Westworld Telegraph – The Maze On The Vinyl Record

Published May 14, 2018 · Updated July 6, 2022

While watching this week’s episode, I happened to notice that the label of the vinyl record that the James Delos clone was playing looked a lot like the Maze from Season 1. I thought this would be a little strange since we are seemingly led to believe that the room that James Delos’ clone is in was created by or at the direction of William who I thought would not have known about the maze at the time James Delos v1.0 (or v2.0 depending on your point of view) was created or, at least, would not have a known reason to have the maze printed on the record.

Putting on my tinfoil hat after the episode, I began to wonder if the MIB isn’t also a cloned version of the original William and the whole James Delos clone scenario is part of a fidelity test for William created by Dr. Ford. This new “game” that Dr. Ford created for the MIB clone is similar to the maze that was created by Arnold for Delores. It is the game that he must solve to (the door he must go through) in order to become aware of what he is without suffering the mental collapse of the James Delos clones. I know we are not certain of the timelines, but could the MIB clone’s decision not to terminate James Delos v149 have signaled to Dr. Ford that this William host version was ready to enter the next stage and triggered the chain of events at the end of Season 1?

I know this is far-fetched but there is some possible support for this theory. In Season 1, the MIB is obsessed with finding the meaning of the maze only to be told by Lawrence’s daughter that the maze was not designed for him (i.e. perhaps it was specific to Delores). In the current Season, young Robert Ford tells the MIB that “it starts where you end and ends where you began” which could be a reference to where the human William ended and became the clone/host William. In this week’s episode this could be reinforced again by Lawrence’s daughter who tell’s him if he is looking forward he is looking in the wrong direction (i.e. he needs to explore how he came to be a clone of the original William). (Wasn’t “The Original” the title of S1E1 – what if this is a reference to the human William?!!)

As for reasons William would commission a clone of himself (or transition into an artificial being), who knows, but he does tell James Delos in his original investment pitch that, “in 20 years, this will be the only reality that matters.” Perhaps, after his wife’s death, he wanted to become a permanent (but self-aware) character in the park (remember his conversation in Season 1 where he tells Dr. Ford that he thought the park needed a villain like him and Dr. Ford says something about how even he (Dr. Ford) could not have dreamed of any character like the MIB). Or perhaps he just wanted a body that could be easily repaired.

Anyway, I know it’s all super-speculative but I love that this show makes me think about the possibilities long after the episodes air. Thanks again for all of the hard work you guys (and gal) put into the podcasts each week – it is truly appreciated.

Best regard,

-Ken C.

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