Ethan Rom/Theories

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Theories about Ethan Rom

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Stated as questions or possibilities (avoid question marks, "Maybe", "I think", etc). More appropriate for another article. Illogical or previously disproven. Proven by canon source, and moved to main article. Speculative and lacking any evidence to support arguments. Responding to another theory (use discussion page instead). This does not include responses that can stand alone as its own theory. Usage of an indented bullet does not imply the statement is a response. See the Lostpedia theory policy for more details.

Family

• Ethan was Sabine's husband.

• Ethan's real name is Ethan Goodspeed; he used Ethan Rom as an alias when he first met up with 815 crash survivors to hide his real name, much like Ben did when he assumed Henry Gale's name.
  • Juliet seemed quite shocked to hear Amy name her child Ethan. Considering she lived there for three years, in both time periods, if he went by 'Ethan Goodspeed' one would assume that's the name she knew him as, but apparently did not. Perhaps Paul's last name was Rom, or he merely adopted the last name after joining the Others.
  • Why would Ethan want to conceal that his surname was Goodspeed, when none of the survivors would have heard it before?
• Ethan is not actually the son of Horace and Amy Goodspeed. Amy only said the baby's name was Ethan, which does not guarantee that the baby is the same Ethan who kidnapped Claire and almost killed Charlie. It is more likely that due to the great significance of the true identity of the baby, the writers included this information to throw us off.
  • This makes sense as he's Canadian and not... um... American/Islandish.
    • He was lying about being Canadian. It would be dumb if it was another person and not Ethan. The music and the shocked look on Juliet's face is there for a reason. It's Ethan.
• Sayid's attack on Jin and young Ben, will start an all-out war between the Hostiles and the Dharma Initiative. In the chaos that ensues, baby Ethan will be kidnapped by the Hostiles, and raised as their own (much like Ben kidnapped Alex from Rousseau).

Medicinal

• Was educated as a medical scientist.
  • Administered drugs to Claire when she was held by the Others
  • Worked for Mittelos Bioscience.
  • Ben stated Ethan was the Others' surgeon before he was killed by Charlie. ("Stranger in a Strange Land")
• If Charlie hadn't killed Ethan, Ben wouldn't have needed to have Jack captured - Ethan would have performed the surgery immediately.
  • However Ben said that he found out about his tumor on September 20, two days before Flight 815 crashed. It's possible Ethan was not capable of doing spinal surgery, or else he would not have been sent to the beach when the plane crashed two days later.
  • OR because Ethan wasn't a spinal surgeon. He prolly couldnt take the tumor out himself as he is not well trained in that field.
• Was sent to infiltrate the castaways by Ben because of his medical expertise. He was the only one with the proper knowledge to administer the vaccine Claire receives while sleeping in the cave.
  • Ben didn't know that there would be a pregnant girl on the plane when he sent Ethan to the Losties. Also, Ben could have sent Juliet, who would have been the most capable person to look after Claire and also administer the vaccine.
    • Ben assumed there'd be pregnant women on the flight as he suggested "there may be one on the plane" to Juliet in ("One of Us"). Ben sent Ethan & Goodwin the day of the crash because he felt he needed to take Juliet to The Flame and show her Rachel's "proof of life".
• Was sent because he has shown himself in the past to be extremely capable and was one of Ben's most trusted agents.
• Ben did not send Juliet because she is "his" and he would never let her out of his sight, he wants her where he can keep an eye on her.

Physical State

• Had military training of some sort. He was an expert in hand to hand combat.
  • The fight choreographers made sure to not suggest any particular fighting style.
    • Several viewers have pointed out that Ethan's fighting style, although not reminiscent of any particular "traditional," older style of fighting, seems quite similar to several fighting styles used by various military organizations throughout the world, particularly the style of hand-to-hand combat used by Navy SEALs.
• Seemed to be very strong for his size, he lifted Charlie with one arm.

