Inception/Characters

The Team

Assemble your team, Mr. Cobb. And choose your people more wisely. —Saito

• Badass Crew: Everyone has a Crowning Moment of Awesome at one point or another in the film.
  • Caper Crew: Also this.
• The Beautiful Elite: Having Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Tom Hardy, Ellen Page, Ken Watanabe, and later, Cillian Murphy make up for more than half of it should tell you something.
• Five-Man Band:
  • The Extractor: Cobb
  • The Point Man: Arthur
  • The Chemist: Yusuf
  • The Forger: Eames
  • The Architect: Ariadne, with shades of The Smart Guy
  • The Tourist: Saito
  • The Mark turned Sixth Ranger: Robert Fischer
• Gentlemen Thieves: Granted, more subtle versions.
• Gray and Gray Morality: All of them are generally mild-mannered and approach their job with a commendable level of professionalism (given that their job is mentally dangerous to them as well), but that job does involve searching through people's minds in order to steal important secrets and (in the film's main case) using lies to give someone an idea from the inside.
• True Companions
• Sharp Dressed Men and Girl: Especially evident at the second dream level at the hotel.

Dominic "Dom" Cobb

Our dreams feel real while we're in them. It's only when we wake up we realize things were strange. —Played by Leonardo DiCaprio

• Anti-Hero: Type II with some Type V moments. He certainly isn't a mean person, but he also doesn't hesitate to use the occasional Batman Gambit to get what he needs, depending on the job.
• Broken Ace
• Byronic Hero
• Dark and Troubled Past: The "past" part is actually pretty recent.
• Disappeared Dad: Although he's not this through his own fault (most definitely not through his intention).
• Guile Hero / Manipulative Bastard
• Heartbroken Badass
• Hot Dad: He is played by Leonardo DiCaprio.
• Older Than They Look
• Pair the Smart Ones: With Mal
• Parents as People: The reason Cobb took Saito's job was so he could return to America and see his children again.
• Perma Stubble: Can double as a Beard of Sorrow.

Arthur

A dream within a dream within a dream? Is that even possible? —Played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt

• Badass Bookworm: His job with the group is to do the research, and his hallway fight definitely pushes him into badass territory.
  • Fridge Brilliance, in that he was able to improvise a "kick" without feeling gravity on his level, implying him to have some understanding of physics... or at least, the physics in the movie. Perhaps said understanding of physics also helped him outsmart the guards in the midst of the Gravity Screw?
• The Comically Serious: Arthur is the most level-headed and serious member of the team, and as such is not amused by Eames' somewhat careless behavior, getting his chair constantly tipped over, or loud music.
• Deadpan Snarker: Not as much as Eames, but he definitely has his moments.
• The Lancer
• Not So Stoic: After learning that Cobb's withheld information on the sedative. He was pissed.
• The Reliable One
• Sharp-Dressed Man and Badass in a Nice Suit: His signature look.
• Waistcoat of Style

Saito

...So do you want to take a leap of faith, or become an old man, filled with regret, waiting to die alone? —Played by Ken Watanabe

• Corrupt Corporate Executive: Maybe, but presented in an unusually sympathetic light.
• Japanese Tourist: He's Japanese, and his role is explicitly that of "Tourist", so...
• The Load: Plays the part for a good deal of the movie, being in a state of near death, but...
  • Took a Level In Badass: As the team goes deeper, he plays a more active role, even taking out some dream-mercenaries with a grenade.
• Older Than They Look: He's the old man in the Japanese castle who shows up in the film's beginning and end.
• Screw the Rules, I Have Money: Not the worst example of it, and it even contributes to a Crowning Moment of Funny.
• Sharp-Dressed Man: Justified in that he's a corporate executive

