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Black and white
The colors black and white, which traditionally reflect opposition or dualism (i.e., yin and
yang), appear frequently throughout the series, often brought together in reference to characters whose natures are presented
as ambiguous or contradictory. This dichotomy is laid out in the "Pilot" with Locke's description of backgammon to Walt: while
holding up a black and white piece, Locke says, "Two players, two sides — one is light, one is dark." In the opening
sequence of "Raised by Another", Locke appears as an ominous image in Claire's nightmare about her unborn child, with one
eyeball black and the other white, playing with corresponding, similarly colored cards.
Other appearances of the colors likewise connect characters in apparent opposition to themselves,
or each other. In "Deus Ex Machina", Sawyer, one of the more ethically questionable characters, develops headaches due to
farsightedness, diagnosed by Jack and cured by Sayid, with the creation of a custom pair of glasses from the frames of two
different sets: one side white, the other black. In the closing scene of "Collision", Jack and Ana Lucia, ostensibly the leaders
of their respective factions, stand facing each other, with Jack wearing a white shirt and Ana Lucia wearing a black shirt.
In "The Long Con", when Sawyer is telling the group that he has the guns, Jack and Locke — who were just arguing with
each other — are wearing opposing black and white shirts.
At other points, the colors are featured in sometimes unexpected or unexplained ways. In "House
of the Rising Sun", Jack finds a pouch on a pair of mummified corpses, nicknamed "Adam and Eve" by Locke, containing one white
stone and one black stone, which he then hides from Locke.
Eyes
References to eyes appear frequently in Lost. A close-up image of an eye opens many episodes,
in most cases of the character whose flashbacks are to be featured. In "White Rabbit", Locke hints at his experience in confronting
the island's mysterious "security system" saying, "I've looked into the eye of this island. And what I saw was beautiful."
Later, in "Raised by Another", Claire has a nightmare in which Locke appears with opaque eyes, one white and the other black.
The tail-section survivors also discover a glass eye in the DHARMA Initiative's abandoned storage locker, and in the episode
"Lockdown", when the map of the underground bunkers is revealed by blacklight, it is briefly shown reflected in Locke's eye.
Familial dysfunction
Most of the major characters have dysfunctional parents, particularly fathers, who are either
absent, reluctant, or destructive. Most notably, Locke is the victim of a betrayal in "Deus Ex Machina" by both his natural
parents. Jack's broken relationship with his alcoholic surgeon father, Christian, is the impetus for him to travel to Australia, at the behest
of his mother. Sawyer's mother has an extra-marital affair with a con-man; after finding out, his father kills her and then
commits suicide. Kate murders the abusive man she had believed to be her step-father after discovering he is actually her
biological father. She is forced into a life on the run after her mother reveals her crime to the police. While the troubling
parental relationships of these four individuals have been the most explored, nearly all the protagonists have had serious
difficulties with their families. In many cases, the ways in which the survivors dealt with these relationships led to their
being on the island.
Literature
Episodes often mention or incorporate literary works, a point of interest to fans who try
to connect them to Lost's mythology. While certain books are read by characters,
others are referenced in dialogue, and some have just been glimpsed.
Sawyer is frequently shown reading, initially the books he finds in the plane wreckage, a
habit which eventually leads to his hyperopia. In "White Rabbit" he spends time with Watership Down, an account of a group
of rabbits trying to find a new warren. In the later episode "Numbers," Sawyer starts A Wrinkle in Time, a children's fantasy
novel about a group of adolescents who rescue a lost father, which contains Christian undertones about a universal battle
between darkness and light. In "The Whole Truth," Sawyer is reading Are You There,
God? It's Me, Margaret, a teen novel about menstruation, when Sun asks him for a pregnancy test. He calls the book "predictable."
Biblical stories and psalms have been pointedly used by Mr. Eko, such as the story of King
Josiah (from 2 Kings, chapters 22 and 23), which he related to Locke in "What Kate Did," and the recitation of the 23rd Psalm
in the following episode.
The Third Policeman is seen when Desmond is packing before fleeing the underground bunker
in "Orientation." Craig Wright, who co-wrote the episode, told the Chicago Tribune that, "Whoever goes out and buys the book
will have a lot more ammunition in their back pocket as they theorize about the show. They will have a lot more to speculate
about — and, no small thing, they will have read a really great book."
