Others (Lost) - Recruiting

Recruiting

Members of the Others have either been recruited from the outside world, as in the case of Juliet Burke, or joined the group after arriving on the island (by choice or by kidnapping). A number of adult survivors from both the tail section and fuselage of Flight 815 were kidnapped. In the season 3 episode "The Man from Tallahassee", Ben tells Locke that he brought most of the Others to the island. The indigenous Others appear to be part of the mysterious forces on the island, whereas those who have been recruited do not. During their encounters with the crash survivors, the Others have killed or attempted to kill several of them. Frequently, the crash survivors and the Others call members of the opposing group "one of them."

A major part of the Others' modus operandi is the use of lists. When Flight 815 crashed, Ben Linus immediately ordered Goodwin and Ethan to infiltrate the survivors and prepare lists within three days. By the first night, the Others apparently were able to kidnap at least three people, and they made an unsuccessful attempt to kidnap Mr. Eko. During these first few days, Ben orders Mikhail Bakunin to conduct full background checks on everyone on Flight 815, using the Flame Station's computers, claiming "he wanted to know everything about them." Over a week later, the Others return to the tail section survivors, this time with a list written by Goodwin including nine specific people to kidnap. It is later revealed that Jacob had a hand in this final list, and that Goodwin was lobbying "almost too hard" to have Ana-Lucia Cortez included. Notably, in the season 3 episode "I Do", Pickett claims that Jack "was not on Jacob's list anyway."

Since that time, several Flight 815 survivors have been seen among the Others. They do not appear to have been harmed, they seem to have complete freedom to move around, they never ask for help from the other survivors, and they never attempt to escape. It remains unknown whom Ethan was planning to put on his own list before his exposure as an Other. The question of why some members of Flight 815 have been taken and not others has generally been answered cryptically, usually with the claim that they simply weren't "meant" to join them.