# What one "Lost" mystery do you most care about getting an explanation for? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 28, 2010, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-one-lost-mystery-do-you-most-care-about-getting-an-explanation-for/526808 "2010-01-28T20:57:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2010, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-one-lost-mystery-do-you-most-care-about-getting-an-explanation-for/526808/81 "2010-02-01T04:33:29Z")
What’s up with Walt? They made a big deal out of his specialness. If he doesn’t play some special role in the resolution I’ll be very disappointed. Official word is that they are trying to figure out a way to deal with his having aged. But wasn’t that part of the whole point of the flashforward to three years later? Why was Libby with Hurley in the mental ward and why did she lie to him about it? The actress is now confirmed to be returning, so I hope that allows them to address this. In fact I think pretty much every is confirmed as returning as some point except for Boone’s sister, because the actress had already been scheduled for a busy movie filming schedule, though she’s willing if it can be worked out. And Danielle - Mira Furlan doesn’t want to go back to Hawaii. What’s the smoke monster? Who is Jacob and the Man in Black? What happened with the Black Rock? If Ben had never met Jacob, why did he think he was in the shack? Why was Jacob in the shack for awhile instead of the foot? Who let him out by moving the grey ash? Who are Ilana and the other Jacobites? Why are Ethan and Goodwin so sweet seeming when we see them in the Others village, but so deadly and strong when we first saw them from the Losties perspective? In general, what is up with the Others? How did Ben become an Other, and their leader? What happened to his childhood friend? When did the reproduction problem start? Why were the Others unaware of exactly what was giong on in the hatch? OTOH, I think the Numbers question has been generally satisfactorily answered, if by the expanded universe material and not by the show itself. I also think it’s fairly obvious by this point that Adam and Eve are Rose and Bernard. Also, I know it won’t happen and most people could care less, but there seriously needs to be a Scott and Steve centric episode. Entitled of course, “Scott and Steve are Dead” and modeled after the Hamlet spinoff of similar name… ---
**Author:** ![randwill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a3d4f5/32.png) [@randwill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/randwill)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2010, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-one-lost-mystery-do-you-most-care-about-getting-an-explanation-for/526808/82 "2010-02-01T05:50:39Z")
I guess I’d like an answer to the biggest mystery; why didn’t the people, who didn’t know what was going on, ask the people who did know what was going on, what was going on? And on the rare occasion that someone did ask, why didn’t the people who knew what was going on tell them what was going on? ---
**Author:** ![Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a9a28c/32.png) [@Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oslo_Ostragoth)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2010, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-one-lost-mystery-do-you-most-care-about-getting-an-explanation-for/526808/83 "2010-02-01T06:10:59Z")
> [@randwill](#): > > I guess I’d like an answer to the biggest mystery; why didn’t the people, who didn’t know what was going on, ask the people who did know what was going on, what was going on? And on the rare occasion that someone did ask, why didn’t the people who knew what was going on tell them what was going on? It’s complicated. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2010, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-one-lost-mystery-do-you-most-care-about-getting-an-explanation-for/526808/84 "2010-02-01T06:16:12Z")
Also, _there’s no time to explain!_ And don’t you try asking why we can’t explain while we do whatever else is so important, or remember to ask again later when there surely must eventually be time, either. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Rumor\_Watkins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@Rumor\_Watkins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rumor_Watkins)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2010, 8:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-one-lost-mystery-do-you-most-care-about-getting-an-explanation-for/526808/85 "2010-02-01T08:11:03Z")
> [@jackdavinci](#): > > I also think it’s fairly obvious by this point that Adam and Eve are Rose and Bernard. whaaa? how is it obvious? ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2010, 8:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-one-lost-mystery-do-you-most-care-about-getting-an-explanation-for/526808/86 "2010-02-01T08:16:17Z")
> [@jackdavinci](#): > > I think the Numbers question has been generally satisfactorily answered, if by the expanded universe material and not by the show itself. Am I supposed to be satisfied with that? Because I’m not. I don’t have time for the expanded universe material; I never even heard of the source quoted in the response to my post. No offense to you or the person who responded earlier, but if it’s brought up in the show, it should be explained in the show. ---
