Physics, Philosophy & Faraday

LOST fans, put on your thinking caps and fasten your time traveling seat belts. It is my great pleasure to introduce you to Dora, a fellow Lost friend and fan who happens to be an undergrad student majoring in Physics at MIT (with a focus in physical philosophy). As a huge fan of Daniel Faraday, and given what occurred in last night's episode ("The Variable"), Dora was kind enough to take time out of her busy schedule to help shed a little light on and perspective about the science behind the man!

Feel free to leave her comments below, and as usual - please be respectful and constructive if you disagree with anything. Thanks! - jo

When Jo asked if I wanted to do a guest entry for her blog a couple months ago, I was both honored and hesitant. While I would have loved to share my opinions on such a complex show, I was also uncertain as to what I could write about (the best idea, to date, had been an intricate study of how Jack might have biologically manipulated his stubble to stop growing). However, with the apparent death of my favorite character, Daniel Faraday, I can think of no better opportunity to share my thoughts on the questions of time travel and free will.

ELECTROMAGNETISM

The fourth season of LOST, for me, was an extremely well-timed season with respect to the courses I was taking in college. The entirety of the season itself occurred during the spring of my freshman year, when I was taking a basic course in Electromagnetism. One of the greatest scientists in the field of electromagnetism was Michael Faraday, and so the last-name connection jumped out at me immediately when we were first introduced to Daniel early on in the season. Seeing as the electromagnetic radiation on the Island is a key aspect of the show, there was no mistaking Daniel’s namesake. (Further nerdiness ensued with Faraday’s episode “The Constant” – an aptly chosen name. If you really wanted to get technical, the actual Faraday’s Constant can be numerically approximated to 96,000, and you may recall that Daniel instructed Desmond to return to 1996.)

The following fall, I took Special Relativity, which I found to be as important to LOST as electromagnetism. My first clue was the name of Daniel’s freighter buddy, George Minkowski. Much like Daniel was named after Michael Faraday, Minkowski must have been named after Hermann Minkowski, the German physicist who came up with the concept of a Minkowski diagram, which is often used in the field of relativity.

In fact, if you look closely enough at Daniel’s journal, you can see a Minkowski diagram in his notes.

RELATIVITY

In addition to providing a mandatory character name, special relativity also serves to explain some of the phenomenon we see in LOST. Specifically, it provides an explanation as to why Daniel’s rocket reads a different travel time than what Daniel had clocked on the ground.
In fact, such a situation is a very typical problem one would encounter in a relativity class. To give some very basic and intuitive background on the subject:

Imagine that you have two clocks, both of which measure the duration of a second in the following way: there are two flat surfaces, in which a ball can bounce back and forth between them. We will call the amount of time it takes for the ball to travel from the bottom surface, to the top surface, back down to the bottom surface, as one second. In this case, the path of the ball is straight: up and down, along the same vertical line. Both these clocks are synchronized – that is, to begin with, both these clocks measure the exact same amount of time for one second, and the balls are bouncing in sync with each other.

Now, imagine that we take one of these clocks, and put it on a rocket to orbit the earth, and leave the other one to sit on earth. The rocket travels at a considerable speed. From our point of view on earth, the path of the ball in the clock on the rocket no longer travels in a straight vertical line. If you were to look at the path of the ball as it went from the bottom to the top, you would find that the ball not only traveled upwards, but to the side as well. A better, more intuitive way of thinking about this is to think about standing still and watching someone bounce a ball on a bus moving to the right. As the ball travels upwards, it is also moving to the right with the motion of the bus.

Because the shortest path between two points is always a straight line, we can see that the ball bouncing diagonally is going to travel a farther distance than the ball back on earth, bouncing in a straight line. If we assume that the balls bounce with the same speed (since the clocks were synchronized), then it follows that the ball bouncing diagonally on the rocket measures a longer second than the ball on earth. Thus, if we were to compare the number of seconds (or ball bounces) of the rocket clock to the earth clock, we would find that the rocket clock measured a smaller number of seconds. In short, time moved more slowly on the rocket, and in general, moves more slowly when the object is traveling faster.

RELATIVISTIC TIME TRAVEL

You can probably see the connection to LOST by now – the time discrepancy on Daniel’s clock versus the rocket clock can be explained by the fact that one object was moving considerably faster than the other. However, what made Daniel so uncomfortable, and what should make you raise an eyebrow, is that unlike the previous example I had just described, it is not the rocket that measured a shorter time, but instead, the Island. This would imply that the Island was the one moving faster – perhaps an unsettling concept, if one had not seen the Season Four finale.

We now know that this Island can, in fact, move, and not only does it move through space, but it also moves through time. Coincidentally, there’s also a relatively simple (pun mostly unintended) explanation from relativity. As we’ve already seen, the amount of time that someone or something experiences is directly correlated with the speed at which that object travels. The faster you go, the less time you experience. It would therefore be entirely possible, within the realms of physics, to take a one year trip on a very fast rocket (one year being rocket time) to return and find that one hundred years have passed on earth. (In fact, if any of you are familiar with Queen’s B-Side ’39, Brian May, who has a Ph.D. in astrophysics, sings about exactly this!)

Is it possible, then, that the Island (or rather, the people time traveling on the Island) “time travels” by moving at very fast speeds, and experiencing a “slower” time to the time that people on the rest of the earth experience? Your everyday physicist would say no, due to the fact that one would only be able to travel into the future, and not the past, using this method of time travel. However, this may not apply to the world of LOST.

