Richard Alpert/Theories

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Main Article Theories about
Richard Alpert 		Main Discussion
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Contents

Panchen Lama

  • Richard and the leader of the island (Ben, whoever Ben's predecessor was, etc) have a relationship resembling that of the Dalai Lama and the Panchen Lama. After one is reincarnated the Dalai Lama confirms another person as the reincarnation of the Panchen Lama or vice versa.

This is why Richard does not lead the Others/Hostiles despite his seniority over Ben. His role is to offer spirtual guidance to the person chosen by the island.

Name reference

  • His name is a tribute to Dr. Richard Alpert, who was a colleague of Dr. Timothy Leary in Harvard University. He was kicked out with Leary because of his research on Psychotropic drugs. In direct relation to the character, Dr. Alpert traveled to India in where he studied matters of the spirit with Bhagavan Das as a guide, he later met Neem Karoli Baba, or Maharaj-ji as he is known in the Western world; his new spiritual guide gave him the name "Ram Dass" which means "Servant of God". This serves in relation to the show's recurring theme of religions and beliefs. This could explain how Richard exists on the Island prior to Ben, and a possible indirect relation to Jacob, as his servant but not as his "son" as the biblical etymology of Benjamin and Jacob suggests.

General

  • Richard and "The Hostiles" were the original naive participants in the Dharma initiative experiments. Perhaps they were even the original Losties, trapped on the island and manipulated/guided into finding the hatches and participating in the experiments just as we saw Locke and the others start participating. Similar to the Flight 815 group and Desmond, they were lead to believe they were saving the world by pushing buttons, taking vaccines, and following the instructions of the Dharma films. Maybe "Hostiles" were even genetically modified like the Polar Bears must have been to survive in such warm climates, and this has given them extraordinary health, or cursed them with the inability to have children, or perhaps these are merely the affects of an island that exists in a different relation to time. At some point, the Hostiles used the computers to begin communicating with each other at the different stations and overthrew the Dharma Initiative. This is "the incident" that Marvin warns happened as a result of using the computers to communicate. They use the powers they have developed during the experiments they have participated in (or maybe even powers they were originally recruited for possessing) to overthrow the DI - the unwitting Hostiles, each one of them having been brainwashed to believe that they are participating in a sacred mission, as we see Karl being brainwashed with the phrase "God loves you as he loves Jacob" continue to follow this ideology even after they overthrow the Initiative. This is why they steadfastly believe they are the "Good guys" and also why they are sometimes sympathetic to the Losties (everyone accept Ben of course). Living in isolation, the Others have created a peaceful colony, even using DI technology to recruit people to their mission from the outside world. Perhaps in reality, they are experiencing a mass, socially reinforced hallucination, making up their own mythology and using the Dharma Initiatives tools (their apparently amazing array of knowledge and devices) to continue the work they were brainwashed to do. Ben was already a little crazy and also felt trapped and controlled by the DI, and thus made a natural ally for the "Hostiles." Just like many of the people on the island with parent issues, the Others have grown into the Dharma Initiative that they despised, using their power and psychological tricks to push the "chosen" Losties into their way of life.
  • Richard wasn't born on the island. He comes from a group of castaways that predates the arrival of the Dharma Initiative. His lack of aging may come from the fact that he ate nothing but the plants and animals on the island. The Others, the Dharma Initiative and the Oceanic 815 survivors often ate food not from the island.
    • Probably confirmed when Ben says, "You do remember birthdays, don't you, Richard?" in ("The Man Behind the Curtain"). It suggests that he had his childhood, at least, before coming to the island.
  • He is in league with Mittelwerk; the company name Mittelos is very similar.
    • Not only is Mittlewerk/Mittleos very similar, but Richard Alpert looks very much like a younger Thomas Mittelwerk.
  • Personally engineered the bus accident which killed Edmund Burke.
  • Reverse temporal engineering. Richard made sure it had already happened.
  • One notices that other cars are honking at the bus as it waits for Burke to walk out onto the side walk.
  • Will attempt to take control of the Others along with Locke now that he knows the Island favors John, and not Ben.
  • He is able to bend time & space. That is how he can travel to and from the Island at will. This is why Ben asked him to go and get the man from Tallahasee and how Anthony Cooper magically appears on the Island.
    • Explains how he happened to be in the area of Juliet's sister so quickly when she has her violent outburst to Ben about her sister being dead already.
  • He is Magnus Hanso, captain of the Black Rock, grandfather of Alvar Hanso. If time on the Island is stopped compared to the outside world (theory from The Third Policeman) they could have been there since the shipwreck. When we see Richard Alpert in ("The Man Behind the Curtain") he appears to be wearing pirate type clothing. Matthew Abaddon might also have been on the pirate ship.
  • He is part of the Black Rock but is not Hanso. He and some of the Black Rock crew found something that enabled them to grow old slowly or not at all.
    • He is part of the Black Rock and helped lead the first purge against the natives.
    • He ceased to age after experiments performed on him by the DHARMA Initiative, thus causing the rift between the two groups
    • The clothes seem to be similar to what the Others were wearing when they originally appeared and wanted to look like they had no contact with the outside world.
