Is LA X Ellie & MIB's Creation? Ellie have Nadia killed? Is Widmore bad? Is Olivia Penny's Mom??? by Adrian McDonald

I debated splitting this up into two, perhaps three separate posts over two to three days. I decided not to because the potential conclusions I hypothesize towards the end are supported from evidence in the beginning and throughout. The case builds and anyone reading a disjointed third-part/post without reading the prior one or two would be "lost" and/or rightfully dismissive of seemingly unsupported stoner theorizing.

Given the length, which may turn so many readers off, I offer the following key points/theories which I support in the post that follows....

The highlights:

1. I suggest Widmore may be a good guy. I certainly knock the notion he is a bad person.

2. I make the case that Penelope Widmore's mother is Horace Goodspeed's ex-wife, Olivia. It could be.

3. I suggest Horace Goodspeed's second wife, Amy, was married to an Other, Paul.

4. I argue that the "man behind the curtain" is really a "woman behind the curtain" and is, in fact, Elloise Hawking (whose uber-poofy white hair in "Happily Ever After" was a bold fashion choice worth noting ;)).

5. Could Elloise be the one that had Nadia killed? Read this, then argue she was not.

6. I make the case that Elloise and Smokie/MIB may be working with each other and that LA X is only Elloise's own quest for "happily ever after" --and maybe Smokie's too. Will LA X suffer from a course correction? I think so.

7. And though I don't raise it at the end, because I got really tired from writing, it may very well be the case that Smokie's "loophole" is used by Jacob....thus Jacob is turning the table by making Smokie's loophole work for him, so he can "end" it once....whatever "it" is that Jacob wants ended.

If you want to know how or why I make these crazy statements, by all means please keep reading. It's quite long, but the case is made and these ideas are supported. Please, knock them down--but with counter support. I'm not sure if I, myself, think they are correct, but I can't rule them out either. So please don't think I am "wrong", as I may just be arguing with myself.

Is Charles Widmore Evil?:

Everyone, I think, hated Charles Widmore when we first met him back in Season 2's finale. Then again, at that time, I was not sure what to make of Desmond either. Like so many things on LOST, I have come to reevaluate Mr. Widmore as the show has gone on. But for a long time, I hated him. At best, he was an overprotective prick. At worst, he was/is "the bad guy."

The case against Widmore--Father-In-Law From Hell:

Let's recap some the reasons Widmore has not been well liked. In the S2 finale, we learn he prevented Desmond from communicating Penny. Widmore intercepted every letter Desmond wrote and tried to buy him off to keep away from her upon his release. Dick move, no doubt. But were Widmore the monster some seem to think he is, why not just have Desmond killed? Ill get back to that. And keep in mind that this moment between Desmond and Widmore in the S2 finale, while it is the first time we see Charles Widmore, it shows a point in time (on the show) which is chronologically some years ahead of when we next see Widmore and Desmond on screen again in S3's "Flashes Before Your Eyes".

In Flashes, Desmond finds himself back in time just before he met Widmore for the first time, to ask permission for Penny's hand in marriage. And their meeting seemed to be going well. Widmore was impressed with Desmond's time at the Royal Shakespeare Company and ready to offer him a job. And when Desmond corrects him, tells him the true reason for his visit, Widmore tells him that he is "impressed" at such a "noble gesture." Widmore pulls the head fake and does not pour Desmond a glass of his McCutcheons (even though he grabbed two cups, prick). To give it to Desmond would be a waste he said. He's not a great man. How could he ever be worthy of marrying his daughter, Widmore asks.

Later on, we learn that Widmore is the "evil" man trying to find the Island. But this intel came from Ben, who could be telling the truth or lying. It's hard to tell, especially when he has evidence to make his case. So Ben shows Locke and others that Widmore sank a fake 815 plane in the Indian Ocean, filled with bodies dug up from South East Asia. He sunk it in a deep location making recovery impossible. We are told he did it because Widmore does not want anyone else to find the Island. We even see a secretly recorded home video in which Widmore personally overseas the beating and apparent execution of an unidentified person. Who? Why? Unclear.