In "One of Them," a man who claims to be "Henry Gale" is captured and imprisoned by the survivors.
Series writer Damon Lindelof has said that the character's name alludes to Dorothy's uncle from The Wizard of Oz.
Locke gives a copy of Fyodor Dostoyevsky's The Brothers Karamazov to Gale during his captivity
in "Maternity Leave." Gale asks if he could have a Stephen King novel instead. Shortly afterwards, Locke relates to Jack that
Ernest Hemingway felt that he lived in Dostoyevsky's shadow, a situation which Gale takes to refer to the relationship between
his two main captors.
The dialogue between characters occasionally refers to literature, sometimes in off-the-cuff
remarks, to add context to the plot. In "White Rabbit," John Locke converses with Jack, who believes he may be going crazy
chasing someone who is "not there." Locke refers to this as "the white rabbit" from Alice in
Wonderland and makes his first declaration of the special nature of the Island, "Is your White Rabbit a hallucination?
Probably. But what if everything that happened here happened for a reason?"
Other books that have been briefly glimpsed on screen or alluded to in conversation include:
Heart of Darkness, Lord of the Flies, The Turn of the Screw, Walker Percy's Lancelot, and An Occurrence at Owl Creek
Bridge.
Philosophy
By admission of the show's writing staff, some characters on Lost reference famous philosophers
through their names and connection to each other. The two clearest examples,
John Locke and Danielle Rousseau, are both named after social contract philosophers who dealt with the relationship between
nature and civilization.
The character Locke shares his name with English philosopher John Locke. The latter believed
that in a natural state, all men had equal rights to punish transgressors; to ensure fair judgment for all, governments were
formed to better administer the laws. His concept contended that humans are born with a "blank slate" — a tabula rasa
(also the title of the Season 1's third episode) — without any innate knowledge or experience, and their identity is
therefore a product of their decisions and choices in life. Danielle Rousseau shares her surname with Franco-Swiss philosopher
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who argued that man is born weak and ignorant, but virtuous nonetheless. He maintained that man becomes
wicked only after society is developed. His theory of the Noble Savage hypothesised that a child raised in the wilderness,
independent of human society and culture, would be an objectively superior person with regards to a universal set of ethics.
Rousseau stated that "man is born free, but everywhere, he is in chains," and coined the phrase "all men are created equal."
Locke's father on the series, Anthony Cooper, shares a name with a real world counterpart,
Lord Anthony Ashley-Cooper, who was the philosopher John Locke's political mentor and patron. The character Locke's protegé,
Boone Carlyle, shares his name with Thomas Carlyle, a nineteenth-century essayist who spoke of the organization, structure
and leadership of society. In his book Heroes and Hero Worship, he proclaimed that by necessity, heroic leaders were inevitably
flawed.
The show also references Eastern philosophies. The DHARMA Initiative, uses an acronym which
refers to Dharma, the "way of higher truths" in sects of Hinduism, Buddhism and Daoism. The symbol used by the Initiative
is called a bagua, a wheel of balance often used in feng shui.
The "monster"
The "monster" is the first piece of mythology introduced. It first appears on the night of
the crash when the survivors hear a loud, unidentifiable sound coming from the jungle and witness trees being torn down in
the distance. The next morning, Jack, Kate, and Charlie go into the jungle to find the transceiver and see the power of the
"monster" first-hand when it rips the pilot from the cockpit and leaves his mangled body in a tree. In "Walkabout", Locke
also has a direct encounter but is spared. [14] In a conversation with Jack, he says of this event, "I looked into the eye
of the island, and what I saw was beautiful." The monster has had very few appearances since then, emerging in the jungle
every so often and disrupting the treks of the survivors, who have so far managed to escape it alive. In "The 23rd Psalm",
Eko has a confrontation similar to Locke's. The "monster" is revealed here to be a large cloud of black smoke, within which
are images from Eko's past.
