What Happened at the End of Inception?

Written by Rizoh. Posted in Flicks

Tagged: featured, movies

• joeschmo

  you guys are idiots.. its not a matter of if he was dreaming or not, because he definitely was. It’s a matter of whether or not he was dreaming throughout the different scenes of the entire movie..

• guy

  overall it still doesnt matter if hes dreaming or in reality because even if he is dreaming he still has to wake up at some point in his life and when he does he will be able to see his children

• Dsdf

  The top wobbling was evidence of a “kick”; a lower dream/living state was trying to awaken him out of the higher dream state he was in with his kids.

• Mitchell76

  The fact that you actually asked that question is the exactly what Christopher Nolan intended to happen by the brilliant ending. You see planting a minuscule idea into the minds of any watching that Cobb is still dreaming which gave life to hundreds of different theories as to what is happening is the whole point. Nolan has actually Incepted US. Thats right US. You saying, “I cant get the ending out of my head” is Nolan’s brilliance at work. That was the point of the movie to incept its viewers. While at first I figured that Ariadne and Arthur are Cobb’s Children grown up( they changed their faces in the dream just like they could with anyone else) and were trying to incept Cobb into letting go of his wife and come back to his neglected children. Think about it at the end of the movie it had to be a dream, his kids were the exact same age and wearing the exact same clothes as he saw them in his memories. So the entire movie was Cobb dreaming and his kids trying to get him to let go of his dead wife. If you stop and think about it, who introduced Ariadne to Cobb? His own father. But thinking back to what Nolan’s goal is, all this came from a simple idea. The idea that Cobb was still dreaming. Pure brilliance. Gotta love it.

• Jmdixon

  yeah… but they kissed, and Arthur wanted that kiss, so i don’t think they were siblings, but good idea

• Fumitachi

  I Know that he is still alive… because he still have many time on that last level of the dream… lets say if he had 1 minute in real life than the 4th level of dream he will have 185years… if my calculation is right…

• Becadefia

  You can hear the top fall when Lionardo Dicaprio’s name shows in the credits. DING!

• Marina

  No you can’t. i just watched that little bit like 5 times in a row and all you hear is the raw awesomeness of Hans Zimmer’s creative music.

• Marina

  No you can’t. i just watched that little bit like 5 times in a row and all you hear is the raw awesomeness of Hans Zimmer’s creative music.

• Anup

  Simple…Cobb is in awakened state.The totem was wobbling & not spinning constantly….I think that’s enough to justify.

• Bryan

  I think the entire movie is Cobb stuck in his own reality loop. The totem Cobb was using was that of his Wife, he did not have one of his own, that was purely her idea and he even said so himself. As he said, never let anyone else feel the weight etc if your totem, it’s what locks you to reality. With his not having a totem of his own, the totem actually becomes useless completely. As a result, instead of it signifying whether or not he is in a dream like he thinks, it signifies what he wants to believe. So it topples over when he wants to believe he’s in reality, and it keeps spinning when he wants to believe he’s dreaming.

  He believes he accessed his Wife’s locked up totem so he can implant an idea for her… but I think she allowed him to access her totem so he could think he was the one implanting the idea. He mentioned that the only way for inception to work, is if the person thinks the idea is truly their own. He thinks he was the one who incepted the idea to his wife that they were trapped in a dream state, when it was really her doing the inception. The problem is, he had no lock on reality like she did. As she kept trying to draw them further out, he was consumed by the idea that they had come out of the dream, thus he didn’t join her when she jumped off the ledge to get to reality. He then gets trapped in his own loop. This was also signified by the scene with the Mirrors, where he is looking into the infinite reflection of himself.

  In the beginning, Saito sees the totem Cobb was carrying and he remembers back a long time ago, he once knew someone who carried an object like that. At the end, Cobb uses the totem to try to point out to Saito they are in limbo. In that first scene, Saito was actually referring to that end scene. Thus showing the closed loop Cobb himself is trapped in (Nolan has used this trick in a couple movies, when he filmed Memento and The Prestige). You can tell they are still in a dream at the end, as Cobb’s kids are still wearing the exact same thing, and even doing the exact same thing he last remembered. That in and of itself made him suspicious enough to spin the top once more… but his having finally been able to change his memory of them (as he had tried to do several times through the movie) allowing him to see their face… he no longer cared if it was a dream or not. That’s why he walked away from the top without checking to see if it would topple over (which would ultimately mean nothing anyway since it did whatever he wanted to believe it would do since it wasn’t his totem).

• http://www.facebook.com/people/Jason-Paulin/100000605793654 Jason Paulin

  He is still sleeping. Why else would the seen with the kids look exactly as his old memory. He was gone for some time, yet the kids were the same age, same spot and same clothes.

