If you’re confused about what’s taking place in the HBO series Westworld , you are not alone. It’s clear there’s more than one timeline occurring and one YouTuber has decided to clear up the discrepancies.
[Warning: Westworld Season 1 spoilers ahead. Do not read if you’re not caught up with the show.]
Before you watch the video below, remember this: unlike humans, hosts recall memories perfectly. This is why Dolores remembers both young and old William in so vividly and it confuses the timeline. She remembers her encounters with Arnold like it’s happening in real time, which is why it seemed like she was speaking with Bernard.
Everything in Westworld is intentional. It is not a coincidence you see some of the older hosts in the “present day” timeline, marked by the older Man in Black version of William. Showrunner Jonathan Nolan spoke to Entertainment Weekly why the show likes to keep many of details vagues for the viewers.
“Part of the fun is people speculating about what they’re are seeing. There’s some amazing speculation out there,” Nolan told EW . “There are some theories that are so elaborate and beautiful that you wish you thought of them yourself. I think we want to burden the audience as little as possible with expectations of what we think the show is. I’m a big believer in this ever since we went to the Venice Film Festival with Memento . My brother gave an interview about what he thought the film meant but stressed it was ambiguous. And afterward we talked about it and I felt from then on that the best thing to do is get out of the way of the audience and let them play with it. And there are some things in Westworld that are intentionally ambiguous.”
The best part of Westworld is the speculation. It’s a truly original show; there’s no source material to give away clues about what’s going on like Game of Thrones or The Walking Dead. We don’t know who to trust in the Westworld timeline. Some people guessed Bernard was a host or that he was Arnold, but not many fans picked up that he’s actually both characters. It’s fun putting together mysteries of the show and seeing how accurate our the theories are.
What do you think will happen in the Westworld Season 1 finale? Let us know in the comments below.
