Theory

Published June 26, 2018 · Updated July 6, 2022

Hey Guys,

What’s up. You all have a great podcast. Here’s a theory,

Part 1. In a post season interview Jonathan Nolan says, “There is a subtle shift in this season, when you started seeing more and more backstory of the Man in Black, it should raise suspicions, and it has for a lot of people…” In episode 9 we see the scene of MiB walking down the hall twice. We see two scenes of Juliet in bed… in one of the scenes MiB confesses to her that he has a darkness inside. There are two different bathtub scenes. Two different dripping crystal scenes. Those scenes must be Man in Black playing the loop over and over again and he’s making different choices like actually confessing who he is to Juliet, a different decision leading to a different suicide, etc. He always ends up killing his daughter and arriving at that elevator into the Forge with Dolores and Bernard inside (I don’t know which is the life defining event: him killing his daughter or whether or not he goes down the elevator).

My unlikely pro-Man in Black idea is that maybe he is humankind’s chance of averting a host takeover. He’s trying to make the right choice which allows him to get down the elevator in time to stop Dolores and Bernard or form a truce with them… but there are many other possibilities of what he’s trying to achieve.? And this idea would require that MiB be running simulations of events before they actually happen to determine what he must do to get the outcome he wants. Unfortunately, it appears he isn’t successful because….

Part 2: According to Jonathan Nolan the last scene is well in the future, and importantly, isn’t a simulation. The Forge is desolated and covered in dirt. The interviewer might have the right idea: Dolores has managed to gain a foothold in the real world and to punish William she’s put him inside Westworld as a host to relive his life-defining moment over and over again (but that would mean Emily has to get shot over and over again forever). They’ve made Emily his fidelity tester. I’m kinda hoping Dolores is doing this not to punish William, but because she needs MiB to make a different choice that saves them both. Or maybe to prove humankind is capable of change? I dunno, it just would suck if MiB ends up a totally defeated villain.

So many possibilities! Thanks guys.
Andres Fonseca

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