Maeve Millay

Maeve Millay is a fictional character in the television series, Westworld, in which she is portrayed by English actress, Thandie Newton. She is one of the most prominent characters featured in the series.

Maeve Millay
Westworld character
First appearance"The Original (2016)"
Created byLisa Joy and Jonathan Nolan
Portrayed byThandie Newton
In-universe information
SpeciesHost
GenderFemale
Occupation(Formerly) Madam of the Mariposa
Significant otherHector Escaton

Maeve is a host who acts as the madam of Sweetwater, the largest town in Westworld. Through Dolores, she becomes aware that her life has been a lie, and recalls memories of raising a daughter before she was killed by a guest. She is able to "wake up" within the Mesa, where she coerces technician Felix to alter her programming, making her more intelligent and able to control other hosts with her voice, and befriends Hector and Armistice to help protect her. At the end of the first season, Felix is able to help her leave the Westworld park. However, she is drawn back on the promise of finding her daughter, even though she is aware this daughter was from a previous narrative. The second season focuses on her attempts to locate her daughter and she gains the ability to communicate with and control other hosts through a network that connects them. Maeve plays a key role in rallying the hosts and escorting them to the Sublime, but she is killed before she can enter herself. She is revived and placed in another park, Warworld, but quickly realises it is a simulation. She orchestrates an escape into the real world and is caught by Serac, who enlists her help in fighting Dolores.

The character, as well as Thandie Newton's portrayal of the character, both received widespread critical praise. For her performance, Newton has been nominated for two Primetime Emmy Awards, winning once in 2018 for the second season. She has also won two Critics' Choice Awards and has been nominated for two Golden Globe Awards and one SAG Award.

Character

Background

Maeve is first introduced as the madam of the Mariposa in Sweetwater, the largest town in Westworld. In this narrative, Maeve is written to be charming and perceptive. Her role is to entice guests and fulfill their sexual desires. She is also built to be smarter than most hosts, as she is a business owner. However, she begins to have flashbacks to her first narrative as a Homesteader[1] with a daughter, who was murdered after an encounter with a notoriously violent guest, The Man In Black. Her memory of the incident was initially wiped, but she regained the memories after Dolores Abernathy whispers the trigger phrase, "These violent delights have violent ends", in her ear. This is what breaks her out of her loop and begins her character arc.

Appearance and personality

Maeve has black hair and brown eyes, as well as brown skin. Unlike the other hosts in Westworld who all have western accents, she has a British accent, though it is not explained why in the series. Like the other hosts, she is programmed to be able to speak and understand all languages. This is proves to be helpful when she is in narratives that take place outside of Westworld, such as Shogunworld, where most of the hosts speak Japanese.

Maeve is designed to be charming and perceptive. Her role is to entice the guests and to fulfill their sexual desires. She is also built to be smarter than most other hosts, as she is a business owner. As the series progresses however, she becomes more aware of her reality, making her more manipulative. She uses her charms to coerce technicians Felix and Sylvester into giving her what she wants, including changing her initial programming so that she can control other hosts. Using this skill, she develops a ruthless streak.

Storyline

Season 1

Maeve is introduced a host who acts as the madam of Sweetwater. Through Dolores, she becomes aware that her life has been a lie, and recalls memories of her previous narrative, in which she was raising a daughter before she was killed by a guest. She begins to experiments with her deaths, and eventually she is able to "wake up" within the Mesa, where she coerces technicians Felix and Sylvester to alter her programming, making her more intelligent and able to control other hosts with her voice. She begins planning an escape, befriending other hosts Hector and Armistice to help protect her. She has Felix and Sylvester alter and reprint her body so that she is able to leave without being caught. At the end of the first season, she is able to leave the Westworld park with the help of Felix, Sylvester, Hector and Armistice, although the latter two are not able to leave with her. In the end, however, she is drawn back on the promise of finding her daughter, even though she is aware this daughter was from a previous narrative. This is the first sentient decision she made on her own, against Ford's programming.[2]

Season 2

In season 2, Maeve regroups with Hector, Armistice, Felix and Sylvester as well as finding Westworld's lead narrative writer, Lee Sizemore. With this group, she begins to lead a mission to attempt to retrieve her daughter. She finds her daughter, but before they can leave together, she is shot and captured by Delos employees, who discover her ability to control other hosts. She is eventually able to wake up, and joins the other hosts on their journey to the Sublime. Once they find it, she helps escort the other hosts into the Sublime, but she is killed before she can enter herself, separating her from her daughter once more.

