WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Season 3, Episode 5, of Westworld, "Genre," which aired Sunday on HBO.
Westworld has been teasing the backstory of Engerraund Serac since the beginning of the season, hinting that there is much more to Incite's co-founder than meets the eye. Fans have responded with conspiracy theories about his true nature, and some believe Serac is an avatar of Rehoboam. Others think he's dead, living on in Rehoboam's mirror world.
However, in hinting about Serac's past, one thing has stuck out with all viewers, and that is his brother, who may or may not be alive. In the images of Paris being destroyed in a thermonuclear incident, Serac is always seen standing next to another, slightly larger boy. This has sprung many theories, including the implausible idea that Ford is somehow Serac's older sibling despite Paris burning in 2025, Ford already being an adult, and Arnold having been dead for years.
In Episode 5, "Genre," Westworld finally reveals some answers about Serac's elder sibling, save for two questions, and both are the kinds of questions that will drive fans wild.
What We Know About The Elder Serac
What viewers have to keep in mind is that what the show tells us about the Serac's brother in this episode is from Engerraund's point of view. As it is not clear how reliable a narrator he is, everything should be taken with a grain of salt. The facts are probably right, but the slant is what viewers should question.
For now, what is known is that Rehoboam is not Engerraund's baby. He built it, believes in it, loves and treasures it, but the actual genius behind its creation is the older brother. As Engerraund puts it, his brother is the strength that has carried them since Paris fell. He is the one who said they must leave everything behind, and he is the one who taught Engerraund that there is no god to blame. The creation of Rehoboam, the "god" that would oversee the world, is the brother's idea.
However, in Engerraund's telling, his brother is also unstable. He dreams of murdering their partner, Liam Sr., for not being a true believer along with them. He believes Dempsey is a fool who only cared about money and not about changing the world, so he hates him for it. It reaches the point that Rehoboam finally turns his brother up as a "chaos agent," the exact type of person the system is designed to weed out before they can destroy life as they know it.
What's His Name?
There are also some things that Engerraund fails to mention in this tale, and the biggest, most frustrating is his brother's name. In every scene, he only refers to his sibling as "my brother." In the moments of dialogue, they never say each other's names. It's enough to raise red flags with viewers. In essence, this episode told viewers all about Engerraund's older brother, but in another way, it told them nothing at all.
On the one hand, it doesn't make sense for Engerraund to say his brother's name. It's probably the file folder name on the audio recording that Dolores listens to, and it's notable that the tablets show multiple file folders in the Engerraund Serac file, but they don't show the file names. It's precisely this sort of detail that Westworld leaves out when they are hiding something.
Is He Alive?
Finally, there's the irony that Engerraund locks his brother away for plotting to kill Liam Dempsey Sr., only to kill Dempsey himself in the next scene. For fans who are already wondering why Engerraund's brother never gets a first name, it's the sort of twist that raises eyebrows, leaving them to question if the elder Serac is still locked up. Fans have never seen him in the present-day scenes, so they can't be certain if he's alive or dead.
This episode has spurned many more theories, fans questioning if the brothers swapped places or if the mirror world Engerraund is the avatar of the older brother. All Westworld has done is add more unanswered questions to the season.