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But you should know, John, my daughter currently hates me.

— AngeloComet

Alex’s mother is Danielle. Alex’s father, it’s safe to assume (he was Danielle’s true love and they had been together long enough to have an anniversary), was Robert. Robert was part of the science team that Danielle believed became infected - so Danielle subsequently shot and killed him. This is what we know.

However, the question here is what The Others have told Alex. What does Alex know prior to the end of season 3? Did Alex know she was taken from her real mother? Did Alex know her real mother lives on the Island? If not, who did she think her real mother was? Come to that, who does she think her father is?

Let’s look into this and see if something can be deduced. Alex sometimes calls Ben “dad” so it’s pertinent to start here and ask if she believes Ben is her biological father. I’ll lay my cards out on the table and tell you what I think. No. I don’t think Alex believes Ben is her biological father. Perhaps she once did, but I don’t think she does now.

I think of the end of season 3 (a point by which Alex had come to “hate” her father (she expresses this sentiment in a deleted scene, right after Ben first tells her he has a tumur)). I think of how Alex watched Ben be beaten by Jack and didn’t say a word. I think, no matter how much she may have said she hated him, to watch her own father be beaten like that would provoke a reaction. Unless she didn’t consider him to be her father.

You might need more convincing. I don’t blame you. Have a look at this. It’s the moment when Alex turned up at the ‘runway site’, firing her slingshot about the place.

pickett - You know you’re not supposed to be here. So let’s just calm down…

ALEX - What did you do to him, Danny?! Where is he?! I wanna talk to Ben.

Notice that? Alex, in this fit of excitement and emotion, did not refer to Ben as “dad”. Technically, Alex is the boss’ daughter; she could exploit that position in front of The Others. But she doesn’t. At least, not here. But later, when a more calculating Alex is trying to bust Karl out of Room 23. . .

ALDO - Whoa! Whoa! Just stop! Alex, you’re not supposed to be here. If your dad finds out, he’s going to kill me.

ALEX - My dad was the one who told me to bring them here - to you. Look, maybe you should call him. I’m sure he’s got nothing better to do.

So what’s clear to me is The Others regard Ben as Alex’s father. Juliet says, “We both know your father.” And so stop me if you think I am going too far, but I think that Alex has been brought up believing Ben is her father, and only recently has she found out the truth. Either Ben told her. Or she found out by some other means. Possibly Juliet’s presence at resolving the fertility problem made Alex face the issue of her own parentage - since we don’t know how long fertility has been a problem this is a difficult call. However, Alex recently discovering Ben was not her biological father explains why she would have developed such hatred towards Ben. That level of betrayal could create such feelings, especially in a teenage girl. Because, no matter what, I just don’t see how she could otherwise listen to him say he has cancer and still not care, and watch him get beaten by Jack without a word of remonstration.

Ben tells Locke, “But you should know, John, my daughter currently hates me.” And in part 1 of my Alex theory I proposed that Ben intended to re-unite Alex with her mother, Danielle. Informing Alex that he was never her real father would certainly pave the way for such a reunion, dont’cha think?

Relations between Alex and Ben are not likely to improve, given what she has learned about her mother. I can point you towards two different sets of dialogue that pretty much tell us all we need to know. First, when Alex approaches a captive Sayid at the swings.

SAYID - You’re Alex, aren’t you?

ALEX - How do you know my name?

SAYID - Because you look like your mother.

ALEX - [frowning] My mother is dead.

SAYID - I’m sure that’s what they told you.

And, at the end of Season 3, the game is over and Ben finally has to give up the lie (something, as previously stated, I think he anticipated - I don’t see much other reason for him allowing Alex to accompany him to the Radio Tower).

[Alex approaches Ben, and Danielle approaches Alex]

ALEX - What?

BEN - [Sighs] Alex. This is your mother.

[They stare at each other, Rousseau holding back tears]

Maybe Alex was told that her mother died in childbirth like the other mothers on the Island, but somehow she managed to survive. Alex certainly has knowledge of childbirth and death, given her actions in aiding Claire’s escape from the Staff Station (her renegade role in The Others is something I’ll tackle more fully in the next Alex theory). Maybe she was told something else entirely about her mother. The point remains, she was almost certainly told her mother was dead by Ben, and now she’s found out he lied to her about it. If she didn’t have good reason to hate him before she’s definitely got good reason to hate him now.

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