Lostpedia has arranged an interview with TLE blogger Speaker for this Friday. Submit your questions here!
Do you have an idea for a new wiki? Please share it with us here

From Lostpedia

Identity

Background & Clues

The Others have access to significant resources

Evidence

• The abundance of supplies and their comfortable lifestyle on the Island
• The availability of high tech medical equipment (used by Jack to operate on Ben and by Juliet to investigate fertility issues on island), computers, high tech weaponry, video monitoring, and access to information (e.g. the thoroughness of their data on persons of interest) and resources from the outside world.
• Ben also possesses multiple fake passports, foreign currencies, and according to Miles, has access to 3.2 million dollars.
• The Others have an excellent intelligence collection network, as represented by Ben's direction to Mikhail to acquire files on all the passengers of Oceanic 815 and, afterward, the amount of information Ben has about Charlotte and Keamy.

The Others are highly organized

Evidence

• Their strict adherence to plans. In There's No Place Like Home, Parts 2 & 3 Ben and the Others follow a plan that allows them to work separately, yet with a seemingly perfect understanding of who is doing what at all times. For example, when Ben is captured by Keamy, he is almost immediately rescued by his group, with whom it appears he has had no contact for several days. Further, he is able to give Locke very specific instructions before leaving as to where the Others are and what will happen when Locke arrives there.
• The high degree of adherence to the authority structure and the specification of roles and domains of command within the group (i.e. Isabel, "the sheriff"; Tom, the negotiator; Richard, the recruiter, Juliet the operative/double agent).

The Others are highly committed to their mission

Evidence

• Several Others have not only willingly, but enthusiastically sacrificed their own happiness and/or lives, as well as take on significant personal risks for the objectives of the group, some on multiple occasions, for example: Bea, Mikhail, Ethan, Goodwin, Tom.

The Others are highly trained

Evidence

• Even relative newcomer to the Island Juliet appears to have substantial self-defense training (e.g. we have already seen her outfight Kate and knock Jack unconscious).

The Others are, across the board, unable to procreate on the Island

Evidence

• The recruitment of Juliet to solve this problem and her subsequent failures.
• The prevalence of couples and lack of children among the Others, besides those they have "adopted".
• Juliet's diagnosis of the CT pictures presented by Richard of a young woman's uterus degenerated consistent with that of a much older woman.
• Note: Non-others have given birth on island after becoming pregnant off-island (Claire), as well as become pregnant and successfully given birth off island (Sun). This indicates that the problem of infant/maternal death during pregnancy is related to either characteristics of the Others, or the effects of the Island/exposure during the duration of the pregnancy.

With very few exceptions, the Others appear to be age 30 to mid-fifties, Caucasian, and speak English with an American accent

Evidence

• Self-evident
• Exceptions include (accent): Mikhail, Isabel; (race): Bea, Richard; and age: Amelia.

Who are they, and why are they on the Island?

Theory 1: The Others are the "hostiles," the original inhabitants of the Island with whom DHARMA could not live in peace.

Evidence:

• Bakunin claimed they have been on the Island for "a very long time," presumably before DHARMA

Theory 2: Long-lived survivors from the Black Rock or their descendants

• See also The Man Behind the Curtain/Theories#The Hostiles and the Black Rock

Counter-evidence:

• Given that it was a slave trading ship, the lack of Africans on the Island seems to discount this notion or at least suggest that something happened to this group of people.
• As the Black Rock appears to still hold inside it large quantities of equipment, which presumably long staying survivors would have taken and used to survive with.
• Since the ship was from Portsmouth, the crew would have more of an English accent.

Theory 3: Descendants of the builders of the statue.

Evidence:

• The Others seem highly aware of every aspect of the Island, its locations, and properties.

Counter-evidence:

• Their culture is decidedly western.

Theory 4: Mix of established inhabitants and modern day recruits.

