Christopher Nolan’s movies often leave more questions than answers, making way for a variety of theories on what truly happened to the characters, their real intentions, and even the meaning of the whole movie, and here are some theories that change Nolan’s movies. Nolan's works have stood out thanks to his narrative and visual styles (and his insistence on using as less CGI as possible), as well as for the themes he frequently uses in his movies, such as memory, identity, and time. Nolan made his feature directorial debut in 1998 with the crime thriller Following, and his big break arrived two years later with the psychological thriller Memento.
After the release of Insomnia in 2002, Nolan visited the superhero genre in Batman Begins, the first entry in what would become his Dark Knight trilogy along with The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises. Movies like The Prestige, Inception, Interstellar, Dunkirk, and Tenet further established Nolan as one of the most important directors of his generation, and his works – both original stories and adaptations – have been endlessly analyzed over the years. Of course, Nolan’s works haven’t been safe from theories, and some give new meanings and perspectives that ultimately change the viewing experience – and here are some of them.
6 Tenet, Inception, & Interstellar Are Linked
Unlike other directors, like Quentin Tarantino, there’s no connected universe of Christopher Nolan’s movies, but there’s a theory that suggests three of his biggest projects are linked: Inception, Interstellar, and Tenet. The theory, originally posted on Twitter (but now gone), begins by explaining that the Protagonist’s handler in Tenet, Neil (Robert Pattinson), and Tenet scientist Barbara (Clémense Poésy) are actually the children of Inception’s protagonist, Dom Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio). The author of the theory supports this by pointing out that, although Cobb’s children were very young in Inception, the girl was a few years older than her brother, so that fits with Tenet’s Neil and Barbara. Other characteristics that can support the theory are Neil and Barbara’s hair color and the fact that Barbara is French, as was the mother of Cobb’s children, Mal (Marion Cotillard) – however, Inception revealed that the kid’s names are Phillipa and James, though they could have changed their names at some point given the jobs they chose.
Then there’s the connection between Tenet and Interstellar, which is more complex. The theory explains that Interstellar’s apocalyptic Earth is Tenet’s future, in which the Time Bomb was created to destroy the planet and humanity because it became uninhabitable in the future. The Time Bomb in Tenet was destroyed, so Earth truly became uninhabitable, matching the future of Earth in Interstellar, where NASA and other scientists were working on ways to move mankind to other habitable planets. If there’s indeed a connection between these three, Cobb’s children did greater things than their father and had a role in saving the world (for a while, at least), but Earth in Nolan’s universe would be inevitably doomed to be destroyed.
5 Cobb’s REAL Totem In Inception
Inception combined the above-mentioned frequent themes in Nolan’s movies with dreams, making it one of his most interesting stories. Inception follows Dom Cobb, a professional thief whose specialty is stealing information by infiltrating the subconscious of his targets, and he can also implant ideas through that some process. Cobb brings a whole team with him on every mission, formed by architects, chemists, forgers, and more, and in order to know whether they are in the real world or in someone’s subconscious, they use totems. In the world of Inception, totems are objects with modified qualities in the real world that only their owners know about, because if they are in someone’s dream, those special characteristics wouldn’t match. Cobb’s totem is a spinning top that used to be his wife’s totem, but a theory suggests that his real totem was his wedding ring.
Viewers have pointed out that Cobb wears his wedding ring when he’s in a dream, but when he’s in the real world, the ring is nowhere to be seen. Theories suggest that Cobb’s stopped wearing his wedding ring after Mal’s death and started using her totem instead, and the idea is supported by the ring being an object that can have specific characteristics that only the wearer would know well. If Cobb's wedding ring is his real totem, this detail puts an end to the debate over Inception’s ending, as Cobb is not wearing the ring when he reunites with his children, proving that he wasn’t dreaming.
