Mythology of Lost
The television show Lost includes a number of mysterious elements that have been ascribed to science fiction or supernatural phenomena. The creators of the series refer to these as part of the mythology of the series.[1]
The Island
The Island at the center of the show boasts a number of unusual features. It can "talk" to the characters according to Locke and Ben. Locke accuses the Island of killing Eko and Boone (calling him numerous times "the sacrifice the Island demanded"). Juliet claims women on the island who conceive there die by the woman's immune system rejecting the fetus as a foreign invader and that men have high sperm levels (5 times the normal amount).
The Island has an unusual supply of naturally occurring electromagnetism. The DHARMA Initiative attempted to research the anomaly via the Swan Station.
Many people have tried to exploit the Island throughout its history due to its special properties. People like Ben and Locke have also defended it from outside intruders and do not want anyone outside of the Island knowing of its location or its special abilities.
The Island has massive healing properties. This may be due to its electromagnetism. Locke was paralyzed before he came to the Island, and now can walk, and Rose had cancer, but it doesn't seem she does anymore. Wounds heal extremely quickly on the Island, and things classified as mortal wounds are capable of being healed in a few days. However, for an unknown reason Ben did get cancer. He was the first person to get cancer on the Island, and this occurrence is still a mystery.
The Island somehow can not be found by any standard means of navigating. The only known way to get on the Island is to follow a Sonar beacon, which is most likely attached to the Looking Glass station, or follow a satellite or radio signal to the Island. Besides the people recruited there (Ben and Juliet for example), most people find the Island totally by accident. Desmond crashed on the island while on a sailboat race around the world, Rousseau arrived by following a signal broadcasting the Numbers, the Real Henry Gale crashed in a hot air balloon, Mr. Eko's drug smuggling plane crashed while smuggling heroin (his brother Yemi was on board), the survivors crashed when Desmond failed to press the button, and the Hostiles (or the Others) arrived by unknown means. Also once you arrive on the Island, it is nearly impossible to leave it, as Desmond discovered once he tried to leave the Island in his newly repaired sailboat. Ben does tell Michael that you can leave the Island by following a compass bearing of 325, but whether this is true or not remains to be seen.
The Island is vast and it spans for many miles across. It's at least a 2 day walk (if not more) to go from one end of the Island to the other. History shows that at one point that the Island had an active volcano. Many fans speculate that it's the Crater drawn in Rousseau's map. There are at least 2 mountain ranges on the Island that span on the east and west sides of the Island respectively. Small streams are found throughout the Island, indicating that it gets a large amount of rainfall. Boars, frogs, chickens, and polar bears (brought by the DHARMA Initiative to study) inhabit the Island. Off shore there is a smaller Island called Alcatraz by Ben (often referred to as Hydra Island by fans, due to the location of that particular station). Due to ruins, statues, and an unseen temple, it is likely that the Island was inhabited many years before the Hostiles arrived. The Island also has other weird occurrences on it, such as a giant Smoke Monster, mysterious whispers, many visions of close acquaintances, and many more mysteries.
The Monster
The monster is a major piece of mythology, introduced early on in the show. On the night after the crash, the encamped survivors hear a loud, unidentifiable sound coming from the jungle and witness trees being torn down in the distance. The next morning, while discussing the sound the monster made, Rose comments that, "I keep thinking, there was something familiar about it." This possible connection between the monster and Rose's past has not been explored; of course, the sounds are an amalgamation of many different mechanical noises, so Rose and the monster might share no connection whatsoever. Jack Shephard, Kate Austen, and Charlie Pace see the power of the monster when it rips the pilot from the cockpit and leaves his mangled body in a tree. In "Walkabout", John Locke also has a direct encounter but is spared. When Michael asks Locke if he had seen it, Locke lies that he did not. Locke later tells Jack, "I looked into the eye of this island, and what I saw was beautiful."
In "Exodus, Part 2", Danielle Rousseau refers to the monster as a "security system" whose purpose is to protect the island. Later in the episode, Locke's second encounter provides the first on-screen glimpse of the monster: a tendril of black smoke accompanied by mechanical-like sounds. In "The 23rd Psalm" Charlie and Eko have a confrontation similar to Locke's. As Eko stares down the monster, the black smoke briefly flashes images of Eko's past. John Locke states that when he first saw the monster, it appeared as a "bright light" which he described as "beautiful." Eko replies, "That is not what I saw." In "The Cost of Living", the monster kills Eko by slamming him repeatedly against nearby trees and the ground.
In the episode "Left Behind", the monster appears twice. It is unseen by the audience in the first encounter, when it releases a series of bright flashes near Juliet. The monster appears on-screen during the second encounter, where it is revealed that it cannot penetrate the Others' sonic wave fence. In another unseen appearance, the mechanical sounds of the monster can also be heard during the episode "Exposé", right before Nikki is bitten by a paralyzing spider.
