The Charlotte/Charlotte theory

[erikau]

Originally Posted by scientific

Wasn't Charlotte also the girl that Mr. Ecko went to visit before he boarded the plane? The chick whose father was the Psychic. She was the one who supposedly drowned, but revived during the autopsy. She also informed him in front of Libby at the airport that he (Ecko) would be reunited with Yemi.

That's what I think. A coincidence rarely seems to be just that on Lost, and I doubt the writers decided to have two characters both named Charlotte, who also both happen to have red hair and eerie blue eyes. (I'd post images but my post count isn't high enough yet. Look on Lostpedia). It seems impossible that they could be the same person because (1) they have different names and different parents (Ben reveals Charlotte Lewis' parents to be David and Jeanette of Essex) and seemingly two totally unrelated lives, and (2) the ages, we don't have exacts but Charlotte Lewis looks at least a good 5 years older than Charlotte Malkin. But this is Lost, and I think there's a way that makes, uh, sense.

Charlotte Malkin is the daughter of Richard Malkin, and she supposedly drowned and came back to life after being catatonic in a river for a few hours. Richard Malkin, in case it doesn't ring a bell, is the psychic that tells Claire that she must keep her baby, and ends up arranging the flight that will strand her on the island. So right off the bat, his character should seem a little suspect now that we know that there are forces off the island who are still very much involved and connected with it. Mr. Eko investigates Charlotte's case for the Church (her mother believes she is a miracle) and Malkin admits to Eko that he is a fraud, not a psychic. Yet, he knew about Claire. So is he really a fraud and Claire was just so special that he somehow got a flash of something, or is he really a fraud and only "knows" about Claire because someone **coughBencough** told him what he should say to her? Anyway, that's a tangent, but important because I believe that Richard Malkin works for Ben or someone else in some capacity.

So, how could this be Charlotte Lewis? This answer involves Malkin and a potential relationship to the island, the time properties of the island, and the theory that some children are just born special. The incident that Eko goes to investigate regarding the drowned girl makes me believe that Charlotte Malkin and Charlotte Lewis are the same person, a very special girl.

We have learned that time travel or however you chose to label it is possible through consciousness leaps of some sort. Desmond does it, I believe Ben and Alpert and probably others (Faraday) can do it as well. In "The Constant" several of the scenes made it seem to me as if water was somehow important to the leaps (Donnie Darko, anyone?). Desmond leaps when he tries to get a coin from a puddle, he awakes another time in the rain, and Widmore (who knows more than he lets on) left the water running in the sink knowing Des would turn it off, jetisoning him back to his island-inhabiting body. We also learned by seeing Minkowski, that when your consciousness has jumped, your body remains alive while appearing quite dead (because it's an empty vessel at that point). I do not believe that Charlotte Malkin ever drowned and then magically came back to life. I think a young girl decided to play in a river, and woke up 2 hours later after having been "somewhere else", a somewhere else where she happened to meet Eko's brother Yemi, who we now know was dead on the island. While her consciousness was somewhere else, presumably on the island (sparking Charlotte Lewis' character's quest to find this place her mind had gone), her body appeared to be dead. Then her consciousness came back, and she awoke to tell Eko of meeting his brother while she was "between places." I think that Charlotte is a natural born jumper if you will, likely unable to understand or control her ability, which is why she chose the path of the explorer.

Many have already postulated that Charlotte Lewis would end up being a mole for Ben. I agree that their initial interaction was strange, as if they were trying to hard to be strangers. He shoots her in the chest rather than the head, and she happens to be wearing a bulletprof vest. It just seems a little off. So maybe they do know each other. Maybe Ben was interested in young Charlotte, like he is interested in Walt and probably Aaron. That being said, there is no guarantee that Charlotte from the freighter is actually named Charlotte Staples-Lewis, or that her parents are David and Jeanette of Essex. Ben could be lying (WHAT?!), putting on a little show for the Losties and maybe Charlotte herself depending on who she truly is working for. If she really is working for Widmore or Abbadon, perhaps Charlotte Lewis is a real alias of hers, which Ben gives her to show that he has connections to the outside world without giving away how much he really knows about her. Or, she could be working for Ben, and all the stuff about her life in England was lip service for Locke's benefit. Or, Richard Malkin could be who I said he was earlier, and he and his wife could be serving as surrogate parents for Charlotte, who perhaps was born on the island.

As far as the jump in her age, Walt seems like a good indicator of how that could be explained, although I won't even attempt to sound all sciency and stuff.

So long story short: Charlotte Lewis IS Charlotte Malkin, a girl with the ability to jump with her consciousness. After a traumatic experience with a river and a strange trip where she met Eko's dead brother, she became obsessed with figuring out her own abilities, as well as the magical place she visited while she was "dead" (the island) and the mysterious connection it all has to her, Eko, flight 815, etc. This would also explain her disbelief at the plane crash and her excitement at finding the now-defunct Dharma logo, if her consciousness was somehow able to jump between the regular world and the island. I see no reason to ignore the physical evidence (Charlotte Lewis looks like a grown up Charlotte Malkin) when this would make her a character that would embody so much of the mystery of Lost.