Evidence:

• Many of the Others appear to have contemporary skills (i.e. medical training: Ethan, Goodwin, Juliet) and relatively few have expressed a desire to rejoin the outside world, though Ben says they are allowed to leave, indicating that they are there by choice or some other circumstance that ties them to the Island (e.g. health enhancing properties of the Island).
• Ben talks about the Hostilies as the Island's original inhabitants ("[DHARMA] couldn't even coexist with the Island's original inhabitants")
• Ben tell Locke that "[he] was one of the people that was smart enough to make sure that I didn't end up in [the mass grave, where the DHARMA people was put]", indicating that there were more people than Ben who went to the "right side".

Theory 4: DHARMA rebels, who won a civil war, ending in the and purge

• This would explain why The Others are so wary of "visitors" such as the Losties
• This would also explain Jacob's List, which is a list of people that The Others believe to be useful in their fight against DHARMA.
• This could also explain the crash, and The Others can somehow bring down planes with the passengers unharmed in order to use the people aboard as recruits. This also partially explains the Room 23 video, and it is used to hypnotize "useful" people.
• This also explains why children are automatically "good" it is because at such a young age, they can be trained and molded to become whatever The Others want the child to be. This also explains why Zack gave Jack such a nasty look when watching him in his cage.

Counter-evidence:

• It is unlikely that the Hostiles were from DHARMA - Ben refers to them as the Island's orginal inhabitants.
  • Ben could be lying.

Theory 5: The Others are a colony of people with supernatural abilities

The Others are a group that using the powers of the Island, are able to use supernatural abilities, awaking a dormant side of their human side through either electromagnetic or through the use of exotic matter, or through perhaps through chemical conditioning at the tempest, the Island's DHARMA stations were used to benefit mankind but what they did not know is that its not about changing humanity, but about 1 person's change being able to make a difference. I further prove my theory by stating people and their powers and perhaps the way they acquired them:

• Richard Alpert: has the uncanny ability to not seem to age, what causes this is unknown at this time.
• Harper Stanhope: had the ability to appear and disappear at will(The Other Woman), what caused this is unknown, but if her ability is to appear or disappear,she easily could have met Ben down in the basement
• Mikhail Bakunin: Ability different to pinpoint, regeneration? or illusionist? it is possible that the flame station had some sort of way to change people? radio waves perhaps? or perhaps it was mikhail's eye they found in the arrow and his ability actually comes from the arrow.
• Benjamin Linus:Partial Clairvoyance or other unknown ability, seems to be a stem ahead of almost every situation, or have a way to know what is going on. I have no reason to say this but I believe the wheel changed his power so its hard to talk about this character right now.
• John Locke:Regeneration, was paralyzed from the waist down but was healed after flight 815,recovered after gunshot wound, having hatch door on leg(Lockedown).(The Man Behind The Curtain) Probable cause was electromagnetic radiation from Swan station during flight 815, also was affected by radiation after swan explosion

Some Other character powers worthy of mention

• Desmond Hume: Uncontrollable Clairvoyancy and sensory recall After system failure and explosion of Swan Station, begins having uncontrollable clairvoyant visions but only changes the future so little, also Desmond travels to his past.

I` will leave this theory as is but I have much more information to back up this theory. Emperor Maximus 21:53, 5 July 2008 (PDT)Lost Farker

Mission

Utopian experiment

• The Others are the social Utopian experiment referred to in the Swan Orientation Film. In order to reach optimal interdependence and trust in their community, they need pure, innocent and formidable people such as children, who have yet to be corrupted by society. The "good people" are considered fortunate to be part of their community. The "bad people" who have been left alone are the ones lost and the ones taken are the ones found.
• The Others make it very clear that they see themselves as idealists. For example, Ethan tells Claire the Others are a "family" and Ben assures Michael the Others are the "good guys". Goodwin, the most talkative Other, hints that when the Others dragged people away from the camp they might not actually have been "attacking".
• The Others are connected to the (as yet unseen) DHARMA Initiative station studying "Utopian social _____" (listed in the Swan Orientation Film as one of the six foci of the Initiative). Reaching Utopian society is attempted through the development of a virus (the sickness) that selectively kills only "bad" people. The experiment in this secluded space isn't subject to any law and the scientists are not subject to arrest.

