Where is Cindy and the children?

Little Zack and his sister Emma were among The Tailies and were abducted by the Others shortly after the crash of Oceanic 815. Stewardess Cindy was taken a couple weeks later. In the third season, we learned they are living happily among the Others. But why did the Others want them in the first place?

Well, last we heard they were on a pilgrimage to The Temple following the mass Others exodus of The Barracks. I can only assume that’s where they’ve been. It’s been theorized that, in light of the Island bouncing around in time, potentially there would have been people that would have become unstuck in time the same way Faraday and Locke and the rest were. That might have included Cindy and the rest. It’s thus been suggested that The Temple presented a place where they would be protected from such activity. . .
Since Richard had encountered Jack and Kate and so forth in his own past, in the 1970s, he must have known something time-travelly was going to happen so getting Cindy and the other kidnapped Oceanic people into a safe haven seems like a sound plan.

Of course, there’s a lot of strangeness in The Temple. Ben was taken there as a boy and something was radically changed in him, his memories wiped and his becoming eternally bound to The Others. And Rousseau’s science team apparently had some dealings in those Temple areas and it changed their personalities entirely. Had Cindy undergone some kind of similar alteration? When she told Jack she was there “to watch”, was this a transformed person speaking?

Presumably Cindy and the kids were taken based on this odd claim that they were “good people” who were on the list. By “good people” I interpret that as being suitable as part of The Others. But then there’s the added complication that suggests these lists didn’t come from the real Jacob, rather from Flocke masquerading as Jacob.

It’s too complicated to comprehend, so I am going with a simple answer that states Cindy and the children were taken because they were uncorrupted and made of the right stuff to become a part of The Others’ group.

Any ideas are always much appreciated folks!