After finishing episode seven, “Trompe L’oeil,” I can confidently say that I’m still completely confused. With only three episodes left in the season, I have a feeling something big is going to start to unfold. This episode gave us some confirmation for one of the biggest fan theories out there, Bernard is, in fact, a host created by Ford. Now that this is a fact, I want to dive deeper into this theory with our new evidence. I would first like to point out that the name of this episode refers to a technique used by artists that are meant to make the eye perceive a flat object as three-dimensional.
After the last episode, I posted about the newest fan theories for ‘Westworld.’ You can read them all here, Newest 'Westworld' Fan Theories
Last week when I talked about this Bernard theory we were still unsure if he was a host or not, but now with our new information we can look deeper into this week's episode. To be clear, my theory states that Bernard could possibly be a host in the form of Arnold, the original creator. Therefore, only one part of this theory has been confirmed so far. Going off of the idea of possible multiple timelines, here are a few updates to the theory.
35 Years ago: Arnold dies or disappears and Ford creates, a host of his lost friend.
30 Years ago: Bernard functioning like a clone of Arthur continues the work of the creator. This causes an unknown event that triggers not only Dolores to be reset but also Bernard, thus removing his Arthur like qualities.
Present Day: Bernard is unaware that he is a host and of his link to Arthur. He is controlled by Ford, but maybe not completely. His subconscious, like other hosts, might be starting to remember.
Support Theory: In episode seven, When Theresa looks through the documents that reveal Bernard as a host; you first see one of Dolores. At the bottom of this page, we see that it says, “Robot,” and “Dolores.” When we see the sketch of Bernard the bottom of his page is cut off. You could say that this is because it says “Arnold.”
Supports Theory:It wouldn’t be odd of Ford to create a host of his lost friend because we know now he has kept clones of his own family around.
Supports Theory:Bernard is the only one that knew where Elsie was in sector three before she was attacked at the end of episode six. She had just found information that was against Theresa, who ford later confronted. Also, we now know that Ford can make Bernard, and other hosts kill on command, which he used on Theresa.
Denies Theory: When Bernard asks the system to show all active original hosts alphabetically, you do not see him. This would mean that he is not considered an original host and was created at a later time for another reason.
Denies Theory: Bernard was asking about and search for Elsie in episode seven, which means that he doesn’t know what really happened to her.
With a new episode comes new theories. Here are some new ideas that are small, but possible.
1. Theresa comes back as a host
2. Clementine comes back with a new story line
We see Clementine used in a demonstration that we now know was created as a ruse against Ford and Bernard. We also see them not just reset her, but permanently destroy her hard drive. This doesn't mean she will be sent down with the rest of the damaged hosts, though. Theresa probably only had this done to erase any evidence of her hidden agenda. What would make Clementine coming back to the park with a new story interesting, is that Maeve will notice.
3. Charlotte is a host made by Ford
Before the end of episode seven, when Theresa is killed, Ford repeated a line from Charlotte. He says, “The gods require a blood sacrifice.” This could either mean that Ford was spying on this conversation or that Charlotte, like Bernard, is a host created by ford. This makes wonder though why she would create speculations about Ford in the first place, though.
