Well, how's that for a season finale? Did your Westworld theories pay off? Were you totally blindsided? Since the series debuted, audiences have set out dissecting every line of dialogue and stayed eagle-eyed for every in-camera clue. It's a rare feat when a television series can capture its audience's imagination so consummately (and for some of us, compulsively) as Westworld has. We're rapt in the story that's unfolding and the history that precedes it, and the lines between the two have never been exactly clear in the hit show. And boy, these last few weeks have been a doozy.

Westworld has built a world in which the past and the present overlap and intermingle, each playing an active part in comprehending the other's narrative. By asking us to identify with the robotic hosts, Westworld has largely told its story through a series of unreliable narrators, carefully crafted personalities who are just becoming aware of their own reality. We never know if what we're seeing is real, if it is happening now, a memory from the past, or as of this season, one of many alternate realities the show has introduced. We don't even know who is human and who is host half the damn time. At the same time, the human characters are surrounded by such secrecy, warring interests, and mental deterioration that their motivations become even more mysterious. In short, creators Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy have done an exceptional job of making sure every answer opens up new questions.

We got a lot of answers in Season 1 and a lot of fan-favorite theories proved true. Yes, William was the Man in Black, which meant, yes, the two-timeframe theory was true! Yes, Arnold was a host made in Arnold's image! Yes, Dolores is Wyatt (kinda). Heck, Reddit even predicted the Season 2 trailer song. Of course, there were plenty of guesses that were off the mark, too. Many of us never quite caught wise to Ford's true intentions until they were revealed, and there were more than a few crackpot theories that never paid off (or at least, they haven't yet!) And wouldn't you guess it, Season 2 was even more of a mindfuck -- sometimes to the point of questionable narrative construction. But you better believe that we've got questions buzzing around in our mind after that finale.

Here's your official warning – this article is packed with spoilers for every episode through Season 2 Episode 10, 'The Passenger' and was updated regularly throughout the season as new clues were revealed. For now, we've got quite a wait until we start getting some answers again, so you better put on your tinfoil hats and get to theorizing!

What's Going on with the Future Man in Black?

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Image via HBO

Fans spent the bulk of Season 2 speculating that the Man in Black might just be a host, and hell, even started to suspect it himself as the season grew to a close. Some folks thought Ford created him, some guessed it was a path to vengeance by Emily, but in the Westworld tradition, the answer is a lot more complicated.

In the finale’s post-credits scene, we see the Man in Black take the elevator down to the Forge, where he stumbles upon… his daughter in host form. “I knew it,” he says, walking into a location that’s familiar but very different. Where it was once flooded, the Forge is now completely drained and dried out, naturally lit and littered with rubble and dust. In short, they’re establishing a new point on the narrative timeline and it’s clearly far, far down the timeline from the events of the host uprising.

“It’s been a long time, William. Longer than we thought,” host Emily confirms, revealing that “the system’s long gone.” So they’re in the Forge, but they’re not in the Forge. “This isn’t a simulation,” she tells him. “This is your world… or what’s left of it.” Indeed, fans who have been paying attention to the aspect ratios this season will note the absence of the letterboxing that has denoted virtual worlds (first the CR4-DL, then the Forge and Valley Beyond) all season.

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Image via HBO

So William really is in the future, and he is in his “fucking park,” stuck on some loop with a version of his daughter. Why? Well, as he tells not-Emily, he wanted to prove “that no system can tell me who I am. That I have a fucking choice.” But it seems that despite the fact they’ve been at this for a very long time, William keeps ending up in the same place, killing his daughter in a fit of delusion and blowing off his hand in another merciless act against Dolores.

This, of course, echoes the sentiment that we saw earlier in the episode, where the Forge (in the guise of Logan) revealed that no matter what variables it threw at Delos, he always ended up at the same point, the moment that defined his life: the last time he saw his son before Logan overdosed. It’s his cornerstone, so to speak. And just like Delos before him, William is clearly experiencing some kind of cyclical testing process, because what is Emily looking for? You guessed it, "fidelity".