Animals
There have been a number of occurrences where the survivors encounter animals that either
shouldn't be there or have special attributes. In "Pilot", Sawyer shoots a polar bear, which cannot normally survive in this
sort of environment. Later, Sawyer has several run-ins with a boar that he believes is purposely harassing him. While on the
raft, Michael and Sawyer encounter a shark that has a DHARMA logo on its tail. Kate sees a black horse, which is not indigenous
to the island, and she believes she has seen that particular animal before crashing on the island.
The Others
The Others are the mysterious inhabitants of the fictional island in the American television
series Lost. Danielle Rousseau coined the term The Others, which the survivors of Flight 815 have adopted to describe anyone
on the island they have not previously met. They have kidnapped children on the island, such as Rousseau's infant daughter,
Alex, and a number of tail section survivors, and they apparently won't hesitate to kill anyone who gets in their way. The
Others seem to have superior physical strength and stamina and do not leave footprints or make any sound whatsoever when walking,
making them completely untraceable. Their appearance is sometimes heralded by mysterious black smoke or by strange, barely
audible whispering.
Ethan Rom
Ethan Rom was the first of The Others to be introduced. Ethan lived among the survivors of
Flight 815 during their initial days on the island, until Hurley discovered he was not on the flight manifest. Coincidentally,
just as that discovery is made, Ethan kidnaps Charlie and Claire. He tells Jack and Kate that if they follow him, he will
kill either Charlie or Claire. Following up on his promise, Ethan hangs Charlie from a tree and leaves him for dead. This
attempt fails however, due to Jack's swift intervention to resuscitate Charlie. Ethan takes Claire to a DHARMA station with
medical supplies and a nursery for her baby. He puts a syringe into Claire's stomach, claiming it will prevent the baby from
becoming sick. He keeps her drugged, and in this state Claire comes to trust Ethan and wants him and The Others to take her
baby. He tells her they are a good family and good people. Before she gives birth, she disappears from the station. Ethan
demands that Claire be returned to him or he will kill the survivors one by one. Again, Ethan keeps his promise and kills
Scott Jackson. The following day Ethan falls into a trap set up by Jack, Locke, Kate, Sayid, and Sawyer. However, before he
can be interrogated, Charlie shoots him dead. His name is an anagram of "Other
Man." Ethan is played by William Mapother.
"Mr. Friendly"
Mr. Friendly, whose real name is unknown, appears to be the unofficial spokesperson for The
Others. However, he is not the leader of The Others. According to the faux "Henry Gale", Mr. Friendly is no one and nobody,
compared to other "Others". Mr. Friendly first appears on a boat alongside three
partners: a pair of quad men, and an older woman. Later, he confronts Jack and the rest of the survivor search party that
was assembled to find Michael, who ran into the island to find Walt. Claire's
memories of her time at the Staff station show a shaved and clean Mr. Friendly wearing regular clothing instead of the dirty,
haggard look in which he has shown himself in public. During her exploration of the Staff, Kate finds Mr. Friendly's clothes,
fake beard and theatrical glue inside a locker. Seemingly, Mr. Friendly's dirty appearance is merely a disguise. Why the Others
desire to appear rugged and dirty is unknown. As of episode 11 in season 2, Mr. Friendly is refered to as Zeke (i.e. a stereotypical
rustic) by Sawyer (who remembers him from the raft) Mr. Friendly is played by
M.C. Gainey.
Goodwin
Goodwin was a spy for The Others, in a similar way to Ethan, and lived among the tail section
survivors for the initial days of their stay on the island, claiming to be a former member of the Peace Corps. After Nathan
is accused of being a traitor and thrown in a pit-cage, Goodwin kills him to throw suspicion off himself. Later, when he and
Ana-Lucia are alone, Ana-Lucia says that she knows Goodwin is one of The Others. Goodwin reveals that the survivors who have
been abducted are "good people." "Nathan was not a good person," Goodwin tells Ana-Lucia, "That's why he wasn't on the list."
He also claims that the abducted kids are in a better place, which upsets Ana-Lucia. They struggle, and in the course of their
fight, Goodwin is impaled on a wooden stake and dies. His rotting corpse would later be found by Jin. Later on, the faux Henry
Gale tells Ana-Lucia that Goodwin was convinced he could change her for the better and was not attempting to kill her when
the fight ensued. Goodwin was played by Brett Cullen.
