This is my first editorial on CBM, I hope it's the first of many.
SPOILER ALERT, do not read past this point if you are living in those countries who haven't premiered The Dark Knight Rises yet.
OK, That said I have seen this film 3 times, I know, I know LIGHTWEIGHT:) I watched it for the third time with particular focus on John Blake and his character arc, knowing what it will lead to at the end.
Here we have a bright, intuitive young beat cop who has his idealism put to the test as he and Gotham's finest, brave the siege of BANE and the remnants of the League of Shadows. As John Blake catches the eye of Commissioner Gordon and confronts Bruce Wayne, revealing his knowledge of Batman's true identity, We see Blake has the sharp instincts and fearless drive of a truly promising crime fighter. He also appeals to Wayne from a very personal perspective, revealing not only his own tragic back story, for which Nolan's creative team has taken many understandable liberties, and revealed the first of many clues to the subtext revolving around John Blake that will pay off at the finale.
Throughout the film Blake is shown in a partnership role almost exclusively with Gordon, Wayne, and Batman. Both of these partnerships feature a precious few moments where the two old pros give advice and wisdom directly to Blake, revealing not only what they have learned over the last decade, but also passing it on to someone who can potentially benefit from it. While watching, we don't think to question these exchanges of dialog, because we are in the hands of a story telling genius. Nolan repeatedly put it right there in front of us, hell, Levitt even looks like a "Boy Wonder" with his little crue cut and clean shaven baby face:) The events of the story cause Blake to reevaluate his vocation as a cop and leaves Blake searching for a new direction.
The big surprise at the end is when the lady who hands former Detective Blake the bag, left behind by Wayne, tells him he should use his full name, which includes ROBIN. Obviously, this name was used instead of Grayson, or Drake, or Todd because the writers didn't feel the general movie going public would be familiar with any other alias. The bag contains coordinates for the Batcave opening, climbing rope, and many other unseen items. The ending more than suggests that Blake will pick up where Batman left off though he is nowhere near trained in the martial disciplines well enough for any Batman fans taste.
Both Christian Bale and Nolan have gone on record in the past saying NO ROBIN, and that if the character were ever imposed upon them by the studio they would both walk away. Neither of them like the character or wanted to use him. This 3rd film wasn't even originally going to be made by Nolan. He was persuaded, and decided that he and his brother would try to write something they could both be proud of, and made the film that would effectively end the franchise they started.
The point in the end is that this is, "THE END," and Nolan uses ROBIN to drive that point home, as if bringing in BANE wasn't saying it already. I don't believe there will be a ROBIN or NIGHTWING spin-off. It's basically there to say,"ENOUGH!!!!!! STOP CALLING ALREADY!!!! SHEESH!!!!"