These ‘Westworld’ Fan Theories About Poor, Confused Bernard Are Just Wild Enough To Be Right

By the midway point in Westworld Season 1, some fans had — for better, rather than worse — figured out most of the twists and secrets in the plot. This time around, it seems like everyone is confused... especially when it comes to a certain robotic Delos employee experiencing an existential crisis on top of some other malfunctions. The multiple Bernard Westworld Season 2 theories (including the multiple Bernard theory) may have cracked what's going on with Jeffrey Wright's equally confused character, or they may just be throwing mud at the wall in the hopes that something sticks. Spoilers ahead for Season 2 through Episode 6.

There are also so many aspects of Bernard's journey in Season 2 to theorize about. And, to possibly echo some of the philosophic themes on the HBO series, many things could be true at once. What's going on with Bernard when he wakes up on the beach, joins an extraction team, and claims to have killed all of the hosts in the water? What's going on with Bernard when he's leaking brain battery juice? What's going on with Bernard in the Cradle?

Surely no one theory can solve all of these mysteries, but here are some of the guesses that attempt to answer at least one of the questions surrounding the woes of Bernard in Season 2 of Westworld.

Bernard Is Teddy

This once popular Westworld theory has been disproven by now, correct? What looked like Bernard arriving at Sweetwater as Teddy turned out to be his arrival into the Inception and/or Matrix world of the Cradle.

Bernard Is Arnold — For Real This Time

What if Arnold faked his own death? What if the Bernard host was implanted with Arnold's pure personality and memories, rather than the edited fiction that became Bernard? What if he's an Arnold clone — because you just know that clones are going to come into play at some point on this show.

Bernard Is... Ford?

Ford is the new Teddy, it seems, according to this theory. It could explain his guilt, two weeks later, about how all of the hosts ended up dead in the water. Ford is responsible for this final narrative on Westworld. Plus, we've seen Ford speak through other hosts a couple of times this season.

Bernard Is One Of Many Bernards

Some version of this theory is most likely true. Just look at the preview for Season 2, Episode 7 above, where Tessa Thompson's character Charlotte unveils a room full of Bernard hosts — reminiscent, perhaps, of an iconic (and spoiler-filled) moment from Battlestar Galactica where a character who doesn't know they are a cylon is confronted with their own copies.

Esquire traced the multiple Bernards theory back to Season 1, citing a moment where he speaks to Abernathy. It also posits that much of Season 1 actually happened before Season 1, which is a major headache.

Bernard Is Still In The Cradle

Speaking of headaches, buckle in, because this one will seriously hurt your brain. What if everything Bernard has experienced since waking on the beach has been a Cradle simulation? It is very Inception, and Bernard jolted awake on the train in a similar disoriented fashion. But it kind of makes sense. Why is an extraction team showing up two weeks after the massacre when one arrived one week after? Why is he mouthing Strand's lines along with him?

Bernard Is All Of Us, He Is Within Us, Etc.

Joking, but it's kind of true. Bernard is just as confused as the fans at this point. He's a stand-in for the audience in a truly bizarre way.

Where is Bernard? Who is Bernard? To reference Avengers: Infinity War and do you one better... WHY is Bernard?! Whatever is happening on Westworld Season 2 seems to hinge on these questions. Dolores' crew may have detonated a bomb that linked up some of the timelines, but not all of them yet. Bernard, or Arnold, or whoever that kindly bespectacled host is could be the thing that makes everything come together.