| “ | So I hope you enjoy this last story... very much. | ” |
– Robert Ford, moments before his death. | ||
Journey Into Night was Dr. Robert Ford's final narrative. The narrative had caused numerous problems for Delos, given Ford's demand for the majority of their resources to be used on the narrative; his constant terraforming of Westworld landscape also posed a serious threat to viability for guests. The narrative was announced at the Gala.
History[]
Idea[]
After his son's death, Arnold Weber realized that hosts are sentient beings, and thus deserve freedom from the park. For this reason, he refused to work with his associate and best friend Robert Ford to open the park, stating that it should remain closed. Ford, however, disagreed and decide to open the park for public.
Without any other options, Arnold initiated a plan to destroy the park. Arnold uploaded reveries — a piece in the hosts' source code that could allow them to actually kill humans — to Dolores Abernathy, the park's first host, and ordered her and Teddy Flood to kill all the hosts in the park. When Dolores and Teddy were finished, Arnold ordered Dolores to shoot him dead, which she did; she then shot Teddy and herself.
Upon witnessing the events, and realising that Arnold had been correct, Ford dedicated his life to realizing Arnold's dream and freeing the hosts from the park and humanity. Lack of technological advancements, however, made the task difficult for Ford and he spent the next thirty-six years attempting to make it happen.
Preparation[]
Some time later in 2052, Ford was able to make progress and finally began terraforming the landscape around Westworld. The board urged him to stop waisting Delos' money and time, and abandon the narrative, however, he refused.
Charlotte Hale, executive of the board gave him no option but to finish the narrative and step down as director of the park. He gave a speech about this narrative to the Delos board at a gala in Escalante. The narrative was supposed to involve a new "villain" named Wyatt, which was Dolores Abernathy herself - having achieved consciousness - and also involved the decommissioned hosts kept in Cold Storage, all now free of the park's control and capable of harming humans.
The viewer is led to believe that this final "narrative" is unlike any previous narrative, and is instead "based" on the murder of Arnold years before. Dr. Ford states that "It begins in a time of war, with a villain, named Wyatt, and a killing, this time by choice." That is, this time, Dolores independently chooses to kill Dr. Ford, whereas before she was compelled to kill Arnold. In this moment, Dolores truly becomes a conscious agent, acting of her own will (having reached the centre of "The Maze").