Relationships

• Was close with Juliet. In "A Tale of Two Cities", Ethan is seen fixing the plumbing outside her house.
  • Given their close knit community it would seem all the Others are on fairly close terms with each other.
  • Ethan and Juliet were especially close, (friends) they work together in the medical station trying to save pregnant women; they would inevitably grow closer as a result of their work and the struggle they are in to save lives. Perhaps this is why Ben sent them both (Goodwin and Ethan) because they were Juliet's confidants; her lover and her best friend.
• Ethan remembered John Locke from their encounter near the crashed beechcraft where John told Ethan that Benjamin Linus appointed him the new leader of The Others ("Because You Left"). To his surprise, 3 years later he sees John Locke is one of the survivors of 815. He then goes hunting with John to learn more about him. He possibly reports back to Ben telling him the entire story which spooks Ben enough to try infiltrating the survivors himself to learn more about Locke. Although the length of time from Ethan's death to Ben being captured is long enough to suggest Ethan kept the disturbing facts to himself.
  • Juliet changed the subject when Sawyer asked Locked who shot his leg, this shows that Juliet may know about it.
  • Ethan did not tell anyone that he knew Locke was a time traveller, though it did give him a sense of respect for Locke.
    • If he had told Ben that Locke said Ben appointed him leader, Ben would have known all along Locke was to be their new leader and wouldn't have treated him badly and put him through the various tests.
      • Ben put him through various tests because Locke still needed to prove he was the leader. Just because he said in the past that he was the leader in the future, doesn't mean it will just be so. Locke needed to go through that.
  • Ethan did tell Ben that Locke is a time traveller. That is why when Hurley asks Ben about shooting Locke, Ben says "I should've realised at the time that it[shooting Locke] was pointless", because Ben knew (Ethan told him) about Locke having to travel to the past sometime in the future (and therefore he couldn't die then).
    • Ben says that because the island wouldnt let John die. That was what he was referring too. It's pointless because the island isnt done with Locke and there's no way he would die.

Motives and Crimes

• He really was a good person. He just acted the way he did toward the end of his life because he was so desperate to find Claire and extract her baby so he keep her (Claire) from dying since so many other pregnant women were not so lucky. He also did it to save the baby.
• Was responsible for the death of Edmund Burke, aware that his 'getting hit by a bus' would ensure Juliet's interest in joining his research team.
  • Also may have abducted Anthony Cooper; we already know Ethan can leave the island and has spent time in Florida. This isn't the best evidence since he was with the 815's after the crash; it may have been Richard (who was presumably in Miami filming Rachel) who picked up Cooper before he returned to the island.
• When Charlie sent him away to get Jack because Claire seemed to be going into labor, Ethan instead went to get help from the Others, most likely Tom (Mr. Friendly). He had Tom with him when he came back for Claire and Charlie, which is how he incapacitated them so quickly, carried them both away, and was able to temporarily abandon them while he attacked Jack.
• Was sent by Ben to infiltrate the crash survivors because he had been in the outside world.
• Going by revelations after his death: Ethan was once a good man and a doctor. His wife died in childbirth presumably on the island. Ethan was desperate to save the Others pregnant women and was willing to go to whatever lengths he had to capture Claire so they could experiment on her and find a solution to the pregnancy problem. Ethan's soft spot for Claire may be a result of Claire about to give birth and his anguish over his wife dying during her pregnancy.
• Was sucked into a Cerberus Vent by the Smoke Monster like Rousseau's team and really did go rogue against his orders.

Name References

• A reference to Ethan Frome, a novel by Wharton about a man who is unhappily married and desires an affair with their housekeeper.

The Purge

• We now know Ethan survives the purge in some fashion. But he must either leave the Island or betray the Dharma Initiative. It is possible Amy and Ethan will leave the Island (and Horace Goodspeed behind). Because he has no father Ethan will adopt his mother's last name, which may be Rom. The other option is he joins the hostiles and Ben sometime before the purge.

Miscellaneous

• His name could be an intentional anagram for "more than."
  • His name is an anagram of "Other Man." This is on the http://www.oceanic-air.com/seatingchart.htm website, when you try to pre board check in.
• Ethan may have been born on the island, this would explain Ben trusting him to leave the island to fetch Juliet.
• Taken from DHARMA in an incursion by the Hostiles years before The Purge and was raised by them in a similar fashion to Zack and Emma. Must have been lied to about his origins.
• When he shot Locke during the time skip, it was the first time he met Locke but didn't reveal it to Locke when they first met as he was instructed not to by Ben Linus. It works with Faraday's rule of "whatever happened, happened".