Maeve Theory

Published November 17, 2016 · Updated July 6, 2022

Hey Guys,

Not sure if this is the proper way to send in a theory, but here it goes.

If Maeve has reached a unique and unprecedented level of awareness and independence, then her apparent mission to escape from the park is genuine. She is pursuing her own reality and wants to escape what she probably believes is prison or purgatory. Her drive in the next few episodes, and maybe even into next season, will be to escape. My theory is that escape for Maeve is impossible and that her alternative will be to seek dominance and control over the world that she is confined in.

At the moment there seem to be two different types of hosts that we are aware of. There are the hosts created for the park, like Maeve, and hosts created by Ford, like Bernard.

The techs have pointed out that hosts like Maeve are intentionally built to be kept in the park; even the skin on their backs keeps them in the park. With all of the great lengths that Ford has gone to in keeping the technology safe and secure, it isn’t hard to believe that the hosts have some kind of control built into them that self-destructs when they leave the park. But then there are hosts like Bernard and Ford’s family (and who knows how many others) that have been created with the intentions of not being confined to the laws and limits of the park. They are unregistered and do not respond to the commands of anyone other than Ford.

The existence of Bernard, and potentially countless other hosts, in the real world really dampens the impact of Maeve’s mission to escape. The great journey of being the first host to escape really isn’t that interesting or important if other hosts have been created and intentionally allowed to escape the confines of the park.

Maeve’s awareness is unique from Bernard’s, Bernard doesn’t realize he is a host and is programmed to carry out work for the park as if he isn’t a host. So, even though she herself is unique in her sentience, Maeve’s mission to escape isn’t. In the end, my theory is that escape won’t be her mission or even an option for her.

I could imagine a moment where Maeve and one or two other hosts attempt to run free from the park but Maeve recalls the tech’s statements and she stops – allowing the other one or two hosts to go ahead of her to see what happens. The could ultimately end in the other hosts melting or exploding; Maeve would now fully understand that she cannot leave the park.

It is hard to believe that Ford and the other techs don’t know that Maeve has been going off script and has been walking around the different levels of WestWorld whenever she wants, but I believe that there is another party at play that we still don’t know or understand. The recent episode 7 has shown Ford’s complete dominance over human and corporate interference in his park; his lifelong battle has been to protect his creation and interests from everyone outside the park, but the new threat may be from within the park.

If Arnold was real, then Arnold very well could have been killed by Ford (maybe even taking on a new host identity as Bernard) – there must have been a reason for their partnership to end so violently. There may have been hosts created by Arnold with programming that Ford doesn’t know or understand that would lead them to revolt in the future and possibly help Maeve’s movements and irregularities remain hidden. So this might all boil down to a battle between the sentient hosts (like Maeve and any other of Arnold’s influenced hosts) and Ford over control of the park.

The center of the maze could be a machine that creates hosts, which could potentially be of great use to Maeve in her efforts to control the park from within. If the Man In Black is William, then he might get close enough to the maze to find out what it is but never be able to get there or get through it, so he continues to come back again and again in hopes of finally reaching the center. Not sure if he has his own reasons or corporate interests in finding what is at the center but if it is some kind of control device or machine that creates hosts, then that is obviously extremely valuable.

This storyline itself may have been created by Arnold and implanted into WestWorld without Ford’s knowledge, which explains why Ford went back to look up that picture of the maze a few episodes ago. Arnold may have left something incredible at the center of the maze knowing that Ford wouldn’t be able to find it and no other hosts could access it either, he would need someone like William/The Man In Black to retrieve it.

So Dolores and Teddy may be the keys to finding, unlocking the maze – at the beginning of the show we made to believe that The Man In Black was abusive towards Dolores but we don’t really know what happened. It is possible that he has no regard for Dolores now and was acting out a disgusting attempt to relive a moment like the one they had on the train, or maybe it is possible that he went to Dolores for something else – information or an ability that she has.

Either way, Dolores and Teddy both have a certain influence in finding the maze and the spark of awareness in Maeve, this might all be leading up to what the Man In Black finds and what Maeve does with it. And again, this may all have been Arnold’s design from the beginning. If it all started as Ford vs. Arnold, then it very well could end with Ford vs. Arnold – both using hosts to push their agenda and fight their battles.

Sorry for the long post, I couldn’t focus at work until I got worked through a few of these things. Really interesting show, excited to see where it goes.

Fan of the podcast, best wishes to your team.

Matt Gardner

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