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Dr. Richard Alpert

Portrayed by Nestor Carbonell

Portrayed by [[{{{Actor1}}}]] and [[{{{Actor2}}}]]

First seen

"Not in Portland" (flashback)

Last seen

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Appeared in

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Mentioned in

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Centric episode(s)

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Name

Richard Alpert

Also Known As

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Status

Alive

Age

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Date of birth

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Date of death

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Origin

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Profession

Recruiter for Mittelos Bioscience

In Australia...

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On the plane...

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On the island...

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Family members

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Connection

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Season(s)

S1 - S2 - S3 - MP - S4

Images

"Richard" redirects here. For other uses of "Richard", see: Richard (disambiguation)

Dr. Richard Alpert is an inhabitant of the Island who apparently has some sort of leadership role among the Others. He was also part of the group known to the DHARMA Initiative as the Hostiles. From his first appearance in the 1950s to current events on the Island, Richard perpetually appears to be in his 30s or 40s, though his hairstyle and manner of dress change depending on the circumstances on or off the Island. In the outside world, he has presented himself as a doctor and recruiter for Mittelos Bioscience.

Before the crash

Richard tests the young John Locke. ("Cabin Fever")

In the June of 1956, Richard Alpert visited the Tustin hospital where John Locke had been born prematurely a month earlier. Mrs. Locke was inquiring about putting the infant up for adoption when the nurse spotted Richard at the window. As he smiled mysteriously at the baby John, Mrs. Locke commented bemusedly that she didn't know who he was. ("Cabin Fever")

Richard again entered Locke’s life in 1961, when he visited the five-year-old while he was in foster care. Richard told Florence, John’s foster mother, that he considered John special enough to join a school for “very special” children. He tested Locke by presenting him with a baseball glove, a book of laws, a vial of sand, a compass, a comic book, and a knife. Locke was asked to identify which of these items were "already his." Richard was pleased when Locke chose the compass and vial of sand, and smiled slightly as the child considered the book, but Locke ultimately chose the knife. At this, Richard turned cold and left, telling Florence that he was sorry to have wasted their time. ("Cabin Fever")

Years later, however, in 1972, Richard again contacted Locke through his high school science teacher, Gellert, offering Locke a chance to attend a summer science camp sponsored by Mittelos Laboratories. Locke refused to attend the camp, though, and no further attempts to recruit him have been shown. ("Cabin Fever")

On the Island

Richard meets Ben for the first time in the jungle. ("The Man Behind the Curtain")

Richard was one of the "Hostiles" present on the island alongside the DHARMA Initiative. (Ben would later imply that Richard had been in charge prior to his own leadership. ("Cabin Fever")) In the early 70s, a young Ben encountered him after taking off into the jungle, searching for an apparition of his dead mother. Richard was dressed in primitive clothing, but had a twentieth century holster on his right hip. Richard reassured Ben and asked why he was out in the jungle alone. When Ben explained what he'd seen, and that she had died off the Island, Richard was visibly interested in this development, but told him to return home. Ben, however, pleaded with Richard to let him return to the Hostiles with him. Considering this, the older man told him that this might be possible, but that Ben would need to be "very, very patient." ("The Man Behind the Curtain")

On December 19, 1992, Richard appeared to lead the Hostiles in the Purge, when they slaughtered the DHARMA Initiative with gas from their own Tempest station. After the gas had dissipated, he emerged from the Barracks with the other Hostiles to meet Ben, then in his thirties, who had just returned from personally killing his father in the same way. He offered to go out and bring Roger's body back, but Ben coldly told him to leave the corpse where it was. The other dead members of the DHARMA Initiative were taken to a mass grave in the jungle. ("The Man Behind the Curtain") At some point, Ben became the leader of the group, which would evolve to become what Rousseau and the survivors of Oceanic Flight 815 would call "the Others."

