Westworld: Season 3 NEW Opening Credits Breakdo...

Westworld: Season 3 NEW Opening Credits Breakdown | Theories & Titles Explained

22


With Westworld back for Season 3 fans are already working overtime in wondering what could be going on in this world full of splendor.

As with all new seasons in the series, the third entry has a brand new opening credits scene and it is possible that there are messages hidden within that could tease what exactly is going on.

Throughout this, we’re gonna be breaking down the introduction and discussing what it could be hinting at in the future.

We will be going over some of the plot points from the first episode so if you’re not fully up to date then I highly recommend that you turn off now.

With that out the way, I just wanna give a big thank you for clicking this. Now let’s get into our breakdown of Westworld’s opening credits.

Westworld Season 3 Opening Credits Breakdown


The third seasons has changed quite a bit from what we are used to in several ways. Dolores is now out in what could be the real world and the entire aesthetic of the show has completely changed.

The credits open much in the same way that all of the prior entries have with what appears to be a sun rising.

In the first season this was the sun rising over a human host, in the second it was the body of a buffalo host and in this third entry it is the body of an eagle host that appears throughout the opening.

Westworld opening credits scene explained

In the first season the human host could have ended up in several, ahem positions. Two were seen getting it on and another ended up riding on a horse firing a gun, similar to how Dolores would in the second entry.

This showed the rising of the hosts in the park and how they would connect with one another and rebel against the park.

In season two the Buffalo ended up jumping over the edge of the science area in the park showcasing that the entire illusion was going to come crumbling down.

In the third opener, the bird flies towards a jet engine that then transforms into the sun and slowly the bird melts and begins to fall apart.

This is clearly a nod to Icarus, the ancient Greek story in which the aforementioned character flew too close to the sun in an attempt to escape Crete.

Icarus and his father created wings made of wax in order to escape the location but as we mentioned they got to close to the sun, the wax melted and they ended up falling to their death.

westworld bird opening credits

This could metaphorically show that the hosts are flying too close to the sun and are getting in a very dangerous position that will ultimately lead to their downfall. They have passed into a world that they simply aren’t equipped to deal with and are close to falling apart because of it.

Birds used to be the only thing that could fly on the planet, then man built the airplane and proved that human ingenuity could match mother nature. This bird being overtaken by the jet could show that humans can always develop something to take down or match the hosts should it come to it.

The Hands And Piano


Shortly after this, we can see a piano being strung by a mechanical arm.

This has been a feature that has appeared in all three seasons opening credits and there are also exact repeats of certain elements such as the host hands that play the piano. These hands play the theme tune so it makes sense that they would make a return here as they’re very much the backbone of the opening and they provide it with that theme tune that not even a memory wipe could get out of your head.

The second big element in the credits scene is a host figure approaching their reflection in a pool.

5 Michelangelo_-_Creation_of_Adam_(cropped)

This initially seems very similar to the painting by Michaelangelo: The Creation Of Adam.

This painting forms part of the Sistine Chapel’s ceiling and it is meant to represent God giving life to Adam in the book of Genesis.

Ford already discussed this painting in the show and he pointed out that it took 500 years for people to notice the shape of a human brain in the painting. To Ford this showed that the divine gift does not come from a higher power but rather from our own brains.

This reaching out of the host to itself could show the fallacy of believing in something else as all we have are ourselves. The host seems to realise this in the credits as when it finally touches the water it falls through.

It could also be a nod to the Greek story of Narcissus. You may have heard the term Narcassict before but the word actually also pulls from Greek Mythology.

Narcissus


Narcissus was a hunter who was incredibly beautiful. Many fell in love with him but he ended up becoming corrupted by this and he hated those that obsessed over him. He caused some to kill themselves in order to prove their love and ultimately he believed himself to be above all others because of his looks.

This could mirror Dolores and the hosts who believe themselves to be above the humans.

After leaving a tonne of bodies behind him, someone close to one of the victims prayed to the Gods to punish him for all the pain that he has caused. Narcissus ended up walking by a pool of water and after drinking some he saw his own reflection and ended up becoming obsessed with it.

In some depictions, he drowned himself after becoming so fixated upon his looks and in others, he killed himself because he was unable to have the thing he desired most in the world, himself. He believed he was cursed to only ever see a reflection.

Similar to Narcissus the host ends up falling through and it is possible that their obsession with trying to take down the humans will be their undoing. We know that before this season Dolores only saw the worst of humanity. Those that were rich enough to be able to afford Westworld used it to live out their worst desires and because of this the hosts were used and abused.

However, we now know from the story of Caleb that humanity itself has it’s own divides and that Dolores probably has more in common with Caleb than she would like to admit. Caleb has a robot companion and there is a clear divide between that and the hosts showing that everything operates in shades of grey rather than black and white.

In another shot we see a Dandelion spreading it’s seeds. This then transforms into the supercomputer that we learn in the first episode predetermined a path for every person on the planet.

It chose their destiny and is unquestioned. It is likely that Dolores and co will try to destroy this in the series as she was heavily fixated on it in the first episode.

18

The Machine


The Dandelion could represent the world and humanity spreading their seeds and thus going out of control. These seeds then becoming the machine that puts everything back on course could cement that it has brought order to everything.

Thus destroying it would destabilize things and finally set humanity free.

The spherical shape is repeated throughout the opening, not only in the cells but also the sun and jet engine. It shows that the machine is tied in with everything.

Circles and things being planned have popped up in the series before most namely the maze which was a big focus in the show early on. This was a route for William to follow to get to the center and it’s preplanned path has many things in common with the preordained journey that humans are now given.

Humans are now stuck in their own loops, their own sets of programming and the similarities are very eerie. I think the third season will really focus on the class divide and how the rich pretty much run everything and people below them lead a very subordinate type lifestyle much in service to them.

The Machine In Liquid


The circle motif can also be seen repeated with the host being dipped into liquid. This is something that has been present in the credit scenes for every season thus far however season 3 differs in a major way.

The figure in that is being dumped into red liquid which could indeed indicate that blood that will be spilled by the humans mixing with them.

To me, it also has a lot of similarities to the swastika which is too set to feature heavily in the season from the post-credits scene.

22

In that we see Maeve in War World and the circle on red with a shape in the middle does on paper have similar sort of style. If the season is about liberation from an all-powerful almost dictator-like figure that decides everything for the populace then this could also be reflected in this storyline with Maeve.

Could she be freeing those in War World from their loops much in the same way that Dolores will free the humans trapped by the thinkings of a machine.

Personally I think so and I love the way that the first two seasons were about freeing machines from humans and that the third season could be about freeing humans from a machine.

There is a tonne of things to look forward to in the season and obviously the further we get into it the more these titles will make sense. Hopefully, I’ve given you some things to think about though and you’ve enjoyed us discussing what could or could not be going on with the opening titles.

Your Thoughts

Now obviously I’d love to hear your thoughts on the opening titles and what you think they hint towards in the season. I’m sure theres a whole host of things…excuse the pun that you can come up with. Comment below and let me know.

One Comment

Leave a Comment

Show Buttons
Hide Buttons