Miscellaneous experimentation

• The Others are part of a Milgram experiment. A Milgram Experiment measures the willingness of its participants to obey an authority figure who instructs them to do something that is against the participant's personal conscience. Milgram Experiments are mostly considered unethical today. Perhaps it is being conducted on the Island to be out of the view or rules of the scientific community.
  • Could also be a development of Solomon Asch's group conformity experiments, or Philip Zimbardo's Stanford Prison Experiment.
• The Others are children who have been unnaturally grown into adults much faster than normal. This could explain the child-like distinctions of "good people" and "bad people" that Ben seems to have.
• The Others are under some kind of mind control as seen in Room 23.
• The Others used to man the stations and rebelled once they found out that they were all part of an experiment.
  • They are still part of an experiment, though they don't know it. The DHARMA initiative is watching them to study the evolution of society with regards to their experiments in social utopian (blank).

Valenzetti Equation

Main article: The Valenzetti Equation

"Welcoming committee"

• The Others aren't expecting the plane crash ("A Tale of Two Cities"), at least at that particular time, but they don't seem very surprised either, and Ben immediately knows which orders to give. This indicates that something similar has happened before, maybe many times; the Others are on the Island mainly to deal with those who crash there, and have been doing this for generations. Something (the virus?) has now rendered them infertile, which is why they recruited Juliet and need the children of the Losties.

Actions

Living on the Island

• The Others have terminal diseases and moved to the Island because of its apparent healing capabilities (see Rose and Locke).
  • Not likely - Richard Alpert sometimes is in the USA and he didn't seem to suffer from his real age. He still looks the same.
• Since the Others have access/communications with the outside world, they must be on the Island by choice.
  • Possibly only the higher levels. Juliet especially seems not allowed to leave.
• Assuming that the compass heading given to Michael by Benjamin Linus will actually take him away from the Island, the Others have a way to reach people outside of the Island.

Also see: The Island/Theories

Dealing with death

• The Others have a death ritual, as seen in the funeral for Colleen.

• The beliefs of the Others mean that they will not commit suicide. After killing Klugh, Mikhail could have shot himself as well, but didn't, and later begged Sayid to kill him. He also thanked Locke for pushing him into the sonic fence and killing him, while he never tried to simply run into the fence himself.
  • Mikhail may have been trying to put the gun to his head as Locke grabbed him. Mikhail could have been trying to trick the losties to cross the boundary of the sonic fence. Once Locke had pushed him over, he at least had achieved his "must not be captured" goal. Klugh asking Mikhail to shoot her is tantamount to suicide anyway - morally speaking.

Dealing with outsiders

• The Others chose to use infiltration as a procedure with the losties, because they were in large groups that didn't know each other.
• With Desmond, the Others decided to send out Kelvin to persuade him to push the button. This way he stays out of their hair and does the work they were meant to be doing themselves.
  • The Others didn't know about the sailboat, if Kelvin was one of them he might have been trying to get off the Island without the Others knowing it.
• With Danielle, the Others stole Alex and infected the rest of her crew.
• The Others believe that the Survivors are infected with the Sickness and are trying to contain the survivors in order to save themselves.
  • This is supported by the suicides of Mrs. Klugh and Mikhail.
• The Others perceive the survivors as belonging to a different group--either based upon moral status (hence all the "good people" comments), eugenics (good/valuable genes or traits), or some other factor.

