Westworld Theresa Theory

Published November 20, 2016 · Updated July 6, 2022

I’ve been a big fan of yours from day one, we’ve had a bit of banter on Twitter (@patrickgde3). I’m an Englishman living in Portland, Oregon.

I’ve had a theory from episode 1, one that I THOUGHT was even more confirmed after watching this week’s episode.

I write this as I listen to your Instacast, and you may have just blown my theory out the water.

Maybe,But here goes.

Theresa is a host. Yes she’s a corporate messenger type, but hear meout.

I started to think this when she was interacting personally with Bernard in the first few episodes. Scenes after they’ve slept together (as we’re led to believe), Theresa was always ice cold with Bernard, almost to a sociopathic level.

Westworld Theresa Theory

In episode 4 she’s having dinner with Ford talking about Ford’s new narrative. Ford says theres been “more before her”. This led me to believe Theresa has been reprogrammed a lot of times.

In the same conversation, Theresa said she’d been to that restaurant before as a child and tried to remember where she sat. This vague patchy type of memory seems consistent with how other hosts try to articulate their own memories. And Ford’s reaction seems consistent with the smug appeasing look he gives when really he knows something isn’t true. (below) [Inline image 1]
This whole scene is SCREAMING she’s a host, and he knows it. Why would Ford have a corporate host? So he can drip feed EXACTLY the information he wants to the board. You notice how Ford is always on the brink of being fired/replaced?! Thats because he is controlling Theresa and the info she tells the board. He loves it, he’s playing with the board!

Skip forward to episode 5, Bernard and Theresa discuss that Ford knew about them, and Theresa calls off their romance. Why did she do this? Because she’s a host and Ford programmed her to.

I was convinced of this BEFORE this Sunday’s episode, before we got the big HOLY SHIT reveal with Bernard. When Bernard “killed” Theresa I was convinced even more she was a host.

“She’s a host!! They’ll just patch her up and put her back to work”, I thought.

The final red herring that Theresa IS a host is the fact she smokes and no other character does. Having a host smoke is the perfect smokescreen (no pun intended).

So… Bernard is host, this we know now. Ford might be killing real people and replacing them hosts. This is yet to be fully determined. (Did Ford kill Theresa months/years ago and replace her with a host?)

But, could Theresa be a host? Ford is controlling the information the board are getting, and the romance with Bernard is nothing more than Ford’s disturbed mind entertaining himself?

I’m in deep, send help. Patrick

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