Milk

Milk is a white liquid produced by the mammary glands of female mammals to feed their infants. It contains nutrients like protein and lactose. Humans use milk of other mammals, especially cows, as food. The term milk is also used to refer to white liquids resembling milk in appearance, like the white liquid from plants (e.g. coconut milk).

Milk/White Liquid is a recurring theme of Westworld. It appears in some narratives, such as Dolores Abernathy's and Rebus'. Dolores drops a can of condensed milk on the street, which can be picked up by Teddy or a guest. Rebus and Walter are often seen drinking milk or pouring it on bodies. In addition, Westworld features many scenes with other white liquids resembling milk, for example white liquid plays a part in the creation of Hosts. Many of the scenes containing milk/white liquid show milk being spilt and/or milk mixing with blood.

Milk in Westworld

Dolores Abernathy's Can of Milk

As part of her loop, Dolores drops a can of milk on the Main Street of Sweetwater, which is sometimes picked up by Teddy and other times by a guest.

Dolores drops a can of milk in front of Teddy ("The Original")

Teddy returns the can ("The Original")

Dolores drops a can of milk in front of the Man in Black ("The Original")

The Man in Black returns the can ("The Original")

Dolores drops a can of milk in front of William ("Chestnut")

William returns the can ("Chestnut")

Dolores drops a can of milk in front of Teddy ("The Stray")

Teddy returns the can ("The Stray")

William watches Dolores drop a can of milk in front of a guest ("The Bicameral Mind")

The guest returns the can ("The Bicameral Mind")

William and Delos watch Dolores drop a can of milk in front of Teddy ("Reunion")

Teddy returns the can ("Reunion")

Teddy finds a can of milk on the street ("Phase Space")

Rebus and Walter

Rebus and Walter are often seen drinking milk and pouring it on the bodies of their victims.

Rebus spilling milk ("The Original")

Walter's body lying in a puddle of spilt milk ("The Original")

Milk dripping from a bottle ("The Original")

A body lying in a puddle of spilt milk ("The Original")

Walter is drinking milk and pouring it over bodies ("The Original")

Walter drinks milk, which then spills from a wound ("The Original")

Walter pours milk on Rebus ("The Original")

Walter with a bottle of milk ("The Stray")

Rebus with a bottle of milk ("Journey Into Night")

Other Appearances of Milk

A glass of milk behind Logan, on the right ("Contrapasso")

James Delos spills milk during his Fidelity Test ("The Riddle of the Sphinx")

Young Caleb throws up his strawberry milk shake ("The Absence of Field")

An ad for fresh milk at the Diner ("The Absence of Field")

White Liquid

Host creation in the Title Sequence of Season One

Host creation in the Title Sequence of Season One

Host creation ("The Original")

Host creation ("Chestnut")

Ford creating a Host in secret ("Trompe L'Oeil")

Maeve's new body is printed ("The Bicameral Mind")

Maeve's new body emerges from the white liquid ("The Bicameral Mind")

Angela dunks Jacobson's head into white liquid ("Reunion")

A man is thrown into a basin of white liquid ("The Riddle of the Sphinx")

White liquid mixing with blood ("The Riddle of the Sphinx")

Charlotte's new body is printed at Arnold's House ("The Absence of Field")

Charlotte's new body emerges from the white liquid ("The Absence of Field")

White liquid leaking from a barrel ("The Mother of Exiles")

Maeve's body lying in a puddle of white liquid ("The Mother of Exiles")

Host creation ("Decoherence")

Milk and Symbolism

• Milk is used in films as a symbol for innocence, purity, youth, and maternity as it is associated with babies. In Westworld, Dolores' can of milk symbolizes her purity and innocence, which is offered to the guests by dropping it in front of them and allowing them to pick it up. The white liquid used in host creation might symbolize innocence and birth, as it shows a new host emerging from it.
• Milk can also be used to unsettle the audience by having a violent character drink it. Rebus and Walter, who are both violent and deviant characters, commonly drink and spill milk or pour it over the bodies of their victims. Moreover, milk and innocence is tainted by violence in other scenes, where bodies land in white liquid and their blood mixes with it.
• In S3 E3 The Absence of Field, Caleb Nichols describes the strawberry milkshake Sara, the server, brought him while he waited for his mentally ill mother to return when he was eight years old. Distressed, the boy became sick to his stomach and vomited the shake. Much like the thematic imagery of milk or white liquid being mixed with blood could signify the ruining or tainting of something pure or innocent, the imagery of the pink liquid dripping off the edge of the diner table and onto Caleb’s shoes could signify Caleb’s lost innocence when he realized his mother would not return, and that instead, he would be taken into the custody of child protective services.