Monday, January 07, 2008

Did Karl Kill Somebody?














Karl is convinced that next time Ben catches him, he'll kill him. Alex thought before finding Karl in Room 23 that Ben had in fact killed him. So in The Others eye for an eye justice system does this mean Karl killed someone?

Maybe he went off the reservation with Ethan and killed Steve, no Scott. (I know it's Scott; it's alphabetical.) Is this why Karl deserves to die? And what about Sawyer and Kate? The Others know about their crimes, so do they feel entitled to execute judgment on them?

And who is Karl? It seems since he doesn't know about The Brady Bunch that he grew up on the Island. The cheesy constellation naming suggests that as well. Here's my theory -- Karl is Annie's son.

11 comments:

Trevor McFur said...

I like that theory a lot. What happened to Annie seems like a really big hole in Ben's backstory. I figured that she was killed at some point. Maybe she rejected Ben for someone else, and had his child (Karl) ... is that what pushed Ben over the edge? It would explain Ben's hatred for Karl, because he represents what could have been.

So maybe the timeline is ... Annie rejects Ben & has another man's child (maybe she dies in childbirth like Ben's mom did?) --> Ben goes nuts and kills them all except Karl --> shortly after, Danielle lands, births Alex, and Ben & crew kidnap her --> Ben adopts Alex, and, as time goes on, starts harboring more and more resentment towards Karl as the only reminder of his past life.

Capcom said...

I just got the impression that Ben wanted Karl dead, or gone in whatever way, because Ben said that he was afraid that Karl would kill Alex by getting her pregnant.

Capcom said...

P.S. How does Annie having Karl fit into whatever timeline we might have about the killer fetus problem? If she and Ben got together before the problem, then Karl might have slipped in under the radar, so to speak, before all baby-hell broke loose.

Trevor McFur said...

Or Karl was conceived off the island. Maybe Annie left and came back with child?

memphish said...

Capcom, Ben's ultimate motive was to keep Alex from having sex, but surely that's not a reason to execute a kid even in the Others' justice system. There had to be some justification for his removing Karl to the Hydra cage that the rest of the group would accept. I'm just wondering how Ben sold it to the group.

As for timeline, here's a purely speculative one that I'd like. Annie has Karl pre-purge; Annie is purged; infant Karl is raised by the Hostiles as one of their own. I'd like to know who if anyone Karl thinks of as his Father and Mother. Danny and Colleen? Also, who trained Karl to be an x-ray tech?

memphish said...

I forgot to add, in this scenario the pregnancy problem is post-Purge either a result of the Purge methods or punishing Ben for purging.

lost2010 said...

Maybe Karl knows about Ben's role in the purge and he's afraid of being killed because Ben fears he'll tell Alex the truth.

I never did understand why Alex thought he was going to kill him - unless it was just your typical teen melodrama. He seemed to just move him around from cage to cage. Unless Ben somehow commuted Juliet's sentence by claiming it was really Karl that killed Pickett?

Capcom said...

After what we've seen, I really don't expect too much logic fom Ben as far as killing people that get in his (or the island's or Jacob's) way. :o) Nor, from teenaged Alex, now that Lost2010 mentions it, heheh. I also have no doubt that Ben could spin and sell a lynching to those nutters whenever he felt like it. I'll leave it to TPTB to tell us how. :-)

memphish said...

I guess it could all be Alex melodrama she sold to Karl, but there are so many times they both insist Karl will be killed. Yet the Others insist that they are good people, not killers and they have this whole justice system. Of course Ben is willing to trade his life for Pickett's, but I still think Karl must have somehow betrayed the group or at least he and Alex think he has betrayed the group in a way that's normally punishable by death.

lost2010 said...

Poor Alex - she thinks everybody is about to die.

First it was Claire, then Karl, then Sawyer, then Juliet, then Locke even. Come to think of it, most of Ben's evil plots seem to be foiled by Alex's efforts.

I'm starting to think the best way to survive on that island is to have Alex convinced you're in danger. :)

hatchling23 said...

Brilliant deduction. I was having the same thoughts also, although I was focused on Annie, and it occurred to me that Karl is about the right age to be Annie/Ben's offspring.

I do not however think that Ben is Karl's father. I don't yet have a clue who is except that it's someone no longer alive.