The Case Against Widmore: His Mercenaries & 2004 Island Expedition:

Meanwhile, a few thousand miles east of the Indian Ocean, somewhere in the Pacific, is Widmore's freighter. There are, it seems, many purposes for the freighter. It has two teams: the science team and the mercenary team. Clearly just finding the Island was a goal, aided perhaps, by the navigational skills of Daniel Faraday. Dan, we would learn in S5, is also Widmore's son. His father offered him the job for a variety of reasons, but mainly so that the Island would heal his son's damaged mind. Damaged from years of electromagnetic experiments that shift the consciousness of rats into the near future (see "The Constant"). Experiments Widmore funded--more on that later.

But the main reason Widmore's ship was sent to the Island was to find and capture Ben Linus. The freighter folk had some other missions, other steps to execute while hunting Ben. First, Dan & Charlotte go to the Tempest station. We are led to see this as a threat. The science team members were less than honest with the Losties and packed gas masks, which seemed weird. But Dan & Charlotte were not in the Tempest to release its toxic gas. That was Ben's trick with the Others when they conducted their purge of the Dharma Initiative. To prevent that from happening again, from allowing Ben to gas everyone, Dan & Charlotte render the gas inert. Are they the bad guys? It seems not.

Keammy, the head mercenary, is not as altruistic, however. His team guns down Rousseau and Carl in the jungle and captures Alex, who tells them she is Ben's daughter. Ben had sent those three off to get to the Temple, where they would be safe. This begs: did Ben know Carl & Rousseau would be killed? Or did he want them to get to the Temple? Food for thought.

The mercenary team encounters a somewhat more prepared and alerted group of resisters in New Otherton. Many hapless Losties are gunned down at will, but Ben, Sawyer, Hurley & Locke (and Claire/Aaron) take cover in a relatively well defended house, which used to belong to Ben. The mercs only want Ben, we are told, and want him alive. But even if they hand him over, Locke and co. have every reason to believe the rest of them would then also be killed. They use Alex to entice Ben out, but it doesn't work and she is killed--much to Ben's shock. "He changed the rules" Ben said. Did he?

Ben vanished into a secret room in his home and Smokie was, as many say, summoned. Smoke quickly pounds the mercenaries to no end. Smokie, however, did not kill any of them and only bloodied their noses. But its enough for Ben and Locke etc. to escape. Why would Smokie not kill them? Maybe he needed them to live to execute his loophole.

At "Jacob's" cabin, Christian Shephard (who could be, likely is, Smokie), "speaking" for Jacob, tells Locke that he needed to move the Island to save it. And Locke and Ben head for the Orchid station, where we know Ben did move the Island. Keamy, burned from his last encounter, is pissed. He opens the secondary protocol on the ship, which was written by Dharma, and knows where Ben is going. Keamey wants to capture Ben and prevent the secondary protocol (which is moving the island) from happening. Or maybe, unkown to him, make Ben do it. And when Ben does kill Keamy, evidence of the freighter, perhaps according to plan, goes up in black smoke. A shipwreck unlikely to ever be found near and Island that is no longer there. Huh.

Keamey, however, is killed. Which means the bomb on the freighter set to explode if Keamey died, does explode. Many survivors die, along with the crew and Micheal. And was it Smokie or Christian that told Micheal he could go? Maybe Chrstian was working with Smokie? Do all ghosts have to help Hurley? Frank's heli can barely refuel and barely escape and Jin gets left behind and "dies", at least in Sun and the O6's minds. In their minds, the people on that boat were evil and Widmore is the devil. Only later would they learn Jin made it. Widmore did not kill Jin and, in fact, is the first one to show Jin a picture of his daughter. Widmore has one of his own and all.