[MsDee]

what!!!???

[erikau]

Is that a that's-so-dumb "what!!!???" or a what-are-you-talking-about "what!!!???" or a you-just-blew-my-mind "what!!!???"?

[michckay]

Well thought out, and incredibly written. But I don't think that's the case at all.

[erikau]

Originally Posted by michckay

Well thought out, and incredibly written. But I don't think that's the case at all.

Thanks. I doubt it's the case, too. I think I had too much coffee that morning. I still think she's a more interesting character than we realize yet.

[jonboy13]

Originally Posted by erikau

Is that a that's-so-dumb "what!!!???" or a what-are-you-talking-about "what!!!???" or a you-just-blew-my-mind "what!!!???"?

Nah, I think it sounds really good, and would be really fun to watch that play out..

[michckay]

I think the only reason I kinda disagree with them being the same Charlotte, is the timeline. Because that was the last thing Eko did before he boarded, and the Charlotte we saw when 815 crashed was at least 10 to 15 years older.

And I don't think the time jumping stuff is really a theme for the whole show and applies to most characters. Like, I don't think we'll ever see Charlotte Malkin again. The only reason we saw her was because of eko, so even if she did change back into Malkin or whatever, how woudl that advance the story at all? She'd just be back in Australia with her creepy physic father.

Tell me if I'm just getting this all wrong.

[erikau]

Originally Posted by michckay

I think the only reason I kinda disagree with them being the same Charlotte, is the timeline. Because that was the last thing Eko did before he boarded, and the Charlotte we saw when 815 crashed was at least 10 to 15 years older.

And I don't think the time jumping stuff is really a theme for the whole show and applies to most characters. Like, I don't think we'll ever see Charlotte Malkin again. The only reason we saw her was because of eko, so even if she did change back into Malkin or whatever, how woudl that advance the story at all? She'd just be back in Australia with her creepy physic father.

Tell me if I'm just getting this all wrong.

I don't think you're getting it all wrong, I just think I failed to emphasize something that is essential to my theory: the island somehow operates outside of normal time in a way that I don't necessarily understand, but the overall point being that time moves more slowly on the island. The Losties have not been missing for 100 some days, but really have been missing for years, maybe as much as 10 years. I think this is evidenced by a few things: the rocket experiment, Faraday's warning about the helicopter staying on the bearing (there are channels out to keep up with real time, but you have to take the right channel), Walt's rapid aging (he didn't age 10 years like Charlotte Malkin because he was ON the island for a good portion of time, aging slowly like the rest of them), Alpert and his clan and their very slow or nonexistent aging, and the inability of women to successfully conceive and birth on the island (the time lapse messes with the body functions and the development of the fetus, making the body view the it as a foreign entity). I think that is what makes the island special,: it isn't anchored in time and space (I also don't think Jacob's cabin is anchored in space on the island). I think that will be a major theme of the show, as well as extending it to include PEOPLE who can become unanchored in space and time. I think we are given Desmond and Minkowski as evidence of being unanchored in time, Walt being unanchored in space (he projects himself onto the island, I don't think it's Smokey), Faraday as the science behind it, and I think we will find out that Ben the master of this craft, if you will. I also think the reason he is so interested in "special" children is that it takes a certain type of mind (either through genetics or natural ability) to be able to do this sort of thing, and I think it's possible that Charlotte Malkin is also one of these people. I don't think it applies to most characters either, but I don't think I've suggested it does apply to most.

From her story, I ABSOLUTELY believe Charlotte Malkin has the ability to unanchor herself in time and space, and I think her seemingly unimportant anecdote will be evidence that the writers had a plan for this show all along. Whether or not she and CS Lewis will end up being the same person, well I guess that's a twist I'm hoping for. I definitely think Malkin is important, as looking back at what she said to Eko now it's clear to me she was having flashes of the island and perhaps the future.

[erikau]

So, does anyone else think that Charlotte Lewis' statement that she came to the Island because she was looking for where she was born lends a little possible credibility to this original theory? Perhaps she meant more of a rebirth, as in she was reborn into a different person after her coma/teleportation experience with the Island, and has spent the time since trying to find the mysterious place she went to...

It would be a parallel to Ben's statement that he born on the Island, even though we all knowhe was born in Portland. Perhaps Charlotte Malkin was reborn...changed her name to Charlotte Lewis (perhaps for protection...it seems that people who have been to the Island are in danger in the real world for some reason)...became an anthropologist as a way of learning about her own life.

Also, this would give some credibility to how/why Charlotte Malkin's consciouness jumped to the Island when she "drowned." Desmond's consciouness could only travel to places he had been in the past, he didn't jump just anywhere. Maybe Charlotee Malkin's consciouness jumped to the Island because she would be there in the FUTURE. Or, maybe she is really is a Native, Malkin is a weirddddd dude, and her consciouness was going back to her birthplace, and now her physical body wants to finally check it out.