Sayid was still alive when he was brought to the Temple. When he died, MiB wasn't around, or from what we know, even allowed in the Temple. So how would Sayid have been claimed? I'm not saying they need to touch someone, or have physical access, I'm just bringing this up as discussion.

So how is someone claimed?

Well, it seems like maybe being dead and not buried are the prerequisites for being claimed. Although, wouldn't they have disposed of Sayid's corpse as soon as the realized he was dead? I'm not sure this has yet been answered in a satisfactory manner... although there may be another reason for them keeping Sayid around... maybe we'll get a final Sayid-centric episode which will further explain this inquiry.

1. Claire is a known Infected. She had direct contact with Christian Sheppard on-island and spent time with him inside the cabin, appearing "stoned" or uncharacteristic upon last sighting. She was suffering grave injuries as a result of the attack on the Barracks at the time and may or may not have died as a result.

2. It is implied that Ben is claimed, although by Jacob or MiB is inconclusive. He was healed at the cost of "losing his innocence" and forever being an Other. The method of healing at the Temple is by being dunked in the sacred spring. The only time we've seen it happen, it involved deliberate drowning (use of an hourglass to make sure spring water was inhaled and the body wasn't taken out prematurely). This would imply that a temporary death is necessary in this context, even if the body is resuscitated a moment later by Dogen.

3. It's possible that Jacob's touch on the Oceanic 6 was a form of claiming them. This is totally up for debate.

4. Montand and the other Frenchies appear to have been claimed by the MiB. They descended into the Tunnels under the Temple and came out completely changed psychologically. Robert attempted to shoot Danielle the moment her guard was down, which would imply he had a total change of heart about her between the Tunnels and that scene. The Infection is mentioned as a corrupting force that heads for the heart. I think they mean the metaphorical heart / morality rather than the actual organ.

5. Those who are buried do not appear as apparitions (except to Hurley's weird perception). Ana Lucia, Libby, Boone, Shannon, Nikki, Paulo, and Juliet are all dead and buried, and we haven't seen them return except in dream sequences. Therefore, manipulation of corpses appears confined to the unburied.


Conclusions: Dead people can be manipulated as long as they remain unburied after their deaths and their corpse is somewhere on-island. Living people can be infected by the Otherification process. The purity of the spring water may indicate what orientation the person is "claimed" toward. It appears to be a drawn-out process. The infection has to reach the heart before it totally takes over. There is a time delay in the French infection. There is a time delay on Claire. There is a time delay on Sayid.

That's what I've got so far.

[quote=...
That's what I've got so far.[/quote]

Excellent post! So anywhere on the island is within claiming reach of those who can claim. It does seem to exclude the buried and the burned.

What happened to Keamy and the other freighters? I'm thinking their bodies were just left there.

ANd other's have proposed Rousseau has claimed Claire. But we saw her and her team when they first came to the island, she seemed like a normal person, not something that can claim the dead. Maybe she was ultimately claimed by another force we haven't been introduced to? Maybe that's why Ben took her daughter? To actually protect Alex?

The big problem with the unburied bodies theory is the Dharma mass grave. That's a whole bunch of dudes waiting to be claimed that never were. What about Goodwin? Were none of them suitable "candidates"?

Excellent post! So anywhere on the island is within claiming reach of those who can claim. It does seem to exclude the buried and the burned.

What happened to Keamy and the other freighters? I'm thinking their bodies were just left there.

ANd other's have proposed Rousseau has claimed Claire. But we saw her and her team when they first came to the island, she seemed like a normal person, not something that can claim the dead. Maybe she was ultimately claimed by another force we haven't been introduced to? Maybe that's why Ben took her daughter? To actually protect Alex?

From what we saw last season, Ben was likely ordered to kill Rousseau but chose not to once he realized that she had an infant. He did warn her to stay away from any area where the whispers manifested, though. Perhaps the Others sent him to destroy her by saying that she was a "claimed one" much like they asked Jack to do to Sayid.

Also, I forgot to mention that the Others send their dead off on biers into the ocean. I guess as long as the boat doesn't return to the island it's fine. None of the original Oceanic survivors that drowned have been seen, so I assume that a watery, soily, or fiery grave are all preventative measures.

Keamy and his men very well could return as antagonists though. They're dead and unburied. I suppose Keamy could be "buried" in the Orchid.... but his soldiers are definitely not.

Excellent post! So anywhere on the island is within claiming reach of those who can claim. It does seem to exclude the buried and the burned.

What happened to Keamy and the other freighters? I'm thinking their bodies were just left there.

ANd other's have proposed Rousseau has claimed Claire. But we saw her and her team when they first came to the island, she seemed like a normal person, not something that can claim the dead. Maybe she was ultimately claimed by another force we haven't been introduced to? Maybe that's why Ben took her daughter? To actually protect Alex?

I'm thinking maybe Rousseau was infected/claimed. It led her to paranoia and she turned against her own people. I base that off of Claire being claimed/infected and now using traps and a rifle in order to fight off Others...as she misses her baby.

Next week will be cool.

Thanks for your thoughts on this. I'm completely in the dark and very frustrated with Dogen - that's my one complaint about this episode. Enough with the holding back already! We need answers on this stuff. Diagrams would be welcome, if needed.

Is Claire now evil? Or crazy? Is evil the root cause of the "sickness" that Rousseau rambled on about. Her fiancé appeared to be possessed by something evil, so I saw her killing of him as justified. Then she went a little crazy... okay, a lot crazy due to solitude and the stress of living in a dangerous place all alone. But I never thought she had "the sickness" .

If Claire has been claimed, did she have to die first? I used to wonder if maybe she died in her sleep from that head injury, and that's how Christian managed to "claim" her, as it's now being termed. It never seemed remotely likely that a normal, living Claire would abandon Aaron the way she did.

I do hope they explain this claiming thing a LOT better than they did in this episode. Mind you, this was a set-up episode so I guess I shouldn't have expected more than a reference to the stories that are lining up to be unspooled in the coming set of episodes. I'm just dying of curiosity here!

Sayid was still alive when he was brought to the Temple. When he died, MiB wasn't around, or from what we know, even allowed in the Temple. So how would Sayid have been claimed? I'm not saying they need to touch someone, or have physical access, I'm just bringing this up as discussion.

So how is someone claimed?


Keep in mind that the spring they immersed Sayid in had turned brown or "tainted" possibly because of the MIB's new found freedom.... Dogen and Lennon also said that the process of dunking Sayid in the water could have "side effect" (or was it consequences?) Either way - they knew they were taking a chance by doing it, which implies they had suspicions about the forces at work that were finally confirmed when Hurley told them that Jacob was dead.