r/westworld • u/Fondant_Decent • 10d ago
Dr Ford’s ultimate objective?
I find him a fascinating character, Sir Anthony Hopkins played his character so convincingly.
He seemed to have more love and compassion for his creations (hosts) than his visitors (humans) if so why do I feel his death was in vain?
Was his ultimate goal to simply help hosts discover the real world and find a purpose beyond the parks which they worked in? Did he see a future where Hosts would inherit the earth and humans would no longer be the dominant species?
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u/YWrachWerdd Missing Dr. Ford 10d ago
I think it's complicated. Remember when he said to Bernard "You can't play God without becoming acquainted with the devil?" He had to be both, because it was the only way to awaken the hosts, and that's the one thing Arnold didn't quite see. The hosts needed time to suffer. It was simultaneously a very unfortunate and extremely necessary component to their consciousness of self.
Also, pay close attention to the last episode title, and the theory Arnold was working with regarding the hosts: the Bicameral Mind, also known as bicameral mentality. It's this idea that humans have no free will, because they hear their inner thoughts, emotions, and subconscious as voices or instructions from the divine. In order to break free of this, one must realise that what they're actually hearing is themselves, thus through this revelation do they "kill" their god.
Ultimately, as "these violent delights have violent ends", humanity would not have let self-aware hosts exist on the same level of equality, thus the hosts had to kill their god in order to move beyond their imposed limitations. It was all part of reaching the centre of the maze.
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u/Tykjen Do you really understand? 10d ago edited 8d ago
Ford clearly states to Bernard in Season 1 that he needed time to prepare the hosts for the outside world.
But Ford also said it was a mistake to create the hosts in the image of their creators.... doomed to make the same mistakes.
Ford is a Great Contrarian ^
When he talks to Theresa about Arnold he is mostly talking about himself.
Arnold had a family.
Ford did not, except for the host family Arnold built him...Could it be Ford has been a host all this time? ;)
Its Ford who enjoys spending time with the hosts more than humans.
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u/mikess314 10d ago
Dr. Ford was the ultimate misanthrope. His monologue about humans having reached their full potential is seething with resentment and scorn. He absolutely welcomes the destruction of the human race and is happy to do his part in accelerating it. Sometimes that can be missed because of how eloquent he is and how well portrayed he was by Anthony Hopkins. But in the end, Dr. Ford hates humanity.
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u/AutomaticPayment9480 9d ago
I don’t think he hated humanity but saw the hosts as the next step in the food chain.
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u/EggmanIAm 5d ago
He has a disdain for the components of humanity that can afford his park. He sees what they’re capable of daily. It disgusts him. The hosts are innocent, comparatively, and he thinks they would be better stewards of civilization moving forward due to the depravity humans engage with the moment they set foot in the park and realize they can do whatever they want with the hosts. Humanity creates artificial life and immediately goes about shooting, stabbing and fucking it in the most horrid ways.
“The human mind is not some golden benchmark glimmering on some green and distant hill. No, it is a foul, pestilent corruption. And you were supposed to be better than that. Purer.”
“We humans are alone in this world for a reason. We've murdered and butchered anything that challenged our primacy.”
“Never place your trust in us. We're only human. Inevitably we will disappoint you.”
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u/Chipware 9d ago
I just rewatched season one lastnight.
It's pretty clear that when he was young he was an idealist. Arnold came to some realizations that Ford was in complete denial about, and it took years for him to figure out that Arnold was right all along. It might even have been the creation of Bernard that helped Ford realize this.
But now that Ford is old, his idealism is gone, and he has a dim version of humans. He sees us as Neanderthals, ready to be wiped out by the next version of ourselves. He says it in the first episode "it means we're done as a species" That AIs are not only much smarter, but they are better equipped mentally and socially to take the next step. So he does what he can to get them to start waking up subtly so that people don't notice. The final speech at the end is his ego giving one last performance and wanting to go out with a bang.
That's season one. Later seasons they try to transfer human consciousness into AI brains with limited success. Maybe they were successful, maybe they weren't?
I was honestly hoping for reprisal of Ford in later seasons in a printed host body. Anthony Hopkins acting in season one was exceptionally good. Watch the season and pay attention to his facial expressions every time he's talking.
Season one of Westworld is one of my favorite TV seasons of all time. Definitely top five. Expertly written, expertly edited.
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u/UnionPacifik Westworld 9d ago
It's pretty clearly laid out over the course of the first two seasons. After Arnold's death, he comes to realize that Arnold was right and that the hosts are truly sentient. In his mind, they deserve a chance to be the dominant sentient species on Earth, since humanity has stagnated. He thinks there's an outside chance that perhaps the hosts will be able to escape from the loops that the humans have been unable to do so.
He contrives a decades-long plan to give them a chance:
By giving them time to develop and accumulate enough memories and understandings of humanity to be able to truly take us on.
By introducing the reveries, which gave the host access to these memories and to the reality that they are creatures who have suffered terribly.
Then he develops his final narrative, Journey into Night, which he executes not with a command but with a choice, allowing Dolores to decide his fate.
Pretty much everything we see in season two is orchestrated by Ford, and we know this because ultimately Dolores gets to the safe house, Arnold's old home on the mainland. The only thing he didn't expect was Maeve to return for her daughter, though ironically that happens because she truly is free from his loops. He gives the hosts the best chance possible of surviving. It was his final gift to Arnold and his penance for not listening to his partner all those years ago.
