Dr. Mittelwerk, as seen in his executive bio from thehansofoundation.org.
Thomas Mittelwerk, or Dr. Thomas Werner Mittelwerk, is the President and Chief Technologist of the Hanso Foundation.
Bio
"As President and Chief Technologist of The Hanso Foundation, Dr. Werner Mittelwerk humbly serves as Alvar Hanso's right hand and chief adviser.
Born in Austria, Mittelwerk's early years instilled a work ethic that has helped fuel The Hanso Foundation's engine of progress for over twenty years. Losing his mother to rare genetic disorder at a young age, Mittelwerk dedicated himself to become the world's foremost authority on biology and genetics. At eighteen, still pursuing at Caltech, Alvar Hanso personally drafted him to join The Hanso Foundation.
In his role as President of The Hanso Foundation, Mittelwerk's leadership has ensured prodigious contributions to numerous scientific disciplines, all in the name of insuring a better future for the whole of humanity." (off of http://thehansofoundation.org/)
Bad Twin book info
In Chapter 23 of Bad Twin, in an apparent new change on the board at Widmore, Alvar Hanso was replaced by Mittelwerk. Mittelwerk is described as "sneaky... got ideas and ambition... everything but morals and conscience."
In Chapter 39, board members of the Widmore Corporation thought fellow board-member Mittelwerk as "dangerous...ambitious and brilliantly two-faced, a man acting out an agenda all his own."
Fake credentials?
Persephone revealed a transcript from 'CalTech' that suggests Mittlewerk never attended CalTech and that he might not even be a real doctor.
Over the transcript, she writes:
Screen capture of CalTech tuition statement.
"Caltech has no record of this guy in their
Alumni database! He's never made a tuition
payment does he even have a college degree?
Why does he call himself a 'Doctor'? Of what.
Who is this clown?"
Additional info
- Mittelwerk was a large underground facility built by the Nazis that was staffed with prisoners transferred from concentration camps. The conditions were horrific and thousands of prisoners died due to malnutrition, disease, exhaustion or hanging (by camp guards). The site is where Hitler ordered the V-2 missile to be built, it being the first missile or vehicle to pass the sound barrier.
- "Werner" is possibly a reference to Wernher von Braun, the German rocketry pioneer who was the lead designer of the V-2 rocket. A fictionalized Wernher von Braun, "Professor von Braun" is a leading character in the 1950s sci-fi dystopia film Alphaville, as written and directed by Jean-Luc Godard. The film--with its consideration of totalitarianism, the role of emotion in confronting "the modern," the inevitable failures of utopias and the potential diabolical uses of computers--would seem to echo some of the tropes of Lost.
- Werner could also be a reference to Werner syndrome, a genetic disease (on chromosome 8) that causes premature aging and death, which could be consistent with Mittelwerk's role in the Hanso Foundation's Life Extension Project. Werner syndrome is recessive, meaning it is unlikely that Mittelwerk himself has the disease, however he does look somewhat older than the early to mid-40's implied by the Hanso Foundation website.
Werner Syndrome patient, from the NCBI database
- Werner might also be a reference to Werner Erhard (of the EST training). Erhard was a used-car salesman who went on to found EST which survives in a different form today.
- There is no one listed in any U.S., German or Austrian phonebook named Mittelwerk. The only other association on the Internet, other than the Lost Experience Game, is the underground facility from WWII.
- In order to unlock the CalTech transcript, the user must go to Mittelwerk's bio after viewing Sublymonal.com. A login box appears over his bio, and if you type in the password, the bio will appear to read: "Dr. Werner Mittelwerk humbly serves as Alvar Hanso's right hand and heir apparent."
- Mittelwerk can be translated as "central work", perhaps indicating his importance in The Hanso Foundation
- His email address is NOT mittelwerk@hansofoundation.org or thomas.mittelwerk@thehansofoundation.org
- Quote from the IGA section of thehansofoundation.org Website: "If it is man's outward journeys that have brought us to this precarious place in time, it is the inward journey that will set us free." (This quote would seem to have moral, even soulful, implications, as well as a genetic-scientific meaning.)
Theories
- Mittelwerk has forced out Alvar as the head of the Hanso Group/Foundation.
- Mittelwerk's message on the Hanso Phone line says he will be unreachable for 3 weeks. This is the same amount of time as the tour of duty in The Pearl, according to the Orientation video.
- From the Hanso site, his picture is the only one that doesn't appear to be a stock-photo. He might be an actor about to appear in the series.
- Maybe when he forced Hanso out, he ignored the existance DHARMA Inititive. The scientists left on the island (The Others) have gone completely insane in the meantime.
- Mittlewerk is Him.
- Mittelwerk took over Hanso Foundation and remade the DHARMA Initiative into the ruthless Others, installing himself as Him.
- Mittelwerk is on the Island