Since non of the others can concieve a child and Karl appears to be about the same age as Alex I am wondering where he came from. They treat him pretty badly for him to be one of their own. I hope we get the answer next season.

Interesting question. I never had really thought about it. Dharma baby? Hostiles took him in because he was too young to die in "the purge"? This begs for a Karl flashback.

BY GEORGE! I think you have something! Thsi is another mysteryy and i totally never thot about it!

That question has bugged me for a while. Maybe he was taken as a baby from some couple who crashed into the island in their boat/plane/balloon.

Or...he was brought as a kid with a recruited Other...

Or the Others are ageless and he was the token teenaged deckhand and hasn't aged a day since. ;)

I think he is an original hostile who was on the island when Ben came to it and as a very young child he was given the life extenstion program just like 100 year old Joop and Richard were.

My evidence to this is when Alex questions if Ben is her father, Karl obviously knows from the look he gives her. Well the only way Carl would know is if he was there before Alex was kidnapped. Anyone else after Alex is kidnapped would not be told by anyone that Ben kidnapped a child and he claims it to be his own. Just from the sheer fact that it ever got out, it would screw everything up for Ben.

Well, Juliet just came to the island 3 years ago, so it seems that they didn't stop bringing new people- Alpert and Ethan have both gone back and forth to the real world.

Lets say Karl is 16 like Alex. That would make him born around 91 - before the purge. Maybe he was the youngest Dharma infant, and Ben arranged to have him in a safe place before the purge. He could have arrived as an infant, or been born on the island. Do we know if the pregnancy curse was an issue back then?

Didn't Mikhail say he'd been there about 11 years and the purge was after that? I think Karl was probably a Dharma couple's baby and his parents were killed during the purge. He may not have known them for very long or even remember them. He and Alex would then have an even closer bond. Those sweet kids - TPTB better not turn this into a Romeo and Juliet ending. :mad:

My theory is that he would be the last baby delivered before the pregnancy problem started. Annie was the first, and after Annie and her unborn daughter died, the "curse" started, and Ben subsequently (after the purge) adopted Alex who was the same age as his daughter would have been.

My theory is that he would be the last baby delivered before the pregnancy problem started. Annie was the first, and after Annie and her unborn daughter died, the "curse" started, and Ben subsequently (after the purge) adopted Alex who was the same age as his daughter would have been.

Interesting idea, Ben replacing his own lost child with Alex.

I also think he was brought there just like everyone else (someone's kid). & They treat him badly because he doesn't go along with them, he doesn't believe in what they do and thinks it is wrong, which is probably why he was in the cage, in that room trying to be retrained, etc - thats why they don't like him because he doesn't want to be one of them but for some reason they want him to be (instead of I guess killing him or maybe it's because he has the bond with Alex that Ben doesn't want to kill him and keeps trying to retrain him).

Wait..when was a date given for the purge? I don't see how this makes sense with Rousseau's story either, she must have come after it, and she's been there 16 years, so it must have been before the 90's.

My evidence to this is when Alex questions if Ben is her father, Karl obviously knows from the look he gives her. Well the only way Carl would know is if he was there before Alex was kidnapped. Anyone else after Alex is kidnapped would not be told by anyone that Ben kidnapped a child and he claims it to be his own. Just from the sheer fact that it ever got out, it would screw everything up for Ben.

wait didnt karl spent time with sawyer and kate?
i got the impression that kate must have told him during thier brief stint together.........

Do we know that Annie and Ben were pregnant, or is that speculation.

I think the reason is much simpler. The problem is ben doesn't want karl near his daughter. They are both getting to the age where they are horny teenagers. You have sex on this island and you die. None of the others have ever said anything bad about karl, karl just keeps going after alex who has a overprotective father. And ben punishes him when he doesn't stay way from her. Any father would at LEAST want this deathtrap to stay away. As far as where he came from he most likely came to the island as a child, his parents were probably on the island and now dead.

I thought Annie would've been among the dead when the Dharmians were gassed. Not sure of Karl's origins. He does seem at least a few years older than Alex. She's 16, maybe he's 20? But yeah, I don't think Ben would want Alex to risk pregnancy and somehow I don't think there's much in the way of birth control on the island unless it's included in the Dharma food drops. I like Karl and would love to see him join the Losties.

I keep thinking there is more to it, then Ben just wants to keep
Alex safe.
I keep thinking Karl is the son of someone Ben hates. Maybe his mother is someone Ben loved.

Maybe Karls mother died and Ben secertly blammes Karl the same way his father blamed him.

