So What Had Happened Was...

in the 1880s, the Black Rock, a slave ship, leaves England headed to Thailand and crashes on the Island. The sailors find that the Island is nearly deserted -- except for Richard Alpert (and maybe a few others) -- and Richard eventually recruits them to stay on the Island and be its protectors because he can't protect it alone. I don't know what happens to the slaves, but the 1950s Others are the descendants of those British sailors... hmm... except how come none of the Others are ever old? Maybe because the Island has healing properties so no one ever reaches old age because old age is your body deteriorating and the Island prevents that? So people can age from children to adults, but they can't get older than mid-life? So maybe the 1950s Others are the actual crew from the Black Rock?

In any case, one of them is Widmore and he likely ends up taking lead of the Others in some way -- perhaps by force? -- until Ben rescues the Others from Charles and Charles is banished from the Island forever under certain "rules." And perhaps Charles was made to turn the Donkey Wheel when he was banished -- which explains how Ben knew about it, but I don't know how Charles would have gotten back there post-Dharma without destroying the Orchid chamber like Ben had to. It does seem like the Island has moved since Charles left, however. The Black Rock was sailiing from the UK to Thailand, so it would have crashed in the Indian Ocean rather than the Pacific, but flight 815 was likely flying over the Pacfic when it crashed, so the Island may have moved between those two crashes, which is maybe one of the reasons Charles was having trouble finding it?

Anyway, Charles wants Ben because he knows that Ben is his main obstacle to taking back the Island. He later has Locke killed because he takes over the Others in Ben's stead.

Thoughts?