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2010, 9:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-one-lost-mystery-do-you-most-care-about-getting-an-explanation-for/526808/87 "2010-02-01T09:25:00Z")
> [@Rumor\_Watkins](#): > > whaaa? how is it obvious? There’s a pair of skeletons, with one black stone, and one white stone. Rose and Bernard are a black and white couple, stranded in the past, who are determined to stay there and live out their lives independently of whatever shenanigans the other Losties are determined to get in… Granted it’s not spelled out or anything, and I hope and suspect that it will be addressed more explicitly, but it seems like the obvious choice to me. > [@Rilchiam](#): > > Am I supposed to be satisfied with that? Because I’m not. Granted, the manner in which the answer came about might not be satisfactory to everyone. I do think the show itself should address it at some point, since it’s one of the “big” questions. But I do think that the answer itself is satisfactory… On the other hand, it still does leave something new unresolved that the show should definitely resolve - changing the numbers to save the world from ending was kind of the raison d’être of the Dharma Initiative - so I’d like to see Lost find a way to bring changing the numbers one of the character’s missions. ---
**Author:** ![stpauler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@stpauler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stpauler)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2010, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-one-lost-mystery-do-you-most-care-about-getting-an-explanation-for/526808/88 "2010-02-01T12:54:00Z")
> [@jackdavinci](#): > > There’s a pair of skeletons, with one black stone, and one white stone. Rose and Bernard are a black and white couple, stranded in the past, who are determined to stay there and live out their lives independently of whatever shenanigans the other Losties are determined to get in… Granted it’s not spelled out or anything, and I hope and suspect that it will be addressed more explicitly, but it seems like the obvious choice to me. [Lost has a new preview out](http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=292748156432&ref=nf) and it looks like: Adam and Eve are in it. As well as the Temple! I got goosebumps. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2010, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-one-lost-mystery-do-you-most-care-about-getting-an-explanation-for/526808/89 "2010-02-01T13:52:37Z")
> [@BMada](#): > > also lost in time, lost in space … Cue _“Lost In Space”_ theme song. Or better yet: _**It’s about time / It’s about space / It’s about dozens of people / in the strangest place…**_ ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2010, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-one-lost-mystery-do-you-most-care-about-getting-an-explanation-for/526808/90 "2010-02-01T14:06:48Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > From Lostpedia: > > [spoiler]It has been revealed in The Lost Experience that these six numbers are the core values of the Valenzetti Equation, a mathematical formula designed to predict the end of humanity. The numbers in actuality are said to represent human and environmental factors in the equation (given numerical form), though their precise meaning is uncertain. One purpose of the DHARMA Initiative was to change the factors leading to humanity’s demise, which will be indicated by an alteration in at least one of the human/environmental factors - i.e. the numbers. However, in all its years of research, the Initiative failed to reach its goal. Despite much research and manipulation of the equation’s values, the end result was always the numbers. > > In an interview with E! in 2009, Damon stated the following in regards to the Numbers: “Here’s the story with numbers. The Hanso Foundation that started the Dharma Initiative hired this guy Valenzetti to basically work on this equation to determine what was the probability of the world ending in the wake of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Valenzetti basically deduced that it was 100 percent within the next 27 years, so the Hanso Foundation started the Dharma Initiative in an effort to try to change the variables in the equation so that mankind wouldn’t wipe it itself out.”[/spoiler] But why are they magic? I get all the stuff above (although there’s a problem\*) But the why does reciting the numbers give you magical luck? (And not only did we see it with Hurley and the lottery, we saw it with the radio operator guy (the Austrailian one), the other radio operator guy (in the nuthouse) and the one where Hurley is bouncing around the crazy French Chick’s jungle death traps like he’s a character in a Super Mario World game–and Hurley ain’t all that nimble. I’ve got a couple of questions besides The Numbers (which would also be my first) 1. There are…3? factions outside who know about The Island–the Hanso Folks/Dharma people, Whitmore’s goons and…another (the creepy time-travelling lady, for one)…? What are their motives? Why is everyone so hot for the island? 2. Clair’s baby Turnip-head: Why must/must not she give it up for adoption? What’s so fucking critical about how it’s raised that the fake(?) psychic guy went through all the time and expense to trick her onto Oceanic 815 just so that the kid would be raised the “right” way? What happens if it’s not? There was a clear “Demon child” vibe in that and several other early episodes…totally forgotten. 