This week’s episode of Westworld is entitled “Kiksuya” and it promises to give us a bit of backstory on Ghost Nation.

KiksúyA

Verb (Lakota)

To remember; to recollect.

What to expect

From the preview, we are shown that Akecheta had a different life before the day of Arnold’s death. In fact, we have seen Akecheta in Episode 2, in yet another role where he’s selling Logan on the concept of Westworld. His transformation to Ghost Nation scalper-in-chief seems to happen immediately following that massacre, but for what reason?

In his memories, we see several versions of the maze. The curious thing is that some of these are Maeve’s memories. Here they are, frame by frame.

At the end of the preview, we see Akecheta waking up in the Mesa next to Maeve. I’m going to take a guess and say she won’t react well. This seems to follow the events of the last episode, where Maeve was shot and left with Sizemore (day 7’ish after the Gala). Just to recap, by this time everyone in Coughlin’s team is dead, Stubbs and Charrlotte escaped are are somewhere in the Mesa, the CR4DL and Angela have been destroyed, Dolores has her daddy’s CU and is headed for Glory with Teddy, Bernard is wandering around the Mesa somewhere with Ford, Elsie is off looking for a vehicle in the garage, and Sizemore is with a dying Maeve in that same garage. No sign of Felix and Sylvester, or Hector Armistice and other Armistice (aka Hanaryo) since the shootout at the homestead. In fact, that shootout is also the last time we have seen Akecheta.

I am really looking forward to understanding why Akecheta was given this narrative where he needed to scalp Maeve. At other times, he seems like a pretty nice guy. Like when he corralled the humans and took them to safety on the beach.

Look, here he’s even saving poor naked Logan.

I think Akecheta and Ghost Nation are likely just misunderstood. The scalping thing has to be a lesson of some kind, right? So, I looked at some of the Lakota traditions to see if there might be some clues.

Lakota Sioux

The Lakota were at one point in their history part of a confederation of seven related Sioux tribes, the Očhéthi Šakówiŋ or Seven Council Fires, and as such are one of the Indigenous peoples of the Great Plains of North America.

The seven bands or “sub-tribes” of the Lakota are:

Sičháŋǧu – “Burned Thighs”

Oglála – “They Scatter Their Own”

Itázipčho – “Without Bows”

Húŋkpapȟa – “Village at the End of the Circle”

Mnikȟówožu – “Plant Near Water”

Sihásapa – “Black Feet”

Oóhenuŋpa – “Two Kettles”

Eventually, the tribes merged into 2 main sects: the Saône and the Oglála-Sičháŋǧu. Notable Lakota persons include Tȟatȟáŋka Íyotake (Sitting Bull) from the Húnkpapȟa band; and Tȟašúŋke Witkó (Crazy Horse) from the Oglála band.

Tradition of Scalping

It was noted by Author and historian Mark van de Logt, that in the battle for territory between the Pawnees, the Sioux, and the Cheyennes, noncombatants were legitimate targets. Taking the scalp of a woman or child was considered honorable, because the warrior dared to set foot in the very heart of enemy territory.

However, historian Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz contends that the tradition of scalping was actually introduced to North America by the Ulster Scots settlers who learned the practice as foot soldiers during the British occupation of Northern Ireland. She argues that such acts of brutality have been inaccurately attributed to indigenous peoples, wher usually the greater acts of violence were committed by the dominant settler groups, where ethnic cleansing, dispossession, and looting were considered justifiable as a part of the colonial-settler undertakings.

Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull

A notable Lakota warrior whose name you may have heard before was Crazy Horse. He was a leader and a visionary. The latter was largely the result of various psychotropic herbs, but it resulted in some fascinating predictions. He saw the invention of motor vehicles and aircraft and foretold of the world wars that were to come. He also left behind many words of wisdom.

One prophesy caught my eye:

“Upon suffering beyond suffering; the Red Nation shall rise again and it shall be a blessing for a sick world. A world filled with broken promises, selfishness and separations. A world longing for light again. I see a time of seven generations when all the colors of mankind will gather under the sacred Tree of Life and the whole Earth will become one circle again. In that day there will be those among the Lakota who will carry knowledge and understanding of unity among all living things, and the young white ones will come to those of my people and ask for this wisdom. I salute the light within your eyes where the whole universe dwells. For when you are at that center within you and I am that place within me, we shall be as one.”

Suffering, circles, a world plunged into darkness, and the rise of an oppressed people. Sounds familiar, right?

Crazy Horse shared this prophesy with Sitting Bull just a few days before his death. The two led the two factions of the Lakota.

Crazy Horse was reportedly killed by an officer, named William Gentle, a few days later. Stabbed by a bayonet. Crazy Horse also had a daughter with absolutely the best name ever: They Are Afraid of Her. I don’t think this means anything, I just really liked the name.

Sitting Bull was prophetic in his own right and went on to lead his people to great victories, including the Battle of Little Bighorn, which some say he saw in a vision. This victory only served to increase military hostility towards the tribe. Eventually, Sitting Bull and his people fled to Canada, where they found the land too harsh to provide enough for the tribes and were ultimately forced to surrender and return to their reservation in the Dakotas.

As a constant thorn in the side of the agents managing the reservation, Sitting Bull was allowed to become a performer. He starred in a show called “The Sitting Bull Connection”, where he first met the shar-shooter Annie Oakley, for whom he developed such adoration that he symbolically adopted her as his daughter and named her “Little Sure Shot”. For a time after this, Sitting Bull performed in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show, where he gained international attention playing cowboys and indians in reenactments of stage coach robberies and attacks on homesteaders’ cabins.

Ghost Dance Movement

While Sitting Bull was off entertaining the very people he spent his life opposing, a new religious movement was taking shape. Ghost Dance for the Lakota was based on millenarianism, or the belief that a major societal transformation is coming, after which all things will change; That the oppressors will be driven from the land and the old traditions can return. The religion centres around a circle dance, where the participants seek a trance state in which they can commune with the dead. The ceremony was said to reunite the souls of the dead with those of the living, and the power of these spirits can be harnessed in battle.

Fearing that Sitting Bull’s newfound notoriety would be used to influence the spread of the Ghost Dance Movement, the US government ordered his arrest. He was killed while resisting the orders of the officers.

…

The second preview for this episode is no more than a collection of clips from previous episodes. That gives me hope that many questions will be answered this week, but especially how Maeve works into the story with MIB.

So, there you go. Filled with more useless information for the Episode ahead.

Thanks for taking the time to read this. Please come find me on twitter @jezzie_bell to let me know what you think.