The May 26, 2006 official Lost podcast claimed that viewers have seen the monster after "The 23rd Psalm" without realizing they were looking at it. Also, the producers have often hinted that the black cloud of smoke is not a monster in the traditional sense, and that it is not a cloud of nanobots. [2][3]
In January 2007, producers Damon Lindalof and Carlton Cuse asked fans on Yahoo! Answers what they thought the monster was. They later picked their "favorite answer... not that it's the right answer." The response they chose suggested that the monster was originally an advanced security system designed to frighten the participants of the DHARMA experiments with smoke and loud noises to prevent them from wandering outside of their hatches. However, the electromagnetic force of the island mutated it (in the same way that Desmond experienced time travel and can see the future after his exposure) and made it malevolent and able to physically interact with things. The respondent also theorised that the monster could be "turned off" if the survivors found a control room for it. The producers restated that the answer could be "somewhat right, totally right - or completely off-base", but they thought it was "very cool and intriguing."
The Numbers
The numbers 4, 8, 15, 16, 23 and 42 appear throughout the series, both in sequence and individually. They were broadcast from the Island's radio transmitter, and it was this
message that drew Rousseau's expedition there. Although she later changes the message
after the deaths of the rest of her team, the digits had also been heard by other people, eventually making their way to
Each of the numbers frequently make appearances as representing significant things in the show's plot, especially in the flashbacks. This includes both individual numbers and groups of them, such as "1516". For example, the survivors were on Oceanic Flight 815, which left Sydney from gate 23. Also, Jack's seat number was 23 and Ana Lucia's was 42. In Two For the Road the line of Police cars are visibly numbered 15, 16, 23, and 42 in the next row.
According to the DHARMA Orientation video in the Lost Experience, the Numbers represent the core factors of the Valenzetti Equation, which claims to accurately predict when humanity will be extinguished. The broadcasting of the equation on a private frequency is based on real-life Numbers stations.
The Others
"The Others" are mysterious inhabitants of the island whose presence predates the crash of Oceanic Flight 815, as well as Danielle Rousseau's arrival. In addition to kidnapping Rousseau's daughter, Alex, as an infant, the Others infiltrate the Flight 815 survivors' camps on at least two occasions. They are responsible for the deaths of at least two castaways, and the unexplained disappearances of numerous other survivors. They have been shown to occupy several of the DHARMA Initiative stations.
The group had previously been referred to as "the Hostiles" by the members of the DHARMA Initiative, and had, at some point in the past, killed a portion of the island's population of DHARMA members (all the ones housed at the barracks). Ben and Richard were part of that group of the Hostiles/Others, but it has been revealed in present time that Jacob is the one responsible for bringing most of the current Others to the island. It has not been revealed how many other current Others were present on the island at the point where DHARMA was assaulted.
In the episode "Raised by Another", Claire Littleton is kidnapped by Ethan Rom, one of the Others, and held against her will for several days. She later escapes with the help of Alex Rousseau. When Ethan attempts to retrieve her, he is killed by Charlie Pace. It was later claimed by Juliet that the kidnapping was not ordered, but was improvised by Ethan when the survivors discovered that he wasn't on the plane before the Others' plan had been completed.
At the end of the first season, the Others kidnap Walt Lloyd at sea, shooting Sawyer in the process, and blow up the raft that the castaways had built to escape the island.
During the second season, they are shown to have abducted twelve tail-section survivors including several children, and killed at least one. Rousseau later catches a man who claims to be "Henry Gale from Minnesota", who turns out to be Ben Linus, the apparent leader of the Others who later claims to have lived on the island all of his life. By the end of the season, the Others initiate a plan to free Ben, and capture Jack Shephard, James "Sawyer" Ford and Kate Austen.
In season three's opener "A Tale of Two Cities", the Others are shown to occupy a suburban-esque village as well as another DHARMA Initiative station, codenamed "The Hydra". In "Every Man for Himself", Ben reveals to Sawyer that the station is on a second small island that is "roughly twice the size of Alcatraz."
While in their captivity, Jack was shown a video by Ben of the 2004 World Series and given information indicating that the Others have contact with the outside world. Since the discharge of the Swan station, however, the Others appear to have lost all contact with the rest of the world, and can no longer leave on their submarine due to it being destroyed by Locke. It is known, however, that they possess Desmond's boat .
The DHARMA Initiative
A large number of DHARMA workers were slaughtered by the Others at some point before the series began, as revealed in "The Man Behind the Curtain", although it is currently unknown whether or not there were any survivors. It has been confirmed in a podcast by the writers that Kelvin Inman was indeed a member of the DHARMA initiative who survived the purge, so it is possible that there were more survivors in isolated stations.