The reason the physicist would say no is due to what some may refer to as the Arrow of Time. Specifically, time only proceeds in one direction: forward. The physicist, and the Arrow of Time, is making the inherent assumption that time naturally goes from 1977 to 2007. Thus, should you take a two month rocket trip, you will return to find that earth time has naturally progressed thirty years forward, and not backward. However, as we found out in "The Variable," time need not necessarily travel forward. Specifically, Daniel tells Jack that 1977 is not their past, but instead, their present, making 2007 their past. Thus, it could very well be that time, in the LOST universe, proceeds naturally from 2007 to 1977, at least for some people.

[side note from Jo: Let's not forget about the Arrow station on the island, which was created by Dharma for defensive against and to gather intelligence about the Hostiles. In addition, Eko discovered a box covered in cloth in the Arrow...and Ben grabbed just such a box from his hotel room vent before returning to the island via Ajira 316. Eko's box contained a bible, glass eye presumably Mikhail's and Orientation film footage; the contents of Ben's are still unknown. Not sure if this relates at all to the Arrow of Time, but worth mentioning nonetheless.]

PHILOSOPHICAL IMPLICATIONS

Having at least somewhat justified the physics of LOST, what about the philosophical implications? Returning to what I had said previously, I also happened to be taking an introductory class to philosophy the spring of my freshman year. (It was, actually, quite satisfying to go from learning about Faraday in one class to learning about Hume and Locke in the next). With the question of time travel, obviously, always comes the question of free will. Is it possible to change the future, or the past? As a scientist, I would say no. Equations dictate deterministic, set results. Whatever happened, happened, and whatever will happen, will happen, or else we invariably fall into logic traps.

Picture the following example:
In 1977, Daniel Faraday tells Pierre Chang of the oncoming electromagnetic catastrophe, much like he did in The Variable. Chang listens to Faraday, and evacuates the Island. There is no catastrophe, and there is no plane crash. Thus, there is no freighter expedition, and Daniel never comes to the Island to rescue the survivors. Ben does not move the Island, and Daniel does not travel back to 1977. But, if Daniel does not travel back to 1977, then who will tell Pierre Chang in 1977 that he has to evacuate the Island? We come to an inconsistency.

The only way for the problem to be resolved is to take Hugh Everett’s Many Worlds Interpretation, which, succinctly put, says that a parallel universe exists for every possible outcome of every decision. Thus, there is a parallel universe in which Chang does evacuate the Island, and one in which he does not. While the Many Worlds Interpretation is certainly possible, and is a notable theory in physics, I am not sure how relevant it is to LOST. However, I say this mostly due to the fact that there is no character with the last name Everett, so trust my judgment at your own discretion.

Leaving Hugh Everett behind, we seemed to be forced accept, as Daniel did, that we cannot change the past. Yet this doesn’t sit right. Aren’t we, as human beings, more than just numbers or equations? We feel as if we are in control of our thoughts, and our thoughts motivate our actions, so we should also be in control of our actions. More than anything, I think that it’s very discomforting to think that I have a set path in front of me, and there is nothing I can do to stop myself from walking that path. Essentially, many philosophers have postulated that the most important aspect to human happiness is free will.

The best example of this, in fact, comes from none other than John Locke (the philosopher). Should Locke have lived in our day and age, he might have proposed the following situation to you:

Imagine that it’s Wednesday night, and you are settling down to watch LOST, as many of us do. Presumably this is something that you enjoy doing, and something that you gladly do on your own. Now imagine that you are locked in a room and forced to watch LOST. There is now something different about the situation. It’s not that you don’t like LOST, or even that you just wanted to do something else. It’s the fact that, even if you would have made the same choice, you didn’t get to choose.

(In light of this, I find it somewhat ironic that the John Locke on LOST seems to believe in the exact opposite of his namesake – he is, in fact, perfectly fine with the fact that he has a predestined path. Clearly, they differ more than just the amount of hair they have.)

SCIENCE VS. FAITH/JACK VS. LOCKE

I’ve always thought LOST to be a deeply philosophical show. I had, actually, imagined it to be a huge metaphor for society at the end of season one, in which Locke represented faith, and Jack represented science, and the two clashed and fought and engaged in mortal combat until one triumphed and the other was consumed in flame and smoke (monster). Needless to say, this is false. LOST is never so clearly black and white – if it had indeed come down to Jack versus Locke, I would now predict that the two would meld into one being with no hair but much stubble, representing the ultimate integration of faith and science (and bald and stubble). I think in some ways, though Jack and Locke clearly no longer represent science and faith, there is a similar clash between the hard, deterministic face of science, and the malleability of our own free will. Though I am not quite sure that Daniel’s metaphor of a “variable” in the equation checks out entirely, I certainly appreciate his sentiment. Given the wild, fantastical nature of LOST, a world in which time can move backwards and people can come back to life, who’s to say that there won’t be a compromise between fate and free will?

The fact that Daniel Faraday was the one to propose this idea, if anything, made it more attractive to me. I had always found Daniel to be an intriguing character – not only did he have a surprisingly classy taste in ties that you don’t tend to see too much the world of physics academia, he had two very distinct sides. On the one hand, he was obviously a genius, and clearly much more comfortable with numbers than he was with people. Yet on the other hand, he seemed more human than many of the characters on the show. Unlike Ben, who coldly used his daughter as a chess piece, or Jack, who was too busy “fixing people” to take care of his own wife, Daniel knew exactly what his heart felt about Charlotte, and what he needed to do.

