Henry Gale is the Mule

[TonyS]

Asimov's Second Foundation book introduced the Mule; an unique character that turns out to be totally different than what one would assume.

Like the Mule, Henry Gale is not all that he seems-who is he? what is he? what power does he hold?

[Lpspider]

I think Desmonds old girlfriend, Penny?, is ultimately in charge. Following her, I think Henry is the second in command. Basically runs the Island.

[kermit]

i think maybe henry is the highest in command ON the island, but takes orders from OFF the island.

i think pen is not in any kind of command, but merely has access to a lot of information and resources because of her father's status. if she was in command, why would she need a team to find the island. she'd already know where it is and already know desmond was there and would have told the others to bring desmond to her.

if you're looking for someone that means more than we would have guessed, i think walt or hurley make better targets... although i think neither of them knows their true meaning to the whole thing, there definitely seems to be some mystery around them (much moreso with walt).

hurley is the only one that knew about the numbers, and has the weird connection with libby and the mental hospital... also, the others chose to send hurley back instead of the other three at the end of the finale, maybe there's a bigger reason... although it could just be that he's of much less use to the survivors than kate/jack/sawyer... and walt is all kinds of weird :P

maybe locke as well, he seems to be the "spirit guide" of the island... but he also seems very confused. locke and eko both stared down the island guardian - the black smoke... that's also pretty telling.

something else i've noticed... i can't recall walt ever even talking to jack, yet he has this relationship with locke... maybe there's something else there...

[TonyS]

My reference to the "Mule" character from Asimov's Foundation series was the similarity on how Henry was portrayed as a somewhat dvious but otherwise "helpless" character, yet almost strangled Ana Lucia and now apparently either runs the "others" or is otherwise high up on the food chain.

Something that didn't seem right was how easily Henry let Michael and Walt leave the Island; especially after he had said (in a previous episode) that the "others" would never let Walt go.

On another note, I think that Pam was somehow aware that Desmond was on the island, but she couldn't find him or it. I think the "watching station" was to look for anomolies that would help her pinpoint the Island.