With each episode, Westworld leaves us with more questions than answers. The new HBO drama, which revolves around a Wild West-themed fantasy park populated with androids, is more than a little complex.
We know that the park is the brainchild of Dr. Robert Ford (Anthony Hopkins) and that guests pay a significant amount of money to visit a world where they can shoot, drink, and fuck with abandon. We know that the androids, known as hosts, cannot hurt the guests, but that guests can do what they like to hosts. We know that the company that runs Westworld has a bigger agenda that goes beyond simple hedonism. We know that story lines have a set run time before they loop again, and hosts are repaired before being put back into circulation. We know that some guests return over and over again, and that hosts do not remember them.
But most importantly, we know there's a glitch in the system — one that will surely continue to keep us guessing. And that's the fun part.
Follow along every week as we break down some of the wildest theories about this brave new world.
Can Dolores' gun kill guests?
Episode 2 ended with Dolores digging up a gun in her garden. Clearly, she has been led there by whatever voice (Bernie's?) is waking her up in the middle of the night.
As redditor Katocorp points out, we know that Dolores has lied — though whether she's aware she's lying is debatable — about her ability to harm a living thing. (RIP fly.) We also learn in this episode that the guns given to guests are supposed to be "smart" enough to know who can be killed, and who can't. Will this gun somehow bypass those rules? Will Dolores be responsible for the park's first guest casualty?
Photo: John P. Johnson/HBO.
Is William actually the Man in Black?
This theory, put forward on Reddit, has its flaws — but it's definitely worth mentioning.
The general idea is that Will's story line is actually taking place 30 years in the past. Since the hosts don't age (in appearance, if not in programming), blurring the timeline would be pretty easy.
We saw Will choose a white hat upon entering the park — but who's to say his future experience hasn't changed him into a man who takes pleasure in raping and pillaging?
(People who object to this theory will point out that the hosts are often repurposed over the years, and so may not have held their respective roles 30 years ago. Also, wouldn't the hosts have been less credible back then?)
Photo: John P. Johnson/HBO.
Is Ford's big story idea related to The Maze?
As Vulture points out, the prophecy related to the Man in Black mentions a snake and eggs. When Ford gazes upon the the steel cross perched atop what looks like a steeple (perhaps related to the "town with the white church"), there is a snake in the sand by his feet.
If there is in fact a Maze, then Ford, as the park's creator, would know about it. Is this where his interests might conflict with those of the corporation?
Photo: John P. Johnson/HBO.
Can the hosts really die?
There's a reason the Man in Black keeps reminding us that he's been coming to Westworld for 30 years. In all that time, he's had more than enough opportunities to test out his theories about the Maze.
Redditor Arkwar points out:
"Could be wrong, but it seems to me that it might be showing us how long he's been coming to WW and how much he has experimented to figure out the rules. '3 liters, any more and you are dead.' Wonder how many times he's bled them out to discover that."
If that's so, then it seems there are only so many ways that a host is programmed to die. In reality, they're not dying, so much as programed to play dead when they receive certain "fatal" wounds. (The ease with which they are repaired and put back into circulation seems to confirm this.) Therefore, if a host could override its death triggers, wouldn't that make them immortal?
Photo: John P. Johnson/HBO.
Westworld is a Biblical allegory.
Think about it — it's not that far-fetched. Redditor ShivasRightFoot has a theory connecting Westworld to the Biblical story of Genesis and John Milton's Paradise Lost.
"Humans are like Elohim (angels) in that they are immortal and practically omnipotent over the things they created in their image," the redditor writes. "Hosts are humans before the fall. They are incapable of independent action; they have no knowledge of good and evil. They also run around naked a lot, something that will likely change after gaining consciousness due to shame."
In this theory, Dolores could play either the role of Adam or Eve, because as the oldest host in the park, she "probably has spare parts from other hosts because of her frequent repairs, likely including a rib."
As the man behind Westworld, Ford could represent The Creator, while the Man in Black, slithery as he is, is a shoo-in for The Serpent. If you recall, it was the snake who made Adam and Eve aware of their flawed humanity, by giving them a taste of the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge.
Photo: John P. Johnson/HBO.
How does a host get an MRSA infection?
Did anyone else clutch their abdomen in disgust? Get it together, Westworld cleanup crew!
But actually, this development does tell us something new about the hosts: they're made of flesh, at least on the outside.
This explains the necessity for cold storage, but also why Old Bill's flesh seems to be almost melting off his face after spending years abandoned in a basement where the A/C doesn't work.
Photo: John P. Johnson/HBO.
Who is the little British boy Ford encounters?
