Presence

On Lost, wishes come true. Examples:

• Juliet wished to Richard that her husband would be hit by a bus.


• Ben tells Richard to bring him the Man from Tallahassee.


• Ben wished for a spinal surgeon to fix his tumor; the plane crashed with Jack on board.


• When Ben (as a boy) meets Savage Richard in the jungle, and Ben says he wants to go live with the "Hostiles," Richard tells him, "If that's something you really want, I want you to think about it, but you'll have to be patient."


• After The Purge, Richard asks Ben, "Do you want us to go and get [your father's body]?"

The common denominator: Richard.

Also: the title of the episode was, "The Man Behind the Curtain," an obvious reference to The Wizard of Oz. And we all know what the whole point of going to see The Wizard was, right? The Wizard grants wishes.

My take: Richard is some kind of genie. He doesn't age, he does whatever Ben wants (notice he always asks Ben what he wants him to do). I'm not sure why he listens to Ben (maybe he listens to others as well, which could explain some things); it's clear that it has something to do with Ben's ability to see his dead mother as a child, but I'm not sure what.

Can you think of other examples of wishes coming true on the island?