I like Karl and would love to see him join the Losties.

Same here, I'd like to see Alex join them as well. She is the only one that Ben seems to really care about on the entire island. It would be great if she was on the other "team"!!!

Im guessing he's a Dharma baby.

remember,

the island problems are only for babies concieved on island. It is not for babyies concieved off island. Didn't Juliet tell that to Sun. If the baby was Jins then she would die, if the baby was the other dudes, she would live, but have another mans baby.

I didn't see this thread before posting my own, but yeah...Karl is a HUGE mystery.

He's too young to have been "recruited".
He couldn't have been born on the island, as proof that we have.


My only thought is Karl is a very Danish name.

so is Alpert

but...So are Mathias and Henrik.

I think that Karl was the cabin oy on the Black Rock.

I sure hope we will get to see a Karl flashback in season 4, I think his character is very important to the show

I think we need a Karl flashback! I'm sure Ben doesn't want Alex to get pregnant but wasn't that whole "Clockwork Orange" scene a bit much? And he was caged too.

wait didnt karl spent time with sawyer and kate?
i got the impression that kate must have told him during thier brief stint together.........


Kate never mentioned anything to Karl. Karl's time spent with Kate and Sawyer was very minimal. Also most of it he was unconcious. The only thing that was real talked about was the Other's from what Karl said and Alex. Kate never mentioned anything and yet Karl looked like he knew Alex was not Ben's kid.

The only way he could know that Alex is not Ben's is if he was there for the abduction. For that to happen he would have to have been older than his apperence seems to imply, just like Richard. He was on the island before Dharma and was born before Dharma released something that caused all the pregnet women to die at birth. He was given the life extension program just like Richard was. So although he looks to be a teenager/early 20's he is actually 30 or 40.

Since non of the others can concieve a child and Karl appears to be about the same age as Alex I am wondering where he came from. They treat him pretty badly for him to be one of their own. I hope we get the answer next season.


Yes. That is one of many things I would like to know as well. Also, what about the line from Alex "Is he my father?" Shades of The Empire Strikes Back.:)

I think the reason is much simpler. The problem is ben doesn't want karl near his daughter. They are both getting to the age where they are horny teenagers. You have sex on this island and you die. None of the others have ever said anything bad about karl, karl just keeps going after alex who has a overprotective father. And ben punishes him when he doesn't stay way from her. Any father would at LEAST want this deathtrap to stay away.

And this makes Karl irresistable to Alex. Girls go crazy over guys who are risk takers and have a devil may care attitude, aka Sawyer. Anyway, Karl is the ultimate risk taker - instead of a controlled risk like riding a motorcycle or being a rogue for rogue's sake, he's risking being strapped into a brainwashing chair, being beat up, shot at, tied up, etc. Wow, what an idiot, ahem, I mean heart throb. ;)

Sensible men are boring to women, aka Jack Shepherd. Well, I guess until Jack made the devil may care decision to sacrifice himself in the Hydra station. :rolleyes:

Oh, and BTW, when does Kate get a newfound high school crush on suddenly exciting Jack - when she can't have him. There's good old Juliet in the way. Nonsensical, but this happens all the time in real life.

Don't get mad at me, I don't make the rules, I just pass them along. :biggrin: I stole my wife's girly rules and regulations manual - don't tell her, I'm begging you...:)

hmmm... I wonder if there is a deeper reason for Ben not wanting Karl around his "daughter".

Why does he hate Karl so much? Does Karl know something? Is Karl the son of Ben's childhood girlfriend?

hmmm... I wonder if there is a deeper reason for Ben not wanting Karl around his "daughter".

Why does he hate Karl so much? Does Karl know something? Is Karl the son of Ben's childhood girlfriend?


That is what I think and I think she died just like his own mother did and Ben blames him, like his father blamed him

That is what I think and I think she died just like his own mother did and Ben blames him, like his father blamed him

oooh! that's a good thought.

Maybe he blames Karl for all the maternal deaths on the island. Maybe his friend's death while giving birth is the reason why he's so obsessed with pregnant women!

OOH! What if Ben were Karl's dad!??

From "Further Instructions", we have an idea what might have happened to some of the Dharma children/families. The cave into which Eko was dragged had human remains (the Pearl), along with children's toys. Bears don't go around collecting toys, so it seems the people were trying to find refuge there. Maybe they lived for a while like that.

Actually, seeing as its a Tonka toy featured, that would suggest a male child. Perhaps Karl's parents are there.