I don't know where to ask this question but it seems like this was never cleared up either (or maybe I am wrong)

Why were the Others pretending to be dirty and wearing the beards and etc? What was the point of that? Also how and why was Ben captured in Season 2 - what was his goals then?

?1: I really don't know.

?2: Research. Detailed info on the survivors.

I can't answer number 1, but my guess for 2 would be he was trying to cause a rift in the survivors, maybe even rying to cause the anger in Locke that led to him not pushing the button, I don't think it was to get info, they had Mikhail do it in the flame, thats why he was there.

I think the Others did not want the survivors to know how they actually lived. If the survivors knew there were houses with modern electronics and food, they would want to live there too. Or cause all kinds of trouble to the others trying to get the things they had..... As far as why was Ben caught. We don't completely know why, I think TPTB will show us more about it, but for now I would say it was to stop John from putting in the numers.

I'm not sure if it was one of the producers who said it or someone else, but I remember hearing that Ben didn't intend to get caught back in season 2.

I heard that too, but did not know if it would be a spoiler. Thus the reason for TPTB to give us more information about what exactly happened, and why.

1) probalby just to keep them away- 'dont cross the line'
2) i dont know, i assume to research to crash survivors buti heard:
we will find out how/why ben is captured soon

The Others probably wanted to create an Otherness about themselves for the fear factor. Remember when Zeke threatened Jack's posse with, This is Our Island ? That wouldn't have the same impact coming from Penthouse Tom.

And since Ben is all about mind games and manipulation, he probably orchestrated the look and attitude. Maybe he even held acting classes to practice their Other characters, on nights they didn't have book club.

Then again, kansasgal may be right, and they just didn't want to share their showers or peanut butter. (I'm from McPherson KS, so we have to stick together!)

Also, lets not forget that it was the same way that Richard's group appeared to Dharma, so my feeling would have to be that there is a lot more going on here then just the others not wanting the crash survivors knowing the truth.

Could you see Penthouse Tom saying "this is our island" and the losties not wanting to know where he cleaned up and washed his clothes. Heck, that would cause a Riot!! LOL

I am from the theory that this is all repeats in the same time loop that someone or a group of someones are making little tweaks each time the story unfolds to try and get a better outcome..... IMO

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Why were the Others pretending to be dirty and wearing the beards and etc? What was the point of that?


It has to do with psychological effect-they did it to psych the Losties out. They presented themselves initially as a band of bare footed raggedy backwoods speaking individuals which automatically translated to ignorant in the Losties' minds then "razzle-dazzled" them with a seemly mysterious ability to know things about them that they shouldn't have been able to. Since the Losties never looked beyond the preconceived bias of what they saw-they didn't ever once think in terms of twenty-first technology of simple backround checks as the reason for this knowledge nor made the connection between the illogical disparity of the Others initial presentation and the sophistication of the Swan hatch.

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Why were the Others pretending to be dirty and wearing the beards and etc? What was the point of that?


It has to do with psychological effect-they did it to psych the Losties out. They presented themselves initially as a band of bare footed raggedy backwoods speaking individuals which automatically translated to ignorant in the Losties' minds then "razzle-dazzled" them with a seemly mysterious ability to know things about them that they shouldn't have been able to. Since the Losties never looked beyond the preconceived bias of what they saw-they didn't ever once think in terms of twenty-first technology of simple backround checks as the reason for this knowledge nor made the connection between the illogical disparity of the Others initial presentation and the sophistication of the Swan hatch.


Great Answer!!

1-Do you remember Michael's honest reaction to the Others? He lied abot everything but what he saw. He saw people living worse off than the Losties. They were dirty, barefoot, living in huts, eating salted fish. The Others presented themselves in this way to lull the Losties in a false sense of "security". They seemed savage, but backwards. They kept up the pretense in front of Michael because they are planners. They had to plan for the possibility of Michael spilling the beans. In fact, I think they counted on Michael spilling the beans. Michael spoke abot them in a way that gave the Losties a sense that they could beat the Others in a showdown. Had they presented themsleves with their technology, modern clothes, their huge store of weapons, the Losties might have viewed their chance of beating the Others as slim and Ben would not have gotten Jack, Kate, and Sawyer.

2-Ben is a control freak and probably needed to see for himself who these people were. He is also a master manipulator and probably wanted to get his chance to get inside the Losties' heads.

I think the writers didn't know why they were dressing up, just thought it'd be a cool thing to do to make them more mysterious. Also I don't think they know why Ben got himself captured, it would just create an interesting scenario. I would be very surprised if they had it all planned out in season 2, I think we've had more than enough evidence that they didn't have everything planned, and these are just more things which were put in early on, which have gone unexplained, and look to always be unexplained. I would love it if there is an explanation which was decided at the time back in season 2, and that the writers had planned ahead, if we do find out the reasons, that will be awesome.

1: When the Others were first introduced, they probably had the idea that they were going to be brutal savage-types walking around the jungle undetected. Sometime before Maternity Leave they decided that these Others lived in a village so they had to explain their ragged appearance from Exodus. You can't have people living in a village with CD players and book clubs looking all broke down.

And I agree with Chrysander. The dressing up is more evidence that they didn't have a plan for what the Others ended up being.