3. What about Walt? His backstory has him killing birds by flying them into glass doors. His psychic powers seemed to be forgotten. 4. Why THOSE people–someone or something took a LOT of effort to get all of them onto that one plane? Why them in particular: Rose and Bernard, for example: why were they so critical to the Mysterious Purpose…they never actually _did_ anything. What about the second-bannana characters. Was Ardzt supposed to be a backup for Locke? The two thieves a backup for Kate and Sawyer? 5. What _is_ The Island? What’s Smokey? What’s the Island’s mysterious purpose? Or does the Island have no purpose Atoll? \< ducks and runs \> And most of all: 6) Why is everyone on the show so hot for whiney crazy me-monkey self-absorbed psycho-bitch Kate? While the actress playing her is doing a wonderful job, the character just sucks–and we’ve got a bunch of the main players fighting over her. Good lord, _why_? \*1962+27=1989. World didn’t end. Why is the Hanso foundation and the Dharma Inititative still active? ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2010, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-one-lost-mystery-do-you-most-care-about-getting-an-explanation-for/526808/91 "2010-02-01T14:54:46Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > The “Black Rock” was seen on the horizon at the beginning of the Season 5 finale. I am also curious to find out how it got from there to the middle of the island. Also, how did the Black Rock, which shipwrecked in 1845 have a cargo hold full of dynamite which wasn’t even invented until 1869 (and not commercially manufactured for a about 8 years after)? ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2010, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-one-lost-mystery-do-you-most-care-about-getting-an-explanation-for/526808/92 "2010-02-01T15:25:13Z")
> [@Fenris](#): > > But why are they magic? I get all the stuff above (although there’s a problem\*) But the why does reciting the numbers give you magical luck? (And not only did we see it with Hurley and the lottery, we saw it with the radio operator guy (the Austrailian one), the other radio operator guy (in the nuthouse) and the one where Hurley is bouncing around the crazy French Chick’s jungle death traps like he’s a character in a Super Mario World game–and Hurley ain’t all that nimble. Also, if they weren’t magic, why were they broadcasting The Numbers for…um…20+ years? It was implied early on that the numbers had something to do with keeping the island hidden. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2010, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-one-lost-mystery-do-you-most-care-about-getting-an-explanation-for/526808/93 "2010-02-01T15:33:06Z")
> [@lissener](#): > > … I don’t want this to seem like threadshitting, when I say that for me the biggest mystery is how anyone can watch this tripe without being forced to promise to do so by a friend?.. And yet it is threadshitting, qualifications or no. You know better – don’t do it again. twickster, Cafe Society moderator ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2010, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-one-lost-mystery-do-you-most-care-about-getting-an-explanation-for/526808/94 "2010-02-01T16:37:23Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > And yet it is threadshitting, qualifications or no. You know better – don’t do it again. > > twickster, Cafe Society moderator It is most assuredly not threadshitting. I am committed to watching this series, and I’m participating in this thread in good faith. It’s been established precedent around here that negative responses are to be expected in a Cafe Society thread. Threadshitting is bad-faith, drive-by, negative for the sake of negative. If every time time someone expressed a negative opinion in a CS thread was moderated as threadshitting, then maybe I could actually have an intelligent discussion about Paul Verhoeven, for example. Instead, as I’ve been told time and time again, I have to take my lumps; people are allowed to express negative opinions in Cafe Society. ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2010, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-one-lost-mystery-do-you-most-care-about-getting-an-explanation-for/526808/95 "2010-02-01T18:15:17Z")
> [@lissener](#): > > It’s been established precedent around here that negative responses are to be expected in a Cafe Society thread. Threadshitting is bad-faith, drive-by, negative for the sake of negative. And if the thread title were “What do you think of LOST?” you would be correct. But this is NOT a thread about whether you like the show, it’s a thread about the mysteries and explanations within the show. The only negatives that would be on topic might (possibly) be “Why are you concerned with THAT mystery rather than THIS mystery?” Even then, I’m doubtful. Your comments are off-topic and pretty much thread-shitting. SO, you will stop it now. If you want to complain, go to ATMB. ---
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2010, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-one-lost-mystery-do-you-most-care-about-getting-an-explanation-for/526808/96 "2010-02-01T19:27:30Z")
> [@Fenris](#): > > 1962+27=1989. World didn’t end. I can’t find the “27” figure anywhere in the source material, so I assume the producer meant 27 years from when he was quoted… ---
