When I rewatched all four seasons before the start of season five, I took notes. I recorded who got the eye close-ups and which eye it was. Who had a previous connection to each other before coming to the island and each time the Whispers whispered.
People generally try to lump them all together, but there are three types:
Whispering Others: These whispers are the Others whispering before they attack to confuse and disorient you so you won't know just where the attack is coming from. It's part of their jungle warfare.
When Ana-Lucia and her group were bringing a sick Sawyer back to the beach they heard the Whispers and right under their noses the Others were able to snatch Cindy.
When Michael was leading Sawyer, Hurley, Jack and Kate into a trap they heard the whispers right before they got those shock things shot into their necks.
The whispers were heard just before Kate, Sayid, Ben and the Others attacked the freighties.
Juliet heard the whispers just before Harper appeared and Jack/Juliet heard the whispers so they'd be distracted and Harper could disappear without them being able to follow her.
These whispers have a very simple explanation. The other two whispers don't and their genuine island phenomenon.
The Dreaming Whispers:
These are probably the most insidious form of the whispers. They seem to operate the same way Smokey does when he flashes his bright light at you and scans your mind. When you're asleep and your defenseless they invade your mind and scan it to see how best to attack you. They may be the cause of the island dreams that Claire, Sawyer, Hurley, Charlie, Eko and Locke had, even though it was only in Sawyer and Charlie's dreams they heard the Dream Whispers.
With Sawyer, he began having nightmares about the night he hid under the bed while his father shot his mother before killing himself. While he was having that nightmare, the boar was destroying his things. So the Dream Whispers seem also to be connected to the boar. In the last nightmare he heard the whispers and his father's feet seem to turn into the feet of the boar.
Since we know Smokey can take on forms, could the boar have been Smokey and are the Whispers another manifestation of Smokey? The ability to invade people's dreams and scanning their minds is very similar. Smokey and the Whispers never occur at the same time. And that wasn't just a boar. When Kate and Sawyer were hunting it, the boar left Kate's things alone and pulled all of Sawyer's things out of his backpack and peed all over them.
With Charlie, the Dream Whispers seemed to dig out the fact that Charlie was religious and some of his dreams took on a religious tone and involved Aaron. In the one dream Charlie heard the Dream Whispers, they distracted him and Aaron floated out to sea and away from the island trapped inside a piano.
Michael is the only Lostie to be off-island when the Dream Whispers attacked him in his sleep. He was in the hospital after trying to kill himself when he heard the whispers and Libby appeared to him. Obviously they could tell Michael felt guilty about Libby and used her to torment him in his sleep.
The Island Whispers:
These are the ones you hear when you're wide awake. Sayid was the first one to hear them when he was walking back from Danielle's. Sawyer was next. After the boar stole his tent he heard them and clear amongst them was the voice of Frank Duckett, the man Sawyer was tricked into killing in Australia. He heard them again when the boar charged him. The interesting thing about this second encounter with the whispers is the second Kate came into the clearing they stopped. Giving the impression these whispers are only for one person and no one else is supposed to hear them but the person they're targeting.
Shannon heard them when a soaking wet Walt appeared to her talking backwards. Sayid was with Shannon when the whispers started again as Walt appeared to Shannon. Did they not try to hide their whispering from Sayid because he had heard them previously?
As a child Ben heard them just as his mother appeared to him.
Michael heard them when Christian Shephard appeared to him on the boat and told him he could go now. There was a previous instance that wasn't really a whisper, but the song that was playing when Michael tried to kill himself echoed in the air as an apparation of Libby appeared to Michael telling him not to set off the bomb. Which leads to the question can the whispers mimic not only voices but music that it extracts from your mind? Once again, that is similar to the Smoke Monster and him scanning your mind with his bright lights.
With the exception of the first time Sayid heard the Island Whispers, they've been accompanied by an apparation: Sawyer's boar, Shannon seeing Walt, Ben seeing his mother and Michael seeing Libby and Christian. Again, this is a similar ability to Smokey's ability to take on forms.
