This page will remain named "Henry Gale" until the real identity of Henry is disclosed
- Portrayed by Michael Emerson
- Claims to be called Henry Gale when Sayid tortures in One of Them.
- Henry Gale is also the name of Dorothy's uncle in the Wizard of Oz.
Facts
- Henry Gale is not his real name, as revealed in Lockdown. He in fact stole the identity of another person.
- The real Henry Gale arrived on the Island with a balloon.
- In the grave where Jennifer Gale, his wife, was supposedly buried, was the corpse of an black man with a Minnesota driver's license.
- The name on the license was Henry Gale.
- Captured by Danielle Rousseau, who also shoots him with a crossbow bolt.
- Initially tortured by Sayid who suspects he is one of The Others.
- Eko confesses to Gale that he killed two of The Others his first night on the island. Eko apparantly believes Gale is one of the others.
- Henry can hear what goes on outside the gun vault where he is being held making him aware of anything that has occured in the room outside either through the door (which is hard to believe considering that it is a reinforced steel vault door) or through the air ducts, in the same way Kate was able to hear Desmond, Jack and Locke. However, he does not make an effort to draw attention when Mr. Eko came to the hatch. Even though Henry can hear what goes on outside the vault, Jack and Locke were unable to hear much of Ana Lucia's interrogation of Gale inside the vault.
- At least has had contact with The Others, may be one of them.
- Knows of Mr. Friendly, but states: "Him? He's no one! Nothing!" assumedly in comparison to "Him", the true leader of "The Others."
Information set 1 (pre-license)
- His story of what happened to him is very similar to what happened to Adam and Eve 50 years ago.
- Directly denies being "one of them" in One of Them.
- Continuously attempts to gain trust of the Losties and manipulate them.
- Claims to have crashed on the island in a balloon and stated many facts about it.
- Draws a map to the balloon for Ana Lucia. Seemed hesitant to do so, for some reason.
- "Facts" he stated regarding his cover story (proven false in Lockdown) as Henry Gale:
- Claims he and his wife (Jennifer, maiden name Murphy) arrived by balloon.
- "Facts" about Jennifer Gale:
- He met her at the University of Minnesota, where he went to school.
- Said he was married to her, but doesn't wear a ring on his finger.
- Supposedly died of a fever three weeks prior to One of Them. The Sickness?
- Supposedly buried near the balloon (Status: False). Though he doesn't remember how deep or how long it took him.
- Says he lived in a cave for four (one of the Numbers) months -- a two day walk to where he was captured.
- He is rich.
- Sold his non-metallic mining company
- A fan of Stephen King. (Status: Unknown)
Information set 2 (pre-dollar note)
- "Facts" during Sayid's interrogation (proven false in "Dave"):
- 4 months ago he was a member of Henry Gale's search party.
- He found Henry Gale dead in the balloon basket, neck broken.
- He buried Henry Gale and marked the grave.
- 4 months ago he was a member of Henry Gale's search party.
- The $20 note displayed was introduced into circulation on October 9, 2003. The Bureau of Engraving and Printing Website
The note found in the real Henry Gale's wallet reads as follows:
Jennifer,
Well you were
right. Crossing
the Pacific
isn't easy.
I owe you a
beer. I'm
hiking to one of
the beaches to start a
signal fire, but
if you're reading this,
I guess I didn't make it.
I'm sorry,
I love you Jenny,
always have,
always will.
Yours,
Henry
Information set 3 (post-dollar note)
- "Facts" during Sayid's interrogation (truth unknown):
- Claims he didn't kill Henry Gale.
- Neither confirms nor denies that he interrogated Henry Gale.
- Seems (most likely is) afraid to tell Sayid about "them" (assumedly the Others).
- Exclaims "I am not a bad person!"
- Tells Locke that during the lockdown he never entered the numbers or pushed the button; the clock went back to 108 all by itself after the hieroglyphs flashed and there were strange machine sounds. Locke is clearly skeptical, given Henry's track record with telling the truth. There is a possibility he entered another code, but there is no reason why he would do this.
Other media
- Someone on the island refers to him as "my brother" in the Diary on the ABC website.
The real Henry Gale
The real Henry Gale's Minnesota Driver's License
- Sayid digs up the body of Gale's alleged wife at balloon crash grave site, but finds it to be a male bearing a Minnesota driver's license (apparently found during a search of the body by Sayid). License ID photo is of a black male.
HENRY GALE 815 WALNUT RIDGE ROAD WAYZATA, MN 55391 Licence # M152-996-431-000
Interesting facts about the license
- It is an old version of the Minnesota license (the new version does not use the coding described below and went into production December 15, 2005). The old license uses a system where the first group of 4 characters are Soundex code for the surname of the driver, the second group of 3 are a code for the first name, the third group of 3 are a code for the middle initial. For Henry (no middle) Gale, this should be G400-303-000 (not M152-996-431). The last 3 digits are a coded month and day of birth and should never be 000.
