Full Tinfoil Bernard Theory

Published April 7, 2020 · Updated July 6, 2022

Hi Everett, Delmar and Pete,

it’s been a strange time in the UK. The Prime Minister has become the Fisher King and we had Queen Liz address the nation. Things feel strained and emotional.

Escapism into Westworld theories and philosophical discussion is a welcome relief. I think that I found your podcast because of Westworld season one. I was looking for discussion that delved a bit deeper and Google delivered with Shat. The structure and commitment you give to your shows has always been appreciated in my little part of England.

And the thing I most like is the discovery regardless of being right or wrong. The game is what counts and being playful with ideas. With that in mind, I want to propose a tinfoil hypothesis about the nature of Bernard (sorry Gene) which has been inspired by a couple of observations that Ashley made on the Deep Dive.

Hypothesis: Evan Rachel Wood’s Dolores isn’t Dolores Prime.

There’s a few loose ends that I am drawing on for this. These include:

The bloodied bonesaw
The 2nd printing of Charlotte Hale
The five grey pearls in the handbag
The ease of overwriting pearls
Bernard accessing Dolores memories

So we know that Dolores Prime was in a Charlotte body at the end of season two.

This poses an obvious question – if Dolores can copy herself onto other pearls then why wouldn’t you use a copy pearl of yourself in your original body type? Why go to the extra palaver of switching bodies? It isn’t efficient. And if you did, why get rid of the body that you escaped in? Why the second Charlotte?

Another mystery is, as Ashley pointed out, our observed pearls in the handbag were all grey. But there was one pearl that we didn’t see and that was the pearl of Dolores Prime herself in the Charlotte body. A simple explanation would be that Dolores Prime pearl was red and grey.

A third mystery is that of the bloodied bonesaw that we have been shown at the end of season two and in this season. That we have been repeatedly shown this with lingering camera shots suggests that it is important. Who’s blood is it?

I would suggest that it’s the blood of the Charlotte bot that escaped the park.

That Dolores Prime copied herself onto a grey pearl, printed the Evan Rachel Wood body and then got the ERW Dolores to remove the Prime pearl in order to make Bernard with.

Why should this have occurred? Wild speculation time! Perhaps the key that Serac is looking for remains in the pearl that Bernard is now using. Delores removed it from herself for safekeeping. Putting the key into someone not associated with her schemes. If she succeeds then she can retrieve the key or if she fails there will be less opportunity of discovery.

This could explain why Bernard isn’t himself and why his diagnostic at the farm included Dolores Prime memories. You don’t want Bernard to be too smart if you want the key protected.

Bernard has to have a purpose to have been recreated by Dolores. We don’t yet have an explanation.

Keep well Shat family

John Lish

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