So my conclusion is the whispers are just another aspect of the Smoke Monster. Theory by SockeRock
People generally try to lump them all together, but there are three types:
Whispering Others: These whispers are the Others whispering before they attack to confuse and disorient you so you won't know just where the attack is coming from. It's part of their jungle warfare.
When Ana-Lucia and her group were bringing a sick Sawyer back to the beach they heard the Whispers and right under their noses the Others were able to snatch Cindy.
When Michael was leading Sawyer, Hurley, Jack and Kate into a trap they heard the whispers right before they got those shock things shot into their necks.
The whispers were heard just before Kate, Sayid, Ben and the Others attacked the freighties.
Juliet heard the whispers just before Harper appeared and Jack/Juliet heard the whispers so they'd be distracted and Harper could disappear without them being able to follow her.
These whispers have a very simple explanation. The other two whispers don't and their genuine island phenomenon.
The Dreaming Whispers:
These are probably the most insidious form of the whispers. They seem to operate the same way Smokey does when he flashes his bright light at you and scans your mind. When you're asleep and your defenseless they invade your mind and scan it to see how best to attack you. They may be the cause of the island dreams that Claire, Sawyer, Hurley, Charlie, Eko and Locke had, even though it was only in Sawyer and Charlie's dreams they heard the Dream Whispers.
With Sawyer, he began having nightmares about the night he hid under the bed while his father shot his mother before killing himself. While he was having that nightmare, the boar was destroying his things. So the Dream Whispers seem also to be connected to the boar. In the last nightmare he heard the whispers and his father's feet seem to turn into the feet of the boar.
Since we know Smokey can take on forms, could the boar have been Smokey and are the Whispers another manifestation of Smokey? The ability to invade people's dreams and scanning their minds is very similar. Smokey and the Whispers never occur at the same time. And that wasn't just a boar. When Kate and Sawyer were hunting it, the boar left Kate's things alone and pulled all of Sawyer's things out of his backpack and peed all over them.
With Charlie, the Dream Whispers seemed to dig out the fact that Charlie was religious and some of his dreams took on a religious tone and involved Aaron. In the one dream Charlie heard the Dream Whispers, they distracted him and Aaron floated out to sea and away from the island trapped inside a piano.
Michael is the only Lostie to be off-island when the Dream Whispers attacked him in his sleep. He was in the hospital after trying to kill himself when he heard the whispers and Libby appeared to him. Obviously they could tell Michael felt guilty about Libby and used her to torment him in his sleep.
The Island Whispers:
These are the ones you hear when you're wide awake. Sayid was the first one to hear them when he was walking back from Danielle's. Sawyer was next. After the boar stole his tent he heard them and clear amongst them was the voice of Frank Duckett, the man Sawyer was tricked into killing in Australia. He heard them again when the boar charged him. The interesting thing about this second encounter with the whispers is the second Kate came into the clearing they stopped. Giving the impression these whispers are only for one person and no one else is supposed to hear them but the person they're targeting.
Shannon heard them when a soaking wet Walt appeared to her talking backwards. Sayid was with Shannon when the whispers started again as Walt appeared to Shannon. Did they not try to hide their whispering from Sayid because he had heard them previously?
As a child Ben heard them just as his mother appeared to him.
Michael heard them when Christian Shephard appeared to him on the boat and told him he could go now. There was a previous instance that wasn't really a whisper, but the song that was playing when Michael tried to kill himself echoed in the air as an apparation of Libby appeared to Michael telling him not to set off the bomb. Which leads to the question can the whispers mimic not only voices but music that it extracts from your mind? Once again, that is similar to the Smoke Monster and him scanning your mind with his bright lights.
With the exception of the first time Sayid heard the Island Whispers, they've been accompanied by an apparation: Sawyer's boar, Shannon seeing Walt, Ben seeing his mother and Michael seeing Libby and Christian. Again, this is a similar ability to Smokey's ability to take on forms.
So my conclusion is the whispers are just another aspect of the Smoke Monster. Theory by SockeRock
