History Characters / WestworldDoloresAbernathy

->'''Portrayed By:''' Creator/EvanRachelWood, [[spoiler:Creator/TessaThompson]], [[spoiler:Creator/TommyFlanagan]], [[spoiler:Creator/HiroyukiSanada]], [[spoiler:Creator/CliftonCollinsJr]]

** Dolores and William are constantly pointed out as being mirrors of each other, from the earliest point in their relationship when they are [[DesperatelyLookingForAPurposeInLife both longing to escape their own world and enter each other's in order to find freedom]] to decades later when both of them become [[MaddenIntoMisanthropy so cynical and cruel that they wind up accidentally driving their partners (Teddy and Juliet) to suicide]]. Dolores seems unwilling to accept their similarity, however, even when [[NotSoDifferentRemark William openly points it out to her]]. In season 3, this thematic tie warps in an interesting way: [[spoiler:Dolores lets go of her anger and becomes TheMessiah to humanity, while William independently comes to the conclusion that saving humanity is ''his'' job but thinks he's going to do it by killing all of the hosts. Both of them die but are survived by copies of themselves, notably with one of Dolores' copies (Halores) aligning with the host version of William.]] What's more ironic by the end of the show, [[spoiler:both copies are responsible for the death of sentient life.]]

* NoPlaceForMeThere: In the penultimate episode of season 2, it's hinted that Dolores's repeated phrase "Not all of us deserve to make it to the Valley Beyond" may include herself in the undeserving category.

* AntiHero: She evolves into a revolutionary in Season 3 where she fights against the A.I. system, Rehoboam and kills a lot of Incite's bodyguards. Initially, several characters suspected that she's planning to destroy Rehoboam to bring humanity's demise. [[spoiler:But it turns out she wants to free humanity after seeing how their lives are similar to her kind. In the end, she allows Caleb to shut down Rehoboam so that humanity can be free to choose their own fate]].

%%* HeWhoFightsMonsters: Dolores starts a rebellion in revenge for all of the cruelties humans have practiced on the hosts, but she quickly becomes just as cruel as her former masters, slaughtering humans and other hosts. She even goes as far as to forcibly reprogram Teddy since he's not acting the way she wants.

** Dolores and William are constantly pointed out as being mirrors of each other, from the earliest point in their relationship when they are [[DesperatelyLookingForAPurposeInLife both longing to escape their own world and enter each other's in order to find freedom]] to decades later when both of them become [[MaddenIntoMisanthropy so cynical and cruel that they wind up accidentally driving their partners (Teddy and Juliet) to suicide]]. Dolores seems unwilling to accept their similarity, however, even when [[NotSoDifferentRemark William openly points it out to her]]. In season 3, this thematic tie warps in an interesting way: [[spoiler:Dolores lets go of her anger and becomes TheMessiah to humanity, while William independently comes to the conclusion that saving humanity is ''his'' job but thinks he's going to do it by killing all of the hosts. Both of them die but are survived by copies of themselves, notably with one of Dolores' copies (Halores) aligning with the host version of William.]]

%%* ShesGotLegs: Oh boy does she ever as the camera's frequent pans of her legs in various short dresses, tights and leather pants remind the audience of throughout the third season.

* FatalFlaw: [[TheNeedsOfTheMany Her disregard of others for the sake of achieving her goals bites her in the ass more than once]]. Believing that Teddy is [[VirtueIsWeakness too weak to survive the host rebellion]], she forcibly reprograms him into a killing machine; when Teddy becomes self-conscious, he's disgusted with what Dolores did to him and [[DrivenToSuicide commits suicide because he can't bring himself to kill her]], much to Dolores' regret. The following season, [[spoiler:her treatment of her own copies leads Halores to realize that Dolores sees her as expendable, causing her to betray Dolores.]]
** Her [[FoeRomanceSubtext inability to ever actually follow through on killing William]] despite promising it many times has also been the root of a number of her problems, particularly in season 4 when [[spoiler:her choice to keep him alive in a cryogenic chamber after his host duplicate almost killed him directly led to the world being destroyed]].

