I think this is the case. Echo and Jin were looking at a shoe print, not a foot print.

Okay people have way too much time on their hands. When you see Jins resume in the last episode, you see a yahoo email address for him. People have been investigating that too, and apparently there is a member profile that people are trying to "decode" but its all in korean.


http://kr.profiles.yahoo.com/jinsoo74173

I didn't think that he meant they could float or fly... I think that they don't leave tracks because of what they are. Last time I checked a footprint is a type of track. If he meant they don't wear shows then he could have said, "that isn't theirs, they don't where shoes they walk barefoat."

The word "tracks" as used in Lost does not mean the samething as a shoe print. Unless the Boars on the island wear Air Force One's or something, because Locke & Kate followed Boar "tracks" through the jungle.

I think the Riddler wrote it!!!!

As for the footprints, I found this:

Ok, so either way... Ethan leaves tracks & "the others" don't, right?

Ethan was dragging/carrying Claire with him. Makes it a bit harder to avoid leaving a trail.

He was also wearing shoes even when he came back for Claire... "the others" appear not to wear them.

Weren't all of the others in their bare feet as well?

Well if Ethan was trying to infiltrate the survivors, he would've been wearing shoes. I think the others don't leave foot prints when they don't want to be tracked, not all the time.


I still think there are the "Others", which may or may not include the Degroots and some other scientists that survived some horrible experiments, and then survivors, whether it be someone from Oceanic Flight or Rouseau's group or some other crash.

But when he came back for Claire he was wearing shoes... and I think the shot from this weeks episode of them all walking barefoot was to show us they didn't wear shoe's.[/quote]


I have no doubt that there are others... I just don't think Ethan is one of them, at this point anyways.

If you were barefoot, and found shoes to wear, wouldn't you want to wear them?


Also, as noted below...

So what this means is, regardless of footwear, they know better than to walk in places where they would leave obvious tracks. Long story short: The 'Others' know they're way around, probably because they have been there a long time.

So with or without shoes they know the island and how not to leave tracks.

How come none of the survivors has made friends with a volleyball yet?

LOL

Well yes... but were these people born without shoes? At one point they had to have them, and I really doubt they all lost their footwear, and with all the people we think they killed or have died on the island that Ethan was the only one to find a pair of shoe's.

Anyways I guess we'll have to disagree on the Ethan thing for now.

I lean towards the theory that these are all kids like Alex and they have outgrown their clothes and shoes, etc.

Bingo!

Good point... but what about the other part of my paragraph that you didn't quote? Is Ethan the only "other" smart enough to find shoes from all the dead people? The rest of them were smart enough to scavange for clothes (they had clothes on), but they left the shoes on the bodies?

But for arguments sake lets say you guys are right... we know that Ethan has left tracks & that "the others" apparently don't. You guys are saying that they decide to leave tracks sometimes and\or their footwear or lack there of decides if they leave tracks or not... I'm really going to enjoy watching the show when they show the backstory of "the others" explaining their footwearing tendencies! :D

^That's a joke, I know that will never happen.

How many people are born with shoes?



But, yes the idea that if they came to the island with shoes and outgrew them makes sense.

You know what I mean... if these people came to the island has adults they would still have shoes.


Yes... but it doesn't make sence to me, at least, that while they all scavenged for clothes... only Ethan was smart enough to put on the shoes. Unless they wear their shoes as a hat or something and just wear them on their feet when strange people get lost on the island. :)

So to beat a dead horse here, here are some other observations/comments about the footprint discussion.

I think people are taking this whole "they don't leave tracks" thing a bit too literally. I think the explanation above is a good one. They wouldn't leave tracks like Michael did, because they walk lightly and don't appear to wear shoes. While I am sure an expert tracker could probably pick up their trail, it would be hard for anyone on the plane to do so. Locke might have a chance. And maybe Mr. Ecko, because he's a bad ass, but he didn't seem able to.

I think that the "trust issues" thing probably does mean that someone (like Ethan) likely infiltrated the tail end of the plane and started killing folks. Either that or one or two people quickly fell prey to the "illness" and turned on the other survivors.