  • He and the Hostiles are not natives or members of the original Black Rock crew, as they are familiar with technology even before the attack to the Barracks and have probably run the DHARMA facilities after the Purge; they could be a faction of DHARMA scientists who split from the official group before Ben's arrival to the Island. Besides, their clothes are dirty and ruined, but not pirate or natural clothes: we see T-shirts, polo shirts, and modern pants.
  • He seems to already follow Ben's orders during the gas attack to the Barracks. He seems a bit uncomfortable, and waits for Ben's directions on what to do with Roger's body, so he possibly wasn't the leader of the Hostiles at that time. Ben could have conned the Hostiles during his growing-up and personally arranged the gas attack.
    • This seems to be confirmed by Lost: The Answers.
    • This is not likely, as the Hostiles were already attacking the Barracks since Ben's arrival; we see when they attack while Ben's at science class. Also, it's much more probable that Richard asked Ben if he wanted the body to be brought back to the Barracks as a sign of respect, and not as a sign of submission. Thus, Ben's response of leaving the body out there shows that he lacked respect for him, contrasting the closing of Goodspeed's eyes (as a sign of respect).
      • He could feel that Ben is "special" just like he feels Locke is.
  • Richard believed that Ben was born on the Island because Ben claimed to see his mother, even though she was dead.
  • Richard is, or is a manifestation of, "the monster."
    • When Richard met young Ben, Richard was not at all surprised that Ben had seen his dead mother on the island. It seems that "the monster" can take on the form of different people. Richard's lack of surprise indicates that he at the very least knows about the monster's abilities, and at most that Richard is the monster's true persona.
      • Interesting idea, but it's possible that he knew that non-real people could appear on the island, but did not attribute it to the monster.
  • Richard is "the man behind the curtain" - he manipulates Ben by orchestrating Ben's supposed communication with Jacob.
    • This is supported by the fact that Ben meets him right after he crosses the boundary of the barracks for the first time, when he goes behind the "Sonic Curtain" if you will. In many mystical traditions, moving on to a higher level of spiritual achievement involves the "Parting of the Veil," where the Initiate is enlightened and thus removes from his or her eyes the veil that didn't allow them to see the true nature of reality clearly. When a young Ben meets Richard, it is his defacto initiation into the mysteries of the Hostiles and the Island. It is also a moment in which we the viewers are suddenly enlightened as to how strong the Island's powers really are and how Richard may be the key to a lot of the Island's mysteries.
  • Conversely, Richard is [Ben]'s early request from the magic box - a friendly non-Dharma person who rescues him from his hated Dharma life. This ties in to the theory that the magic box is similar to fictional ideas in books such as Sphere by Michael Crichton.
  • Alpert has formed an allegiance with either the Hanso Foundation or Naomi's "rescue" group during his off-island travels and is responsible for the events that take place during The Lost Experience, as is hinted at by the Mittelos/Mittelwerk link.
  • Richard Alpert could also be a reference to the literary archetype of the Wandering Jew/Wandering Stranger/Ageless Stranger, a man cursed by God with immortality for the way he treated Jesus at the Crucifixion. ("The Ageless Stranger" is one of Randall Flagg's nicknames in Stephen King's The Stand and other works connected to the Dark Tower Universe. At the end of King's uncut version of The Stand, Randall Flagg awakens on an island whose inhabitants recognize his power and believe him to be a God. King never followed up on what happened between his island experience and when we next meet him in The Dark Tower series in any of his works.)
  • Richard drove the bus that killed Edmund.
  • Richard must know that Ben wasn't born on the Island. Ben tells him the first time they meet that his mother is dead and that she died off-island. Unless Ben left and then returned to the Island, his mother must have died before Ben came, therefore Ben cannot have been on the Island his whole life.
  • Richard also knows a lot about Jacob, such as the fact that not everyone can see him. When Ben returns from the cabin without Locke, Richard asks, "Did Locke see..." before he is interrupted.
  • We will never get the full story on Richard because Nestor Carbonell decided to do "Cane" instead of "Lost."
  • Richard is immortal, due to the unique characteristics of the Island and suggested by his apparent lack of aging and ability to leave the Island at will, and he is the model for the bodiless statue. This may be revealed if we ever see him without socks.
  • Richard Alpert is the only Hostile; there never was anyone else but him. There never was any need for other people because he doesn't age so he didn't need to reproduce. He somehow co-existed with the Island until Dharma came. He would have been able to kill them off on his own, but he recognized that others living with him might not be the worst thing; it might even have some advantages. As he saw Ben, he knew he was special and he decided that he and some other interesting people should come with him. What now happens is Others-History.
  • Richard has four toes on each foot.
  • He doesn't want Ben to be the leader of The Others. It was Alpert who send Harper to Juliet, because he knew that with Faraday dead, the gas would kill Ben. He is the secret on-Island ally of Charles Widmore. Now when all Others who were loyal to Ben are dead (Tom, Mikhail etc.), he will turn rest of them against him. When his plan with the gas went wrong, he told Widmore about Ben's biggest weakness: Alex. Widmore ordered Gault to capture her and Gault sent Frank and Keamy on this mission.
  • he is the monster, the original Richard Alpert was a hostile from Ben's childhood, but now he is just a manifestation of the smoke monster
  • He was present soon after Locke's birth, and Mrs. Locke seemed to recognize him. Is he the 'older man' Emily Locke was seeing, and is he John's father?
  • The eyeliner that Richard appears to be wearing throughout the series could be kohl, which among many things, was believed to keep out the 'evil eye'.

