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Movie fans stunned after discovering how to figure out true ending in Inception

Home> Entertainment> Film

Published 17:19 23 Dec 2025 GMT

Movie fans stunned after discovering how to figure out true ending in Inception

Reddit sleuths figured out the true ending to the Christopher Nolan film

Michael Slavin

Michael Slavin

It might be 15 years on from Inception, but there are still people trying to figure out the ending to the film.

Sir Christopher Nolan is well known for his complex yet beloved plots, with the British writer also having created iconically complicated films such as Tenet, Memento, Interstellar, and his upcoming movie The Odyssey.

It is arguable, however, that of all of Nolan’s films, Inception remains one of the most talked about of his career.

With an 8.8 on IMDb, it is one of the most beloved movies of all time and contains one of the most debated endings ever, however film fans have since discovered how to figure out the ‘true ending’ to Inception.

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For those living under a rock who haven’t seen it, or simply those scratching their head to try and remember the plot, it stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Dom Cobb, an agent who sneaks into people’s dreams to steal their knowledge or memories.

Inception remains to be one of Christopher Nolan's most loved films (Warner Brothers)
Inception remains to be one of Christopher Nolan's most loved films (Warner Brothers)

The film sees him not stealing memories but instead trying to ‘incept’ someone’s ideas into their target’s dreams.

Throughout the movie, one of Cobb’s biggest issues is that he is still plagued by the death of his wife.

But at the end of the movie, he has managed to get over this, going off to see his kids and leaving behind the ‘totem’ he uses which is vital to his criminal enterprise of entering people’s dreams.

Totems in the film are devices you can use to confirm if you’re dreaming or awake, with Cobb’s being a spinning top. In the real world, it will eventually fall over, where in the dream world, it will spin out forever in perpetual motion.

At the end of the movie, he mindlessly spins it as he goes over to hug his kids, with Inception never showing whether it falls or not.

Whilst some of you may be thinking ‘surely the point is that he’s happy and doesn’t care if it’s real or not anymore’, but the majority of film fans deep down do actually want to know the truth behind whether he was genuinely with his kids at the end or just in another dream.

The answer, however, was spotted by fans on Reddit who stated that the idea that the spinning top was his totem was wrong all along.

They spotted that, due to the whole ‘dead wife’ business, Cobb never wears his wedding ring in the real world.

During the film, he finds out that in actual fact, his wife is still (kind of) alive in his dreams, and so he is shown wearing his wedding ring in the dream world.

Many fans are dying to know whether or not he was dreaming at the end of the film (Warner Brothers)
Many fans are dying to know whether or not he was dreaming at the end of the film (Warner Brothers)

One fan commented on a thread about the film saying: “Dom's wedding ring is his real totem, whether he knew it or not.

“When Arthur doesn't let Ariadne hold his die, he makes it very clear that a totem has to be an item that is unique to you.

“The spinning top was Mal's totem. Dom only wore his wedding ring in his dreams because that was the only place he could still be with Mal.”

This means that, thankfully, as he is wearing his wedding ring at the end, he is actually living his happy ending and not simply imagining it in a dream.

Featured Image Credit: Warner Brothers

Topics: Film, TV and Film, Reddit, Christopher Nolan

Michael Slavin
Michael Slavin

Michael Slavin is LADbible's dedicated specialist Film and TV writer. Following his completion of a Masters in International Journalism at Salford University, he began working for the Warrington Guardian as a reporter. Throughout this he did freelance work about Entertainment for publications such as DiscussingFilm, where he was the Film and TV editor. Now, he is LAD's go to voice on all things Netflix, True Crime, and UK TV, as well as interviewing huge global stars such as Jake Gyllenhaal, Daisy Ridley, and Ben Stiller.

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@michaelslavin98

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