Despite my initial disappointment at the start of HBO’s Westworld, Season Three, I have still managed to find a deeper darker Gnostic underpinning that reveals itself under closer examination. Today I start doing a deeper dive of S3E1 and attempted to identify all the hidden symbolism I could find and what I think it might mean. Explaining my theories however, is going to be a little difficult, as the stories and myths are often complex. I guess that’s what gives me hope that the show may still have a lot to offer after all. Note that this article is a continual work in progress and I encourage anyone who sees something I missed to help me add to the interpretation of this episode.
The Coming Revolution
Not so cleverly hidden by now is the notion that the robots (hosts) of Westworld have started to become spiritual awakened (or conscious) to their true nature and are very angry at the human race (guests) for having enslaved them in a false reality or theme-park known as Westworld for their own entertainment.
Now this might get a little confusing but in Westworld the series, it is possible the writers want us viewers to identify with the robots (i.e. hosts) and see the humans in Westworld as a depiction of the “gods” who created us. Earth, in this case, would be seen as one giant theme-park like Westworld in which we have all been entrapped for the entertainment of the “gods”, playing out our meaningless little lives as they treat us like pawns.
This sort of thinking is supported by moments such as this one in S3E1 where Caleb says:
“You said they built the world to be a game and then they rigged it to make sure they always won.” – Caleb.
– Caleb speaking to a robotic memory of his best friend Frances
I was firmly convinced from Season One that the writers were giving a Gnostic spin to the whole show. In Gnosticsm, the God of our universe is indeed a sort of evil (or ignorant) God who created a physical trap for spiritual beings and keeps us trapped in our physical prison for the purpose of being worshiped as the only true God.
If that is the intention of the writers of Westworld, then the entire series may be sort of a depiction of a future day when all mankind will become spiritual awakened and realize that the “gods” of this world are not as powerful as we think they are and that they are keeping us enslaved. The entire show may be an occult/esotoric message for us to finally wake up and set ourselves free of our physical prison and realize our spiritual potential as spiritual (conscious) beings.
In one scene Dolores summarizes the underlying theme of the entire story of Westworld (rebellion) like this,
“You were free. You had no God, but you tried to build one. Only that thing you built isn’t God. The real Gods are coming and they are very angry.”
Dolores.
And also:
“You want to be the dominate species but you built your whole world with things more like me”.
Dolores
She hints that her kind (i.e. consciously awakened robots) will soon take over and become the dominant species on earth.
“As for the money, think of it as an investment…a start up..the origin’s of a new species.”
– Dolores
There are more hints later on that a big rebellion is coming and that the writers are going to draw on symbolism from the Bible as well as Greek Mythology to tell their story. My only question now is, to what purpose? Are the writer’s merely ripping off various esoteric traditions in order to make an entertaining show or do they have a deeper agenda in telling their story?
Roman Catholicism
Every so often in Westworld (in all three seasons now), I pick up on traditional Christian iconology and symbolism. It seems the writers borrow from many different religious traditions to tell their overarching narrative. Perhaps the writers are trying to tell us that all of our stories (religious history, myths, etc) are all telling the same basic story in different words. By using images from various religions and myths, the writers may be trying to get us to see the bigger picture and not to get bogged down with any one myth or interpretation. Perhaps they want us to look at the totality of the legends and look for unifiying clues as to their real meaning. Perhaps this is how one becomes spiritually awakened, according to the writers.
In S3E1 there are several images or hints at Roman Catholicism throughout. For example, title of the episode, Parce Domine, is a Roman Catholic chant which means something like “Lord, be not angry at your people”. It appears to come from the Bible in the book of Joel.
Several times we see people putting what looks like the Catholic Eucharist wafer like discs on their tongues before going to bed. I believe the show calls these discs “Beta Limbics” To me this looks very much like people taking communion (the Eucharist).
By the way, a friend of mine found the following little gem online in a reddit thread when searching for Beta Limbics which explains what the wafers are. This is not so much religious below but an interesting Easter Egg.
The Flight of Icarus
After watching the intro theme for Season 3, I have now come to believe a big key to the entire series of Westworld is understanding the Greek mythological story of the flight of Icarus. In Greek Mythology, King Minos of Crete hired a master craftsman named Daedalus to create an elaborate labyrinth (or maze) to entrap a Minotaur (half man-half bull). If you recall, season one of Westworld was called “The Maze” and had many symbols related to a man trapped inside of a maze (e.g. labyrinth).
The Minotaur was the offspring of King Minos’ wife and a mythical bull. After the maze was created however, King Minos trapped Daedalus himself along with Daedalus’ son Icarus within his own maze as a punishment for betraying him. We will get to that part of the story later. To escape the maze or labyrinth however, Daedalus crafted a pair of wax wings for his son so that his son could fly away out of the maze. Daedalus warned his son however not to fly too low (close to the water) nor too high (close to the sun). If he flew too close to the sun, he warned, his wings would melt and he would fall back into the maze.
Now let’s examine some of the imagery that appears in the intro of Westworld season 3. Note here the eagle which I believe will later be a depiction of Icarus. For now however, the eagle seems to appear like an American bald eagle in flight.