Not Real

I think Richard is an extension of Jacob's personality and that is why he he is there to give support to whoever is "The Chosen One" and it would also explain why he doesn't age, because he isn't real. Obviously Jacob would be the only person who is aware that Richard isn't real.

Juliet and Orange Juice

  • He gave her a tranquilizer because they didn't fly to the island - he used the top secret time traveling device/worm hole Ben used in The Shape of Things to Come to travel back to the island because the island exists in a different time, as we saw when the dead doctor washed up on the beach in the same episode before he was actually dead. The submarine is a tool for going to the looking glass station. Juliet woke up there because that's where they put her after they got back to the island, but its main purpose is as a metaphor or a prop to give the recruited Others the idea that they are choosing to stay and can leave at any time, but actually the comfort of having the submarine there makes them stay instead.
  • He gave Juliet the spiked orange juice in order for her to be implanted.
  • He was able to tell Juliet the orange juice was spiked with tranquilizer because Juliet was especially selected for her submissive tendencies, not only for her brilliance in fertility.

Richard knows that in order to be seen as a 'chosen leader' of the island's inhabitants you must directly or indirectly murder your father Richard found that Ben was not truly the chosen leader of the island's inhabitants when he found Ben had become ill

Aging

  • He actually ages normally. The reason we see him the same age is due to the fact he is a time traveller. He leaps from time to time and from era to era. Thus he looks the same age whenever we meet him, from 1956 to 2004.
  • He only ages when he is off-island, due to the time dilation effect (time moves more quickly in the outside world).
  • There are 6 points that suggest that he is old and is not aging normally. There has not been one suggestion that he is aging, just theories of why he could look like he is not aging. 
1. No apparent aging in the 4 times we've seen him (just a different haircut)
2. His odd clothing in Ben's flashback
3. His very old gun (Luger P-08, designed in the 1800's)
4. "It's a birthday present. You do remember birthdays don't you?" - Ben's comment to Richard
5. "no matter how much time you spend on the island, you never get tired of this view" - Richard to Locke on the hill.
6. "you're gonna be amazed at how time flies once you're there" - Richard to Juliet
  • The Richard who met Young Ben looks about fifteen years younger than the Richard of today (early 20s v. late 30s). There is some indication of aging, but about half as much as there should be (assuming 30 years has gone by since Richard met Ben).
    • All that is apparent is a haircut, not a wrinkle or a gray hair.
  • People on Island are actually aging faster then off-Island. Richard hasn't aged because he spent a lot of time off Island ("Not in Portland", "One of Us").
    • However, Walt was clearly older when Locke saw him in Through the Looking-Glass.
    • That's because people age in real life? The show has, after all, been running for 3 years – but only supposedly passed around 90 days on the island.
      • Locke tells his group of Losties that a "taller" Walt appeared to him after being shot by Ben. If it was merely because the actor aged, they wouldn't have bothered making it seem so strange to everyone on the island who knew how old the character SHOULD be.
  • Richard Alpert is the son of the man who approached Ben. Nothing about the original island inhabitants has been told and it would explain the lack of any aging.
    • Except they are exactly identical.
      • Given that there are fertility issues associated with the island, it does seem unlikely that Richard is the son of the man who approaced Ben. Unless the Hostiles were using human cloning techniques to address this which would create identical father and son's
        • So they can use cloning techniques but cant get haircuts or new clothing
  • Richard is somehow "special" and the Island gives him eternal youth, that is, prevents him from aging.
    • Supports theory that he is Magnus Hanso.
    • Richard was a member of the Black Rock crew, but is not actually Magnus Hanso. Magnus Hanso has the Philosopher's Stone and shares it with those he deems worth.
    • Could be similar to how Locke was healed of his paralysis on the Island.
    • Being "special" might afford him a higher status in The Others than he actually has, especially when you consider he seemed to have a key role before The Purge.
  • People who are conceived and born on the Island do not age. He is a native of the Island, and was conceived there before the problems surrounding fertility surfaced.
    • If this were so, those conceived and born on the Island would be perpetual infants (such as Aaron), and Richard obviously is not.
      • Perhaps they reach maturity and then stop aging at that point.
    • However, Richard may have been conceived on the island and also born there, whereas Aaron was conceived off the island. There is a noted difference between babies conceived on the island versus off.
  • Something that resembles an "Eternal Youth" is a gift for the inhabitants of the Island (the hostiles, for the Dharma Initiative), Black Rock's crew.
    • Or this eternal youth was discovered/granted before the Black Rock arrived at the island.
