The mysterious Man in Black has been in pursuit of a maze hidden inside Westworld, and he may have just found his next clue. We still don't know what's inside the maze, why the Man in Black wants to find it, or even if it's a literal physical labyrinth — but now we do know that he's on the right track, since his last clue (given to him by Lawrence's creepy robot daughter) led him directly to the next: a woman with a snake tattoo on her face. But what does the snake mean for Westworld , and where is it leading the Man in Black?
In the Sept. 9 episode, Lawrence's daughter told the Man in Black to "follow the Blood Arroyo to the place where the snake lays its eggs." His searching led him directly to the sight of Armistice, the right-hand woman of wanted gunslinger Hector Escaton, who was bathing in the river with her ornate snake tattoo on full display. He entreats her to tell him the story behind the artwork… but she insists he does something for her first. Namely, break Hector out of prison. The Man in Black made short work of the task set to him (thanks to the fact that, as a guest, he's mostly invincible) and returned for his quid pro quo.
Armistice tells him a story about how, when she was a girl, her village was attacked by a group of bandits who slaughtered everyone, including her entire family. She had to paint herself with her mother's blood in order to play dead and avoid being murdered. Since then, she has made it her life's mission to hunt and down and kill the men responsible. Every time she crossed a name off her list, she painted herself with their blood — presumably filling in a red stripe on the snake's long, sinewy body. Now there's only one man left, the head of the snake: Wyatt.
You'll recall Wyatt is the villain who was just inserted into Teddy's backstory last week, a former soldier turned rogue and the leader of an outlaw gang who claims to be able to hear the voice of god. Apparently this murderer is the next step in the scavenger hunt that will lead the Man in Black to the center of the maze. But why is Wyatt so important? Well, if you remember what we learned last week about Dr. Ford's partner and Westworld's co-creator Arnold — who attempted to bring the hosts to full consciousness by turning their programming into an inner monologue — then it seems clear that Wyatt's "voice of god" may really be the remnants of Arnold's original code.
If so, it stands to reason that Arnold may have been the one who created the maze in the first place… potentially without Dr. Ford's knowledge. What did he hide inside it? Hopefully the Man in Black will finish his quest soon so we can find out.
Images: John P. Johnson/HBO (2)
