The guy that met Ben Linus in the woods when Ben was just a child has not seemed to age at all.Has anyone else observed this? Sure he has changed his hair over the years and he has even left the island to recuit. He has access to secret information- He gave Locke those folders on Sawyer. But I have not found any real info on the fuselage being discussed or detailed story shown on the show. I was thinking that perhaps others on the island might be just like him....but who or what is he? Any ideas....could Ethan have been just like him?

Please elborate on this thought of mine

Richard Alpert's not aging was discussed in detail during season 3. Try looking in the Man Behind the Curtain thread in Season 3.

Richard Alpert met Ben Linus in the woods when Ben was just a child. Richard has not seemed to age at all.This was discussed in several threads. Sure he has changed his hair over the years and he has even left the island to recuit. He has access to secret information- He gave Locke those folders on Sawyer. I was thinking that perhaps others on the island might be just like him....but who or what is he? Any ideas....could Ethan have been just like him?


Since we all know that many of the episode titles are metaphors for things we see in the show...I thought I would point this out....

We have been made to believe that this "Jacob" character is essentially the "man behind the curtain", and is the one pulling the strings and calling the shots as far as events on the Island and the Others are concerned.... but consider this:

Ben was essentially confined to the DHARMA camp as a youth, and this camp was protected by a sonic fence (a "curtain" if you will) that protected them from the outside world (i.e. the Island outside the camp). When young Ben's curiosity as well as his desire to leave his father and DHARMA behind got the best of him; Ben pulled this "curtain" aside to reveal the Island and all it's glory and ended up finding who? Alpert.

I am liking this idea more and more that Alpert is actually the "man behind the curtain", and when you look at things from the point of view I described above it makes a lot more sense (to me anyways). And when you look at the grand scheme of things, wouldn't it make much more sense that a man who apparently defies the laws of aging (from what we know anyways) is the one in charge, versus a man that as far as we know is a mere mortal? (Ben)

Is it possible that Alpert and his crew all have this ability to defy the aging process due to some trait of the Island we have not seen yet? Perhaps they are aware of this "Jacob" person/phenomenon on the Island but are unable to communicate with him or even see him. When Alpert learned that Ben was apparently able to communicate with his departed mother, Alpert knew that Ben was "special" and that he may be the one that could communicate with this Jacob and decipher what it was the Island was all about.

Though this might deserve a thread of its own, I think by the end of the season we will either know that Ben is merely a pawn in all of this; or at the least we will have the seed of doubt planted that Ben may not be as all-important as we think he is.

I think now that we have been introduced to 2 groups of "Others". We have the Others that consist of Ben and his followers (who are victims of this illusion of Ben's greatness), but we also have this group of the REAL Others, that consists of Alpert and his followers (or disciples if you like, that know of the TRUE events that are occurring in the shadows) I think it is safe to say that Alpert and his crew orchestrated the events that led to the original "purge" we saw in this episode. When Alpert originally recruited Ben I think he knew and saw that there was something special about him, and that he would be a very valuable asset to their cause. Now that Locke has arrived into the picture, Alpert is essentially seeing him as a bigger and better version of Ben and they are seeking to replace him. For some reason that I can't figure out at the moment, I think that although Ben may be a pawn or tool to these real "Others"; I think that he also may have grown powerful enough to a point that it isn't possible for them to simply remove him from his throne so to speak.

Juliette on the other hand, I think she has been recruited by the real "Others" (headed by Alpert) and that is why she tried to get Jack to kill Ben during surgery. At this point, I don't think her little videotape Jack watched was a hoax... I think that they were really trying to get rid of Ben to make way for Locke.
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Something else I meant to include but clicked "Post" too fast... lol

Also take note that Alpert's name, (Richard Alpert) he also shares with a famous Harvard professor who was noted for his psychology experiments with LSD on human subjects with fellow professor Timothy Leary. For those of you not familiar with LSD (lol), does anyone know why the military and CIA were so interested in the drug during the Cold War era? Mind control and interrogation techniques. Sound familiar? Think back to the scene where Sawyer and Kate pulled Carl from the room showing the trippy subliminal message video.... coincidence? I think not. Now I'm not saying that the Others are employing LSD as a means of mind control over everyone (though I guess *anything* is possible with this show, lol) but I think the name coincidence is something worth noting. Dr. Richard Alpert = LSD experiments = powerful hallucinogen = military research on mind control/interrogation potential Thoughts? Thanks bakerboys

How about this for a mind-blower:

Richard is not a WWII vet, but:

An American Civil War vet! Not only that, but a Confederate! Hence the use of slaves in the mining enterprise...

PS: The US Army (http://www.lostpedia.com/wiki/US_Army_knife) knife found by Ana Lucia was probably left over from Dharma. It was supposed to be only about 20 years old - putting its age not back to the 1940s, but to the 1980s...



ok and I found this too


Here's a wikipedia article on Dr. Richard Alpert, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Alpert) who later took the Hindu name Baba Ram Dass. He was a Harvard psychologist who was introduced to "magic mushrooms" and later LSD by Timothy Leary. In 1963 Harvard fired him for his psychedelic experiments.

I thought it was pretty funny, because it reminded me of the Moody Blues song, "Timothy Leary's dead / No, no, he's outside, looking in..."

Did the original Dharma research involve hallucinogens to achieve satori? How many of the "manifestations" are actually guided hallucinations? (I still don't trust that Dharma food...)

And this as well

That's exactly what I posted somewhere else! Why need children if you and your race are gonna live for ever? This would explain Richard's lack of interest in Ben's infertiltiy research. But Ben might be worried because he IS aging. If he was supposed to have been born on the island for the others, as soon as they start noticing he is getting old. They are gonna start question him. He needs to find out why the hostiles don't age. And perhaps he knows the answer is in the babies.


and this....



I have read most of the posts and didn't find anything about this, so I was just wondering what you all thought.

After the purge when Ben returns to the barracks, he sees a dude on a bench, looks at him, and closes his eyelids. You can briefly see the name on his dharma shirt that says Horace. Horace was the guy at the beginning who gave Ben's dad the job on the island. This is however many years later and Ben is a fully grown adult, but Horace looks like he's exactly the same age. He may be another person on the island who has somehow slowed down or stopped his aging.


and one more I found


When young Ben first encounters Alpert in the jungle, Alpert a leather holster that is consistant with a 19th century (Civil War era) Remington .

I don't know how old Alpert is supposed to be but his holster is pretty old,

If time is in question here, what ever happend to the Alvar Hanso theory? Or even the 1960's with the DeGrouts?

I am SOOOO <B><BIG>LOST</BIG><B>, no pun intended. I know the Richard is going to be a rather large chararter in the future, or aam I alone on this as well?