Charlie's memory loss

[oceanicair]

Why did Charlie say he didn't remember anything about his abduction? Did the "Others" make him forget, or is he too scared to tell. Or did Ethan threaten to kill Claire as soon as the baby is born if Charlie talks...Why would they threaten Charlie not to reveal anything, and then kill him? Honestly!

Because if Ethan and the others knew Charlie would be rescued in time or thought there might even be a chance of him surviving, they would want him to keep quiet.

[deelsee7]

I'm sure they threatened to hurt Claire and/or the baby if Charlie told them ANYTHING.

[PinkTilly]

Never thought of that.... interesting.... maybe he's trying to protect Claire in the process - very charlie-like ... But I think that he could have short-term memory loss, and then he'll go "BAM! POW!!!" and "pop" he'll remeber snippets of whathappened! I believe that if he could remeber that there were OTHERS, w/out having Sayid around to tell him... he wouldn't have assumed so, if it was JUST ethan, and he forgot about where he was and WHAT it sounded like. So, yeah, could just be protecting claire....

[WaffleWaffle]

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

[chaos28]

That, or whatever happened was so terrible that he blocked it out.

Though I think it's more likely they told him they were everywhere, they'd be watching him, and if he opened his mouth, Claire would die. I'm guessing this will be revealed in our upcoming Charlie-centric episode.

[Baron X]

Why would they threaten Charlie not to reveal anything and then kill him? Honestly!

[Yorke]

Why would they threaten Charlie not to reveal anything and then kill him? Honestly!

Man, I agree. Which makes the whole "pseudo" death scene, though very well acted, best yet, seem petty. Someone on the General Discussion board said it was a brilliant move because we thought Charlie was gone, what a great emotional boost for the story! I was like, "Now this is guts for JJ to do this, and I think this will work!"
Sadly, I sort of felt cheated by that whole scene. I know Dom is popular, but what could have been an unselfish role for an actor turned into a made-for-TV moment. This was beyond being too cute. C'mon, JJ!

[theghostofwalt]

i dont think he/they would have to warn him not to talk or he/theyd kill him...since he/they DID kill him, or try to at least.

i mean, why would you warn someone before you hang them? doesnt seem a normal thing to anticipate someone surviving a hanging is all...

[lolane3]

I think Charlie's memory loss can be explained pretty simply.
Imagine your reaction to being kidnapped, probably threatened, apparently beaten, and hung and left for dead. Then having to deal with the loss of Claire after he had promised to protect her. Add all of this to the already stressful situation all the survivors are living in, and I imagine the physical and emotion trauma would be more than anyone could handle. Then there is also the lack of oxygen to the brain (for who knows how long) from the hanging to take into account.

[Droop]

I agree with the ones saying he wasn't threatened to not speak. I do think something fishy is up because surely he would remember something. It would be weird to tell someone not to talk about what has happened one minute and then hang them the next.

[mokomonkey]

I would have to say that if I died I would also probably forget things too.

I really thought they were going to let Charlie die. And as a couple others have stated I felt a little cheated when Jack brought him back. I had just accepted the fact that this was how the story was going to go, which would have been an incredible break from the norm of allowing all the main characters to live. Then BAM, he's back.

[LostDude]

Well remember guys, Syaid told Sawyer there were others, but he couldn't see them only here them. It is possible that the only person Charlie saw was Ethan. He could of had the same sensation that Syaid had and could tell there were definitely others, but couldn't actually see them. This is why he has no memory of them. Just my thoughts.

This brings more mystery into the island which kind of goes along with the "thing" that is out there.

This island keeps getting more and more mysterious!

[crendar]

I think Charlie is brain damaged from the lack of oxygen due to the hanging and all the drugs he had been ingesting.

Why did Charlie say he didn't remember anything about his abduction? Did the "Others" make him forget, or is he too scared to tell. Or did Ethan threaten to kill Claire as soon as the baby is born if Charlie talks...

[tnorthcutt]

I think he just doesn't know because he probably wasn't conscious the whole time. We now know that Ethan can kick some butt but I still don't think it was all that easy to take both Charlie and Claire hostage without knocking at least one of them out.

When they originally find the trail they state that there are drag marks. How else would there be drag marks unless one or both of them are unconscious. I think if they were conscious there would be more then drag marks showing after the tussle. They also find multiple sets of footprints later so then they must have either woken up or met up with "others" who helped Ethan carry them off.

[Bungarian]

I think the lack of oxygen caused him to lose his short term memory. He may get it back or may never get it back. I had a bike crash and hit my head when I was 9 years old. I am 35 and still cannot remember what happened.

[MikeRowe]

Charlie's memory loss could also be explained by some sort of hypnosis.

[killbuckner]

I don't think that Charlie and Claire were taken Hostage. I think that Ethan is working against "the others" and trying to keep Claire away from them. "The others" attacked Ethan, Charlie, and Claire. Charlie was taken prisoner while Ethan and Claire escaped. Charlie was then questioned intensely and left to die when Jack found him. That he doesn't remember much is a remnant of the interrogation. I think this is why Charlie doesn't remember anything, if they gave him his memory then it would be obvious that Claire wasn't taken hostage by Ethan.

And When Ethan told Jack to stop following them, he was just trying to protect Claire. He was just telling Jack anything he could so that they wouldn't be followed any further.