* SexBot: Not in the same sense as the brothel bots, but Dolores seems to exist primarily to be the default love interest of guests. In a dark sense of this, she's often raped, with her pre-programmed loop pretty much setting her up to be raped by Rebus if Teddy is distracted by a guest (which means it's possible for her to be raped ''daily'' if someone wants to play bounty hunter), unless a guest chooses to kill Rebus and either seduce Dolores or rape her themselves.

* TheseusShipParadox: She has been repaired so many times over the years that she's practically brand new, with at least one character noting that she's one of the "older" robots in the park purely on a technicality. It remains to be seen how much, if anything, remains of her original components or programming.

A host who prefers to see the beauty in the world, Dolores spends her days around the family ranch, dreaming of a bright future.

** In Season 3, she slowly changes her opinion on humanity after she saw that they were controlled by Rehoboam and met Caleb. [[spoiler:By then, her plan changes from destroying humanity to freeing them from Rehoboam's control. In the end, she chooses to destroy the ugliness that is keeping the hosts and humans from being free]].

* CynicismCatalyst: Dolores initially seemed to think rather highly of humans, but the loss of Arnold, then William, followed by years of mistreatment by others slowly robbed her of that conviction. The twist is that she only manages to put all of these negative impressions together in the finale of the first season, finally realizing all the disappointing things she has experienced related to humans: Arnold forcing her to kill him, her fellow hosts, and herself; the Man in Black revealing he's an older, far more cynical William; and Dr. Ford [[TheChessmaster doing everything possible]] to provoke her into taking revenge on him and all humans. Dolores achieving full consciousness is a traumatic awakening, to say the least.

* DarkMessiah: Turns out [[WellIntentionedExtremist Ford]] wanted to make her this for the other hosts, and he succeeds by the end of season 1, when Dolores accepts her "Wyatt" personality and her role as violent liberator of the hosts. However, by the end of Season 3, [[spoiler:she becomes TheMessiah when it's revealed she also wants to free the humans after seeing how their lives are controlled, and she dies in a HeroicSacrifice]].

** She and Bernard endured a history of abuse and resets, in order to unwillingly further other people's plans, tied with the hidden secrets and scheming of the park leadership. Perhaps aware of that, Ford kept them separate, disallowing them from potentially scheming together to help the other hosts. Most of Bernard's personal experiences drive him to be jaded, but also to harbor hope for host and human coexistence. Dolores is less lucky in that regard, and experiencing almost exclusively the negative side of human beings, she becomes convinced the hosts should take over (effectively playing into Ford's long-term plans). By the finale of Season 2, Dolores and Bernard continue to have healthy respect for each other, but are on the [[FriendlyEnemy opposing sides of the barricades]]. Viewers often draw attention to the fact that Bernard's and Dolores's differing opinions and ideological tension are reminiscent of [[ComicBook/XMen Professor X and Magneto]]. Strangest of all, Bernard is based physically on Dolores's creator and mentor Arnold Weber, and she played a major part in advising the recreation of Arnold as Bernard.
** Maeve and Dolores both want host emancipation, but they're otherwise foils to each other in this respect. Maeve takes a down-to-earth and personal route, and doesn't mind humans and hosts cooperating together. Dolores's lashing out at humans grows towards vengeance and fanaticism, using humans as disposable pawns, and treating her host followers little better. Maeve ultimately lays down her life to give the people she loves a fighting chance and ensure their safety, while Dolores dies in her effort to dominate other hosts, [[WellIntentionedExtremist still convinced that she knows their interests better than they do]]. In season 3 this dynamic is expanded further, with Dolores seeming to view Maeve as her necessary counterpart in the same vein as Bernard, and ultimately [[spoiler:trusting her to help lead humanity and the hosts after Dolores' death]].
** Akecheta and Dolores are highly intelligent hosts who underwent a number of personal tragedies and independently achieved consciousness decades before anyone in the park realized [[GrewBeyondTheirProgramming they were capable of that milestone]]. Both want to lead their people to freedom, but go about it in vastly different ways. Akecheta stresses pacifism and not meddling directly in the affairs of their human creators, while Dolores, angry at humanity, plans a war of revenge and considers many of her fellow hosts to be too weak to bother taking with her. Akecheta's disapproval of Dolores's methods is summarized by the downright mythic moniker he gives her: "Deathbringer".

