Arthur Shaw



Arthur Shaw is a 25-year-old point man and movie canon character, currently based in Washington D.C. Following the events of the movie and the retirement of his longtime partner Dom Cobb, Arthur has been working with a number of temporary extraction teams, as well as doing freelance work, and has yet to settle down with a permanent team.

He is portrayed by Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

Personality
In some senses, Arthur is exactly the kind of guy you want with you in a dream--he's very capable, very professional, and has a great deal of focus. He rarely does anything that he doesn't know he can do very well, and very efficient at the things that he does--he typically does them quickly and correctly, and you can always count on him to be where he's supposed to be at the right moment.

On the other hand, the exact characteristics that make him an excellent point man also make him a little difficult to be around outside of the job. In fact, those who are just meeting him might think that the way he acts is only a professional image, in the way that a lot of people are different at work than they are at home--certainly the best extraction teams are the ones who are able to be serious and focus at the right moments, but when it comes to Arthur--that's actually really just the way that he is. He is always that serious; he is always that focused; he does not unwind.

He doesn't consider himself an unhappy person, though--he does better when his world is in order and working according to plan, but he's simply much better at being alone than most people are, even the ones who are telling themselves they are. Most of his relationships start on a professional level, and he doesn't necessarily need much from other people--but he does like people, and he's capable of developing strong relationships with them. The trick is, that person may be the last to know--he's difficult to read, and he doesn't show the kinds of things that most people do, but if he likes you on any level he will eventually show it--usually unexpectedly, and often without explanation.

He doesn't tend to want to talk very much about feelings--try that and he will probably cut you off--he's got a good understanding of his own emotional reactions and the connections that he does develop, and he'll be direct about those. He takes longer than most people do to develop an opinion about a person, but once he does, that opinion is difficult to shake.

With the Original Team
Arthur left the country following the inception job and didn't stay in contact with anyone except occasionally Dom Cobb. Upon returning to the country, he found that the edges of that job had started to unravel--Robert Fischer was showing signs of starting to put the pieces together, and Arthur found himself contacting old members of the team to see how they'd been involved with this, and what they knew. Currently he's contacted both Eames and Ariadne, and they're working together to try to prevent Fischer from connecting the inception back to them.