and so they killed themselves on the train tracks to wake up in the real world. However, the idea implanted by Cobb continued in the real world, with Mal believing reality was a dream and her children were projections. Mal began to have suicidal thoughts as she wanted to wake up, and on her anniversary with Cobb, she jumped off the ledge of the window of a hotel room.
That last time he saw his kids played over and over again in Cobb’s mind and dreams throughout Inception, and the ending mirrored that moment.
However, Mal tried to convince Cobb to jump with her or he would be arrested for her death, asshe had planted false evidence of Cobb being abusive to her and making death threats against her. Of course, this didn’t convince Cobb to jump, but it did lead to him fleeing the United States without saying a proper goodbye to his children, who stayed with Mal’s parents. That last time he saw his kids played over and over again in Cobb’s mind and dreams throughoutInception, and the ending mirrored that moment.
When Cobb arrives at the house at the end ofInception, his children are playing in the backyard, just like he remembered, and even wearing very similar (if not the same) clothes. However, this timeboth kids turn to him and run to greet him and hug him, which never happens in dreams. It’s unknown how long Cobb lived in exile, but it might not have been long as his kids didn’t look much older than he remembered. However, this and their clothes are intentional details added to make the audience wonder if Cobb is awake or still dreaming.
Professor Miles Never Appears In Dreams, But He Does In Inception’s Ending
Michael Caine’s Character Is An Anchor To The Real World
Professor Miles (Michael Caine) is Mal’s father and Cobb’s father-in-law, as well as his mentor, as it was through him that he got into dream-sharing. Miles is the intermediary between Cobb and his children, but reminds Cobb that he can’t be on the run forever and gifts won’t maintain his relationship with his kids. Cobb goes to Miles when he needs an architect for the Fischer mission, and he refers him to Ariadne. Miles’ next appearance is at the end ofInceptionwhen he picks Cobb up at the airport and takes him home.
Michael Caine himself has said in different interviewsthatif he’s in a scene inInceptionit’s because it’s the real world, and he never appears in dreams. In one of those interviews, Caine mentioned it was Nolan who told him Miles only appears in the real world – and so, as he shows up at the airport and in the final scene with Cobb and the kids, Cobb isn’t dreaming at the end ofInception.
Cobb’s Real Totem Theory In Inception Explained
Cobb’s Real Totem Isn’t Revealed
As mentioned above, Cobb uses Mal’s totem throughoutInception, but his totem is never revealed. This made way fora theory about what Cobb’s real totem is, andit’s believed to be his wedding ring. Cobb’s ring could have had specific characteristics that only he would know well, and throughout the movie, he only wears his wedding ring when he’s in dreams, and he’s not wearing it at the end. Even if the wedding ring isn’t Cobb’s totem, it’s still akey detail to know when Cobb is dreamingand when he’s awake – and he’s awake at the end ofInception.
Cobb Might Have Never Gotten Out Of Limbo With Saito
Some Details Might Point To Inception’s Ending Being A Dream
Despite all the evidence of Cobb being awake at the end ofInception, some theories claim he was still dreaming, and they have evidence to prove this. One of the most popular ones says Cobb and Saito never got out of Limbo, and this is based on how old Saito takes Cobb’s gun to kill Cobb and himself so they can escape Limbo, but the movie cuts to Cobb waking up on the plane.Inceptionnever shows Saito killing Cobb and himself nor the rest of their escape from Limbo, making some viewers believe the rest of the movie is still a dream.
Why Saito Became So Old In Inception
Inception saw Cobb rescuing Saito from Limbo, but the latter had aged many, many decades in a short amount of time, while Cobb remained young.
However, it has also been theorized that, given that Cobb missed the kick sequence during their final mission, it was possible for him to wake up directly into reality. The violent death he and Saito went through in Limbo would have also been enough for them to wake up straight away, similar to what happened to Cobb and Mal. In short, there are strong arguments to believe Cobb didn’t leave Limbo but also to believe he did and wasn’t dreaming anymore when he reunited with his kids.
1 Line From Cobb’s Son Might Hint At Inception’s Ending Being A Dream
A Subtle Line Might Reveal A Lot
While the camera slowly pans away from Cobb and his kids and to the spinning top on the table, Cobb’s son says something that makes viewers believe Cobb is still dreaming.Cobb’s son says “we’re building a house on a cliff!”, and Saito’s palace in Limbo sat atop a cliff. This could be a subtle parallel between Limbo and the ending at the house that might point to Cobb and Saito never truly getting out of Limbo. In an interview withWired, Nolan implied the line was improvised by the kid playing Cobb’s son, so it might not mean anything, after all.
What Christopher Nolan & The Inception Cast Have Said About The Ending
Christopher Nolan & The Cast Have Some Ideas About The Ending Of Inception
Unsurprisingly, Christopher Nolan has been asked about the ending ofInceptioncountless times, but he always avoids giving a definitive answer. What he has been insistent on is that whether Cobb is dreaming or not doesn’t matter. Nolan made the ending ofInceptionthe way it is to spark conversation, but ultimately, what matters is that Cobb decided that’s his reality now, hence why he walked away from the spinning top. However, in an interview withWiredin 2010,Nolan said he chooses to believe that Cobb goes back to his kids.
5 Things Inception’s Cast & Christopher Nolan Have Said About The Movie’s Ending
The ending of Inception still causes debate and confusion over a decade later, but Christopher Nolan and some stars have shared their interpretations.
Leonardo DiCaprio, on the other hand, isn’t too concerned about understanding the ending ofInception. Speaking toMarc Maronon his podcast,DiCaprio said he was more focused on playing Cobb than piecing together the ending. The most definitive comments come from Michael Caine, who, as mentioned above, has explained on different occasions that he was told his character only appears in the real world, so that should settle the debate on the ending ofInception.
Source:Wired.
Inception
Inception, directed by Christopher Nolan, features a skilled thief who uses dream-sharing technology to steal corporate secrets. He is tasked with planting an idea into a CEO’s mind, while confronting his troubled past, which threatens the mission and his team.
