The Gale sub-story was contained in the episode, "Lockdown," in which the Hatch group was at odds after finding Ben in the jungle. Some believed his story that he was not "one of them," the Others, but a fellow crash survivor. But Sayid always had his doubts about Ben's story. So he went on a mission to find the balloon crash site. When he returned to the Hatch, he told Ben and everyone that he found the balloon and the grave of Henry's wife. A relieved Ben smiled to his prison guards. But that was soon wiped away when Sayid said that he dug up the grave to find the remains of a man named Henry Gale and his identification. The cause of Gale's death was an apparent broken neck.
What we know of Gale is that a) his was from Wayzata, Minnesota; b) he was born August 11, 1964; c) he had a wife named Jennifer; he was a 6'3" 220 lb black man. The balloon was sponsored by Widmore Corporation, Minnesota Metallurgy, Mr. Cluck's Chicken Shack and Nozz-A-La Cola. Two of those sponsors have direct links to the Island.
Was there any significance to August 11, 1964 birthdate?
Historical events from August 11th include:
1. In 3114 BC, the Long Count calendar of the Mayans begins.
2. In 1332, the Scots are routed by the English in the Scottish Independence War.
3. In 1929, Babe Ruth becomes the first baseball player to hit 500 home runs in his career.
4. in 1934, the first civilian prisoners arrive at Alcatraz.
5. In 1942, actress Hedy Lamarr and composer George Antheil receive a patent for frequency-hopping spread spectrum communications system which will become the basis for modern wireless telephone technologies including Wi-Fi.
6. In 1950, Apple Computer co-founder Steve Wozniak is born.
7. In 1964, race riots begin in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles.
8. In 1972, the last U.S. ground troops leave Vietnam.
From the clues found at the crash site, the balloon crash occurred sometime in 2003. This assumes Gale didn't allow his license to expire and that Minnesota has a four-year license renewal period. The $20 bill that Gale had on him was issued on October 9, 2003, according to the serial number on the bill.
This would put Gale's solo balloon quest in late 2003. At this point in time, the Dharma folks had been purged by Ben and the Others. Desmond was locked down in the Hatch with Kelvin since 2001.
There are many theories about what Gale's appearance on the island meant, but there is more a coincidence in that Gale follows the pattern of "lost" adventurers like Desmond. Like Dez, there was an apparent connection with Widmore who had a burning desire to find the island that had banished him.
The unanswered mysteries around Gale are:
- How did Henry Gale break his neck?
- Who buried him?
- How and when did Henry and his balloon come to fly over the Island?
- Of all possible cover stories, why did Ben choose Henry Gale's identity?
Or that Gale followed the role of Naomi, as a Widmore agent trying to find then gather intel on the Island for Widmore. If so, the Others would have probably killed him because "he was one of the bad guys."
Gale could have been a Jacob "candidate," but his name does not appear on any list.
He could have been a dumb sap who got caught up in another "incident" that caused his balloon to unwittingly plunge onto the island. We know that he survived the crash landing because he wrote a note to his wife on the back of a $20 bill:
Jennifer,
Well you were
right. Crossing
the Pacific
isn't easy.
I owe you a
beer. I'm
hiking to one of
the beaches to
start a
signal fire, but
if you're reading
this, I guess I didn't
make it. I'm sorry,
I love you Jenny,
always have,
always will.
Yours,
Henry
As a result, Sayid assumes Ben and the Others killed him, while Ben simply denied that he had any part in it. The only other alternative is that Rousseau or one of her traps killed Gale, then she found the note and buried him next to his balloon. But since Ben knew so much of Gale's background information (including his name), Gale's demise most likely occurred at the hands of the Others.
But Henry's note is very similar in tone to the pining Desmond kept for his Penny when Dez was trapped on the Island. There is a pattern of long separation between loved ones that keeps an island captive in an emotional state.
A charged emotional state was one of the background themes in the series. When a person is in a highly emotional situation, their mind can wander, weaken or plunge into darkness. There were clues that boost those observations:
Henry Gale is the name of Dorothy's uncle in 1939 film The Wizard of Oz. In that story, the Wizard travels from Omaha, Nebraska, to the land of Oz in a hot air balloon. The first episode where Jacob appears is called "The Man Behind the Curtain" also an allusion to the Wizard of Oz. One could make the connection that Gale's appearance on the island is in someway related to Jacob.
The Smiley face on the balloon is a nod to the WATCHMEN comic book. Nozz-A-La Cola is a reference to Stephen King's Dark Tower series. It is the soda that exists in an alternate universe in place of Coca-Cola. These may be clues that Gale was part of an alternative reality.
We do not know much more about Gale or his background. But we also have few facts about Desmond's early life. Desmond did not graduate from university because he had to support his three brothers after the unknown death or disappearance of their father. This leads to a question of whether the "taking" of people by Jacob to the island may be "generational," i.e. Desmond's father may have been an earlier candidate who disappeared just as his son would decades later.
One day, in late 1995 or 1996, Desmond was drinking while painting his flat. He fell off of the ladder hitting his head on the floor, and was splayed out in the red paint which pooled underneath him and splattered on the walls. Just after, Penny came home and seeing him on the floor went to help him. This fall would begin to trigger Desmond's mental flashes. In 1996 at Camp Millar (north of Glasgow, Scotland), Desmond woke up from what he thought was a dream, in which he was in a helicopter in a storm. In reality, his consciousness was time traveling to December 24, 2004. Desmond continued to uncontrollably leap back and forth between 1996 and 2004. Confused when in the future, 1996-Desmond received instructions from the 2004 Daniel Faraday to meet him at The Queen's College Department of Physics in Oxford in 1996. After Desmond convinced Daniel that he had been to the future, 1996-Daniel Faraday explained that unless Desmond found a "a constant" something familiar and meaningful in both time periods, he (Desmond) would likely have a brain aneurysm and die. Desmond decided that Penny would be his constant.
Like Gale, Desmond set off on a quest that his mate did not endorse. Desmond then traveled to America, where Widmore's solo race was set to begin in 2001. Desmond met Libby Smith (the same woman from Hurley's mental institution) in a café, where she insisted on buying him coffee. During their conversation, Desmond confided in her his shortcomings for joining the race. Libby then surprisingly revealed her ownership of a boat which had belonged to her late husband. Upon her insistence, Desmond eventually accepted Libby's offer of the boat, promising to win the race "for love."
This puts Libby's role in the light of being an enabler - - - much like Naomi acted as Jacob's agent to get people to the island. She could have been also acting on behalf of Widmore, who wanted to get rid of poor Dez so his daughter would not wind up with a loser. It would also mean that Libby was also present to observe, then get Hurley onto Flight 815. It could also mean that since Libby had three husbands, maybe hubby number two was an avid balloonist - - - and she donated her late husband's balloon to Gale so he could accomplish his mission for his wife.
But unlike Desmond's eventual reunion with Penny, Gale's life and time on the island was cut extremely short. But there is a pattern that new people were brought to the island by shipwreck, balloon crash and plane crash, catastrophic events which in many cases cause death. Gale's broken neck could have been upon impact, and the rest of his story may have been an illusion like Oz.
