A few posts back we began our review with the island itself assuming it was here before anything else. Then we covered the Ancients and what clues the show provided about them. In this post we will examine the Hostiles as we assume they were next in the timeline.
Some assume the Hostiles are the extension of the Ancients. My definition is that the Hostiles are the group of people we see running around the island and led by Richard Alpert.
We don’t learn anything about Richard prior to 1956, but we are assuming he is representative of the Hostiles from an earlier date.
RICHARD ALPERT
This guy is our best example of a Hostile.
We first notice Alpert in 1956 when he shows up at the hospital to check out John Locke’s birth. We should notice that John was born a month premature, so if Richard had marked his calendar it wouldn’t be accurate. No, he had to be keeping close tabs to realize that a car accident (where I have heard that before?) caused John’s mother (Emily) to go into labor. It had not been revealed who the father is, but some creepy ideas suggest it is Richard.
We the notice Richard fin 1961 when John is 5-years old. Alpert shows up at the foster home to test John. Locke selects the compass and a vial of sand, but then passes on the Book of Laws to select the knife. It is then that Richard shuts down the test and leaves.
Richard and Ben’s paths cross in the early 1970’s. Richard is dressed in primitive clothing but had a modern pistol on his hip. We should note that this encounter happened because a young Ben was following a ghost of his mother into the woods.
In 1992, Ben led the Purge which seemed to be Richard’s idea.
In 2001 Richard approaches Juliet and recruits her to work on the island.
In 2004 and after the crash, Ben shows the survivors a live feed to Richard in Miami where he shows a newspaper in order to date stamp the events which include Juliet’s sister, Rachael, who appears to be doing fine. We don’t see Richard, but Ben mentions him by name and urges him to return to the island soon.
Late 2004, Richard messes with John’s life again…he tells Locke about the connection to Sawyer in his life and brings John to his father…in order to kill him it seems.
In a critical scene, Ben asks Richard, “Who do remember birthdays, right?” Alpert did not respond. This leads us to an observation that Richard Alpert does not seem to age!
Finally, Richard is asked to lead the Others to the “temple”.
RICHARD AND PREGNANCY
It seems that one explanation to why pregnancies fail on the island is that the Hostiles live forever and don’t need to procreate. If this is true, then it interesting that Richard helped in recruiting Juliet, a fertility doctor.
However, Richard tells Locke, ‘Ben has been wasting our time with fertility issues. We’re looking for someone to remind us that we’re here for a greater purpose”. Hmm…
FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH
With Richard never seeming to age, it brings to mind the legend of the Fountain of Youth. We do have some documentation of such a possibility. Of course, that source is the Bible.
It records that people lived an average of 750 years due to climate, food and less stressful environment. The record number of birthday candles is 969 (I think, and don’t ask me to spell Methuselah). For those who embrace a plenary and verbal inspiration of the Bible, they would tend to take these stories as fact. The location would be somewhere in the Middle East region.
There is book entitled, “Fountain of Youth” which described the discovery of an island with a race of giants who lived forever (see past blog on giants and six-digits).
Another book called, “Further East than Asia” describes a island race who have a fountain of youth plus leprosy – odd combination!
CONNECTING SOME DOTS
If you review the past blogs on the History of Lost you will find aliens, immortality, and religion. It is possible then that what the Bible called “angels from heaven” might be what someone else calls aliens. Angles (and demons) don’t die as we expect them to and might be considered by some as ghosts.
So when Juliet said they were building a runway for aliens to land, she might have been exactly correct…sort of. I guess what I’m saying is that the Hostiles, as descendants of the Ancients, are angels. Or perhaps more accurate term would be “demons”.
I can’t help but always return to the same thought: LOST is a re-telling of sorts of the Bible. It could be the show’s main source. The Ancients and Hostiles then are angels or demons and I leaning toward demons.
DEMONS
The gospels tell us that demons crave sexual contact. The Old Testament refers to some race from the skies coming down and having relations with human woman…resulting in giants. The emphasis should not be on sex, but on procreation and an interaction of the natural and supernatural world.
So who is the good guys? Probably not the Hostiles. Ben is likely a pawn in their larger game. The Bible says that demons can’t tell the truth and we’ve seen quite a bit of that with Ben and the Others. If you stop and ponder what constant lying really means. Then imagine one of the Other demons going on recon for Ben and coming back and can’t help it, but has to lie to him. You might outthink this concept and ask, “If a demon knows the other demon is lying then he could always assume the opposite is the truth.” Tricky life to live.
The Bible also describes demons as being knowledgeable, but not all-knowing. For example, the Bible says the demons can’t read our minds. Likewise the Hostiles (and Dharma by way of the Purge) know a lot about our survivors.
And recall Ben’s comment in the gun vault room as a prisoner: God can’t even see this place. Are we talking Hell?
I must caution that if the Bible is being used as a major source, it does not mean it has to remain true to the story. If the writers read about Abraham willing to sacrifice his son, Isaac…the writers could reverse that with John and Anthony Cooper. The idea could be: a retelling of the Bible when seen in a mirror – a very common theme on LOST.
If the Bible is the source book, then we can start to guess what will happen: the end times, Revelations! Perhaps more side-by-side comparison of LOST and the Bible is in order.
NEXT UP
In our Sunday edition, we will continue along the timeline and next would be the Black Rock ship.
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Enjoy,
KC
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