"Henry Gale"
Rousseau captures Henry Gale in one of her traps and alerts Sayid, who brings Henry to the
hatch and interrogates him. Henry claims he's from Minnesota and was riding a hot air
balloon that crashed on the island, but this is confirmed to be a lie. Henry
Gale does not show the same physical strength as presented by others of his kind. Instead Henry Gale has presented a strength
in manipulation. He has done well in convincing Locke, Jack, and others that he is a crashed survivor himself (before this
was proven false). He focuses his attempts to manipulate and divide the group through Locke: provoking Locke's natural tendancy
towards anger and testing his faith in the need to "push the button". He taunts Locke in contradictory ways, in one instance
telling him that the hatch, in which Locke has put so much faith, is a "joke"; but in another instance telling him his mission
was to capture Locke and bring him back to The Others as he is a "Good Person". "Henry
Gale" is played by Michael Emerson.
Alexandra Rousseau
Alex was kidnapped by them after Danielle gave birth to her. Alex is now 16-17 years old and
has been raised by The Others, joining them on their expeditions on the island. Alex is also the teenage girl who, despite
her being one of The Others, helped Claire escape from "The Staff", one of the DHARMA Initiative Stations. Alex is played by Tania Raymonde.
"He/Him"
An as yet unnamed and unseen "Other" of particular importance who has been alluded to by Henry
Gale, Ethan Rom and Mr. Friendly. He is apparently feared by The Others, but is described by Henry Gale as "A great man, a
brilliant man, but not a forgiving man". His identity is subject of much speculation.
Encounters With The Others
Attack on the Raft
In the double-length Exodus (Part 2) the Others are seen out in the ocean when Sawyer, Jin,
Michael, and Walt were attempting an escape from the island on a raft. The raft encounters a short-range fishing boat, with
four people on board: a woman, two twin-like men, and Mr. Friendly. They demand that Walt be handed over to them, but Michael
refuses. The Others then attack the castaways, kidnap Walt, and blow up the raft. Sawyer, Jin and Michael are left to die
in the ocean.
Tail Section Encounter
In The Other 48 Days, the tail section survivors of the ill-fated Oceanic Flight 815 have
many encounters with The Others. Over the first two weeks, The Others take twelve of the tail section survivors, including
children siblings Zack and Emma. During the raids, Mr. Eko and Ana-Lucia manage to kill three of The Others. Later on many
of the tail section survivors grow suspicious of one another. They decide that Nathan, one of the survivors, is a spy, but
later on they discover that Goodwin, assumed as another member of the tail section, is the real spy. After discovering this,
the tail section survivors encounter the shipwrecked raft crew in Orientation. After deducing that the raft crew are also
plane crash survivors, the tail section survivors set out for the midsection survivor's camp. Along the way, Cindy, a flight
attendant from the plane, disappears.
Jin and Eko's Encounter
In ...And Found, Eko is alerted to the presence of Others in the jungle. He hides Jin and
himself in some brush and while there sees eight Others trekking through the jungle. They are only visible from the waist
down, and one of them is carrying a teddy bear. Eko then claims that The Others leave no footprints and only allow you to
see them at their choosing.
Encounter In The Jungle
In The Hunting Party, Michael decides to go after his kidnapped son Walt. Jack, Locke, and
Sawyer follow him and run into Mr. Friendly, who has kidnapped Kate and threatens to kill her if they don't give him their
guns and turn around. He claims that Walt is safe and Michael will not find Walt "where he's at". He says that the island
is their island and the only reason the Flight 815 survivors are living on it is because they (The Others) allow them to.
Mr. Friendly draws a line in the ground and says if any of the survivors cross that line, there is going to be trouble. Jack
suggests to Mr. Friendly that he is bluffing and that The Others are not nearly as powerful as they want to appear. Mr. Friendly
then tells at least twelve to twenty others to reveal themselves by lighting torches. After this he releases Kate and disappears
into the jungle with his fellow Others.
