Danielle Rousseau

Sixteen years before Oceanic 815 crashes on the island, Rousseau was a heavily pregnant member of a six-person crew aboard a French research vessel three days out of Tahiti. The crew picked up a radio signal emanating from the South Pacific, which was a repeating set of six numbers: 4, 8, 15, 16, 23 and 42. While attempting to find the source of the signal, the ship ran aground on rocks surrounding the island.[5] Before reaching the shore, Rousseau and her team found Oceanic 815 survivor Jin-Soo Kwon (Daniel Dae Kim) in the water, who had been time-travelling as a result of the time shifts which had been moving him and the flight survivors through the island's history.[6]

Rousseau later tells the survivors of Oceanic 815 that two months after their arrival, that the island natives, which she called the Others, carried a disease that the rest of her crew had contracted. She believed that this disease could not be allowed to reach the rest of the world, so she killed her colleagues, including her husband Robert.[7] When Jin time-travels to the past, he witnesses a different version of Rousseau's past. It is shown that the Smoke Monster, not the Others, was responsible for the "sickness" that forced her to kill her crew. Rousseau confronts the father of her child, Robert, at gunpoint and accuses him of "being changed" inside the temple. Robert denies this, explaining that the Monster is a security system for the temple, and convinces Rousseau to lower her weapon. He attempts to shoot her when she does, but is shot by Rousseau. Rousseau also attempts to kill Jin, having witnessed him vanish moments after her team entered the Smoke Monster's lair, believing he has the disease.[8]

Rousseau hiked to the radio tower and changed the message from the numbers to a repeating distress call. Three days later, Rousseau gave birth to a daughter, Alexandra.[9] One week after Alex's birth, Benjamin Linus (Michael Emerson) came and took Alex from Rousseau. Ben told Rousseau that the child would be safe with them, and that she was lucky for being left alive. Before leaving, Ben tells her that if she hears whispers, she should run the other way.[8] After this, Rousseau began setting traps in the jungle with the hope of catching one of the people responsible for Alex's kidnapping.[7]

Rousseau makes her first appearance in the season one episode "Solitary", where she captures Sayid (Naveen Andrews), one of the plane crash survivors. Rousseau tortures him until he eventually convinces her that he is not one of the Others. She allows Sayid to return to his camp, and cautions him to keep a close eye on the other survivors.[5] Over two weeks later, she comes across a delirious Claire (Emilie de Ravin), who had been left in the jungle after being kidnapped by the Others. Noticing that Claire's shouting is alerting the Others to her presence, Rousseau knocks her unconscious and carries her back to the other survivors.[10] Rousseau makes her next appearance in "Numbers", where she shoots at Charlie (Dominic Monaghan) and Hurley (Jorge Garcia), suspecting them of being Others.[11] In the season one finale, set 43 days after the plane crash, Rousseau arrives on the beach and warns everyone that the Others are coming.[12] After Claire gives birth to her son Aaron, Rousseau steals him and intends to swap him for her own child. When the Others do not come, Rousseau reluctantly returns him to Sayid.[7] In season two, set two weeks later, Rousseau informs Sayid that she has caught one of the Others, who later turns out to be Ben.[13] Later, Rousseau joins Claire and Kate Austen (Evangeline Lilly) who are searching for medicine for Claire's baby, in one of the Others' work stations. Disappointed that she has not found any trace of Alex, she begins to leave them when Claire tells her that she believes Alex helped her escape when the Others captured her.[10]

Midway through season three, Kate persuades Rousseau to help some of the survivors find the Others' home, by informing her that Alex helped her escape from the Others.[14] When they arrive, Rousseau abandons the group and watches from the bushes as Alex walks past.[15] A few days later, Rousseau leads the survivors to the radio tower in order for them to contact a nearby freighter. En route, they encounter Ben and Alex; Ben explains to Alex who Rousseau is and the mother and daughter are reunited.[9] Season four begins with the survivors dividing into two groups, with those who believe the people from the freighter to be dangerous, including Rousseau and Alex, joining Locke (Terry O'Quinn).[16] After learning of the freighter crew's intentions to kill everyone on the island, Ben directs Rousseau, along with Alex and her boyfriend Karl (Blake Bashoff), to head to the Temple where the rest of the Others are located. On their way, Rousseau and Karl are shot by unseen attackers, and both are killed.[17] The buried bodies of both are discovered by Miles (Ken Leung), Sawyer (Josh Holloway), and Claire after they leave Locke and travel back to the beach.[18]

In the flash-sideways scenes which depict the survivors' afterlife, Rousseau is still the mother of Alex and lives with her. Alex introduces her mother to Dr. Linus because he's been hurt after being battered by Desmond. Danielle and Alex bring him home for dinner. While Alex is doing her homework, Danielle and Dr. Linus talk about her. She tells him that since the death of her father when she was two, he's the closest thing to a father figure that she has. Dr. Linus is visibly touched.