Lengthy List of Lingering LOST Questions

I've been working on this extensively during the hiatus, and now that we're only a week away from the second half of Season 4, the time is right to post it. Don't forget that Lost returns next Thursday at 10pm!

AARON

Why is it that Aaron is counted as one of the Oceanic 6, but Sun’s baby Ji-Yeon is not? Aaron was in-vitro when Flight 815 crashed and was born on the island, but Ji-Yeon was in-vitro upon rescue. Is Ji-Yeon's exclusion part of the Oceanic 6 lie?

ALEX

She wasn’t on Flight 815, so she would not be considered one of the Oceanic 6, but did she make it off of the island? Something tells me we’ll see her with Ben in a flash forward soon.

How is it that she never noticed that Ben was gone for periods of time, off the island being a secret spy?

Was she pregnant? Does Ben arrange for Karl to be killed and for Alex to get off of the island to save her life?

BEN

Why isn’t he more interested in the survivors from Flight 815 who were also healed by the island (besides Locke)? I realize that he has larger issues to deal with now, but he’s been obsessed with island fertility and healing, so you’d think that he’d make it a priority to question Sun and Rose as well.

For that matter, will Ben follow Ji-Yeon’s journey off island, because he is the first child to be conceived on the island and live? Then again, if Kate was pregnant, her Aaron would also be of interest to him…

Also, given Desmond’s pre-existing relationship with Widmore, you’d think that Ben would want to talk with him. Ben had a camera in the Swan hatch and was monitoring Desmond for years before Flight 815 crashed. He had intel on everyone, so Ben had to be aware of Desmond’s history. And he also must have witnessed Desmond’s failure to enter the numbers on 9/22/04, causing the electromagnetic anomaly that brought down the plane.

Will we see his childhood girlfriend Annie again? Did he arrange for her safe return to the real world before he purged the Dharma folk? Is she his constant?

Will we ever find out why he was building a runway over on the Hydra island?

How does he manage to leave the island for good? Obviously there were other means of transportation besides the one submarine.

Is anyone besides Sayid aware that he’s among them after rescue?

Was Ben truly afraid of Widmore, or was he working for him? It makes sense that he was working with Widmore. How else do you explain Ben’s wealth, ease of travel back and forth, multiple passports, etc.?

Is Ben the Economist, or is it Daddy Widmore?

THE BLACK SMOKE MONSTER

Is it somehow controlled by or through the Tempest, the chemical/gas station? What is Jacob’s relationship to it?

Both Ben and Juliet claimed to not know what Smokey is…could they be telling the truth?

BROTHERS & SISTERS

Will Claire find out that Jack is her half-brother before or after he gets rescued?

Is it possible that Locke is Ben’s older brother? Both of their mothers were named Emily. Yes, I realize that Swoosie Kurtz appeared at Locke’s mom, but she also claimed that his birth was immaculate. Thus, her credibility seems sketchy at best. Locke was born in 1956 and abandoned by his parents for foster care when he was very young. Ben’s mother died giving birth to him in the early 60’s, so it’s entirely possible that they’re siblings.

CHARLES WIDMORE

Did he become aware of/ interested in the island only after purchasing the original journal from the Black Rock slave ship?

Is he a major investor in Oceanic Airlines? Did he have anything to do with the actual crash, or just the staging of the fake wreckage? And how would the robbery of 300 or so graves in Thailand not make major headlines? Did he really go to such lengths to fake the crash, or did Ben provide the bodies from his Dharma purge?

CHARLIE

When he appeared and talked with Hurley at the institute, he said that “they” need him. Is he referring to those from Flight 815 who weren’t rescued, who are stuck back on the island?

Does Charlie also appear to Aaron? And if so, does Aaron respond (as well as a young toddler can)?

Were his efforts down in the Looking Glass station all for nothing? It appears that Claire does not get on a helicopter and does not get rescued, per Desmond’s vision.

CHRISTIAN SHEPARD

Is Jack’s dad alive? If not, how did he appear in Jacob’s cabin?

Will he ever appear to Claire?

You might want to watch the mobisode of Missing Pieces called "So it Begins." Christian has a very intriguing and pivotal role...

CLAIRE

Does she die, or is she still on the island? Did she hand over Aaron to Kate because they didn’t have room on the helicopter for another adult, or did Kate take him from her?

Will the SOS message that she attached to the bird ever be discovered, and if so, how will that affect the lie that the Oceanic 6 are maintaining?

THE COFFIN

Did the person in the infamous coffin take his own life or was he killed (by Widmore or Oceanic) for sharing the Oceanic 6 secret? If he did kill himself, the island must have let him, which may indicate that he wasn’t an Other or Flight 815 survivor. One of the Freighter Four, perhaps?

CONSTANTS

So is it safe to say that Constants don’t come into play for people who get killed on the island (as opposed to those who take their own lives), such as Ana Lucia, Artz, Boone, Eko, Libby, the Marshall, Nikki, Paulo, Seth the pilot and Shannon? And because Charlie sacrificed himself to save everyone else, his Constant didn’t save him either.