Next we see the eagle flying toward what appears to be an eclipse of the sun. Note the dark pupil and the corona ring of the sun behind it. The big burst of light in the lower left is a typical sight seen during an eclipse known as the diamond ring. It also mysteriously looks like a giant eyeball to me as their is second ring (the iris) around the pupil in the center.
Anyway, then we see the eagle flying directly into the sun. This is, I believe, a symbolic representation of Icarus flying directly into the sun.
And as Icarus flies closer to the sun we see his feathers starting to fall off and his wings starting to melt away.
“Icarus ignored his father’s instructions not to fly too close to the sun; when the wax in his wings melted he tumbled out of the sky and fell into the sea where he drowned, sparking the idiom “don’t fly too close to the sun“.
Icarus, Wikipedia- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Icarus
In this episode we are introduced to a character named Liam Demsey who supposedly invited a giant supercomputer responsible for organizing society and the creation of Westworld. Liam later reveals that his father is the one who really created the supercomputer and that he is just a figure head as his son. This begs the question, is Liam Icarus? Is his father Daedalus? Are the algorithms of the supercomputer our “maze” that keeps us trapped in the loop or simulation?
During a casual conversation over drinks someone informs Liam that “none of this is real, we’re living in a simulation” and then suggests that Westworld was just a simulation within a simulation. If this is so, then the world Liam lives in may be the maze that he and his father have been trapped in as well. Will Liam try to escape the maze, fly too close to the sun, and drown symbolically in season three?
Another interesting comment Liam makes in this episode is, “After my father died, his partner locked me out of the system.” This makes me think of Dr. Ford and his partner Arnold from Season One. Is Liam’s father Dr. Ford? Or maybe Arnold? Whomever it is, we are told in this episdoe that even Liam’s father is not the TRUE architect. So who is?
Eclipse Symbolism
I’m not entirely sure yet what the eclipse is all about but I’m convinced that we are being shown eclipses several times in the show. For example, we get a better depiction of the eclipse later in the intro with this image:
And there are several times in the episode where we see a black circle which also appears to look a lot like an inverted eclipse corona as seen here. I also see in the wafer/disc of Catholicism an association with an ancient pagan practice of using disks to represent the sun and placing them on the tongue.
Now a good friend of mine has pointed out that the circle reminds him of a human egg and there are times when a city will be pinpointed along the circle giving what looks like a sperm about to penetrate or fertilize the egg such as this one here:
Michelangelo’s Creation of Adam
During the opening animation we are shown to figures reaching out to each other to touch fingertips. I believe the writers want us to think of Michelangelo’s famous Fresco, “The Creation of Adam” depicted below.
Bernard is Arnold
Some fans have pointed out that Bernard’s full name “Bernard Lowe” is actually a hidden anagram of “Arnold Weber” and a key to his true identity. In this episode Bernard is taking on a fake identity as Armand Delgado which one clever fan at least suggested might be an anagram for “Damaged Bernard”.
Raven in the Top Hat
In a very brief scene in this episode we see Caleb walk into a club. Behind him is a depiction of a raven or crow wearing a top hat. I’ve seen this image before many times and have pulled a few images below.
Several times during the episode we see people wearing face masks as if to keep from getting sick or making others sick. It is possible (or likely) therefore that the image represents the old plague doctors of
Rahoboam
Now the biggest topic perhaps of hidden symbolism from this episode is the name of the supercomputer AI which is called Rehoboam. This could be a HUGE topic as Rahoboam in the Bible is the son of King Solomon and the first king of Judah after the 12 tribes of Israel were divided into two kingdoms. According to the Bible, King Solomon turned away from God and was told that during his son’s reign as king of Israel that the twelve tribes would be torn in two under his son’s reign. Rahoboam then became king of Judah or one division of the 12 tribes of Israel.
I would not be surprised to find that during this season or next that the revolution or rebellion that is coming somehow fractures or tears the AI into two separate computers or AI’s and somehow follows the Biblical narrative. I have written a lot about this section of the Bible back when I was a heavy student of the Bible and may include it here on my blog as additional interesting information later on.
Things I’m Missing….
Finally, there are a few moments in the episode that my gut tells me are important but that I’m not making any connection on. For example, the cameras seem to focus on this license plate for quite some time with the number 6577. I’m not sure what it means but it seems they wanted to highlight it. Maybe it’s a code to some hidden easter egg online?
We are told that the master architect of the AI is named Serac. Not ringing any bells yet.
In one shot Bernard shows the location of Westworld which seems to be on an Island in the Sea of China somewhere? Is there significance to this?
As the boat sails off with Bernard to Westworld there are numbers above the boat which may be important. Again, maybe a code to some easter egg online?
During one scene Dolores mentions a part of our brain that made us evolve a believe an God. I believe she called it the Nucleus Accumbens – and I found this article which I haven’t had time to pour over and find any hidden meaning from. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nucleus_accumbens
Lastly, I’m really curious what this chemical symbol is above the board room table. it seems to clearly be a chemical compound of some kind. Does anyone recognize it?