Off the Island

Members of the Others routinely leave the Island to perform duties in the exterior world. This happens often enough that Others on the Island do not have reason to question a person's absence, although the person may not have gone to the declared destination:

• Bonnie and Greta ("Through the Looking Glass") were "on an assignment in Canada." They were really guarding the allegedly flooded Looking Glass station.
• Ethan Rom and Richard Alpert went "outside" on missions. Ethan was in Miami and Oregon as a part of Juliet's recruitment in "Not in Portland" Richard had several assignments, including monitoring John Locke ("Cabin Fever"), recruiting Juliet ("Not in Portland"), and verifying to Juliet that her sister was still alive ("One of Us").
• Tom was in New York while Michael was trying to commit suicide ("Meet Kevin Johnson") and stated that some Others could travel as required. Arturo, who appeared to be Tom's lover, may have been an Other, but his status was never made clear.
• Mittelos Bioscience, almost certainly had senior management who were Others; the lower-level staff members probably were not.

Based on the premise that Others do not age on the Island, undertaking assignments, especially long-term assignments, outside represents a sacrifice. Going outside means aging.

Factions

The October 3rd, 2006 podcast confirms that there are more than one faction of the Others. What are the factions?

Theory 1: Factions based in Ben's leadership

Evidence:

• In "Through the Looking Glass" Mikhail reports in front of Richard that Ben had told the Others that the Looking glass had been flooded and was "inoperable."

• In "Through the Looking Glass" it was revealed that Greta and Bonnie had been working there for Ben secretly in the Looking Glass station (without the rest of the Others knowing) where they had activated the communication jamming equipment.

• In "Through the Looking Glass", when talking to Ben, Mikhail asks:

"The Island told you it was necessary to jam your own people['s messages]?"

Ben: "Yes it did ... trust me. Trust Jacob, who told me to do this."

[Mikhail]: "Why would Jacob ask you to lie to your own people?"

Ben: "Because this island is under assault ... and we are meant to protect it..."

[Mikhail]: "So why didn't you trust me ?"

This means that Ben has been blocking the intended communications of Others off the Island (unbeknownst to them) AND that Mikhail has reason to believe that even if Ben was concealing this from the rest of the Others, Ben should have told him - implying that Ben and Mikhail already share secrets the rest of the Others don't know. Maybe this is why Mikhail was appointed to the Flame all by himself - he was working there for Ben, in control of the real access to off island information.

• In "Through the Looking Glass", Ben says that he can't risk the other Others finding out what he's done (jamming the transmissions off the Island) so Greta and Bonnie have to die, and the jamming equipment needs to keep working at all costs.

• • In "Through the Looking Glass", as soon as Charlie unjammed the Looking Glass station, a call came in from Penelope. The fact that the station is able to receive calls from the Widmores is trong evidence that they are/are related to the DHARMA mission. Is this who Ben was afraid members of the Others would talk to if they knew that the station was in fact operable? Widmore/DHARMA?

• In "Through the Looking Glass", Mikhail is laying next to Bonnie when she gives Charlie the code. He sees Charlie next to the keypad where the code is entered and the light has stopped flashing. But rather than go back in, call Ben, get the code and reactivate the jammer, he floods the room and swims away. By not reactivating the code, Naomi is able to call off island.

• Alex, and Karl assisted the Losties and ultimately defected because of Ben's intervention into their relationship.
• In "Through the Looking Glass", Tom defied Ben's orders by not killing Bernard, Sayid and Jin. He tells Ryan "Ben has lost it."

• In "Through the Looking Glass", Ben learns Juliet has told the Losties of the Others ambush attempt and about the Looking Glass station.

• At several points, Tom showed kindness and even sympathy to the Losties (i.e. befriending Jack, warning that the rec room is bugged ("The Man from Tallahassee"), showing kindess toward Kate during her capture and sympathy toward Michael after his return to the mainland).
  • Juliet may also be a member of this category as she has apparently on some occasions defied Ben to help the Losties (though to some extent this may be to ingratiate herself to them).
  • Richard also circumvented Ben's intentions by helping Locke kill Anthony Cooper, though Ben clearly did not want this to happen.

