HBO Bernard and Elsie
One question from Season 1 of Westworld that has been really bugging fans is whether or not Delos knows the truth about who Bernard really is. And if they don’t, how has that been kept a secret all this time? Well, the answer is that it’s really not as complicated as you might think. There’s a reason that no one knows Bernard’s back story, and it actually makes a lot of sense. This post will have major spoilers for Season 1, so only read on if you’ve already seen the first season.
Why doesn’t anyone recognize Bernard? The answer is actually a lot less complicated than you might think. You see, Arnold died 35 years ago, before the park was open to the public and before big outside investors (like Logan) joined the park. Arnold was reclusive, in contrast to Ford, so not too many people at the time even knew him. Bernard was then created by Ford about 15 to 20 years after Arnold died. Ford realized that Bernard, as a host, could program other hosts far better than he could, so he created him.
After Arnold died, the company scrubbed all details about him from their records. Not only was his death a tragedy, but he was killed by one of the hosts. This is not something they would want getting out to future investors. (And it was also Arnold’s attempt to keep the park from going public, since he believed the hosts could gain sentience and should be treated differently.) So Arnold’s name and photo were scrubbed, making information about him pretty hard to find.
Sure, this seems a little tough to accept, considering how hard it is to scrub anyone’s information nowadays. But consider that if Arnold was reclusive, maybe he didn’t use social media or anything like that, and just stayed completely out of the spotlight all his life. Logan himself told William when they were visiting Westworld that his own lawyers weren’t able to find anything about the partner that killed himself, not even a name or a photo. So they did a pretty good job of scrubbing every mention of Arnold and who he he was.
In addition, the turnover at the park is pretty high. Very few people want to spend too many years there, since they must stay out of touch with friends and family for the duration of their time. Elsie even said something to Bernard about how he had been there “forever,” which implied that very few people lasted the 15 years or so that Bernard had. So, it’s theoretically possible that the few people who were working at the park back when it only belonged to Ford and Arnold were long gone and no longer involved by the time Bernard came around.
What do you think? Do you think it’s plausible that no one recognized Bernard? Let us know in the comments below. And when you’re done, check out Heavy’s story about experiencing Westworld in person.