Michael's Leave
In Two For the Road, Michael is found and taken back to The Swan. After coming to, Michael
tells Jack and Kate about what he experienced in the jungle. He explains that he encountered one of The Others in the woods
and followed him deeper into the heart of the jungle. He claims to have seen the camp where The Others live, claiming that
they occupy another hatch where the captives are kept. Michael further explains that the Others apparently live in makeshift
tents, are lightly armed, and could probably be easily overwhelmed by a group of Survivors. He continued to explain that most
of them are weak old men and women and not nearly the dangerous persona the Others have projected thus far. He also says they
have another Hatch where he believes The Others are keeping prisoners due to the guards that keep a 24-hour watch over the
place.
The Man in the Hatch
In One Of Them, Danielle captures Henry and brings him to Sayid. Henry explains that he is
from Minnesota and crashed in a hot air balloon with his wife. Sayid does not believe Henry,
and, convinced he is an Other, tortures him. Jack quickly puts a stop to this, and afterwards Henry is well taken care of
and fed regularly. Two days later, Mr. Eko learns Henry is in the hatch. In order to keep Henry's presence secret, Jack agrees
to allow Mr. Eko into Henry's room. There, Mr. Eko confesses and apologizes to Gale for killing two of the "Others". Trying to resolve the Henry-situation once and for all, Ana-Lucia asks Gale to draw
a map to his balloon. She, Sayid, and Charlie follow the map, and Henry's story seems accurate until Sayid exhumes the body
in the grave Henry claimed belonged to his wife. Instead, they find the real Henry Gale. Upon interrogation by Sayid, "Henry"
admits that he is an Other and that telling Sayid any further information would ensure that the Others' leader would kill
him in retaliation. When Locke visits Gale soon after, he asks him what his real
name is, but is told that he's grown accustomed to "Henry". Before Locke leaves, Gale makes a point to tell him that the hatch
is a "joke", and that he had lied about entering the code into the computer earlier. When Locke accuses Gale of lying, he
replies, "I'm done lying." Later, Jack decides to try to trade Gale for Walt, which Gale dismisses as unlikely to be agreed
to by the Others. At this point, Gale goes on a hunger strike and refuses to
talk to anyone. Ana-Lucia comes to see Henry and asks him how long his strike will go on, and claims that - in her experience
- most killers like to talk. Henry says something indiscernable to her, and when Ana-Lucia gets closer to hear him Gale attempts
to strangle her. In their struggle, Henry tells Ana that she "is the killer" and that she has killed "two good people". Before
Henry can kill Ana-Lucia, Locke rushes into the room and knocks Henry out. When Henry Gale wakes up, he finds himself tied
down to the floor and in utter darkness. Locke opens the door to talk more with Henry. He asks him why Henry didn't take advantage
of Locke's incapacitation under the blast doors, and is told that it was due to Locke being one of the "Good People" in contrast
to Ana-Lucia. Henry tells Locke that when the French woman caught him in her trap, he had been on his way to get Locke to
take him back with the rest of the "good people". Henry refuses to elaborate on the point, insisting enigmatically that he
will soon be dead regardless of what information he gives. Ana-Lucia enters the
room not long after and, throwing him a knife, tells Gale to cut himself free. Henry does this despite knowing she is there
to kill him in a faux escape attempt. He tells Ana-Lucia that Goodwin tried to change her but it was a lost cause. Ana-Lucia
says that Goodwin was going to kill her, but Henry says that belief was only her paranoia. Ana-Lucia surprisingly finds herself
unable to commit such a calculated murder, and leaves Henry alive. Several minutes later, Henry hears gunshots from Michael
shooting Ana-Lucia and Libby. Entering Henry's makeshift prison cell, Michael shoots himself in the arm. When found later
Michael explains that Gale has escaped and lies, saying Gale was the shooter of both the late Ana-Lucia and Libby.
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 changed 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 Hurley, who used them to win the lottery. However, a series of misfortunes began
to happen to those around him, leading him to believe the figures are cursed. His search for answers led him to Australia and, through the crash, to the island, where he ultimately discovers the numbers engraved on the hatch. They also
appear inside the bunker, on the occupant's medicine bottles, and comprise a code that must be entered into the computer.
The sum of them, 108, has also become significant in connection to the DHARMA Initiative. It appears on a mural inside the
Initiative's Station Three, and the full sequence of numbers must be entered into the computer every 108 minutes. The individual
numbers also appear frequently throughout survivors' lives, both before and after the crash. They have also been subtly embedded
within many scenes.
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