[UK Quinny]

Are you seriously asking why someone on the island would hold onto information??   

LOL
You know what i mean.

[chipmunk02]

Sayid brought her to question it.

I thought something was said of Alex's mother and she said, "my mother's dead."  Then Sayid said, "I'm sure they've led you to believe that."  I don't think Sayid mentioned Alex's dad.  Maybe I'm wrong though.

[vanyvrgs]

I thought something was said of Alex's mother and she said, "my mother's dead."  Then Sayid said, "I'm sure they've led you to believe that."  I don't think Sayid mentioned Alex's dad.  Maybe I'm wrong though.

Sayid asks her whether she is Alex and Alex wonders how he knows and he says "you look exactly like your mother"  then she says her mother is dead and he retorts that he is sure that is what they told her.  Although they did not discuss Ben something like that would shake all that being told to her by her Dad, not just that her mom is not dead.  SHe probably just started piecing other things as well and now her being his daughter no longer makes sense to her.

[Rob G.]

Exactly.  Besides which, if Alex hadn't been questioning her real lineage long before Sayid came along, then Alex would have just blown off Sayid's comment as the ravings of a desperate captive.  Sayid just confirmed for her a suspicion she seems to have had all along.

[NIKKI]

The Danielle thing is kinda believable though, I mean look how Danielle reacted when she caught Ben, she coulda just killed him, also it would make sense how Ben has Alex, maybe he is her real father after all, and, at some point when she was pregnant, Danielle disagreed with what Ben was doing and left, thinking she'd take Alex, change the message from the tower, and get the hell of the island, but lo and behold Ben stole Alex back, which would explain why Danielle hadn't bothered trying to get off the island since!

[Granite]

I think Alex and Ben don't have a good "father-daughter" relationship, and perhaps this dislike for her father combined with Sayid's comment have caused her to wish it were true. Maybe now she is more actively seeking out answers.

And as for why Danielle wouldn't reveal herself, she is terrified. What happens if she goes to Alex, and Alex says "I don't believe you're my mother. My mother is dead. Get out of here."

That would be heartbreaking. And after being stuck for sixteen years on an island, do you really need to be abandoned by your long-lost daughter?

[Brennan]

The Danielle thing is kinda believable though, I mean look how Danielle reacted when she caught Ben, she coulda just killed him, also it would make sense how Ben has Alex, maybe he is her real father after all, and, at some point when she was pregnant, Danielle disagreed with what Ben was doing and left, thinking she'd take Alex, change the message from the tower, and get the hell of the island, but lo and behold Ben stole Alex back, which would explain why Danielle hadn't bothered trying to get off the island since!

I think that's a great theory!  Everything makes sense and, as far as I can tell, there's no evidence to contradict it.  Perhaps Danielle kept Ben alive in the hope that the Losties could get him to tell them where his people (including Alex) were and then she could go with them and get Alex back.  Or perhaps Ben offered her a deal, maybe that she would get Alex back if she turned him over to the Losties.  Ben does seem to be a man of his word though, even if he is a liar, so maybe the offer was "let me go and you'll get Alex back" and she didn't comply.  But I still believe Ben was captured on purpose, so that doesn't seem reasonable either.  But no matter what the reason Danielle didn't kill Ben is, I think that's a great theory.

[Rob G.]

Danielle seemed pretty convincing that she wanted Sayid to kill him, which is weird.  Why wouldn't she just do it herself?   She's got deadly booby traps everywhere, she has no compunctions against killing.  She wanted to kill Mikhail too.  So yeah, maybe Danielle wanted Ben alive and in the losties' custody.

[chipmunk02]

I've not trusted Danielle for a while now.  It seems awful convenient that she would catch Ben in plain clothes (at this point the Others were still wearing those rags) and just bring him to the Losties without doing the job herself.  I mean, she caught Sayid and she didn't mind doing the job herself at that point.  It seems that Ben planned to be caught and taken to the Losties because he was dressed for the part of Henry Gale.  Plus, since when does she "trust" the Losties enough to bring them someone she has caught without worrying about getting caught herself while carrying him through the woods.  She always seems to not want to cross the Others...leaving it to the Losties to deal with them...but she carries Ben through the woods?  HUH?  When the Losties encountered Mikhail, she didn't want to be involved...but she catches an Other and brings him to the Losties?  Totally inconsistent.

[NobodyImportant]

And as for why Danielle wouldn't reveal herself, she is terrified. What happens if she goes to Alex, and Alex says "I don't believe you're my mother. My mother is dead. Get out of here."

I seem to recall Danielle saying something to this effect a few episodes ago.  I don't have the old episodes to reference, so I'm going by memory...

[MOBE28]

if danielle is alex's mother wouldnt that mean that ben had been off the island for her to get pregnant and survive since all women who concieve on the island die before giving birth, and if this was the case does that mean that she is on the island because ben had recruited her to be one of the others, and if so what happened there? maybe thats why she wants him dead, but maybe there is some sort of link with killing people you are close with, and jacob. ben killed his dad, locke was supposed to have killed his dad(i suppose indirectly he did), and if danielle kills the father of her baby she may be scared that it will somehow bring jacob and her closer which she doesnt want

thats a lot of what ifs and maybe's... but thats lost for you

[vanyvrgs]

if danielle is alex's mother wouldnt that mean that ben had been off the island for her to get pregnant and survive since all women who concieve on the island die before giving birth, and if this was the case does that mean that she is on the island because ben had recruited her to be one of the others, and if so what happened there? maybe thats why she wants him dead, but maybe there is some sort of link with killing people you are close with, and jacob. ben killed his dad, locke was supposed to have killed his dad(i suppose indirectly he did), and if danielle kills the father of her baby she may be scared that it will somehow bring jacob and her closer which she doesnt want

thats a lot of what ifs and maybe's... but thats lost for you

Well, we do not know for sure whether Ben is the father, or whether she was dharma and was brainwashed, or whether she is really a french expeditionist who crashed in the island with her crew 16 years ago.... In sum, we do not know really anything about Dannielle's background.

[Brennan]

MOBE28 has a good point though.  A lot of people are sure that Danielle is actually an Other undercover, and I could even believe that she's just an ex-Other, but if that's true then she never would've had Alex.  She had to conciever her off-island, and if the Others hadn't figured out the whole conception issue by the time Juliet arrived, then they wouldn't have known to take Danielle off the Island to get pregnant.  So, in light of this, I highly doubt that Danielle is a member or ex-member of the Others, though whether or not her story is true remains to be seen.