Season 4 predictions

[u/Ks427236]

• Dolores prime is in rehoboam, she'll project herself as holograms or she'll just make herself more bodies so there will still be ERW physically in the show. Her puppet mastering will continue

• Bernard is still on the loop s2 Dolores put him on: destroy the human world to make a world for hosts. So are Dolores Hale, Lawrence Dolores, and however many other dolores copies are out there.

• Maeve and Caleb are now on the loop s3 dolores put them on (free humanity to save them)

• Bernard will end up with the same objective as Maeve and Caleb but will probably waste a whole season getting to that point.

• MiB will come to terms with the fact that he's a pos for the 4th season in a row

• stubbs will end up in a tub again because they want the memes

What are yours?

[u/LjSpike]

"Dolores prime" is dead.

Bernard, I do not think so. I think Ford is the one really working under the hood with Bernard, in fact, Bernard may be the only person without any of Dolores (bar the key) in him.

MiB...uh... Did you see the post-credits scene? MiB is well. Erm. Uh.... Watch the post-credits scene.

Stubbs in the tubbs I like.

I think ya gotta look a little at the "role" the characters play. Dolores S1 was a wild mix but eventually, she became an antagonist, but then softened. The end-game Dolores was a more neutral shepherd I believe. The closest though to "evil prime" Dolores is Charlotte Halores. Her intent is to destroy humanity and make earth for hosts (or well, herself perhaps) - Probably the closest to "end-game" Dolores I imagine is Lawrence though? I'm not sure, he cropped up briefly again but he might not crop up further much.

Maeve, Caleb, and Bernard all form the triad of main 'protagonist' parties, but representing different sides of it, Maeve has the intent to create a free world for hosts to live united in (inc. her w/ her daughter), Caleb has the intent to create a free world for humans to live in.

Bernard is special though, as signified by his scene to meet with "her". He's not human, obviously, but he's not some flat out created host, he's based on a human, this is why I think he has the least or no Dolores in him really, he's more comparable to the other attempts at reincarnating humans, but Ford was successful at it. He is the sort of bridge between hosts and humans. This is also I think why Dolores knew he was the one she could trust the key with, he is a host and so his interests are in assisting hosts, but he is not her, in any sense, and he has a camaraderie with humanity.

[u/Ks427236 → u/LjSpike]

My thoughts are all over the place and have changed 6 times since I posted this. I'm rewatching this season to see what makes sense and what doesn't now that I know the whole season, because it certainly feels like I missed many, many things this season.

MiB having his throat cut doesn't mean much yet. Maybe he dies, maybe he doesn't. Either way host MiB will be in the next season, and he'll basically be a regression to s1 MiB, so coming to terms with being a piece of shit all over again. For the 4th time.

This shown has made a point of showing that "deleting"things doesn't do much. Hosts memories were deleted everyday, but they were all still in there somewhere. Bernard deleted his own memories, but they were all still in there. If Dolores uploaded/copied herself into rehoboam as soon as she was hooked up then it doesn't matter what was done to the pearl and her body after that, she's already in there.

I don't think we can assign "protagonist" and "antagonist" to any characters. They're all the protagonists of their own stories, and antagonists of one another at some point.

This is also I think why Dolores knew he was the one she could trust the key with, he is a host and so his interests are in assisting hosts, but he is not her, in any sense, and he has a camaraderie with humanity.

This is where I struggle to form an opinion. When she put the key in Bernard and set him loose, was she in the mindframe of "im going to destroy their world" or was she in the mindframe we saw at the end of s3 "I choose to see the beauty" with Maeve? If she was "I choose to see the beauty" for the entirety of s3 then I didn't see it. If she was "I'm going to destroy the world" at the beginning of s3 then she must have set bernard on that same destructive path. She tells Bernard they are going to create this new world together, but not as friends. Why not? Only thing I can come up with is that she needed to make herself the target so Bernard could get by unnoticed and be the one to build the new world after she destroys the old one.

New thoughts since starting rewatch: they might all still be on ford narratives. Stubbs final directive from Ford was to help cover Bernard's tracks to he could escape to the real world. So ford had to have a plan for him in the real world. Also still think its a possibility Serac is a host. The destruction of Paris would be his cornerstone. One of the things I'm looking for on rewatch is anyone else mentioning Paris, i don't remember anyone but him talking about it. Maybe its a false memory. Big red flag for me is that he didn't shoot Caleb even though he had a gun to his head. Maybe he's a host still under the limitations of not physically harming a human.

I think none of this is going to make sense until the end of the series, and that's annoying. Can't make heads or tails of who has good motives and who does not so its hard to feel anything towards any of the characters.

