everyone keeps thinking that richard alpert is apparently ageless, but is it possible that richard is just dead? it seems unlikely that the island is able to resurrect the dead as we've seen dead characters stay dead after dying. this could mean the richard is an apparition much like christian shephard and, one would also assume, john locke. as they have not been on the island long enough to determine that they do not appear to be aging, it's unclear if christian or locke possess the same qualities of richard, but its hard to ignore the possible connection that may exist. richard said that locke looked different when he saw him again, which could be for many reasons or many less important ones, but i've always though that locke is probably dead, just he doesn't know it, as there are still things about the island that we have yet to see him learn.
if that in fact is not true, then you would have to look at the resurrection process. we know that character's the die on the island stay dead (boone, shannon, mr. eko, etc.) but dead characters that are brought back to the island are seemingly able to appear as if they were alive. it's quite possible that richard died before he arrived on the island many years ago and was resurrected in the same fashion as christian and locke. i've read elsewhere on this site that richard probably came to the island on the black rock, which does seem like the most obvious possibility. one would think he was killed on the crash that brought the ship there, but keeping in the spirit of the shows "resurrections" it seems more likely he was in a coffin travelling as cargo with the ship. the conclusion in this part of the theory is that one of the consequences of being resurrected by the island is being ageless.
does it stop there though? one thing to think about is what has been seen in the latter episodes of season 5. caesar was about to pull a gun on locke, but ben stole it and shot him first. faraday had a gun to richard's head but eloise shot him before he could shoot him. since locke has come back to the island he has seemed pretty untouchable and through most of what we've seen of richard that can be said about him too. are these efforts made by the island to ensure the safety of them. could they in fact be immortal too? i was at one point thinking that the agelessness and possible immortality may only apply to the island, but we've seen richard off the island a couple of times and we know the island has powers that span beyond the island (michael being unable to shoot himself, juliet's husband being hit by a bus and all of the characters' pre-island interactions) so probably the conditions of being resurrected apply everywhere.
just some thoughts on richard and "resurrections" of christian and shephard, hopefully when the finale airs there might be some light shed on this.
if that in fact is not true, then you would have to look at the resurrection process. we know that character's the die on the island stay dead (boone, shannon, mr. eko, etc.) but dead characters that are brought back to the island are seemingly able to appear as if they were alive. it's quite possible that richard died before he arrived on the island many years ago and was resurrected in the same fashion as christian and locke. i've read elsewhere on this site that richard probably came to the island on the black rock, which does seem like the most obvious possibility. one would think he was killed on the crash that brought the ship there, but keeping in the spirit of the shows "resurrections" it seems more likely he was in a coffin travelling as cargo with the ship. the conclusion in this part of the theory is that one of the consequences of being resurrected by the island is being ageless.
does it stop there though? one thing to think about is what has been seen in the latter episodes of season 5. caesar was about to pull a gun on locke, but ben stole it and shot him first. faraday had a gun to richard's head but eloise shot him before he could shoot him. since locke has come back to the island he has seemed pretty untouchable and through most of what we've seen of richard that can be said about him too. are these efforts made by the island to ensure the safety of them. could they in fact be immortal too? i was at one point thinking that the agelessness and possible immortality may only apply to the island, but we've seen richard off the island a couple of times and we know the island has powers that span beyond the island (michael being unable to shoot himself, juliet's husband being hit by a bus and all of the characters' pre-island interactions) so probably the conditions of being resurrected apply everywhere.
just some thoughts on richard and "resurrections" of christian and shephard, hopefully when the finale airs there might be some light shed on this.
