Benjamin Linus is ALVAR HANSO, Richard Alpert is THE MAN BEHIND THE CURTAIN, & The Dark Tower Theory by WhoIsJohnLocke

Okay everyone, I'm sure some of you have read a few of my previous theories in which I attempted to explain my thoughts on Jacob, MIB, Locke, etc. Most of what I said was generally well recieved by you critics, but they were mostly my own personal theories and opinions, with not much factual evidence to back it up.

However, I believe for the first time, I am on to something big here. Most hardcore Lost fans know that Cuse and Lindelof refer to Stephen King's "The Dark Tower" series as their "bible" for the show. They have incorporated many Stephen King works into LOST and even bought the rights to the Dark Tower series from King in order to make it into a movie series, which they later said they probably will not end up pursuing. Nonetheless, it's quite obvious that Stephen King and namely The Dark Tower series is the main influence on LOST above anything else. I have only read the first DARK TOWER book, but I read through a lot of info about it, and it's shockingly similar to LOST, with both the plot and the characters. If you look hard enough and do some comparing and contrasting, you'll see how incredibly similar both stories are. Of course there are a lot of differences as well, but check out some of this stuff I'm about to toss out and tell me that it's not extremely interesting. ! (WARNING, THIS POST CONTAINS SPOILERS ABOUT LOST AND THE DARK TOWER SERIES, SO READ AT YOUR OWN RISK PLEASE). Okay, here we go...

The main protagonist in the Dark Tower series is Roland Deschain, who is attempting to reach the Tower, which basically controls the entire universe and is nearly impossible to enter. Roland travels in and out of different realities in his quest to reach the tower, and is constantly thrown of course by "The Man in Black" because the Man in Black doesn't want Roland to succeed in his quest. I believe that John Locke and Jack are both the "Roland Deschains" of LOST, and I believe all of our Losties are part of Roland - they are all the protagonists and all share some of Roland's traits. Of course Eddie is based off of Charlie, the pregnant girl is probably based off of Claire, etc.
Now here is where things get interesting. There are quite a few “bad guys” in The Dark Tower series, most notably The Crimson King, Randall Flagg, John Farson and Andrew Quick (aka The Tick Tock Man). This theory is going to be focusing more on the bad guys because if you do some extensive research, you will find that these four characters in particular have some extremely significant resemblances to some of characters in LOST, most notably Benjamin Linus, Richard Alpert, Charles Widmore, Jacob and MIB, and possibly Smokie, John Locke, and Walt, among others.
Let me start by explaining the story in The Dark Tower a bit more. In the series, Roland and his crew go in and out of different alternate realities in their quest to find the Tower, and eventually end up in the “city of Lud”, which is described as:
“The Old One civilization used technology to maintain the Beams of the Dark Tower instead of magic, and sought to literally control reality. The final blow for the Old One civilization seems to have been nuclear war, biological warfare, chemical warfare, and something "else" that is hinted to be more horrible/powerful than those three, but it is suggested in The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born that it was the final attempt to destroy the Dark Tower itself and rebuild something in their own image as the nexus of space and time. It is not known when such wars took place (but long ago enough that it is in the ancient past, and that the gene lines are finally starting to breed true, or "threaded"), why they took place, or even between which nations or organizations such wars were fought. It is widely hinted the Crimson King was ultimately working behind the scenes, manipulating people and events to bring about civilization's destruction, since such destruction serves his ultim! ate ends. The civilization of the Old Ones is inferred to have collapsed because of the replacement of magic, which could last forever, with technology, which would disintegrate if left unattended, but which nevertheless was allowed to be responsible for maintaining the Beams of the Dark Tower. Since the technological capacity of the Great Old Ones was lost, Lud has been slowly decaying for hundreds of years. This decay has been hastened by the siege and eventual (partial) occupation by the Grays. Lud was besieged by various armies for many years, but because of its fortunate location, the only way into the city was the "George Washington Bridge" and another bridge fallen to the river many years earlier. The "GWB" had many weak spots and holes, and was watched at all hours by both attackers and defenders. People in days of old who wanted to join the "Luddites" had to cross the bridge but many perished in the attempt. Armies were routinely turned away by the Luddites! , but their power was fading.
Finally, David Quick, an "outlaw prince," mustered the "last army in the world" and attacked the city. Eventually, the Luddites were worn down completely. They had lost all technical knowledge and dissolved into nothing more than primitive inhabitants of a once-advanced city. They still managed to prevent a complete takeover of Lud, and David Quick's army was soon reduced to the same state as the Luddites. They soon became two factions: the Pubes and the Grays. Pubes were the original inhabitants of Lud (after the Great Old Ones). The admittance test required quick wits and agility, and so youths more easily gained entrance than older people. The name Pubes is an apparent reference to this, as most of the members were pubescent at the time they joined. This may have originally been a derogatory term, but has become the commonly accepted name for the group. The Pubes live mostly above the ground, and are at war with the Grays. Grays are the descendants of David Quick's army w! ho managed to infiltrate Lud and take control of the vast underground network of tunnels. They live mostly in these tunnels, and usually leave to fight their ancient war with the Pubes. Since the Grays were originally a predominantly male army, there were few women to inhabit the Gray part of Lud. This forces the Grays to routinely "harvest" women and children from the Pubes.”