**Author:** ![middleman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@middleman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/middleman)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2010, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-one-lost-mystery-do-you-most-care-about-getting-an-explanation-for/526808/97 "2010-02-01T19:37:42Z")
> [@stpauler](#): > > ETA: > [Text on the blast door map suggests that DHARMA Initiative researchers were attempting to genetically modify the polar bears to allow them to survive warmer climates](http://lostpedia.wikia.com/wiki/Polar_bear) Global warming might have been part of the fear of the end of the world. > [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > Why does God need a starship? From the only fan of Star Trek 5, I salute you! > [@4everkid](#): > > Ben and the other Others were NOT aware of the Swan and its inhabitants until the 815 survivors discovered it. Except for a select few DI involved in the project, the Swan was a closely guarded secret. It was located in Hostile territory, where drilling was forbidden according to “the truce.” > > [Lostpedia - Swan](http://lostpedia.wikia.com/wiki/Swan) > > Ben was never aware that Desmond was in the Swan. Plus Ben and Desmond never spoke to each other until they met off-island at the Lamppost. > > [In the trivia section](http://lostpedia.wikia.com/wiki/This_Place_Is_Death) But how, then, did Ben know to go to the Pearl(?) with Juliet to spy on them? > [@borschevsky](#): > > An explanation that I would buy is that they made all the food drops at the same time in the 70s. We’ve seen that approaching the island causes weird time effects, and that the angle at which you approach the island has some effect. So maybe they flew a single supply plane and did drops in such a way that the drops arrive on the island at separate times. Brilliant! > [@GilaB](#): > > According to web-based games and scavenger hunts that the producers have set up (which I haven’t followed, although I’ve read a bit in Lostpedia), the Hanso foundation cut off funding for the Dharma Initiative in 1987, and the Initiative lost much of its personnel in the Purge in 1992. The Hanso foundation itself is still out there doing its mysterious thing, saying that it’s trying to save the world while doing ominous, secretive, and sometimes fatal human experiments. Lostpedia has a good [summary](http://lostpedia.wikia.com/wiki/The_Hanso_Foundation). If you think about it, The Others have at least taken over one Dharma property OFF island. Eloise works in the Lampost, which is a Dharma station. It is one thing to take over on island properties. A little deadly gas does the trick. But to get their real estate in LA, they have to have done something very different. > [@](#): > > \*1962+27=1989. World didn’t end. Why is the Hanso foundation and the Dharma Inititative still active? Maybe the Incident or the work being doing prolonged the inevitable > [@Fenris](#): > > Also, how did the Black Rock, which shipwrecked in 1845 have a cargo hold full of dynamite which wasn’t even invented until 1869 (and not commercially manufactured for a about 8 years after)? Didn’t someone suggest that CFL just stored her dynamite there? Or it is an anachrosim… I imagine most of these questions will be answered. Few if any of these are minutia. And despite a lack of focus on Libby’s backstory, the actress portraying her has returned before and is scheduled to appear this season. My addition to the list of mysteries is who are the DeGroots? ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2010, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-one-lost-mystery-do-you-most-care-about-getting-an-explanation-for/526808/98 "2010-02-01T20:49:39Z")
Tahssa: > [@](#): > > If I remember correctly back in the world war days or back when the US was testing atomic bombs some planes crashed on the island and one of the planes had a bomb. Whatever planes were bringing Jughead to the island most assuredly did not crash or land there by accident. The U. S. Army surveyed the place (a U. S. Army image dated 9/22/1954 appeared in the Hydra Office while Cesar was looking through it) and built the drop-tower that they planned to use for testing it. ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2010, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-one-lost-mystery-do-you-most-care-about-getting-an-explanation-for/526808/99 "2010-02-01T20:58:05Z")
Except that someone–Ardzt maybe?–said the dynamite was ancient–certainly more than the 10 (at the time) years that CFL had been there. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2010, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-one-lost-mystery-do-you-most-care-about-getting-an-explanation-for/526808/100 "2010-02-01T21:17:47Z")
> [@lissener](#): > > It is most assuredly not threadshitting. . I think it is, though. I thought I made it clear in the opening post that this was only about the mysteries of the show you most want “solved”. I was specifically thinking of people posting remarks like, “The mystery I want to know is how anyone can watch this crap!” and so forth. And we’ve had two do just that, I believe. ☹ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-one-lost-mystery-do-you-most-care-about-getting-an-explanation-for/526808.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-one-lost-mystery-do-you-most-care-about-getting-an-explanation-for/526808.md?page=6)