About Neil's death and the bullet

[u/iosdev98]

https://youtu.be/SSzHno-reTM?si=R9JTPN8QWHJg2FYB

I don't know if this exact fan theory has been discussed before but, after watching Tenet so many times (I watched it yesterday and still amazes me that it gets better each time you watch it. A really underrated film and one of the best films ever made by Nolan, specially from a technical view, starring the best female Nolan character, too), the conclusion I came with that makes the most sense about Neil's death to me is this one, though I could be wrong.

From Neil's POV (i.e Inverted):

1) He inverts himself (after having acquired the algorithm and shared it with Ives and TP), either before tunnel is blocked or waiting to be unblocked from the explosion.

2) He gets though the gate (which is unlocked) and opens it for The Protagonist and Ives

3) When TP and Ives finish what they were doing, Neil locks the door (i.e unlocking it from TP and Ives' POV so they can get through it, kill Volkov and obtaining the final algorithm)

4) He gets shot "normally" by Volkov (i.e a forward bullet) few seconds after having locked the door and he dies, falling to the floor while having that killing bullet located in Neil's corpse. Nothing else, no magical bullet appearing or disappearing from nothingness

Now, from Volkov's POV (i.e Forward):

1) He puts an explosion trap at the entrance of the tunnel much time before any Tenet member (neither inverted or forward) can access the tunnel.

2) He locks the gate and prepares the algorithm explosives.

3) He faces TP and Ives and knocks down Ives.

4) He and Sator discusses with TP.

5) Sator tells him to kill TP.

6) Now's the key moment. He approches the gate to kill TP BUT, instead of firing a normal bullet, he is not really "shooting" but getting back the bullet. And he gets back that bullet by having Neil's corpse stand up by himself, the killing bullet is "retrieved" through Neil's head right to his gun, Neil is "alived" and unlocks the gate.

So, in a few words, the bullet is inverted, the gun is not. And Vulkov didn't know it, hence his surprise face retrieving a bullet instead of really firing it (well, that and watching someone come back to life and unlocking the gate that you originally locked is pretty shocking, too).

It's like that scientist scene at the beginning of the film, where TP is using a normal gun in front of a rock but instead of firing, he's getting back the bullet stored in that rock.

In other words, like in Neil's death, the gun is NORMAL but the bullet is INVERTED. It's the same thing.

[u/Alive_Ice7937]

From Neil's inverted perspective, it would be lodged in his helmet until Volkov pulls the trigger, at which point it returns to Volkov's (uninverted) gun.

If Neil found a bullet lodged in the helmet, he'd pick it out. It likely fell out as he reverse ran back up the tunnel.

[u/BjiZZle-MaNiZZle → u/Alive_Ice7937]

If Neil found a bullet lodged in the helmet, he'd pick it out. It likely fell out as he reverse ran back up the tunnel.

As long as the object itself maintains the world line that positions it in the helmet before the shot, then there are any number of possibilities to what happened to the bullet after striking the inside of the helmet.

Sure, falling out of the helmet is one possibility.

I would however argue that of all the characters in the film, the one that is least likely to remove the bullet upon finding it is Neil. He could appreciate that the bullet being in the helmet has already happened and more likely choose not to intervene with what happened to bring it there.

...Faith in the mechanics of the universe and all that.

Nonetheless, my argument is only that, for consistency in the mechanics of the film, the bullet should pass through Neil's head. Most likely ending up in the helmet. What happens after/before that is anyone's guess.

[u/Alive_Ice7937 → u/BjiZZle-MaNiZZle]

I would however argue that of all the characters in the film, the one that is least likely to remove the bullet upon finding it is Neil.

Absolutely.

Nonetheless, my argument is only that, for consistency in the mechanics of the film, the bullet should pass through Neil's head. Most likely ending up in the helmet. What happens after/before that is anyone's guess.

I'm starting to like the theory that it's an inverted bullet in a non inverted gun like the bullets in the lab. Ives picks up the gun when he goes through the gate, which means he has it after the mission. So he could load the inverted bullet into it because he's like Neil in terms of understanding of non linear cause and effect.

[u/BjiZZle-MaNiZZle → u/Alive_Ice7937]

the theory that it's an inverted bullet in a non inverted gun

Agreed. It's a fascinating theory. I must admit that I haven't given it enough thought though.