Some of the characters seemed to board Flight 815 purely by chance. Others seemed in some way or another to have been manipulated into it. For example, Claire was clearly manipulated into taking Flight 815 by the "psychic" who also spoke to Eko about Charlotte Malkin's "resurrection". Sun was also given clear instructions by someone to meet them at the airport on that particular day. However, she joined Jin only last minute....or was it only last minute? Or perhaps was it last minute, but "someone" knew that Sun would never leave Jin behind?

So, for each of the characters, how do you feel fate versus conspiracy played into their being on the plane (or in Desmond's case, on the boat that got pulled into the Island via magnetic force)?

Jack - Chasing after his father. After the visions Jack has had on the island, is his dad really dead, or did he somehow lead Jack here? One reason for the coffin being empty could have been that the airport people didn't put his Dad in the coffin, they just put the coffin on board so that Jack would quit making a scene and get on the plane. Another possible reason could have been that the smoke monster can inhabit bodies of dead people (ie Mr. Eko's brother Yemi).



Kate - Taken into custody by a Federal Marshall.


Sawyer -The island's resident "Bad Boy" has connections to several passengers on the flight. He was drinking in a bar in Australia with Jack's father. Where he told Sawyer that he wish he had told his son that he was proud of him but now, he can never do that. Sawyer also had a brief run in with Boone at an Australian police station while, he was "politely" being asked to leave the country and not return. The connection with Jack is interesting. It has only deepened on the island as they are now fighting for the affection of the same girl. Is there a deeper connection there between Jack and Sawyer that has yet to be shown? Did Jack's dad tell Sawyer more information than he is willing to let on? Does Sawyer know about the illegitimate child Jack's Father was trying to see in Australia? He was being kicked out of Australia and extradited back to the US, though no one knows for what specific acts (apart from that he punched Australia's Environmental Minister).


Hurley - The numbers made and broke Hurley. All signs point him toward the numbers being cursed, though no one else will accept this idea, not even the wife of Sam Toomey, the Australian who won a bean-counting contest using the numbers as his guess (and then got in an accident on his way home, in which his wife lost her leg). According to his wife, Sam heard the numbers on his radio while stationed in the South Pacific years ago. The message was changed by Danielle Rousseau to an S.O.S. transmission which had been running on a loop for 16 years, so Sam Toomey clearly heard them before then. (Question: Is Danielle's transmission still playing somewhere in the outside world?) Hurley heard the numbers from a fellow patient at a mental institution--the same one where Libby and Locke's mother were institutionalized.


Locke - He was initially drawn to Australia because of the "Walk-A-Bout" Vacation that he had planned on taking. Upon his arrival, he was informed that he was not able to attend the trip because of being wheelchair bound so he was told to return home. His flight home happened to be Flight 815, which crashed on the island. After the crash he wakes up and realizes he can walk now. Was Locke suppose to be on that flight so, as he states, the island could heal him? Does that explain that strange connection that he seems to have with the island? Or was his new found healing a result of the crash?


Eko - I think this one will prove very interesting, since his brother's plane had already crashed on the Island. It had to be more than mere coincidence that Eko was on the flight that crashed on the Island as well. Can someone explain how it came to be that Eko came to be on Flight 815? Was the Psychic behind it somehow?
What about Eko's brother? How did his plane from AFRICA end up on the island?


Ana Lucia - Was a cop that had decided to take the law into her own hands for the sake of revenge. She met Jack's father at the airport, where he convinced her to come with him to Australia. Once she realised that her "client" Christian would never get himself sort out, she decided to come home to LA.

Libby - Was in the tail section of the plane and was supposedly a Clinical Psychologist however, we find out that she was in the same mental hospital as a patient that Hurley was in. Then later she has a different identity as she ends up in a coffee shop just in time to run into Desmond, fresh in America. She allows him to have and use her deceased husband's sailboat, which is named after her. What is her already deep backstory? Will we ever find out?


Rose/Bernard - In Australia seeking faith-healing for Rose's terminal cancer, they learn of magical places where the earth's natural magnetic forces are in tune with what an ailing body needs. For Rose, the Island appears to be that place, and so now she isn't sure she wants to leave.


Jin-Is supposed to be taking a watch to Sun's father's Friend in America. He is stopped in the airport and told that he better come back with her to Korea.


Sun-Was supposed to leave Jin at the airport and get into a car. Instead she got on the plane with Jin, not realizing he is thinking about staying in America, once they get there.


Charlie-He was in Australia to ask his brother to join the band again.


Claire - Our young mother of the island, was going to give up her baby after her boyfriend left her. After speaking to a psychic, she was told that a great danger would befall her, if she was given up. She flees and decideds to proceed with the adoption, only changing her mind when her pen runs out of ink. She returns to the psychic who offers her money and plane tickets to california where the baby will be safe. The airline tickets are for flight 815. Was Claire, as Charlie suggested sent to that flight on purpose because the psychic knew that the flight was going to crash? Now it appears that the "Others" wanted Claire's baby, so was she really sent to the island by the psychic for the "Others"? Is it possible that Claire is the illegitimate child that Jack's father attempted to see in Australia?

Shannon - Did Shannon's Australian boyfriend have something to do with Shannon and Boone being on Flight 815? His name (coincidentally?) is Bryan, the same name as Walt's step-dad. Are they father and son?


Boone - He came to Australia to "save" Shannon from yet another of her sham-abusive relationships, only to discover the con. He is killed while helping Locke investigate a mysterious Beechcraft plane, and Locke calls him "a sacrifice the island demanded." Why did the island demand his life? Was Boone somehow impeding Locke in doing the island's work?


Sayid - In his quest to find Nadia, he betrayed his friends to foreign government officials, helping to expose their terrorist plot. The officials originally had him booked on a different flight, but he stayed an extra day to bury his dead friend. Also he said that Nadia was dead. But then we see her in American having her house inspected. So is she really dead, or is Sayid mistaken?


Desmond - Needing to prove himself to Penelope's father (and thinking he needs to prove himself to Penelope as well) he sets off in a sailing race around the world on Libby's late husband's boat. Penelope seems to be spending a fortune trying to find him, and knows what sorts of anomalies to look for. Could this mean that her father is somehow behind Desmond's ending up on the island?