Richard and Widmore.
It is 1954 and the US government has found the island. How and why we may never know, but if we believe Hawking, the island was always moving and it appears likely that the finding was accidental. It may well be that discovery prompted Richard to devise a plan to hide the island now that technology (subs, planes, etc) made it possible to accidentally find the island and bombs could destroy it. Widmore's motives are far more expansive, as he sees an opportunity to take advantage of what the island offers. Clearly he is a hothead. (Widmore is likely an original Islander but he may be one of the soldiers that found the island.)
A plan is created by Richard to bring external scientists to the island for that purpose and Widmore agrees to manage the operation externally. We know Richard has ways of getting off and back to the island that may not involve the FDW as we saw in 1956 and early 60s. Once Dharma is formed, the scientific research cover is created to facilitate the recruitment of different scientists. Widmore conceals his origin from his recruits and thereby creates the "truce" between the Islanders and the Dharmaites.
Ask yourself - why would Richard tolerate these people on his island and all the construction - all the stations - he had selfish reasons, hide the island and protect it against Jughead. The Dharma presence likely begins in the 60s, as by 1974 much of Dharma is up and running. The Dharma web is extensive - think about the effort to bring all that Dharma has on the island to the island. Widmore manages it off island and its efforts on the island are directed by Widmore. First and foremost, Dharma creates a cloaking process that hides the location from the eyes of outsiders. Going to and from the island is made relatively easy using the sub and the coordinates. It is also likely that Hawking was the "clever" man that determined the means to find the island and facilitate Dharma's movements and she worked with Widmore in the beginning. (I am not convinced that she ever stopped working for him given what we have seen to date.)
All is going well as we see in the early 70s and into the late 70s, but then there is a game changer. That is Ben. I firmly believe that the incident in the 80s (covered below) caused Ben to go back in time as Locke did and plant the seeds for his emergence and facilitate his ascendancy into power. Widmore said he led his people for 30 years. If we assume he took on leadership sometime in late 50s, then by late 80s he was finished. Why? What happened?
First, the incident - what was it? As we see from recent episodes, Dharma was on the path to finding and likely exploiting the island’s “limitless” energy. If the FDW is ancient, its discovery resulted in its use causing the time flashes (whence Ben’s journey to the past), and the island to reappear to the outside world. The swan station was created to control the energy from the FDW and anchor the island in a way to continue to allow Dharma to come and go (Coordinates 325). The blame for the incident was placed on Widmore and his Dharma people and for that reason Richard and Ben exiled him. But, let’s be clear, Widmore did not stop working for Richard, as Widmore in turn blamed Ben. This is important, as he is still motivated to help “his people” and Richard. (His people are the Islanders and those left from Dharma after the purge.) It is the “boy” he hates for causing his banishment. For that reason, he kept Dharma going in the outside world, feeding his! people with supplies by air. Gradually he lost Richard’s trust completely – thanks to Ben, again. How does he know where the island will be? Hawking tells him. Why does he not go back? Ben on the island is formidable and trusted by Richard. As such he sends a crew to get Ben off the island. But, what has happened more recently is Richard has lost faith in Ben, perhaps because of Locke’s time travel or other reasons we will learn.
Now, let's put the purge in context - it took place before 1988. As someone posted, if Danielle came on the island in or about 1988, the purge had taken place by the time she and her crew arrived. It likely occurred in the 1984 - 1987 time frame in line with Widmore's 30 years statement. All that was, was a consolidation of Ben’s power. The experiment with Dharma was over, and all those who were loyal to Widmore died while the remaining joined Ben and Richard.
So where does that leave us? To Widmore and Hawking, Ben is an upstart a usurper, but in many respects a mosquito – buzzing about inflicting pain, but in the long run he will be squashed. I believe Hawking is the key to it all - re-watch the episode where Desmond’s flashbacks tell the story of his meeting her and leaving Penny. It is a remarkable episode, as Desmond’s future self inhabits his former self and as another poster noted, Hawking knows it all, and knows full well time will course correct. If Desmond does not go to the island and turn the key, everyone is dead. Why? – Once he turns the key, the island moves (Tom says as much to Jack during Ben’s surgery, as he explains that they could not go off island to help Ben because the sky turned purple).
Had he not turned the key… well we will have to wait and see what would have or not have happened.
