History of the Island

HOB-it

This is just my contemplations on the subject. Feel free to rip it to shreds

It seems to me that the island is base for an extraordinary human endeavour – undertaken by Dharma. What that endeavour is has not become clear but it is varied and centres around a central theme – human advancement - involving projects such as weather control – healing the sick – immortality – telekinesis and remote projection/seeing. When the island was discovered it was long before Dharma existed. On the island it was discovered that a tribe of people worshipped and made their god – a man. A man that could commune with the island and make the rain stop – heal those that are ill and make the dead reappear. Statues were erected to this him who probably – because of advanced evolution – had only 4 toes. When the island was discovered by (probably the De-Groots) they sought funding from the United Nations. Dharma was formed to fund the De-Groots study and learn the secrets of this man and more importantly the island. Dharma however saw the commercial application of such knowledge and always had an underlying agenda for the funding.

Having established themselves on the Island – Dharma learned that the person the original inhabitants believed to be their god was originally one of themselves that – when very young – displayed certain characteristics that showed him to have an advanced mind to commune with the island – which ascended the child to the position of god. This was the way of things for generations – as one “God” died – another was put in his/her place. The Islands special properties – it EM field – its position on the planet – its hallucinogenic plants – makes it special – and forms a link with the person of an advanced mind and makes any thought a reality. One could control the very delicate strands of fate that ties us all together and interconnects us on some level. The island is a utopia for advanced minds to meet and evolve to the next stage of consciousness and evolution and creates such rewards and pleasures that it can only be compared to a heaven on earth.

Dharma discovered that any person of a particular genetic make up/advanced mind set could potentially take the place of this person – and if they could recreate the properties of the island in a controlled environment – that person could perform miracles. Walt apparently possessed the first signs of this. So too did Ben as a child - as Richard discovered. Implementing the theory caused the a war to break out between the others and Dharma – due to the rape of the island and its natural resources and probably its abduction and study of the Islands children. The great colossus that looked out to the sea was destroyed in the battle and the island descended into chaos. When Ben met Richard in the jungle that faithful day – Richard realised that the boy was special – he had the ability to communicate with their god – i.e. communicate with Jacob – or at the very least Jacob favoured Ben because he chose to show his mother to the boy. Jacob hated Dharma and all they stood for – hated the technology and machinery that Dharma brought to the Island - and as a sign of respect – all the others wear rags whenever out in the island.

At this stage the others had converted one of the Dharma to their cause and turned him against his own – turned Ben to a darker side – by showing him images of his dead mother. By instigating the destruction of his own kind he advanced in the ranks to their leader. But Ben betrays every one and ultimately he betrayed Jacob. Ben discovered how to trap Jacob and control him. He lured Jacob to shack in the jungle one day and trapped him there by encircling him with an element that prevented him from crossing its threshold – possibly some sort of magnetised element – possibly something more spiritual - like sulphur – or an element that cant be found on the island and for which Jacob cannot control.

With Jacob trapped in this location he could only roam the island through remote projecting. This took the form of a black cloud of smoke. Over the years Jacob slowly went mad due to his confinement. He commandeered the islands security system and used it as a means to seek revenge on those that trapped him. The others seeing this decided to move to Dharma’s former residence in order to escape the wrath of Jacob. Dharma had developed an advanced security fence that Jacob could not penetrate but more importantly – the security system they put in place did not extend to the compound. Here the others were safe and from here Ben could control them due to the fact that he was the only one that could control Jacob.

Dharma in retaliation for the purge – created a disease that would prevent the others from re-producing. The island was infected by this man made disease which was aided by the hatch “The Swan” which managed to survive the purge. When communications broke down with the compound the occupants of The Swan knew of the danger and the retaliation Dharma would take. They confined themselves to the sanctuary of the hatch and quarantined themselves against whatever repercussions would ensue.

When flight 815 landed on the island the others saw this as a means to acquire new people into their community that could help in its population problem.

All the while Jacob is exploring the island and meets John Locke. He sees in this man an over whelming belief in the Island and the possibility of someone that can help him escape his captor. Jacob wants Locke to help him escape.

Hyzepher

I don't know. I never got the impression from any of the Dharma flashbacks that they knew anything about Gods or people with special abilities. They understood that the island had certain special properties and were simply studying it to find out more. The longer they were there the more they discovered and thus set up new experiments etc. From the looks of it, some of the hatches were built to study the effects of the island on the hatch inhabitants, others were built to study/control the special property of the island. They just knew that the locals didn't want them there.

I still don't get this "Ben could see his mother so he is special and now Locke is special". Remember Jack saw his dad, Kate the horse, Hurley his friend, Ekko his brother et al, Charlie a few flashes of his mum/dreams etc. Now some would say that these are formations of the Smoke but they don't say that about Jacob etc. Why is Locke more special than the rest? Just because he wants it more?

I also dont think Dharma initiates any retaliation for the Purge. In fact everything points to Dharma not realising the purge has happened - continued food drops etc.

If Ben was trapping jacob then wouldn't Jacob try and overpower Ben everytime he visited? I genuinely feel that Ben fears jacob.

Another thing that bothers me is the ease at which naomi found the island. We assume that the Portugese guys noted the co-ordinates of the island and travelled there to see what's what. But when Ben talked about the beacon being disabled he was very clear that returning was impossible. Now I am sure that he knew the co-ordinates of the island, but this seemed to make no difference.

The Others population problem could easily be solved - take the pregnant women off the island until they give birth and then bring mother and baby back. The pregnancy issue is part of a bigger picture. it seems Ben was the forerunner of keeping this research up and most of the Others didn't seem to think it was worth it. It is as if Ben wanted to prove that a baby could be born on the island regardless of who died - it's not about increasing the population.

The kidnapping of kids and adults is also not about incresing the population. They could of done this by procreating off island or simply recruiting more people like they did with Juliette and Ben's family. The taking of people again has a bigger story to tell