Re:Who did you think would be Number 1?
› Forums › British Sci Fi Series › The Prisoner › Who did you think would be Number 1? › Re:Who did you think would be Number 1?
I, too, originally thought the Butler would turn out to be No. 1. Especially after the episode “Hammer Into Anvil,” when No. 2 screams at the Butler and raises his hand to strike him, but the butler just stands there and stares at No. 2 with this incredibly blank, uncaring expression on his face. As if No. 2 was nothing to him.
I take the minority position in that I am most interested in analyzing The Prisoner in purely literal terms, and not allegorical. i.e. I am most interested in figuring out what “really” happened. As such, I DON’T believe that No. 1 was really No. 6, no matter what McGoohan says. In fact, I believe it is possible (though not certain) that there never was any real personification of No. 1.
Spoilers follow…
Obviously No. 1 and No. 6 cannot be the same person, since they are shown to be two separate people in Fall Out. Granted, they look alike, but they are still separate people. Unless No. 6’s encounter with No. 1 is a complete hallucination. But that would still rather mean that No. 6 is simply insane, not that he is No. 1. No. 6 was a prisoner in the Village, which existed before he arrived or even knew about it. Obviously he is not the one giving the orders.
As for the literal events of Fall Out, I think the most likely scenario is that the Village created another clone or look-alike of No. 6, and used this copy in one last attempt to break his spirit.