Sorry if someone had a similar theory, I have not had a chance to read of them. My theory is designed to address two groups whose current (as of Episode "Namaste") whereabouts and origins have been hidden to the audience; The "Others" and the "other" survivors of Oceanic 815. Obviously several of the original 40 or so survivors died without the audience even knowing their names, but after the "shift" to 1954, the main characters "lost" contact with them and couldn't find them after 3 years of searching. My theory is that the (most likely) earliest shift into the past, when the statue of Anubis was visible, was the "Last" shift for the "other" survivors, even though the main characters ended up in 1974. This discrepancy in time displacement could be attributing to the main characters close proximity to the "Wheel". So what did occur to the "other" survivors? They remained on the Island; probably encountered a man ! who has "always been there" (Richard, perhaps), a man who would teach them and their descendants that the Island was a special place and it is their purpose to protect it. To make it simple: They are the ancestors of the others. Theory by Richard Alpert
