Lostpedia has arranged an interview with TLE blogger Speaker for this Friday. Submit your questions here!
Do you have an idea for a new wiki? Please share it with us here

From Lostpedia

&ot

• Who said the Hostiles were on the Island before DHARMA people or that it isn't a lie from DHARMA ? The Hostiles were human guinea pigs DHARMA people brought and used for experiments (as they did with polar bears). They escaped and started war against DHARMA. They took over the island with the help of Ben. Then they worked on hiding themselves from DHARMA, fearing their revenge - pretending they were all dead. They don't want anyone to get out of the island because they know DHARMA will chase these people to use them for more experiments. For some reason, people who are healed on the island end up as DHARMA guinea pigs or have to run from them.
  • I remeber Ben referring to the hostiles as "the island's original inhabitants."
  • Interesting that they are called "The Hostiles." Building off of the guinea pig theory, "The Hostiles" were the original naive participants in the Dharma initiative experiments. Perhaps they were even the original Losties, trapped on the island and manipulated/guided into finding the hatches and participating in the experiments just as we saw Locke and the others start participating. Similar to the Flight 815 group and Desmond, they were lead to believe they were saving the world by pushing buttons, taking vaccines, and following the instructions of the Dharma films. Maybe "Hostiles" were even genetically modified like the Polar Bears must have been to survive in such warm climates, and this has given them extraordinary health, or cursed them with the inability to have children. At some point, the Hostiles used the computers to begin communicating with each other at the different stations and overthrew the Dharma Initiative. This is "the incident" that Marvin warns happened as a result of using the computers to communicate. They use the powers they have developed during the experiments they have participated in (or maybe even powers they were originally recruited for possessing) to overthrow the DI - the unwitting Hostiles, each one of them having been brainwashed to believe that they are participating in a sacred mission, as we see Karl being brainwashed with the phrase "God loves you as he loves Jacob" continue to follow this ideology even after they overthrow the Initiative. This is why they steadfastly believe they are the "Good guys" and also why they are sometimes sympathetic to the Losties (everyone accept Ben of course). Living in isolation, the Others have created a peaceful colony, even using DI technology to recruit people to their mission from the outside world. Perhaps in reality, they are experiencing a mass, socially reinforced hallucination, making up their own mythology and using the Dharma Initiatives tools (their apparently amazing array of knowledge and devices) to continue the work they were brainwashed to do. Ben was already a little crazy and also felt trapped and controlled by the DI, and thus made a natural ally for the "Hostiles." Just like many of the people on the island with parent issues, the Others have grown into the Dharma Initiative that they despised, using their power and psychological tricks to push the "chosen" Losties into their way of life.
• They were created by DHARMA Initiative, that later lost control of them.
• They are Witches and Wizards and have magical powers, as does the island, thus they want to harvest and protect them.
• They are the Others (as stated on the 20th March 2007 Official Podcast).
• Danielle Rousseau is one of the Hostiles.
• They are the original inhabitants of the Island - predating DHARMA and/or the Others.
  • It is logical to conclude that Ethan Rom could have been an original inhabitant/hostile as well. As seemingly since Richard is allowed to leave the island one can assume this is because he has every intention of returning due to his unique connection to it. Ben has stated, and shown through action, that he is loathe to let anybody born off-island to leave. As Ethan Rom appears to be given this luxury in addition to Richard he must be one of the original inhabitants as well. This could also explain Ethan's apparent superhuman strength.
    • Unlikely - Ben has also left the island (seen in the Freighters' photo of him), and he said that Greta and Bonnie were on assignment in Canada. Leaving and returning to the island seems fairly routine for the Others.
  • The pregnancy issue that is plaguing the Others was not an issue for the Hostiles because being the original inhabitants of the island, their metabolism was "in tune" with the island. It was only when their gene pool was affected through contact with people from the outside that the pregnancy problem started.
• They are the descendants of the Crew and Slaves of the Black Rock. That would also explain why they are Caucasian.
  • They couldn't have children if the pregnancies issue have always existed on the island.
  • Certain Oceanic survivors - like Shephard, Locke, and Reyes - who have a definite connection with the Island, may themselves be descendants of Black Rock crew members.
• They are related to Adam and Eve.
• They are the builders of the Statue.
  • This is supported of how Mikhail said that the Hostiles were on this island a "long time" and how the producers have said that the Statue is pre-DHARMA.
