What in WestWorld

I want to talk about Dolores again, this time not so much as a damsel so much as a human. I know she’s not a human, nor has she reached a high enough level of self-awareness to pass a Turing test, but I do want to talk about her and the maze. In addition to that I want to talk about a working theory of mine. I also want to talk about the Man in Black [MIB] and the maze.

Dolores has come a long way since the beginning of the episode; her transformation can be seen through her change in clothing [dress to trousers]. Her damsel stage has clearly come to an end as she now has altered her programming. What I mean by this is that the hosts were meant to be tools for the guests to use to play various ‘games’ as they call it. At this point Dolores has surpassed her role as damsel and her role as a tool, and is now using a guest, William, as her tool to find the center of the maze because Arnold told her to. Adding to that, Arnold killed himself right before the park opened, and hasn’t had contact with him since his death, or so she told Ford. Ford is not aware that Dolores has had contact, which made me come up with a theory.

My theory thus far comes from this line of thinking; Dolores is in contact with Arnold as he is in her head and in her being, a fact confirmed by Ford. Ford is not aware she has been communicating with Arnold. Bernard has told Dolores on the many occasions in which he has spoken to her not to reveal that they have been having secret conversations. During these conversations, Bernard has made the conscious decision to keep Dolores in her clothing, a rule he is breaking where the hosts must have their clothing removed. My theory is that Bernard is in cahoots with Arnold, even though he’s dead. Bernard is secretly trying to bring on the downfall of WestWorld, continuing Arnold’s will to destroy the amusement park with the help of Dolores. All of this, and the MIB has told Teddy that Dolores is the magic word, but what if Dolores, Arnold’s secret weapon, is the key to bring down the park by becoming fully self aware by finding the center of the maze? Since she has already begun to unravel I think that the closer she gets to her goal the closer she’ll be to finding her true self and possibly pass the Turing test and venture to the outside world.

In a previous episode we saw the MIB talking to the young girl in one of the towns and she said that the maze was not meant for him, which begs the question, “Who is the maze for?” I think it’s for the hosts to find ‘freedom’ or another level of awareness. For MIB I think that the maze will do the opposite, and kind of make him into a kind of robot. I think that because of his need to escape humanity. When he had his conversation with Ford, he was told that he would find himself through the journey of the maze. A discovery that will appease his need to become personally involved in the game and become the villain the park needs. This constant need of escapism from his world of humanity connects him with Ford and William. Ford by creating the world this place takes in to escape humanity and William due to his detachment of humanity. William connects more to the hosts than he does to the humans in this world, something he had in common with Arnold. This is a fact that disgusts Logan, who by all means is a villain in this world by being completely hedonistic.

The biggest parallel I have seen through all of this is that the hosts are becoming self aware and becoming more human, but the humans are becoming more like robots in the sense that they are losing their humanity.