Tom told Michael that the island wouldn’t let him die. Are Constants only affective for those on or near the island?

On the freighter, Minkowski and Regina died due to proximity to the island. So do all other crew members have Constants?

DANIEL FARADAY

Who was the mystery woman living with Daniel when we first viewed him at home, crying about the discovery of the fake wreckage?

If Desmond is his constant, why didn’t he react or recognize the name when he first encountered him at the helicopter?

Daniel, Frank and Miles freaked out because Juliet wasn’t on the 815 manifest…but neither was Desmond. And yet, no one seemed to blink upon meeting him. Odd. They also didn’t seem surprised to find Locke walking.

Given his short term memory loss, will Daniel remember that Desmond is his constant? How will that affect their future interaction?

Does he know Donovan, Desmond’s professor friend in England? Seems likely and not a coincidence, given the same field of study (physics) and general location.

DANIELLE ROUSSEAU

Her husband and their crew supposedly died after getting sick. Did it have anything to do with their lack of Constants?

Is Alex her Constant?

By the way, I don’t think she’s dead. They’re not through telling us her back story.

DESMOND

Was his vision (seeing Claire and Aaron being rescued on a helicopter) a crock? Did he know that Charlie would make contact with Penny, and is that why Desmond really encouraged him to swim down to the Looking Glass station?

How did he recognize Daniel Faraday when he flashed back to Oxford?

He wasn’t on Flight 815, so he wouldn’t be one of the Oceanic 6, but does he get rescued as well? Will the last scene of the entire series be his reunion with Penny?

FRANK LAPIDUS

Why wasn’t he the pilot of Flight 815? Did someone relieve him of his duties that day on purpose? Will he ever reveal to the survivors that he was intended to be their pilot?

Will Frank ever find out that Seth (the actual pilot) died via Black Smoke Monster?

How did Frank sustain injuries if he safely landed the helicopter on the island?

Did his helicopter “errand” involve dropping off freighter crew on the island to assassinate Karl and Rousseau?

Assuming that Frank is the pilot of the helicopter that actual rescues the Oceanic 6, what becomes of him after that? Will we see him in a flash forward? Does he interact with Matthew Abbadon?

THE FREIGHTERS

Yes, there are two. The first is the Kahana, led Captain Gault and financed by Daddy Widmore, carrying the Freighter Four (Charlotte, Daniel, Frank and Miles). The second is the Christiane I, which was reported in the news as the freighter which discovered the (fake) wreckage of Flight 815. When the Oceanic 6 are safely returned home, how will the fake wreckage be explained, as well as the different freighter with the survivors?

HURLEY

What will the ramifications be for Hurley now that Ben is aware that he has seen Jacob’s cabin move?

In the future, he is visited by Jack and visits Sun. Does he keep in touch with Kate? You’d think that he’d be very concerned about Aaron, given that he was close to and protective of Charlie and Claire on the island.

THE ISLAND

So it can prevent certain people from killing themselves, but it also appears to be able to kill others or let them meet their end on the island (Artz, Boone, Eko, Nikki, Paulo) and the freighter (Regina, Minkowski). The island must really like Mikhail, because that dude just won't die. Is Jacob’s list relevant to who lives or dies on or off the island?

JACK

Did the island prevent Jack from jumping off of that bridge during that first flash forward, just as it had prevented Michael from killing himself on several occasions?

If Juliet is left on the island when he is rescued, does he feel strongly enough about her to want to return? Or is she off the island, and he is simply motivated to rescue the remaining survivors stuck there?

JACOB

When Ben is off of the island, does he remain in power? Are they still communicating?

What is the significance of the ash surrounding his cabin, and does it move when the cabin does?

JIN

Is he dead or just stuck on the island? Seeing that the date on his tombstone is the date of the actual crash, chances are that he’s alive but marooned. I think that Sun and Hurley know this, but are playing along and making appearances to maintain the Oceanic company line/lie and keep Jin safe.

JULIET

Does she look like Annie, Ben’s childhood sweetheart, or Emily, Ben’s deceased mother? According to Other Shrink Harper, Juliet resembles someone close to Ben.

Was the fear of pregnancy a non-issue with her? Juliet had an affair with Goodwin, and Dharma prophylactics don’t seem to be abundant, so perhaps, in a Lost twist of fate, she was infertile.

Are we sure that she didn’t order Michael to kill Ana Lucia as one of the conditions for Walt’s return? I’m sure she found out that Ana Lucia was responsible for killing Goodwin…

Does she return to the real world unnoticed? She wasn’t on Flight 815 , so her rescue might be under the radar. Does she reunite with her sister and finally meet her nephew?

KATE

Will we EVER find out what was said during her breakfast on the beach with Ben last season, when he informed her about her very difficult two weeks, after she was captured and caged?

Was she pregnant? Is there a possibility that the Aaron we met in the future is actually her child with Sawyer (that she named Aaron as homage to the real kid)? With the time discrepancies, you never know. After all, Claire’s Aaron should be older than the one we see with Kate. Also, why work so hard to find out about her off-island status from Miles unless contemplating a return home?