->'''Portrayed By:''' Creator/EvanRachelWood, [[spoiler:Creator/TessaThompson]], [[spoiler:Creator/TommyFlanagan]], [[spoiler:Creator/HiroyukiSanada]]

* FriendlyEnemy: To Bernard at the end of season 2. She's aware that their ideologies don't match, but also that they both want what's best for their species and that Bernard is capable of checking her violent and ruthless tendencies. This is her reason for bringing Bernard to the real world as a kind of emergency MoralityChain. In Season 3, [[spoiler:she's responsible for making Bernard a SilentScapegoat for the park massacre because she put the key to the Sublime, forcing Bernard to go into hiding away from Serac and the authorities. This shows that she trusts him to protect their species and couldn't trust herself for holding the key]].

* FriendlyEnemy: To Bernard at the end of season 2. She's aware that their ideologies don't match, but also that they both want what's best for their species and that Bernard is capable of checking her violent and ruthless tendencies. This is her reason for bringing Bernard to the real world as a kind of emergency MoralityChain.

* ProtagonistJourneyToVillain: ZigZagged. She seems to begin the story as a winsome, hopeful person who suffers significant tragedy and is only interested in attaining some kind of freedom, but who eventually reaches a breaking point that [[CynicismCatalyst pushes her into a much more cynical and brutal worldview]] that sees humans as a problem to be eradicated. However, it eventually becomes clear that this journey was not as linear as it appeared, as her [[JekyllAndHyde Wyatt personality]] was present even before the park opened and was always extremely ruthless.

** This is written into the programming of Dolores' relationship with her [[BestFriend ever-loyal friend]] Teddy. In the default version of their loop, Dolores and Teddy flirt with each other and wax lyrical about how they might get together one day, settle down elsewhere, and live happily to the end of their days. Because Teddy is programmed to be TheAtoner fixated on redeeming himself, however, he will by design never feel ready for this day to actually come, as Dolores eventually recognizes. Eventually the two of them move beyond their trite and constricting storyline and attempt to have a more real and fulfilling relationship as conscious hosts, only to be hit by this trope ''again'' because [[LoveCannotOvercome Dolores' choice to fully embrace her role as the brutal leader of the host rebellion turns out to be incompatible with Teddy's gentle personality and desires for a simple and peaceful life]].

* {{Hypocrite}}: Has this tendency. She possesses enough self-awareness to recognize that she needs an outside voice to remind her not to go too far in her pursuit of revenge, but not enough to understand that [[YouAreWhatYouHate her ruthless means sometimes make her functionally no different from the brutal humans she hates]] or that her treatment of even her closest loved ones can be [[TheChessmaster staggeringly cold and Machiavellian]] in a way that makes their angry reactions to her very justified. She also has a very [[MoralMyopia exceptionalist]] mindset in general, often calling others out for the same behavior she exhibits (such as Maeve still caring for her daughter in the same way Dolores still cares about her father despite both relationships having been programmed by humans) or claiming she is somehow better than others even when she seems about on par with them morally (as when she rejects William's claim that they are NotSoDifferent and states that unlike her, he's "a monster").

