Interstellar Through Mann's Eyes

Dr.Mann - The Real Hero

Dr. Mann was the leader of the Lazarus mission, a one way mission to find a habitable planet. The crew consists of twelve scientists, including Mann. After entering the wormhole, they split in order to go separate planets. If the planet is capable of sustaining human life, they can send a signal to NASA claiming that it's a habitable planet. Everyone says Mann is the best scentist NASA ever had. To prove that statement Nolan includes a conversation in the movie where an important decision taken by Cooper crew. More than a character, he represents the true nature of a human being.

Cooper : You once said that Dr. Mann was the best of us. Amelia : He's remarkable. We're only here because of him.

1) About Mann's Planet:

A planet that resembles Earth and according to statistical data this is the best planet for mankind. The planet is cold and stark. The days are 67 hours long-cold and the nights are 67 far colder hours. The gravity is pleasant and it posses 80% of Earth's gravity. The water present in the planet is alkali and the atmosphere is thick with ammonia. Talking about the ammonia planets, the first thing that comes into my mind is it share similar properties of the earth which can be the main reason Mann choose this planet in the first place. Instead of water vapor, this planet uses ammonia as variable gas.

2) Raised from the dead:

Mann was very sure about the planet. The moment he reaches the planet, he understands the fact that this was uninhabitable. Due to low altitude, it's very difficult to breathe in his planet more than one minute. With the help of robot companion KIPP, they explore every spot on the planet in looking for a surface where human can easily breathe. Unfortunately, they never found one. The fact of being wrong in choosing the planet and never seeing a human being again triggers him in pressing the button, even though he tried his best not to press it. Ultimately, he sends the signal to NASA and decommissioned KIPP fully. He uses KIPP's power source for his hypersleep chamber system and set a trap on KIPP's rebooting function. If someone tries to access the archives of KIPP, it will explode. After that, He went to sleep without setting a waking date. Dr. Mann spends 30 years on that planet until someone came to his planet looking for him. Cooper and crew arrive on Mann's planet after their visit of Miller planet. Cooper wakes him up manually by opening the hypersleep chamber. Mann bears a strong personality, but he literally breaks down when he saw cooper's face.

3) Moment of truth:

Mann's Plan X & Y. Plan X means telling the truth right away. When Amelia asks him about the planet, he knew the ones who came to rescue him were morons. So he goes along with Plan Y. The plan is very simple, providing some fake data that he made while exploring the planet to prove there is a surface where human can survive. Mann's confidence level increases when the crew starts to believe every word he says to them. He needs time to slowly unfold the mystery about his planet. His Plan Y was working fine until Murph's revelation message came from Earth. The video message of Murph changes the whole equations of Mann's Plan Y. Still, he maintains his coolness and explains them about professor Brand's intentions of telling that big lie. From his attitude, one thing was crystal clear he was actually laughing inside on seeing a bunch of nitwits.

Amelia: My father dedicated his whole life to Plan A. I have no idea what she's talking about. 
Mann: I do.
Cooper: He never even hoped to get the people off the earth? 
Mann: No
Amelia: But he's been trying to solve the gravity equation for 40 years. 
Mann: Amelia, your father solved his equation before I even left.

4) Master Plan:

After the revelation and explaining, Cooper decides to leave with the Endurance to see his daughter. A scientist like Mann, who dedicated his whole life for this mission will not tolerate this kind of foolishness. Cooper makes all the arrangements and decides to go on a site visit with Mann. After hearing Cooper's stupid decision, Mann decides to kill him at any cost. By eliminating Cooper from the equation helps him to reach Edmund's planet to build a colony. After executing the master plan, come back to the base to inform about the tragic accident and convince other two crew members with the dangerous side of the planet. Romily's death was never pre-planned and Mann tries his best to convince him to not touch KIPP archival functions which later Romily touches and dies. The last thing he explained to Cooper was about survival instinct. Survival instinct is a very strong thing when we talk about Mann. The dream of completing Plan B pushes him so far to survive. After the encounter between Mann and Cooper, The good side of Mann couldn't watch Cooper going through this suffering and leaves behind Cooper by saying he want to save all for cooper.

Cooper: Dr. Mann, there's a 50-50 chance you're gonna kill yourself. 
Mann: Those are the best odds I've had in years.

5) Last Ride:

Mann steals Ranger 1 and travels towards the Endurance to take control over the mission. Tars disabled the autopilot endurance docking procedure. Unfortunately, Mann was not aware of it and the only option he had was to open it manually. For that, he opens the pressurized hatch, which instantly kills him causing a huge explosion. The only thing he did wrong in his entire life was underestimating the trust settings of Tars. A man who dedicated all his life for a single mission wasted his entire dreams by underestimating the natural instincts of a man-made robot, Tars. If the story of interstellar was told in Mann's POV, he would have been the real hero and Tars will be the main villain.

"This is not about my life, This is about all mankind".