In sum, because this boat came: Charlie is dead, Claire is missing, many 815ers are dead from gunfire or the exploding ship, the Island disappeared meaning no rescue for anyone left on it. The heli, out of gas, crashes and Jack, Desmond, Penny and the O6 curse the name of Charles Widmore. To protect themselves from him, the perceived threat, they execute their big lie premised on the bigger lie Widmore had already set up with his fake 815. Only Widmore and the O6 know the truth, and no one is speaking. The message of all this: Widmore is dangerous, at least to the O6 and many of us, the viewers.

Or is he?

The Case for Widmore--Dashing Man of Compassion on the Island:

Granted, the 17-year-old Widmore Locke meets is an arrogant prick who still had much to learn. But the next time we do meet Widmore he is, literally, dashing. He strides effortlessly into his camp on horseback, and speaks with Alpert. Widmore is an older man now, good looking, strong, tall, with long hair. He's like the cover of a romance novel, up yours Fabio. His voice is much deeper yet has the gentle tone of a proper English education. And while Widmore is bothered by the fact Alpert brought a wounded young Ben Linus to their camp, rather than letting him die, he is easily put in his place when reminded that "the Island chooses who the Island chooses". Yes, of course...he does understand and believe in this. He's almost sorry he even questioned Alpert, it seemed to me.

Widmore goes into Ben's tent. And the man that entered that tent was one of compassion, tenderness, gentle authority and empathy. He cared for the injured Ben, comforted him...told him he was special. Ben said he did not want to go back to his father in Dharma, which he had to do, and protested that he wanted to be with Widmore's Hostiles--to be one of them. And what must have been very reassuring for that young Ben to hear, Widmore says "Just because your living with them doesn't mean that your not one of us." I liked this man.

We don't get to see much more of this Widmore. The next time we see him, he beats the crap out of Jack and captures Kate, who were both hiding in the jungle watching as Daniel Faraday confronted Alpert before his own mother, a young Elloise, shoots him in the back. Bear in mind that Elloise is somewhat wise to the whole time travel thing, based on her other encounter with son Dan in 1954. Based on Dan's dying words and discovering her own handwriting in the journal she gave him as a gift at Oxford, Elloise had come to the horrifying realization she had just murdered her own son who, as fate would have it, she is pregnant with. Charles, so far as we know, is clueless to the time travel idea, he never spoke with Dan like Elloise did. And Charles has not read something from his own hand, written in the future. Widmore's love with Elloise, Alpert tells us, is "complicated" and she is now the one calling the shots, she is the leader Richard tells Jack. And so we had the ep! isode "Follow the Leader."

Widmore wants to know what's going on and asks Elloise some questions demanding answers, but that's it. Jack & Kate are taken to Elloise's tent, no questions asked, and Widmore is out of the loop--back to, it seems, following orders.

Widmore took a turn for the cranky, likely after Elloise left the island to give birth to and raise her son, who was also his son. Cranky like wanting Ben to kill a baby cranky. But before this time, and perhaps even then, I do think Widmore was acting in service of the Island. He seemed to stumble at times, along the way, in performing his duty, but who doesn't? He even presided over the Others when they would have reached their peace treaty with Dharma. He did ask Ben to kill Alex, which seems pretty evil, yet he implied that the Island intended for her to die anyways (how he knows this, I can't say). So if Alex was meant to die, there was a course correction...she was eventually taken by the Island in front of Ben's stunned eyes. I don't think Widmore planned the purge. I think he was already in cuffs when the plan was carried out. And once it was, he was banished by Ben. So long Charles, thanks for all the fish.

Charles left the Island, often, and had a child with an 'outsider.' Both of which, it seems, were major transgressions according to Ben, who was gloating btw. Nevermind the fact Ben liked to leave the Island as well, as did Alpert and Tom Friendly....and Jacob for that matter. So maybe he was the only one to have a child with another woman, his daughter Penny...but remember that saying of his? You don't need to live with them to be one of them. This, apparently, did not apply to Penny or her mother under Ben's rule, however.