It’s not hard to see the striking similarities to LOST in this paragraph about Lud. I believe Lud is basically The Island. The “Great Old Ones” could be referring to the Dharma Initiative or The Egyptians that some believe inhabited the Island before anyone else. When it says that The Great Old Ones ended up destroying Lud due to their unwillingness to accept magic over technology. Lud (THE ISLAND) was a naturally magical place, but when the Great Old Ones (Dharma) tried to harness it’s powers and use technology instead of magic, they only ended up hurting it, which is the same that could be said about Dharma and The Island, especially the Valenzetti equation aspect of it all. It also says that the Crimson King was behind all of it, manipulating events and people in order to cause the destruction of the Tower and thus destroying the universe (Could this be equal to the Smoke Monster and/or MIB/Jacob trying to manipulate people and events in order to either control th! e world or cause the end of the universe??? More on that soon…).

It says that Lud is decaying and that this decayment was hastened by the siege and occupation of the Grays, who I believe are the equivelant of The Others in LOST. When the Others purge the Dharma Initiative, they essentially took over all of the stuff that Dharma was trying to accomplish. Next, it says that “because of it’s fortunate location, there was only one way into the city, which is very similar to LOST, in that you can only come and go from the Island on a bearing of 305 (you could make an argument for the donkey wheel as well, but I think that’s more complicated). It says the bridge had “many weak spots and holes” and was watched constantly by attackers and defenders (The Others and Widmore’s crew). It also says that “armies were routinely turned away by the Luddites, which could resemble when Richard had all the US Army soliders murdered. Finally, it says that David Quick, an “outlaw prince” mustered up one last large army and attacked Lud, which! I believe was when Magnus Hanso came on the Black Rock and attempted to take over the Island somehow. There was a large battle between MIB and the Black Rock crew, and both sides were very worn down.
I believe that this resulted in MIB dying and somehow becoming Smokie, and also resulted in Jacob being adversly affected by it somehow. Anyways, this split the Island’s inhabitants into two different groups (aka, the Pubes and Grays). The Pubes were The Others – it says they recruited people when they were young, and that they lived mostly above ground, which makes sense considering that Widmore, Eloise, Ben, etc. were all very young when they first became Others, and how they are always seen above ground. The Pubes on the other hand, I believe live underground or inside the Temple, and are at war to some degree with The Others, but for some reason since the Losties crashed have been seemingly working together, or maybe not.
This is where I believe Ben comes into play, for several reasons. Number one, I believe that David Quick in “Dark Tower” = Magnus Hanso in LOST, and I will comment more on that in a moment. I believe Ben to be the great grandson of Magnus Hanso – Alvar (aka Andrew Quick in Dark Tower). But it’s more complicated than that and I will explain it shortly. Anywhoo, my second piece of evidence is that is says the Grays lived mostly underground and controlled the tunnel system underneath Lud… does this remind anyone of when Ben goes underground to summon the smoke monster, or when he goes to the Temple to be judged?? Perhaps the Gray/Pubes war is actually referencing the battle between out Losties and The Others, but I think there might be a whole other group of “bad guys” we haven’t even seen yet that live underneath the Island and we will be introduced in season 6. This also explains why Ben and/or The Others wanted the women and children so bad – because they w! ant to keep their civilization going and can’t if they don’t have women and children.
OKAY, NOW, things get interesting…
I will now state the reason I believe Benjamin Linus to POSSIBLY be Alvar Hanso. There is no certainty to this theory, but listen to this VERY interesting description of why I think this rather far-out theory could be legitimate:
Andrew Quick is the great-grandson of David Quick, who was found dead in a 1930s Nazi fighter plane by Roland Deschain and his ka-tet before entering the city of Lud. Andrew led the Grays, a group of inhabitants in Lud. Quick ordered the capture of one of Roland's crew, and upon receipt of the member, a child, Jake Chambers, was suddenly attacked. During the ensuing struggle between the Grays and Roland's ka-tet, Andrew lost an eye and was shot in the head. He survived however, to meet a man referring to himself as Richard Fannin, and gladly enlisted to help find and kill Deschain. Jake manages to shoot the Quick, leaving him for dead. The ka-tet is eventually reunited at the Cradle of Lud, a train station which houses a monorail that the travelers use to escape Lud before its final destruction brought about by the monorail's artificial intelligence known as Blaine the Mono. The "Ageless Stranger" (an enemy whom the Man in Black warned Roland that he must slay) arrives to r! ecruit the badly-injured Tick-Tock Man as his servant.
Quick reappears, although in a much more minor role, in The Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass. When Roland and his ka-tet reach a deserted and alternate Kansas from that of their own world, they travel down highway I-70, eventually reaching a green castle. The green castle and the events occurring between are almost an exact replica of The Wizard of Oz, with Quick turning out to be the man behind the curtain. Quick appears as an injured and mindless zombie serving Flagg. At the creature's command, he attempts to kill Roland's ka-tet, but does not, and is shot and killed in the process.

