Inception has made way for countless theories, especially about its ambiguous ending, and there’s one popular theory that has been widely taken as a fact, but it is probably totally wrong. The movies by Christopher Nolan have stood out for their visual and narrative style, along with the themes he addresses in most of them. These are time, idenтιтy, and memory, and in 2010, he added the complexity of dreams in Inception. The film was a critical and commercial success, and it’s considered one of the best movies of the 2010s, as well as one of Nolan’s best works.

Inception follows Dom Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio), who specializes in infiltrating other people’s dreams to either extract or implant information. When offered a big mission that, if successful, will grant him free access back to the country to reunite with his family, Cobb puts together a team of experts to perform “inception” on a target. However, the mission gets complicated by the subconscious of the target and Cobb’s own trauma. The ending of Inception has sparked a lot of debate for years, but the most popular theory about it might actually be wrong.

Why Everyone Thinks Cobb’s Totem Is His Wedding Ring, Not The Spinning Top

A Theory Says Cobb’s Real Totem Is Completely Different

The biggest mystery in Inception is all about its ending. Cobb and his team succeed in implanting an idea in Robert Fischer’s (Cillian Murphy) subconscious, so Saito (Ken Watanabe) honors their deal and makes the call so Cobb can enter the US again. Cobb is taken home by his father-in-law, Miles (Michael Caine), and he finally reunites with his children. However, as soon as he arrives home, Cobb takes out his deceased wife’s “totem”, a spinning top, and spins it to test if it’s a dream, but he’s distracted by his children.

The camera pans from Cobb and his kids to the top, which continues to spin, and the screen cuts to black. Right before the cut to black, the top seems to wobble, but Nolan doesn’t let the audience know for sure if Cobb is truly awake or still dreaming. Now, a popular theory suggests that the ending of Inception can be solved through Cobb’s real totem – after all, the spinning top was Mal’s (Marion Cotillard) totem, not his.

The theory claims Cobb’s totem is his wedding ring, as many viewers have pointed out that he wears it when he’s in a dream but not in the real world. The idea is that Cobb stopped using his wedding ring totem after Mal’s death as he adopted the spinning top as a new totem, and the ring easily fits Inception’s totem concept. In the movie, totems are objects used by the characters to test if they’re still in a dream or if they’re in the real world.

For that, each of these objects has modified qualities that only the user knows, so if they are in someone else’s dream, those characteristics will be off. Cobb’s wedding ring could have had a specific weight, shape, texture, or material that made it different and unique to him. Now, Cobb isn’t wearing his wedding ring at the end of Inception, which is why this theory has been widely accepted as true and as the final clue to solving the movie’s biggest mystery.

Inception Doesn’t Give Us Enough Clues To Say Whether Cobb’s Wedding Ring Is His Totem

Some Clues Fit, But They Aren’t Enough

As fun and interesting as the Inception wedding ring theory is, the truth is that, when given more thought, there aren’t enough clues throughout the movie to support it. The characters involved in the whole “inception” process (though not Fischer, of course) carry their totems in dreams and real life, otherwise they would lose their purpose. Cobb’s wedding ring only appears in dreams but not in real life, so if it truly was his real totem, he would also wear it in real life, aware of its unique characteristics.

The most likely explanation for the wedding ring only appearing in dreams is linked to Cobb’s guilt and the memory of Mal haunting him in his subconscious. Mal is still very present in Cobb’s mind, so much so that she sometimes messes with his missions, and Cobb carries a lot of guilt over her death, which is why she keeps appearing in his subconscious. Cobb could have worn his wedding ring in dreams to appease his memory of Mal, but in real life, it might have been too hard for him (emotionally speaking) to continue wearing it.

You Can’t Decipher Inception’s Ending Just By Looking At Cobb’s Wedding Ring

There’s A Lot More To Inception’s Ending

The wedding ring, while a curious detail that surely wasn’t unintentional (Nolan, after all, is heavy on details), isn’t enough to solve the mystery of Inception’s ending. During the Fischer mission, Cobb finally makes peace with his part in Mal’s death, with Ariadne (Elliot Page) killing Mal’s projection. This set Cobb free, so it wouldn’t be surprising if, from then on, he stopped wearing his wedding ring in dreams, as well. With this in mind, by the time he returns to his children, it truly could have been an extension of the dream.

The ending of Inception is designed to be ambiguous, so much so that there are details that support both ideas of what truly happened. The clothes of Cobb’s children, for example, are very similar to the ones they wore in his memory and dreams, and the kids looked the exact age in both dreams and real life. On the other hand, there’s Miles’ presence, with Caine himself saying that his character never appeared in dreams, so he proves that the ending is real. Ultimately, the ending of Inception is left open to interpretation in many ways.

Inception’s Real Message Has Nothing To Do With Whether The Spinning Top Falls At The End

The Real Meaning Of Inception’s Ending Goes A Lot Deeper

Of course, Christopher Nolan has been endlessly asked about Inception’s ending and whether Cobb is still dreaming or not, and he has avoided giving a definitive answer. The closest to it has been telling Wired in 2010 that he chooses to believe that Cobb truly got back to his kids, but also added that the truly important part of the ending is that Cobb doesn’t wait to see the top fall, because he doesn’t care. Cobb accepted his return home as real life, and ultimately, that’s what matters.

By then, Cobb had already been through a lot, but the most important part was that he made peace with Mal’s death and dealt with his guilt, thus finally freeing himself. Cobb doesn’t need to prove to himself that he isn’t dreaming, as this is finally the reality he has been waiting for. If Cobb accepted what happens in Inception’s final scenes as his reality, maybe the audience should accept it too – but surely, it’s fun to pay attention to all the little details in it.

Source: Wired.