2841

Exactly. Those are my questions right now as well. It seems strange that with only Ben as a contact to the outside world that the Others would somehow be able to build the enormous wealth and resources they’ve shown themselves to have on the mainland. I’d also imagine the original Dharma group wasn’t terribly happy with the Others for slaughtering their island crew. So how is it that two such disparate groups seem to be operating in conjunction now? I assume they will explain that in more Ben and maybe Richard (and others) flashbacks in episodes to come.

2842

I hereby move that Craphole Island be renamed Daddy Issues Island.

Who’s got 'em? Jack, Kate, Locke, Hurley, Sun, Claire, and now Ben. Not to mention the “daddy-issues-once-removed” of Sawyer, Jin, and Desmond. Michael and Waaaaaaaalt had their own thing going on, too.

2843

One of the producers admitted that in a recent interview. He said (I’m paraphrasing): “There’s two things we the writers do well: daddy issues, and throwing people out of buildings.”

2844

Well who says that the Darma group even knows what happened? Ben could have told them there was some kind of accident which killed the leadership of the village. So they put him in charge and he has the others (hostiles) assume the role of regular darma people. over time darma sends him some new people.

2845

Well, we know that at least Richard has been in the outside world to court Juliet, so there’s not necessarily any restriction on hostiles/natives leaving the island.

That reminds me: where did the sequence take place in which Ben was born and his mother died? 30 miles outside of Portland, OR. Where was that fancy medical research facility to which Juliet was lured? Outside of Portland, OR somewhere. Coincidence? Hmmmm…

2846
  1. The Dharma drops didn’t stop (btw… how could they drop supplies without crashing in the first place?)

Presumably by dropping them from very high up. I doubt whatever bubble there is around the island is infinitely high. But, yeah, it would be nice to know why they are still supplying the island.

2847

The other options is what if Alvar Hanso wanted the original Dharma members killed? We havent found out yet who this second group on the island is, but if Hanso felt his money was being wasted, maybe he supported the second group as a “new” project.

2848

Here’s my nutshell theory I’ve been pushing at the office:

  1. Magic island somewhere
  2. Magic island has people who live a long time
  3. Dharma is created to study people and island
  4. Natives are descendent of four-toed race
  5. Natives go hostile, sonic fence is built
  6. Ben lets them in, they kill Dharma staff
  7. With Ben’s help, they “become” the Dharma staff, but
  8. They can’t have children, so
  9. Ben retasks Dharma to bring in fertility experts
  10. As part of fertility project, they identify people who have genetic markers indicating they are descendents of same population as four-toes
  11. Based on phenotype:
    a. Some people are normal
    b. Some people can heal
    c. Some people are full-phenotype, and have Jacob powers
  12. They somehow manage to crash genetic matches on the island for experimentation. Goal is to learn which bits grant healing and powers, and which bits allow them to still have children.

Here’s the shakier stuff:

  1. Island is probably Atlantis, or cause of legend
  2. Ben let Walt go because Walt was full-phenotype, and thus too powerful for Ben to keep around.
  3. Jacob is the monster, it’s some weird power folks have if they’re full-phenotype

H.

2849

This speculation is all interesting stuff. I think we should back up though and just list out things we know for a fact - things that are definitely verified by the show.

I’ll start us off!

-We know the island has some sort of healing power (Locke’s paralysis; Rose’s cancer)

2850

No, I disagree with you here. The 4-toed natives are certainly a possibility here, but I believe the hostiles that we’ve seen so far are descendants of the Black Rock slavers or slaves. Notice, if you will, Bat Manuel’s getup when Ben first meets him in the forest as a child. The stills of Jacob from the last episode seem to have him wearing similar clothing.

2851

We don’t even know that. What if cloning is involved in all this; that the Locke on the island isn’t the real Locke, but a clone who simply hasn’t been thrown out a window?

I’m fully into the cloning angle at this point, because (a) Dharma’s already doing it with animals, it seems; (b) it could explain how the Others have so much info on the Lostaways (because the originals provided it!); © it could help explain why the women on the island are having trouble carrying pregnancies to term. It seems like an plausible fit.

But even if that isn’t the case, my point is … there’s very little we know for sure. Everything is sketchy.

2852

Well of course. But there’s little reason to believe these people are clones. It’s an interesting theory, but it’s got literally nothing backing it up other than the fact that Dharma may at one point have been researching cloning.

2853

Clones don’t have memories, and I don’t believe the Lost creators are so dumb as to fall into the very same bullshit that made the Island an implausible piece of rubbish.

2854

It’s all a dream Jack is having as he flies back from Australia with his dead father.

2855

I think the ash ring is some kind of mojo thing to keep Jacob in, whatever he is, and that’s why he asked Locke for help. I think Ben trapped him there somehow, and is both milking him for information and using him to stay top dog.

