Now, to continue with my theme that I started there, I wanted to add my thoughts about what we learned last night. I still think that Ethan is from yet another group. I think that Nathan may be from that same group. (LOL...Nathan-Ethan, sounds the same!) Now I will confess that my thinking on this reminded me of the TV series "Highlander", or "Highlander" influenced my thoughts on this. In the fact that we have many different groups operating outside of normal society.... some battling, some inducting new members, some simply watching and recording what is happening, and some that may not even know themselves what is going on or why. Either way, it's still complicated in my mind, so may not make a lot of sense all typed out. Anywho, I figured it was best to go ahead and throw it out there and link it to thoughts past. The "others" that we have so far (as I see it): The barefooters The ones on the boat The Whisperers Ethan Nathan Goodwin Goodwin, well dressed, well spoken, able to live among our tailies for a month before figured out. Has an army knife that Ana belives to be about 20 years old, says he was in the Peace Corp, is working in tandem with the barefooters, never meant to be seen by the tailies, had his cover blown when Bernard saw him. Clues I assumed from Goodwin: He has not been on the island "his whole life" (the knife, the peace corp comment, his clothes) May have been abducted or taken in/joined at some point. He belives that anyone taken by the barefooters is better off (better off than what?) That comment sounded rather cult like to me, reminded me of the utopian commune attitude mentioned before in concerns with the DeGroots He believed that Nathan was not a good person, and was willing to kill him to protect his identity. I see similarities in Goodwin and the "captain" of the boat people that took Walt. I think that they are of the same group/rank/faction. Nathan, modern dress, secretive about himself, says he's from Canada, goes off in the jungle by himself often, was also not seen on the plane (even by Cindy, the flight attendant), was also killed before any new information could be gathered by him. I see similarities between Ethan and Nathan (besides the names LOL) I think that they are of the same group/rank/faction. (IF he was not in fact on the plane, of course we still do not know for sure that Ethan wasn't, only that nobody named Ethan was. I hope another census is taken, so we can find out about Nathan!!!!) The list that Ana found on the barefooter- She did not say that their names were on it, only descriptions of them. I am thinking that each of these groups of "others" know of each other, but maybe not the identitiies of each other. I am thinking that some of them are of the original group that came to the island to form the commune, but that others within each group have been inducted later as more people find they have been stranded on the island. If you think of it as an original group that has split up into differing factions (Lord of the Flies), then it's a small leap to assume that each of these factions would be vieing for any new people that get stuck on the island. Each faction would have their own criteria for selecting who they wanted. Conflict would occur when one person is wanted by/spotted by more than one group. A commercial plane crash would garner more interest and more conflict among the groups of others than a smaller craft with only a small number of survivors on it. This would fit with my thoughts on Claire's kidnapping foundhereThe plane crash got all of the different group's attention and drew them all out of their respective sections of the island for the chance to pick out who they wanted from the survivors. Following this thought, it would also be a small leap to assume that each of these groups has an ultimate plan in shape for the future of their group, and keeps tabs on the other groups. I am still thinking that the whisperers are not part of the physical aspects of what is going on on the island, but are very much aware of it and their making themselves heard are attempts to help/protect. Desmond ended up being taken to the hatch right after he landed, and most likely was not ever discovered by the others. Danielle's crew was on a boat, and was armed. I am still trying to decypher her accounts of what happened up to the point of her changing the transmission/Alex being taken. Now our tailies have not encountered many things that our first group did...one reason would be that they have not stopped moving long enough. Another reason would be that they were on a completely different section of the island. They were a smaller group, they were more concerned with basic survival since they had no "extras" to assign those tasks to. But they did have more contact with, and learned more about, the barefooters and what they are doing. As of yet, our middies group does not even know of the barefooters and still belives that Ethan (and whatever crew he was with) did the damage. I do think that all of the information of the boat people and the barefooters at least will end up being shared with our middies, because of our raft boys....they were there and saw it, and know at least part of what happened with the tailies. Here's hoping a big campfire exchange of information happens so that we can put some of these pieces together. Although I doubt that we will be getting much more information on the others anytime too soon, we have more pressing issues to deal with. I still think that the army knife could be an important clue...but I need to confirm who commented on it when it was found on the barefooter and what they said....if it was Nathan and he said "There's my knife!" that would be comepletely different than Goodwin saying "That's a knife!"......but for either of them to have had a knife like that on them would mean that they were not on the plane, I just would like to know for sure.http://www.livejournal.com/community/pondering_lost/92030.html#cutid1check link for all original content and comments