'Westworld' co-creator Jonathan Nolan reveals new information about Dolores' paintings

Culture

HBO's Westworld certainly doesn't deprive its fans of mystery and intrigue, with theories from viewers ranging from multiple timelines to the park being, quite literally, out of this world. These are interesting theories — with compelling evidence to boot — but there's one lingering question we all need an answer to: What the hell happens to Dolores' landscape paintings? 

Reddit user mattdezine posited the question, wondering what became of the 10,000-plus paintings from Dolores' narrative loop. After all, she's the oldest Host in the park, and it seems like she's always assumed the role of the rancher's daughter. This means that, more often than not, she heads out to the river and draws the same damn thing every day. 

Whether or not the redditor wanted a legitimate response, Westworld co-creator Jonathan Nolan gave one. Nolan left a link to a GIF of never-before-seen footage, in which some Delos workers in hazmat suits make their way to what we assume is the Abernathy ranch's kitchen to go through some of Dolores' paintings. 

As a cheeky touch, the comment from Nolan said, "Doesn't look like anything to me," a nod to the mind-blowing reveal from Sunday's episode that Bernard is secretly a Host. 

While it's mostly a tongue-in-cheek response from Nolan, there could be a deeper meaning behind this GIF (please bear with us): If Dolores is storing her paintings — and, let's say, stumbles upon them during her daily loop and finds them to be exact replicas, which is really creepy — it could be a device to remind her of the nature of her reality. 

We see this with Maeve, another Host who's going through an intense storyline of self-discovery. She initially draws a sketch of one of the Delos hazmat suit workers and finds a place to store the image, only to later discover that she's drawn several of them. 

If that's the case, has Dolores been questioning her reality for some time? That could potentially be true if the multiple-timeline theory holds up, meaning her journey with William took place at the early stages of the park's creation (this theory has a lot of evidence to back it up). Or perhaps Nolan is just having some fun with the fans — per an interview with the Hollywood Reporterhe really loves Reddit. 

We've got three more episodes this season to find out more, like, more importantly, if the Hosts poop or not.