 A major mystery behind his character initially was his seeming agelessness; from the third through fifth seasons, Alpert appears both in the present day and in several flashbacks dating to the 1950s, 70s and 80s; and in all of these different time periods, Richard always appears to be a man in his mid-30s, not having appeared to have aged at all.The nature of his agelessness and his true age is revealed near the end of the series, in the season six episode Ab Aeterno; in the 1860s, Alpert was stranded on the island when the "Black Rock" ran aground on it, and here, the true leader of the Others, Jacob, made Richard ageless in exchange for his loyalty.At the end of the series, following the deaths of Jacob and the Man in Black, Richard becomes mortal.