THE FUTURE OF FARADAY

Given all this, I truly hope that Daniel Faraday hasn’t died in vain (or, even better – hasn’t died at all!). His conflict between his two sides – the cold scientist who knows he can’t change the past, and the guy who just wants to save his girlfriend from a time-traveling induced accident, represents two facts of life that, for all of us back here in the real world, we aren’t seemingly able to reconcile. Yet why watch TV if it doesn’t show us an alternate reality to the one we live in? If there is some way, in this crazy LOST world, that Daniel will be able to save Charlotte, and not explode the universe in the process, then I wholeheartedly hope that that will be the direction the show turns to take.

Thank you for reading, and many thanks to Jo for letting me steal her blog for an entry!

Top 100 Scenes from 5 Seasons of LOST

Because the next episode ("The Variable") is the historic 100th of the series, I posted my favorite 100 LOST scenes of all time on TVOvermind!

Click here to see the extensive list, accompanied by photos and organized by season and episode.

See you late tomorrow night!

-Jo

LOST Tour in Oahu, Part 1

Before I begin, I need to thank and acknowledge Jeff from Kos Tours; he was far more than our tour guide and ride, and really made today one of the most memorable and exciting experiences of my life! And a huge shout-out to Sam & Holly, who were also on our tour and put up with hours and hours of my endless Lost chatter and theorizing. You are patient souls and we were thrilled to have spent the day with both of you as well!

Given that I have to catch a flight home in a few hours, I only have time to post photos from actual filming locations right now (with a few obvious exceptions), accompanied by matching screen captures from the show. So please consider this a rough first draft; I really wanted to post these before I left Hawaii and because so many of you were kind enough to follow my journey on Twitter and Facebook today. The next entry will include pictures of the beach camp, the fuselage and pieces from the wreckage, various props, etc.

So stay tuned for more details and very cool photos after I am home again...and after tomorrow night's new episode airs.

* One caveat: this is and always will be a spoiler-free blog. We did witness live filming today, but I feel that I owe it to my loyal spoiler-free readers to remain silent about what we saw. All I will say is that is was amazing and surreal to be so close to the live production and set, and that we were able to watch a few scenes being filmed with some familiar faces.

When I have more time, I will add the titles of each episode from the photos below.

Anthony Cooper's house, stalked by Locke

Bad daddy's real pad

Desmond flashes back to military training

Not filled with Scotsmen on a normal day

Eko's church

...remains unfinished

Hurley's 1st lottery house

Thankfully the real one isn't cursed & didn't burn to the ground

Jack meets Kate in the pilot episode

It was rocky from the start

Jack's Thailand vacation beach

No sign of Bai Ling (phew!)

Jack's Thailand vacation beach, take 2

The coast is clear...literally

Jin brings Sun to the temple

It is breathtaking in person

Jin proposes to Sun

Note the Dharma-ish bench

Jughead on the island...

...and Jughead hidden on a prop truck

Kate buried her ex's toy airplane time capsule beneath this tree


...and then, like most men in Kate's past/path, he died

Miles parachutes onto the island

In reality, the ash layered rock is much darker in color

Other Rock Point

...does not actually have that opening

Pala Ferry

no Hurley, Jack, Kate or Sawyer held captive today

Radio Tower

nowhere near where it was on the show

Sawyer's Sweet Shrimp Shack

different name, same location

The sub before Locke gets to it

...and the sub in storage

The waterfall

No one resembling these two were swimming underneath it

Yemi's plane

The actual tree they superimpose it upon

Various fuselage beach camp tents

We took several hundred photos and I can't wait to share the best of the rest with you very soon!

I will say that taking this tour is exhilarating and exhausting (I have even more respect for the actors now...walking along their beach was surprisingly challenging); an absolute treat for true Lost fans who have the opportunity to travel to Hawaii. Even after the series ends, Kos will be offering this journey and I highly recommend it to all of you (we chose the 8 hour tour, but they also offer 2 and 5 hour versions).

Have a great day, and thank you so much for taking the time to stop by!

- Jo

The Road to LOST, Season 5: An Extensive List of Questions & Theories (By Character)

I took extensive notes during a recent re-watch of Season 4. Below is a comprehensive list of lingering questions and theories as we head into Season 5 this week, broken down alphabetically by character (major, minor & one-hit wonder) and where they were when we last saw them.

Caveat:
As is my personal policy, I have not read any Season 5 spoilers or recaps whatsoever, nor have I visited or posted on any Lost message boards since last summer or regarding S5 (with the exception of a few ideas on DocArzt and my time as Bentham). These are my notes from each episode, but due to the fact that there are thousands of Lost blogs and forums out there, it is entirely possible that some of what I have to say has been said before. I would never claim to be the first or most original with these thoughts; this is simply my unfiltered stream of Lost consciousness. This post has been created in the spirit of and for the passionate and enthusiastic Lost community; a little thought-provoking fun for all of us as we gear up for 17 weeks of our favorite show.

Key:
F4: Freighter Four
O6: Oceanic Six

AARON {O6; Claire's son/Jack's nephew/Christian's grandson}
Status: off island in care of Kate

Claire's psychic warned her that she had to raise Aaron alone, Ghost Charlie sent Jack a message (via Hurley) off island that "you're not supposed to raise him" and then Ghost Claire admonished Kate with "don't you dare bring him back." It seems as if the island really wants to reunite mother and child...