Does the real world think that Aaron is Kate’s biological child? Was her acquisition of him part of the deal and lie that the Oceanic 6 are maintaining?

Why was Kate’s trial in Los Angeles? She never lived there before the crash, and none of her crimes were committed there either.

Did her mom know whether or not Aaron was really her son?

She had wealth and infamy upon rescue. She was on trial. And yet, no security or driver? Taking a taxi home from a major trial without any paparazzi? Something didn’t add up.

In the future flash forward when she meets up with bearded Jack at the airport, how much time had passed since her trial? She said that “he” will be wondering where she is. If Aaron is still a young child, wouldn’t be asleep at that hour? Why would a kid of that age he be concerned when Mommy runs an errand one night?

LOCKE

If he ever gets off of the island, will he be affected by his proximity to the electromagnetic pulse and radiation from the Swan hatch implosion, like Desmond? If he does, I wonder who his Constant would be. Helen? Will they reunite if he does return home?

MICHAEL

Did he disable the ship’s communications at the same time that Charlie unscrambled the island’s?

How is it that he is able to slip back into society without being recognized? Photos of the passengers from Flight 815 were probably plastered for months in the media and in every newspaper around the globe. As one of the only passengers traveling with his son, I’d remember him. Like Sayid’s free roam after rescue, it strikes me as odd.

Does he make it off of the freighter and return back to Walt? Does he continue to work for Ben, joining forces with Sayid?

MILES

We know he’s a ghostbuster who can communicate with the dead. How soon until he starts chatting up the island’s many deceased residents (Dharma, Flight 815, Others)?

If and when he leaves the island, does he use his abilities to scam the families of the victims from Flight 815 for money they received on behalf of Oceanic? He certainly knew the manifest and then had the opportunity to glean pertinent information from the survivors.

NAOMI

If the freighter’s primary objective was to find Ben, why did Naomi have a photo of Penny and Desmond with her? Did Widmore hire her on a side mission to look for Desmond? Did he find out about the location of the island through Penny and her team in the remote snow station?

The initials engraved on her bracelet were RG. Could it have been from either Regina or the freighter captain, Gault?

OCEANIC ATTORNEY MATTHEW ABBADON

When he visited Hurley at the mental institute and asked him if “they” were still alive, was he referring to the remaining survivors of Flight 815 or his team (Charlotte, Daniel, Frank & Miles)? Remember, Charlie later told Hurley that “they” need him.

When he offered Hurley an “upgrade” with an ocean view, was he threatening to return him to the island?

He hand-selected the Freighter Four to find Ben and the island, and then hired Naomi to oversee the mission. Was he on Widmore’s payroll, as well as Oceanic’s?

PENNY WIDMORE

If she had been contacting the freighter (which Minkowski confirmed) in search of Desmond, why didn’t she put two and two together when Charlie asked her about Naomi’s boat? Instead she responded with “what boat?”

Did Penny even know that the freighter she was contacting was financed by Daddy?

Did she hire a team to look for an electromagnetic anomaly in order to find the island because she read Daddy’s Black Rock journal?

RICHARD ALPERT

Is he the one who videotaped Widmore beating up one of Ben’s informants?

Is he still working for Ben in the future? Is he still able to travel back and forth from the island? Is he monitoring the remaining survivors there on Ben’s behalf?

We know that he appears to be ageless. Did he first arrive on the island via the Black Rock? Judging from his attire when young Ben first meets him in the jungle, it seems possible.

SAYID

Are Hurley, Jack, Kate and Sun aware that he is working as an assassin for Ben? Are Ben and Sayid working together to eliminate the people responsible for the crash and the marooning of the remaining survivors?

In the future, when Ben references a time that Sayid made a mistake by “following his heart,” was he talking about Sayid’s decision to turn Michael in to the Captain on the freighter?

Is Sayid working for Ben under threat of harm to those still on the island, or is Ben using Nadia (the love of Sayid’s life) as collateral or blackmail?

How is it that he is able to travel internationally without so much as a glance askew from anyone? As one of the Oceanic 6, and with a very memorable name and look, you’d think that Sayid would be recognized immediately and everywhere.

Will we ever find out about his “incident in Basra” that Juliet referred to?

TOM

Given the time it would have taken for Tom to travel to and from the island to New York, there had to have been a faster mode of transportation than a submarine. Either that or the island is much closer to the real world than we’ve been led to believe.

Is his boyfriend in NY the one who Widmore captures and roughs up on the video that Ben and Jack watch?

TUNISIA

Who funded the Dharma stations in Tunisia, where Charlotte discovered the polar bear skeleton, and why where the stations abandoned and buried? Is Tunisia directly above or below the island? Was it a mirror experiment to the Dharma stations set up on the island? Are the 4-toed statue and the temple pillar on the island related to this location?
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Obviously the questions are endless and limitless. I tried to cover as much ground from the first 8 episodes of Season 4 as possible. Please feel free to add your own!