The Case for Widmore--"I Hate you Desmond, but Here is my Daughter's Address":

Sure Widmore kept Penny from getting Desmond's letters from Jail. Dick move or not? Because if he didn't want Desmond to contact his daughter, why give Desmond her address? Moreover, he gave him the address after Desmond told him she had changed her number--so he could not call her. Nevertheless, Widmore hands the information over. No problem Desmond. She does not want you to call her, but I am ok with you going to see her. wtf.

The Case for Widmore--Funding Research and Providing Free Health Care When It Goes Wrong:

Upon graduating from Oxford, Daniel tells his mother, Elloise, that he just received a very large grant from an industrialist named Widmore to fund his research at Oxford. It's likely Widmore knew what Daniel was working on, time travel, and that certainly could have been one of his motivations to fund. But isn't it also possible he was trying to be a good father, from however afar, to his son by taking on the role of generous benefactor? It's possible. Perhaps the motives were mixed. In any event, the massive grant news was quite a shock for Elloise, the cold-heated mother who would not even lunch with Dan's girlfriend. "I hate her Dan, put that in your journal." She cut the lunch short and gave Dan a graduation present, the journal, with her fresh handwriting just as she had seen it on the Island after she killed him years earlier. Well years earlier for her, but not for the Daniel she was lunching with....for him, that would be in his future. Oh the tragedy and t! he mind %$3%!

Widmore's investment, Daniel's conscious shifting time travel experiments, was not completely sound. We see now, on the Island, that he is using more advanced versions of his son's work. To what end is unclear. Perhaps for his own benefit. It's unclear. What is clear was that when things went very wrong for his son's botched experiments at Oxford, Widmore showed his compassion. Dan's girlfriend/lab assistant, who volunteered to be experimented on was put in a catatonic state, seemingly unstuck in time. The cost for her care, which required round the clock care from health professionals, would have been astronomically expensive. Millions over years. But cost was not an issue for her modest family. Everything was covered by Mr. Widmore, who the family considered a saint. And he was. He did not have to do that. Either he felt some sense of responsibility for what happened or he was looking out for the girl his son loved...either way, for either reason, this shows h! im to be a good man. Elloise, on the other hand, wouldn't even eat with the poor girl.

The Case for Widmore--Trying to Be a Good Father to the Son He Never Knew:

The accident at Oxford also messed up Dan, apparently wreaking havoc on his memory, a side effect that makes more and more sense to us now. In that sorry state, Dan always looked utterly confused an lounged around his home in a robe. And on the day he saw the news of the discovery of 815's wreckage (the fake one of course), he was paid a visit by his father, Charles Widmore. Daniel didn't know it was his father, he never did. He barely remembered the name Widmore, only because of the huge grant for his seemingly botched research. Widmore does not tell Dan that he is his father. He knew he was, and he could have...but for whose benefit? His? It's likely Dan would have been even more confused with such news and sunk deeper into his own psychosis. But Widmore acted like a father.

Widmore, the giant and powerful man he is, was not pretentious. The mess of the house did not bother him in the least. He was not a snob. I don't think he would care where his knife is. His concern for Dan was apparent and he listened with understanding and patience as his shell of a son rambled on. And Widmore did not want an apology from Dan for any mistakes at Oxford or for blowing the grant. Rather, Widmore wanted to give Dan a job. He even told Daniel that the plane on the news making him so upset was not real, but fake and told him he knew this because he put it there. And he told Daniel about the Island. A magical Island. And though Dan would not be of much use in his present condition, Widmore told him that the Island would fix him. It could heal his mind. Because a mind is a terrible thing to waste. And I seriously doubt Charles Widmore knew Dan's own mother would kill him. Had Charles know that, I think, he would have prevented Dan from going.

Only after a separate visit from his mother, Elloise, was Daniel finally convinced to go...because he wanted to make his mother proud.