AndLostTheory by AndLost
It is 1954 and the US government has found the island. How and why we may never know, but if we believe Hawking, the island was always moving and it appears likely that the finding was accidental. It may well be that discovery prompted Richard to devise a plan to hide the island now that technology (subs, planes, etc) made it possible to accidentally find the island and bombs could destroy it. Widmore's motives are far more expansive, as he sees an opportunity to take advantage of what the island offers. Clearly he is a hothead. (Widmore is likely an original Islander but he may be one of the soldiers that found the island.)
A plan is created by Richard to bring external scientists to the island for that purpose and Widmore agrees to manage the operation externally. We know Richard has ways of getting off and back to the island that may not involve the FDW as we saw in 1956 and early 60s. Once Dharma is formed, the scientific research cover is created to facilitate the recruitment of different scientists. Widmore conceals his origin from his recruits and thereby creates the "truce" between the Islanders and the Dharmaites.
Ask yourself - why would Richard tolerate these people on his island and all the construction - all the stations - he had selfish reasons, hide the island and protect it against Jughead. The Dharma presence likely begins in the 60s, as by 1974 much of Dharma is up and running. The Dharma web is extensive - think about the effort to bring all that Dharma has on the island to the island. Widmore manages it off island and its efforts on the island are directed by Widmore. First and foremost, Dharma creates a cloaking process that hides the location from the eyes of outsiders. Going to and from the island is made relatively easy using the sub and the coordinates. It is also likely that Hawking was the "clever" man that determined the means to find the island and facilitate Dharma's movements and she worked with Widmore in the beginning. (I am not convinced that she ever stopped working for him given what we have seen to date.)
All is going well as we see in the early 70s and into the late 70s, but then there is a game changer. That is Ben. I firmly believe that the incident in the 80s (covered below) caused Ben to go back in time as Locke did and plant the seeds for his emergence and facilitate his ascendancy into power. Widmore said he led his people for 30 years. If we assume he took on leadership sometime in late 50s, then by late 80s he was finished. Why? What happened?
First, the incident - what was it? As we see from recent episodes, Dharma was on the path to finding and likely exploiting the island’s “limitless” energy. If the FDW is ancient, its discovery resulted in its use causing the time flashes (whence Ben’s journey to the past), and the island to reappear to the outside world. The swan station was created to control the energy from the FDW and anchor the island in a way to continue to allow Dharma to come and go (Coordinates 325). The blame for the incident was placed on Widmore and his Dharma people and for that reason Richard and Ben exiled him. But, let’s be clear, Widmore did not stop working for Richard, as Widmore in turn blamed Ben. This is important, as he is still motivated to help “his people” and Richard. (His people are the Islanders and those left from Dharma after the purge.) It is the “boy” he hates for causing his banishment. For that reason, he kept Dharma going in the outside world, feeding his! people with supplies by air. Gradually he lost Richard’s trust completely – thanks to Ben, again. How does he know where the island will be? Hawking tells him. Why does he not go back? Ben on the island is formidable and trusted by Richard. As such he sends a crew to get Ben off the island. But, what has happened more recently is Richard has lost faith in Ben, perhaps because of Locke’s time travel or other reasons we will learn.
Now, let's put the purge in context - it took place before 1988. As someone posted, if Danielle came on the island in or about 1988, the purge had taken place by the time she and her crew arrived. It likely occurred in the 1984 - 1987 time frame in line with Widmore's 30 years statement. All that was, was a consolidation of Ben’s power. The experiment with Dharma was over, and all those who were loyal to Widmore died while the remaining joined Ben and Richard.
So where does that leave us? To Widmore and Hawking, Ben is an upstart a usurper, but in many respects a mosquito – buzzing about inflicting pain, but in the long run he will be squashed. I believe Hawking is the key to it all - re-watch the episode where Desmond’s flashbacks tell the story of his meeting her and leaving Penny. It is a remarkable episode, as Desmond’s future self inhabits his former self and as another poster noted, Hawking knows it all, and knows full well time will course correct. If Desmond does not go to the island and turn the key, everyone is dead. Why? – Once he turns the key, the island moves (Tom says as much to Jack during Ben’s surgery, as he explains that they could not go off island to help Ben because the sky turned purple).
Had he not turned the key… well we will have to wait and see what would have or not have happened.
AndLostTheory by AndLost