    • The DHARMA Initiative vaccine would allow you to continue to age normally - this is why all the DHARMA folks continued to age normally (like Ben and his father). If you stopped taking the vaccine, you stop aging. This is also why Claire was injected repeatedly with "vaccine"... to allow baby Aaron to grow and develop in utero until birth. Kind of makes you wonder if Aaron will grow any bigger without more vaccine. Also, was Alex, Rousseau's daughter, given vaccine by the Others after her capture, in order to grow to her current age? Are the others giving the "vaccine" to the other children to allow them to grow?
      • This is unlikely since there were great pains taken to make Ben look younger in "The Man Behind the Curtain" on the day of The Purge (specifically, he has more hair). If the serum were Dharma-related and keeps people aging, I doubt Ben and any other Dharma survivors would have continued to inject it after the events of The Purge.
  • Alternately, he is the proverbial Randall Flagg of the Lost mythos, an entity that takes on a human identity in order to bring chaos and destruction to the mortal realm.
  • In The Stand Nadine Cross asks Flagg what his real name is. He says "Call me Richard. That's my real name. Call me that."
Though he needn't be a tool of chaos. He acts, potentially, in the interest of the island or an outside group. (i.e. it served his purposes to eliminate Dharma and to elevate Locke)
  • In The Stand, Randall Flagg also helps people get out of situations they do not want to be in, thus rendering those people indebted to him. (Think of Ben and Juliet.)
  • In an old interview (which can be viewed here), around the 7:40 minute mark the real Richard Alpert explains about how that which he thought to be himself 'died' during an LSD-trip. As we know, he later changed his name to Ram Dass, which would make (the name) Richard Alpert ageless. (In the same interview, he also talks about how there is no 'other', which of course has to do with the whole concept of how we percieve people we don't know or know nothing about as 'others'; a recurring theme in Lost.)
  • Richard does not age because he has similar regenerative abilities to Claire Bennett and Adam Monroe from Heroes.
  • Nobody ages on the island. It has been stated that the anagram the producers intended for Mittelos is "lost time". This is because Mittelos is part of the others' public face off the island, and when they are off the island they lose time from their lives because they age. Ben has spent considerably more time off the island than Richard, which is why he has a secret room full of passports and money. Or perhaps it is only the natives who do not age while on the island.
  • He is also time traveller and his constant is Ben.
    • "A constant is an object or person that exists in both periods of time, that the traveller deeply cares about and could recognize." Richard was alive in the 50's, and Ben wasn't even born at that time. Thus making this theory highly unlikely.
  • The Hanso Foundation were working on the Life Extension Project. Richard could be the successful result of this project.
  • There is another character on the show who doesn't age and looks the same whenever we see him: Christian Shephard. He also appears on and off the Island, he can be seen by anyone, and seems to be serving the general interests of the Island itself. As of Cabin Fever, he's also changed his clothes. So, what if Richard doesn't age any more because he's dead?
    • Christian Shepard looked very sick and older than last time we saw him in Cabin Fever.
      • He was under high contrast lighting, which isn't really forgiving; and the actor himself is still aging.
    • On the other hand, Richard had to use a gas mask during the purge to protect himself from whatever has killed the Dharma members. So he's probably still alive, although it still might be some kind of life after death.
  • Richard Alpert HASN'T been time traveling; when you time travel, only your consciousness travels, not your whole body, so the lack of aging does not mean Richard has been time traveling.
  • Richard Alpert was, and continues to be, a high-ranking member of the Hostiles, a group of people present on the island since before DHARMA or anyone. Their decisions are made based on what they think serves the best interests of the Island, led by some spiritual figure (i.e. Jacob), and they operate off-Island through a front organization know as Mittelos Labs. They opposed DHARMA, which was originally led by Charles Widmore; this is why Widmore referred to the Island once belonging to him, and is further evidenced by Keamy's secondary protocol bearing a DHARMA logo. Widmore still has some of the same scientists on the mainland working for him as part of a DHARMA operation separate from the one previously on the Island. Ben was recruited by Richard from DHARMA to be part of their extermination, because he believed Ben was their "chosen one." Richard apparently harbored doubts as to Ben's legitimacy, however, and for this reason tracked the young John Locke, to see if he was the real chosen one. Richard hoped he was, because he sensed a deficiency in Ben, and this is why he is so frustrated when Locke fails his test. At present, Richard's Hostiles await him in the Temple, which was their central base of operations before the purge wiped out the Dharma Initiative, and the Hostiles moved into the Barracks. (This is why Ben called the Temple "the safest place.")
  • Locke is older than Ben so Richard would have had to track down Locke before Ben was even born
  • Richard visits Locke routinely because Locke is his 'constant'.--
