TENET Explained: What Really Happened To Neil At The End

Neil’s journey at the end of Tenet is arguably one of the most confusing plot points in the entire film and seeing things from the character’s point of view is the only way to really understand what happened and why.

Throughout this post, we’re going to be breaking down the journey that he ended up going on through the use of reversed footage and the 3D animation to discuss what happens. We’ll also be going over the theory of Quantum immortality and how the characters in some way live forever due to theoretical physics.

Brief summary

Neil joins the Protagonist in India and follows him on his journey to both the future and present as he tries to stop Sator. For the final mission at Stalsk-12, he is separated into the blue team but after noticing that the entrance to the hypocentre is booby-trapped he reverts himself and ends up rescuing both Ives and The Protagonist from an explosion that happens at the base’s core.

Now during this mission to the hypocentre, The Protagonist and Ives encounter a locked door but this is opened by an unknown soldier seconds before being shot in the head.

After the mission is completed it’s revealed that this is actually Neil and after he says that he will be the one to go back and unlock the door meaning that his fate is sealed and that we know the character died.

Now ever since doing my Neil timeline video I’ve had numerous people argue with me about the events of what Neil did and whether the way we watch the film is the way that things happen.

Different Timeline?

Now personally I believe that Neil saved the Protagonist and Neil then went off on the Helicopter with Ives which took him back to the base and he then inverted once more, went back out with the blue team and then unlocked the door.

However Twitter user Anecdote Trance sent me an edited version of my timeline in which they said that Neil went on the helicopter and actually ended up going through the entirety of the movie which is what we see and it was he who unlocked the door. I think this theory kinda falls apart because Neil in the end asks if The Protagonist is gonna go see Kat in London which he wouldn’t know about had he not experienced the events of the film, however, if that’s what you wanna view the film as then that’s fine.

So, Who Did The Door?

Either way though, after rescuing the pair and being told that the door was unlocked, Neil boarded the helicopter and at some point, he inverted and returned with the original Blue team. During the briefing we can see before the majority of the team mask up we can see that there are several people already wearing them and it would be easy for this version of Neil to sneak in and join the team without alerting his past self or those around him.

We also see throughout the final battle that he slips off unnoticed very easily and it could even be possible that the cuts we see of Neil interspersed throughout the climax are in fact the future version of the character making his final mission.

As for the final act, from his point of view, Neil knows that he is going to be shot before any of the events take place and this explains some of his actions in the finale.

Now after returning to the field, Neil obviously either starts off as part of the blue team or inverts himself at the turnstile. With the blue team, he clears the rocks that blocked the passage and heads after the explosion has been set off whilst his past self is on the surface with the Protagonist and Ives.

As the dust settles he races towards the door and as it’s already open from his point of view he simply has to go to the other side and hold it.

Now the reason that he stands there is because he knows that his timing has to be perfect and that he has to take a bullet for the Protagonist to not only save his life but also shock Sator’s man.

He waits until the events play in reverse from his perspective and upon seeing The Protagonist go backwards through the door he then closes it and he is the one who locks it.

Now, this is very confusing but for it to be unlocked from the point of view of the Protagonist, Neil must actually lock it.

Reversing Time

Tenet is very much reversing the idea of cause and effect and making its effect and cause and thus the only way to have the door closed for the events to play out the same way is by this happening.

Just after locking it, he is then shot by Sators man who from Neil’s point of view would reverse and then be told by Sator to shoot him in the head.

Neil dies at this point which is when the Protagonist notices the tag on his bag.

Now in many ways, The Future Version of The Protagonist knew that he was sending Neil to his death and he allowed it to happen because it was imperative that he saved him in the past. Neil likely knew the mission as well and was willing to perhaps return the favour for him saving his life at some point…and his mothers.

I’m telling ya Neil is Max.

Multiple Versions of Neil 

Anyway as demonstrated in our timeline, there are multiple versions of Neil existing across this action scene as not only are there the two reversed versions of the character, but there is also the one moving forward as well as the one at the Opera.

Thus Neil is technically living forever in this constant loop in which his life and death are both happening at the same time.

The Science 

Now, this ties into the idea of Quantum Immortality and if you know of the Schrodinger’s cat thought experiment then it’s sort of along the same lines as that.

The theory thought up by Max Tegmark discusses subatomic particles that have an upward spin that either fires or does not fire a gun. If there was a revolver with one bullet in and you spun it and then fired the gun. There would be six versions of you created in which five survived and one died.

Because consciousness does not exist at the point of death, your conscious would automatically travel into one of these five alternate realities and thus you would find a form of immortality in which you would exist in the multiverse.

Neil at one point in the film even says the line “In a parallel universe, you can’t know the difference between consciousness and multiple realities.”

This sort of plays into the previous statement about death and though Tenet deals with one strict timeline. The fact that Neil’s consciousness would be snuffed out and yet still exist in another body would mean that he would automatically become part of this.

Though the character would be unaware of exactly what’s going on he would in many respects live forever.

Time Theory

It is thought that time only exists because we observe it and that the universe around us can only be there because it is what we perceive. Just in the same way that it’s impossible to know whether a falling tree in an abandoned wood makes no noise, it’s impossible to know what truly happens to consciousness upon death and it is possible that it breaks free of time and travels back to certain moments in life in which thoughts have occurred.

If consciousness is not truly bound by time then that would mean that Neil would upon death travel back to one of his many bodies at this moment and that he would simply go through the motions once more.

Now that’s some high-level thinking but hopefully, this has helped to simplify the journey that Neil ended up going on throughout the film.