Cobb's Rules in the Dream Realm

6. "And you! What the hell was that all about?!" "I had it under control." "I'd hate to see you out of control."

Cobb, as flawed and emotionally compromised as he is, managed to establish a few rules of his own during his work with Cobol and Mal.

A. "I didn't know he was gonna rub his damn cheek on it!" Find another Architect. As great as Cobb was at building levels, he could never learn the layouts, or Mal would know them. Thus, he always needed a buddy to help him out.

B. "They won't accept failure". When all else fails, have an ace in the hole. Cobb's first mission involving Saito proved this.

C. "Because I am the most skilled extractor." Give yourself a little credit. Cobb is usually the emotional director of each mission.

D. "Never recreate places from your memory, always imagine new places!" Building from your memories is the easiest way to lose your grip on what's real, and what's a dream! Cobb has never independently built anything, sans limbo. However, he does end up building an Elevator of Memories.

E. Hands off the totems. Only I can screw with everyone else's.

F. "Assemble your team, Mr. Cobb." Have a good team. More on this later.

 








Cobb breaks just about every rule in the book. The movie demonstrates this, so there is little need to refresh us on this concept. There isn't actually too much to this rule breaking, but more on Cobb's emotional compromise later.