• Triestetudent

  …whole film in the end made me think of lucid dreaming, dream yoga, bardos, and Vanilla Sky…fascinating film and to see it again at IMAX would be mind blowing…

• afdfsdffds

  i love you

• knowwhoariadnereallyis

  Cobb is still dreaming and in part II Ariadne (who is actually Mal) will finish rescuing Cobb (who is the one actually being tormented by the insidious idea virus and they will all be reunited as a family.

• C. M. Lott

  I believe that the totem lost it’s effectiveness when Saito laid hands on it and spun it in limbo. It was mentioned by Cobb’s point man that once another person lays hands on your totem it loses its effectiveness. Mal ,the original owner of the spinning top totem, fell prey to manipulation once Cobb got his hands on it. So this fact was stated and shown in film. Further, Saito was the one that planted the seed in Cobb’s head about “dieing an old man alone filled with regret”, to paraphrase Saito. For the reasons I just stated I voted that Cobb is still asleep.

• crazylegs610

  But the whole point of no one laying hands on the totem is because in the REAL world, where the totem was created, only you know the exact shape, size, weight, etc… so if you were in a dream, and it was not your own, no one else’s mind could replicate your totem completely. Therefore, if you pulled out your totem in a dream, and it was not your own, or the real world, the exact dimensions of your totem could never be the replicated exactly…because no one else has ever held it in their hands in the real world. Am I way off here?

• crazylegs610

  But the whole point of no one laying hands on the totem is because in the REAL world, where the totem was created, only you know the exact shape, size, weight, etc… so if you were in a dream, and it was not your own, no one else’s mind could replicate your totem completely. Therefore, if you pulled out your totem in a dream, and it was not your own, or the real world, the exact dimensions of your totem could never be the replicated exactly…because no one else has ever held it in their hands in the real world. Am I way off here?

• Yeagerjeremiah

  I believe that Cobb was awake. The reason behind my belief is because Cobb only wears his wedding ring during his dreams, maybe as his own totem. If you remember The top spinner was his wifes totem that he collected. Now during the end airport scene when the arrangement to get him back into America was honored, he handed his passport over to customs. When he did this he used his left hand, which for a second it is visible that he is not wearing his ring.

• Stauza51

  I just watched the movie and my belief is that Cobb was awake at the end. If you go back to he beginning, Cobb is on the phone with his kids and they ask him if mommy is with him and he states the “mommy isnt here anymore you know that”. That means hes in reality because in the dream world he couldn’t let go of the fact that she was gone. I think that settles the argument completely

• crazylegs610

  What about the part in the movie where he goes to the house after she is gone? The scene where he cannot see his kids faces and he gets the plane tickets? He is dreaming, yet he knows she is gone. Also, in his “own” dreams, she is there, locked away in a “prison” which is keeping her alive…the elevator with the different levels of his memory. He knows she is gone. He just uses the dream world to keep her alive in his mind. Hense…the argument is never settled…which I assume is the whole point

• youknowme

  he was awake
  3 reasons
  1- he doesnt want to see the face when he was dreaming when mal call the children. (totem 1- He only would see the kids when he was awake)
  2 – totem 2- Ring

  3rd reason, that spinner, was the mal Totem, and she always f** him, trying to kill him, so , she could have design the world , and do the spinner stop, in a dream, he always spun that thing, but he knows that isnt a working totem, so he didnt belive to totem.

  He was awake.xD

  Hope you understand my english, because im not english …

• Ophe1ia666

  Cobbs totem was his wedding band; not the top. When he had his ring on he was dreaming When it was off he was not. So now all you need to go back and see if he was wearing his ring at the end or not.

• Hannah

  He was awake because throughout the movie whenever he had his wedding band on he was in a dream. After he gets off the plane and hands his passport over to the attendant, there is no ring. Thereby he is awake. In reality.

• Zombiesinjuly

  I think he was actually still asleep, seeing as how he never woke up in the car in the water. This led to him dying in the dream, which sent him into limbo, further and further down. However, the movie simply didn’t show if he had a late awakening.
  but what really got me wondering was that the top was wobbling. it never wobbled that much in his previous dreams, but maybe we’re not looking that hard. At least I wasn’t. I hoped with all my heart that he’d be awake, but in reality, I don’t think he was. I mean, Before the repeating images of Cobb’s children, he’s seen his children’s faces. It was his wife that caused the whole process to become traumatic. Now that she’s gone, he can finally work everything out… in his head. Yeah.

• Milesl_82

  I think he’s still dreaming. If you go back to the earlier point in the movie, then you could draw the conclusion that Saito actually planted an idea in Cobb’s head. The idea that he COULD go back to see his children, and that Saito was the man who could make it possible.

