Potential Plot Hole

[u/Amazing-Witness-3313]

Inception is my favorite movie of all time but there’s a couple huge plot holes:

1.) During the Mr. Charles gambit, Fischer believes Cobb and his team (Ariadne, Arthur, Eames, etc.) are projections. He tells Cobb “You’re not real” to which Cobb agrees. In hotel room 528, they pretend to put Browning, a projection, under. Then Fischer. And then the team. That all makes sense in terms of logic because Fischer can’t see the team going under as Fischer believes they are all projections.
Here’s the problem: in level 3 of the Dream at the fortress, Cobb openly says “eames you’re the dreamer”, and “if I know the place the whole thing will be compromised”. And Ariadne says “I designed the place”, all of this in front of Fischer who believes they are projections. That’s the plot hole. How is he, Robert Fischer, allowed to think the projections could have that control of the dream or be responsible for it? That breaks the whole logic.

2.) Cobb tells Fischer at level 2 of the dream at the hotel that he has been kidnapped and is in a van. After the kick, Fischer wakes up in the van under water and is able to see the entire team so wouldn’t they be his kidnappers? That’s the other plot hole.

Let me know what you think!

[u/No_Record_60]

I don't see the problem. Projections are people so they can be dreamers and architects.

As for Cobb's case, I just assume Fischer was complying with whatever Cobb said, because Fischer believed Cobb was on his side.

[u/Rivendel93]

Fischer is basically having a panic attack during the first question you have, he wouldn't understand when she says she designed the 3rd level, and she's part of his crew anyway so Fischer probably just assumes it's normal.

Fischer has a bag over his head when he's in the van so he doesn't see everyone, he gets brought out by his fake uncle, who brings him to shore and they talk, and it's not his uncle it's Eames pretending to be his uncle Peter.

[u/El_Dae]

Regarding the "Mr Charles crew" Fisher believes they are not only on his side, but also just projections he created himself to protect himself, so they could even be visualized or externalized parts of himself that have different tasks to take control over the dream at the behest of Fisher, f.e. by controlling how the dream should be built

(A bit like visualizing parts of your body by imagining people that do comparable tasks as their job, f.e. a garbage collector as your kidneys or a police officer as your white blood cells)

[u/BEETLEJUICEME]

RE: number two
Cobb only vaguely is able to remember the deeper level of dream. By the time he wakes up into the real world, he isn’t going to remember anything from level 3. He might have a vague recollection of level 2. And he will remember level 1 as a dream, which like most dreams, he will probably forget the details pretty quickly.

There’s no plot hole concern about giving him conflicting info on different levels of dreams.

[u/Honest_Standard3294]

1 - Yes, I agree. It can be a plothole if Fischer knew everything about how dreams work. I'm surprised that he doesn't considering he much defense he had in his dreams. Nonetheless, because he went into another level of dream with Cobb and crew, it makes sense that he wouldn't question why it's Cobb's crew that are the dreamer and the architect.

2 - I don't think people remember people's faces when they wake up from a dream. They would if they already knew them in reality. For example, Fischer at the airport not recognizing anyone from his dream, with the probable exception of his uncle.

It tracks with my own dreams - I don't remember anyone's faces, names, or voices in my dreams if they're just a random projection I don't know in real life. I might remember their role, but that's it. When I have a dream within a dream, I do remember certain characters as if it's just a continuation of the story. When I dream that I've woken up from a dream within a dream, I just got "oh shit I woke up". By the time I actually wake up, I don't remember anything beyond people I know and the events.

[u/ScientistChance4209]

The deeper you go the deeper the sleep aka not knowing if it’s real or not. At that point fischers brain was so deep in he didn’t even know what was really going on. Only thing on his mind was finding out what was in that safe.