Off the Island

Richard Alpert explains that Mittelos isn't exactly in Portland. ("Not in Portland")

Later, Juliet discovered that her experiments had been successful, but as she told Edmund about it, he stepped off the curb and was hit by a bus bearing an Apollo Bar advertisement. After Juliet identified Edmund’s body, she was once again approached by Richard in the morgue, this time accompanied by Ethan. She was stunned as she remembered her dark joke to Richard, though he denied even remembering the comment. He once again offered Juliet a six-month job at Mittelos, carefully telling her that the facility wasn’t “quite in Portland.” ("Not in Portland")

Later, as Juliet and Rachel said goodbye to each other at Herarat Aviation, Richard and Ethan came down to greet them, telling them that unfortunately, they had to say goodbye at the gate. After Juliet signed the appropriate paperwork, Richard added powder to a glass of orange juice for her. When she asked warily about it, he was very forthcoming about it being a strong sedative for the "intense" journey. After she drank the entire thing, he presumably traveled to the Island on the Galaga with Ethan and Juliet. ("One of Us")

After the crash

Moments after Flight 815 crashed onto the Island, Ben took Juliet to the Flame Station, where Mikhail patched them through to a live broadcast of Richard filming in Miami. The broadcast showed Juliet's sister and nephew having a happy moment at a playground, with the date illustrated by Richard filming a Miami Journal newspaper header. Though Richard wasn't visible in the footage, Ben referred to him by name and urged him to return quickly, mentioning the possibility of new "visitors". ("One of Us")

Season 3 (Days 80-90)

Eighty days after the crash of Oceanic Flight 815, Ben instructed Richard to bring him "the man from Tallahassee." The next day, after Locke blew up the Galaga, Richard helped Ben bring him to a room where that man was revealed to be Locke's father, Anthony Cooper. ("The Man from Tallahassee")

Richard speaks with Locke once again. ("The Brig")

The Others, including Richard, soon abandoned the barracks and began heading for the Temple. At the ruins along the way, Ben insisted that Locke kill his own father, but Locke refused. After the resulting public humiliation, Richard approached Locke, who was sitting on the hillside watching the camp. He introduced himself to Locke, who presumably did not remember his childhood encounters with him, and promptly took the conversation to a more serious level. He said that Ben had known Locke wouldn’t kill his father. In fact, Ben wanted him to fail in front of the group. Richard mentioned that they were all there for reasons more important than the fertility issues Ben had been focusing on. He then presented Locke with a file on Sawyer, suggesting that he should kill Cooper instead. Locke, confused, asked why Sawyer would want to kill Cooper; Richard simply told him to read the file. Richard later followed Ben and the Others as they left the ruins (and Locke) in order to make camp elsewhere. ("The Brig")

Richard learns that the majority of the survivors have left the camp. ("Through the Looking Glass")

Two days later, at the temporary camp, as Ben reminisced over a wooden doll he had received from Annie as a child, Richard entered and asked what it was. Ben explained that it was a birthday present and asked cryptically, “You do remember birthdays, don't you, Richard?”, to which he received no response. Richard asked Ben if he wanted the tape recorder returned to The Staff for Juliet, prompting alarm in Ben, as he thought Richard had already done so. (In reality, Locke had delivered it to Sawyer.) They were interrupted when Locke returned to camp with Cooper’s body over his shoulders. Richard looked on as Ben reluctantly agreed to take Locke to Jacob, a unique turn of events. ("The Man Behind the Curtain")

When Ben returned alone, Richard asked what had happened, but Ben didn't reveal that he'd shot Locke, to whom Jacob had appealed for "help." Tense and irritable, Ben ignored Richard's protest against his plan to immediately raid the survivors' camp and take all the women. ("Greatest Hits")

Following the raid on the beach camp, Ben learned that the majority of the survivors had left the camp, leading him to take Alex and intercept them. Richard asked to join the father and daughter, but Ben refused, telling him to take charge and lead the Others to The Temple, as planned. He apparently then led the Others to this mysterious location. ("Through the Looking Glass")

Season 4 (Day 100)

