Warning! This article contains spoilers for Silo season 2 and Hugh Howey’s Silo books.
AfterSiloseason 2 introduces Solo as the sole survivor in Silo 17, it becomes hard not to wonder what role he played in his Silo when his people were still around.Siloseason 1 only revolves around the people inside Silo 18, gradually leading up to the events of Juliette’s departure towards the end. Kicking off whereSiloseason 1 ends, season 2 marks the inception of a new adventure for Juliette, where she enters a new neighboring Silo after crossing a long trail of corpses.
Juliette initially assumes that the neighboring Silo is empty because of the massive number of dead bodies she finds at its entrance. However, to her surprise, as soon as she arrives close to a vault in the Silo, she meets a man who threatens to kill her. Although the man gradually warms up to her and introduces himself as Solo, he avoids talking about his past and revealing what happened to the people in his Silo. The layer of ambiguity surrounding the character raises several questions about who he is and how he survived when everyone else in his Silo died.
Solo Is The Mayor’s Shadow In Silo 17
Siloseason 2’s episode 3confirms that Solo served as the shadow for Silo 17’s Mayor, Russell. This is a deviation from the source material because, in the books, Solo is revealed to be the son of the Head of IT. The books say nothing about him being a shadow.
Silo: How Did Juliette Survive Outside When No One Else Did?
The outside world has proven to be fatal to almost every Silo character, which begs the question of how Rebecca Ferguson’s character survived.
In fact, according to Solo’s timeline in the books,he was only 17 years old when the rebellion in his Silo took place, and he was asked to guard the vault. Since it seems unlikely that a 17-year-old would be given the massive responsibility of becoming the Mayor’s shadow, Solo might have been older during Silo 17’s rebellion in the show.
Why Solo Locked Himself In Silo 17’s Vault
The Mayor Asked Him To Guard The Vault When The Rebellion Started
When Juliette tries to ask Solo about his past and the reason behind Silo 17’s downfall inSiloseason 2’s episode 3, Solo intentionally ignores her or tries to change the topic. While only time will tell why he locked himself inside his Silo’s vault when nearly everyone else either walked out or died during the rebellion, the little bits of his backstory suggest thatthe Mayor, Russell, put him on the job. The flashback inSiloseason 2’s episode 1’s opening moments reveals that Silo 17’s Sheriff led a rebellion despite being unsure whether the outside world was safe for humans.
Like Bernard, Silo 17’s Mayor followed protocol and took extreme measures to maintain control and protect the Silo’s secrets.
After a man named Ron Tucker stepped outside and managed to survive long enough to get past the hills surrounding the Silo, the rebels started believing that the outside world was safe and that they were being lied to. To ensure they did not learn the truth about the Silo and the outside world, the Mayor seemingly asked his shadow, Solo, to guard the vault because it held many secrets and answers that would have prevented the rebels from going outside. Like Bernard, Silo 17’s Mayor followed protocol and took extreme measures to maintain control and protect the Silo’s secrets.
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Since Solo was likely young and naive when the rebellion ensued,he followed the Mayor’s command and took his duty as the vault’s guard very seriously. He made sure that no one else could access the sensitive information inside, believing his actions were for the greater good. The insulation provided by the vault’s door eventually helped him survive long enough to meet Juliette several years after Silo 17’s rebellion.
Is Solo’s Vault The Same Service Room That Bernard Uses?
It Has To Be A Similar Server Room
Siloseason 1 reveals that Bernard has a secret server room through which he keeps a close eye on everything that happens inside Silo 18. AsSiloseason 1’s ending suggests, the server room not only gives him access to the CCTV footage from the cameras hidden all over the Silo but also allows him to communicate with the authorities above him. InSiloseason 2, he also accesses his handbook,The Order, in his server room while asking Meadows for her advice on how he can extinguish the brewing chaos after Juliette’s departure.
Compared to his counterpart in theApple TV+ sci-fi show, Solo in Hugh Howey’sWoolis far hostile towards Juliette when he first meets her in Silo 17.
Solo seems to be guarding a similar room in Silo 17. Since accessing the room would have helped the rebels learn the truth about the outside world,it makes sense that the Mayor asked his shadow, Solo, to block its entrance. This would also explain why Solo was expecting Juliette before they actually met. He likely saw her on the CCTV feed projected on the screens in his server room after she entered Silo 17 inSiloseason 2’s opening moments.
Silo
In a dystopian future, men and women reside in a vast underground silo governed by strict regulations, believed to shield them from the hazardous world above. The series delves into the complex social order within the silo and the mysteries surrounding their subterranean existence.
