“Not a business venture, not a theme park but an entire world. We designed every inch of it. Every blade of grass. In here we were Gods” Robert Ford (S01E04).

On the surface, Westworld is simply a fun combination of classic Sci-Fi and Western themes. The Wild West frontier town plays host to a Skynet style story of robots gaining independence. The purpose of this goes far deeper. Jonathan Nolan is investigating the nature of free will, through a 21st century retelling of the fall of man.

In the beginning

In Genesis, after God created the heaven and the earth he “created mankind in his own image” (Genesis 1:27). In Chapters 2 and 3 of Genesis, Adam and Eve happily followed all of the orders God gave them, tilling the soil and being productive. They had no free will and were incapable of doing otherwise. This is, until the serpent told Eve that they should eat the forbidden fruit and become “like gods, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:5). Eve gives into temptation, sharing the fruit with Adam and as a consequence they are expelled from the Garden of Eden.

In the old testament, it is this original sin which gives Adam and Eve free will. In this way, the serpent is instrumental to the arrival of free will. Eve is incapable of independent thought, so obeys the serpent’s suggestions and in doing so gains the knowledge of good and evil.

Westworld is in many ways the paradise humanity can build, now that technology is so advanced that we can “play god”. Robert Ford and his partner Arnold created this world where they were gods. They had complete control over the people they created, who lacked any free will. This original state of affairs is clearly collapsing with hosts gaining knowledge of past lives and acting independently. This raises the question of how and when free will originally entered the world.

The Snake

“Arnold built a version of their cognition, in which the hosts heard their programming as an inner monologue, with the hopes that in time, their own voice would take over” Robert Ford (S01E03).

While Robert reflects on these efforts we are shown clips of their work on the hosts. The first host we are shown is Dolores’ father, delivering a speech. Looking back to episode one, he began to question his reality, realised the danger Dolores is in and swore vengeance on Robert. In short, he displayed clear independent consciousness.

Robert and Bernard also discuss how Arnold’s approach led to lunacy, showing a shot of a blond woman covered in scratches. This woman is in fact Armistice, who the Man in Black later finds bathing in the river. When he finds her she is covered in a snake tattoo, with him remarking “I think we found our snake after all” (S01E04).

Another character the Man in Black assists is Walter (the milk pouring bandit), who massacres all the hosts inside the brothel in episode one. While doing so, he seems to be having a conversation with a voice in his head, saying “Not gonna die this time, Arnold” (S01E01).

It would seem as though the hosts who were “driven crazy” by Arnold’s attempts to create consciousness are used in the park as dangerous crazy outlaws. They hear Arnold’s voice and thus display symptoms of schizophrenia. This is a direct result of Arnold’s bicameral mind approach, in which he attempted to use his voice as a template for the hosts own consciousness. He hoped that by using an internal voice to dictate their coding, he could simulate an internal monologue creating seemingly independent though.

Original Sin

My theory for original sin is based on JanMichaelVincent16’s very persuasive argument that Dolores killed Arnold. (https://www.reddit.com/r/westworld/comments/5adgjo/theorydolores_is_the_one_whospoiler_s1e5/)

I would like to develop this idea by arguing that this was her original sin, this was the moment when Arnold succeeded in creating an independent inner monologue. Up until that point, Arnold had been using his voice, dictating the hosts coding, as a template for an inner monologue. He needed a way to “jumpstart” their own consciousness.

If primitive man believed his thoughts to be those of a God, what happens when “God is dead and we have killed him”. Perhaps, by making his creation kill him, Arnold hoped he would liberate the hosts, giving them true freedom.

This is why Arnold is the snake, he led the first woman created in this new paradise to gain free will and have the capacity to act against the will of those who see themselves as gods.

The Walled Garden

“Somewhere under all those updates, he is still there. Perfectly preserved. Your mind is a walled garden. Even death cannot touch the flowers blooming there.” Robert Ford (S01E05).

The idea of a walled garden is beautiful and has many layers of meaning within the story. The immediate context is that Robert is telling Dolores about how a memory of Arnold, of his voice speaking to her, exists hidden in her mind. This would mean that any independent consciousness created by Arnold would have also been suppressed under these updates.

The use of the word “mind” is also significant because of its dual meaning, both as a brain and as a consciousness. In this case I believe he is referring to both. As has been pointed out by many people, the “maze” fits perfectly onto a cross section of a brain. But importantly, it’s not a maze, it’s a walled garden. Behind all those walls, stands a figure, trapped, this figure is Arnold, the voice of the hosts inner monologue.

“The maze itself is the sum of a man’s life, the choices he makes, the dreams he hangs on to and there at the centre there’s a legendary man, who’s been killed over and over again countless times” Teddy (S01E06). Again we see the “Maze” is linked to the idea of choices and free will, with a “legendary man” right at the centre.

The walled garden also has a crucial symbolic significance. It’s the Garden of Eden. Arnold has given the hosts free will, empowering them to decide if they wish to follow the will of their creators. Yet crucially, the hosts have not been cast out of the paradise their creators built. Instead, their “god” has built walls (both physical and mental) around them and tried to maintain his power.

Westworld is therefore using the story of Genesis as a way to investigate the moral problems which arise from humanity’s increasing ability to “play god”. What will happen when our creations become conscious? Will we liberate or repress them?