During his little desert excursion, Ford encounters a boy who appears to be a lost guest. However, if you look closely, the two share enough common characteristics that suggest they are the same person. (The sleeves, the accent, the clearly oppressive father figure, to name but a few.) The theory here is that the child is a host version of Ford as a child, created by Ford in an effort to sort out whatever personal issues prompted him to open Westworld in the first place . Perhaps this is a reference to the creator's "demons" that Sizemore mentioned in the premiere?
Why else would this kid be hanging out in the middle of nowhere, unsupervised?
Photo: John P. Johnson/HBO.
Who is the Man in Black?
Raise your hand if you thought Ed Harris was just your generic bad guy host. That scene definitely came as a shock. There's clearly more to the Man in Black than meets the eye.
Here's what we know about him so far:
He's been coming to the park for 30 years.
He seems to know the hosts, although they don't know him.
He has no problem inflicting trauma and pain on said hosts.
He's not interested in the outer layer of services Westworld has to offer.
You don't just kidnap a man, slash his throat, drain most of his blood, and then scalp him for no reason. The Man in Black clearly has a plan — what that plan is, we can only guess.
Is he a corporate spy, sent by a rival company to uncover the deepest secrets of the park? Is he a government employee, on a mission to regulate the abuses of the park's management company? Is he just the most intense gamer we've ever seen?
Or is he, as some have suggested, a robot gone horribly awry? (All signs point to no — until you remember that "The Gunslinger," as this character is known in the 1973 movie, is in fact a host.)
Photo: John P. Johnson/HBO.
What happened 30 years ago?
Bernie Lowe (Jeffrey Wright) mentions in the premiere that the park has not had a "critical failure" in 30 years. What happened 30 years ago? And why the sudden preoccupation with the disturbance in sub-basement 83?
When you factor in that the Man in Black has been coming to the park for 30 years, all signs seem to point to his involvement.
Photo: John P. Johnson/HBO.
Who's "the lady with the white shoes"?
When Bernie and the gang head down to sub-basement 83 to check on the disturbance, they discover Dr. Robert Ford chatting with Old Bill, one of the park's older hosts.
In a moment that's easy to miss, Old Bill repeats an old drinking toast twice: “Here's to the lady in the white shoes, she'll steal all your money, she'll drink all your booze.”
The saying itself is innocuous — and has existed for years. But could it have a deeper significance than Ford lets on?
Photo: John P. Johnson/HBO.
Where is the park?
During his conversation with Theresa Cullen (Sidse Babbett Knudsen), Lee Sizemore (Simon Quarterman) asks her if she gets to "rotate home" soon. What does that mean? Do Westworld employees reside at the park while they work?
If anything, it suggests the location is fairly remote. Is it even on Earth?
Photo: John P. Johnson/HBO.
What does management want from Westworld?
Sizemore also hints to Cullen that he knows there's more to this park than meets the eye, a fact Cullen confirms: “You’re right: This place is one thing to the guests, another thing to the shareholders, and something completely different to management.”
What exactly that means, though, remains a mystery. Is management planning something bigger for the hosts? Could they be building an android army? Or does this have something to do with what the Man in Black calls the "deeper level" of the game?
Photo: John P. Johnson/HBO.
What's with all the flies?
There's something rotten in the state of Westworld. Did anyone else notice that there's a fly around every time a host glitches?
A fly lands on the sheriff's face right before his stroke-like episode. Another one crawls on Peter Abernathy (Louis Herthum) in the middle of his existential crisis, and on Dolores' (Evan Rachel Wood) face when she's being questioned. And finally, one crawls on Teddy's (James Marsden) face while he's standing guard outside the sex lodge in the middle of nowhere. Does that mean Teddy will be the next to glitch — or that he already has?
Photo: John P. Johnson/HBO.
Will Dolores lead the android uprising?
Was Dolores' comment to Teddy about the Judas steer a hint of what's to come? Reddit sure thinks so.
The two are overlooking the canyon when Teddy asks how the cattle know to go a certain direction. Dolores explains that they follow the Judas steer — where he goes, they go. When Teddy wonders how they know which one is the Judas steer, Dolores responds that it's something you just know.
Is Dolores the Judas steer? As the oldest host in the park, she is probably the most evolved, and the one farthest along in her journey toward consciousness. Will she lead the hosts?
Photo: John P. Johnson/HBO.
Are there more hosts than we think?
One theory floating around is that some of the employees we believe are humans are actually hosts.
One Redditor known as Loginuser points out that there could be hosts living outside the park. In fact, what if Dr. Ford is the only human left, controlling everything via androids?
Or, conversely, what if he is in fact an android, an imprint of his former self, meant to last forever? That would certainly explain his fondness for the hosts, and his desire to make them more human.
Redditor TrenandJerrys, on the other hand, suggests that Bernie is the android. That pointed comment about him not having kids? Suspicious.
Let the guessing commence!
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