ALEX {Ben's daughter; deceased)
Status: murdered by mercenary Keamy on island

Was she ever aware of Ben's frequent trips off of the island? Who supervised her when she was younger while daddy was out time traveling?

ANA LUCIA {deceased}
Status: murdered by Michael

Will Ana Lucia reappear in ghost form to anyone off or on the island, just as Libby did?

ANNIE {Ben's childhood Dharma friend}
Status: last seen as a young girl on the island, current whereabouts unknown

Did Ben arrange for her safety when he orchestrated the purge, or was she already off island by then?

Will we see her again, or have we without realizing who she is?

BEN {Other mastermind; off island}
Status: at Bentham's coffin with Jack

If he was having the Others build a runway over on the smaller Hydra island, did he have a plane and pilot on hand and awaiting his call, or was he planning to return to the island via plane in the future?

Is it possible that Alex really was his biological daughter? Could he and Rousseau have actually been a couple at one point in time, or at least briefly enough to create a child together?

The photo of Ben that Miles brought to the island appeared to be from an earlier era, yet Ben wasn't much younger in the photograph. Was it taken when Ben was off island and in a time shift? Did Abaddon provide it to Miles before departing for the island?

It seems that with his many trips to the outside world, Ben could have had more than one VHS tape on hand. So why use the same Red Sox tape to record Widmore's beating of an off-island Other? Did Ben film that footage himself?

What is the true significance, if any, of his black baton, and why would he briefly hand it off to Locke at the Orchid?

This is a lingering question that has been bothering me for many seasons...if Ben knew everyone on and everything about the island, and had video cameras monitoring the Swan hatch long before Flight 815 survivors broke into it, he must have known Desmond's connection to Widmore. Why did he never utilize that or interact with Desmond at all? Will he attempt to find Desmond off island, because he wants to harm Penny?

BERNARD {original 815 survivor; Rose's husband}
Status: on the beach when island moved

Bernie has more skills than that of a normal dentist, including Morse Code interpretation. Will we discover more about his background, and did it involve any kind of military training?

"BIG MIKE" {works for LAPD; Ana Lucia's former partner}
Status: interrogating Hurley after his car crash

Miles made reference to a 'buddy at the police station' in LA. Given that there are no coincidences on Lost, I'm assuming that Big Mike and Miles have a connection because not only did he work with Ana Lucia, he was also the officer who interviewed Hurley after the car crash in LA.

BLACK SMOKE MONSTER {tree & people-crushing entity w/a penchant for flash photography}
Status: pummeling Keamy's mercenaries in New Otherton

Will Locke enter Ben's secret chamber and figure out to unleash it now that Ben is off island? Are there other ways to summon it, and is Alpert responsible for doing so?

CAPTAIN GAULT {captain of freighter; deceased}
Status: murdered by Keamy on freighter

How much did he know about his employer, Charles Widmore? Could he also have been working for Abaddon?

Was he involved with the placement of the fake 815 wreckage?

Had he read the Dharma Second Protocol before Keamy opened it and returned to the island? Was he aware of Dharma's presence on the island and what the real mission involved?

CAROLE LITTLETON {Claire's mother; off island}
Status: at Christian Shephard's funeral, informing Jack that Claire was his half-sister

When Claire left Australia on Flight 815, her mom was still in a coma. Carole seems to have made a full recovery in the meantime; coincidence/miracle, or island/Dharma intervention?

CASSIDY & CLEMENTINE {Sawyer's ex & his daughter}
Status: possibly living in Albuquerque, where Sawyer opened a bank account for Clementine

If and when Cassidy meets up with Kate again, this time when Kate does that favor for Sawyer, will Kate tell Cassidy the truth about his whereabouts or her relationship with him?

CHARLES WIDMORE {Penny's father; off island, in London}
Status: approached by Sun about a mutual interest

Does the original Black Rock journal that he purchased contain information about how to find the island after it relocates?

Could he have been the captain or a crew member of the Black Rock?

CHARLIE {deceased}
Status: at Santa Rosa Mental Health Institute visiting Hurley

Even though many characters on Lost are from England, only Charlie and Naomi were from Manchester. Both are deceased, but will we learn of a connection at some point?

Will he and Claire reunite as living ghosts, off island?

Does Ghost Charlie visit anyone else, in addition to Hurley?

CHARLOTTE LEWIS {F4; anthropologist}
Status: on beach when island moved

Before Miles alluded to it, had Charlotte ever imagined that she was either born or raised on the island? Were her parents part of the Dharma Initiative?

She seemed to know exactly what she was looking for when she unearthed the polar bear collar in Tunisia; was she researching the Dharma Initiative because she knew she was linked to it somehow? Is that why Abaddon chose her as one the Freighter Four to go to the island?

With Faraday out at sea, who will Charlotte attempt to befriend now that she's stuck on the vanished island with the 815 group and Miles (who is an acquaintance but not necessarily and ally).

CHRISTIAN SHEPHARD {Jack & Claire's father/Aaron's grandfather; deceased}
Status: on island, in Jacob's cabin w/Claire; off island, in Jack's office

Is Christian the only deceased character who is able to speak on Jacob's behalf?

CINDY {Oceanic flight attendant on 815}
Status: on Hydra Island, observing Jack in cage; presumably still on island when it moved

Was she subjected to tests and Room 23; is that why she seemed content to be an observer on behalf of the Others?

Was she on 'the list,' and if not, why did the Others kidnap her from the tail section beach? Was she specifically selected to be a surrogate to Zach & Emma during their transition into Otherville?

