I was thinking that in season 3 we are shown where the "others" lived. In a cosy Island subdivison even with electricity and a weekly book club meeting. Or where Ben's people even "others" ? Well we know Ben is not a native to the Island, He came there as a small boy. Ethan was a doctor and unless the "others" send there people off to school id have to say he was not born on the island either. Juliette we all know was also brought to the island. The only person we know is an "other" for sure is Richard. He has been seen in many different time periods always the same age. I can not say that I ever seen him in the Dharma Barracks with Ben and his crew. So im thinking Ben's people and the "others" are 2 completely seperate groups who just seem to work together. Thoughts???

I had this same thought :) I recently rewatched the series while keeping an eye out for Richard Alpert not ever living in the Barracks/New Otherton. I thought he may be with an entirely different group that always lives in a more natural island habitat. But, unfortunately, they did show Richard living in the Barracks with Ben, Tom and the other Others. I can't remember which episode, but I assure you I remember being disappointed when I saw it.

Nice thought though.

It just hit me. When Jack is living with the Others in season three, waiting for the Submarine trip home. Locke shows up and breaks into Ben's room. When Tom comes in, Locke hides in Ben's closet. Ben tells Richard to go get "the man from Tallahassee." Richard ties up Locke, then leads him down a hallway to reveal Anthony Cooper who came out of the "magic box."

Now I know we never see Richard sleeping in one of the houses, he is near by at least for Tom to relay the message to. We do see him in the Barracks at least. They could always say he never "lived" there later on and I guess it wouldn't contradict anything. We shall see.

Not sure if I understand you correctly, but it was proven at, I believe, the season 2 finale that Mr. Friendly was Tom in disguise. If you're asking whether or not Ben's others are the old school Hostiles...I have no clue.

Are you asking if Mr. Friendly and Co. were part of Richard Alpert's group that overthrew Dharma? That is an interesting point. How did these natives, living in the jungle become cupcake making book club members? Juliet was recruited from the real world. Were the other people in the book club that did not look like natives recruited as well?

I think that Tom/Mr. Friendly was an old DI guy. I don't think that he was originally from the Island, but that's just my opinion. I think that Tom/Mr. Friendly was one of the DI people, along with Ben, that left the DI group and joined up with the Others...

absolutely, lost4life! they are two separate groups. i think that richard has been there for a while and happened on the island much the same way that locke is now. richard either died on or off the island and was resurrected to live forever on and off the island. maybe he can only visit off the island temporarily, or when we saw him at locke's birth was when he died and then resurrected soon after. i think that he and locke are the "same" now. he lives off the island, away from the DI and formerly little ben. when he met ben, he mesmerized him into becoming one of him, so he and ben concocted the plan to gas the DI and take over the barracks. the whole time, richard is convincing ben that he is in charge, their new leader. now they are all the "others". tom friendly was an other and ben was his leader.

So far it seems like
Natives/Hostiles include
Richard, Tom, Miss Clue. They're the only ones I can remember that have ever taken some sort of leadership role.

Others
Ben, Ethan, Goodwin, that redneck guy, Mikhail, Harper, the girls in the Looking Glass?

Not counting Juliet.

i'm counting juliet, adam! we have to remember the way she was in season 3. she even said that she was an other when she explained to sawyer that all of us had to learn latin. i know she seems to have changed, and maybe she has. but no matter what, she was an other and she knows it.

not trying to argue with you, it's just that season 3 was a huge part of lost and her coming back to the beach with jack turned a lot of the losties off because she was an other. "she's with me, now". oh, OK, jack! i love him, but i had a really easy time hating him that season! the time i knew that she wasn't truly on their side any more was when she went back with sawyer to the beach to save jin, bernard and sayid. even then, i was wondering if she was going back to get in between her people and the losties. but really, jin, bernard, sayid, hurley and sawyer took care of it.

Did the purge kill all of the Dharma people?

yes on that one too. we are assuming that they sent the women and children on the sub for the last time to spare them. do you remember when ben walked into the barracks and horace was strewn across the bench, dead. it almost looked like ben felt bad......not!

My thought was that the people at the book club at the start of season three look to "civilized" to be part of Richard's original inhabitants. If the Purge killed all of the Dharma people, where did they come from? Where they recruited like Juliet? I guess one thought would be that they have lived too long at the Dharma barracks and have gotten soft.

well for instance, look at miles, jin, sayid and juliet when they came upon the DI. they were hungry, hot, sweaty and dirty. they hadn't eaten or bathed for a few days. so, they let them shower and give them clean clothes and food to eat. after two weeks (assuming they would have left on the sub) they would be normal, civlized people. i remember when they found the hatch and hurley was suppose to keep all the supplies in order and away from the beach folk. kate walked right in and got shampoo cuz she couldn't wait to shower. then she told jack he could use one too. i'm sure the inhabitants of the island rushed into the barracks after cleaning up all the dead people:eek2: and showered, shaved, ate and found plenty of clothes to fit. they still kept their disguises so that whenever someone shipwrecked, crashed in a balloon or plane, they could again become scary hostiles.

one things for sure, richard alpert looked nice, neat and very unhostiley when he approached the DI, didn't he. but i guess when Jesus Christ was resurrected, he didn't need to shower or shave, did he? he was in his glorious beauty like he had never been crucified.

So far it seems like
Natives/Hostiles include
Richard, Tom, Miss Clue. They're the only ones I can remember that have ever taken some sort of leadership role.

Others
Ben, Ethan, Goodwin, that redneck guy, Mikhail, Harper, the girls in the Looking Glass?

Not counting Juliet.

LOL! That was Pickett. :biggrin:

Did the purge kill all of the Dharma people?

According to Juliet in "LaFleur", the purge killed most of the Dharma members. I would guess the ones they didn't kill were obviously Ben, and perhaps fellow members of Dharma who wanted to change sides or were tired of living in fear of the Hostiles.

I'm still not completely sure if the Others and the Hostiles are different groups, but I'm leaning towards the same group. Richard told Locke "Ben has been wasting our time with novelties like fertility problems." We're looking for someone to remind us that we're here for more important reasons." To me this implies they are the same group, but I guess Richard could also mean Ben is wasting time with his group.

One thing that bothers me is why the Others would dress in dirty clothes when they trekked across the island. Is it so they would blend in with Richard's group if they encountered them? Like a way of saying "Hey don't worry, it's us from Othersville, not some newcomers to the island" sort of deal. We did see Jin and Eko hide from a small group of people dressed in those clothes.

The Others and the Hostiles could be the same group, but some just chose to live in homes while the rest chose to live on the island elsewhere. I believe they all have a common goal, but Richard and Ben disagree on how to reach it. In the season 4 finale, Richard gave Ben a look that said "Yeah we saved your butt because you're one of us, but I'm still unhappy about what you are doing." Or was he really saving the Losties because they are crucial to the goal?

they called the hostiles "indigent hostiles" in lafleur. to me that seems like they're a little bit wild and maybe that's where richard came up with the "costume" idea.