Richard Alpert visits little John

But if Richard's slow aging is a result of the Dharma Initiative then surely Richard would have aged normally up until the 1970's when the Dharma Initiative was formed.

This does not seem to be the case.

In fact 1950's Richard does not look any older than 2004 Richard and yet surely that at the absolute minimum he should look at least 15 years older!

I subscribe to time travel. I think that although he sees Locke in the present, he travels back in time to either a) ensure that certain events occur in Locke's life or to b) test Locke to see if he is fact the "him" that they have been waiting for. Both Desmond and Kelvin were expecting a "him" to show up a "him" that would know the answer to the riddle "What did one snowman say to the other snowman?"

Slow aging, if true, can not be the result of a dharma initiative project, the DI was formed too late for that, unless they have developed a rejuvenation project as well.

Yay! So far we have Irocz,Stitch,SP(i think) and myself on the time travel side of the argument. We still need more converts though.

WTF,

What I think is that Richard arrived on the island via the Black Rock.

I think that he met Jacob and learnt about moving the island, and that whoever or whatever moved the island would be cast off.

So I think that he got someone to move the frozen donkey wheel and moved the island forward in time to the 1960's.

Then with the other survivors of the Black Rock they lived on the island in a happy manner until the arrival of the DI.

The 1970's were hard for the survivors of the Black Rock as they were seen to be hostiles in the eyes of the DI. Although they had actually a better understanding of the island and had a connection to Jacob.

Jacob, I believe prophesised that a leader would emerge who would lead them to some sort of Nirvana. This person would be born of a woman, but not raised by them and who would murder his father. This person would also be known by their like for the Law.

Ben, I believe fitted this picture as did Locke, but maybe the reality is that the "him" they have been expecting is actually a "her". My guess is that the "her" is actually Kate.

I think that they misunderstood the prophecy, Kate killed her father and my guess is that the prophecy is supposed to read the "her" who is born of a man but not raised by him will kill that father.

Sons not raised by mothers and daughters not raised by fathers. Kate fits the bill equally as does Locke and Ben. My guess the promised and prophesised leader is Kate.

The only one that knows this is Richard.

The others just expect a "him" to be a leader but I think that everything is leading to it being a "her" that is the leader.

Stitch, frikin awesome.
Have you posted these thoughts before as a theory? If not do so now.

Whoa, whoa. . .

Dharma/Hanso may have been conducting research into life extenstion - but nowhere is it said they created it!

They didn't create the healing properties the Island possesses, did they?

I would suggest the Island has a power source, a property, that enables life extension for certain people (Alpert) and once Dharma/Hanso got wind of this they set about conducting study into the phenomenon.

So they went to the Island and, amongst other things, started looking into it. So Alpert does not need to be a product of Dharma (indeed, he's a "hostile", he was never part of them so far as we know) to have the life extension properties and, therefore, time travel is still, for me, a more unlikely (and logically problematic) explanation for Alpert's agelessness.

Stitch

Good stuff, off on a bit of a tangent but i too would love to read this theory in more detail if you have one. I'm intrigued

Whatever the case may be, I think we can all agree on one thing: We need at least one Richard centric episode in Season 5.

Irocz

I read yesterday on Dark UFO that Darlton have said Richard Alpert will feature heavily throughout season 5.

Fingers crossed that means he will make much more sense come may this year.... though i wouldn't hold your breath!!

Stitch/WTF,

Good point. But I submit that we have only seen Richard two times prior to his appearance to Ben in the forest. 1956 and 1961. Not too unlikely that he wouldn't look so different btw. those two visits (nevermind, we saw him for just a few seconds in the 1956 shot).

By the time he appears on the island to Ben, this may already be after any LET (life extension treatment) -- or whatever may have happened on island to affect his aging.

Thus, we are comparing a Richard Alpert that is likely only 15 years different in age (as opposed to 20 or 30 years younger) than when we first see him. Either way, I think that is a good catch and challenges my "theory".

Right now, my first thought is that perhaps I misunderstood the purpose of making Richard look native in the 70's (although, no doubt, it served more than one purpose).

See -- in 1956, we only see Richard quite briefly. Assuming for the moment, that Richard had already had contact with Dharma prior to meeting Ben in the jungle, the only time we have an extended look at him, therefore, is the 1960's (in his visit to Locke). Thus, assuming fans would use this view of Richard in the 60's as their basis of comparison, the purpose of having Richard go native in the 70's becomes a bit clearer. It obfuscates (to a degree) how much older he looks (given that its 10 years later) the "next" time we see him.

As pointed out, after that, everytime we see Richard he has a clean-cropped, shorter haircut, that may denote a slightly older looking Richard.

A/C, I agree -- kind of. We haven't heard Dharma performed life-extension treatments on humans. However, we have heard that Dharma claimed "to perform" life-extension treatments on an orangutang called Joop. Supposedly, Joop celebrated his 105th birthday (even though Orangutan's lifespan averages in the 60's).

Now, while I concur that Richard seemless aging may be attributable to some quality of the island (and he is a unique or special beneficiary of it), I think the LET is also another way to go (given we have seen claims that this can be done). Of course, Dharma could be claiming to have an LET (and just be somehow either observing or harnessing this LET property). I'm on board with that as a potential as well. In fact, in my initial post, I referenced the properties of the island as likely being involved no matter how we slice it.

I also like the LET b/c it might explain why Richard was the one leading the charge on the purge. If Dharma tested on him against his will (like some lab animal) that is a hell of a motive for him to hate Dharma and seek their removal from the island altogether.

Finally, as was noted above, LET's are clearly not even a part of the show yet. This is probably a strike against them. In the other corner, we have often seen that part of the extended Lost Experience acts as a precursor to the release of similar information on the show. I think this could be the case here.

If it turns out that Richard had an LET, I'm posting a huge smiley in this thread.

As a side note, Stitch -- I dug your theory. Interesting take.

Irocz, you said it best. We need some clarity on this mysterious Richard Alpert fellow. Question though -- is this a mystery that the show may never answer?

Yeah, I was careful to add the "so far as we know" element because there is a question mark about Alpert's origins and relationship with Dharma.

However, press me for an either/or response, I say Alpert was never part of Dharma and was on the Island before they ever got there.

Stitch: Have you posted this as a theory? If not plz do so! I'd love to read more on this. Very interesting indeed!

Ben: "You DO remember birthdays Richard, Don't you?" What does this imply?
a) That Richard time travels backward to always avoid his birthday and hence not age?
b) Or that Richard's time passes in a slower rate?

I tend to think the first one because even if it is in a slower rate but there will still be a birthday. Wouldn't it? Just that the appearance would look not much older and the person would celebrate many many birthdays as opposed to forgetting about them which imply celebrating none!!

I'm with ya WTF.

I've always suspected time travel at work where Alpert is concerned.

*big hug* It does feel like the writers are implying that to me too But then when I think about the comment Ben made to Richard about not remembering birthdays....that does imply that he is ageless (as mentioned by other posters), so I'm still open to both arguments I suppose.