CLAIRE {Aaron's mother; possibly deceased}
Status: hanging in Jacob's cabin w/Ghost Dad Christian when the island moved, making off island appearance at Kate's house

Is it significant that Ghost Claire was at Kate's house in her island clothes (as opposed to cleaned up Ghost Charlie and suited up Christian Shephard)? Is that an indication that she's still alive and well back on the island?

Has Ghost Claire appeared to anyone else?

DANIEL FARADAY {F4; physicist}
Status: on Zodiac raft when island moved & freighter blew up

Who is the woman in his flashback, the one who appears to be his caretaker?

Given that his notebook is filled with island secrets, it seems rather obvious that Faraday has been there before but is unable to recall due to his memory loss. At some point prior to his arrival on the island on this mission, did he travel back in time to warn of the hostiles vs. Dharma fight and first purge, and was he the one videotaping Pierre Chang in the 1970's Barracks video? He certainly knew what the Dharma Secondary Protocol meant, and set out to prevent it.

Logistically speaking, wouldn't the Zodiac raft need to refuel during Faraday's runs between the freighter and the island? And now that both are gone, where will Faraday take the raft and passengers?

If Faraday has his notebook with him on the raft, will he find a note about how to find the island if it vanishes?

DANIELLE ROUSSEAU {Alex's mother; deceased}
Status: murdered by Keamy & his mercenaries on island

If she can speak English, why did she create the distress transmission in French?

Where is the boat which she allegedly arrived on the island in, and where is her expedition team buried?

Why hadn't she made efforts to see and take Alex back from the beginning?

If she made a deal with Ben to raise Alex, what did she receive in return? Freedom to co-exist on the island with the hostiles and Others? Was she planning to give Alex up for adoption before crashing on the island with her team?

DESMOND {only non-815, non-O6, non-Dharma, non-Other who ever lived on island}
Status: on Penny's rescue boat

When and how will Desmond discover that Ben is looking to harm Penny? If Daddy Widmore knows where he is, will he reach out to him to protect his daughter even though he loathes Desmond?

Was Charlie's vision about Claire on the helicopter and subsequent mission down in the Looking Glass all for nothing? Or, if she's still alive, will we see her get rescued in Season 6? And will Lapidus be the chopper pilot?

DONOVAN {Desmond's best friend, off island}
Status: London

Again, it can't be simple coincidence that Donovan is a professor of physics, just like Faraday. Also, when Desmond flashed back the first time, Donovan was the only person whom he revealed his whereabouts and experience to. So it's possible that Donovan then informed Penny, who set up a search beginning with the listening station manned by the two Portuguese men.

ELSA {deceased, off island}
Status: romanced then murdered by Sayid, presumably at the behest of Ben

Was Elsa working on behalf of Widmore or Oceanic?

EKO {deceased}
Status: playing chess w/Hurley at Santa Rosa

Does Ghost Eko hang out with Ghost Charlie?

EMMA & ZACH {Flight 815 tail section kids}
Status: on Hydra Island observing Jack in cage, presumably there when it moved

This is a total stretch, but...at Comic-Con last summer, there was a woman named Emma working the Dharma booth. Either it was a wink-wink in our direction, or that woman is an actress who will appear in a flash forward as tail section kid Emma.

ERIKA {Doctor at Jack's practice; off island}
Status: LA

She happens to show up at exactly the two moments when Christian Shephard appears to Jack at their office. I have a feeling we'll see her again...

ETHAN ROM {deceased Other}
Status: murdered by Charlie after kidnapping Claire

We know that Ben sent Goodwin to the Tail Section of flight 815 on purpose, knowing quite well that he'd meet his death in the process (which was Ben's intent and revenge for Goodwin's relationship with 'his' Juliet). So what would cause Ben to also send Ethan, his only island surgeon, to the Fuselage section to meet a similar fate? What did Ethan do to cross him?

FRANK LAPIDUS {F4; Oceanic Air & helicopter pilot}
Status: on Penny's rescue boat

If he landed the chopper unharmed on the island after Faraday, Charlotte & Miles bailed out using parachutes, how did he sustain those injuries?

He believed that there were survivors from flight 815 and that he'd encounter them on the island, but why study the manifest in advance of the mission?

Is Frank still technically an employee of Oceanic Air? After he returns from the mission, does he investigate the genesis of and responsible party for the fake wreckage?

When everyone returns to the island, will Frank be their pilot?

HARPER STANHOPE {Goodwin's estranged wife/the Others' therapist}
Status: appeared to warn Juliet in the jungle, presumably still on island when it moved

Because Jack actually saw Harper when she was speaking to Juliet, it seems that she wasn't an apparition. So is she living among the Others who abandoned Other Village or does she roam with Richard Alpert and his formerly hostile crew? How did Ben speak to her while in captivity under Locke's care?

Will she be a part of the hostiles or Others on the island in S5?

HELEN {Locke's ex}
Status: turned down Locke's proposal, hasn't been seen since

While this certainly isn't confirmation or a spoiler, when I met Katey Sagal at Comic-Con last summer and specifically asked whether or not she'd appear during Season 5 (given that Locke will be off island and may seek out Helen), she smiled quite wide and simply said "I love Hawaii and working with the amazingly talented Terry O'Quinn."

HENRIK & MATHIAS {Portuguese tracking station team}
Status: Henrik was on Penny's rescue boat

How did Penny find these guys, and is it significant that they speak Portuguese?

