One of the most misunderstood scene from the movie is the whole scene where Cobb and Ariadne go into Cobb’s dream – which is supposedly Limbo and which Saito entered from the Ice level by dying.
The interesting thing here is the huge age difference between Saito and Cobb. If you would have noticed, Cobb actually entered Limbo before Saito – AFAIR. Saito was still protecting the entrance while Cobb and Ariadne went into the 4th level of dreams and it was only later that Saito died after throwing the bomb and stuff, while Eames was planting the bombs on the building.
So, while Saito spent say, 5 minutes protecting the entrance, Cobb and Araidne would have already spent a few hours/weeks in the next level. So, had Cobb stayed on, then he would have been much older than Saito.
The other question here is that Cobb and Araidne went into the 4th level of dreams. Is the 4th level the Limbo level?, since that is where Cobb finds an older Saito somehow. Or while I am writing this, I am thinking that Cobb actually dies in this 4th level, due to the collapsing buildings and then goes to Limbo – where Saito is already present since a long time. But I feel this is unlikely (I had a reason to believe this is unlikely, but have forgotten it since I sat to pen this down).
The reason why the buildings are collapsing in Cobb’s dream is due to the structure collapsing in the Ice level. As we know, the environmental changes in the upper level affects the dream one level below. So since the snow fortress is collapsing, so too are the buildings in Cobb’s dream.
What I feel is that Cobb spends some time with his wife. Meanwhile there is a combined kick due to the buildings collapsing and also the snow fortress collapsing. Simultaneously, the lift stage too would have collapsed since Arthur is out of that dream and the van would have hit the bottom of the lake. Together all this would have delivered a simultaneous kick (a third kick, if you please) and Cobb would have woken up under the lake. As he was swimming to the surface, he would have drowned from being under the water for so long.
Due to this, he now goes into limbo, where Saito has been for very many years already. Also the reason why I believe this is when he reaches limbo, he is washed up on the shore. This relates well to the upper level environment where he is drowning in the lake and hence he is washed onto the shore in the dream. Remember, environment affects the dreams.
Does what I say make any sense or do you disagree?
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Tagged: death, dreams, explanation, inception, limbo, movie, story, theory