So no sign of Rose or Bernard during those 3 years. I ask this every week, but what the fuck happened to them? And the other 815ers that became Others?

You know that the story of what Rose and Bernard have been up to will not only be amazing, but will reveal huge secrets of the island that no other character will ever discover.

That's how Lost does things.

So no sign of Rose or Bernard during those 3 years. I ask this every week, but what the fuck happened to them? And the other 815ers that became Others?

My guess: Rose and Bernard went to live in the caves. They were the skeletons that the losties found in the first season, "Adam and Eve".

Just for curiosity's sake, I constructed a timeline based upon years indicated in all the episodes up to "LaFleur", and sure enough, I discovered an unmistakable pattern that closely resembled a certain set of digits. To wit.....

1954: Left-behinds w/Locke arrive and encounter Richard, young Charles Widmore and - presumably, young Eloise as a result of Ben's turning the FDW, their behavior influenced by a very dangerous and unstable atomic bomb....

1958: John Locke is born (now part of different timeline?)

1962: Benjamin Linus is born outside Portland OR

1966: Events yet to be revealed?

1970: DHARMA Initiative officially begins

1974: Left-behinds arrive WITHOUT Locke; young Ben also arrives (?)

1977: Oceanic 5 arrive and encounter first Jin, then Sawyer as LaFleur

1980: 'The Incident' occurred? Remember, the Orientation videos all
had a copyrighted date of 1980 and reference is made to it in
Swan Station video.....

1984: Events yet to be revealed?

1988: Jin washes ashore and encounters younger Danielle w/French
science team before finally flashing back out of that time
period for good.....

1992: The Purge; Ben takes over as leader of the Others.....

1996: Desmond flashes back to London after turning the Swan failsafe
key and encounters Charlie.....

2000: Desmond crashes on island late in the year (shortly after
summer starts in the Southern Hemisphere, when a solo boat race
would be held) and is rescued by Inman; actually a bit OVER 3
years.....

2004: Oceanic 815 crashes in water off island due to Desmond's being
lured away from Swan hatch by Inman in Charles' attempt to
thwart Ben's plans (hence the runway being built on Hydra
Island and, isn't it interesting that Ajira 316 landed
there instead.....) Locke forces Desmond into turning the
failsafe key; Oceanic 6 leave the island

2005: Ben lands in Tunisia, now appearing to be an exit point from
the island

2008: Ben, the corpse of Locke, Caesar, Frank, Illana and Lapidus
crash on Hydra Island in Ajira 316 while the Oceanic 5 -
presumably all of them except for Sun, who appears to be with
Frank - land in 1977 and stay there as a result of Locke
stabilizing the FDW when he returns to the outside world.....

Now you may have noticed that, with the exception of those time spans between 1977-1980 & 2005-2008, these are FOUR-year intervals (not counting the start year) and of course all the Numbers except for 23 and 42 are multiples of 4 - with that in mind, there are exact intervals of 4, 8, 12 and 16 years between the events listed, with one very noteworthy exception - 1977, but if we add 23 to a presumed starting point of 1954, that is precisely what we get, and if we add 42 to that same baseline year, we get 1996.....

Coincidence?
Theory by ogam5

found this just now really brings it all together nice and neat.

http://theoriesonlost.blogspot.com/

do we know when richard alpert arrives to the island?

No.

My guess: With the Black Rock.

He is kind of Egyptian looking with the eye liner, isn't he?

I only link him to the Black Rock because of the frilly pirate shirt he was wearing when he meets young Master Linus. It's odd that when Locke meets him in the 50s that Richard is wearing his standard shirt and slacks outfit.

i think the shabby stuff he wears is a costume to make him look like a hermit to ben so that he is a stark contrast to what is at dharma
just like the fake beard and other things the others wear

do you think maybe richard is just constantly time traveling which is why he never ages?

also i read that richard alpert = RA = Egyptian Sun god

I think Richard never ages because he is dead.

he doesnt seem to interact with much does he?

(i'll wait a few minutes for examples of him shooting guns or something. but i dont remember him doing that)

With what we know of Locke interacting with Richard in the past, the evidence actually points to Richard being quite "normal" in terms of time.

When we get to see the front of the four toed statue, I'll be surprised if it doesn't have Richard's face

Yes, he seemed genuinely confused about the whole concept when mentioned Locke was talking to him about time travel to him in the 50's, as well as with Sawyer last episode. No way he's a time traveler.

I think it will be Claire.

he doesnt seem to interact with much does he?

(i'll wait a few minutes for examples of him shooting guns or something. but i dont remember him doing that)

I don't think that Richard interacting with people means anything with regards to him being dead. Locke and Christian Shepard interact with people, too.

I was just kidding.

I think the statue will have the hippo face, like the Egyptian god.

You really think Hurley's face will be on the statue?

I think everyone is going to meet at the proper present and there is going to be a large war between good and evil.

I agree. I currently feel that all the key players need to be present to prevent "the incident" from occurring. Or to at least alter the outcome.

(Fun fact, Ethan has been in every subsequent season of Lost [w/ the exception of season 2] despite being the first major onscreen death. In fact, he has appeared in more episodes after his season 1 death than before.)

Perhaps, but in the first season when fans and critics alike floated the theory that the island was Purgatory, Lindelof was rather dismissive, saying something to the effect of, "I'd hope we could do something better than that."

Both he and Cuse seem dedicated to a resolution that defies easy convention, and surely a war between good and evil is about as easy and conventional as it gets.

...and the dude is Tom Cruise's cousin or something like that.

I agree. I currently feel that all the key players need to be present to prevent "the incident" from occurring. Or to at least alter the outcome.

It will be a short war, not a large one.

If it hasn't already been said, this was the best Sawyer episode I can remember. (and a lovely "holy shit" when we met little Charlotte to boot)

Yep - you totally overreacted. Evangeline Lilly is not leaving the show, according to the article. The death will be of a major player, but no details are given in the article as to whom it will be. And that really isn't a surprise, anyway. It was about time for someone else to get killed off.

Someone recently said words to the effect that "spoilers" are just something for the overprivileged to whine about. I agree. Especially as a fan of LOST - I bought the ticket; I'm taking the ride. Knowing there's a big loop-de-loop coming down the track doesn't bother me. I'm having too much fun to care.

I think Sawyer's the only major player who's kind of expendable. Most of the others seem somehow more tightly woven into the mythology. But if they really wanted to surprise everyone, they'd kill Jack.

Or maybe Monty's right and it's Hurley. The Jar Jar Binks comparison is not entirely wrong.