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From Lostpedia

Relationship with the Others

• In the "The Cost of Living", Juliet says, "Ben is a liar. And he is very dangerous. Some of us want change." Karl is one of the Others that want change.
  • Karl and Alex are part of a younger generation of Others who don't like the way their elders are running things.
• Karl is either a doctor in training or an aide to those who are doctors. He developed and brought Ben's X-rays to Juliet.
• The brainwashing he was being tormented with in Room 23 was meant to cause him to turn against Alex and/or the castaways.
• Karl was kidnapped as a child. His real parents are dead, and he was given to an Other to be raised, much like Alex was.

Also see: The Others/Theories

Relationships

• His parents are Charles Widmore and Ben's sweetheart Annie. Charles used to lead Richard's people on the island. Charles was a cult leader much like Ben was. Ben would often sneak away from Dharma and spend time with Charles and Richard's group in the jungle. Ben convinced Annie to join the group. The group had a way to get off the island via teleportation and Ben used this often and had many adventures in the outside world Charles tricked Annie into sleeping with him and she got pregnant. Somehow someway she gave birth before Karl died. She may have spent most of her pregnancy off island but returned when it was time for Karl to be born and she died (it may have been necessary or against her will). Ben was angry at Charles and contrived a way to get him off the island since he either couldn't or wouldn't kill him. Ben has always had mixed emotions about Karl. It was the son of his worst enemy and the love of his life.
  • There's not a single shred of evidence to support any of this...
• His parents were either members of DHARMA or they were hostiles. He was born about the time of the purge.
• Karl is Horace Goodspeed's son.
• Karl is Ben's son (unbeknownst to one or the other); Annie could have been his mother.
• His father is Goodwin. Karl says that he and Alex used to lay in his backyard and name the stars. Therefore, Karl is most likely the son of one of the Others. Goodwin is a likely candidate, since he is about the right age to have a teenage son, and with him being dead, there is no longer anyone looking out for Karl.
• Since Ben indicated that his disapproval of Karl and Alex's relationship was solely from the fear that Karl would get Alex pregnant, that could mean that he has already slept with her.
• Since it appears that children conceived on the island can't be carried to term, Karl was probably conceived and maybe even born in the outside world, then brought to the island as a small child or while still in his mother's womb. His biological parents were DHARMA researchers who died in the Purge, but he was 'adopted' and raised by Others in much the same way Alex was.

Actions

• In "A Tale of Two Cities", Karl told Sawyer to run in a different direction as a distraction for his own escape.

Origin

• Karl's last name could possibly be Marx, which would fit in with the theme of Lost characters being named after philosophers.
• Karl may also be named after the philosopher Karl Popper, who was a harsh critic of utopian social engineering.
• Another possibility is that Karl's name was inspired by Karl Koch, a German hacker who drew his inspiration from The Illuminatus! Trilogy.
• One could assume, from his confusion over Sawyer's Brady Bunch comment, that Karl may have been born on the Island (if not brought there as a small child, not unlike Zack from the tail section).
  • Of course, not everyone knows the Brady Bunch.
• Aaron is the only person that was definitely born on the island and that his mother was pregnant before arriving on the island. Karl was not concieved on the island. He either was brought to the island after his birth or his mother came to the island while already pregnant.
  • Karl's past might be revealed through future Alex-flashbacks.
    • Not possible after her death. Possibly through Ben flashbacks, however.
• The brainwashing could have been targeted at destroying knowledge of the outside world (and by extension The Brady Bunch).
• Karl could, like Richard, be older than he seems. Karl's age could explain both his lack of knowledge of pop culture, and also Ben's disapproval of his relationship with Alex.
  • In Through the Looking Glass, Ben indicated that his disapproval of Karl and Alex's relationship was solely from the fear that Karl would get Alex pregnant.
    • Ben is, however, known to be a liar.
  • Karl is not older than he seems. He acts pretty much as a typical teenager and dosen't show any signs of being unusually mature for his young age.