The Case for Widmore--Saving John Locke:

As we know, were it not for Charles Widmore, Locke would have died a slow painful death in the Tunisian desert after being teleported there upon turning the FDW. Locke's badly broken leg is fixed and Widmore then had a specialist flown in to set it correctly. Locke got the gold treatment. Here again, we meet a compassionate Widmore. As Locke wakes from his painful ordeal and surgeries, Widmore immediately pours him a cup of water. Not a big deal, but it shows someone who thinks of others. Empathy.

Widmore tells Locke he was worried Ben would trick him into leaving, just as he had been tricked (huh?). He was once their leader, he tells Locke. "The others"? asks Locke. Widmore responds, "their not the others to me...they are my people." This is important. He corrects Locke. Locke would later say the same thing, say that they were not others...but also his people..when a stunned Sawyer asked him why he didn't shoot an Other, who was....wait for it...Charles Widmore. Widmore tells Locke they protected the Island, peacefully, for more than three decades until Ben rose up and executed the purge. So for the most part, I think it was peacefully protected under Widmore's reign.

But Locke was not exiled. He chose to leave. This is a huge surprise to Widmore, who can't conceive of why he would do that. But Widmore is intuitive, he correctly guesses that Locke has come to bring the 06 back to the Island. Locke even attempts to deny this, but Widmore sees through his lie. He understands why Locke would lie. He has empathy and vows to help.

Why, asks Locke? Why help? To keep the wrong side from winning, Widmore says. Widmore gives Locke the exact location of each 06 member. He gives Locke plenty of money, and more should he need it. He gives Locke a phone to reach him any time, day or night. To call, dial 23. 23! I saw this as a major wink. Jack's number, duh. If Widmore's been watching them, the O6, all this time, he certainly has not been trying to kill them. And he did not bother even to reach out, overtime, and convince them he was not evil. This is something Ben would do, something he did do. Given this, does it really make sense that Widmore was the one who had Nadia killed? Ben was still off-island, so I don't think he planned it...but Widmore does not seem like the next suspect. That could leave Elloise...but I am not there yet. Keep reading, and the case for making Elloise behind Nadia's death seems more convincing.

But Locke doesn't trust Widmore...you know, the boat with C4 and all. But that, we are told, was because he was trying to have Ben removed so it could be Locke's time to rule. Ben had tried to kill Locke before, unlike Widmore. And Ben would try again and succeed. Why would Widmore want Locke to lead? Because, he says, the Island needs Locke, it had for a long time because he was special. Locke asks, "what makes you think I'm special?" And in one of my favorite LOST moments, Widmore offers the perfect response, "Because you are." The man does have a way with words.

Unlike Ben, Widmore had seen Locke on the Island in the past and knew he had a purpose. Assuming Matthew Abbadon worked for Widmore when he told a wheel-chair bound Locke to go on a walkabout, its likely Widmore was trying to get Locke to the Island where he could lead, and be healed. And so again, Widmore provides Abbadon to do anything Locke asks and to protect him. Protect, not kill, and get Locke where he needed to be.

Widmore Tells the Truth on At Least One Thing--Ben Lies:

Was Helen really dead? Was her grave a fake? And was Abbadon really killed? Some think it was a ruse. A plot to keep Locke on track andnot wonder about a past love and to make it look like fate brings him to Jack's hospital. Certainly, Widmore is a master of illusion. He lied to the world and staged a fake plane crash. But would this really be necessary with Helen? I think Locke would have loved to have seen Helen, but still would have gone on with his quest---to save the Island and the people he left. The people counting on him to save them: Sawyer, Juliet etc. Is it fair to call Widmore a liar? Perhaps. But I think he lies less than Ben.

That said, I believed Ben when he told Locke that he shot Abbadon in "The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham". He didn't hesitate. Yup. That was me. And then he starts lying, but not before.

