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If the birthday Ben gave us is correct (1979) and she started school when she was 5 years old, following the normal path of education (K-12, 4 years of undergrad, 4 years (more, even) of graduate school), Charlotte would graduate with her Ph.D in 2005. So, either she is still in school (making Ben wrong about her having already gotten her Ph.D), or she skipped some grades in the middle somewhere. Or, it's just a production folly.
She went through the British University system (3 years Undergrad, 3 Years Postgrad), and so would have achieved her Ph.D in 2003
She's the baby heard crying in the DHARMA booth video, seeing as how she's roughly 30 years old.
Except that Chang refers to taking "him" outside.
Charlotte speaks Korean, even though she is not a linguist and apparently doesn't even speak French (which is much closer to English than Korean). It was her adopted family who taught her the Korean language.
On the Season 4 DVD, during the season finale of Season 4 with the commentary on, Lindelof and Cuse are discussing where Lapidus and Charlotte are during a part of the episode. Lindelof says that Lapidus is off the Island, then seems to slip up, and says that Charlotte is in the year 1114, followed by a "Wait! What?!" It seems to support that she was a native of some sort.
She was born on the Island to Ben and Annie, as the producers have said that Annie is one of the two most important women in Ben's life, and in There's No Place Like Home, Parts 2 & 3, she said she was "looking for where she was born", thus adding support to the possibility of her birth on the island. And as women on the island die in childbirth, Annie likely died, and Ben may have felt guilty about it and gone off-island to put her up for adoption, knowing that one day she would return.
Women on the Island do not die in childbirth; they die in their second trimester. This may or may not have been a problem at the time Charlotte was born.
Daniel Faraday was somehow on the Island during the Dharma Initiative period, at a date after 1973 (determined by the Willie Nelson record). It is therefore possible that if Charlotte was born on the Island, Daniel could be the father.
Ms. Hawking would be the appropriate age, nationality and have the Island connection to be the mother.
Ms Hawking is also Daniel's mother, so Daniel and his own mother procreated to produce their daughter Charlotte who is a love interest of Daniel.
That one would be very difficult to put on network television.
Role in the Naomi's group
Charlotte is "special." She is associated with Abaddon, who found Locke and may be tasked with finding special people. When Abaddon defended his choices of Lapidus, Miles, Charlotte and Daniel to Naomi, he was insistent that these people be part of the mission. Like Locke, these people may have premonitions of their future. Charlotte may have had a premonition of the island, and understands that this is what Miles is referring to when he talks about her trying to find the island. Their premonitions may have made finding the island possible, and this was the reason Abaddon chose them.
Charlotte is wearing a bullet-proof vest when Ben shoots her because Naomi used the secret phase, "Tell my sister I love her" as a precaution.
Was the second in command, and now that Naomi is dead, she was the leader of the Freighter Three. However, toward the end of "", Daniel seemed to be in the ascent. Eventually, with Daniel missing and Naomi dead, the Freighter group was no longer an entity.
She is the only one to whom a degrading nickname is not assigned by Naomi, showing respect.
Has practical field experience. Her flashback sets her up like an Indiana Jones/Lara Croft type scientist.
She is clever, as shown by her ability to sound convincing that she's not there to harm them, even when it is obvious that that is what Locke's group thinks.
Locke's group may, however, be wrong. Charlotte could be a "good person" caught up in Matthew Abaddon's grand scheme through her own curiosity, and may have genuinely believed that the plan was to rescue the survivors.
She is going to be very active in the study of the Island powers
Charlotte was chosen by Abaddon to give her expertise on the island ruins and the Temple Inhabitants social structure. The producers have mentioned in podcasts that they did not make a big distinction between archeology and cultural anthropology in terms of the actual discipline divide in academia so we should assume she has expertise in both ancient ruins/languages and modern social organization. She will play a significant role in future episodes that deal with the Temple site on the island and will be able to understand and translate the ruin symbols.
Who are Charlotte's sisters?
Charlotte is the daughter of Charles Widmore, who we know has spent time on the island. Charlotte has alluded that she was born on the island. Her sister is Penny.
Wouldn't Desmond have recognized her?
Charlotte is Daniel's half (or possible full) sister. This would explain why he loves her. Widmore is the father of both of them.
Heachache and Nosebleed
She is about to experience time travel just like Desmond and Minkowski.
She collapsed because of the large amount radiation emitted by Jughead, catalyzing her illness.
Possible Allusions
Charlotte Staples Lewis's name is very close to that of Clive Staples (C.S.) Lewis, author of The Chronicles of Narnia. This is another hint that the island may be located in another dimension. Charlotte made her entry to the island by cutting her parachute cords and landing in a pool. This is similar to a scene in the novel The Magician's Nephew, in which entry to the other world of Narnia is gained by swimming through a magical pool of water.
C.S. Lewis wrote the book Prince Caspian, which tells the story of four people coming back to a faraway place they have been before--but is now changed from what it once was because time in that realm goes faster than it does in the 'real world'. They are summoned back by the call of someone in that land, step through time/space to return, and they work with the inhabitants to restore it.
Additionally, in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, the children travel to an alternate dimension and live for years--only to return to their old world and find that very little time has passed.
