Westworld: Have We Already Seen Arnold?

The co-creator of Westworld has remained only a name so far through five episodes, but that might be due to the fact that we’ve already seen his face.

Note: This article contains spoilers for the most recent episode of Westworld, “Contrapasso.” We advise watching that episode first  or at the very least reading our recap before continuing.

Kind of like the hosts who work the park, fan theories on Westworld don’t really die, even after sustaining damage. They just get patched back up and sent back out to the internet, sometimes with brand new roles to play.

Take the idea that Bernard Lowe could be a host. That one started up early on in the series, before we even learned a bunch of things we know now.

It’s taken on new life because some people have taken it a step further after the introduction of Robert Ford’s mysterious, deceased partner Arnold. The current favorite hypothesis, as explained in this excellent piece in Vanity Fair, is that not only is Bernard a host, he’s actually a clone of poor dead Arnold.

That’s right: They don’t have to show us Arnold’s face because we’ve been looking at it the whole time.

And as many Westworld theories do, this one intersects with others. At this point, it’s probably a majority of viewers who believe that we’re watching scenes set in the past interspersed with others in the present. That is, William, Logan and Dolores’ adventure is taking place decades ago, while the Man in Black and his search for the maze is taking place in the (relative) present.

“Contrapasso” gave us more reason than ever to think that might be the case after Lawrence, an unwitting pawn of the Man in Black was revealed as El Lazo. Hard to believe that would be possible without two Lawrences or some tricks with the timeline.

As Vanity Fair suggests, that would also likely mean Robert Ford is interacting with Dolores in the present while Bernard is doing so in the past. Or maybe we should call him Arnold. In any case, it would jive with what else we’ve found out about Arnold’s motivations, especially the nugget that Man in Black dropped about how he wanted to destroy the park — until the MiB helped stop him.

A few things that don’t quite track to make this a slam dunk. If William is fated to become the Man in Black, that would mean he’d eventually turn against Dolores. Right now, that’s hard to see happening given how he’s fallen for her.

On top of that, Ford has told us flat out (during his chilling conversation with Theresa Cullen in episode 4) that he’s not the sentimental type. Why would he want a host that looks exactly like Arnold working for him?

Let’s try addressing that last one by reaching deep into Westworld lore. Specifically, the 1976 film Futureworld, the sequel to the original Westworld. In that movie, Delos makes not just robots, but ones that are clones of real life people to help further its ends.

It’s been suggested since the first episode that the company behind the park has more in mind than just amusing wealthy guests. While we’d expect something a little more subtle from an HBO series like this one, producing copies of real people could certainly be part of whatever Delos has planned.

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Recall, also, that Ford has been particularly cold to Bernard on occasion. Given his overall disdain for hosts as “real” life, that behavior would fit in perfectly. And the voice in Dolores’ head sure does sound like it belongs to Jeffrey Wright.

We’re not saying that Bernard definitely is an Arnold clone. All we’re saying is that thanks to some excellent observation and theorizing by other fans, we won’t be shocked if he is.