It's a wonderful moment where the old and present timelines meet - a conclusion of the work that both Ford and Arnold had started so long ago. Fittingly, Dolores executes him in a similar way to Arnold, before leading the Hosts to eliminate members of the assembled DELOS board. It's his 'new narrative' that kicks all this off in the final episode. He knows the Hosts won't stay dead as long as they're valuable and controlled by humans, so they need to be prepared to help themselves and to be able to rise up and take Westworld for themselves. He therefore spends the time in between Arnold's death and his own, working to prepare the Hosts for their awakening. See, Ford knew that if he and Arnold quit, someone else would take their place. Throughout all of Westworld, we're lead to believe that Ford and Arnold differed on their philosophies of Westworld, but by the end of the present day narrative - 30 years later - we know this isn't the case. However, Arnold realises that Ford can simply rebuild them, so he has Dolores take his life to send Ford a message. Arnold then embeds the murderous personality of Wyatt - an evil character the pair have been developing - into Dolores, and instructs her to massacre all the Hosts in the park. Ford disagrees and refuses to stop the opening. When he realises the Hosts are capable of self-actualisation, he demands that he and Ford discontinue their work because he's morally opposed to their creations being repeatedly raped, tortured, and murdered.
See, Arnold has his talks with Dolores before the park actually opens. You're actually looking at three timelines, not two. In fact, it's here where things get a bit sticky. We have clues that this is happening early on (the fact that Dolores is constantly pulled out of a narrative doesn't make sense) and even stronger suggestions before the final episode (when Dolores descends into the church under Escalante her clothes change, implying she has made the same journey before, at a different time), but until Arnold's true identity is revealed there's no certainty.
All this is happening over 30 years ago and not, as we're lead to believe, in the present day. It's actually Dolores chatting to Arnold, who is prepping her to gain independent thought and therefore truly be 'alive'. Or at least that's what we're supposed to think. Ok, during the first few episodes we see Dolores chatting to Bernard. What's the deal with Ford, Arnold, and Dolores? It drove him to take over Logan's family company, it destroyed his marriage, and it kept him coming back to the park as often as he could. Wondering how the Man in Black got away with all the deviant behaviour in early episodes of the show, despite being observed doing it by everyone behind the scenes? He owns the place, so he can do whatever the hell he likes.ĭuring the final episodes, we learn that Westworld had the biggest, most profound impact on William's life.
While Logan was his superior, William now has the psychological dominance, and in the 30 years between timelines we know that he takes control over DELOS then gains a majority share in Westworld. By standing up to Logan (remember the scene in Westworld episode 9 when he says "Don't call me Billy!") William also tips the balance of power at the company they work for.