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Image via HBO

However, it’s important to not that the fact that William is a host/hybrid/who-knows-what in the future, doesn’t mean he was one during the other timelines we watched this season. As Katja Herbers (who plays Emily) has pointed out in numerous interviews, she believes that both Emily and William are real in their tragic, deadly confrontation. “Emily is definitely human,” she told Vanity Fair after ‘Vanishing Point’. “[William] has killed his human daughter.” The same goes for William, who never does find that host port he was digging for in his arm. Joy also confirmed that it was “for real” in an interview with The Wrap.

So what is William in the future? How did they crack the science behind immortality? And why did he change his mind about it? Or did he at all? Is he just being tested, the way Westworld’s loops were just a test all along? The last we see of “real William,” he’s been rescued on the beach, gravely injured and layed out in a tent. What happens between then and the moment we see him in the post-credits scene?

Is Stubbs a Host?

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Image via HBO

Ah, this old chestnut. Westworld theorists have been speculating about QA boss Ashley Stubbs (Luke Hemsworth) since the first season, and in the Season 2 finale ‘The Passenger’, it looks like the series has finally tipped its hand.

The knowing, wink-wink monologue Stubbs gives Char-lores all but spells “I am a host.” He clearly knows that Charlotte is now a host, and talks about how Ford himself “hired” him a long time ago and “was very clear” about Stubbs’ role and loyalty in the park. “Guess I’ll just stick to the role Ford gave me,” he says as he waves Char-lores through security. After all, he's only responsible for the hosts inside the park.

In case you’re not totally convinced, Joy confirmed the reveal in an interview with The Wrap. “We don’t say it explicitly,” she said, “but if you are left wondering with all [Stubbs’] talk... it’s a little acknowledgement of just why he might have his suspicions about what’s going on with Hale, and then lets her pass.” She continued, “And doesn’t it make sense if you are Ford and designing a park and you have a whole master plan about helping robots that you would keep one Host hiding in plain sight as a fail-safe? Maybe the Host who’s in charge of quality assurance?”

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This explains a couple mysterious moments that have plagued viewers for the last two seasons. You may have to dig deep into the memory banks (or your DVR) for the first, but it came during the first season, when Stubbs sent out a QA team to retrieve Dolores. But when they tried to grab her, it was young William who stepped in and stop them. It was a logic gap that seemed like a thorn in the side of the two-timeline theory, but if he's a host, he easily could have been working in the same position all those decades ago.

The second puzzling moment was much more recent. In Season 2's 'The Riddle of the Sphinx', a member of Ghost Nation whispers in Ashley Stubbs' ear: "You only live as long as the last person who remembers you." With a knife to his throat, Stubbs grimaces and closes his eyes, but when he opens them, the members of Ghost Nation have disappeared instantly. Doesn't really make sense if Stubbs is a human, but if he's a host, you can easily chalk that up to time slippage.

What Happened to the Hosts Who Went to Ford's World?

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Akecheta was searching for a Door, and Ford led him right to one. Perhaps inspired by the very beliefs Akecheta held and told him of, Ford build a world for hosts to escape to -- digitally at least -- far removed from the sins of mankind. To Dolores, it was nothing but a "gilded cage" another false world of Ford's construction, but to those who sought freedom away from mankind, it was the perfect retreat to go live a life removed from the threat and control of men, where they can build a future of their own without interference.

After Bernard resurrects Dolores, she has a change of heart and decides to let to have the hosts who went to the "Sublime" (as the creative team refers to it) have their free world. She hides the data away on a satellite, but not before she uploads Teddy in a final act of kindness to the man she destroyed. Now Teddy roams those sunny plains with Akecheta, Kohana, and Maeve's daughter. It's a happy ending for them, but a sad one for audiences who may not get to see those characters again any time soon, if at all.

Asked by THR if we would return to the Sublime in Season 3, Joy offered a long pause and then said, "I think we have to take Dolores at face value. It's locked away. Humans can't access it anymore. They're gone. They're in a place we can't touch. There was an interesting corollary to this for me. Even religions and mythologies deal with this, an idea of a heaven or a nirvana where you don't have to be attached to your body anymore. You can be pure and free in that way. It's a sort of digital afterlife for them. The stakes and the finality of it are important."

Who Is in Hale's Body?

