The writers confirmed that it was Watts who opened Ironwood's cell, he just made it look like an accident. Harriet, like Ironwood, is loyal to Atlas' most prominent ideal; "No properly processing your emotions." Harriet is following orders so she doesn't have to confront her grief. As someone who grew up with a military father, this whole arc is kind of heartbreaking. The tragedy is that in actuality Ironwood and Harriet are not traitors, they're the ones who actually loyal and genuinely know how to protect Atlas, that's the entire problem, everyone else, especially Winter and Marrow, are the actual traitors, which to me is kind of sad, when doing the right thing makes you a traitor.
2022-05-22 15:18:49 +0000 UTC
Yeah Watts had absolutely zero reason to want to free Ironwood from his cell. I doubt it's even about principle for Harriet considering she seemed to have some sort of feelings for Clover, not defending her though she's still been a terrible person.