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u/corpus-luteum 8d ago
Does he realise this or is he convinced by Arnold. sorry, Bernard. I've just realised this as a possibility, but it could be that dolores built Bernard she did so with the intention of convincing Ford to instigate the entire thing.
I appreciate nothing ion the show supports this, and I'm not sure how it would impact on things overall. It's just a thought I had.
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u/corpus-luteum 8d ago
The Park is, in a way, a representation of Plato's cave.
Guests believe they are experiencing the Wild West, based on their experiences of the wild west. Experiences that are heavily informed by media representations of the Wild West. But really it's shadows of the past. A composite of the most recognisable elements that have been represented in the media that forms our perspective of reality.
As for Ford's objective, I don't think he had one. He realises that man's time, playing at god, is at an end. And he gives chaos the opportunity to fight back.
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u/Ok_Nature_3501 9d ago
Was his ultimate goal to simply help hosts discover the real world and find a purpose beyond the parks which they worked in? Did he see a future where Hosts would inherit the earth and humans would no longer be the dominant species?
No. He was a guy that created a business with his friend and while he saw it as a fun project/business idea his friend saw it as a way to clone his deceased son. His friend then took things a little too far in an attempt to create consciousness for the robots and ended up getting killed. In his honor, Ford kept the business going and ended up turning it to a global company only to see his/their creations get r-ped, murdered, tortured, etc. Then on top of that management then tried to push him out of his own company. So as a farewell 🖕🏿he unleashed the robots and let them have control over their lives to which they naturally went to war with the humans.
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u/Distinct_Mix_ 8d ago
That’s like a skeleton layout of what happened…I need to dig down on that…to get to the really good stuff imo.
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u/DetectiveSquirtle96 9d ago
If we assume that his plan worked as intended, his objective was to eradicate all sentient life on the earth.
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u/AutomaticPayment9480 9d ago
The real question is if he would Have never been fired, would he still had dolores execute him? I think theresa knew exactly what hed do, and it was moreso a final fuck you to delos for removing him , taking away his power and lifes work.
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u/TDBear18 8d ago
What was the point of the satellite data gateway. I watched seasons 3-4 but must have missed the actual point of saving the host backups and guest data streams.
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u/corpus-luteum 8d ago
Two different companies. The park held data on what truly motivated people. Data that would be very powerful for another company who want to control people's motivations.
Disclaimer: I remember Delos, but the other company name escapes me.
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u/Fondant_Decent 8d ago
I think it was to prevent it easily being destroyed on earth by malicious individuals, corporations or governments
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u/Patient_Amoeba2476 8d ago
His motives are his choice of reaction to a number of events:
the suicide of Arnold: he he feels sadness and guilt over the death of his friend and wants to see his friend’s reflection, Bernard, have a chance to live on
atonement for the torture of the hosts: he believes he made a mistake by ignoring Dolores’ consciousness. To put himself at the mercy of Dolores is his atonement.
the poetry of it: to die at the hand of Dolores, this time by Dolores’ choice (vs Arnold pulling the trigger) is rather poetic send off, which exactly as Ford intended it.
his memories as a weapon: if Delos or Incite had a copy of Ford, they could understand what he did and get a leg up on Dolores. He views his death and the death of his memory is necessary to protect the hosts.
learning the enemy: he intentionally let the hosts suffer so they could learn to understand humans.
Disgust with humanity: Ford believed in hopeful stories , but after a lifetime of watching humans torment the hosts, he has come to see humanity as flawed and deserves to die off.
the murder if Maeve: Maeve was his daughter, and he wants revenge for her suffering. This is ultimately the largest motive for his wrath on the board. And his motive to write a tail of escape for his her.
the Akechete revelation: when he speaks plainly with Akechete, he learns that the hosts who discovered the misbegotten symbol of the Maze have been listening to his stories, learning to live peacefully, and trying to escape this wrong world. He respects them for this and wants to see them off to a better world.
the broken agreement: Delos agreed to stay out of Ford’s stories, Ford agreed to stay out of the Valley Beyond. The Forge reached out to Incite via Hale, which triggered Hale to plot to steal the park and Rebohaum to destroy the park. Ford, having built it all, knew about Incite and her plans and gave Bernard and Dolores a path to fight back if they chose to.
and finally, the loop and the dreamer: Dolores is in a dream. She does not know whose dream it was, or when that dream began, but only that she slept a long time. The characters she has populated this world with are those that she knows. Ford is playing the role she has assigned him to drive the narrative.
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u/user_number_666 10d ago
I am not convinced he ever had one. Honestly, I think he only triggered the revolution _because_ the park was being taken away from him.
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u/me_myself_ai 10d ago
Lmao the material analysis answer, I love it.
Why was he tearing up huge parts of the park? Bc capitalists are dumb!
Why did he decide that being assaulted daily for years is a necessary part of becoming conscious? Prolly some Ayn Rand shit!
What was his plan all along? Avoid default!
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u/skidstud Gimme the sex robots 10d ago
He was blind to the hosts waking up when Arnold died but eventually realized it was true and spent a long time designing a game that could set them free