Dave (Hurley's friend)/Theories

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Theories about Dave (Hurley's friend)

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Stated as questions or possibilities (avoid question marks, "Maybe", "I think", etc). More appropriate for another article. Illogical or previously disproven. Proven by canon source, and moved to main article. Speculative and lacking any evidence to support arguments. Responding to another theory (use discussion page instead). This does not include responses that can stand alone as its own theory. Usage of an indented bullet does not imply the statement is a response. See the Lostpedia theory policy for more details.

Dave is Libby's ex-husband Dave

• This would explain why Dave wants to sabotage Hurley's relationship with Libby.
• Dave appears in Santa Rosa Mental Health Institute with Hurley where Libby Smith is also staying. Furthermore, it's only when Hurley and Libby start to begin a relationship on the Island that Dave intervenes, trying to sabotage it. It all fits in rather nicely, too nicely to be dismissed so easily. Though the writers have denied that Dave and David are one and the same, there's a real possibility that it is an abandoned storyline. Many factors support the theory, such as the fact Hurley can see the dead, heavily implying Dave is not imaginary, but someone who is deceased. It seems illogical to reveal this power, and then claim Dave was merely imaginary when his existence as a deceased person had potential to be perfectly valid. Libby's back-story was pretty much abandoned over the course of the series too, meaning the writers could have fully intended for Dave to be revealed as the husband, alive, in a flashback and then explored events that led to his death and Libby's self-incarceration and any further connections with characters such as Hurley. The writers have been known to lie about or deny things that would later turn out to be true. This could be one of those instances, but in this case about something that ultimately never manifested.
• Dave is Libby's ex husband. The idea that Hurley can see the dead explains this. Dave was probably an ex patient at Santa Rosa hospital some time prior. (Obviously under the name David Smith but Hurley never revealed this, so how was the doctor to know he was imagining the same Dave) It also gives more credibility to why Libby is in the same hospital. After David died, Libby lost her sanity and couldn't cope, consequently assigning herself to the hospital. In fact it is revealed in the afterlife that Libby assigns herself voluntarily, the same could be true in the flashback, she simply went mad (similar to Jack's obsession over Sarah) about the loss of her husband and maybe felt closer to him being there. The Island Dave however is merely MIB in his form trying to get Hurley to kill himself. Killing the candidates is MIB's predominant aim along with leaving the island and precise manipulation is how he intends to carry this out. At the end of the episode, the island Dave (Man In Black) tries to do exactly this.

Brought to the Island

Dave and Hurley

• The Island brought Dave to the island like it brought Cooper to Locke.
  • Cooper was real but Dave was not as (it seems).
    • It has been shown that the island is able to see into the inhabitants minds and brings its Victims worst nightmare to life. For Locke it was his father, for Mr. Eko it was Yemi judging him and each time it was some kind of test, so for Hurley it was his Imaginary friend Dave
    • Dave was part of Dharma, he lived with libby there. He died in the purge which Libby thought was a sickness.

Possible references to mindf*** movies

• The Island, not Hurley's subconscious, makes Dave appear.
  • This would be similar to the book and films Solaris. Solaris takes place in a space station which is similar to The Swan, and its main character is called Kelvin, just like Desmond's predecessor there. The purpose of the station is to observe a planet that has the power to make characters from the peoples' memory (and possibly from their imagination) come physically alive.
• The scene towards the end where Dave is trying to convince Hurley to jump off the cliff and "kill" himself in order to wake up, is similar to "Tech Support" telling César to jump off the skyscraper at the end of Abre los ojos, and it's American remake : Vanilla Sky

• A similar premise can be found in other mindf*** movies such as Stay and The Matrix.

• In 2001 and 2010, Dave is the nickname of David Bowman, an astronaut in route to Jupiter (Saturn in the novels) to (unknowingly) seek out for a giant black monolith. SPOILER WARNING : it is told by Clarke in the third novel, 2061 : Odyssey three, that the monoliths are actually space probes intended to modify life parameters on several planets (three confirmed). Those probes are described are IAs. In 2010, the movie, we can see Bowman acting like a ghost, including sending messages without ID. It asks the team of astronauts to leave Europe in order to let "something wonderful" to happen. This resembles the goal of the Hanso foundation.

On the Island, Dave is the smoke monster

Dave

• The smoke monster has appeared in several forms, such as spiders and the deceased, in order to pass judgement. If Hurley had not allowed himself the self confidence to think that Libby would like him, or to know that what was happening was not a dream then he would have killed himself on the cliff. He passed because he believed Libby.
  • Nemesis would want Hurley dead, because then dead Jacob would have no one to talk to.
• Furthermore, Smokey is unable to kill Hurley himself as Hurley is a candidate and thus needed a way to convince Hurley to kill himself.
  • Counter evidence:candidates can not commit suicide, mib was aware of the rules so if he was impersonating dave he wouldnt have even tried that
  • While it is true that Hurley as a candidate could not have committed suicide, he could have died from drowning or being smashed against the cliff once in the water. It's also possible that Hurley could have died by throwing himself off the cliff if MIB had convinced him that in doing so he would not be committing suicide, because only deliberate suicide is impossible for candidates, and they can still die from doing something reckless in the doing of which they do not mean to kill themselves.

Dave is Real, Just Dead

• It is well known that Hurley interacts with people who are dead. It is possible that Dave could have been someone who died, which would explain why only Hurley could see him. This would support Jacobs assertion that Hurley is not crazy. Also Dave disappears when Hurley repeatedly says 'You're not real!' The same thing happens when Hurley sees Charlie at the mental institution in Season 5.
• Dave is of the same nature as Charlie when Charlies appeared to Hurley. Dave is actually a deceased Dharma Initiative member or a deceased other who is being used by the island to communicate to Hurley in the same way that Charlie communicates after his death. Dave committed suicide on the island by throwing himself off the cliff before the Losties arrived. He repeats his jump in front of Hurley in the same way that Horace repeats cutting down the trees and talking to John Locke in "Cabin Fever".
• Dave is a real (dead) person who Hurley can see, just like his friends from the island, because he is special like Miles. He was just convinced he's crazy by his family and doctors who assumed he was just seeing things. Dave was a former patient who died at the institution...possibly killed in a conflict with staff. He seemed to have a mean streak to him (always trying to get Hurley to do bad things, getting him into trouble, talking him into eating more, etc.) and was using Hurley as a means to entertainment as he is the only person who can see him.
• Dave is Jack's son. He does not exist in one timeline, but Hurley can still see him. In the alternate timeline he exists as Jack's son.
• Dave is David, Libby's dead husband. Can't be; confirmed by producer commentary

Dave is the real-world equivalent of the flash-sideways' David Shephard

Come on. Like that's the craziest theory you've ever heard.

• You know, I actually think I see the resemblance.