  • Richard is an Immortal being, descended from the Four-Toed People. Like Locke and apparently unlike Ben, he "understands" the Island and is healed by its strange properties to the extent that he can never die.
  • When Locke was a teenager, it was roughly late 70s, early 80s. DHARMA had not been there long enough yet for Richard's people to have killed them and taken their sub. Also, on that same note we have never seen the sub move before it was blown up. We saw Ben and his Dad get off it, docked, and Juliet wake up on it after being knocked out, but again it was docked. **If Locke was born in 1956, he would be a teenager in the early 70s.
  • Richard used the same device/technique that landed Ben in the middle of the Sahara.
  • It is a way to find out a person's personality, like inkblot tests.
  • Richard was testing Locke to see if he was ready to accept his destiny. Due to choosing the knife instead of the Book of Laws (or whatever Richard had hoped he would choose), Alpert knew that John was still resisting his destiny in favor of sports, boxing, and hunting and not yet prepared to do the Island's will. This is supported by Alpert's presence at the hospital when John was a baby, and later efforts on behalf of Mittelos Laboratories to recruit Locke for science camp. Throughout Locke's life, Alpert reappears to coax John into accepting his destiny. This fails, and the Island draws him to itself by force.
  • Richard was asking Locke for guidance. He wanted to know what the "hostiles" should do to solve their current situation. Locke chose the knife, which represented the violent solution.
  • Richard Alpert's test of Locke as a child is very similar to how the new Dalai Lama is selected. Locke is a reincarnate of someone Richard once knew, or he is in a similar loop as a reincarnation.
  • Richard's apparent lack of aging is due to time travel and not immortality. Last time we saw Richard on Island, he was talking to Locke about getting Sawyer to kill Cooper. He seemed very excited about Locke being "special" even more special then Ben. Richard is time traveling after meeting present day Locke to find out if Locke was really born to be the Island's "savior" or if the Island's mystery (and regaining his ability to walk) are what drives his interests. In other words, Richard is getting a candid view of Locke before he knew of the Island and its powers.
  • Richard Alpert is a reincarnation of himself, and each time he is reborn he is able to accept his destiny and continue his role, hence the impression that he is ageless.
  • This is an example of why someone should not be "raised by another." His adoptive parents confused Locke's ability to be in tune with his destiny.
  • Each of the six objects represents one of the Oceanic Six.
  • This is not only the Dalai Lama test, but also Richard Alpert is a time paradox himself. The Island needs a constant "Dalai Lama" equivalent, and either Locke or Hurley are the Dalai Lama. Also, Matthew Abaddon seemed to steer Locke toward the Island much like Claire's psychic did. Richard's method of tracking down the Island's version of the Dalai Lama isn't that reliable, so he uses more of a shotgun approach.
  • Locke is the reincarnation of Magnus Hanso.
    • This is why Richard got irritated when he chose the knife, due to it belonging to Magnus Hanso (Hanso being the man who was the bringer of the DHARMA initiative).
    • Locke is the present day reincarnation of Jacob, which is why the compass and sand/ash in the bottle looked really old. They belonged to Jacob once upon a time.
  • Locke was supposed to pick the Mystery Tales comic book instead of the knife. Hurley (also a chosen one) was the one who brought the intriguing comic book (in Spanish, with the Polar Bears - he's the only one who speaks Spanish that we know of) to the flight - the same magazine Walt was seen reading during season 1.
    • The comic book never belonged to Locke.
  • Each of the items has a significance and, depending on what is chosen, determines if someone is "special" (like Walt or Young Ben) or if they are "not ready" as Locke was as a child.
    • Locke (and Ben, and others like Walt) have always been "special," but the item they pick indicates the time or situation for when they are needed.
  • Locke choosing the items is similar to Daniel and Charlotte conducting a memory experiment with DHARMA playing cards. Daniel only gets 2 of the 3 cards correct. Locke also chooses only 2 of the 3 items correctly.--Mrcircle 09:56, 11 May 2008 (PDT)
    • Richard is travelling back to Locke, knowing what he will pick in the future. Locke's inability to get it right means he lacks the prescience or that he cannot remember that he has already done this.
  • Locke is Richard's son. Being born to someone who was once on the Island means he can't die. He fell from a skyscraper off the Island and he was shot on the island, surviving both times. In asking Locke to choose an item that belongs to him, he was testing his son's readiness to be "the one" - similar to NEO in the Matrix. Alternatively, Locke is a reincarnation of a previous Island inhabitant (a member of the Black Rock).
    • Not likely. In Cabin Fever, John's grandmother asks Emily if she is going out with "him" and notes that he is twice her age. Later in the episode, she does not know who Richard Alpert is in the hospital.
  • The drawing that Richard Alpert observes on Locke's wall before testing him, a figure with black scribbles over it, depicts the smoke monster. This, along with Alpert's test, give credence to the theory that Locke journeys back and forth through time, an effect of the Island.
