During the hiatus, one major question that we have to ponder is why did the Others ask Michael to bring Jack, Kate, Sawyer and Hurley to them?

And why let Hurley go?
I believe this will be important to S3's storyline so this will be good to discuss and ponder until the new season begins. I'll be back with my thoughts later.  

Well...

Jack, Sawyer, and Kate are if there are any, the main characters. And yes, I know it was intended for there to specifically not be any when they wrote season 1. But I think they want those 3 in their society, perhaps as people, out of all the crashed people, that are good, but also hold some value. I don't know, it is tough to say without actually knowing.

But Hurley was obviously let go because he was deemed not at all a threat. Even after Libby's death he was entirely pacifistic. He is compliant to their orders, but at the same time people will trust him when he talks to them. Unless of course my hope comes true...and he goes crazy on the way back.

I think they may be trying to take away the "leadership" of the losties.  Sawyer, Jack, and Kate are all leaders in there own way on the island.  The losties listened to them.  Perhaps they are trying to break them down by taking away their "leadership"

I still can`t figure out why they didn`t want Sayid as well?

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fozzie wrote : I think they may be trying to take away the "leadership" of the losties.  Sawyer, Jack, and Kate are all leaders in there own way on the island.  The losties listened to them.  Perhaps they are trying to break them down by taking away their "leadership"

Well I don't see Sawyer as a 'leader' (sorry Sawyer lol)
Sayid and Locke are more of a leader to me. Sayid, IMHO, is a threat to the Others, so you would think they would want him under their control. I dunno. This will plague me until the show answers it.

I don't see Sawyer as a traditional leader like Jack, Locke, or Sayid, but the losties go to him when they need something.  To some extent, he has always kept an element of control.

But then again, maybe the others just wanted to up their hottness factor!

Yeah with Sawyer and the whole gun thing and hoarding everything and how through everything he always comes out as being helpful in the end pretty much, he has emerged as a lead character.

Locke is too wrapped up in the whole existence of the island, questioning it all, he isn't much a leader anymore, nor a threat or use to The Others.

Sayid, well he doesn't have the suppot of the island as much because he doesn't exactly fit well with them all. The whole situation on the islad cost him his newfound love in Shannon. And even though he is a threat, maybe he is too tainted by evil to become a part of the Others. Knowing the purpose of The Others on the island alone would be a big clue in.

But wouldn't they at least appreciate Sayid as a threat? If you think about it, in S1 most of the information the Losties gleaned about the island was due to his efforts:
1. The transmission
2. Finding Danielle and befriending her - which led to later discovering the Black Rock and the Dynamite

He also discovered Henry was Fenry this season. I guess if I was an Other, I'd consider him more of a threat than Jack the leader, if only because of what he has already discovered about the island.

Just thinking that Jack, Sawyer, and Kate are the most likely to persuade the rest of the group to do something, or not to do something. Jack has been the losties go to guy from the beginning. Sawyer and Kate have both survived on their wits and their lies for years.

Of all the people there, they are the most likely to be able to convince the rest to see their point of view. So if the Others want the remaining losties to do something that J, S, and K would try to talk them out of, they might want them out of the way.

But if this is what they are doing, I think they are underestimating Sayid, badly. He has helped them in the past, as Pen pointed out. He seems to be over his first wave of grief from Shannon's death. He could be a dangerous enemy for them.

Hurley is simply the easiest one to "control" and send back. They would know he isn't likely to cause them any problems.

Why those 4?   Well 4 is one of the numerbs...AND there were 4 toes on the statue.  Each one of them represents a toe you see.  I think Jack is the pinky toe

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Just thinking that Jack, Sawyer, and Kate are the most likely to persuade the rest of the group to do something, or not to do something. Jack has been the losties go to guy from the beginning. Sawyer and Kate have both survived on their wits and their lies for years.

Exactly, these three have more of a direct influence on the people on the island as compared to Sayid. Sayid, yes he is a dangerous soldier, but I don't think the Others are worried about physically dangerous people as Sayid may struggle to lead the other people in everyday life or in rallying them to anything. And I honestly don't think with their numbers, their knowledge, and teh fact that they have the 3 leave them much room to fear one man. I think Sayid is being a little overrated here, soldier or not, he is not a one man army...he is not Rambo haha.

