The issue of Richard, Jacob and the MIB's immortality seems to be a grey area. This will be an attempt to explain my thoughts on the subject from a strictly scientific point of view.
To begin with, we have seen evidence of the after-effects of time travel, but we haven't had the opportunity to view the long term effects,or at least we think we haven't.
So let's look at some of the instances:
John travels to 1954, a time in which he has yet to be born.
John travels to 2007/8, a time when, we as the audience, know he is dead.
Miles travels to 1974, a time before he is born he then lives through that time until after he is born(sometime between 74'-77')
Daniel Faraday travels to 1974-77', both times before he is born.
It is reasonable to assume that Kate and Hurley are either not born, or are tiny babies in 77'
Sayid, would in 77', be about the same age as when he killed the chicken.
Sawyer would be anywhere from 6-10 years old in 77'. (can't remember how long he said it was since his folks death to Jack)
Jack would also be about 6-10 years old in 77'.
Jin, also would be somewhere around 6-10 years old in 77'.
So with all that said, We know that none of these people have De-aged, suddenly died, or ceased to exist. so it is safe to say that your age is not effected by time-travel, you are in effect not pinned down by the effects of time in your time-traveler state. you are still able to be killed or die from a disease or something but you do not age.
I said all that to say this: with all that Evidence I can only see two ways for Richard, Jacob, and MIB to be immortal. They are time-travelers from either the past or the future, or they are Magic I'm going with the former.
Now to address the new question of are they from the past or the future? I say future. Why? Because look at what they seem to be doing, they seem to have been sent from the future, to the ancient past, to try and divert the destruction that will end up taking place in their time period. It just seems that MIB has grown tired of his task and is content with letting humanity do as it will do, so he is a pessimist hence, "It always ends the same, the come, the corrupt, they destroy." Jacob is the eternal optimist hence, "It only ends once everything until then is progress."
So what does that make Richard? I'll leave that to the comments and next season.
To begin with, we have seen evidence of the after-effects of time travel, but we haven't had the opportunity to view the long term effects,or at least we think we haven't.
So let's look at some of the instances:
John travels to 1954, a time in which he has yet to be born.
John travels to 2007/8, a time when, we as the audience, know he is dead.
Miles travels to 1974, a time before he is born he then lives through that time until after he is born(sometime between 74'-77')
Daniel Faraday travels to 1974-77', both times before he is born.
It is reasonable to assume that Kate and Hurley are either not born, or are tiny babies in 77'
Sayid, would in 77', be about the same age as when he killed the chicken.
Sawyer would be anywhere from 6-10 years old in 77'. (can't remember how long he said it was since his folks death to Jack)
Jack would also be about 6-10 years old in 77'.
Jin, also would be somewhere around 6-10 years old in 77'.
So with all that said, We know that none of these people have De-aged, suddenly died, or ceased to exist. so it is safe to say that your age is not effected by time-travel, you are in effect not pinned down by the effects of time in your time-traveler state. you are still able to be killed or die from a disease or something but you do not age.
I said all that to say this: with all that Evidence I can only see two ways for Richard, Jacob, and MIB to be immortal. They are time-travelers from either the past or the future, or they are Magic I'm going with the former.
Now to address the new question of are they from the past or the future? I say future. Why? Because look at what they seem to be doing, they seem to have been sent from the future, to the ancient past, to try and divert the destruction that will end up taking place in their time period. It just seems that MIB has grown tired of his task and is content with letting humanity do as it will do, so he is a pessimist hence, "It always ends the same, the come, the corrupt, they destroy." Jacob is the eternal optimist hence, "It only ends once everything until then is progress."
So what does that make Richard? I'll leave that to the comments and next season.