2856

Here’s a few ideas I have been thinking of:

  1. 4 toes: it has often been said that the 5th digits in our feet are useless. They serve no purpose. From an evolutionary standpoint I have heard/read theories that a million years from now humans will continue to evolve in a number of ways including: lighter skeletons, missing appendixes, larger brains, less hair (balding) and gasp missing fifth digits. Jacob and some of the Island inhabitants could be the next evolutionary step. Physically they have evolved but also mentally – including projection, mind reading, telekenesis, etc. Just a thought.

  2. Penelope: if you read the Odyssey you will remember that Penelope is Odysseus’ wife. Odysseus was lost at sea after the Trojan War and Penelope waited many years before he finally returned home. She waited faithfully even though suiters were trying to seduce her.

  3. The Black Rock: what if the sand around Jacob’s house and the actual rock that the Island exists on is the source of the electromagnetic powers? Just like how lava can remember different ages of the earth based on the patterns/layers during its drying the black rock can electromagnetically save light and sound within itself? This will explain the voices and images the Losties have seen. It would also explain the need to release electrical activity every 108 minutes at the push of a button. It would also explain why a compass doesn’t point North when used on the Island. And it may also explain why the Island isn’t “visible” to navigation tools used on it from the outside world.

The rock of the Island is, itself, the source of the shroud over the Island and the source of the paranormal phenomenon occurring on the Island.

Your thoughts?

2857

POSSIBLE SPOILERAGE

I have to quote myself because it looks like I called it.

Michael Emerson (actor who plays Ben Linus) was on a talk show and has stated “Locke has a pre-existing medical condition which saves him… he gave something away a long time ago which works in his favor”

So the dead Anthony Cooper saves Locke’s life.

Sneak Peak for next week:

http://www.dailymotion.com/DarkUFO/video/x1ygpj_opr14bwy

2858

I read in another forum, maybe it was gunpowder, lots of it, surrounding the Jacob Shack…

Who do we know has been trafficking in gunpowder recently?

2859

Re: 4 toes good, 5 toes bad.
Uh, who told you pinky toes are useless? I’ve never seen any credible medical, biological or physiological commentary on this, just lay opinions. Certain the the bones beyond the toe are critically important to standing upright. So, I don’t buy that it serves no purpose absent evidence of a medical concensus on that.

For the toes and other things to be evidence of an evolved state, you have to predicate that these provide a survival advantage.

Also, you’re basically suggesting that the 4-toed folks are more evolved, which means that sometime in the future, they travel into the past, and make huge statues of themselves on the island.

A more plausible theory would be that the 4-toes are from a parallel humanoid evolutionary branch that remained isolated from 5-toes. Que Atlantis-under-the-South-Pole-Graham-Hancock-Footprints-of-the-god conjectures ad nauseum. But, we haven’t seen any pyramids yet.

Re: Desmond is Odysseus. Good call!

Re: Lava ‘remembering’.
Huh? Lava preserves some things, such as at Pompeii, but I don’t see any evidence to suggest it preserves light sound sound wave states. Even if this were plausible, once ‘released’ it would dissipate, no? It wouldn’t explain the images and voices because we have seen interaction between islanders and those images (Ben’s conversation with his mother, etc.).

Sand is silicon, not ferrous and not magnetic. I presume you’re referring to just it’s apparent texture. I don’t know enough geology, but I’m guessing it could be some kind of igneous crystal - it seemed sparkly to me). That the island is the source of the EM is taken as a given now, is it not?

But the 108 minute electrical release, how would that effect something ‘recorded’ in lava? If anything, that should disrupt it, shouldn’t it?

What ‘navigation tools’ do you mean? I’ve seen nothing to suggest that the island cannot be seen. Eyeballs see it. Desmond happened upon it. A submarine used to travel to it without apparent difficulty (and submarines use compasses). Rather, it seems that the only ‘invisibility’ the island has is that you can’t navigate to with ‘instruments’ only. Your compass will give you bad readings, so you won’t know when you’re going the right direction. But you should still be able to get to it with dead reckoning: “X time at Y speed on Z heading.” Presumably, that and bathometric charts it what allows the submarine to navigate to and from the island without difficulty. Stellar navigation should also work without a problem, if you know where you’re going. A couple of excellent mechanical clocks, a sextant, and astrolabe, these thing can’t be ruined by your compass going wonky or an EMP pulse.

Re: Gunpowder hypothesis
Ambient moisture should make any gunpowder laying around utterly useless. And black powder should be black, no?

2860

Who do we know has been trafficking in gunpowder recently?

Are you talking about Rosseau? She fetched some dynamite from the Black Rock - not gun powder. Also, you’d think Ben would have reacted to that had it not been there before.

-Julian