The Riddle Of The Sphinx

Published May 14, 2018 · Updated July 6, 2022

Hey Guys,

Two theories arising from “The Riddle of the Sphinx”:

1) To go forward, you need to go back

You guys are discussing whether this is back in time, or back in geography. I think there’s a case that it could be both.

When and where was the Man in Black born? We don’t know where William was born, but it’s pretty clear to me that the Man in Black was born on one of two occasions – either when Young William came back to find Dolores, only to discover that she had no memory of him. Or a few years later, when Relatively Young William took Jim Delos to the park to convince him to invest. Both of those things happened in Sweetwater.

But maybe they meant physically. On his first visit to the park, Young William goes from Sweetwater to Las Mudas, to Pariah, to Escalante and then to a massacre (when he massacred the Confederado hosts)

On this latest visit to the park (in Season 2) the MiB has reversed this trip. He’s traveled from a massacre (the hosts massacring people) in Escalante, then to Pariah and then to Las Mudas… So thematically, the next place would be…

2) Why does the MiB become a white hat?

In episode 2, MiB says to Lawrence that he was judged falsely, because he’s being judged on things that didn’t matter. And now that the stakes are real, he’s going to appeal the verdict. In other words, he wants to prove he’s not a bad guy.

He acted evil in Westworld because it didn’t matter. The game was rigged in his favor, designed to let him abuse the hosts with no judgement, so if he killed and raped hosts, it was not a sin. He acted like a villain because he was good at acting like a villain.

But now, the stakes are real and humans are dying. He’s appealing the verdict by trying to stop the hosts – he says he’s going to burn the whole place to the ground. When he stopped Craddock, it was only another step along the path to redemption.

3) Bonus Tinfoil Hat Theory about Logan

Without a body, MiB telling Jim Delos that Logan died of an overdose is suspicious, especially because we expect from the trailer that we’ll see naked Logan later. Why keep him in the story like this?

Secondly, why is Ghost Nation so helpful to the humans? Why are they more aware of the true nature of the park? *Put on Tinfoil Hat* Maybe Logan is living among the Ghost Nation, as a tribal elder, telling them the truth about the park? Even more tinfoil: And what if Emily knows this? She knows the language, she says she visits Ghost Nation when she’s in the park. What if she’s been working with her uncle Logan to discover something?

John B

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