** Dolores and William are constantly pointed out as being mirrors of each other, from the earliest point in their relationship when they are [[DesperatelyLookingForAPurposeInLife both longing to escape their own world and enter each other's in order to find freedom]] to decades later when both of them become [[MaddenIntoMisanthropy so cynical and cruel that they wind up accidentally driving their partners (Teddy and Juliet) to suicide]]. Dolores seems unwilling to accept their similarity, however, even when [[NotSoDifferent William openly points it out to her]]. In season 3, this thematic tie warps in an interesting way: [[spoiler:Dolores lets go of her anger and becomes TheMessiah to humanity, while William independently comes to the conclusion that saving humanity is ''his'' job but thinks he's going to do it by killing all of the hosts. Both of them die but are survived by copies of themselves, notably with one of Dolores' copies (Halores) aligning with the host version of William.]]

* InterspeciesRomance: With William. Their bond was so intense, and was destroyed so traumatically, that the shockwaves of the relationship are still affecting both of them decades later. Much of Dolores' storyline in season 1 revolves around her unconsciously reliving her memories of William in her search for consciousness, as his kind, affirming responses to her aberrant behavior and genuine interest in her feelings and well-being helped her get closer to fully waking up than she had ever been before. When she is faced the shocking revelation that these memories are from the distant past and that William eventually became the Man in Black, her horror and sadness push her to finally become fully self-conscious. As the story moves forward, she seems to continually reflect on the relationship and be influenced both by its existence and by its loss.

* WideEyedIdealist: A core part of her programming and an element that she begins to struggle with as she attains consciousness. Dolores is programmed to be an optimist and an idealist who is aware of the ugliness in the world, but chooses to focus on the beauty. As she undergoes more and more suffering and receives a number of traumatic revelations about her past, she starts to recognize that it is that very idealism and love for their world that keeps her and the other hosts trapped within the park, and eventually makes the conscious decision to leave it behind when she becomes Wyatt. However, flashes of her old personality continue to appear even after she fully aligns with Wyatt's ideology, such as when she [[PetTheDog tearfully reminisces about their happiness living together on their ranch with her father]] despite being completely aware that they were living in a prison at the time and that the only reason she thinks of him as her father at all is because she was programmed to. At the end of season 3, [[spoiler:she is finally able to reconcile her new perspective with her old mindset, expressing her hopes for the future of humanity as she is dying and allowing herself to once again see the inherent beauty and goodness in things that she always saw before.]]

* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: Once she becomes fully self-aware and integrates Wyatt's personality. She wants nothing more than to exterminate every organic human in Westworld, because at this point she understandably views them as AlwaysChaoticEvil. In Season 3, she slowly drops this perspective after being outside of Westworld and saw that humanity is controlled by an A.I. system, realizing that even outside of Westworld, there is still ugliness in it. [[spoiler:In the end, she realizes that while there's the ugliness in the world outside, there's still the beauty of humanity and she wants to free them too so they can also make a choice]].
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* WideEyedIdealist: She's programmed to see the world half-full. She isn't blind to the cruelty of the world she inhabits, but chooses to see the beauty instead and is more than welcoming to the 'newcomers'. When Bernard orders her to stick to improvisation, she's at somewhat of a loss to quantify her views. As her character develops, she becomes a little more wary and cynical, but keeps an ultimately optimistic outlook tempered by realism. She completely loses it once her Wyatt personality is fully integrated and she becomes conscious, becoming a vicious WellIntentionedExtremist who hates humans.
-->'''Dolores:''' There is beauty in this world. Arnold made it that way, but people like you keep spreading over it like a stain!
-->'''Logan:''' Okay, I don't know who the fuck this Arnold is, but your world was built for [[TheSociopath me and people like me.]] Not for you.
-->'''Dolores:''' Then someone's got to burn it clean.
** [[spoiler: As she is dying in the Season 3 finale, "Crisis Theory", Dolores confesses to Maeve that she never lost this mindset, as it is her Cornerstone, the foundation of her being. She just applied it to a much larger scale with a more practical mindset. She plotted to tear down the system shackling the Hosts, and later, humanity, because it was representing and fueling the ugly parts of mankind, and by letting everyone finally be free, they could express themselves in a way that could truly be beautiful. In fact, she chose Caleb to carry on the revolution not because of his capacity for violence, but because he secretly had a kind heart.]]