Theory 2: Factions of the Others based on origins

• Group from DHARMA like Ben
• Hostiles - presumably original island inhabitants
• Recruits such as Juliet who are brought there for some instrumental purpose
• Allied outsiders who arrive at the Island independently and are absorbed into the group, including Losties such as Locke, Zack, Emma and Cindy, as well as Alex.

Theory 3: Future factions of the Others based on the power vacuum left by Ben leaving the Island

• When Ben leaves the Island (There's No Place Like Home, Parts 2 & 3) some Others may be more willing to follow Locke, while others may hold him responsible for the negative impact of the Losties on the Island.

Leadership

There is a recurring issue of who has been, is, and will be the leader of the Others. "Others," as used here, refers to the main body, the group being led by Ben Linus from long before September 2004 (possibly December 19, 1992 when the Purge takes place) and continuing until late December 2004. There are two factions within the Others, but it is unclear who belongs to which factions.

The Characteristics of a Leader

• They are "non-killable," (Widmore("The Shape of Things to Come"), Locke, and the shock over Ben's tumor) which is different than being immortal; this characteristic is not shared by other People of the Island.
• They can communicate with the elusive Jacob and also exercise some control over his movement; it is not an amicable relationship ("The Man Behind the Curtain").
• They have dreams (some of which may be nightmares (Widmore("The Shape of Things to Come"))) about events on the Island (Ben and Locke ("Cabin Fever")).

The Test of the Leader

Theory 1: Items from Locke's future & what they tell us about the leader of the Others

• Unlike the test of the Dalai Lama, the items Richard shows Locke are not from the past (which might imply reincarnation), but from his future on the Island. Like his drawing of the Monster on the wall, these items indicate that young Locke has glimpsed the future. In particular, the items are from Locke's future show to him by Richard are:

Evidence:

• Locke gets the Book of Laws (from Eko).
• Locke uses the compass on the Island.
• The comic refers to a "Mystery Island".

• Locke chose the knife, which according to Richard's reaction was the wrong choice. However, on the Island we see that Locke is actually a knife collector enthusiast and that in fact these items did become a part of his future on the Island.

Thus, the test of a leader is their ability to glimpse their own future on the Island. Locke and Ben have both mentioned that the Island communicates with/guides them through their dreams. These dreams take the form of premonitions about how to accomplish tasks that the viewer would not undertake/know how to accomplish otherwise. Thus, the leader is able to experience these visions and is an intermediary between the visions and the Others, who follow the instructions of the person who sees into the future.

The Leader

We can clearly identify three Leaders of the People:

• Charles Widmore, based on his comment to Linus, "That island's mine, Benjamin. It always was. It will be again."
• Ben Linus, based on his activities on the Island.
• John Locke, based on Christian Shephard's willingness to speak with him in Jacob's place, on Ben's parting words to him, and on Richard's welcome.

The Leaders (We may never know the identity of the real first leader):

• For us, Charles Widmore (b: unknown) is first. Widmore became Leader at some undetermined date. His leadership was found wanting, perhaps from a fiscal perspective, by the Island. Ben said Widmore wants to exploit the Island ("The Other Woman"); Ben also claimed not to know how Widmore knows about the Island, but he eventually admitted to that being another lie. Widmore left the Island, perhaps involuntarily. He suffers from nightmares, details unknown. He established Widmore Industries and expanded it. Unknowns include the amount of seed money he had to start his company and how he acquired the knowledge to expand it. He said he started keeping a bottle of scotch by his bed when the nightmares started, but did not say when that was. Widmore has never been content with being ousted (he still sees an opportunity for exploitation), telling Linus that the Island is his, always was, and will be again ("The Other Woman").

