Eames and Arthur Questions

[shimmeree]

Hi. I hope this kind of thing is allowed here

Comments

[hieronymousmosh]

This is the interview where Tom Hardy talks about Eames' possible military background. It's his own speculation on his character: And there's something very old school, MI-5 about this guy as well. He's got the Graham Greene "Our Man in Havana" type. Old and faded, slightly shabby, down and out diplomats. A bit unscrupulous and off-the-radar. He's got the gambling and he's into the dream stuff. Parts of him you find questionable, but you've also got the fighting and the scenes within the dreamscape, which shows a potential military background. He's a very can-do person with weaponry as well. He a good blend of the British kind of espionage take on what a James Bond type would be. Educated. Also minimal effort, maximum force when it comes to the speedy delivery of violence and death.

Oh, and This (links to a .pdf) is Inception's production notes, which has a little more on the characters. It's where the possibility of Eames' and Arthur's old rivalry gets mentioned.

[shimmeree]

Perfect. Thank you so much!

[imyourheroine]

Production team ships Arthur/Eames. Haha.

[celestineangel]

Fffff, I theorize that JGL and Tom hardy ship their own characters. >.> But I'm crazy, so there is that...

[renne]

The poker chip as Eames' totem is fanon.

[imyourheroine]

I've always wondered about that.

[ilovetakahana]

The poker chip as a totem comes from the idea that Eames was playing with it in certain parts of the Mombasa and warehouse/planning scenes.

Part of its allure, I think, comes from the idea that Arthur:die = Eames:chip makes for a nice "theme" or something.

Another fanon idea about Eames's totem - the fact remains that no one knows for sure if he has one, or if he doesn't need it since by definition he's only supposed to be able to forge in dreams - is whatever's on the end of the chain snaking into his pocket throughout the warehouse scenes. The chain is also very visible in the publicity shot of him sitting back in a chair, wearing a blue striped shirt. As he never reveals what's on the end of the chain, one of the guesses for the item on the end is a pocket watch.

[nemesister]

Isn't it canon that totems are Mal's idea? That would make it pretty unlikely that Eames has one. Ariadne is trained by Cobb and Arthur, Eames definitely isn't.

I was sure we knew he had a pocket watch! D:

[lian_li]

Because I got it wrong and thouhgt it was pourely fanon: seems mentions of Eames' bad spelling are actually in the film (when Cobb gets him in the Mombasa bar?)

[nemesister]

"You're spelling hasn't improved" or something, yeah. It's the first thing Cobb says to him, I think.

[aeonist]

My impression of that scene is that they were speaking in code. "Spelling" could be a vague reference to Eames's gambling success or con-man persona (He was losing at whatever table he was playing in) and Cobb's inquiry about handwriting right after could refer to Eames's dreamsharing persona (forging handwriting = Oh, so you're talking about dreaming business?). Cobb's teasing in that situation seems too out of place for me to take it literally. There is really no reason why Cobb would care about Eames and his spelling.

[white_aster]

Word. That was always my impression of that scene, too. That whole "How's your handwriting?" "Versatile." exchange just reeked of code.

[ilovetakahana]

Having just come from TVTropes I remembered that the tropers made a point of saying, it's very much fanon that Arthur's last name is "Darling".

Other similarly fanon names include "Callahan" for Arthur, as well as the ongoing debate over Eames's own name: first name? Last name? False name?

[kirstenlouise]

I think I've seen something like six separate authors (I even did it once, lol) use "Daniel" as a first name for Eames. It's becoming rather fanon-y.

[atomicskull]

... it's official, school has eaten my life and I've read no fic lately, because I can't remember a single one where I've seen that, haha.

I always thought that Eames being Eames was just another "meaningful" name thrown in by Nolan - Ariadne (duh), Cobb means dream in a lot of languages, Mal of course means bad, and Eames is the last name of Charles and Ray, as in the architects and designers. Who also liked making films on the side. They were a pretty cool couple.

[atomicskull]

Ah nice. :D Usually when I have a character who doesn't have a second name (Star Trek, what up?) I just gank their actor's name, so in my head he's Thomas.