The Gordian Knot Reference 'Watchmen' in Episode Two Might Confirm a Major Adrian Veidt Fan Theory
What's going on with this weirdo Watchmen side-plot involving a very bored Jeremy Irons and his loyal team of servants? While it's never been fully confirmed on the show yet, Irons is very likely playing an older version of Adrian Veidt. And this is somewhat confusing, because elsewhere in the show, newspapers are reporting that Veidt is dead. So who is this man? Where is he?
In Episode Two, we get more questions and a few answers. In the episode, we see Irons's character make his loyal servants act in a low-budget play that he wrote. The play shows the origin story of Doctor Manhattan and actually involves one of his servants getting immolated. It's then revealed that the servant who died during the play appears to be expendable, as he's some sort of clone. The scene also features a subtle little reveal, that comes when Ms. Crookshanks forgets one of her lines: "It's as impenetrable as the Gordian Knot itself!" Irons screams at her.
Much more than a flubbed line, this reference works on a number of different levels and might even confirm the identity of Irons's character. The Gordian Knot is an ancient Greek legend involving Alexander the Great. In the fourth century BC, the people of Phrygia had an unsolvable knot, and it was said that anyone who could untie it would become king. Along comes Alexander the Great who simply cut the knot in half with a sword.
Anyway, the importance in Watchmen is twofold. As we know, Adrian Veidt is famously obsessed with Alexander the Great. And his passion about the Gordian Knot line seems like pretty solid confirmation that Irons's currently unnamed character is indeed Veidt.
But this name also has another important role in the comics. The Gordian Knot Lock Co. appears a few times throughout the Watchmen comic series. These locksmiths show up every time Rorschach breaks into Dan Dreiberg's home. It's also believed that The Gordian Knot Lock Co. might be a company owned by Veidt.
There's one other strange little reference in the comics. At one point Doctor Manhattan is looking at the Nodus Gordii mountains on Mars, which is Latin for Gordian Knot.
Some Watchmen fans have theorized that Irons's Veidt has fled to Mars, where he's living in an isolated paradise created by Doctor Manhattan, and staffed with clones made by Doctor Manhattan. This reference to the Nodus Gordii mountains might be a clue to where Irons's storyline is taking place.
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