Westworld: Why Arnold as the Man in Black Makes No Sense

Now that Robert Ford has spilled the beans on the mysterious co-creator of Westworld, a popular theory has sprung up about who he might be — but there’s already reason to believe it won’t pan out.

Though Westworld appeared that it might be the singular vision of Dr. Robert Ford on the HBO series of the same name, the third episode, “The Stray,” explained how that is not the case.

In a story that caught even Bernard Lowe off-guard, Ford described a man named Arnold who was the driving force in designing the hosts. His obsession to make them more lifelike cost him dearly, with Ford claiming that he died in the process.

The insinuation was that Arnold may have been killed by his own creations, perhaps in the “critical failure” mentioned in the series premiere. But nothing is quite as it seems on Westworld, and not only might Arnold still be alive, fans quickly surmised that perhaps he is the Man in Black.

On the surface, it makes for a compelling story. Mentally scarred from his efforts to create new life, maybe Arnold “died” in the sense that he abandoned his name and now spends all his time in the park searching for new purpose. We’ve already heard the Man in Black talking about “freeing” the hosts, so perhaps it’s a bizarre twist on his original quest.

Still, there’s one thing that doesn’t quite make sense. The Man in Black is looking for a maze, something he feels will prove that there’s indeed a higher level of meaning to Westworld. Ford said that Arnold was part of the team that worked on the park for three years before it was open to the public.

So wouldn’t the Man in Black know exactly where the maze was and what it was all about? Even if it was added after Westworld had its grand opening, which seems unlikely, he’s been a guest there the entire time. Hard to imagine he wouldn’t already be an expert on it.

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What would be more likely is that the Man in Black is an acquaintance or relative of Arnold, one seeking to see if he is still around in some form (like an AI, perhaps?) or trying to make sense of his obsession. This part of the story still has a long way to go, but we feel as comfortable as we can with a show as enigmatic as Westworld that Ed Harris isn’t playing the park’s co-creator.