[drabauer]

Trying to tie up all the above thoughts:

It is typical for accident and trauma victims to have no memory of event surrounding the trauma. As stated above, memory may return or not. Yet, I'm with chaos that it seems we were supposed to assume something else, something "horrible" beyond being hung and left for dead.

Now KillB, you posit Ethan in one group and the Others in another?

Thus Ethan has Claire and the Others took Charlie?

I can't go there--too convoluted, although it may pan our. I think Ethan was an emissary from the Others sent to infiltrate the survivors party. At some point he met up with them, and Charlie was left as a warning sign to discourage further heroics. The metal tunnels/bunkers explain how the Others can pop up and hide so easily. There is some kind of electric resonance in the structures that Locke could sense, like the humming of electric wires or 60-cycle tones.

[killbuckner]

I think that Locke and the others are working on the same goals. He genuinely didn't know that Ethan was secretly spying on him. Ethan took Claire (or convinced her to come) to keep him away from Locke and the others. I think this would explain how he managed to drag 2 people through the jungle- in reality they were going along voluntarily. (I have theories on what Ethan told her to get her to come along but those are for a different post) I don't think that ethan hung Charlie, the others did. And thats why he is saying "they" want Claire. Nothing about Ethan. The producers have not shown us ANY interaction between Charlie, Claire, and Ethan and I think thats because it would give away the secret that Ethan isn't a bad dude- he just really wants to protect Claire. And Charlie couldn't remember any of that for obvious reasons.

But really this is all based on the fact that I believe that Locke and the others are working on the same goals and he genuinely didn't know that Ethan was already on the island. Locke is worried about this information, and the only reason I can think of would be that Ethan is opposing the goals of the others.

[cccourt]

,,,,,,all that has already been said + he may have just blocked it out as it was too painful....temporary....well..guess that was said too........BUT......also....writer's angle!!
ccc

[Rene]

Or, what if Charlie was injected with something? Seems to be a running theme. Something to cloud his mind.

Really though I think he was beaten unconscious pretty early on plus also the post traumatic stuff too. Didnt his face look pretty beaten up?

[oceanicair]

I think they would threaten Charlie before attempting to kill him, because like I said before, maybe they knew he'd be rescued or wanted him to be rescued in time....

[morbius47]

Sayid and Jack should try to torture it out of him, that's what they do on the island when someone doesn't have the information they want. They torture them until there is an accident, then patch em up, and go for a hike.

[Wynter Zera]

Because the writers don't want us to know what happened yet. :rollin

[deelsee7]

Possibly due to trauma - but he still remembered 'they only wanted Claire.'

I still think he was threatened. There's something very fishy about his hanging, specifically the fact that his hands weren't tied. To me, this indicates that Charlie was either unconscious or cooperating.:eek

You ask why threaten someone then hang them. I ask, why hang someone unconscious? I mean there's lots of easier ways to kill someone who's unconscious. But why hang someone - and leave - if you don't expect them to die?

The one thing I'm almost certain of is that Ethan IS helping Claire, which is why we didn't see any interaction between them.

[Baron X]

You ask why threaten someone then hang them. I ask, why hang someone unconscious? I mean there's lots of easier ways to kill someone who's unconscious. But why hang someone - and leave - if you don't expect them to die?

Hanging Charlie allows Jack the opportunity to revive him. If they bash Charlie's head in with a rock to kill him Jack can do nothing to reverse it. If they throw Charlie off of cliff, Jack can do nothing to undo it. If they stab Charlie with a spear and kill him, Jack can not bring him back. If they cut off Charlie's air, Jack can fix that. Charlie was left to die, the writers picked the one method Jack could handle with no medical supplies at his disposal. End of story.

We did not see any interaction between Charlie and Ethan and that did not go well for Charlie. I believe the reason that we were not shown any interaction between Ethan and his hostages is that Ethan had help and we are not meant to see who it is yet.

[myerinmama]

Leaving Charlie hanfing was a sign or threat to the survivors who would eventually find him. It was sort of a "Dont mess with us!" message. Charlie may eventually remember and I dont think Claire is dead because there are people who want that baby badly according to her psychic in Australia.

[LoStMyMiNd]

Agreed. I think the hanging was a warning to the survivors because we don't really know if the others told Charlie not to tell anyone. I also think Charlie was hypnotized, knocked out and someone climbed that tree, slipped the noose around his neck and.... wallaah hung Charlie. I also don't think Claire is dead because she said in an interview that she is still alive and won't be killed off.

[OhioSteve1]

qqq

[OhioSteve1]

I think that the original poster raises a good question. Charlie is a straightforward, direct person. It would seem natural for him to give an account of his abduction.

[SBGoddess]

It doesn't seem odd to me that his hands weren't tied...Charlie doesn't look like an extremely muscular guy and it would take a lot of strength to be able to losen the noose and slip out of it...with that said, I think that the trauma incurred from the hanging and any other violence he might have been exposed to affected his memory...My sister was in a particularly bad car accident and to this day, she can't remember anything that occurred the week after (in the hospital, who came to visit her, etc.), but she could remember what she did in her apartment that morning and leaving for school the morning of the accident. So I buy the "amnesia" bit.

[jcrew1179]

Charlie killed Ethan because he didn't want EThan talking or giving answers to the rest of the group. Maybe Charlie is still a junkie and the island forces/Others are using him to take Claire. Last night, Claire asked Charlie about the abduction, but he wouldn't tell her anything - he said that he would tell her at another time. Perhaps, Charlie was just ashamed at being hanged by Ethan, or maybe he is hiding something more sinister.