Ariadne

Don’t lose yourself. Find Saito. And bring him back. —Played by Ellen Page

• Ariadne And Dominic
• Audience Surrogate: Unlike most cases, though, she's able to pick up on things pretty quickly instead of asking questions all the time.
• Brainy Brunette
• The Chick: Her status as this helps her to get closer to Dom and realize that he may have some issues that need resolving.
• Hollywood Nerd
• Hot Chick in a Badass Suit
• Meaningful Name: With a name like that, of course you'd be making mazes.
• Naive Newcomer
• The Not Love Interest: Towards Cobb and Arthur, despite the Ship Tease with the latter.
• Ordinary College Student
• Reality Warper: Her first dream session with Cobb is all about learning to use her architecture skills to develop levels.
• She Cleans Up Nicely: Was mentioned as looking "nearly unrecognizable" in high-power business attire.
• Smurfette Principle
• Took a Level In Badass
• The Watson

Eames

Your condescension, as always, is much appreciated, Arthur. —Played by Tom Hardy

• Ambiguously Gay: His way of speaking toward Arthur is peppered with Ho Yay to some.
• Badass: The team's most prominent example next to Arthur.
• The Big Guy
• Deadpan Snarker
• The Gadfly: Especially towards Arthur.
• Master of Disguise
• More Dakka: "You mustn't be afraid to dream a little bigger, darling."
• One-Man Army: Puts down a snow fortress brigade pretty much by himself in the third dream level.
• Perma Stubble: Unlike Cobb's though, it's more to showcase his playful personality.

Yusuf

Do you still dream, Mr. Cobb? —Played by Dileep Rao

• Badass Driver
• Bollywood Nerd
• Good Old Ways: His old-fashioned apothecary.
• Sir Not-Appearing-In-This-Trailer
• The Smart Guy

Malorie "Mal" Cobb

I'll tell you a riddle. You're waiting for a train, a train that will take you far away. You know where you hope this train will take you, but you don't know for sure. But it doesn't matter. How can it not matter to you where that train will take you? —Played by Marion Cotillard

• Ax Crazy
• Big Bad
• Brainy Brunette: Before her breakdown, Mal was the one who originally came up with the idea of totems, items that would stabilize a dreamer's sense of reality. Man, the Irony.
• Broken Bird
• Death Glare: Pfft, Marion is such a cute actress, she couldn't possibeeeeehhhh...
• Dissonant Serenity: When the dream is collapsing and everyone else is running around frantically, what does Mal do? She calmly walks through the destruction and is amused at how Dom gave Saito the wrong documents.
• Driven to Suicide
• Enemy Within
• Femme Fatale
• Gone Horribly Wrong
• Hot Mom: Well, used to be.
• Missing Mom
• The Missingno
• Older Than They Look: For the same reason as Dom.
• The Ophelia
• Pair the Smart Ones: With Dom.
• Woman in Black
• Yandere

Prof. Stephen Miles

Come back to reality, Dom. —Played by Michael Caine

• Cool Old Guy
• The Mentor: He was this to Cobb.
• One-Scene Wonder: Appears in barely two minutes of the film and still leaves an impression.

Robert Michael Fischer Jr.

At the end, he called me to his deathbed. He could barely speak; but he took the trouble to tell me one last thing. He pulled me close... and I could only make out... one word: "Disappointed." —Played by Cillian Murphy

• Missing Mom: Died when he was only 11.
• Sharp-Dressed Man: Justified for the same reason as Saito.
• The Sixth Ranger
• Spoiled Sweet: A possible deconstruction in that he is a well-meaning and gentle person despite his father's immense wealth and power, but he's nowhere as cheerful or positive as other examples of this trope due to his distant relationship with said father.
• Sugar and Ice Personality: Though he usually puts up the image of The Stoic, it's clear that he cares about other people and has an emotional side.
• "Well Done, Son" Guy

Maurice Fischer

• One-Scene Wonder
• We Hardly Knew Ye

Nash

Asshole! How did you mess up the carpet? —Arthur to Nash

• Dirty Coward
  • Rewarded as a Traitor Deserves
• Failed a Spot Check: Nash creates a dream replica of Saito's "love nest", but forgets details like what the carpet is made out of. This lets Saito know he's still in a dream.
• Sacrificial Lamb: His leaving early gives way to Ariadne getting hired by Cobb.