SS6: Number 5: Richard Alpert

Who was the ageless Richard Alpert?

We received a one episode miniseries on Richard's epic background story, in "Ab Aeterno."

In 1867, Richard was married to Isabella, who comes down with a fateful disease. He rushes far away to get medicine from a fraudulent chemist, who refuses to give him the medicine because he has not enough to pay for it. In a struggle, Richard kills the man. He rushes off with the medicine to his home, but finds his wife dead; and the posse comes in shortly thereafter and arrests him for murder. His whole life is ruined; and his quest for a cure for his wife was for naught.

He was convicted for murder. For some reason, Richard, a peasant, learned English through reading the Bible. He sought a priest's forgiveness for his crime, which was coldly denied. Then later, as the gallows were prepared, Richard's life was "spared" by being sold by the priest into indentured servitude on the Black Rock crew. But that ship did not reach its destination, as a storm took it from its Caribbean destination to the Island (which we assume is in the Pacific). We believe it is the ship that Jacob and MIB talk about on the beach; where MIB claims Jacob's brought people to the Island.

The Black Rock is shipwrecked on the Island. A fellow slave looks out of the cracks in the ship and tells Richard he sees land. He then sees the Tawaret statue and yells that he sees the Devil and guesses aloud that the Devil protects the island. The ship is carried up to the crest of a gigantic wave and thrown against the head of the statue.

Only a few crew members survive. An officer comes below deck and begins to kill the slaves to conserve resources. Just as he is about to kill Richard, the Smoke Monster appears on the deck killing the crew. It then takes the officer and rips him through a grate to his demise. Then Smokey comes down and comes face to face with Richard (apparently reading his mind) and leaves. Days probably pass and Richard is in and out of consciousness. Then, he sees a vision of his dead wife, who tells him they are both dead. Then the noise of the monster returns, and Richard yells at her to flee, and is led to believe she is destroyed above deck. More time passes, and MIB shows up as a "friend." He explains that this is Hell. And that he has a job for Richard: to kill the Devil.

The Devil was Jacob, who easily stops the attack.
Richard explains that the Man in Black said that the only way he could see his wife again was if he killed Jacob. Jacob says the person he saw was not his wife, that he is not dead and he is not in Hell. Richard remains convinced that he is dead so Jacob drags him into the sea and submerges him four times, asking if he still thinks he is "dead."

On the beach the two sit together. Jacob says that he is not the Devil. He also explains that he brought the Black Rock to the Island. Jacob explains to Richard why he brings people to the Island by using a wine bottle as a metaphor for the Island. The wine is evil, malevolence; the bottle is containing it because otherwise "it would spread". He explains that the cork represents the Island, holding the darkness where it belongs. Jacob says that the Man in Black believes everyone can be corrupted because it is in their nature to be bad and that he, Jacob, brings people here to prove the Man in Black wrong. Richard asks whether or not Jacob has brought people to the Island in the past and what happened to them, Jacob replies that he has, but they are all now dead.

Jacob says he wants people to know the difference between right and wrong without being told. Richard says that if Jacob won't help these people then MIB would step in. Jacob thinks a moment and then offers Richard the job of being his representative, an intermediary to the people he brings to the Island. When Jacob can't or won't intervene, he proposes Richard can step in on his behalf. When Richard says that in return he wants his wife back; Jacob admits he cannot do this. Richard then asks to be absolved of his sins, so that he will not go to Hell. Jacob says he cannot do that either. Richard then asks to be granted immortality and to never die. Jacob says that he can do this, and touches Richard on the shoulder.

So Richard apparently becomes the ageless go-between for Jacob to the Others for 130 years.

Richard's backstory, however rich in history and drama, creates more conflicting representations in the overall story line. There were many references and situations of Richard's own death prior to being released by MIB. The shipwreck could be considered a metaphor for Jacob being the ferryman into the afterlife, bringing lost souls to the Island realm. Forgiveness and resurrection were Season 6 themes attached to Richard's story. But those ideas conflict with what Jacob said to Richard that he could not bring back the dead to life; but we believe he did when Locke was pushed out the building by Cooper. Jacob said he could not absolve sins; but he never stopped anyone on the Island from sinning through he wanted to prove people should know the difference between right and wrong. In the end, Richard's immortality ends with the death of Jacob and the re-boot of the Island cork.

The mystery of Richard turned out to be a simple one: he was an earlier version of the lost souls from Flight 815; caught up in the debate of man between Jacob and MIB.