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Hurley is simply the easiest one to "control" and send back. They would know he isn't likely to cause them any problems.

Exactly, he is the perfect tool to tell people to stay off the Otehrs land but at the same time do absolutely nothing else to lead them. Perhaps...the new characters will be introduced because the people will need more of leading figures. And even more of a perhaps...Hurley will go crazy in the jungle, see his imaginary friend, think he is going to rejoin Lizzy and jump off that cliff. Don't get me wrong, I love the big guy...I just find it hilarious when he is crazy.

As for the toes...its an interesting idea...but which toe is missing? Is it the pinky toe, or one of the other three? I know I saw the big toe...hm...the real things that make you think haha.

Jack, Sawyer, and Kate were the strongest and most quick minded/reactionary people of the LOSTies. Hurley was taken because he, like the aforementioned 3 above are listed as "Good people". I think the question really should be why are they good?
Fozzie mentioned leadership skills-correct.
Jeannie menitoned persuading capabilities-correct.
Sayid, Sun, and Jin have their own worries now on the ship finding a 4 toed statue while Charlie seems to be pretty much in control of the LOSTies camp.
We technically still don't know what happened to Locke, Desmond, and Eko.

I would like to know why not Locke.  (OK... except for that he went downhill and became obsessed recently)  Are we to assume that he wasn't a "good person"?

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Quoted by Mary123: I would like to know why not Locke.  (OK... except for that he went downhill and became obsessed recently)  Are we to assume that he wasn't a "good person"?

I don't know if we can assume anything, and here's why. Fenry tells Locke that he was coming for him but got caught in the net, yada yada yada. Now, Fenry has lied about everything up until we see him show up in a boat on the dock. For all we know, he could be lying to Michael and Walt. My thing is...did Fenry lie about coming for John or was it a ruse to make John think about letting Fenry go? Remember, Fenry could've ran away after lockdown happened but he stayed.
My money is on the fact that John would be considered a good person for all of the things he did off the island, but it could be that anything he has done since being on the island sets him apart from the "good ones".  

I always doubted that Fenry 'came for John'  because that could have easily been a ploy by Fenry so he could gain an 'ally' in the group, like they ended up using with Michael.

I agree with what Pen just said - I don`t think Fenry came for Locke either. If he really did, I think he would have either tried convincing him to follow him back voluntarily (and with Locke`s recent state of mind this might not have been so difficult) or set up a trap. I also think if they wanted Locke, his name would have been on the list as well.

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fozzie wrote : I don't see Sawyer as a traditional leader like Jack, Locke, or Sayid, but the losties go to him when they need something.  To some extent, he has always kept an element of control. But then again, maybe the others just wanted to up their hottness factor!

Maybe Mrs. Fenry wanted Sawyer and she is probably the real boss.

Bumping this up as I am curious AGAIN about why Hurley in light of "D.O.C."

In this episode, Hurley does two really stupid things:

1. He tells Patchy McGee about the satellite phone in the bag;

2. He sets off the flare gun (this was pre-Patchy McGee arrival)

so again -- why Hurley? He's clumsy, foolish and not very useful to the Others from my view.

Its hard for me to explain why I think this, but could Hurley have a more important role in the island than even he knows? He seems to trigger island progress. EX: What he did with Sawyer getting him to become more of a leader, also his interaction and friendship with Des who is clearly important.

Could he unwittingly be assisting the island in some way, and the Others may have tapped into this -- thus, he was the necessary 4 of this 4 ----?

That is an intersting thought Pen. And I see your point, I`m still not sure why Hurley was necessary to be part of the four-some. To have him go back and tell the rest never to come looking seems so useless - I mean, if they had decided to come after them they would do so regardless of someone coming back saying "eh guys, the bad guys said we shouldn`t so maybe we should just leave it alone".

I just feel as if we are missing something with Hurley. Its buggin' me.