Tenet has caused the internet to implode and many fan theories have been circulating. One of the most popular theories surrounds the character Neil.
Throughout the movie, Neil (played by Robert Pattinson) seems to know far more than he should and though the reason for this is revealed at the end, it could go far beyond that. Throughout this post, we’ll be discussing who we think the character really is and the evidence to prove it.
There will be heavy spoilers from here on out so if you haven’t seen the film yet then I suggest you invert yourself and go back and watch it.
Neil is Kat’s Son Max
Initially, Neil just seems like a contact that was randomly assigned to The Protagonist to help him with his missions. However, the character starts to play his hand more and more throughout the movie and we realise that he knows far more than he should. He spouts off dialogue about how time inversion works, knows about the grandfather paradox and always seems to be one step ahead of the game.
In the end, it’s revealed that the character is actually himself fully briefed up on exactly what’s going on and we learn that in the future he was hired by The Protagonist before being sent to protect his younger self.
It’s a twist that fatefully leads to the character’s death but what if it goes far beyond that?
Well, firstly I just wanna shout out to WillJD11 who first dropped the theory on my Tenet ending explained video. It wasn’t something that I caught on the first watch, however, having gone back to the film a second time, I think it becomes glaringly obvious that it’s the case.
I pretty much sat throughout the film making notes on my phone which probably ruined the movie for people behind me but god dammit this is important work.
Clue Number 1
So the first time we meet Neil he spouts off two lines of dialogue that pretty much cement that he is examining what kind of person The Protagonist is at this point.
When talking to him, Neil asks “would you take a child hostage?” before following this up with “what about a woman?”
It’s something that flies by the first time, however, on a second viewing, it becomes clear that he is referring to Kat and her son to see whether The Protagonist would be willing to protect them or if he would risk their lives.
Their lives are of course paramount to the storyline but the fact that he asks about the child first could be playing his hand. If Neil is really the child then he would, of course, have his own interests at heart and he must be sure that The Protagonist is going to do anything he can to protect him so that he can return the favour when he’s older.
He also asks about Kat because if this theory is true and she is his mother then he would want to protect her. After Kat is shot at the halfway point of the movie, Neil takes great care of her and pretty much nurses her back to health, almost going above and beyond what’s expected of a field ops member.
Neil isn’t a medic and the fact that he spends so much time with her when he could have easily just taken a medic along with them does hint at what’s going on.
Clue Number 2
Neil also knows that The Protagonist likes to drink.
Now, this is a point that I think can be taken as either he is the son or he isn’t however it does hint towards their friendship and shows that they’ve done a lot of things together social rather than just as part of a mission.
When The Protagonist meets the scientist at the start of the movie she makes it clear that they shouldn’t have any chit-chat together and it’s best that neither has any idea who the other is. This is reflected in Ives who too, though a big player, we actually learn very little about.
In fact, all of the side characters come across as people that just pop up and interact with the Protagonist but they never learn anything about him or even his true name.
Neil knew what he drinks, which shows that the two have had a relationship which goes far beyond the mission and that they were actually friends.
The Protagonist is of course very close to Kat at the end of the movie and he’s acting as a guardian angel for her. It is possible that after killing Priyah and tying up the last loose end that he decided to step forward and become part of their life. If he was close to Kat he would, of course, become close to their son and thus Neil or rather Max would get to know each other on a personal level.
Clue Number 3
This is actually hinted at by Neil at one point in the film when he says to The Protagonist ‘When this is over if you still care you can learn my life story.’ Again, the agents in Tenet know very little about the other agents and thus their friendship shows that have a relationship outside of the trappings of the agency.
Clue Number 4
We learn in the film that Neil also has a Masters in physics.
Though we are jumping to conclusions here, this likely means that he took an interest in it early on in his youth to study it to that degree. This could have been guided by The Protagonist who was watching over the pair and likely became part of their life.
Clue Number 5
Now one of the biggest hints towards this I think comes during the car chase.
We hear a radio signal that’s undecipherable.
