Character: Saito
Fandom: Inception
Character Notes:
History: CEO of Procius Global, his main rival is Robert Fischer/ Fischer Morrow, who he says will "control half the world's energy" if he is not stopped. He hires Cobb to run an "Inception" on Fischer so that he'll decide to squander his inheritance and allow Saito to take control of the market. An Inception is essentially a coup, staged in another person's ("The Mark"s) dreams. A team of experts will infiltrate said dreams and convince the Mark to do something in the real world he may not have done otherwise. An Inception is considered by most to be impossible, but Saito's convinced if it can be bought, it can be done. He buys out an airline so his hired team (Cobb "The Extractor", Eames "The Forger", Ariadne "The Architect", Arthur "The Point Man" and Yusuf "The Chemist") can sit with Robert in first class. Saito insists on joining the team as they delve into Robert Fischer's subconscious, and Eames dubs him "The Tourist." They design three tiers of dreams, another task said to be impossible and a key element in pulling off a successful inception. It is a "dream within a dream within a dream." On the first level, Saito is shot by one of Fischer's subconscious defenders. When a subject is trained by an extractor to defend his own dreams, his subconscious will militarize and form a literal defense in the dreamworld. Saito is bleeding to death in the van when they go to level two. The van is on a bridge and since time passes slower each level deeper they have until the van hits the water to get through Level Two. By level three his original dreamself has hit the water and drowned. Usually when a person is killed in a dream, they wake up. But during inception everyone must be heavily sedated, and so when they die they report to limbo where an indefinite amount of dream-time will pass. Saito grows old in Limbo, only recalling his original mission and waking up when Cobb pays him a visit. Without a totem, he was unable to tell the dream wasn't reality and didn't attempt to wake up. Saito and Cobb wake seconds after the rest and Saito immediately gets on the airplane phone to get Cobb through American customs, proving to be a man of his word.
Personality: He's a typical businessman, and lets that mentality rule most of his decision-making. He also believes that almost anything can be solved with money, as evidenced by his buying an entire airline on a whim. He's extremely determined and doesn't give up even when things get nasty. He insists on joining them in the dreamworld just because it's his venture, despite having no expertise or experience. His business is his entire life, and as we see him in limbo, without family nor friends, we can assume he's something of a loner and doesn't trust easily. But if you're worth more to him alive than dead (i.e. Robert) or if you've managed to gain his trust, he will protect you to the bitter end. He is very much into the philosophy of ends justifying the means, and his moral compass is gray at best. Basically, if it makes him money that's good. If he's losing money, that's very bad. That said, the Inception in sum total would leave a lasting affect on him. Despite going into the job feeling justified this experience will most likely haunt him for some time. He may even doubt that the whole venture was even worth it. But he wouldn't back down or show anyone this weakness, and will instead try to take his success in stride.
Additional Links: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inception_(film), http://inception.wikia.com/wiki/Saito