• The whole story of "The Hostiles" is a Dharma fabrication. It's original intent was to keep newer/lower members from wandering around and seeing things they should not or interacting with other Dharma groups/projects. Only the top Dharma brass was aware of this and they would keep the myth going by wearing fake beards and shaggy hillbilly clothes. That is why in "maternity leave" you see the spirit gum glue used to hold Tom's fake beard on has a Dharma logo on it. Much like fear of the sickness could keep people in "The Swan", fear of mystery Hostiles could keep people in their stations and prevent them from wandering around.
  • This is supported by the fact that when the hostiles "attacked" while young Benjamin Linus was in class, the hostiles were never seen. All that Ben and the other students could see were Dharma members running around with rifles. Gunshots were heard but the persons firing the guns were not visible. From the children's vantage point it appeared that the barracks were under attack but there is no proof that an attack actually took place. The children moved away from the windows and the door was chained shut, decreasing the possibility that they could see what was actually going on outside.
  • This theory is similar to the storyline in the movie The Village. The group leaders fabricate the existence of hostile forces/groups in order to prevent rank and file members from wandering too far and discovering secrets which the leaders wish to remain hidden. This deception also creates a sense of group cohesiveness; that the group needs to remain unified in order to resist the hostile force.
• The DI splintered, the purge happened, and those ex-DHARMA begun to "convert" the Hostiles, the original inhabitants of the island. Collectively, the Others are ex-DHARMA and the indigenous inhabitants of the island.
• They were the actual (original) crew of the Black Rock.
  • Recall the way Richard Alpert was dressed upon first meeting Ben.
  • Recall the way the rest of the hostiles were dressed when they entered the barracks after The Purge.
  • Richard Alpert's age can not be measured very well due to the lack of any striking aging between meeting Ben for the first time and the present day.
  • The explosions heard in The Man Behind the Curtain during one of the hostiles' attacks were sticks of dynamite from the Black Rock.
• The Hostiles are all manifestations that the magic box has produced on the island. Before the purge, they appeared only outside of the sonic fence. They may be wishes (such as Richard, the friendly hostile) or even ghosts.
  • If this were the case, Richard could not appear off of the island. He is known to have spent a considerable time off of the island while recruiting Libby.
  • In my opinion "the Natives" with special genotype or something like that are: Richard, Ben, Jacob, Juliet, Jack, John, Walt, Desmond, Mikhail, Alex, Aaron
    • The Natives were also Ethan and Radzinsky (however he could be alive somewhere, he can even be one of sailors from the Black Rock)
    • In my opinion "the Others" are:
      • Amelia (if she is Amelia Earhart she could died and come back with such force to be alive that she became almost mortal)
      • Mikhail (not likely, but he could really died and didn't spot it)
      • Christian (there is no body and Jack saw him on the Island; maybe Christian had started have problems when he said "no" to DHARMA when they wanted to employ him)
      • Emily Linus (she was on the Island but decided to go further and now she is truly dead)
      • Anthony Cooper (maybe he didn't lie this time? Maybe when he was dead John or James Ford summoned him on the Island where he was only material ghost between life and death?)
      • those who are the part of the Whispers (like Boone)
  • So who are the Hostiles now? I think that Naomi and her people are.
  • Hurley is special too, but different. He is neither Hostile neither Native. Or maybe he is one of them?
• They are the caretakers of time. Like Ms. Hawking, they ensure that events happen as they're 'meant' to by giving events small nudges at critical points.
  • They arranged for the losties to all be on flight 815, and they arranged for it to crash (by drawing Desmond to the island).
  • All the coincidences and unlikely events the losties experience are caused by the Hostiles manipulating them.
  • Although Ben thinks he's leading the Others, he's really being manipulated by the Hostiles, who use Jacob to control him.
  • They have a grand plan which requires everything they've assembled on the island - the flight 815 survivors, Desmond, the various other non-natives, the Dharma facilities and so on.
  • This plot device is the basis of a couple of books - Sirans of Titan (Kurt Vonnegut), and Mostly Harmless (Douglas Adams).
• The Hostiles originally inhabited the decoy village.
• Harper Stanhope, who may have the ability to appear and disappear, is one of the Hostiles.
• The 'Hostiles' came with the Island from the future. They cannot directly interfere with the past - physically or psychologically their hands are tied because of their future homesource. They are forced to recruit present-day people who they 'nudge' in certain directions to help stave off the end of humanity according to the Valenzetti Equation. The 'Hostiles' recruited the Dharma Initiative to help change the future but had to have them killed when Whidmore - a financial backer the futurists were using to support Dharma - went rogue and tried to take the Island in a different direction than intended.

Marnok 17:51, 19 May 2008 (PDT)*The Hostiles were duplicates of the Dharma Initiative.