Interesting theory about Ethan. I've thinking about the feral Rousseau, and have a question or two:

1) Didn't she go after Claire because she thought she could trade Clare's as yet unborn baby for her son, Alexander?

2) Could the hole in the ground she's living in (and took Said to) be another project bunker? I can't really remember what it looked like in the first season. Since the Others don't seem to know where the project bunkers are, despite living on the island possibly since pre-project days (another thing that bugs me almost as much as Locke not telling anyone about his seeing the monster, to say nothing of his Lourdes-like miracle cure) that could be the reason she's remained safe.

3) How does the crew of the Black Rock fit in? They are pre-most everything. Could they be the Others?

4) I like the idea of Alexander being recruited into the teenage Others. But they have a lot of time on their hands. Surely they have found the Black Rock. Teenage boys and dynamite anyone?

I'm willing to go along with all this because the writers have left lots of clues and "ah ha!" moments (mostly notably the character interconnections). In this way they are J. K. Rowling-like in their story telling ability. Hope it continues.

One thing I need to point out is that it wasn't just Mr. Ecko that said the others don't leave tracks. This was mentioned in season one as well when Sayid & Charlie came apon the black smoke and said that there were no tracks...

I understand what everyone is saying, but I just think to explain that "tracks" didn't really mean footprints or they walk on the balls of their feet or whatever... is going to be very awkward to explain on TV. But anyways it's a theory... I think we've beaten it to death, lets move on.


1) It hasn't been explained that Rousseau went after Claire, it was just Claire remembering that she scratched Rousseau in the jungle. We don't know if Ethan & Rousseau are in cohoots, or if Rousseau was saving Claire, or if Rousseau tryed to take Claire from Ethan. We do not that she took Claire's baby after it was born to trade for Alex.

2) Rousseau explained that her and the crew of her boat dug the trench out... so it wasn't a project "hatch".

3) Good theory...

-----------------------

Regarding Alex & the others... I was thinking of this today. If Alex was the one holding the bear, where did he get it? He was born on the island as Rousseau explained... so did he find it, did Rousseau have it on the boat just in case she gave birth?

I'm actually happy to catch the repeat episodes of Lost again. Now that I've seen the first season things make a little more sense.

Probably been hashed through...but Desmond asked Locke if it was "him." I can't recall, was he expecting someone? Did he explain it?

I thought this was supposed to be a NEW episode.......

Nah, two more weeks.

Hmmm, well you're obviously right. I seem to remember them saying that this week's episode was the one you couldn't miss. Then they ran the same promo following this week's. Hell, even TV guide says it was supposed to be a new one tonight.

After last week's episode the preview said... Lost will return in 3 weeks. So one more re-run and the new one's are back.

Well, I don't remember seeing that. At least good ole TV Guide has my back.

This was explained in "Orientation," when Jack and Locke watch the Dharma orientation video. Desmond thought Locke was his replacement. Remember that the man Desmond replaced in the hatch thought Desmond was his replacement but the real replacements never came.

Ah, that's right. But what about the "code word"? Was that part of the video, I don't remember it. Or should we assume that is was "passed down" from the first guy to Desmond?

I believe we are just to assume that it is passed from one guy to the next.

heres some cool news.

darren aronofsky called up lost's producers and aked to direct an episode, and they said yes. it should air in may.

aronofsky did "pi" and "requiem for a dream", and his style on "lost" should be a really amazing episode.

Just got caught up on the show (this morning) and this thread.

I must be among the minority who misses nearly all these little clues and references. I notice the numbers (since we've been clubbed over the head with that) but I am just not attuned to paying attention to every name, every face, and every background image to look for connections back to other storylines.


But since we're engaging in so much speculation... I wonder if Desmond turns out to be the central character in this whole story, once the many parts are revealed. Anyone else get that vibe? Maybe he's a character a bit like the ever-present guy in Neil Stephenson's novels... (blanking on the name there).

New episode tomorrow night...

