Westworld: 4 theories after ‘Vanishing Point’

“Vanishing Point” pushed many of the key characters of Westworld like never before. What theories are set in motion by these developments?

Let’s take a look at four of the most fascinating theories following Westworld‘s highly emotional and penultimate episode of season 2.

Warning: Spoilers from “Vanishing Point” will follow. 

Maeve will have to kill Clementine

After discovering Maeve’s extraordinary programming, Delos uploaded those features into Clementine. The trial of Clementine using that programming against her fellow hosts is a success in the eyes of Delos. Under Clementine’s commands, the trial group of hosts dispatched one another in a matter of seconds.

Delos is about to unleash Clementine on the rest of the hosts in the park in order to take back control once and for all. Clementine’s abilities will not be unopposed, though. Maeve’s conversation with Ford–and the culminating effect of it on her programming–will make her even stronger than before.

All of these factors set up an epic showdown between Maeve and Clementine. In order to survive, Maeve will have to kill Clementine. While necessary, it will also be a heartbreaking decision given Maeve’s history with Clementine. In fact, Clementine was practically a daughter to Maeve.

This heartbreaking sacrifice at the cost of freedom was already teased in the Shogun World episodes where Akane only found her freedom after the death of her beloved daughter Sakura. Maeve and Clementine are the Shogun World equivalents of Akane and Sakura, meaning history is about to repeat itself, only now with Maeve being the one who has to kill the daughter figure.

William is not a host

All season long fans have speculated that William was a host. The specifics of each theory varied, but many fans think their suspicions are confirmed after William dug into his arm with a knife in a manner not so different from Bernard earlier in the episode.

What’s more intriguing to consider is that William still isn’t a host. He digs into his arm because he wants to be a host at that moment. He wants to be able to blame programming or a glitch as the catalyst for killing Emily.

The truth is that there’s nothing there but blood, skin, and bone there. William has no one to blame but himself.

Both William and Dolores are pushed to a point where in their quests for purpose and freedom, they have destroyed everyone they cared about along the way. The parallels are more fascinating if William is human, as it proves how free will and the nature of the park can corrupt both humans and hosts alike.

Emily’s plan

Emily only got William back from Ghost Nation because she convinced Akecheta that she would make her father suffer. She seemed to truly mean it when she said it, but there was no hint of her enacting any of that promised suffering in this last episode.

One theory is that Emily actually planned for events to unfold as they did between herself and her father. The idea is that Emily sent a host version of herself to retrieve William. She arranged for the Delos security members to arrive and programmed her host to act in a way that would cause William to snap and kill her. His agony at thinking he killed his real daughter is the suffering that Emily promised.

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Emily didn’t do this just to torture her father, though. She is working to oust her father from Delos and take control. In this episode, she learns crucial information from him and he proceeds to murder Delos employees and his own daughter. She is making him go crazy and working to discredit him, just like William did years earlier to dethrone Logan and become the heir to James Delos.

Earlier in the season, Emily said she came to the park at Charlotte Hale’s request. Emily and Charlotte could have been working together this whole time, now manipulating events so they can completely overthrow William, the two of them now on a path to assuming full command of Delos. This includes taking control of the “immortality” project and the data at the Forge/Valley Beyond, which Emily just gleaned crucial information about.

In short, William killed a host version of his daughter. The real Emily is still out there and working with Charlotte Hale. They did this to make William suffer and to oust him, and now the two of them are about to take complete control of Delos and the secrets of the Forge/Valley Beyond.

Hosts reaching the outside world

Dolores, Akecheta, Maeve and many of the other hosts have spent season 2 aware that their world is not real. Despite their free will, it will never be authentic freedom in a world that is not real. As such, Akecheta and Dolores yearn to reach the outside world, albeit through very different approaches and intentions.

The Forge/Valley Beyond seemed like it could be the gateway to the outside world, but that no longer appears to be the case. It’s where the data profiles collected from all the guests over the years are stored, data profiles that can be used to turn guests into hosts. It also seems like the Forge/Valley Beyond includes a simulator like the Cradle, except it, simulates using the guests’ information, not the hosts.

Even though the Forge/Valley Beyond is not a gateway to the outside world, what occurs there could lead some of the hosts to escape nonetheless. Delos will likely try to extract as much of their precious technology as they can before it is destroyed by Dolores or anyone else.

It is possible that one or more of the hosts will escape amidst Delos extracting their technology and taking it back to the outside world. This would set up an intriguing storyline in season 3 where at least one host is in the outside world.

The park setting is practically its own character and integral to the show’s DNA. Between that and the fact that not all the hosts are going to be able to smuggle themselves out, season 3 should take place in both the park and the outside world.

Dolores is the natural choice to reach the outside world. She believes it holds the answers and with the loss of Teddy, there’s nothing to tether her to the park anymore, nothing she won’t sacrifice. She already went to the outside world years ago with Arnold and can use her experiences to navigate it now.

Akecheta is the best choice after Dolores. He also went to the outside world many years ago–looking quite different as pictured above–when he and Angela were programmed to convince Logan to invest in Westworld.

This was before Akecheta discovered the Maze and since he didn’t make any connection to the raving man he found in the desert being the same man he met with in the outside world, it seems like Akecheta doesn’t remember his experiences there. If he finds a way to access those memories, like Dolores, he can use that knowledge to navigate the outside world.

Next: Interview with Westworld’s Peter Abernathy: Louis Herthum

The finale could truly prove to be game-changing if it culminates in one or more hosts reaching the outside world.

What’s your favorite theory heading into the season 2 finale? Let us know in the comments!

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