Okay… where to begin??? First off, notice the strong resemblences between Magnus Hanso and David Quick. Both were powerful men who found their destination (Lud/The Island) and obviously had some sort of conflict with the inhabitants there, whether it be good or bad. One drove a ship to the Island, one a fighter plane. It says Andrew was the great grandson of David, JUST like how Alvar was great grandson of Magnus. It states that Andrew became leader of the Grays – the same group that lives underneath Lud in the tunnels and routinely orders the capture of women and children to harvest them. It then states that Andrew Quick ordered the capture of one of Roland’s crew, the child Jake Chambers, who bares a striking resemblence to Walt in many ways. Just like Ben ordered the capture of Walt, as well as the capture of Cindy, Zach, Emma and many other women and children, which also ties into Ben’s infatuation with pregnant women and why he cares so much about children. ! It then states that Andrew Quick was shot during a battle with Roland’s ka-tet (Locke and Jack’s crew!) and nearly died before being saved by Richard Fannin, who in return for saving his life, accepted Richard’s offer to help find and kill Roland Deschain. Hmmm… sounds remarkebly similar to when Sayid shot young Ben and left him for dead until Richard took him and healed him inside the Temple and then became an extremely loyal ‘Other’. It then states that Andrew Quick turns out to be “The Man Behind the Curtain”. Need I even say more??? I will anyways.
At the end there, it states that “THE AGELESS STRANGER” arrives to recruit the badly injured Tick Tock Man (Quick) as his servent. NOW, why do I believe that Ben is actually Alvar Hanso? Because Benjamin Linus is actually a mix of the two of them at the same time. That’s right – ever since Ben was shot by Sayid, he has been sharing his body with Alvar Hanso. I believe that Alvar had long ago failed with the Dharma Initiative and had affiliated with The Others in an attempt to harness the Island’s power, but for some reason he ended up needing another body, possibly because he became too old and was near death, and thus needed a young child so that he could live for many more years. I think that this makes a lot of sense for a lot of reasons, most of them stated above. It could also explain why Widmore was so angry at Richard for “making him one of us” and also why he told Ben “I know WHAT you are boy!” as he was being exiled by Richard and Ben. I don’t th! ink it’s extremely likely, but I see it as very much possible that somehow, someway, Ben Linus = Alvar Hanso.