Was Penny able to hire them to man that listening station with her own funds and keep it a secret from Daddy Widmore? Or are they working for him as well; did he use their electromagnetic anomaly discovery to locate the island and send the freighter out as a result?

HORACE GOODSPEED {deceased Dharma}
Status: appeared in Locke's dream, building Jacob's cabin

Something tells me we haven't seen the last of him. He was there the day that Ben was born, just as Alpert was present at Locke's birth...

HURLEY {O6}
Status: leaving Santa Rosa for a safer location w/Sayid

After Hurley ran from his restored Camaro because 'the numbers' appeared in the speedometer, at what point did he change his mind and decide to drive it, and why? (we see him crash it after seeing Ghost Charlie)

Hurley caught a brief glimpse of Christian Shephard in Jacob's cabin on the island. Did he then recognize the photo of Christian at his funeral off island a few months later?

THE ISLAND
Status: moved/shifted

Ben made a comment that the Dharma crackers (in his Orchid-signaling box of tricks) were 15 years old. Was that the last time that someone utilized the frozen donkey wheel to 'move' the island? If so, who was responsible for that (keeping in mind that whomever turns it must leave the island forever); Widmore?

It seems that when it disappeared, the smaller Hydra Island vanished along with it. So should we assume that the displaced Others, Flight Attendant Cindy and tail section kids Emma & Zach were still living there?

Was the Black Rock marooned there when the island moved during a previous turn of the frozen donkey wheel, only to resurface suddenly and take the ship with it?

There is an inactive volcano on the island, and the image of the island as it is about to disappear (see image above) certainly makes it look like a giant crater. I believe that the volcano plays a significant role in the history of the island (see my article "The Tempest, Tectonics & The Volcano" on Doc's site for further elaboration).

JACK {O6}
Status: at Bentham's coffin w/Ben

Does Jack ever tell Kate that Claire is his half-sister and Aaron is actually his nephew, or did Kate overhear Claire's mother telling him?

He doesn't believe that Locke moved the island, but after seeing it disappear and trying to go back for years after rescue...does he believe/know that Ben did?

Bentham told Jack that 'very bad things' happen because he left the island, but did he tell that to the others (Hurley, Kate, Walt) as well? Does Jack have a larger role on the island than we've previously thought; does Jacob have plans for him?

JACOB {who the hell knows}
Status: in his cabin w/Claire & Christian when the island moved

Does the line of ash surrounding Jacob's cabin relate to the inactive volcano on the island?

JIN {allegedly deceased}
Status: on freighter when it blew up

If the O6 and others must return to the island...doesn't Jin have to as well? Does Ben know whether or not he is alive?

JULIET {ex-Other}
Status: on beach when island moved

Apparently she resembles someone significant from Ben's past; his mother? That would be Oedipally appropriate for Ben.

This is random, but I've always wondered how she dislocated her shoulder four times. What else did my favorite fertility doc do in her spare time before arriving on the island?

Will Juliet return to Ben's house in New Otherton and figure out how to use his communication system? Will she be able to somehow contact her sister Rachel?

Does Richard Alpert consider her to be an ally or enemy at this point?

KAREN DECKER {Oceanic Air PR rep}
Status: Holding Oceanic press conference after 'rescue'

Was she assisting the O6 or Oceanic by going along with their story of rescue?

Does she work with or for Matthew Abaddon?

KARL {Alex's boyfriend; deceased}
Status: killed by Keamy & his mercenaries

He was around the same age as Alex. Could his parents have been among Rousseau's crew, or were they Dharma and did they die in the purge?

KATE {O6}
Status: off island, raising Aaron as her son

Did Abaddon, Oceanic or Widmore pay off the judge to remand Kate to jail without bail? It also seemed quite convenient that the terms of the deal mandated that Kate remain in the state, which would (at least in theory and in the eyes of the law) prevent her from returning to the island.

Does Kate travel to Albuquerque to deliver Sawyer's message to Cassidy and/or Clementine? How will she react when she realizes that she and Cassidy have met before?

Who called Kate at the very moment that Ghost Claire appeared in Aaron's room?

Who does Kate claim is Aaron's father? Under intense media scrutiny for O6 and her criminal trial, you'd think that would be a common question.

KELVIN {deceased Dharma; Desmond's former Swan bunkmate}
Status: accidentally killed in skirmish with Desmond

What was he actually doing when he left the Swan hatch every day?

LARA {unknown}
Status: in 1970's Barracks video with Pierre Chang and a mystery baby

Was she Chang's wife? Could the baby be Miles?

Could she be the woman in the portrait hanging in Ben's house in New Otherton, and/or the woman whom Juliet supposedly resembles?

LIBBY {deceased, murdered by Michael}
Status: appeared to Michael on freighter before it blew up & off island in his hospital room}

Will we find out that her deceased husband David was Hurley's invisible friend Dave? Was her husband's illness a result of being on the island at some point, or working for Dharma?

Was she an employee of Widmore? It was entirely too convenient that she gave Desmond her sailboat so he could compete in Widmore's race around the world, which resulted in his arrival on the island.

Given that Jack & co. decided to give Libby's name as one of the 3 passengers who originally survived the crash but perished shortly thereafter, wouldn't it be likely that more information about her would be then be published in the press...and Hurley would discover why she seemed so familiar; that she was a patient at Santa Rosa when he was there before the crash?

LOCKE/BENTHAM {newly elected island leader}
Status: Locke was on island when it moved, Bentham was in coffin in LA

The obvious first question is HOW does Locke get off of the island? Is he assisted by Alpert?

