Red to go forwards, backwards is blue and we have a new Tenet fan theory that’s just for you.
In this post, we’re going over the theory that says Sator was actually working for The Protagonist the entire time.
Before we get into it I just wanna shout out to Trust|Nobody for sending me this through. When I first started reading it I was a bit unsure, however the further I got into the entire thing the more it started to line up. I’ve added some things I noticed after reading it and I think there are a lot of hints towards it.
Sator’s Real Destiny
Now the entire theory centres around the idea that Sator was unwittingly recruited by The Future Protagonist to collect all the 9 pieces of the algorithm so that his past self could steal them in the finale.
As we learned at the end, the plan the entire time was to let Sator collect the MacGuffin so that the TENET team could swipe it from under his nose and then they could separate it and guard it for the rest of their lives. They would allow a detonation to go off at Stalsk 12 so it would seem to the past version of Sator that he was always destined to win and therefore events would play out the same.
Sator was always someone who thought that he was destined to beat everyone because of his knowledge of the future and he used Temporal Pincers at several points to make sure he always achieved his goals. Thus this detonation tricked him into believing that the algorithm was buried and in his mind, the character would emerge victorious because fate determined it.
However, it could be that he was being manipulated by The Protagonist from the future and all that he was, was a puppet.
Scientist’s Motive
Now in the conversation with Priya, we learn of the scientist in the future that created the algorithm. We discover that after realising its power, she inverted it and decided to bury it and send it to the past so that it could never be used.
What’s strange though is that when Sator digs up the pieces, he discovers messages in the time capsules and gold bars. I have no idea why the scientist would send the pieces back to the past to be dug up by someone that would actually assemble them to wipe out humanity as it seems to juxtapose her main goal which is to hide everything.
Thus someone clearly intervened and it could be that the Protagonist potentially intercepted these and placed the instructions inside that would lead to Sator finding the rest so that it could be assembled.
The pieces of the algorithm are placed at some of the most highly guarded places in the world so it seems unlikely that one scientist could’ve buried them all especially when we consider the time that it would’ve taken.
Did the Protagonist Set it Up?
Thus it seems likely that The Protagonist took the pieces and placed them with instructions so that Sator would act the way he did in the past. The Protagonist is obviously operating from the future and he wants things to go exactly as planned so it’s unlikely he would leave anything to chance.
Nolan gives us strong hints about this and who Sator’s orders are coming from as The Protagonist is actually present during the two times in the film that we see him getting them.
Now the first point is when the villain is on the Yacht reminiscing about his past and though The Protagonist wasn’t present at Stalsk 12, this scene could be Sator telling his past self so that his future version knows to leave a capsule at the location.
The second time we see him receiving his orders is later that evening and I do think this is a hint from Nolan as there are no other scenes with Sator receiving orders.
Sator at one point mocks The Protagonist for following the TENET organisation purely on blind faith because he trusts them without actually knowing a thing about it or the people within.
However, in many respects, Sator is too operating on blind faith as he tells The Protagonist that the future wants to wipe out the past because their oceans rose and their rivers ran dry.
There is no way to verify this at all and he’s merely operating on the word of the future.
The Protagonist even says the line “knowledge divided, my friend, ignorance is our ammunition” which is pretty much the mantra of Tenet. Keeping the truth from people allows them to follow orders without asking questions and this is a principle that is laced in military preparation.
This is why Priya’s story doesn’t line up and The Protagonist clearly doesn’t mind using her either as he’s happy to kill her in the finale.
Algorithm Pieces
Now despite being inverted and sent back in time, the pieces of The Algorithm that we see never display any inverted properties. They don’t fly up into people’s hands like the bullet and they all seem to contradict what we are told.
Now the theory goes on to wonder why the US Military might be so incompetent as to lose their piece to Sator, who is in comparison a mere thug.
It could in fact be that all 9 pieces are Russian and that it is really some type of secret atomic weapon developed by the Soviets.