Okay, NEXT, we have the aformentioned Richard Fannin, who actually turns out to be “the real man behind the curtain” due to the revelation towards the end of the Dark Tower series that Richard Fannin is actually Randall Flagg (THE MAN IN BLACK!). This is my theory on why RICHARD ALPERT IS THE MAN IN BLACK, and the true MAN BEHIND THE CURTAIN. First, please read this brief description on Randall Flagg and who exactly he is or isn’t in the Dark Tower series:
Randall Flagg is a fictional character created by Stephen King. He often appears under different names, most are abbreviated by the initials R.F. There are exceptions to this rule; in The Dark Tower series, the name most often associated with Flagg is Walter o'Dim. Flagg is described as "an accomplished sorcerer and a devoted servant of the Outer Dark" with general supernatural abilities involving necromancy, prophecy, and unnatural influence over predatory animal and human behavior. His goals typically center on bringing down civilizations, usually through spreading destruction and sowing conflict.
Flagg made several more appearances in King's epic series The Dark Tower as one of the main antagonists, in which he attempts to thwart protagonist Roland Deschain from reaching the Tower, the lynchpin of all existence, to claim it for himself and become a god. The Dark Tower expanded upon Flagg's backstory and motivations, as well as connecting his previous appearances together. In flashback sequences, Flagg assumes the identity of Marten Broadcloak, a wizard that conspired with the Crimson King to cause the fall of the Dark Tower. Eventually, Roland catches Walter and they have a long discussion concerning Roland's destiny and the Tower.
Randall Flagg makes his next appearance in the series' third novel, The Waste Lands. Flagg appears in the city of Lud, where he saves the Tick-Tock Man Andrew Quick, an enemy of Roland's ka-tet, who was left for dead in an earlier confrontation. Quick becomes Flagg's devoted servant afterwards. In this guise, Flagg assumes the name of Richard Fannin. Flagg returns in the fourth book, Wizard and Glass, where he is officially revealed to be Marten Broadcloak. Here, he identifies himself as Flagg as well, and warns Roland and his ka-tet to abandon their quest for the Dark Tower. It is learned through flashbacks that Flagg, as Walter o'Dim, was the emissary for John Farson, one of the main individuals responsible for the destruction of Gilead, Roland's home. In the last novel, Flagg indicates that he is not John Farson, but merely served under him until Farson's downfall. Flagg reveals his plans to climb the Dark Tower and see the room at the top and become the God of all. !
A common characteristic of Randall Flagg is his embodiment of evil. To Stephen King, Flagg is “somebody who’s very charismatic, laughs a lot, and is tremendously attractive to men and women both, and is somebody who just appeals to the worst in all of us.” This idea is carried into The Stand, Flagg’s first appearance in literature. Here, Flagg is characterized as the personification of evil set against Mother Abagail, the personification of good. The character of Tom Cullen describes Flagg as having the ability to kill animals, and give men cancer simply by looking at them. Flagg’s physical characterization changes with each novel. In The Eyes of the Dragon, Flagg is described as a "thin and stern faced man of about 50 years of age.” He is further described as a hooded figure, who stood in the dark and controlled the kings and queens of Delain; he is also described as a "sickness" that always seems to reappear whenever there is something worth destroying.

