With all the talk and speculation about the relevance of Gary Troup’s book, “Bad Twin”, the theory monger in me couldn’t resist speculations of my own. Judging from the interview clips, and the various press releases from thehansofoundation.com, it is apparent that there is a great deal of animosity between Gary Troup and the Hanso Foundation. Not concentrating on specific details in the book, I decided to take a more abstract point of view.
For those of you haven’t read the book yet, Bad Twin, without giving too much away about the plot, is about a detective named Paul Artisan who is hired by Cliff Widmore to find his nefarious twin brother Zander (short for Alexander). Many are trying to take a literal interpretation of the book and theorize that it depicts actual in-game characters, and events. I agree that the book does reflect characters and events in the ARG, but not the literary characters, Cliff and Zander Widmore of Widmore Industries. Instead, I believe that Cliff and Zander are literary representations of Magnus and Alvar Hanso.
It is my contention that Bad Twin is actually an allegory of the power struggle for control of the Dharma Initiative within the Hanso Foundation between the brothers Magnus and Alvar Hanso. Although I am not entirely sure as to which brother is the “Bad Twin” at this point, it is possible that the reason why, as Persephone pointed out, that Alvar Hanso has not been seen since 2002 is because he is either hiding out, or that his brother may have done something to him, and Magnus is now running the Hanso Foundation under the guise of his brother Alvar. If, like the Widmore Brothers in the book, Magnus and Alvar were mirror images of each other, then it would be easy for Magnus to pose at Alvar, and vice versa without anyone being the wiser.
Based on the blast door map, which supposedly indicates “the final resting place of Magnus Hanso”, many would be lead to believe that Magnus is dead. However, a lot of the information on the map, although intriguing, has yet to be verified, and could only be one person’s interpretation. There are a myriad of explanations for the excerpt about Magnus being incorrect. The simplest explanation would be that it is just hear say information. The author of the map could have heard from a third or even fourth or fifth party about the death of Magnus Hanso. Another could be that Magnus could have somehow faked his death. However, the theory that I tend to lean towards is that it was Alvar and not Magnus who died on the Island. Being the only witness to his brother’s death, Magnus assumed his brother Alvar’s identity, and as such became the sole and controlling CEO of the Hanso Foundation. Upon returning to the Initiative, Magnus, as Alvar, informs everyone that Magnus (the real Alvar) died near the Black Rock.
Subtle differences in appearance and behavior are now the only thing that could tip people off as to his true identity. In an attempt to reduce his risk of discovery, Magnus begins to limit his public exposure to the point where he is now a recluse, and is running the Foundation and the Initiative from behind the veil of his board of directors.
Although my description of this scenario makes Magnus sound like the evil brother, we must now look into his intentions behind assuming his brother’s identity. Let us assume that Alvar was the “Bad Twin”. Perhaps Magnus assuming Alvar’s identity could be an attempt by him to undo all the wrongs that Alvar may have done during his time as CEO of the Hanso Foundation. We know that Alvar dealt in munitions during WWII. Many people on the forums have started to speculate that perhaps Alvar sold weapons to the Nazis. By assuming Alvar’s identity, Magnus now has the opportunity to repent for his brothers past miss deeds. Magnus could have steered the foundation and the Initiative’s activities from munitions and warfare to more humanitarian endeavors.
The reason that the Hanso foundation has lashed out so against Gary Troup’s book is because of the many nefarious elements still within the Hanso Foundation and the Dharma Initiative. The revelation of Magnus Hanso’s true identity, although fictionalized by Troup, could cause a rift within the organization. As such, the boards of directors are doing everything possible to prevent this secret from becoming public.
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