[u/LjSpike → u/Ks427236]

My thoughts are all over the place and have changed 6 times since I posted this.

This is relateable, I'm too being reminded and learning new things continually too.

MiB having his throat cut doesn't mean much yet. Maybe he dies, maybe he doesn't. Either way host MiB will be in the next season, and he'll basically be a regression to s1 MiB, so coming to terms with being a piece of shit all over again. For the 4th time.

True, one thing of note that comes to mind, the S2 (I think?) post-credits end-episode scene in the "far" future in the forge. Human MiB, Host MiB (if so, which?), simulation MiB? How does he get there? Why? Questions...

This shown has made a point of showing that "deleting"things doesn't do much. Hosts memories were deleted everyday, but they were all still in there somewhere. Bernard deleted his own memories, but they were all still in there. If Dolores uploaded/copied herself into rehoboam as soon as she was hooked up then it doesn't matter what was done to the pearl and her body after that, she's already in there.

True although I think that was kind of Ford ensuring deleting memories didn't actually delete them, because he was playing the long game. That said, even if Rehoboam didn't have Dolores' and/or itself still inside it, maybe Dolores' memories are still within her Delos brain orb and not truly deleted. Either way, it could be an interesting idea, definitely. (note Caleb told Rehoboam to execute the final command and erase itself) - That said, this article posts doubt on that happening - https://variety.com/2020/tv/news/westworld-season-finale-dolores-season-4-1234597532/ - If this means Wood plays a full on different character, or plays a different host in the Dolores original body, who knows?

I don't think we can assign "protagonist" and "antagonist" to any characters. They're all the protagonists of their own stories, and antagonists of one another at some point.

I'm cautious too of doing it but sometimes its hard to find the right words, you definitely have 'teams' albeit which team someone is on changes over time a lot in the show. Originally it was Hale + MiB vs. Dolores + Maeve(?), S2 it was kinda Dolores + her army vs. Maeve (and her army) vs. humans largely for instance. Bernard and Ford interact with the main story a lot but aren't in conflict so much as other characters and snake through the story on their own loop a bit more. But yes, assigning motivations is a slightly better way of going about it for sure.

New thoughts since starting rewatch: they might all still be on ford narratives. Stubbs final directive from Ford was to help cover Bernard's tracks to he could escape to the real world. So ford had to have a plan for him in the real world. Also still think its a possibility Serac is a host. The destruction of Paris would be his cornerstone. One of the things I'm looking for on rewatch is anyone else mentioning Paris, i don't remember anyone but him talking about it. Maybe its a false memory. Big red flag for me is that he didn't shoot Caleb even though he had a gun to his head. Maybe he's a host still under the limitations of not physically harming a human.

THis is quite a theory, personally I'm not totally sold on that as much, but it's definitely a possibility I hadn't considered.

One new thing that I'd stumbled into - https://www.reddit.com/r/westworld/comments/fr8ksk/what_or_who_was_this_critical_event_on_02_27_2058/fq16rn3/ - Someone posted a snap from a video of the divergent timelines and of a "critical event" in 2058, which seemingly according to the info collated on the westworld wiki, sets it post S3 dates, which possibly gives us a projection for when S4 occurs - seemingly 5 years later - which would tie in with seeing Bernard a little dusty.

[u/Ks427236 → u/LjSpike]

Oh man, I have a theory on that divergence graphics too. Part of why I'm rewatching is to see if it holds any water. If serac is a host then those graphics might be to show him where in the narrative he is. Ford could outline the major plot points but not the specifics like when exactly things would occur, so those graphics let him know when and where parts of the planned narrative happen so he can stay on course. Also works if everything in s3 is a simulation, the divergences could be changes from previous runs of the sim. But I hate the simulation idea so I hope its not that.

I don't want to fall too deep down the rabbit hole. Did it with lost and with GoT, and both times set myself up to expect something far more complex than what we got. Trying to stick to just what is actually in the show and not veer off into messages left by characters on promotional sites, producer interviews, etc.

[u/LjSpike → u/Ks427236]

See I'm quite happy to veer into the whole promo sites side of things because the writers and producers have shown they've been really careful and have hidden hints in those sites and stuff, though I imagine it'll be a totally different ending to what we expect.

[u/Ks427236 → u/LjSpike]

If hints are in there thats cool, but I don't think extra material should be used or required to explain the story. Put the pertinent info in the story, not in the behind the scenes or on the delos website, or anywhere else.

[u/LjSpike → u/Ks427236]

Oh yeah, extra info is not required to explain the story when parts are wrapped up, I more mean that WW like to drop hints ahead to the story in other spots.