Ben tells Locke he has been protecting the O6 from Widmore. Lie. They didn't need protection. Ben even tells Locke that he had people watching and protecting the O6. And he said the person he had watching/protecting Sayid was the person who alerted Ben that Locke was back. Lie. Ben saw Locke visiitng Walt in NYC and looked quite shocked, I might add. As if, Ben! Protection from Sayid is what most people need, not someone protecting him. In fact, Sayid would likely kill anyone watching him, just as he did with the person watching Hurley. Ben tells Locke that he was not "saved" by Widmore. He was being used, said Ben "He [Widmore] waited until you showed up so that you could help him get to the Island." Ben wanted to keep him away so that Locke could lead. His lies continue...nothing can happen to Locke, he says, because he is so important. He even tells Locke that he can't die. Just can't!

Ben doesn't know what to do once all of the O6 are on board, pardon the pun, with returning to the Island...but Locke does. He tells Ben that they needed to go and see Elloise Hawking..."do you know her Ben?" Surprised to hear her name, Ben responds that he does know her. And then Ben strangles Locke.

Ben, not Widmore was waiting for Locke to turn up. Widmore, not Ben was protecting the O6. And it was, in the end, Ben who used Locke, not Widmore. No compassion, no empathy. Ben is not Widmore.

Some points are worth noting. Clearly, Ben had no idea about Elloise. Her role in this was a total shock to Ben. Ben is also surprised when Desmond tells him that Elloise was Dan Faraday's mother. Ben certainly didn't know why Desmond was at the church. At this stage, Ben is learning that he does not know hardly anything. Ben's not used to this. It seems to me, the man behind the curtain is being outplayed by the woman behind the curtain: Elloise Hawking.

Ben's Unseen Visit With Elloise Hawking:

Since we do not see it, we have to infer that after he murdered Locke, Ben goes to see Elloise. I think he told her that Locke committed suicide and its also likely she would think he was lying either way. Point is, Locke's dead. And it's implied that she told Ben to bring all of the O6 people to meet with her in the Lamppost. And before I get into that, I want to return to our friend Widmore for some concluding remarks.

Charles Widmore--Good or Evil? Or both? Or Neither?:

It's not clear how omnipotent Widmore is, or at least was in the past. If he knew about the hatch and the role Desmond would play, was he was he really being such a dick by not approving a marriage to Penny? On the contrary, I think he did approve and found it difficult to be such a prick. Widmore, as we have seen, is a man capable of great compassion. Perhaps he had to be a dick to keep Desmond on his path. Had Penny married Desmond earlier, he would never be able to push the button and game over.

When Desmond was in prison writing letters to Penny, she may have forgiven him and met him at the gate. Perhaps aware of this, it explains why Widmore blocked those letters. He needed to keep Desmond headed to the Island. When he gives Desmond Penny's address, seemingly strange given what he did with the letters, it could be explained because, perhaps, Widmore knew what was happening to Desmond and that he needed her for his constant--or he would die. This seems reasonable, given that Widmore paid for the care of Daniel's girlfriend/lab partner.We know now that Widmore wanted Desmond for other tasks on the Island. Since he needed him alive, he gives him Penny's address.

When Desmond does finally make a life with Penny, Widmore is not upset or angry. At best, he was neutral. And far from wanting to find his daughter, Widmore told Desmond to stay hidden because he knew Ben was after her. In essence, he trusts Desmond with protecting his daughter's life. This is not a man who hates or disrespects Desmond. At least that's how I see it. So I don't know what to make of Widmore. He could break either way, good or bad. I can't resist--with him, things are not black and white.

One final point on Widmore: I suggested that he may have known about Desmond's purpose, or destiny with the Island. But I think Widmore's knowledge of Desmond's role with the Island is like what we are seeing with Jack. At least in the past, I think Widmore knew Desmond had something he needed to do on the Island--but he has/had no idea what that is/was. Someone else, we know, has always been much more omnipotent about Desmond's fate than Widmore (or even Desmond for that matter)...Elloise Hawking...

