‘Westworld’ Fan Theory Power Rankings: The Music Might Be The Key To The Whole Thing

Westworld dropped bombs (literal and figurative) on fans with this week’s episode, “The Mother of Exiles.”

We finally learned who’s been operating Charlotte Hale’s skinsuit — some Redditors guessed it weeks ago — and we were teased with some more background info on our favorite (fake?) Frenchman, Serac. His sob story about watching Paris go boom felt real, but is it? We’re just not sure.

In fact, we’re not sure about a lot of things on this show which is why we’re once again relying on the terrifyingly astute minds of Reddit to help us theorize what’s in store with just four episodes left this season. They’ve got things right before, so if you want to avoid potential spoilers, now’s the time to make a graceful exit.

1. Ramin Djawdi Is The Key
Game of Thrones fans already know the power of composer Ramin Djawdi. The man is behind some of the most iconic scores, from the show’s opening theme to the dread-filled “Rains of Castamere.” But Djawdi does more than consistently serve up straight bangers. His melodies and compositions often hint at things to come. They contain entire character arcs in just a handful of repetitive notes, and some Redditors are starting to notice just how useful these episode scores can be in predicting connections and outcomes. A careful re-watch reveals that Djawdi used the same background music when we first see Dolores swimming in the pool with Hale’s intro earlier this season. The shared sound may have alluded to the two hosts’ shared identity – we now know Dolores planted a copy of herself in Hale’s body.

Honestly, we should’ve known that Westworld wouldn’t hire someone as masterfully talented as Djawdi without using him to f*ck with us all a bit, but it’s now confirmed. We need to be paying more attention to the background noise.

Dig into Djawdi’s spoilery role here.

2. Dolores’ Big Mistake
Speaking of Halores, the episode’s biggest twist was the discovery that Dolores is 100% that b*tch. (The b*tch we’re referring to here is, of course, Charlotte Hale.) We can’t fault Dolores for stanning herself but should we be worried that her intense distrust of literally everyone but herself might lead to her ultimate downfall? Yes, yes we should. For one thing, how like Westworld to turn a character’s own nature against her as it seems Hale is slowly beginning to do, but Reddit has also pointed out that creators Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy have already warned us about the consequences of this “nature vs. nurture” theme. Nolan hinted that Halores might be integrating some key parts of Hale’s psyche into her own consciousness, hence the bizarre behavior she’s been exhibiting, behavior that should really worry Dolores. If Halores turns against her maker, she might become the biggest threat to the character – she knows her plans, she knows how she thinks, she knows some of her deepest fears, etc.

It’s entirely possible that Dolores, in being careful to assure the success of her plan, literally created her own demise.

Read the tea here and here.

3. It’s All A Test
This episode had some of us sympathizing with Serac – the probable holographic Rehoboam lackey. Look, if your hometown happened to be Paris, home of the baguette, and you watched someone nuke the hell out of it when you were just a child, you’d have some issues too. Serac was all up in his feels while sharing his past with Maeve but even the news that he’d witnessed a mass murder as a pre-teen felt a little, well, fake. In fact, some Redditors think Maeve and Serac’s storylines are still happening in a simulation, and that Maeve’s mission this episode was all just a test put to her by Rehoboam to see how she’d react – and to gather more intel on Dolores. Did Serac really survive that explosion, or is his just another A.I. built from the memories of the real Serac? Why did the sequences with Maeve witnessing a man’s murder, then stumbling into a Yakuza distillery, feel so disjointed? Why would Dolores choose Musashi as a host for her pearl? Rehoboam, from studying Maeve, might know of their connection and look to exploit it but that seems a random bit of knowledge for Dolores to have, and then act upon.

Warning: Reading this thread will make your head explode.

4. Always A Step Behind
Bernard spent this episode stumbling around in search of a purpose. He’s clearly intent on stopping Dolores from enacting her final plan – and on annoying poor Stubbs who can’t even off himself to escape the man’s constant melodramatics. Interestingly enough though, Reddit has pointed out that the latest interaction between the two enemies might foreshadow an eventual team-up. Right now, Bernard is operating under the assumption that Dolores intends to subjugate humanity based on what she’s told him, ideas she’s planted in his mind. Ideas are powerful things, and we see this belief fuel Bernard’s thinking. He guesses she’s already killed Liam. He thinks Caleb might be a host. He expects Dolores to dispose of humans once she has no need of them, but maybe Dolores has evolved beyond that? She’s enlisting Caleb’s help. She seems determined to free them both from their loops. Meanwhile, Bernard is still reprogramming Stubbs to suit his own needs and constantly assessing his tech to make sure he hasn’t been compromised. Perhaps Bernard will come to realize Dolores isn’t the monster he believed her to be and they’ll join forces.

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5. The Matrix
Of course, now that we know what happened to Paris, is it really that much of a stretch to assume that was just the beginning of this apocalyptic future? Maybe it’s bleak, but this Reddit theory that supposes most of humanity was killed in bombings like the one Serac modeled for Maeve, and that the rich are trying to find ways to import their consciousness into host bodies feels just dark enough to align with the themes of this show.

Resistance is futile. Just read the thread.

6. Six Degrees Of Dunder Mifflin
Theory or fact, you decide, but we can’t help but notice the parallels between this week’s episode of Westworld and a couple of iconic Office scenes. It looks like NoJoy are Dundies, just like the rest of us.

ScrantonWorld is real.