• Milesl_82

  I think he’s still dreaming. If you go back to the earlier point in the movie, then you could draw the conclusion that Saito actually planted an idea in Cobb’s head. The idea that he COULD go back to see his children, and that Saito was the man who could make it possible.

• Thom

  Definately awake. The spinning top does fall, it just cuts off a millisecond before it falls completely. It’s like Thelma and Louise… Everyone concludes they both die at the end albeit we never see the car explode or any evidence of the characters death. A freeze frame of the car is what we’re shown, and very deliberately too.

  The vote poll shows exactly what Nolan wanted us all to think, to know that yes, Cobb was awake, but as we didnt get certain visual proof, we have that niggling doubt.

• Jordannnnn

  If that stuff makes sense then how could he wake up on the plane where everyone else is there, awake?

  BTW I only half understood this movie so there might be a really obvious answer to my question……so yeah…….

• Mykdelapaz

  He was actually awake at the end. First of all his children, Philipa was 3 years old and James 20 months when he left them at the end philipa was already 5 and with different clothes. So 2 years has passed. (I know the ages of the children because it was in the end credits). The top also loses it stability before the screen went blank.

• Mpucci24

  I have watched the movie five times and my conclusion is inconclusive, there are way to many possibilties with evidence present, im leaning towards still dreaming because the kids are wearing the same clothes, and someone correct if im wrong Arther says the totem only works in someone elses dream, what if cobb was in his own dream? You see what im saying

• Sean-mills-msn

  Cobb’s totem was rendered useless as it belonged to his wife…therefore you can not assume anything purely based on Cobb’s totem.

• Sean-mills-msn

  Also are you telling me that Cobb’s children haven’t aged a day since he left? I thought he got stuck in Limbo for ten years. Someone else do the math and come back to me haha.

• Snarl_07

  he was dreaming……it upsets me as i wanted him to be in reality but he was dreaming. ~sigh~

• Boogiimann

  First of all…. the totem was his WIFE’S. not cobb’s. even if it was cobb’s the spinning thing is irrelevent because saito spun it in limbo. Cobbs totem seems to be his ring (watch the movie at least twice (or once, if your really good)) to see that when hes in dreams he has it and when he hands his passport over (With his left hand (left hand is the ring finger)) he has no ring on. His childrens faces cannot be totems, its obvious people can touch their faces, but theres a possibility (its a movie, for f*cks sake). its a movie- a good a*s movie that has a great mind-f*ck. ^^ (i voted he was awake). great ass movie i tell you! ^^

• KyleK

  I would just like to point out that I really don’t buy that it is ALL an inception on Cobb. Bring it back to the Totems, if it is all an Inception on Cobb why would the Totem still fall. Why would they set up the whole premise of the movie on that final scene where everyone screams at the screen when you don’t see if it falls or not? If the whole movie was an inception on Cobb,our only understanding on whether it IS actually reality or not would all be a lie and I dont think the producers would make the totem so important if it was an inception on cobb. Without the Totem, we don’t know reality!

• Dubaibob

  He was in real life. Had the wedding ring off. Grandfather wearing different clothes and kids older. Kids clothes almost the same and backyard same.

• Austinbraun

  i see it like this. he might have been awake and the kids were outside like in his past memory was just coincidental. the thing is he must have been awake or he woulda still been in limbo. or they skipped a scene of any kick happening and he was awake just like that. why did he end up back in the ocean again at the end even if he was already in limbo? IM CONFUSED!!!

• Quinton_jones2002

  i say hes is awake because the top started to wobble at the end…when a top is spinning it only wobbles when it starts to slow down..hence falls at the end cuase it is loseing speed and cuases the wobble.

• John

  Ok, the kids are not his totem, the top is not his totem. HIS WEDDING RING IS HIS TOTEM. He is wearing it when he is dreaming, and not when he is awake. He is not wearing at the very end. He was awake.

• Uzair121

  Dreaming of course!!! Dats why da top was shown… Its logic!!!

• Marina

  I personally think that he was still dreaming because his children were wearing the same exact clothes that they were in his dreams and so was his father for that matter. the scene just seemed too good to be true. And sometimes a top will wobble on its axis before going back to its perfect spin again. the top did not fall, but it didnt really matter because Cobb was happy.

• maya

  I thought close to the same thing: When we die we go to heaven, which is supposed to be our reality(what the world should be) but we sinned so we live in a”dream.”
  I think the whole movie was a dream. I think he was being incepted.