There is LOADS of evidence in the above description of Randall Flagg to assume that Richard Alpert is indeed LOST’s Randall Flagg. First of all, Randall is able to take the forms of different people, and is described as “The Ageless Stranger”. He also saves Andrew Quick’s life in the exact same manner that Richard saved Ben, who matched the description of Andrew Quick almost exactly. Next, there’s the simple coincidence of one of his personas being named “Richard Fannin”, which is who he is at the time he saves Andrew Quick. Randall Flagg is working for the Crimson King, who is the baddest of all bad guys, but secretly has his own agenda to take over the Tower and become ruler of all. Many people have suspected that Richard Alpert has a secret agenda. It also says that Flagg was the emissary for John Farson, who I believe to be the Jacob of the Dark Tower series – more on him in a moment.
This would make sense, seeing as how Richard is seemingly the emissary for Jacob. It states that “Flagg was not John Farson but merely served under him until Farson’s downfall”, which could also be the case with the Jacob/Richard aka Jacob/MIB relationship. In case you are wondering – YES, I AM INSINUATING THAT I BELIEVE RICHARD ALPERT IS THE MAN IN BLACK. This is why MIB couldn’t kill Jacob and why Richard couldn’t kill Jacob, because Jacob, WHO IS EVIL, was second in command to the Crimson King, who I will get to in a moment and reveal who (or what!) I think the Crimson King is in the LOST world… Anyways, back to Flagg. It states that he’s an “accomplished sorcerer of the outer dark and has powers including necromacy, prophecy, and control over human and animal behaviors”. Okay, now for a shocker – enter WALT. In the first season, it is made quite obvious that Walt is very special, but WHY???? Because Walt is actually MIB/Richard in another form. T! here is a reason we don’t see Richard until season 3, convieniently only 5 or so episodes AFTER Walt leaves the island. Why is this? I think it’s because when Oceanic 815 crashed, the Others stole the real Walt IMMEDIATELY, and Richard took Walt’s form so that he could spend time around Locke and find out why Locke was so “special”. This is also why Walt was able to summon the polar bear, why he seemingly could control weather, and why he randomly appeared in places he wasn’t supposed to be. Because he was never really Walt all throughout season 1. The Others DID give Michael back Walt at the end of season 2, but little did anyone know the real Walt had been with The Others since the day of the plane crash. They kept the real Walt because they wanted to use his powers in the same way they wanted to use Ben’s powers apparently. I am not going to pretend I know every little detail about any of this, and I could very well be wrong about it all, but doesn’t this! make sense???
Flagg’s personas went by the names “Walter”, “Richard”, “Randall”, among others. Maybe MIB’s real name is Randall??? Flagg is also described as “somebody who’s very charismatic, laughs a lot, and is tremendously attractive to men and women both, and is somebody who just appeals to the worst in all of us.” Does that not sound exactly like Richard? Handsome, charismatic, and although virtually NOTHING AT ALL is known about Richard, he is A FAN FAVORITE. Catch my drift? Richard has purposely been made to look like the good guy because no one will see it coming when he is revealed to be the Man In Black and thus the true “Man Behind The Curtain”. It also states that in one form he is “a thin, stern faced man of about 50 years of age.” This is also more evidence to suggest that Locke is still alive and himself. If that doesn’t describe MIB I don’t know what does… Richard Alpert = Man in Black

Now for our next mystery man: John Farson. In The Dark Tower series, Farson poses as a genuine, kind, charasmatic charmer who claims to be a supporter of democracy and free will, but shockingly turns out to be just the opposite of what he seems. In other words, he is LOST’s JACOB. Read this description for John Farson aka “The Good Man”:
John Farson is a fictional character from Stephen King's The Dark Tower series of novels and comic books. Known as "The Good Man", Farson was the leader of a revolution in the land of Gilead who appealed to the common people, wanting to end the training of Gunslingers and re-distribute power. His stated ambition is to replace the feudalism of the In-World's baronies with democracy. However, his actions and the result of his campaign indicate that his true intentions were far less egalitarian than he presented them.
During a mission, Roland Deschain and his friends, Cuthbert Allgood and Alain Johns were on in the outer barony of Mejis, they uncovered a plot by the local Cattlemen to supply oil to Farson. If Farson could refine that oil, he could use it to power ancient machines of war to wipe out the Gunslingers. Luckily, the three were able to burn the oil and keep Farson from getting it. Unfortunately, they were only to postpone the fall of Gilead.
Little is known about the battle or battles in which John Farson brought down the gunslingers. The last great fight was the battle of Jericho Hill, when all of Roland's old friends died, with him barely escaping with his life. According to the book Wolves of the Calla, the enemy force Roland and his friends faced on Jericho Hill was a 'savage remnant of John Farson's army'.
Issue #3 of The Gunslinger Born clarified this issue by revealing John Farson and Walter are in fact different persons. Surprisingly, Farson is not subservient to Flagg at all, even angrily demanding answers from the wizard. (Some speculate that this is explained by their possible relative positions in The Crimson King's court. Walter, under the guise of Flagg, has been described as The Crimson King's "Minister of State". Some speculate that Farson treats Walter as an equal because he may be The Crimson King's "Minister of War".) The Gunslinger Born alludes to previous statement (about them possible being the same person) linking Farson to Walter by stating that they are believed by some to be the same, although this proves not to be the case.