Widmore and Elloise--"Love Can Be Complicated":

Whatever romance these two had took place off-screen. That Elloise was the person in charge, not Widmore, was telling. Widmore was not a power hungry type like Ben and followed orders even when given from the woman carrying his child. As I said before, Elloise was wise to time travel long before Widmore. It seems clear she never spoke about her encounter with Dan in 1954 or that she told him who Dan was after she shot him, much less explain to him how she knew. I really think he was kept in the dark on this.

Things were not a fairy tale when Jack and Kate see young Widmore and pregnant Elloise bicker in S5. Alpert explains to Jack & Kate that "love can be complicated." And don't the two of them know it! And with Jack and Kate, we know why. But not with Widmore and Elloise. Why were things complicated? She was pregnant, so things were somewhat good (or had been not long before). Women could still deliver on the Island, as the incident had not yet happened. So what could have been the problem?

The other woman. That, I think, was the problem in Widmore & Elloise's "complicated" love. It's never been made clear, but it seems to me that Penny is older than Daniel. I can't say by how much. Maybe only a few years, maybe closer to ten. But she does seem older. Daniel is the academic, always in school, which suggests he is younger than Penny, who seems long done with whatever formal education she had. And with her money and accent, she did go to college. Trust me. Sure Daniel was a Ph.D and Oxford professor. And he said he was the youngest Ph.D in the history of the school.

We can probably assume Penny's mother was blonde, since Widmore is not. Men on LOST like blondes. Jack liked Sarah, blonde. He was smitten with Juliet, blonde. Christian had an affair with Mrs. Littleton, a blonde. Ben's mother, Roger's wife, Emily was a blonde. And when Horace Goodspeed's Red convertible stopped to help young Roger Linus and wife Emily, who was delivering Ben, at Horace's side was his wife Olivia, also a blonde. Remember Olivia? We met her in S3's "The Man Behind the Curtain."

When Ben and Roger arrive on the Island, Olivia and Horrace are still together, it seems. He is doing his math thing, and she was a teacher. And she taught Ben and his childhood friend Annie. When Sawyer, Juliet, Miles, Jin and Faraday arrive in Dharma town in 1974, Horrace greets the crowd and appears to be single. Olivia is not mentioned or seen. Why? The writers, back in S3, said that Olivia had an important role to play on LOST. Perhaps they changed their minds. Or perhaps they just have yet to fill in a few blanks. And one of those blanks could very well be that Olivia, Horace Goodspeed's first wife, is Penny Widmore's mother.

Think about it. Widmore was a total stud in the 1970's. He was hot, Olivia was hot...they were each taking a walk in the jungle one day and, as fate would have it, bumped into each other. They hooked up. Olivia got pregnant with Penny. Things, as one could imagine, went south with Horace; and things "got complicated" between Elloise and Widmore as well. Olivia, for so many potential reasons, left the Island. Maybe she was forced to leave or chose to leave, it's really not important to me. She left.

The Dharma Initiative/Hostile Love Connection(s)?:

Horace, as we know, did not stay a bachelor. He would later marry Amy, the poor young woman who was saved by Sawyer (aka "Lafluer") after her then-husband Paul is shot by several "Hostiles" while the couple was having a picnic....well outside the protection of the sonic fence, I might add. Amy seemed like a tough chick. Rather than mourning all that much, she really had no problem turning the body of her recently deceased hubby over to Richard. The Hostiles, Alpert claimed, needed it for some sense of justice. That seemed odd too. Why? So many whys, actually.

The Hostiles want Paul's body. Paul and Amy were on a picnic in Hostile territory past the fence. Amy is not attached to Paul's corpse. However, Amy was sentimental about Paul's necklace, which had an Ankh on it. Really? The same Ankh held by Tarawet that Jacob liked to carve?

