I've heard a lot of great theorys about Richard Alpert recently. I don't remember where I heard them or saw them, might even have been on this site. I've heard that he was the first mate on the black rock, and he was the one who wrote the diary that Widmore purchased in "The Constant". I've also heard that the reason he doesn't age is because he has found the fountain of youth which is apparently on the island. I don't know much about this fountain but if someone could enlighten me that would be awesome. But the one theory I really like comes from a woman who asked about it at the Comic Con panel this year, and the question was how many toes does Richard Alpert have. when asked about this Lindelof tried to play it off all cool but might've hinted that this woman was on the right track to finding out more about the four toed statue.