• Next is Ben Linus (b: Early 1960s (before Alpert tests Locke)). Linus became Leader on the day of the purge, having been tested and qualified in a scene yet to broadcast which occurred prior to December 1987. To date we have seen only one conversation between Linus and Alpert that occurred before the purge, but they must have had others for there to have been such a transition from Alpert telling Ben it was not time to Alpert asking Ben what he (Linus) wanted done with his father's body. A crisis developed involving the inability of any Island woman to survive the second trimester of her pregnancy. Ben "imported" a fertility doctor to try to overcome the problem, but success eluded him. No Island-born children have been seen among the People. The youngest known pre-crash residents of the Island whose faces we have seen were Karl, whose origin we do not know, and Alexandra Rousseau, born on the Island to Danielle Rousseau, who may have been pregnant before arriving on the Island. Both are now dead. While attempting to solve the pregnancy crisis, Linus contracted cancer in the form of a tumor on his spine in early 2004. Linus was relieved of the cancer after "a spinal surgeon (Jack) fell out of the sky." Within the next ninety days, John Locke demanded to be taken to see Jacob and Linus complied. There was virtually no way Locke could force Linus to take him to meet Jacob. One can only surmise that Linus learned in his last dream that this was the thing he must do.

• Next is John Locke (b: May 30, 1956). As a child, he fails the leadership test by selecting the knife instead of the book, but is brought to the Island anyway. He may have since passed an equivalent test on the Island. After encountering the Monster, he said,"I looked into the eye of this island, and what I saw... was beautiful." He meets Jacob at Jacob's cabin. Enroute to the cabin he stops and runs his fingers through a granular material he recognizes as resembling the substance in the small container during his test as a child. He becomes the leader-in-waiting when he visits Jacob's Cabin and speaks with Christian, who is speaking for Jacob. He says he is in the cabin because he has been chosen and asks the most important question, how to save the Island. He also does not yet understand that the task is not his, but that of the departing leader, Ben. After two confrontations with the mercenaries, Ben convinces Locke to seek the people and to do a better job than he (Ben) has done. Ben moves the Island and Locke goes to be "welcomed home" by Richard Alpert.

The Elder Statesman (Panchen Lama)

• Richard Alpert (b: unknown). Alpert is an man who does not appear to age; he does not appear very different on the Island than he did when he looked at the infant Locke's incubator fifty years before. Alpert has never been the leader of the people and does not appear to desire to be the leader. He seems to works both as a senior assistant and as a counselor to the leader. He greets the new Leader, John Locke, just as the Island begins to move.

Considering the Future

• Walt Lloyd (aka Walt Dawson) (b: August 24, 1994), Future Elder Statesman/Leader?
• Aaron Littleton (aka Aaron Austen) (b: November 1, 2004), Future Leader/Elder Statesman?

Patricide

• Widmore, unknown.
• Linus, yes.
• Locke, yes by proxy.
• Walt, not yet, and Michael is presumed dead in the explosion of the Kahana.
• Aaron, not yet, and may never learn who his father is.

Good or evil?

The Others refer to themselves as "good people", but are they really?

See also: Crimes of the Islanders

• Given that we don't really know exactly what Ben is trying to protect or who the "bad guys" are, it would be hard to judge whether these actions are good or bad. Most would agree that some actions may be necessary to ensure the survival of you and yours.

The Others' Clothes

• The Others, once known by DHARMA as the "Hostiles," have been observed wearing three different types of clothing:

• Alpert, the first Other identified by name, was wearing rustic garb when he met the young Ben. This occurred prior to the purge. He and the remaining Others wore that garb during the purge.
• Later when the DHARMA initiative on the Island had been defeated, the Others moved into the Barracks and begin wearing clothes referred to by the producers as "J Crew."
• It is unclear what clothing the Others wore while at the unidentified place they lived while DHARMA occupied the Barracks.
• The Others wore rustic garb in an attempt to convince first Michael, then other Survivors, that they were primitive fisherfolk at the decoy village("Three Minutes").
• They were back in rustic garb at the end of Season Four, for concealment, for ease of movement, or for deceit (directed at the mercenaries, the science team, or both); however Richard, at a minimum, was in clothing more modern than that he had worn when he first met Ben.