When discussing why Sator was chosen, Priya says that he was in the right place at the right time, namely the Soviet Union which was the most insecure moment in the history of nuclear weapons.
Thus the Protagonist is actually helping to wage a cold war in the future against them and is simply using Sator as a puppet in the past to make sure that the US win.
Why Did Neil Die?
Now one of the most shocking points in the theory asks why the future protagonist still sent Neil to his death. It could be that he viewed him as an expendable soldier and that because he didn’t stick to his orders that The Protagonist had him taken down.
Ives tells the Red Team that the Splinter Team’s task is “need-to-know, and you don’t ” and then tells The Protagonist that Splinter Team is just Ives and himself. He even says “no one who knows the contents of that capsule can leave the field.”
That’s why Neil was killed because he saw the contents of the capsule when he pulled Ives and TP out of the hypocentre. Neil was on the blue team, he was not supposed to assist the Splinter Team and see the contents of that capsule. We know Neil is not supposed to be there because Commander Wheeler tells the Blue Team “if you are not at the LZ at zero, you are not leaving ”
The camera even focuses on Neil during this time as if a foreshadowing from Nolan about Neil’s disobedience and death.
Ives selected only TP and himself for the Splinter Team because that’s what future TP told him to do.
Ives has no reason to select somebody he just met (TP) to be on such an important team. Neil tells us that this entire operation is TP’s from the future so we know that it’s the future TP that is the leader of this mission.
It seems like Neil may not have actually been killed by accident as when Sator tells Volkov to shoot TP in the head, Sator was merely following future TP’s orders. At this exact moment, Neil was shot in the head and it seems too big of a coincidence to not have been meant to happen there and then.
Ives was still knocked out at this time so he wouldn’t know exactly when the shot that killed Neil happened and therefore The Protagonist is the only living person at this event that had the information.
Nolan even gives us a hint that TP will have Neil killed by his order in the scene at 00:49:01. These are their words:
TP: I’ll set you up as a go-between. But remember, to you…it’s all about plutonium.
And when we’re done, they’ll kill you.
Neil: Won’t you have to do that anyway?
TP: I’d rather it be my decision.
Neil: So would I. I think.
So it was The Protagonists decision to kill Neil and he decided that from the future. However, the way that we see it is that Sator ask Volkov to shoot The Protagonist in the head, but as we know Neil was standing in front of him to take the bullet.
Neil saves TP’s life at the opera, tries to warn TP and Ives of the booby-trap bomb in the tunnel, saves them from the explosion by lifting them from the hypocentre with the van, and unlocks the gate to Volkov and the Hypocentre.
It’s Neil who saves the day and yet he’s killed for it.
No Free Will
Now the Theory takes a very interesting turn and states that Neil is the characteristic gullible and expendable soldier. Even though he knows he’s going to die in the end he’s happy following orders because he’s resigned himself to the fact that he doesn’t have free will.
It is very well summed by the lines from the character Dillon in the Predator (1987) movie at 00:30:12:
“You’re an asset, an expendable asset. And I used you to get the job done. Got it?”
Neil was used to getting the job done then he was taken care of.
Dillon even lies to Dutch about the true nature of the mission, as Dutch says “ You set us up! It’s all bullshit. All of it. ” and “ So you cooked up a story and dropped the six of us in a meat grinder.”
So in the end The Protagonist from The Future, an almost God Like character was simply using everyone as a pawn to make sure that the events happened the way they were supposed to. This happened with not only Sator but also Neil who he knew he was sent to his death.
He viewed everyone as expendable including Priya and knew that they were sacrifices that would have to be made to save the world.
It’s quite a chilling theory but I think it adds a whole other layer to the movie and next time you watch this film try to bear it in mind as I think it holds up. What I love about Tenet is that it completely switches your perspective and it’s a film that changes every time you watch it.
Anyway thanks for checking out the video and huge shoutouts again to Trust|Nobody.
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