Does Richard Age?

[Locke_and_Key]

I am currenlty watching "The Man Behind the Curtain" again - shortly after Ben's flashback in the beginning (birth scene) - Richard asks Ben what he is looking at (later revealed to be the gift given to Ben as a child) - and Ben asks Richard "You do remember birthday's, don't you Richard?". I am sure that we all noticed Richard with a beard during one of Ben's flashback scene's. Any significance to this question regarding birthday's - has Richard stopped aging? Granted, I know there is very little information known about the "hostiles", but I just wanted to get some feedback. I apologize if this has already been discussed on the board.

[jcarr]

This is very difficult to determine with the information we have now.

A perfectly plausible explanation could be that Ben was 13-15 or so when he saw Richard in the jungle, and Richard was 18-21 (the longer hair used to imply youth). 5-7 years age difference is significant at that age, but not nearly as significant if in 'present time' Ben is 37-40, and Richard is 42-47 (give or take).

Wasn't one of the Dharma projects centered on 'life extension' (from the Swan orientation film)?

In any case, unless we see Richard as first-mate of the Black Rock, or something like that, we can't really assume that he is immortal, or abnormally long-lived.

Just my $0.02

[dbuer]

Originally Posted by jcarr

This is very difficult to determine with the information we have now.

A perfectly plausible explanation could be that Ben was 13-15 or so when he saw Richard in the jungle, and Richard was 18-21 (the longer hair used to imply youth). 5-7 years age difference is significant at that age, but not nearly as significant if in 'present time' Ben is 37-40, and Richard is 42-47 (give or take).

Wasn't one of the Dharma projects centered on 'life extension' (from the Swan orientation film)?

In any case, unless we see Richard as first-mate of the Black Rock, or something like that, we can't really assume that he is immortal, or abnormally long-lived.

Just my $0.02

I keep remembering the scene where Richard asks Ben what the wooden doll is and Ben replies that its his birthday, "You remember what birthdays are?". Sounds like Richard is so old, he doesn't remember having any.

[Lockette]

That's a good point, I had forgotten that comment. Does add a bit of weight to the theory that Richard doesn't age.

[livelinks]

Richard is not aging. You are 100% right. I noticed this immediately.
And I think it's going to be important later.

Totally!