Who do we think will bite the dust tomorrow?

I'd be shocked if it were Jack, Locke, Kate, Sawyer, Charlie, or Hurley. They all seem to have backstories that need to be completed.

And reasonably surprised if it was one of the other "main" characters (Sun, Jin, Claire, Shannon, Sayid, Michael, Walt). If it is one of the folks from this group, I would guess Sun or Jin OR Michael or Walt, so that the other member of the pair can flashback (a la Shannon with Boone). If I had to pick one of the main characters, I would go with Jin.

I'm guessing it will be more along the lines of another bit character like Rousseau, Desmond, or one of the newly introduced flight survivors.

I think it will be a bit player, but Sayid's story line has been very quiet so far this year ....

I'm going to go with Echo. That would suck since he is a badass, but that would be more interesting than just killing off one of the bit characters.

Yeah, by bit I meant one of the back of the plane characters (not one of the random no-namers).

In the preview from the last new show, they explicitly mention that "one of these survivors will be gone" or something like that, and they show faces of several of our regulars, along with the fairly non-descript blonde-haired woman from the tail section survivor group. My immediate thought was -- "well, I think we have our Ensign So-and-so from Star Trek."

Since then, I guess there have been "confirmations" that this is a major character... so that wouldn't add up. But if push came to shove, I'd still guess that it's her.

just stop having these annoying 3 week breaks. that's all I ask.

Based on storyline I bet its Jin or Sun (which I think would be a shame). They're both main characters who sort of operate outside of the main storyline and would thus be expendable.

I could see Shannon though... the actress was just in a movie and made comments along the lines that Hawaii wasn't a good place for a budding actress to be. Maybe she somehow thinks she can do better and wants out...

Man I hope so. She's annoying as hell.

i believe it's Echo as well. not a faceless character, but prominent enough to be a big sacrifice.

my wildcard is Clara (i think that's the name of the mother of the baby). she serves no purpose other than to cry every episode. just cuz her baby is important (glad the writers have kept up that story :rolleyes: ) doesn't make her necessarily so. besides, there's always charlie to look after the baby, so i'm not thinking the mother is necessary to move the plot along.

Agreed. She's become a bit less annoying since Boone's death, but she's easily my least favourite character. Her backstory doesn't seem crucial to the development of the plot, except for Jack's wife killing her dad in the accident... but like some have said these connections quite possibly might be just that, simple connections not really important to the central story.

However, something in my gut tells me that it won't be Shannon and will be someone I consider more important... like Sawyer, Jin, or Sun. I had the same feeling before Boone died, as he seemed 'important' at the time of his death.

But going by the preview Sawyer & Echo seem the most likely canidates... Sawyer's wound is getting infected & from the text preview on Lost's website it says the wound is becoming life threatening, and Echo is leading Michael & Jin around with "the others" close by.

Oh, how I missed pointlessly speculating about my favourite show! :D

I think Sawyer's pretty safe.

I think Shannon should be safe. She seems to be acting as Walt's "conduit" or something. Remember when Walt picked her to watch Vincent (his dog)? And then came to her in her "dream"? I think he's established some sort of psychic/mystical connection with Shannon some how. I think that will need to be played out a bit further...

I have a feeling it will be Jin or Sun too, which would really suck. I really like both of them and their story.

QS and I really must be in tune. My wife and I just caught up this weekend, so I can finally read this thread (I'm only going to bother with this page though).

I too feel it would be one of the Koreans, and that would really bum me out. I don't think it's going to be Eko or Michelle Rodriguez. I could see Bernard (or Rose), though, especially since Rose is not a full time castmember. It certainly won't be Sawyer.

I agree with HA that Claire could be a darkhorse candidate.

EDIT: but yeah, if I was choosing, Shannon would be toast. or the Michelle Rodriguez bitch.

Ding. Same thing I was thinking. :)

I agree with QS. My guess was the blonde from the tail end would be the one to die.

On another note - Anyone see Kate and Michelle Rodriguez butting heads when the groups come together?