Is it just me, or are strange, rabbit-like humanoids appearing to a variety of humans more and more often? Elwood P. Dood's friend Harvey, Donnie Darko's mentor Frank and Gary 'Gal' Dove's odd vision inhabitant, the Beast, all share a number of common traits, not least a large number of unanswered questions.

What do they want? Where do they come from? When do they come from?

Last things first: available evidence suggests that these creatures are extratemporal, most likely from the future. Both Harvey and Frank demonstrate the ability to travel through time and alter the past. Harveyis specifically connected to the Otherworld of Celtic Myth, a faerie realm that exists outside normal time. Harvey specifically identifies himself as a pooka (also known as puca or phuca, depending on your translation) - a mischievious Celtic faerie. Are the Beast and Frank also pookas? It would explain a lot. Assuming that these three entities are not the same individual, is there a pooka conspiracy, and if so, what are its goals?

Where they come from is another matter. If they do originate from the Celtic Otherworld, then certain traits of the Otherworld can also be inferred. First of all, it is a realm unifxed in time - the time manipulating abilities demonstrated by Frank and Harvey depend on access to and travel within this realm. Not only that, but they are capable of sending other items through time, such as the jet engine of mysterious origin that crashes through the roof of the Darko home or the dictionary text that Harvey modifies even as Wilson reads it. Moreover, this realm appears to be connected in some fashion to the realms inhabited by the spirits of the dead if Don Logan's apparent fate at the conclusion of Sexy Beast is taken literally.

So, that's the wherefore and whenfore. Now for the big one:

Why do they come and what do they want?

Based on their actions so far, it seems likely that they are guardians of some sort. They advise and protect certain human beings, even at the cost of others. Most of them speak only to one or two human beings, never appearing to any others. They are hampered in this mission by the fact that only humans of borderline sanity can perceive them - Donnie Darko is a diagnosed schizophrenic and 'Gal' a career criminal of dubious morality, while Elwood Dowd is almost committed for his own mental inadequacies.

Frank persuaded Donnie Darko to sacrifice his own life to save that of Gretchen - and on a larger level, the whole world. Harvey spent all his time keeping Elwood P. Dowd inebriated and harmless, possibly to keep him from acting in a way contrary to the long term goals of the pooka. Who knows, perhaps a sober and undistracted Dowd would have proved to be inimical to the goals of the pooka, possibly even an enemy to them. The actions of the Beast are less clear, but do seem to have inspired the killing of Don Logan - who is last seen as a prisoner of the Beast. Perhaps the pooka are not above a little revenge now and again.

Frank also seems to have had some interaction with Roberta Sparrow - to whom he communicated many secrets of the nature of time. Is he trying to bootstrap humans to his own level? And if so, why?

Finally, the most disturbing thought of all: what if Frank, Harvey and the Beast are not working together? What if they represent different factions in the mysterious humanoid rabbit community? Is it possible that the Beast and Frank are working against each other, and that all the humans they deal with are merely their catspaws?