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So long, Charlotte! You should not have talked so much shit to Dolores. In the Westworld tradition, the Season 2 finale delivered a twist of identity that reframed how we understood the events of the season. This time, it wasn't the Man in Black who served as the anchor of the surprise, but Charlotte Hale. As we learned in the episodes final minutes, Bernard regretted killing Dolores when he feared he would become the last of his species and resurrected her in the body of Charlotte Hale. Dolores kills Hale, and takes her place, meaning that it was actually Dolores interacting with Bernard in a few of Season 2's key scenes. (The torture? Yep, that was Dolores -- in fact, she's probably the one who set up Bernard to be outed as a host.)

But when Dolores leaves Westworld behind in her shiny new Charlotte Hale body, she takes a bag with five "pearls" (aka, those sparkly little host brain balls) back to the mainland. When we next see her, she's back in a model of her own body, she's built a new body for Bernard, and there's someone else walking around in the Hale model. Who could it be? We know who it isn't for sure -- anyone who went through the Valley Beyond into Ford's other realm. Their core drives were wiped completely in the transfer, and they're now safely locked away wherever Dolores transferred their data. As Costa explained in the season premiere, a third of the dead hosts were "virgin" like they never had data at all. That means Teddy, Akecheta, and Maeve's daughter are tucked away in their free world.

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So who does that leave? Peter Abernathy is a safe bet -- we saw Dolores scoop up his pearl on her way out of Westworld and we know how much she loves her father. However, could he be so calm and collected after carry the data-load of the key in his programming? Other possibilities? We know Dolores has a fondness and respect for Maeve, though the ending seemed to be setting up further adventures with Felix and Sylvester. Otherwise, Dolores' contacts have been Wyatt's masked men, Angela (who exploded with the CR4-DL), and well... that's about it.

That leaves the identity of the Hale bot a big ol' mystery 'til the show returns, and on I'm most eager to see answered. Tessa Thompson is a great actress, and I hope they give her a new character that allows her to show off a totally different side of her range. It's also important to remember that Hale is a key player at Delos, which means whoever is living in her skin has some primo access to the workings of the company that controls their kind.

What Is the World Outside Westworld Like?

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Image via HBO

Where on Earth could Delos Corp. find the space to build a park as expansive as Westworld? Especially now that we know it's not just Westworld. Hell, it's not even just Westworld and Shogun World. According to a tease found on the Delos website, there are six parks in total, which means the sheer scope of the establishment must be breathtaking. So where on Earth, indeed?

'Journey into Night' gave a major reveal regardig this question, which at last seems to confirm that Westworld and the greater facility are indeed somewhere on earth. So long, "Westworld is in space" theory. I loved you while you lasted. At the beginning of the episode, when Bernard is being led along the beach,  we see the newly introduced head of Delos operations, Karl Strand (Gustaf Skarsgård), arguing with some men in military fatigues. 

The actors are speaking Chinese and their uniforms suggest they are members of the People’s Liberation Army, so it seems those “mainland” references were rather literal and when Strand tells the officer “This is an official statement executed by your country giving Delos complete authority over this entire island,” he seems to be confirming that the park is located somewhere in the East or South China Sea. It’s also possible the park could be underwater in the  Sea (especially considering there needed to be a source for all that water that made up a new sea in Westworld), however it’s unlikely that the Chinese soldiers would just wander into Westworld if it was under water.

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Image via HBO

We don’t know the specifics of the company’s size, but it seems hard to conceive of any existing island in the area that would be large enough to house Westsworld on its own, let alone all six of the parks. Could Westworld be on a series of Islands, or perhaps on a giant artificial island in the area?

The even bigger question leading into Season 3 is what the world outside Westworld is like.Season 2 took us off the island multiple times, but we only ever saw the world from inside the homes of our characters. We've still never seen someone make the journey back, and all that "natural splendor" looked like little more than a modern city skyline. It's impossible to believe that a technical advancement like those at Westworld could have failed to change the world around them, and now that Dolores and Bernard are on the outside, we're sure to learn a lot more about what that world is like.

What's more, the post-credit scene offered a glimpse at a world that's even further down the timeline. A far distant future, where the Man in Black is being tested in some loop, possibly of his own design, and the park's high-tech facilities have crumbled into dusty disrepair. So what is the world outside like at that point in the timeline? And who is in control? Westworld is playing on a supremely large narrative canvas, meaning it can introduce us to as many worlds as it can invent along the way.

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