Taking Sides - Season Four Episodes 1-3

Well, it took a while but I'm finally talking about the new season! I think the overwhelming theme we have seen so far is that of taking sides. Whether it is within the Lostaways, or the larger faction of Bens Others and the mysterious group from the freighter. We have a very complex picture. There are many factions, sub-factions and pseudo-factions. it may all boil down to black rock/white rock or it may be something far more complex, we do not know.

So I thought I would take a moment to look at the various factions we have encountered through Lost and it's associated media.

But first I want to talk about an old friend of ours:

I have for a long time had a theory that the creators of the four toed statue and original inhabitants of the island are the missing ancient civilisation thought to have been from the antarctic. What am I talking about? Well have you heard about the Piri Reis Map? Well to cut a long story short, it's an old map that was copied from much older sources (some suggest these sources may have been found in the great library of Alexandria). This map is curious for the fact that it shows the coastline of the Antarctic. That is the coastline of the actual land and not the ice. The accuracy of which would only have been possible had it been charted some time before 4000bc when it was last clear of ice (note, this involved the shifting of the poles. A hot topic in various current theories). The theory is that there may have been a civilisation based there. This civilisation mysteriously disappeared.

Also I noticed on the wiki of it (which incidentally is a terrible Wiki, lots of opinions lacking citations), that it mentions the mythical island of "Antillia" is also on this map. The Wiki on Antillia was a real eyebrow raiser. Is this our island? Did this ancient civilisation end up there?

Okay so now that is out of the way let's take a look at the factions involved in Lost:

• The Original Others - They seem to refer to themselves as natives (although perhaps that is un interpreting things wrong, maybe the natives are the voices and are ghosts of the ancients, after all talking to the dead is part of the mythos now), while Dharma referred to them as the Hostiles, a word from the Latin word "Hostis", which means stranger/enemy. That could explain why Richard Alpert asked the young Ben "do you even know what that means". While Ben seems to have control of the Others these days, there are some that seem to be "traditionalists" and doubt Ben's leadership. Primary amongst these is Richard himself, despite the fact it was he who initiated Ben into the group.
  
  
• Ben's Others - Although there is some doubt within the others camp, on the whole the majority of them seem to be loyal to Ben and his agenda. Ben supposedly takes his orders from Jacob, but as he claims only he can communicate with him, it is hard to say how much direction actually comes from Jacob. I have wondered for a while if Jacobs list was actually inverted by Ben so as to avoid any threat to his power on the island. In theory the Losties are NOT on the list, but they seem to be connected to the island which suggests the list the Others have been using is incorrect. Whatever other factions are involved on the island it's pretty safe to say that Ben has an agenda of his own. He may technically answer to Jacob and/or other people, but in reality he is out for himself. What we know of his Agenda is that he had no love for Dharma and he is actively trying to dispose of whatever group was behind the Freighter (if the bracelet link in the S4E03 is to be believed)
  
  
• The Dharma Initiative - This it appears is no longer an active faction in itself. However Dharma has massive links with the island and their influence could still have repercussion. There is still a strong likelihood Dharma were behind the Black Smoke, the references to Cerberus on the blast door map point in this direction. It also seems there is a strong chance there is at least one more undiscovered (by the Losties at least) Dharma Station on the island, like "The Orchid". There may even be further Dharma survivors around or people with links to Dharma out for revenge for the mass murder of their comrades. It's also worth noting the numbers continue to come up and Dharma was all about the numbers. It is also worth noting that Alvar Hanso's knowledge of the island may have been the link point for several of the factions involvement. Magnus Hanso's Black Rock keeps coming up again and again and that can't be a co-incidence.
  
  
• The Hanso Foundation (under Mittlewerk) - It's important to note that at the time Lost is set, Thomas Mittlewerk does appear to be in control of the Hanso Foundation (seems he was since Alvar Hanso disappeared in 2002). The Foundation was also having dealings with Paik shortly after Jin and Suns wedding (we don't have date, but it is likely under Mittlewerk control at the time). If Pail was up to something with Mittlewerk then there could be repercussions on the island. Now, we all know it's unlikely Thomas Mittlewerk himself will appear, but we have seen the direction the Foundation has taken under his control and so there is a chance of some kind of New Hanso faction being involved directly or indirectly.
  
  
• The Widmore Group - This is a difficult one to look at. We have met Mr.Widmore and it is clear he is an ass. We also know Widmore as a company has links with the Hanso Foundation, Paik Heavy Industries and the Maxwell Group. It would be hard to consider that all co-incidence without something more to the group. The Maxwell Groups involvement in particular makes Widmore looks particularly shady. However, who's side they are on we do not know. The main people that appear to have a motive for the Freckage are the Others, so does that mean Widmore is working with the Others? At the same time there is a lot of theorising that they are behind the Freighter group, so perhaps they are playing both sides or it is such a big group that both sides are represented within.
  