4 Copper Caused Every Anomaly In Interstellar
Interstellar followed NASA pilot Joseph Cooper (Matthew McConaughey) and his crew as they went on a complex mission through a wormhole near Saturn in search of a new home for mankind, as a global famine was having serious effects on human society. After visiting a couple of planets and overcoming major challenges, Copper fell into the black hole and found himself inside a five-dimensional tesseract, where he could communicate with his daughter, Murph, by moving the books on her bookshelf and sending her Morse code messages through a wristwatch. This was key in Murph solving Dr. Brand’s gravity-equation and completing their mission, but a theory adds that Cooper’s actions inside the tesseract also caused every other anomaly.
Posted on Reddit, the theory explains that when Cooper fell into the tesseract, he bounced off the walls, which would have had consequences on specific points and places in time. These hits could explain the other anomalies seen at the beginning of Interstellar, such as knocking the book off Murph’s bookshelf the first time, attracting the unexplained drone from New Delhi, and the disruption of the GPS and compasses of the combines, which drew them to a gravitational pull at the house. This would bring Cooper’s life to a circle, as he would have provoked the events that led him to fall into the tesseract.
3 The Joker Saved Gotham In The Dark Knight
Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight is considered as the best entry in his Dark Knight trilogy and one of the best superhero movies ever made, and a big part of the movie’s success was thanks to Heath Ledger’s Joker. True to the character’s nature, Ledger’s Joker wanted to create chaos across Gotham City and play with Batman’s mind, but a theory suggests that he was actually the hero of the movie, the only problem was that his methods were violent. The author of the theory, posted on Reddit, explains that before the Joker arrived at Gotham, the city was controlled by the mob and other organized crime groups, city officials were corrupt, and they allowed a masked vigilante to run around the city. Once in Gotham, the Joker robbed a mafia-controlled bank, which triggered a chain of events that led to him getting rid of organized crime and corrupt officials, though in very chaotic ways.
Joker knew that in order to get rid of Batman, he had to break him from the inside, which is why he let Rachel die and made Batman save Harvey Dent, the latter being a much better symbol and martyr for the city than Batman. Dent’s death was the last piece in his plan to break Batman, and even better, it made way for the Dent Act, which wiped out organized crime by imprisoning all criminals. At the end of The Dark Knight, Gotham was almost clean and Batman went into hiding for years, so the Joker was the movie’s secret hero.
2 Alfred Didn’t Really See Bruce At The End Of The Dark Knight Rises
In typical Nolan fashion, the closing chapter of the Dark Knight trilogy, The Dark Knight Rises, left the audience wondering what truly happened at the end and how. After Batman seemingly sacrificed himself to save Gotham, Alfred (Michael Caine) traveled to Florence, Italy, where he saw Bruce, alive and well, with Selina Kyle (Anne Hathaway), and they silently acknowledged each other. This gave a happy final twist to The Dark Knight Rises after Alfred felt guilty over failing Bruce, but a theory takes it all on a dark and tragic path by suggesting Alfred never saw Bruce in Florence. It certainly is too much of a coincidence that Bruce would come across Alfred at the café especially when he didn’t know the exact place Alfred used to go to, so the theory simply suggests that Alfred didn’t really see Bruce, instead remembering his old wish of seeing Mr. Wayne sitting there, with his partner, living a happy life.
1 The Prestige’s Machine Never Really Worked
The Prestige is based on the 1995 novel of the same name by Christopher Priest, and it follows two rival stage magicians – Robert Angier (Hugh Jackman) and Alfred Borden (Christian Bale) – in London at the end of the 19th century who, obsessed with performing the perfect teleportation trick, get involved in a bitter rivalry with tragic results. With the help of Nikola Tesla (David Bowie), Angier used a machine that replicated himself so he could perform his “The Real Transported Man” act, but a theory changes it by suggesting the machine never really worked. Instead, Angier continued to use a double for the act, and the drowning element was only part of the final night’s act as he knew Borden’s curiosity would get the better of him, and Angier could then frame him. However, this theory has various inconsistencies, such as Cutter identifying Angier’s body and the flashback to his first testing, but if true, it would deliver on Cutter’s line “you’re not really looking, you want to be fooled”.