  • Locke doesn't necessarily journey through time. He merely has premonitions about his own destiny, which he chooses to resist.
  • This is a premonition of the scene in the last episode of season 1, where Locke is grabbed by Smokey & almost pulled down one of the Cerberus Vents ("Exodus, Part 1").
  • Going with the reincarnation theory, Locke's previous incarnation was killed by Cerberus. The drawing is of his own death in his past life. There has been some discussion in earlier seasons that Magnus Hanso was killed by Cerberus gone haywire. The drawing points to the notion that Locke is the reincarnation of Alvar Hanso.
  • The knife is a sailor's knife. A knife is a common tool of a sailor (The Blackrock) because it is used for many tasks, including cutting sail, rigging, or self-protection. Image
    • The image signifies that Cerberus projects from a person.--Jim 07:00, 10 May 2008 (PDT)
  • Richard Alpert (and the group referred to as "The Hostiles") have the ability to travel to and from the Island, which is unrelated to the DHARMA stations. The fact that Richard was in the US when Locke was born in 1950 and the DHARMA initiative began later (Alvar Hanso's film indicates that only after the Cuban Missile Crisis the Valenzetti Equation was formulated, and DHARMA followed that in the 70s/80s) supports that.
  • Richard also has four toes.
  • But if you can travel throughout time and the Dharma Initiative discovered time travel in the 70's/80's, Richard could easily travel back to 1950.
    • This is related to the time issues surrounding the Island.
      • It's a common belief among physicists that if time travel were invented, it would be impossible to travel back to a time before the equipment were created. Hence, to the above statement, if the DHARMA Initiative "discovered" time travel in the 70s/80s, travel to the 1950s would be impossible.
  • The Island itself provides a time travel type ability, regardless of DHARMA's work on the Island. Assuming the Island has been around far longer than the 1950s, Richard travels from the 2000s to whenever. The Temple station from DHARMA harnesses this natural ability of the Island.
    • They don't believe that that's a universal rule; it's something that would only apply to the type of time travel they're attempting to create. Something to do with lasers. The Island's temporal anomalies are indicated to be something to do with the (electromagnetic?) barrier around the island, so, nothing to do with lasers. There's no reason that we know of why a person who understood that barrier and how to traverse it couldn't go back in time to any point they wished. And if it is impossible to change the past in the "Lost" universe, there's no reason that such a person shouldn't go back in time. After all, what'd be the harm?
    • This is indeed confirmed by the book How to Build a Time Machine by Peter Davies. (excerpts can be seen from amazon.com - [1]) The question that is often asked is, "If time travel HAS been invented, why aren't we seeing time travelers come to us, and tell us about it?" If the time travel works via a wormhole, the "portal" that opens in time only allows space/time jumps through such portals. This is purely theoretical, however, but based on the idea of acceleration - a loop with entry points. Take an O and add two parallel lines for entry/exit points (to make it resemble letter C). Now, I can't say that I'm convinced this is the direction that the show is going, as the writers have practically sworn that "time travel" won't be a part of the show, but in light of the last sentence spoken in this episode, I'm ready to be yanked around by both of my legs. MarioColbert 15:40, 9 May 2008 (PDT)
      • The scientist who will invent the time machine won't come back to tell us 'cause he will lose a lot of moneys... :)
    • There's a scientist that's currently working on a time travel device that has to do with a magnetic effect on light. This machine would only be good for sending information. But that it could only send information back to the machine itself. So, obviously, it could only go back to a time when the machine existed. I'm sure if you google a bit you can find such a theory and information about this project.
    • As to the time-travel theory, try http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tipler_cylinder - this was a 'feasible' time-machine that had the property of not allowing travel out with its own existence. Specifically, whilst it is spinning, it 'twists' space-time, allowing you to travel in time by traveling in space; so you can only reach a time in which it was (or will be) spinning. Hawking pretty much disproved it. And by 'feasible', I mean that at the time of it's proposal, it didn't violate theory. It would still have been a heck of a civil engineering project...
  • Richard was trying to test Locke's spirit/resiliency. First he offers him a "test" to see if he's "special" and makes it look as though he's failed, so he's not special; next he tries to push Locke into more mundane, science-oriented hobbies instead of physical, challenging things. Instead of giving in, Locke continues to be the master of his own fate and believe what he wishes to. Richard was testing Locke's spirit, and he actually passed.
    • Keep in mind that Mittelos Bioscience was a front to recruit Juliet for the Others. Mittelos Laboratories' "Science Camp" is likewise a front to draw John to the Island. 
                     # Portland = Portal.