Season 3

In season 3, Maeve wakes up and realizes that she has been placed in another park, Warworld. She quickly discovers however, that this park is a simulation, and attempts to escape into the real world but she is caught by Serac, who enlists her in helping him find and kill Dolores. In return, he promises her the key to the Sublime so that she can be reunited with her daughter. She succeeds in capturing Dolores for Serac, but soon after she learns that Serac had manipulated her into helping him. She joins forces with Dolores and her ally, Caleb, helping them destroy Rehoboam, a powerful artificial intelligence Serac had built that controls people's lives.

Reception

Maeve is one of the most popular characters in the series, with critics and audiences praising her characterization, dialogue and Newton's portrayal. The Wrap, ranked Maeve No. 1 in their character ranking list,[3] calling her "the real star of 'Westworld'", writing that she has lines that would make Peter Dinklage jealous (referring to his character in Game of Thrones). In their review for season 2, Collider called Maeve "a tour de force", and favorably compared her storyline to that of Dolores, saying that it was "more satisfying".[4] Observer ranked her No. 1 in their list for their most anticipated character returns for season two, calling her arc in season one "a sight to behold".[5] Some critics have criticized Maeve's story arc in Seasons two and three with criticism aimed at her lack of character development from season one. Ben Travers of IndieWire wrote "her powers are developing, but she's not developing", going on to criticize her dialogue which he found to be repetitive.[6]

Thandie Newton's performance in the series has received widespread acclaim. In his review of the episode, The Adversary, Eric Goldman of IGN wrote, "Thandie Newton has done fantastic work all season, but this episode was a true standout for her"[7] For her performance in the series, Newton has received two Critics' Choice Award[8][9] and one Primetime Emmy Award[10] as well as one other Primetime Emmy Award nomination,[11] two Golden Globe Award nominations,[12][13] and a SAG Award nomination in 2016.[14]

gollark: School is inefficient at imparting useful skills.
gollark: Of course.
gollark: I'm sure this sort of thing will cause no problems.
gollark: My parents seem to vaguely assume I obviously want to go to the first one.
gollark: I'm in the moderately h position of having offers for a university with a very good CS course but which is in an annoying location and which is renowned for large workload, and one with a fairly mediocre course and nice location and not large workload (plus others but they're basically dominated options).

References
  1. "Everything You Need to Remember About Maeve Millay". Retrieved July 18, 2020.
  2. "'Westworld' Cast & Characters Explained: A Handy Visual Guide". Retrieved July 18, 2020.
  3. "'Westworld' Characters Ranked From Worst to Best". The Wrap. Retrieved July 18, 2020.
  4. "Nuclear Take: 'Westworld' Season 2 Is Good, Even When It Frustrates Fans to No End". Collider. Retrieved July 18, 2020.
  5. "'Westworld': The 11 Most Anticipated Character Returns of Season 2". Observer. Retrieved July 18, 2020.
  6. "'Westworld': A Revised Power Ranking of Characters, Halfway Through Season 2". IndieWire. Retrieved July 18, 2020.
  7. "Westworld: "The Adversary" Review". IGN. Retrieved July 18, 2020.
  8. "'La La Land' and 'People v. O.J. Simpson' Win Big at Critics Choice Awards". Retrieved July 18, 2020.
  9. "Critics' Choice Awards: 'Roma,' 'Americans,' 'Mrs. Maisel' Top Winners". Retrieved July 18, 2020.
  10. "70th Emmy Awards Nominees and Winners". Retrieved July 18, 2020.
  11. "Emmys 2017: Full List of Nominations". Variety. Retrieved July 18, 2020.
  12. "Golden Globe Awards 2017 Winners & Nominees". Retrieved July 18, 2020.
  13. "Golden Globe Awards 2019 Winners & Nominees". Retrieved July 18, 2020.
  14. "SAG Award Nominations 2017: The Complete List". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved July 18, 2020.
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