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It has to do with psychological effect-they did it to psych the Losties out. They presented themselves initially as a band of bare footed raggedy backwoods speaking individuals which automatically translated to ignorant in the Losties' minds then "razzle-dazzled" them with a seemly mysterious ability to know things about them that they shouldn't have been able to. Since the Losties never looked beyond the preconceived bias of what they saw-they didn't ever once think in terms of twenty-first technology of simple backround checks as the reason for this knowledge nor made the connection between the illogical disparity of the Others initial presentation and the sophistication of the Swan hatch.
Brilliant. Well this is an answer I can agree with completely.

I think the writers didn't know why they were dressing up, just thought it'd be a cool thing to do to make them more mysterious. Also I don't think they know why Ben got himself captured, it would just create an interesting scenario. I would be very surprised if they had it all planned out in season 2, I think we've had more than enough evidence that they didn't have everything planned, and these are just more things which were put in early on, which have gone unexplained, and look to always be unexplained. I would love it if there is an explanation which was decided at the time back in season 2, and that the writers had planned ahead, if we do find out the reasons, that will be awesome.

1: When the Others were first introduced, they probably had the idea that they were going to be brutal savage-types walking around the jungle undetected. Sometime before Maternity Leave they decided that these Others lived in a village so they had to explain their ragged appearance from Exodus. You can't have people living in a village with CD players and book clubs looking all broke down.

And I agree with Chrysander. The dressing up is more evidence that they didn't have a plan for what the Others ended up being.
I'd have to disagree with both of you, the writers have said they know what they are doing and have known from the begining, have a little faith:eek2: with the DI already being firmly placed on the Island when the show began, remember Desmond brought down the plane, I think it's obvious that having the others walk around like savages was a ploy like what hezekiah suggests, it was an oppotunity to make the losties feel like they had the upper hand in any direct conflict, which obviously they didn't, except of course with Ethan, but that took 6 people to take him down, well one kicking his butt and 4 standing around pointing guns at him, with of course the final man, Charlie, finishing him off with several bullets into his chest. There is no way they didn't have a plan for the others, from the get go.

I'd have to disagree with both of you, the writers have said they know what they are doing and have known from the begining, have a little faith:eek2: with the DI already being firmly placed on the Island when the show began, remember Desmond brought down the plane, I think it's obvious that having the others walk around like savages was a ploy like what hezekiah suggests, it was an oppotunity to make the losties feel like they had the upper hand in any direct conflict, which obviously they didn't, except of course with Ethan, but that took 6 people to take him down, well one kicking his butt and 4 standing around pointing guns at him, with of course the final man, Charlie, finishing him off with several bullets into his chest. There is no way they didn't have a plan for the others, from the get go.


Back in Season 1, everything was done so tight that I thought that they had most of the show planned out, so I have tried that outlook. However, as the seasons continued, it became clear that they didn't.

The DI is nowhere to be found in Season 1. All we saw was a hatch buried in the ground. And just because they say that Desmond brought down the plane at the end of Season 2 it does not mean that is what they had in mind when they first showed us the crash in the Pilot. TPTB are just quite good at getting people to believe that retrofitting is a form of long term planning.

I cannot remember the whole situation, but didn't Jeff Lieber write the pilots and the original idea behind lost, then moved on... Possibly S1 was based off his original ideas and then JJ and Damon ran with their own ideas.

Also I don't think they know why Ben got himself captured, it would just create an interesting scenario.
Originally, wasn't Ben's character not going to be the leader of the group. Then the powers that be saw what a great actor he was and changed thing up?

Back in Season 1, everything was done so tight that I thought that they had most of the show planned out, so I have tried that outlook. However, as the seasons continued, it became clear that they didn't.

The DI is nowhere to be found in Season 1. All we saw was a hatch buried in the ground. And just because they say that Desmond brought down the plane at the end of Season 2 it does not mean that is what they had in mind when they first showed us the crash in the Pilot. TPTB are just quite good at getting people to believe that retrofitting is a form of long term planning.
Again I'm going to disagree with you and not argue about it anymore.

1: When the Others were first introduced, they probably had the idea that they were going to be brutal savage-types walking around the jungle undetected. Sometime before Maternity Leave they decided that these Others lived in a village so they had to explain their ragged appearance from Exodus. You can't have people living in a village with CD players and book clubs looking all broke down.

And I agree with Chrysander. The dressing up is more evidence that they didn't have a plan for what the Others ended up being.

It would have worked better if they'd stayed consistent with the idea (disguises keep the Lostaways complacent about the technology level and power of the Others). The ratty reverse-Potemkin village where they kept Michael and Walt was pretty creepy (complete with the Door to Nowhere).

But when Ben took Juliet to Goodwin's body--at a time before any Lostaway had seen Otherville--they were wearing nice, modern, pastel clothing. This was supposedly about the same time the Dirty Feet Others were creeping through the jungle not making tracks, dragging a teddy bear.

Why were they in disguise?
My guess is because Jacob hates technology just as much as John. At one time I thought it was to fool the black smoke into thinking they were the original inhabitants...like how Richard was dressed when he first met Ben. And remember what locke said to Ben in The Man From Tallahasse...something to the effect of "if you really knew what was going on you wouldnt be in this house eating chicken." Seems to me they make it seem like Jacob prefers an older world effect to the more modernized New Otherton. You never saw them hillbilly'd out while they were in there. but then again whenBen moved everybody In The Brig" they were not all walking around in disguise. I dont know.

I believe that the ragged clothes were there not only for the fear effect, but also for something else regarding the original inhabitants of the Island.

Maybe whenever the Others where in this ancient civilization's domain (around the Temple, maybe), they need portray themselves like that.

It would be awesome to find the Others in the Temple dressed up just like in Season 1 and 2.