Visions
On the Island, numerous characters experience auditory and visual hallucination-like phenomena, including apparent visions and messages from deceased family members. Both Jack and Eko receive visitations from dead relatives whose bodies are present on the island. Similarly, Locke converses with the deceased Boone during a vision quest in "Further Instructions". Previously, he received a similar vision, directing him to the site of a crashed airplane, while Boone was still alive. In the episode "The Man Behind the Curtain", Ben sees his deceased mother on the island twice as a child, and this eventually leads him to join "the others".
An image of Walt appears to Shannon on a number of occasions during Season Two, and is later seen by Sayid, just prior to Shannon's death. In "Man of Science, Man of Faith", a water-drenched Walt appears before Shannon, and whispers incomprehensibly, which has been ascribed to reversed speech. Walt is seen twice more by Shannon: the first time, he again speaks in reversed speech, which according to Entertainment Weekly, sounds like, "They're coming and they're close."[citation needed] When Walt appears a second time, he puts his index finger to his mouth and made a "sshhh" sound right before he leads Shannon to her death. And finally, in the season finale of the third season ("Through the Looking Glass"), Walt is standing over Locke as he lies bleeding with a wound caused by Benjamin Linus (In the episode "The Man Behind the Curtain"), who, after realizing Locke had heard the powerful man known as "Jacob", shoots Locke in the stomach. Locke wakes up and attempts to shoot himself, but Walt tells Locke to "put the gun down", and "get up" because he "has work to do". It can be assumed that this subsequently lead to Locke trying to stop Jack from contacting the outside world for help. It is possible that Walt's appearances were not related to the Island's capabilities, as it has been hinted several times that Walt possesses some kind of paranormal abilities.
Hurley experiences visions of Dave, an imaginary friend who he had seen before while in a mental institution. Dave goads Hurley into briefly believing that the Island itself is his hallucination, and that he can only reawaken to his real life (in the mental institution) by leaping from a cliff.
Kate receives two apparent visitations from her past: the seemingly channeled message from her deceased step-father, spoken by Sawyer while in delirium; and later, an appearance of a black horse which she believes is the same one which enabled her escape from custody. It is worth noting that the horse was seen by Sawyer as well, and both he and Kate touched it and concluded that it was real.
Desmond apparently has the power of precognition, first discussed in "Flashes Before Your Eyes".
There has also been an occasion when a living person (apart from Walt) on the island was seen as a vision. A few days after they crashed, Boone saw a vision of Shannon being attacked by the "monster". This led him to try to rescue her but unfortunately he failed causing Shannon to die. He was shocked, however, when Locke told him Shannon was alive and well.
The cat of a woman who Sayid had previously tortured prior to the crash is seen by Sayid on the island, although it seems likely that this is merely a similar cat.
Miracles
Some castaways have expressed belief that they have been miraculously healed since the crash. Prior to his arrival, Locke was confined to a wheelchair, but he regained the use of his legs immediately after the crash; he tells Walt that a miracle happened to him ("Pilot, Part 2"). Locke also makes a miraculously fast recovery in the episode, "Through the Looking Glass," after being shot and left for dead by Ben in the episode, "The Man Behind the Curtain."
Similarly, Rose had been dying of cancer before crashing on the island; after the crash, she feels as if the cancer has "left her body" and credits the island as her cure ("S.O.S."). Sun becomes pregnant, despite the fact that a doctor had previously (secretly) declared her husband Jin to be medically incapable of fathering a child. She informs Jin of the true diagnosis, although she does not tell him about her recent affair (in Korea) with her English teacher, Jae Lee; Jin declares that the conception is a miracle ("The Whole Truth"). In the episode "D.O.C.", Juliet reveals that men on the island have five times the normal yield of sperm, explaining why Jin was able to impregnate Sun.
Despite his apparent death when John Locke pushed him through the invisible security fence surrounding the Others' encampment in the episode "Par Avion," Mikhail Bakunin later returns and stops the internal bleeding of the helicopter pilot Naomi. He claims she will be fine in about a day, much to Charlie's surprise. While that is not the normal recovery time for such an injury, Mikhail states that "things work differently" on the island. In the episode, "The Man Behind the Curtain." Mikhail tells Ben that the fence was in fact not set to a lethal level, seemingly explaining away his brush with death. However, in the Season 3 finale, "Through the Looking Glass," Mikhail is shot through the chest with a spear gun by Desmond and yet again seems to have been killed. Mikhail, however, undergoes another miraculous recovery, revives (off-camera), and swims out of the station, then blows open a porthole, flooding the control room and killing Charlie.
The Others appear to operate on the assumption that cancer is impossible on the island (or at least within their own population) ("One of Us"); Ben Linus is deeply shocked when he learns he has a tumor on his spine.
