Claire's Psychic Explained? by Jhisc9999

Recently damnbueno and I were discussing the events surrounding Richard Malkin (Claire’s psychic) and it evolved into a theory that may explain his actions. As you recall, he told Claire that no one else must raise her baby. Then he, supposedly, found an American couple that were “good people” and he gave her a ticket onto Oceanic 815. In Claire’s first flashback episode, she and the audience came to the realization that there was likely never an American couple and we assumed that he put her on that plane because, being a psychic, he knew the plane was going to crash. Very cool back story.

In Season 2, we see a flashback of Eko in Australia where he crosses paths with Malkin. This is where things get confusing. Eko is sent by the church to investigate a possible miracle regarding Malkin’s daughter, Charlotte, who was clinically dead but came back to life during her autopsy. I don’t think there is anything special about the fact that Eko’s and Malkin’s paths cross. This was quite common in the show and illustrated the connection the Losties had with each other. It was Malkin’s reaction that was strange. He frantically tried to stop Eko’s investigation and proclaimed himself to be fake, even describing how he cons people. So what are we to believe about Malkin?

There are two possibilities:

1) He is a real psychic and saw something incredibly bad (end of the world stuff) if Claire didn’t raise her baby herself. Could he have foreseen the separation of Claire and Aaron when the O6 left? But if that’s the case, why send her to the island in the first place? Did he foresee a future where Kate did not come back for Claire and subsequently was not there to shoot MIB? Not likely, because the show has made it clear that there can’t be two possible futures.
2) He is a fake. He did intelligence gathering (as he described to Eko) and exploited her. But to what gain? Perhaps there really was an American couple and they were paying him to do it. This seems a bit extreme and would be a very expensive long con. I’m sure with that kind of money, they can arrange a normal adoption.

It’s possible that the writers were trying to lay the groundwork for an explanation by providing two key pieces of information in Eko’s flashback. First, Malkin proclaims he is a fake to get Eko to stop his investigation. Wouldn’t a psychic, real or fake, want the publicity? Malkin was hiding something. Second, a miracle occurred. The proof was when Charlotte gave Eko a message from his dead brother Yemi. This is where our theory comes in. The miracle is the motive. Who do we know could perform such a miracle and who also wanted Claire to come to the island? Jacob. Jacob has done this before – for Dugan’s son and possibly for Locke after his fall. Jacob brings people to the island. What if he promised Malkin that he would save his daughter if he would make sure Claire got on that plane?

A diligent review of the timeline by damnbueno confirms that Malkin’s dealings with Claire started around the time of the miracle. This theory fits in with what we have discovered about Jacob in subsequent seasons and it explains all of the, otherwise, confusing events surrounding Claire and Malkin. Admittedly, this is difficult to prove or disprove.

What do you think?