• Prapti

  I guess he was awake..because in his dreams, dis kids never turned around to look at him..they were called back..this is the first clue, secondly the topper quite seemed to tremble towards the end..mayB it was gonna topple a second later…most of all….the an idea was planted in out head…so we could atleat think of it until we find something out to convince ourselves in any of the two ways…

• Prapti

  I guess he was awake..because in his dreams, dis kids never turned around to look at him..they were called back..this is the first clue, secondly the topper quite seemed to tremble towards the end..mayB it was gonna topple a second later…most of all….the an idea was planted in out head…so we could atleat think of it until we find something out to convince ourselves in any of the two ways…

• Medesabla

  I think that he was awake for theses reasons: 1. when you are in a dream, and spin your totem the totem stays spinning perfectly , but at the end the totem wobbled, indicating that it was going to fall.
  2. Cobb had never seen his kids face until then.
  3. in a dream you never now how you end up there, it shows him get off the plane, see the other people ect.
  4. At the airport it shows a guy holding a sign for the guy that father died, so it couldn’t be his dream.
  Also, i hoped he was awake really bad. At the end when it showed him with theolder version of that guy i was like :0 and i finnaly got it. i loved this movie but thought that it was so confusing i held my breath for the WHOLE movie.

• Ashley

  I don’t know how many time i’ve re-watched the ending deciding if it was reality or dream but, there are somany things leaning me toawrds both. Now i’m mostly thinking it was a dream because of what his kids say. They say “Daddy we’re making a house on a cliff” When they were in limbo wasn’t his and Mol’s appartment on a cliff? I don’t know if that means anything but, it could give another clue. Also his kids were wearing the same thing he saw in his memories.

• Atema Addy

  i believe he was awake because he always imagined his children in the same clothing. Though they wore similar clothes, in the last scene, his daughter who initially had black dress shoes on, wore red sneakers and a longer dress, and his son, who had on sandals in his memory had white sneakers on. If he were asleep, her would have pictured them in the same clothes he has pictured them in before.
  -A³

• Masteratmovies

  Cobb did wake up in-fact even though they didn’t show the totem at the end stop spinning and it did like a jolt kind of move. Cobb woke up and this is how he was in limbo once before, how did he get out of limbo BEFORE we don’t know but he does. Witch means he did it again once he was in limbo at the end of the movie , witch shows how he did it , but we didn’t see it. So Cobb woke up by waking him self up cause he knows a way to wake him self up, witch he done twice in limbo.

• Saskia vreedenburgh

  I voted that Cobb was in reality not dream state – the children we see at the end are older than the children he sees whilst dreaming – to back this up – there are two sets of different actors for the children – but I think it really doesn’t matter – I believe it is the fact that Cobb is finally letting go of whether he is in limbo or reality that is why he walks away from his totem as if not caring what the truth is – just that he is happy and content with his life right now

• GETDJ84

  Y cant u idiots ur over thinking. There are different PHYSICAL evidence proving he’s awake and the only thing that makes u think he’s sleepi-g is ur mind. Wow the toggle fell . It doin perfectly. No matter what in the dream. Also THE KIDS ARE WEARING SIMILAR CLO5HE’S BUT DIFFERENT U DUMB SHIT. He didn’t just appear home like In a dream. And what are these twtards talking aboyr when they say the to%fle doesnt work cuz mal xoyld make it In a dream. WOW U IDIOTS SHE IS DEAD HOW THE F IS SHE GONNA MAKE A DREAM. AND ATUPID HIM AN SAITO WERE IN LIMVO,AN THE REASON THEY DIDNT WAKE UP IS CUZ THEY SHOT T&EMSELVES STUPID. HE IS AWAKE THERE IS PROOF WHAT IS UR PROOF FOR A DREAM? U DIDN’T SEE THE TOGGLE FALL? WELL UR GONNA LET THAT AND SIMILAR BUTDIFFERENT CLOTHES TRUMP ALL THE EVIDENCE? MILAN MADE THE CAMERA STOP B4 THE TOGGLE FELL AND THE CLOTHES JUST TO MA/E RETARDS GO NUTS AND SAY HE’S SLEEPING U DUMB SHITS. I HATE STUPID PEOPLE. ARE U ALL IN THE FIFTH GRADE. SO SO GULLIBLE

• David em.

  haha i feel the same way xD

• john q…lol

  this movie opened my mind to many new and exiting ideas, but when the scene is cut short i lost all sence of control and got pissed. so i voted “was awake” just to put my mind at ease

• john q…lol

  this movie opened my mind to many new and exiting ideas, but when the scene is cut short i lost all sence of control and got pissed. so i voted “was awake” just to put my mind at ease

• Dog

  even if he was still dreaming … he is gonna notice the spinning top at some point …. then just kills himself

• Dog

  even if he was still dreaming … he is gonna notice the spinning top at some point …. then just kills himself