The island does not appear to heal all people equally. Richard Alpert says in "The Brig" that Locke's spine healing itself is not a normal event, even by the island's standards; it is a sign of Locke being somehow "special". The effects of this specialness can apparently extend to other people; after his spinal surgery, Ben was paralyzed for over a week, but regained the feeling in his legs immediately after coming in contact with Locke, and was able to walk (with the aid of a cane) only days afterward.
The Statue
In the episode "Live Together, Die Alone" while at sea, Sayid, Jin, and Sun sight what appears to be the remnants of a massive statue — a large, four-toed marble foot broken off at the ankle, standing upon a rock in the surf. Sayid remarks that he does not know which is more disturbing: the fact that the rest of the statue is missing or that the foot has only four toes. Many fans are also puzzled by the origins of the statue, and some have compared it to the Colossus of Rhodes.[4] Further ruins are revealed in "The Brig" when the Others tie Locke's father to the broken base of a large, stone column. Though they look ancient, the age of these ruins has yet to be confirmed.
Executive producer/writer Carlton Cuse has revealed that the statue will be addressed in Season 4.[5]
The Whispers
At various points in the series whispering voices have been heard by the characters, with no visible source of origin. Rousseau claims these voices are of the Others, although it is now evident that the two are not related. It may be that the content of the whispers are linked to the characters' pasts; for instance, in the episode "Outlaws", when Sawyer encounters the whispering, the phrase "It'll come back around" is clearly recognizable. The same exact phrase is spoken during that episode's flashbacks. They also seem to have a connection with the visions; before Ana Lucia shot Shannon who was chasing an image of Walt, they heard the whispering around them. In season 3, there was whispering before Walt showed up at the mass grave, and before Richard, one of the others, appeared before a young Ben.
The Sickness
Rousseau claims to have killed her team due to them catching a mysterious disease which necessitated their executions. She claims the Others were the carriers of disease. A mysterious vaccine was provided by DHARMA food drops and was taken regularly by Kelvin and Desmond in the Swan Station, and administered to Claire by Ethan after her kidnapping, although it is not known whether or not Kelvin and Ethan were deceiving Desmond and Claire about the necessity of the injections.
Pregnancy
Since season 3, an important theory is being explored. Apparently, any human female who conceives on the island dies before the baby is born. Other species of placental mammals like the wild boars, do not die due to pregnancy. Several women have already given birth (Danielle, Claire), but they conceived before coming to the island. It has been revealed that Sun became pregnant with Jin's child while on the island, and viewers have speculated that Kate may have conceived when she had sex with Sawyer. The Others have known about this for a long time and enlisted the help of Juliet, a fertility researcher, to help find out why this happened. So far, no progress has been made in preventing these deaths. As it seems, Sun and possibly Kate are doomed to die in 6 months (based on statements by Juliet in "D.O.C."). However, in "flashforwards" in the season 3 finale "Through the Looking Glass," it is revealed that Kate apparently survived and left the island.
Crossovers
Prior to their arrival on the island, both major and minor characters had occasion to interact, often unknowingly, sometimes affecting each others' lives. These are revealed through characters' flashbacks, and are typically only obvious to viewers. Some intersections are quite noticeable, with different characters conversing with each other, but most often they are oblivious to these crossovers, with characters sometimes appearing on televisions or being glimpsed in the background. Damon Lindelof has stated that these are not "Easter eggs," but rather a larger part of the mythology of the series.[6]
References
- ^ Benson, Jim. The 'Lost' Generation: Networks Go Eerie, Broadcasting & Cable, May 16, 2005.
- ^ Wharton, David Michael. "Comicon 2005 news", Cinescape.com, 17 July 2005.
- ^ Grillo-Marxuach, Javier (22 July 2005). Burning Questions. TheFuselage.com.
- ^ http://andfound.com/2006/05/25/the-foot-with-four-toes/
- ^ Ausiello, Michael, (May 30, 2007)
- ^ Cuse, Carlton and Damon Lindelof. The Official Lost Podcast ABC.com
External links
- LOST official website
- LOST Wikia - A massive wiki devoted to lost
- Lostpedia, a highly updated Lost Wiki
| Lost | |
|---|---|
| Production: | DVD releases • Episode list • Music • Season 1 • Season 2 • Season 3 • Season 4 |
| Main characters: | Ana Lucia • Ben • Boone • Charlie •
Claire • Desmond • Kate • Libby • Locke • Michael • Mr. Eko • |
| Supporting characters: | Alex • Bernard • Christian • Ethan • Nikki & Paulo • Rose • Rousseau • Tom |
| Groups: | Dharma Initiative • Hanso Foundation • Oceanic Airlines • The Others |
| Miscellaneous: | Lost Experience • Mythology • Video game |
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