    • Richard was actually testing Locke's willingness to accept his destiny, rather than being the master of his own fate. Locke failed the first test when he was a child. He failed the second test when he chose typical teenager activities--sports, etc.--over the science camp, demonstrating that he still wasn't ready to accept his destiny. At Jacob's cabin, Locke was issued a final test by Christian. When asked why he was there, Locke said, "Because I was chosen," indicating he was finally ready to accept his destiny, whatever it might be.
      • Or, more in line with one of the show's stated themes, Locke has been lost his entire life until that moment. Previous flashbacks have shown that he has been looking for meaning in his life, some of his efforts less ignominious than others, but when the Island reached out to him, he refused to grab hold & find his way.
  • It is significant that Locke was almost a "man of science" like Jack, rather than a "man of faith."
  • Locke still grapples with being a "man of faith": he let the counter run down in the Swan and caused the electromagnetic event after seeing the Pearl and having his faith challenged. He was irritated that Claire was in the cabin and he wasn't the only special Oceanic survivor. Locke is still not a perfect character and his flaws add to his unpredictability and allure.
  • Richard was trying to "recruit" Locke as a prodigy/future leader for his group - at that time, "the hostiles," later to become "the others." Locke has always been predestined as their leader; Ben was merely selected by default once he arrived on the Island.
  • A "prophecy" or whatever was heard by both the Others and the Dharma Initiative (DI) at some point in time. The prophecy was something to the effect that a woman named Emily L. would prematurely have a child (possibly on the west coast) who was to be the "chosen one" to win the "war" on the island between the Others and Dharma. Both sides somehow heard this prophecy and looked for this Emily in both space and time (likely Dharma searching in space and the Others in time, as only Others have been shown time travelling thus far). Dharma found Emily Linus, as evidenced by Horace being present at Ben's birth. The Others found Emily Locke, as shown by Richard being present at John's birth. Richard showed up later to give John the test, but John failed. Richard tried again to get John to come to the island - as the Other's "chosen" - with the Mitellos camp, but John refused. Around this time, Horace invites Roger and Ben to come to the island as Dharma's "chosen one." Richard soon encounters Ben and rationalizes that he was mistaken about John being "the one" - a feeling he already had since John had failed so many tests. Richard tells Ben that the time is not right, eventually adopts Ben as the "Chosen" and lets him lead the Others over Dharma. Richard finally meets John on the island and comes to realize that John is the TRUE "Chosen one," telling him so and encouraging him to take over from Ben. (This seems more plausible than Ben being John's "back-up." As an example, if Jesus had not accepted his destiny, did God have another son - a lesser one - who was going to take up the slack? Same with Neo on the Matrix and with countless other examples. You either ARE the "Chosen one" or you are NOT.)
  • Ben clearly stated in this episode that he did not cause the purge, implying that he was only directly responsible for his own father's death. Obviously, Ben frequently lies, but he was far away when all the other people were killed. Richard was behind the deaths and recruited Ben early on to help with the "dark" side of the Island's force, if you will. Richard's test was to see if Locke could be brought over to the side that Ben succumbed to. He was aggravated that Locke did not pick the item that would indicate he was able to be brought over to the dark side.
  • Richard was the "chosen one" on the Island before Ben, just as Locke is now the chosen one after Ben.
  • Following the purge, Richard asked Ben if Ben wanted his father's body moved. That was a gracious offer from the former leader to the new leader. "I acknowledge your ascension and will do as you command." Richard, of course, is a bit of a subversive. He is not happy with Ben's leadership and facilitates Locke's rise to power by telling him how to get Sawyer to do the dirty work of killing Cooper.--Jim 07:00, 10 May 2008 (PDT)
  • Once you are on the Island, you must die on the Island. Also with this, you don't age when you are off the Island (ex: Ben's hair color in Iraq, Charles Widmore, and now Richard Alpert.) 
         o Ben has already aged quite a bit, and Charles is an old man; they age. Whatever the deal is with Richard, it's special and can't be compared to Ben or Charles.
  • This is way off course when we are suggesting Dalai Lama theories. This is just a simple test. Think about it; all of the items on the table represented things that have to do with the Island: the glass tube which contained sand is sand from the Island, which now belongs to John. He´s the chosen one; therefore the Island "belongs" to him. The compass as well belonged to him on the Island. He had it on the Island, but he gave it away to Sayid in season 1 or 2. The thing is, Richard didn't say HOW many objects he was supposed to chose. Unfortunately he took 3, it could just have been 1 or 2. 
         o Damon Lindleof and Carlton Cuse confirmed in a podcast that they were in fact alluding to the Dalai Lama test in this scene.
  • Richard doesn't age because he's dead like Christian Shephard. They both appear on and off the Island, everyone can see them, they serve the general interests of the Island, and so on.

