Lockes Parents is Richard one of them

[LostinLock]

Is Richard his father or is there another person?

[anavrin]

If Richard is his father, then who is the "real Sawyer"?

[hatch4815162342]

idk

[Hurley rocks dudes]

i don't think that richards his father... his dad was just taking advantage of him

[LostinLock]

Con man extrodinaire

[Hippoeki]

Did we know before tonight that Locke was adopted? Does he know about his "origin story"?

I can't keep this stuff straight anymore.

[Hurley rocks dudes]

we knew that he was adopted

[Mom2Lindsey]

I completely believe that Richard's presence in that flashback was to let us know that John has been "chosen" from birth. I do believe he impregnated Emily. Whether or not he was her "boyfriend" doesn't really matter. It seems like Richard can do anything anyway. She was seeing an older man. And whatever test that was was just meant to show that he wasn't ready to realize his full potential on the island yet. Richard was keeping tabs on him throughout his life. Probably orchestrating the events of his life to make him the man he needed to be.

[Jugdish]

He was there to recruit a specail kid. not because he was the dad.

[hefalumps]

Weren't Cooper and Locke determined to be genetically compatible when the whole kidney thing went down? I'm sure they don't necessarily need to be related to do a kidney transplant, but I thought it was pretty certain that Cooper was the biological father.

I don't think Richard was the father or impregnated Emily, but I do think he was *aware* of Locke's birth, knew he was a person of interest worth looking into from the beginning. Just as Horace was there for Ben's birth - remember, he's the one who picked up Ben's dying mother on the side of the road (whose name also was Emily... hm...) and eventually brought Ben and Ben's Dad to the island. Since Ben's Dad was just a workman, I'm assuming Horace was interested in Ben from the beginning just as Richard was interested in Locke.

Good, good stuff.

[Sweet Old Lady]

Weren't Cooper and Locke determined to be genetically compatible when the whole kidney thing went down? I'm sure they don't necessarily need to be related to do a kidney transplant, but I thought it was pretty certain that Cooper was the biological father.

Emily and Locke were determined to be mother and son, but I think we have to take Emily's word for Cooper being the father.  The DNA info came from the private investigator Locke hired, but could he have been working for Widmore or Dharma?  Now that we know that Locke has been under observation since infancy anything is possible.

[Suzanne4Au2]

Not the dad IMO. He was there to work!

[DaveJohnson]

I completely believe that Richard's presence in that flashback was to let us know that John has been "chosen" from birth. I do believe he impregnated Emily. Whether or not he was her "boyfriend" doesn't really matter. It seems like Richard can do anything anyway. She was seeing an older man. And whatever test that was was just meant to show that he wasn't ready to realize his full potential on the island yet. Richard was keeping tabs on him throughout his life. Probably orchestrating the events of his life to make him the man he needed to be.

As has been mentioned, the method used by Richard is very similar to (one of) the tests used to determine 'rebirth' amongst Tibetian Buddhists*. Instead of being the father, I'm thinking the Island/Jacob directed Richard to the birth of John and went to observe/test him. Somehow selecting the knife failed the test - it's odd that the one violent tool is what swayed Richard's opinion. You can look at the dirt as implying an inherent identity with the Island, the compass as a natural tendency towards Exploration, and the knife, a tendency towards violence?

* The idea of a child 'selecting' their destiny from an array of items is not limited to Tibetian reincarnated lamas! I believe it's something of a tradition to place items like books, sports items and weapons before a Chinese child & have them 'pick' their destiny. At a least it is present in literature...

[Hippoeki]

I also don't think that Richard is the father. What about the possibility that Richard is time traveling and wanted to witness the birth of the Island's Savior? Like how some people say that if given the chance to time travel they would go to see the birth of Jesus.

[hefalumps]

I also don't think that Richard is the father. What about the possibility that Richard is time traveling and wanted to witness the birth of the Island's Savior? Like how some people say that if given the chance to time travel they would go to see the birth of Jesus.

That's an interesting one. I would go with that theory before thinking Richard was his Dad. Time travel could explain why Richard never ages anytime we see him.