So, can no one in Westworld actually perish at this point?

Updated on August 02, 2022 15:53 PM by Emily Hazel

Death impossible?

Some TV series are surprisingly easy to die in, while others are incredibly challenging. Is the world that Westworld has created one where proper character deaths are impossible?

Westworld season 2

Regular humans and robotic hosts make up the cast of HBO's Westworld, which premiered in 2016. The latter may pass away in all the usual ways, whereas damaged hosts could just be regenerated and reprogrammed.

Then, in Westworld season 2, the narrative was reversed by showing that hosts could be killed and that people could escape death.

Immortality

While Delos' immortality studies played with the idea of extending human life, destroying or erasing a sentient host's pearl effectively results in their death.

Parasite

The environment has drastically changed by Westworld season 4, episode 6. Thanks to Charlotte Hale, hosts are in control of people, who are primarily confined to parks-like communities and unaware of their artificial masters because of a parasite that makes it possible to control people.

Only a handful of people on Earth are immune to its effects, and they battle Delos by rescuing other "outliers" who are stuck in the cities.

Permanent death

Many significant characters either met their demise or came perilously close to it in Westworld season 4's tragic deaths. Permanent death is, however, growing more elusive for both hosts and humans as a result of Westworld's developing mythology. Has Westworld advanced to the point where any character can be brought back easily?

Hybrid hosts

James Delos and the Man in Black were the only two people allowed to use the technique when Delos' immortality experiment was first revealed in Westworld season 2. Now that Charlotte Hale is in charge, she is free to use the same technology on whoever she wants.

For instance, Hale brought Caleb back after he passed away before she could discover how he managed to resist the parasite. The original human consciousness is programmed inside the artificial body, continuing its life as if death never occurred. This is a significant distinction from other hybrid hosts.

Can life be brought back?

Even if the original Caleb passed away, the hybrid is still him. Although Delos hasn't yet mastered this procedure, it doesn't really matter because Hale can print as many as she needs. Does this imply that every human character in Westworld can now be brought back to life?

Golden age

Sort of... Hale obtains a complete cognitive scan necessary for the immortality ruse by concealing future MRI devices behind mirrors (the old Westworld park sneaked this technology inside hats instead).

Considering that Hale's designs are also used in the construction of the new cities in Westworld season 4, it makes sense to assume that she has cognitive maps for most of the people under her control. Caleb's reading was probably taken when he and Maeve visited Golden Age.

Revive

The only human characters in Westworld who have the potential to pass away forever are the outspoken rebels. This may help to explain why Bernard gets Frankie into having her brain scanned in season 4, episode 6 because he wants a technique to revive her later.

Underlying ideas

A host may pass away if the pearl inside their mind was damaged or erased, as was already shown in Westworld. That underlying idea still holds true, but Westworld season 4 redefines the strength of these control units, making hosts far more difficult to kill.

"Fidelity"

Westworld's "Fidelity" episode reveals Maeve's pearl was harmed during the massive explosion that occurred 23 years earlier, which was discovered after Bernard and Frankie dug her up from her desert burial site.

Unfazed, Bernard starts the drawn-out process of moving her mind into a new unit, which he just randomly takes from an inactive host. Despite the fact that Pearls have an impenetrable exterior shell, the fact that data can still be sent even if the inner unit is damaged makes Westworld's hosts much more difficult to kill.

For any host to genuinely perish, the pearl must be completely crushed (like Hector's).

In Westworld, are hosts still capable of dying?

A host cannot supposedly pass away by having their pearl cleansed, according to the Christina plot from Westworld season 4. Though Teddy seems to believe his ex-girlfriend is imprisoned within the mind of Charlotte Hale's flame-haired college roommate, Westworld hasn't fully explored the connection between Dolores and Christina. Physically decimating the pearl would be the sole method of permanently eliminating a host, assuming the actual Dolores managed to survive Rehoboam's purge at the conclusion of Westworld season 3.