And Richard is a time traveler; we don't know from which time in the future he was coming from. Richard traveled back a few days after the crash to the time when Locke was about 5; he didn't know that Locke had a lot of knives with him. And Richard is a timetraveler when we saw the last episode with Ben´s flashbacks when he is "timetraveling" and wakes up in the middle of the Sahara desert. And there is a timetraveling machine on the island that the others use to get what they want to happen in the future or past, like the Orchid or the Temple.

  • This would most certainly explain why Richard doesn't age at all. When we see him in all of the episodes he looks the same no matter what time, because he is timetraveling a lot.
  • Remember, "Your boy Walt is very special". WALT was given the SAME test as Locke as a child, but passed. That's why he was kidnapped and called "very special."
  • Locke was not supposed to choose the knife. But since he did, the time-loop will happen again, instead of changing and/or breaking the predetermined timeline which was what Richard hoped. He thought he had changed one of the key parameters which always leads to a loop jumping back in time.
  • The test that Richard gave John was to determine what type of person he is going to be. The sand represents the Island; the compass would represent John as a leader. Richard wanted John to choose the Book of Law, showing that he would be a righteous leader. Instead, John picked the knife, showing him as a warrior/hunter. Throughout the whole show John has wanted to be a leader, but when he has lead it usually doesn't work out very well; as a hunter/warrior, he has always been able to protect and keep the surviors fed.
  • Locke has been through this test before, and he picked what he always picks. Richard hoped he would pick differently this time.
  • Richard is human-form of Jacob, while Jacob is just a ghost.

Retrieved from "http://www.lostpedia.com/wiki/Talk:Richard_Alpert" See also The Man Behind the Curtain/Theories#Aging



Theories about The Others v • t • e
Prominent Others Alex • Bea Klugh • Benjamin Linus • Colleen Pickett • Danny Pickett • Ethan Rom • Harper • Goodwin • Jacob • Isabel • Juliet • Karl • Mikhail Bakunin • Richard Alpert • Tom
Minor Others Adam • Aldo • Amelia • Ivan • Luke • Matthew • Ryan Pryce
Unnamed Others Molotov Woman
Locations Hydra Island • Barracks • Decoy Village • Pala Ferry • Quarry • The Room • Room 23
Miscellaneous Book Club • Fake beard • "Good People" • Hydra Television • Juliet's tape • Lists • Submarine (Galaga)
Retrieved from "http://lostpedia.com/wiki/Richard_Alpert/Theories"