‘Westworld’ Season 2 Theory: Is Dolores Really Free Or Is She Still On The ‘Journey Into Night’ Narrative?

After the events in Season 1 of HBO’s Westworld, many viewers have assumed that Dolores (Evan Rachel Wood) and Maeve (Thandie Newton) had traversed the length of The Maze game and are now truly sentient beings. However, what if Dolores is really just stuck in a loop started by the new narrative created by Dr. Ford (Anthony Hopkins) before he died?

At the end of Season 1 of Westworld, Dolores and Teddy (James Marsden) were seen in a new narrative being sold to the guests of the park. Called “Journey into Night,” the narrative saw a mortally wounded Dolores requesting Teddy take her to “where the mountains meet the sea.”

After the introduction of this narrative, Dr. Ford gives a speech to the guests at Westworld and Dolores appears and shoots Dr. Ford, an event that appears to be controlled entirely by Dolores and not at the manipulation of a narrative. However, as Screen Rant points out, perhaps everything that Dolores is fighting for in Season 2 of Westworld is actually just a part of Ford’s new narrative. A narrative that sees the hosts turn on the human guests. Now, parts of this “Journey into Night” narrative appear to be echoed within Dolores’ actions in Season 2 of Westworld.

As Dr. Ford explained to the Westworld guests at the end of Season 1, this final narrative of his is designed to revolve around the search for a hidden place, much like that of The Maze, which was an internal narrative, of sorts, for hosts to become self-aware. So, could the “Journey into Night” narrative simply be a variation of this that is now seen as Dolores searches for a place called the Valley Beyond?

There are also some indicators within Season 1 that sees Ford still in control of his narrative, even as he tells Dolores that she has made the conscious choice to kill him. In his final speech, Ford made the following concessions about the hosts.

“I realized someone was paying attention. Someone who could change. So I began to compose a new story, for them. It begins with the birth of a new people, and the choices they will have to make, and the people they will decide to become. And it will have all those things you have always enjoyed. Surprises, and violence. It becomes in a time of war with a villain named Wyatt. And a killing, this time by choice.”

If this speech is a true indication of the real “Journey into Night” narrative, it means that some hosts will now be led along a narrative designed for hosts and not humans. In addition, it likely means that Dr. Ford intended for the hosts to rise up against the humans who manipulated them in the past. meaning Ford really did end up siding with the hosts in the end.

Also, considering in Season 2 of Westworld viewers now know that William/The Man in Black (Jimmi Simpson/Ed Harris) seems to have a love-hate relationship with the park, could it be that he also has something to do with this darker version of a host narrative? Unfortunately, viewers will just have to tune into future episodes of Westworld Season 2 to find out.

Season 2 of Westworld returns with Episode 6 on Sunday, May 27, at 9 p.m. ET. According to the Zap2It, this episode will be titled “Phase Space.”