The Others

Introduction

"The Others" is a term the survivors of The Crash as well as Danielle Rousseau use for other inhabitants of the island. In that sense, they are treated as a homogenous group; but we are not sure that that is the case. Most commonly, "The Others" refers to the group that took Walt at the end of Season 1 with a motor boat and appeared again in the episodes The Hunting Party and Maternity Leave. "The Others" is also used for some mysterious people that took many of the Tailenders. Also the Whispers are said to come from some "Others". In one of the Podcasts from the makers of the show, they gave a hint by saying that the term "the Others" is of course arbitrary - it can be based on any group of people, making everyone outside that group an "other". Remembering that, and the variety of descriptions of "The Others", it is very possible, that they do not constitute a defined single group on the island.

→ An interesting reference is the movie "The Others" which is also messing with the minds of the viewers.

Things we know about "The Others"

• The others don't leave tracks (except for Ethan while he was hauling Claire and Charlie) and presumably Goodwin or someone would have noticed.
• Ethan Rom, whose name an anagram for "Other Man", kidnapped Claire and Charlie
• Charlie was found hanging from a tree by Jack and Kate. We assume that this is the work of "the others". After Jack and Kate cut his body from the tree, Jack resuscitated him. Charlie also stated he had no memory of the events that occurred during the time he was with Ethan.
• Claire escaped from Ethan/"the others" and returned to the camp. She had amnesia that went all the way back to before the plane crash.
• Rousseau claims that they captured her child, Alex.
• Rousseau also says they "were the carriers", possibly referring to The Sickness.
• They are "like animals" according to Ana-Lucia
• They seem to be responsible for the backwards whispering that happens in the jungle.
• They attempted to compile a list of the survivors.
• They claim the island is "theirs."
• They appear to have some type of insight into the survivors doings or some monitoring capability as indicated in the episode "The Hunting Party" where they knew Locke had more than one gun when the survivor party came looking for Michael.
• The Others have access to guns and crude explosives.
• They carry knives, one of which was found on the female Ana Lucia killed when they kidnapped people from the camp. Ana Lucia later states that it is a U.S. Army knife that is "probably 20 years old", which could belong to Goodwin since he said that he was with the Peace Corps.
• Quoted Alvar Hanso: "From the dawn of our species, Man has been blessed with curiosity". From http://www.thehansofoundation.org Referred to Hanso as "somebody a whole lot smarter than anyone [on the island]"
• There is a member of The Others called Alex, which may be Rousseau's kidnapped daughter. According to the producers, this Alex is Danielle's daughter.
• They are involved with the Dharma Initiative, specifically Zeke and Ethan who worked in The Staff.
• On The Staff there are costumes, fake beard and theatrical glue, possibly belonging to Mr. Friendly and the group of barefoot others which attacked the tailies.
• Are organized and have an agenda with the survivors
• All Others we have seen so far are Caucasian.

Members

• He, the mysterious and, so far, unseen leader of the Others
• Ethan Rom
• Goodwin
• Mr. Friendly (aka Zeke)
• Three people (excluding Zeke, twin men, 1 woman) in the boat that attacked the second raft kidnapping Walt and setting it afire.
• Three people (2 men, 1 woman) killed by Mr. Eko and Ana Lucia when they came to kidnap people.
• Two children, one with a teddy bear, kidnapped from the the Tailenders. Possibly Zack and Emma.
• Henry Gale revealed himself in S02E18, when talking about 'Him'.
• Alex, though she apparently helped Claire escape from Ethan and the rest of the Others.
• At least ten unknown people, probably more, in the The Staff.

Theories

• Gerald and Karen DeGroot (from the Orientation Film) may be part of The Others, or perhaps are just another group of people on or near the island.
• Alex may now be one of the Others.
• In S02E05, we see one of them carrying a teddy bear. The teddy bear seems to be from one of the two children from the tail end of the plane. S02E07.
• Claire has been brainwashed by the Others and is secretly passing information about the castaways to them. In the episode Maternity Leave, however, we see much of Claire's kidnapping, and there is no indication that she was brainwashed.
• The Others are connected to the (as yet unseen) Dharma Initiative station studying "utopian social _____" (listed in the Orientation Film as one of the six foci of the Initiative).
• The hatch was created to keep people from becoming "The Others"
• Members: In episode 5 season 2, when "The Others" are passing by Mr. Eko and Jin, you can count 11 people and one of them is a child.
• There are two groups of "others". Two rival factions, one better Dressed, ala Ethan and Goodwin, the other wearing pale clothing and no shoes, ala the ones that attacked the tailenders. This theory has been debunked with the discovery of the disguise used by Mr. Friendly in the Medical Hatch
• The Others are researchers left on the island after the Dharma Initiative lost funding. They have either been forgotten or were left on purpose. They are possibly all insane and obsessed with completing their research.

• The Others are good people trying to save the good people and the kids from a danger
• The Others are resurrected people who died on the island ala Adam and Eve, Boone, Shannon etc.
• The Others are descendants of the crew of the Black Rock perhaps mingled with survivors of the Dharma Initiative.
• The others are clones. Two of them (at least) look similar to Gerald and Karen DeGroot... twin men on the boat... Boone has been rumored to return.
• Zeke and his group are survivors that have learned to avoid the likes of Ethan Rom, Goodwin and maybe Henry Gale They are not abducting the Oceanic survivors, but rather saving a few at a time. If they tried to protect everyone at once it would put everyone in danger. Therefore they have distanced themselves from the majority. This theory is debunked by the Maternity Leave episode, in which we see Ethan and Zeke fraternizing in the Medical Station.
• There is evidence that there is not simply one tight group of "others". There is also a hint to this in the podcasts, that of course the division between "us" and "others" is arbitrary. We have seen the group of scientists in the Medical Station, who also walk around on the island in disguise (possibly carrying out some sort of social experiment à la "Lord of the Flies" with the survivors). And then there are the ones that appear rather insane (possibly "infected" by some illness - something that the Quarantine signs support). And there may be more people on the island. Danielle Rousseau and Desmond, for example.
  We have to keep in mind, that the survivors of the crash have not yet ventured much into the island
  What is rather harsh is, that people get killed, which would indicate that it is either a very radical experiment or something went wrong.
  • To expand on this thinking: The experiment may be so radical, that the reason for the island is so that the experiment isn't subject to any law and the scientists are not subject to arrest. Perhaps by being so isolated, they are hoping to avoid pesky medical ethics and the spirit of the 3rd Geneva Convention. (Especially the part about experimentation on POWs.) --Carl
• There is strong suggestion to that the Others are infact workers from Dharma Initiative. In The other 48 days Ana Lucia finds a list of survivors from a dead attacker. In Maternity Leave Zeke is angry at Ethan for kidnapping Claire without being finished with a list. This can likely be the same list over people who are going to be taken.
• The Others are the social utopian experiment referred to in the Orientation film, and they take the "good people" from the groups of survivors to be part of their community. They leave all the bad people, which is why the main characters all have so many problems and there don't seem to be any decent people around.
• They do not leave tracks as they travel around the island underground.