The Protagonist says “I thought you spoke Estonian” to which Neil informs him that though it is Estonian, it’s reversed.
Now Sator is of course Estonian himself. Estonian is actually listed as one of the hardest languages to learn for English speakers and, likely, one could only grasp it if they were brought up with it.
Clue Number 6
Neil is British which Kat is too but it goes beyond that. If you’re from England then you’ll know that pretty much every city has its own dialect and regional accent. Kat and Neil’s accents are very similar which to my ears at least would only happen if the pair lived in the same area.
The fact that he has an English accent which is very similar to Kat’s and also speaks Estonian which Sator of course does bring together the link between the two and does paint out that he was likely raised by the pair.
Clue Number 7
Neil is very well dressed.
This might be a reach but when Kat first meets The Protagonist she remarks on his clothes and can clearly see through his disguise, stating that he doesn’t look like a billionaire even though he’s trying to come across like one.
She has a passion for fashion as does Neil and if she taught him how to dress it would explain why he looks so..so bloody fabulous.
Clue Number 8
When discussing the film as a whole and Pattinson’s character, Nolan actually dropped a big hint about what was going on.
In an interview with Pinkvilla, the director stated that Neil might actually have multiple identities and that Neil isn’t even his real name.
But why would he even bother to give a fake one, especially if we know how close he and The Protagonist eventually become?
Well if he were to give his real name, which would be Max if this theory is correct, then that would of course perhaps lead to The Protagonist figuring things out and thus he might divert from the preordained path that the characters travel on in the film.
Clue Number 9 & 10
Neil and Max also have similar hairstyles which… a bit of a reach. One of the biggest clues that the pair are the same comes in their name.
Max is of course short for Maximilien.
The last four letters of Maximilien when reversed are lien. Tenet is of course obsessed with things reversing so if we take those letters and reverse them we then get the name Neil which…yeah…nice little connection there.
Neil’s journey is of course just as important as The Protagonist’s and we learn from Priyah that The Protagonist is actually one of many so this name flip might highlight how integral he is to everything.
Palindromes
Sator’s square is in fact integral to the movie and in case you don’t know, this real-life Latin palindrome actually contains several things which are linked to the movie.
The first line says Sator which is of course the name of the film’s villain.
The second is Arepo which is given as the name of an Art Dealer in the movie.
The third is Tenet which yeah, no clues for guessing that one.
The fourth is Opera which is where the initial seige takes place and the final word is Rotas which is the name of the security company.
Now not only is Tenet itself a Pallindrom which connects the words but the entirety of the words laid out back to front also provides a full Pallindrome sentence in which Tenet stands in the middle.
So we can take this idea of Palindromes and use them on Maximilien and Neil to enforce the idea that they are the same.
Neil’s Age
Now I have seen some people say that for this theory to be true then that would mean that Max would have to grow to a certain age, say 20 and then invert and go backwards for an entire 10 years to reach the age which Neil is in the future.
However, it is possible that once he hit a certain age he grew one year going forward, reversed one year, went forward one year and so on until he was the age that we see him in the film.
Summary
Again this is just a theory and knowing how Nolan is we will never get full confirmation on it, however in conclusion, if this is correct then Neil grew up protected by The Protagonist and over this time he learned how he had saved his and his mother’s life when he was younger. The pair formed a friendship together and Neil decided that he would return the favour and go back in time and save The Protagonist’s life during the mission.
He knew things were at stake and that his sacrifice was of the utmost importance and thus embarked on his own journey through time in which he would become a crucial cog in the mission, saving not only The Protagonist but the world itself.
Neil ends the film by saying that it’s the end of a beautiful friendship for him but the start of one for The Protagonist and it is possible that after he took out Priyah he went and joined Max and Kat and this is what started things off.
If true I think this theory makes Neil a far more interesting character and obviously I’d love to hear whether you agree with me or not.
Again there are no right answers here and I doubt Nolan will ever let us know himself but we can always talk about it in the comments below.
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