If you are willing to go along with the idea that Widmore hooked up with Olivia, of the Dharma Initiative, isn't also conceivable that other Dharma-Hostile love connections were going on also? Perhaps Paul was once a Hostile who fell for a Dharma worker, Amy. Is this really a crazy notion? Ben, after all, was himself a Dharma worker and then became leader of the Others. Ethan, one of the first "Others" we met (the first?) was the son of the Dharma Initiative's man in charge on the Island, Horace Goodspeed.

But I digress. I know this has been a very long read, bear with me as I wrap this up with Elloise.

Elloise Hawking is a Woman & Mother Scorned--Is She "Evil" and Working with Smokie?

We know Daniel Faraday's primary motivation to change the past by detonating a hydrogen bomb was to save the life of the woman he loved, Charlotte. He saw her die, it messed him up and he wanted to change things. Time travel killed the woman he loved, even though they had never been on a date. Daniel, cry me a river.

Elloise Hawking shot her own son, the same Daniel (therefore also killed because of time travel). She was pregnant with Daniel, when she shoots him! It keeps getting worse, we know, because she was also the one who knowingly sends her son back in time so she can shoot him. Bitch is gonna be fucked up from any one of these things. Elloise makes her son learn about math and time travel concepts, the very thing that allows him to do it and be killed from it. She knows this. She gives him the journal. Do I need to continue? Daniel's motivation to change things was nothing--NOTHING--compared to the fire burning in Elloise.

On top of all this, Daniel's father and Elloise's former love, Charles Widmore, cheated on her and had a daughter with another woman (who, as I speculated, may be Olivia). Yes, I think Elloise had to leave the Island after the incident (which happened, I might add, because her son had a bomb dropped down a hole) to have Daniel rather than die giving birth on Island. Much more than just that, however, Elloise is driven to change things. She wants to save her son and erase all that happened to her. She truly wants him to play the piano, and of course never shoot him. More than that, she wants to live in a world where she is married to Charles Widmore, who favors his son, who shares his name, over the illegitimate daughter he had with another. And this is exactly the world she is, in fact, living in with LA X.

Elloise, when we meet her in "Flashes Before Your Eyes" seems to have complete and clear foresight of the future. She knows exactly how things get played out, because she has seen it already as a participant. She was first tipped off to it by her own son in 1954 who spoke of a future where the Island was still there in 50 years. Knowing so much of what has and will happen, Elloise, therefore, knows exactly what to change. She thinks she knows/knew how to create her utopia and in LA X, we may be seeing it.

To create a world where her son is a talented piano player, she had to force him to be a physicist. To live in a world where she is close to him, she had to endure one where she was forced to alienate herself from him. In one world they did not share a last name, he even named his rat Elloise.

To create a world where she is married to Charles Widmore, she had to endure one where she left him. A world where she attempts to hide from him by assuming a fake name, Hawking. Such a perfect choice for obvious time traveling reasons. To further insulate Daniel from being found by father, his birth certificate was blank for his father and even his name is different from his mother, Faraday over Hawking. Elloise is surprised when Daniel tells her his grant is from a person named Widmore. Maybe she did not know that detail...he found them. But no matter, she allows for some unpredictability, as she tells Desmond in "Happily Ever After." One no more real than the other. And now in LA X, the three are all Widmores.

And if the Christian Shephard that Locke met in the caves of the FDW was Smokie, then it was Smokie who tells him to find Elloise Hawking. Does this suggest a pact? Maybe? She would know what to do, because she does and wants to change things, like Smokie. They have comment interests to an extent. They can use each other. So maybe it was Smokie who, from "Jacob's cabin", gave the order to build a runway. Because maybe he knew, as Elloise did, that Ajira 316 would need it for a landing.

I have so much more I could say, but this is already soooo long. Comments anyone? I freely admit, this may be totally wrong. I am certain of nothing....but the case here can and has been made.

If you read this far, than I truly thank you. Props. Thank you. And I invite you to visit my blog at http://lost-looking-glass.blogspot.com/