Westworld: 5 Questions after The Riddle of the Sphinx

This week’s Westworld answered some major questions. However, it was also filled with twists, which lead me to have even more questions. Here are 5 major questions I had after watching The Riddle of the Sphinx.

HBO’s Westworld had an absolutely fantastic episode this week. It answered many major questions but still kept us wanting to know more. It confirmed the woman from The Raj was Emily, William’s daughter. The episode also confirmed a major fan theory: Delos attempted to “resurrect” James Delos using host technology. Even though it answered these important questions, it wouldn’t be a Westworld episode without raising a few new ones.

Here are 5 major questions I had after watching “The Riddle of the Sphinx” (spoilers ahead):

1. What do those cryptic messages throughout the episode mean?

During “The Riddle of the Sphinx” two hosts said very cryptic statements to two humans. First, a Lakota told Stubbs: “You live only as long as the last person who remembers you”. Later in the episode, William receives a mysterious message from Lawrence’s daughter. She tells him: “If you are looking forward, you are looking in the wrong direction.”

So what does this all mean? The message to Stubbs could be a reference to James Delos. Though he tried to cheat death and “live” forever, most of his family died before his host form was ready to go out into the world. What is the point of him living forever, if there is no one for him to share it with? However, I am not sure why this message was given to Stubbs in particular.

The message to William could be in reference to his journey to “Glory”. Lawrence’s daughter could mean that the way he thinks is right, is in fact wrong. Whatever the meanings of those messages are, I am almost positive Ford is behind them.

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2. Whose control center was Bernard referring to?

Towards the end of the episode, Bernard believes Ford sent him to the secret Delos lab to recover another human’s control center. Could it be Ford’s? Whoever it belongs to, it also could be a part of Ford’s “game”.

3. Did Bernard order the killings in the lab on his own volition or Ford’s? Either way, why?

In “The Riddle of the Sphinx,” Bernard had a flashback of major violence in the secret Delos lab. In it, he ordered the hosts to kill the humans and then themselves. Was this act orchestrated by Ford, who has controlled Bernard before, or did Bernard do it on his own will? I believe it was Ford. If so, what is to gain from all of those deaths? Also, why kill the hosts as well?

Katja Herbers in Westworld. Photo: Courtesy of HBO /

4. What are Emily’s intentions regarding William?

The final scene of the episode confirmed that the woman from The Raj is Emily, William’s daughter. Throughout the episode, she seemed to determine to get to someone or someplace and we found out that someone was her father. So, what does she want from him? At first, I thought she was after revenge since she blamed her mother’s suicide on him. However, it seemed like her greeting to him was rather friendly. Maybe she wants a reconciliation rather than revenge.

5. Did Ghost Nation just disappear and if so, what the heck?

After the riddling message is whispered to Stubbs, Ghost Nation seemingly disappears. (I had to rewatch that scene to make sure I was seeing that right.) How can hosts just disappear? Unless they were just an illusion? This scene has me scratching my head the most.

Next: Are TV episodes becoming too long?

“The Riddle of the Sphinx” was quite possibly Westworld‘s most mind-bending episode yet. I was confused most of the time while watching, but I kind of loved that about it.

Westworld airs Sunday nights on HBO.

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