When did Locke leave the island? How much time passed between his arrival and his death?

Did Locke choose the Bentham pseudonym, or was it assinged to him by Alpert or another source?

Do the island's healing properties dissolve once one leaves? Does Locke become paralyzed again upon his return?

We know that Bentham visits Walt and most of the O6, but does he either use the information he has about Charles Widmore or seek out the man himself?

I find it fascinating that Locke visited/warned Hurley, Kate, Jack and Walt as Bentham when he left the island. Given that Sun was in Korea, I understand why he didn't see her, but could he simply not locate Sayid or was there a reason he avoided him? And what exactly did he tell the four that he approached?

The island wouldn't let Locke die...until it did. Did he complete his mission on its behalf by informing some of the off island people that they had to return?

When they do finally return to the island, will Locke (or his spirit/essence) become the new Jacob? Was that the plan all along?

Perhaps he knew that Jack wouldn't believe him, but why on earth didn't Locke ever tell Jack that he'd been in a wheelchair prior to crashing on the island?

MATTHEW ABADDON {allegedly an Oceanic attorney}
Status: visiting/threatening Hurley at Santa Rosa

After he goes to Locke during rehab (after he was pushed out of the window) and encourages him to go on a walkabout, he tells him that 'you'll owe me one.' Does Abaddon find out that Locke has left the island, and if so, does he finally call upon that favor?

Did Abaddon ever visit other 815 people long before they crashed on the island? Was he able to influence others to eventually wind up on that flight?

Who is his employer? Oceanic or Widmore?

MICHAEL {Walt's father; deceased}
Status: on freighter when it blew up

Even though their interaction was brief, why didn't Michael inform Sayid, Desmond, Jin or Sun how to actually escape and reach the outside world via boat?

When Michael was in the hospital after the car suicide attempt, the patient sharing his room has two entirely different types of breathing apparatus in two different shots in that scene....is that indicative of a time shift? Ghost Libby appears at Michael's bedside in between shots, so it seems plausible.

We know that Locke took the name Bentham upon his return to the real world, so did Michael also assume a similarly germane identity during his reentry?

This may seem trivial, but photos of all passengers from flight 815 would have been plastered in the world press for months following the alleged crash, and there were very few African Americans on the plane. So how is it possible that Michael is able to roam freely upon his return, with absolutely no one recognizing him? Outside of a beard, he didn't exactly take any measures to disguise himself...

MILES STRAUME {F4; ghost whisperer}
Status: was on beach when island moved

Miles knew immediately that Michael was not Kevin Johnson when he joined the freighter crew. Had Libby spoken to Miles from the great beyond? Remember that she did appear on the freighter and he communicates with the dead...

Does Miles interpret 'the whispers' on the island, and is that how he knows more than he has let on thus far?

Even though Miles is still on the island, does Ben ever get him the blackmail money when he leaves the island? And in exchange, does Miles lie about Ben's whereabouts?

Is he Pierre Chang's son? Remember that he is one of the many people who have said "I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be." In addition, is it possible that his ability is a result of having been born or raised on the island or in proximity to dad's Dharma experiments?

MR. AVELLINO {deceased, off island}
Status: murdered by Sayid, presumably at the behest of Ben

Did Avellino work for Widmore or Oceanic?

MR. PAIK {Sun's dad, business acquaintance of Charles Widmore}
Status: dealing w/Sun's stealthy takeover of Paik Industries in Korea

Are he and Widmore business competitors or partners? Are they both investors in Oceanic?

MS. HAWKING {ring lady in London in Desmond's first flash back in time}
Status: sitting with Desmond on bench in "Flashes Before Your Eyes"

*This is a great theory which one of my readers just emailed me the other day, so I in no way take credit for it. He wishes to remain anonymous, but I'm allowed to say that his name is Mike. At some point in the near future, I will expand upon and explore this further.

We now know that time travel and shifts are prevalent...is it possible that Ms. Hawking is actually Penny; did she travel forward in time to course-correct Desmond's path? Recall that Hawking appears in a photo with the Monk where Desmond worked, the same location where Penny went to the monastery to pick up wine and met Desmond for the first time...

NADIA {deceased, off island; love of Sayid's life & recent wife}
Status: murdered by unknown party

She was living in Orange County, CA after escaping Iraq. So what was she doing in London (when Charlie saved her from muggers)? Could she have ties to Widmore, Naomi or Charlotte?

Did Ben have her killed in order to recruit Sayid over to his side; to work as his secret spy assassin off island?

NAOMI {hired by Abaddon to assist F4 to island; deceased}
Status: killed by Locke after parachuting onto island

Each of the F4 seemed to have their reasons for going to the island, and Naomi had a photo of Desmond & Penny with her when she arrived. We know she wasn't working for Penny, but did Daddy Widmore hire her to either retrieve or kill Desmond?

Who's initials are RG, the ones engraved inside her bracelet? Regina, the woman on the freighter who jumped off ship wrapped in chains? Or Gault, the freighter captain who was murdered by Keamy?

PENNY WIDMORE {Charles' daughter, Desmond's girl}
Status: on her rescue boat w/Desmond

If Daddy Widmore knows that Ben cannot return to the island, does he somehow arrange for/enourage Penny to go there with Desmond so that she's safe from Ben, who is seeking revenge for Alex's murder?

PIERRE CHANG {Dharma doctor, a.k.a. Dr. Marvin Candle/Edgar Halliwax/Mark Wickmund}
Status: in 1970's Barracks video, warning about purge

In the Orchid video, he is wearing a wedding band (which I did not notice in any other Dharma video). Was he married to Lara, the woman who's voice we hear during the Barracks video, and could Miles be his son?

