Ricardus Alpert
With a lot of thought, 5 seasons of data, and the first of saeason 6 (or first 2) I have come up with a backstory for Richard. I gues someone else may have thought of this before, and in my oppinion it is what most people think of Richard’s backstory, but nevertheless, here goes:
It all comes together if you sum up all of the info given by the producers on all seasons. We lknow from season 3-5 that Rochard is very old, that he does not age and that he is that way because of Jacob. We know that the Black Rock was most likely the ship that came to the island on the episode “The Incident” on season 5. We know that Smokey told Richard that it was good to see him without the chains. We know that the Black Rock was carrying slaves and that according to an auctioneer selling the ship’s first mate’s journal, the Black Rock set sail from Portsmouth, England on March 22, 1845, purportedly on a trading mission to the Kingdom of Siam (now known as Thailand). The ship was believed to have been lost at sea. Seven years later, the journal was discovered among the artifacts of pirates on ÃŽle Sainte-Marie, an island off the coast of Madagascar. This journal is believed to be the only surviving remnant of the Black Rock’s ill-fated final voyage, and was sold at a Southfield’s auction to Charles Widmore. The ledger had previously been possessed and read solely by the Hanso family, but was put forward for sale by Tovard Hanso. Tovard is a relative of both Magnus Hanso, the presumed owner of the Black Rock, and Alvar Hanso, CEO of the Hanso Group and founder of the Hanso Foundation
So, we can asume that the first members of the DHARMA iniciative were on board of the ship, and ship wrecked on the island for unknown reasons to us. We can also infere that Richard was a slave in that ship, and that upon arrival to the isaland, the war between the islan’s native people and the first members of the DI began. Then I presume that Jacob got in the middle of the fight, Richard got off of his chains, and by some reason, we will learn this season that Jacob was almost killed (or held at gunpoint, whatever threat to his life, but saved by Richard), and in order to bring him back to life he would have to be brought to the Temple to be saved. But, I guess that Richard’s deeds will not be over here, so he will most likely have to sacrifice his life to save Jacob’s, and when he does, after Jacob’s revival, he (Jacob) will grant him inmortality (or agelessness).
Thoughts?
nice theory 🙂 would love to hear more….one thing though…..his name is Alpert lol
miss spell, how to correct it?
If you say the journal was found amongst pirate artifacts, I believe Richard is a “slave” in that he was captain of the ship an pirates captured them. Thus he was placed in chains by the pirates. Plus the first 2 episodes of season has pirates swarmng ALL over the place. See the Japenese leader and some his colleagues? I am sure I have seen him in one of the Pirates of the Caribbean films. SO, the casting director of Lost has seen his CV and says “We need pirates for the pirates role in Lost, this guy fits the bill”. So these guys seem to be pirates to me. So the timing is and I believe soon we will find Richard locked up in chains in one of the next episodes!! Trapped by the people the Losties are working with! Losties will free him! Anyway cant wait to see what happens
yeah great theory, mostly everyone has assumed Richards on the black rock as a slave and is kind of indebted to jacob which i agree i cant help but feeling theres some kind of shock with Richard.Because its lost and there usually is lol. I dunno i get the feeling hes more than an immortal advisor. Maybe your theory is on the right track.
Thanx 4 the support and thoughts…
i like the theory except the idea that black rock was carrying the first wave of DHARMA folk. i always thought that DHARMA came from the experiments and studies of the degroots in ann arbor, michigan. and it was simply bankrolled by alvar hanso. i don’t think DHARMA has been around since the 1800s. but i can kind of see what you’re saying about richard.
Yeah, I don’t agree about the DI originating with the Black Rock… seems like maybe the Others originated there (at least some of them)… I also don’t know about Richard coming to the island as a slave… I think the reference Focke made was to Richard being free of Jacob…
A note about the Black Rock:
The ship contained dynamite, which is why the Losties went to it in the first place to blow open the hatch. Dynamite was invented in 1867. So either the ship could not have been reaching the island in 1845 because then they would not have dynamite, or the ship came to the island more than once, or the Black Rock came at a later date and the ship we see in S5 is not the Black Rock. Also, 1867 was after the American civil war, so this ship probably did not have African slaves being brought to or from America. However, England did take prisoners to Australia to start colonies up until 1868. Either the writers screwed up their history or there is something more here.
katetheorizes… bloody marvelous, you must be right. But there are also other possibilities.
But time in itself seems to be a tricky customer. 1845 was merely when they set sail! Its not like catching a plane to London to Miami. These ships sailed for ages, years. Some never returned.
1867 – 1845 = 22 years. Ok its a long time, but it could be the ship was sailing for this long, away from home. Especially if pirates had taken this. So would hae reached a time when dynamite was being used.
Also, notice the japense leader. He had fireworks. Oriental civilizations used fireworks/gunpowder since 2,000 years ago :
http://www.ch.ic.ac.uk/local/projects/gondhia/history.html
In addition, from what I have read, it is possible that it was not a slave ship ie what I keep saying that the ship was captured by Pirates. The island is said to be (from theories I have read all over the internet) somewhere in the Indian ocean. Which would make sense that they were heading (from Europe) to Austral-Asia.
oh and mamey to correct the spelling click on my profile at the top then a list of posts u have done should come up on the right hand side of this one click edit and then change away 😀
Chris,
Could it be that the island is kind of like the Bermuda Triangle in that ships could get lost within it? Like, the magnetic energy of the island could mess with their compasses so that they could go in circles endlessly? A trip from England to Australia would have taken weeks, maybe months, especially if they stopped to port several times. Honestly I do not remember anything about the ship’s journal… I wonder if maybe it says something to that effect.
Thanx Wesley, I did it anyways without the help. Sorry about the spelling, I did not see that I had put a B instead of a P…DUH!
katetheorizes:
If your facts about the date of dynamite invention is correct, then let me give this piece of info from a transcript from Lostpedia’s transcripts.
This is a piece of the transcript from the episode “The Incident” part 1, from season 5. Let it be noted that it is an ENHANCED version of the regular one:
[…]
This scene takes place on the island
over 140 years before the present day.
The ship in the distance
is an early 1800s wooden sailing ship.
This is the Man in Black
Jacob’s nemesis.
[…]
Therefore, if one makes the math:
Present date: 2007
Time of ship arriving: 2007-140 (years) = 1867!!!
Could it be an extremely big coincidence for ot being the exact same date that you refere to as the invention of dynamite?
Anyways, the rest of the guys here make an excelent point at refering to the time it took ships to travel those days…and the getting lost thing also.
Katetheorizes – The island has always had magnetic properties so it could be like the bermuda triangle. Now the question is this a natural effect is it controlled by some higher power?
Mamey – brilliatn calculation…my subtraction together with your further research about dynamite seems to have unearthed that 1867 seems right! Too coincidental.
What kate does: Deliver babies and run!