I'm not sure if this has been done to death already, but here goes. Charles Widmore was a Black Rock crew member, who was shipwrecked on the island, along with Magnus Hanso and Richard Alpert. Magnus learned to harness the magical properties of the island and became Jacob, a prophet of sorts, and the crew discovered that if they lived according to the islands laws, they would not age, and would remain healthy forever. Somehow, in the yrs that followed, Charles managed to wrest power from or contain Jacob and became leader of the group that later became the "hostiles". Forward several hundred yrs, Alvar Hanso somehow discovers the possible whereabouts of the Black Rock, and seeks to find the wreckage, perhaps looking for it's cargo/treasure. He finds the island, and recognizes it's amazing properties, sets up the Dharma Initiative for further study, and possible exploitation. When Charles Widmore discovers that Dharma has harnessed time travel,! he decides to have the best of both worlds- he will leave the island to set up businesses designed to exploit the island, then return periodically so he will not become ill or age significantly. He orders Ben to massacre the Dharma folks, in the guise of protecting the island, then time travels off island. Ben then seizes this opportunity to take control of the "others", and manages to obscure the whereabouts of the island from Charles, to protect it from further harm. Charles obsession then becomes finding the island, both to freeze his aging process, and to profit from this, and Ben's game is to protect the island at any cost.
Theory by JBell
Theory by JBell
