Motives
The exact motives of the Others remain unclear, save that they are fanatically dedicated to protecting the island at all costs. From the point of view of the Flight 815 survivors, their interactions have regularly appeared malevolent and manipulative. They have kidnapped children, including Alex Rousseau (as a baby), Walt Lloyd, and tail section survivors Zach and Emma. Their motives in this case seem connected to the fact that the Others have not been able to successfully give birth on the island. This impossibility of birth is also one of the studies they are conducting, and it explains, in part, besides his infatuation with her, why Ben Linus does not allow Juliet Burke to leave the island, as seen in the episodes "One of Us" and "The Other Woman". Some of the Others also visit other parts of the world and experience outside lifestyles, cultures, and belief systems yet choose to remain on the island. At times, some Others appear willing to sacrifice themselves for their cause, such as when Bea Klugh encourages Mikhail Bakunin to kill her rather than be taken captive.
The group is interested in those who are regarded as "special" on the island: Walt, for example, who sometimes appeared in places he couldn't have been; and John Locke, who regained the use of his legs despite being paralyzed from the waist down. Both via mobisode and in his appearance in the episode "Three Minutes", Walt claims to have been subjected to some manner of testing by the Others and it's implied that this was not pleasant for him. On several occasions, the Others claim that Walt is "very special," and Ben Linus claims during his captivity at the Swan Station that "they would never give back Walt." This position is reversed by the end of the second season, when Ben claims that they have "gotten a lot more than they bargained for" in Walt, and allow him to leave the island.
Read more about this topic: Others (Lost)
Famous quotes containing the word motives:
“... for the motives of acts
Are rarely the same
As their name, as their name....”
—Philip Larkin (1922–1986)
“Living en famille provides the strongest motives for rudeness combined with the maximum opportunity for displaying it.”
—Quentin Crisp (b. 1908)
“Poetry, at all times, exercises two distinct functions: it may reveal, it may unveil to every eye, the ideal aspects of common things ... or it may actually add to the number of motives poetic and uncommon in themselves, by the imaginative creation of things that are ideal from their very birth.”
—Walter Pater (1839–1894)