RACHEL {Juliet's sister}
Status: shown on video in Mikhail's Flame station, playing w/her son in FL

Was her cancer remission and healthy child bearing a result of island/Dharma destiny?

Had her cancer returned, as Ben had told Juliet on the island?

Who is the father of her miracle child? Please don't let it be Ben...

Has Rachel been searching for Juliet? What was she told when Juliet didn't return after six months, if anything?

RADZINSKY {deceased Dharma; Kelvin's first bunkmate who created blast door map}
Status: allegedly killed himself in Swan

If we witness the island during the early days of Dharma, will we meet the artist formerly known as Radzinsky?


RICHARD ALPERT {former Hostile, current Other}
Status: in jungle w/Locke when island moved

Submarines are not the fastest method of tranportation, so how did he and Tom travel back and forth from the island during their many trips on behalf of the island and Ben, respectively?

Had Alpert tried to recruit any of the other 815 passengers to the island before, besides Locke?

Given Alpert's failure to recruit/lure Locke to the island on many occasions, was he responsible for getting Locke on Flight 815 and the subsequent crash?

Will Alpert ever inform Locke that they'd met several times off island, prior to the crash, and reveal in what capacity?

What is Alpert's relationship with Jacob?

After Locke leaves the island, is Alpert in charge?

After the island moves, is Alpert still able to travel back and forth to the real world?

If he doesn't already know, will there be consequences if Alpert finds out that Locke didn't actually kill his father, a sacrifice that the island demanded?

ROSE {original 815 survivor; married to Bernard}
Status: on beach when island moved

One of the reasons that Ben and the Others were interested in Locke was because the island healed him...so will Alpert and/or Jacob become more interested in Rose now?

SAWYER {original 815 survivor}
Status: jumped out of helicopter/sacrificed rescue; on beach when island moved

Now that Jack is out of the picture, will Sawyer become the de facto leader of the remaining 815 group?

We know that 'very bad things' are coming, but will the island keep him alive because he has work to do?

SAYID {O6}
Status: moving Hurley from Santa Rosa to safer location

Will he find out who murdered Nadia?

Did he kill Bentham?

SUN {O6; Ji Yeon's mother, Jin's wife}
Status: visiting Charles Widmore in London

When Sun reminded Widmore that 'we are not the only ones who left the island,' was she referring to Locke? If so, is Widmore the one who kills Bentham? Or was she talking about Desmond, knowing that Widmore is trying to locate Penny? OR...was she basically handing Ben over to Widmore on a platter, in order to protect Penny & Desmond?

Does Sun use funds from the others in the 06 to help purchase a majority of the shares in her father's company?

Does Ben convince Sun to return to the island with Ji Yeon by telling her that Jin is alive?

There are a few candidates for the second person whom Sun blames for Jin's death (the first being her father), but I believe it is Jack; he insisted that the helicopter take off from the freighter w/o Jin and then forced her to lie as one of the O6.

TOM {Ben's Other henchman; deceased}
Status: off island in NY following Michael...and indulging

If the timeline is right, it would seem that Tom brought Anthony Cooper with him back to the island after first convincing Michael to join the freighter.

WALT {Michael's son; off island}
Status: living w/grandma in NY; visiting Hurley at Santa Rosa

Does Tall Ghost Walt make any other appearances while Locke is still on the island?

Who paid for/arranged Walt's trip across the country to see Hurley? Bentham or Ben?

Did Bentham visit Walt off island because he was special or because he thought that Walt could convince some of the others to return?

Does Ben seek out Walt for any reason off island?

Does Walt think that his dad is still alive and living on the island, or does he know that he died?

If Walt returns to the island with the others, does he assume Locke's leadership role? Ben and the Others were certainly interested in him (as they were Locke from an early age)...

MISC.

"All of you have to go back."
I believe that 11 of them must return as a group to the island; in addition to the O6 and Locke, this would include Ji Yeon, Ben, Desmond and Walt. But if Ben is never to return to the island after turning the frozen donkey wheel, does he arrange for/escort them to a point and then part ways?

CT scans
Do we know who the 26 year old woman is whose CT scans were shown to Juliet Mittelos? Given her condition, it is likely that she lives on the island.

The Economist
Could be any of the following: Abaddon, Ben, Bentham, Paik, Widmore.

Frozen Donkey Wheel
Is there any particular reason that it is frozen? What mechanism is maintaining that temperature below the Orchid? Or is there an entirely new and separate cold region/village located below the island where the displaced Others are living and hiding?

Jacob's List
His list clearly had nothing to do with those who wound up as the Oceanic 6 because we know that Kate and Sayid weren't on it. So who the hell was on the that list, and will we ever find out?

Favorite Theory From S4
I created the Bentham blog last summer because I am convinced that Jeremy Bentham and John Locke are two different people. In the Orchid video, a bunny clones itself and Dr. Halliwax (Pierre Chang) makes reference to both a 'shift' and the Casimir Effect. Without getting too scientific...I just have a feeling that during Locke's bumbling efforts to follow in Ben's footsteps, he somehow activates a time shift which creates a clone: Bentham.

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Let's be honest, there are endless theories and questions as we head into Season 5 of Lost. These are just the ones which I'm curious about, so let me know what you think and if you have a list of your own!

Thank you very much for visiting and reading. Apologies for the length!