- According to a list of frequently occurring names from the 1990 Census, only four last names match the soundex M152: MAVINS, MAFNAS, MABINS, and MAUPINS.
- The top line of a real license has boxes with various codes and dates. They should be from left to right:
| [BROWN (?)] | [6-00 (?)] | [220] | [M] | [A1] | [C4] | [03] |
| [EYE COLOR] | [HEIGHT] | [WEIGHT] | [SEX] | [CLASS] | [ISSUED] | [EXPIRES MMDDYY] |
| 08 - 11 - 64 (?) | T | |||||
| BIRTH DATE | ||||||
- The license shown by Sayid has the same boxes but the first 3 are not clear and the expires date is only 2 digits.
- Under these boxes on the real license is a box with date of birth MMDDYYYY in red.
- The license shown by Sayid shows a date MMDDYY but it is unclear. However, next to Henry's signature you can see 8/11/64 written in ink.
- 55391 is a zip code in Wayzata, MN which is a suburb of Minneapolis.
- The 2000 census of Wikipedia:Wayzata, Minnesota counted only 17 African Americans out of 4,113 total population.
- Although there is no Walnut Ridge Road in Wayzata, MN, there is a Gale Road in Woodland, MN, which shares the 55391 zip code. A Google map search of 55391 [1] will reveal Gale Road on the peninsula south of Wayzata on Lake Minnetonka.
- The above could be a dead-end: Not unlike the "555" prefix on TV/movie telephone numbers, apparently realistic information is garbled to prevent real people from putting up with, say, Lost fans driving by their house. ;)
Theories
- He is able to draw a detailed and accurate map to the balloon with the losties beach camp as the starting point even though he was taken into the hatch while unconscious and has not been out since.
- He may have been a doctor in the medical hatch - a picture montage shows that he very closely ressembles one of the doctors seen in the episode "Maternity Leave"
- He was able to quickly memorize and rapidly repeat The Numbers when Locke told them to him, as if he already knew them and wasn't memorizing them for the first time.
- Henry Gale is Thomas's brother / Aaron's uncle. Supporting clues:
- The actors portraying Thomas and Henry have markedly similar features (albeit different accents).
- Henry's name is a reference to Dorothy's uncle in the Wizard of Oz.
- Locke gives him The Brothers Karamazov to read, a tale of patricide and fraternal conflict (see Appearance of Literary Works).
- "Thomas" comes from the Greek word "twin."
- A Lost tie-in novel, "Bad Twin", is set to be published in May (around sweeps time). According to the publisher's description[2], the book is about a private detective looking into "the disappearance of one of a pair of twins, adult scions of a rich but tragedy-prone family." We know that Henry Gale is wealthy; perhaps he was looking for Thomas? Even more speculative, could their father be Alvar Hanso?
- The mural in the bunker is similar to Thomas's artwork, suggesting a connection to the island.
- Perhaps the show's writers are delaying the revelation of Henry's presence to Claire, who perhaps met him and could recognize him, until a later episode.
- In the diary at the official Lost website, the fictitious author (who apparently lives among the plane survivors) refers to Henry as his "brother." (Maybe the writer only heard the name Henry Gale, and think's it's the real Henry Gale). It could be possible that Rose's maiden name is Gale?
- We know that the writers have used pseudonyms for characters sent from the others to infiltrate the Flight 815 camps. The Oceanic Air website used the anagram "other man" in a puzzle to identify Ethan Rom. Could Henry Gale also be an anagram? Now that the origin of the name is revealed, perhaps not. Here are a few examples of what the anagram could be:
- Anagram of his name... Angry Heel
- General Hy
- Gen. Harley
- Anagram of 'Henry Gale Minnesota'
- See an Other man lying
- See another man lying (variation of above anagram)
- Insanely Hatemonger
- Gale has attempted to start a feud between Locke and Jack by telling Locke he appears to be in Jack's shadow. Later, Locke got angry enough to throw hatch inventory around just outside the armory where Gale is being held.
- Gale is an Other in training.
- Henry Gale is Alvar Hanso. He looks a lot like the shadowy figure in the training video. Also the Hanso foundation is know to be involved in life extension. So while Alvar Hanso should be a lot older than Henry Gale, he may have been life extended. This might explain why he is so smart and good at manipulating Locke and Jack.
- Gale is an Other, but he was taken and forced to join them against his will like Alex, Walt and some of the tail-enders. He seems willing to help and possibly defect to the castaways-- but only if they offer complete protection 'no matter what'.
- In the episode "Dave", Sayid threatens Henry with a gun. Henry yells "He'll kill me if I tell!" Sayid replies with "I'll kill you if you don't". Henry again yells "I'm not a bad person!" Perhaps this means The Others are being coerced into doing something they don't necessairly agree with by Him?
- Henry Gale is in fact Kelvin.
- Killed and used as an escape plan in case one of the others were ever captured.