Richard emerges from the bushes ("There's No Place Like Home, Part 1")

Ben contacted someone via a signal mirror while on his way to the Orchid Station. Later that day, we realize it was Richard who had been contacted, when he shows up to intercept Sayid and Kate while they were searching for Jack. He told them to put their guns down, and when they refused, the remaining Others emerged from the surrounding bushes, guns at the ready. After disarming the two, Richard led them into the jungle. ("There's No Place Like Home, Part 1") He then made a deal with Sayid and Kate that if they helped the Others rescue Ben, they could leave the Island on the helicopter. After ambushing the mercenaries from the freighter, Richard saved Sayid from Keamy by shooting the latter in the back (though he was later revealed to be still alive).

Ben showed up and thanked Richard, who replied with a distant, "My pleasure." He then informed Ben of the deal with Sayid and Kate, and Ben expressed his approval. Prior to leaving the Island via the Orchid, Ben told Locke that Richard and his people were two miles east of the station. Ben also said that Richard would answer all of Locke's questions about the Island and follow all his commands. Locke proceeded to the camp to be warmly welcomed by Richard and the Others. The two were talking when the sky began to glow as Ben began the process of moving the Island. Richard didn't appear surprised at this turn of events, even seeming pleased. ("There's No Place Like Home, Parts 2 & 3")

Name reference

• The real-life Dr. Richard Alpert (aka Ram Dass) is a noted psychologist and Hindu spiritualist. In 1963, he was dismissed from Harvard University for his research (in collaboration with Timothy Leary, Aldous Huxley, Allen Ginsberg and others) into psilocybin, LSD-25, and other psychedelic chemicals. He later traveled to India, where he was given his Hindu spiritual name "Ram Dass", which translates as "Servant of God". Alpert wrote of his experiences in an unusual tome entitled Be Here Now, and founded the Hanuman Foundation. See Bio and Wikipedia entry. Damon Lindelof confirmed that the character of Alpert was indeed named after a famous person. [1]
• Richard Alpert's colleague Aldous Huxley wrote a book called Island, which has been referenced in Lost, most specifically with regard to the Pala Ferry; Pala is a Utopian island in Huxley's book.

Trivia

• Richard's episode count so far is 10.
• Richard is of Old German origin, and its meaning is "powerful leader".
• Out of the main characters, Richard has only met Locke, Ben, Juliet, Kate and Sayid; in "The Brig", he has expressed knowledge of one other survivor by name - Sawyer.
• Richard is the only living Other known to have belonged to the Hostiles who has been identified by name.
• He is the only Other known to be off the Island at the time of the crash.
• In the Season 3 DVD commentary for "The Man from Tallahassee", Richard Alpert is described as someone who is not interested in leading the Others but is very influential in finding and selecting a leader. In the commentary for "The Man from Tallahassee", he is described as being similar to a Panchen Lama choosing the next Dalai Lama. He and Ben keep each other in "check" by having the power to pick/veto each other's replacement on the Island. Ben's role would be to pick the next Panchen, should the need arise. This keeps the two in a sort of balanced power relationship. They are allies, yet they have some measure of control over the other should one get out of hand.
  • In The World of the Others, Alpert is described as one of the "#2" leaders to Ben, a consigliere.
• Season 3 DVD audio commentary confirms that Ben's line to Richard in "The Man Behind the Curtain", "It's a birthday present. You do remember birthdays don't you?", was written to be deliberately ambiguous.

Unanswered questions

For fan theories about these unanswered questions, see: Richard Alpert/Theories

• Why does he appear not to age?
• Where and when was he raised?
• How did Ben achieve a higher ranking than Richard Alpert in the Others' hierarchy?
• What was his role in organizing the Purge?
• Is he really a doctor? If so, when did he become one?
• What criteria prompted him to recruit Ben and, later, Locke?
• How did he travel off the Island before he had access to the Galaga?
• Why is Richards name on the manifest for the Black Rock in the Lost ARG?