  
• Penny Widmore - This is obviously just one person, however she has much of the resources of the Widmore Group and a lot of cash at her disposal. We know she has people out in the Arctic scanning for the island (or something anyway) and she must have been attempting to make contact when she spoke to Charlie. There are likely to be people working for her, but likely not a lot or on anything huge as she would want to keep bellow her fathers radar. The fact that she seemed to know something of the island, if not a lot, suggests again the Widmore Group is in this very deeply.
  
  
• Paik Heavy Industries - We don't know much about their involvement with everyone else, except that they are involved and they work is highly illegal (they seem to do a lot of knocking people off). I suspect we may get further clues to this when we find out who those watches Jin was given were meant for. We never saw who got the watch in Australia and we don't know who the other one was intended for in the US.
  
  
• The Maxwell Group - We know this group is likely directly behind the Freckage. We also know the Maxwell Group is a part of the Widmore Group. It was strongly suggested the Maxwell Group is interested in magnetism and especially the works of James Clerk Maxwell. If they did set up the freckage it seems very likely they know all about the Island. It is possible they are aligned with the others as this would certainly explain the freckage. It is unlikely they are aligned with Abaddon (unless they were set up just the same as poor Sam, perhaps Talbot new they were being set up and that is why he was so anti-Sam) as it doesn't seem to make sense to set up the freckage and then shortly after make a mission to the island to find Ben. However if they are working with the Others, that could have made Abaddon smell Bens involvement and hence get him out looking. The question is, if Maxwell is working for the Others, what does that mean for Widmore and it's other associates.
  UPDATE: It seems that Maxwell is totally non-cannon as is most of Find815. As John Lydon would say "Ever had the feeling you've been cheated?". Replace this with the mystery faction of whomever was actually behind the "Christiane 1" and it's mission.
  
  
• Matthew Abadons/The Freighter - This is a very curious group. They seem to be direct enemies of the Others, or at least of Bens. What set Abaddon off to try and get to the island at that particular time? Sure the Freckage was just found. But why would that make him suddenly try and get to Ben. It doesn't make any sense for his group to be behind the freckage and then randomly set up a mission to the island. More likely something about the Freckage set up gave away to them something about the island or Bens involvement and so that is why they launched the mission. The other thing we seem to know about this group is that Ben see's them as a very real threat. Ben could have wiped out the Losties easily but he didn't see them as a threat it that way, however he has Sayid going around hunting these guys down. Well... That is if you believe the bracelet link. I do... currently.
  
  
• Oceanic Air - Various theories have arisen over time about Oceanic Conspiracies. However as of yet we have no real facts that are anything other then an airline that just happen to be involved in the events of Lost. Personally I think even if they turn out to be more involved they will simply be directly under the wing of one of the other factions of the game. It is worth noting that even though Abaddon claimed to be a lawyer for Oceanic, he could produce the documents.
  
  
• The Time & Destiny people - Okay time travel seems quite likely these days (what with the Orchid video and all). When it was just Desmond it was hard to say if these people were merely part of Des' subconscious, but now it seems much more likely they are a real group. Did they actually meddle with Desmond's past? Was his conscious flashback actually what happened? Was the head monk in the monastery involved with this group? Are this group only involved with Des or have they manipulated the destinies of other people to get them to the island. I have wondered for a while if they messed with all the Losties destinies to get them to the island. perhaps they were behind the change of pilot for 815. On the other hand maybe those four newcomers were meant to be on the island themselves and someone or something stopped that destiny going as planned (which would suggest these people have an enemy).
  
  
• The Monster - What is the agenda of the black smoke? If it was created by Dharma does it have similar goals or did it go wrong? Did it start as a security system and then develop into something more sentient? It seems very judgemental of people and does not seem to be working with the others. Indeed the others seem just as in the dark with the Monster as the Losties. Lockes top question for Ben was about the Black Smoke, this seemed to take Ben by surprise. I think this secret will be fundamental to the story.
  
  
• Jacob - We don't know a lot about Jacob, who he is, what he is, or what his goals are. He could be a one of those ancients or he could be part of a Dharma experiment, he could be a anthropomorphic personification of the island or the Monster in another form. We do not know. However he is powerful and knows more then anyone it seems about the island. We have recently learned that his cabin seems to move around the island. We don't know if it always did, but if I read the expression on Bens face correctly when Locke couldn't find the cabin (he seemed a little smug, more then usual that is), he wasn't surprised at this turn of events. It reminds me of the movie Krull, where the castle of the villain moved location every day. Seems to me the ash circle may have been simply to mark one of Jacobs locations.

Okay that's it. It's a long one, but it's a good to have all this information in one place. There are so many elements involved in Lost now it's easy to be overwhelmed by it all. Anyway, I think my next posts will be down to a more sane length and more directly relating to the episodes.