The reason I link Farson to Jacob is because Farson appears to be a wonderful freedom fighter at first but is revealed to be just the opposite. It says that he appealed to the common people (the audience of LOST), and wanted to replace feudalism with democracy, so it’s not surprising that Farson would come across as likeable. However, it ends up that Farson is only doing these things for his own power and causes. He wants to refine a large supply of oil in order to use it to power the ancient machines of war to wipe out Roland and his crew. Maybe the same goes for Jacob in his quest to refine all of the Island’s powers in order to take control of it himself, which he apparently has accomplished already. Jacob, like Richard, comes across WAY too nice and pure and good, and we all know LOST always tries to trick you. This is also evidence as to why Richard doesn’t age – because he is actually MIB, and like Jacob, he does not age. Next, if you examine the relationship b! etween Farson and Flagg in the Dark Tower, you will see that it is potentially very similar to the one Jacob has with MIB/Richard. It says that Farson (Jacob) is not subserviant to Flagg (MIB/Richard) at all and may even have some authority over him, which would make sense since Jacob apparently tells Richard what to do, and MIB cannot kill Jacob or give him orders, just disagree with him.
This is because BOTH Jacob and MIB/Richard work for THE CRIMSON KING. That’s right – Jacob and MIB are equals, both working under the Crimson King. The evidence is right here: “Some speculate that this is explained by their possible relative positions in The Crimson King's court. Walter, under the guise of Flagg, has been described as The Crimson King's "Minister of State". Some speculate that Farson treats Walter as an equal because he may be The Crimson King's "Minister of War.” This could mean that they are both equals and both serve the Crimson King, but do different things for him/it. This could be deciphered as Farson/Jacob being the Crimson King’s right hand man for manipulating time travel, situations and occurances, whereas Flagg/MIB/Richard/Walt/etc. is in charge of manipulating PEOPLE.

Basically, the twist here is that JACOB and MIB/RICHARD/WALT are working together for the Crimson King to take over the Island and ALL THREE OF THEM have their own agendas and are planning on BETRAYING each other for their own selfish desires, which will ultimately result in a huge war in season 6 in which the Losties will have to pick sides. Basically what I’m saying is that Jacob and MIB are both bad guys, working for an even badder guy – the baddest of all bad – the Crimson King, who, in the Dark Tower series, is described as:

In the series, the Crimson King is described as a powerful immortal being whose characteristics mirror both the physical realm as well as the Prim; which is a magical realm that predates the creation of the worlds within the Stephen King universe. He is the leader of the Random; the opposing universal force to the Purpose. The King is the controlling power behind such villains as Randall Flagg. He also controls a great number of humans via John Farson. He has a number of godlike powers, such as telepathy, shapeshifting, weather control, and mental suggestion, as shown in Insomnia sometimes in the form of nightmares. He is also able to travel and exist on different levels of the Dark Tower simultaneously which explains his presence in several different Stephen King novels.
His main objective is to destroy the Dark Tower and likewise all of the worlds and universes that are contained within. His chief means of doing this is to establish a camp of psychics called the Breakers, to eat away at the Beams which hold the Tower standing along with raising an army of various creatures to combat anyone who would stand in his way. His plan is to rule over the darkness and chaos that is to prevail after its fall. Roland and his ka-tet are the only major forces standing between the Crimson King and his ultimate victory over the forces of the Purpose. Because of this and the prophecy, the Crimson King spends a lot of time trying to either kill or divert Roland from his quest for the Dark Tower.

So, who is the Crimson King of LOST? If it’s not Jacob, MIB/Richard/Walt, or Ben???

THE SMOKE MONSTER (Which means it may or may not be John Locke).

The End. Comments are much encouraged. Hope you all enjoyed.