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The Protagonist is the main character of Christopher Nolan's 2020 film, Tenet.
He is portrayed by actor John David Washington.
Biography[]
Not much is known about The Protagonist at this point, other than the fact that he is fighting to save the world. He is a man set to journey through a twilight world of international espionage on a mission that will unfold in something beyond real time, armed with only one word: Tenet. He is the secret leader of the titular organization in the future. Ensuring his own past self's recruitment by a seemingly suicidal test, the Protagonist sends his counterpart on a quest to stop the evil Andrei Sator from using the Algorithm to end the world. Even making a pact with a notorious Arms Dealer And allowing his past self and underlings to fight Sator and his men in public spaces, the Protagonist eventually uncovers Sator's full scheme to launch one final decisive battle against his forces. Stopping Sator even as it costs the sacrifice of his best friend Neil, the Protagonist saves the world and accepts his role as Tenet's founder.
Personality[]
Despite the nature of his profession, the Protagonist is a polite and selfless individual who cares about both his allies and innocent civilians. Likewise, he goes out of his way to ensure no bystander is hurt during missions he participates in.
Story[]
Kiev, Ukraine, an unnamed operative, The Protagonist, assists in a CIA assignment to foil an opera siege and retrieve a stolen cache of plutonium. His mission also seems to be to rescue a man, which he does so with the help of a team with whom he blends in with SWAT teams. During the operation, the plutonium is found to be fake. Furthermore, The Protagonist realizes that the opera was being bombed and so he collects the bombs to save the people. The Protagonist is at gunpoint by one SWAT member but is saved by a masked gunman with a red string on his back. The masked man appeared to be using a time-reversed gun. The Protagonist throws the bag of bombs away and the people are saved. He is then abducted and tortured until he bites on an apparent suicide pill before revealing any information.
Upon waking, the Protagonist learns the pill was a test of his loyalty. He also is told that his team didn't get clear. He is recruited into a secret organization, given only the information that the word "Tenet" and a cross-fingered gesture will "open many doors" for him. The Protagonist infiltrates a facility where he learns that in the future, technology has been developed that allows objects to have their entropy reversed and move backward through time. To demonstrate this, a scientist presents him with bullets that fire in reverse. The scientist believes that there is a war coming as objects are being streamed back in time from the future.
Tracking the metal from which the reversed bullets are made, the Protagonist infiltrates the compound of an Indian billionaire in Mumbai with the aid of Neil, a British intelligence agent. He learns that it is in fact the billionaire's wife, Priya, who knows what is happening. Priya tells the Protagonist that the time-reversing technology is under the control of a Russian arms dealer, Andrei Sator, who is in communication with the future.
The Protagonist meets Sir Michael Crosby who tells him that an explosion went off in a now-abandoned city in Russia known as Stalsk-12. The Protagonist learns from him that in order to get to Sator, he needs to approach his "practically estranged" wife Kat. The Protagonist meets Kat and they talk at a restaurant. Kat tells the Protagonist that Sator has her under his control due to a forged painting that she gave to him. She also mentions that she tried to love him again to see if he would let her go free but Sator gave her the option to stay or leave and never see her son again. She says she saw a woman dive off their yacht in Vietnam when they were on holiday. Sator's men arrive at the restaurant soon. The Protagonist manages to fight his way and escape but one of them drives away with Kat just as the Protagonist finishes the last henchman.
The Protagonist later tries to win Kat's trust by retrieving the painting from a freeport at Oslo Airport. Neil goes first to inspect the situation and they plan to crash a cargo plane to start a fire to activate the lockdown procedure, allowing them to steal the painting. They take the help of Mahir (Himesh Patel), who crashes the aircraft and drops gold bars on the road as a distraction. During the operation, however, the Protagonist and Neil are attacked by two masked men, one inverted and one forward who emerged from a temporal stile in the pentagon. Both antagonists escape before the Protagonist and Neil are able to find out who they are. The Protagonist meets Priya who tells him that the two antagonists were the same person.
The Protagonist returns to Kat, asking for her help in meeting Sator. Kat arranges for the Protagonist to attend a dinner party, hosted by Sator, but the oligarch does not trust the Protagonist until he mentions "opera". The Protagonist, Kat, and Sator go sailing where Sator and the Protagonist are discussing about plutonium when Kat pushes Sator out of the boat. The Protagonist saves him and Kat is mad at him for that. Sator says he is in debt so he funds the Protagonist who offers to steal weapons-grade plutonium for him.
The Protagonist and Neil plan a heist on a highway and they succeed in stealing the plutonium, which is in an orange case, from an armored vehicle but they are interrupted by an inverted car. The car chases them until they see an inverted Sator holding a forward Kat at gunpoint in it. A crashed Saab on the road flips back and drives backward in between them. Sator signals the Protagonist to hand over the plutonium but the Protagonist hands over an empty orange case and throws the plutonium into the Saab. The Protagonist uncovers Sator and his gang's plot: they are operating a "temporal pincer movement" in which they move both forwards and backward in time, by means of entering a "temporal stile" following the operation and then moving backward through time.
Trivia[]
- The Protagonist is never called by name as he's only prefer as the protagonist as his real name is never revealed.
- Unbeknownst to all involved, including himself, the Protagonist is the one pulling all the strings of Tenet, either as the organisation's leader or, quite conceivably, its founder, thus making his role in the film the facilitator of a time loop.