This past Tuesday night, I felt a void in my life. The 9pm time spot came and went without LOST. Over the past six years, LOST became my favorite TV show and like most fans, I found the serious finally somewhat impoverished. They did an OK enough job reuniting the characters, and I think I’m one of the few fans that actually liked the fact that the so-called “flash sideways” were actually flashes into purgatory, but they left too many questions about the island itself unanswered. At some-point during the past six years, I started caring more about Jacob and the island more than the Oceanic crash survives.
I’m currently goring through the process of watching every episode, starting with season 1, back-to-back in an effort to answer some of these questions – maybe I missed something? These are the questions I feel the serious didn’t answer, and by all means, if you can shed some light on any of them, please do.
I’ll probably be updating this post quite often as questions arise and are answered.
How some say LOST should have ended.
About The Passengers of Oceanic 816
- Why did the psychic say that Clair’s baby needed to be raised by her or else it would be evil? The baby wasn’t raised by Clair, Aaron was raised by Kate. (Season 1, Episode: Raised By Another)
- Why was Libby in the mental institution?
- Why weren’t Micheal, Miles, Charlotte and Faraday at the church in the final scene?
- Possible Answer:
- Because of the actions Micheal took to get off the island, his was summoned back to the island where he was kill and subsequently ‘trapped’ on the island. The reason his spirit couldn’t join the others in purgatory is because it was there.
- Where is Walt? Early in the series, they implied that Walt was in possession of some super mystical, uber-creepy powers. He was killing birds with his mind, remember? (Season 1, Episode: Special) They brought this up, then they dropped it, along with him, fairly early in the series.
About The Oceanic Six
- Why was Sayid killing all those people for Ben? And just who were they? Did they have any connection to the island?
- Answer:
- Apparently the people he was charged in killed all had connections to Charles Whitmore. Because he had been ultimately responsible for Ben’s daughter’s death, Ben was wielding Sayid as an instrument of revenge.
- How did Sayid end up working as an enforcer for Ben?
- How did Christian Shepherd (reveled to be the Smoke Monster) get to the USA to visit Jack?
About The ‘Others’ And The Dharma Intuitive
- Who exactly were the “others”? How did they get on the island? Why was Richard their leader?
- Answer from Matt:
- The others have always been those that inhabited the island, also referred to as hostiles by Dharma. Everyone that was on the island was brought there at some point (those before Richard, those with Richard, those after Richard). Richard convinced Jacob that not interfering would surely cause him to not protect the island, which is why he asked Richard if he wanted a job. Everyone in the temple were brought there as well, some from the flight, others not. Even Dogan was brought from the outside.
- How do the Dharma Intuitive find the island in the first place? Just what were they doing on the island?
- Answer from Matt:
- How Dharma found the island, read about it here: http://lostpedia.wikia.com/wiki/The_Lamp_Post
- How did the feud between the Dharma Intuitive and “The Others” start?
About The Island And Jacob
- Did Jacob call the Oceanic 857 to the island, by forcing Desmond to lose faith and not press the hatch button? Think about this; Jacob was watching all these people since childhood, gets them all on the same plane, and then makes Desmond lose faith in order to bring the plane down. Is Jacob omniscient? The series didn’t portray him as such.
- Just what exactly was Jacob’s candidate selection process? The only two pieces we know are (1) your life has to be broken, and (2) you can’t be a mother.
- What about the temple and all of the Jacob followers? How was that built? Where did all these people come from?
- Shouldn’t have we expected more from Richard? Was he or wasn’t he John Locke’s real father? They built him up to be this enigma holding the keys to all the island’s secrets, and then seemed to forget about him.
- Who built the Egyptian statue of Taweret? It wasn’t seen in the episode when Jacob and the man in black were kids playing on the beach, which leads me to believe it was build afterwards. At some point people were brought to island to build the statue. I would assume these same people where also the architects of the temple. What is there story?
- In Egyptian mythology, Taweret is the Egyptian Goddess of childbirth and fertility. Does this somehow tie into the fact that no baby conceived on the island can be born? (With the exeption of Sun and Jin?)
- What about the grate under the Egyptian Hieroglyphics that appears to be where the smoke monster lived?
- What was the deal with the magic ash that kept the smoke monster at bay? Whose ashes were they?
- Where did Jacob’s and the man in blacks mother come from? Was she always just there, or did someone give her a drink of wine and proclaim to her “Now you’re like me” also?
- Just what was the ash the Jacob’s followers were using to keep the Man in Black at bay?
- In the last episode, Ben made a comment to Hurley about “the rules Jacob had set” for the island. What were these rules, and just how were they set? How much freedom did Hurley have in changing them?
- How come Desmond didn’t turn into a smoke monster when he entered the pool of light? Isn’t that what happened to the man in black? Was it because of his resistance to the electrical-magnetic-whatever?
- Seriously, what was the Man in Blacks name?
Misc Questions
- Why/how did Charles Whitmore get back to the island? Did he really talk to Jacob like he claimed to? If so, what was it he was supposed to do?
June 3, 2010 at 8:54 pm
Going into the finale, I knew that I knew that I knew we were beyond the point of answers, so I enjoyed the ride for closure for the characters. The writers have insisted the show has always been characters first, mythology second, but I can only agree with that to an extent given how heavy of a mythology they built five of the last six years. I expected far more answers than they gave this season, but I also didn’t expect anything but characters for the finale. With that said, I thought the finale was absolutely phenomenal. It tugged at my emotions numerous times, several to the point of tears, and it was really great writing and acting.
Now, I’m with you on the answers. They completely dropped the ball on that. Heck, they could have done so much with Across the Sea, really given us lots of juicy bits to naw on, but instead, we get a dozen more questions, half answers and answers so vague that they’re not really answers. It should have trumped Ab Aeterno, but it didn’t. I can help with a few of the questions, but honestly with some (just some), it’s better left as a mystery rather than getting an answer because the answer may very well disappoint.
The others have always been those that inhabited the island, also referred to as hostiles by Dharma. Everyone that was on the island was brought there at some point (those before Richard, those with Richard, those after Richard). Richard convinced Jacob that not interfering would surely cause him to not protect the island, which is why he asked Richard if he wanted a job. Everyone in the temple were brought there as well, some from the flight, others not. Even Dogan was brought from the outside. Unfortunately we may never know if the island had any original inhabitants or not. It would have been awesome to have explored that.
How Dharma found the island, read about it here: http://lostpedia.wikia.com/wiki/The_Lamp_Post Going along with what the crazy mother told Jacob and the man in black when they were boys, that people always wanted more of the light, and when the man in black was older, he and other “curious” people (ie: scientists) were going to try to tap into the light and see what happens. The same could be said of Dharma. They wanted to see what they could do with, not specifically the light, but with the pockets of energy throughout the island (which were all connected to the light), which gave birth to their experiments such as time travel. This is really speculative, but I can’t think of a more logical explanation. As for the feud, things were always hostile between the Others and Dharma. Could’ve been anything that set off the feud, like Dharma building stations where they weren’t supposed to.
Jacob’s selection process was based on one criteria: you had to be alone. Kate had someone to live for when she adopted Aaron. Are you mixing Richard with someone else? Because you mentioned him being Locke’s father… that would be Anthony Cooper, aka Tom Sawyer, but you’re right on one point. Richard sure didn’t know much at all.
And that’s about it. There are a ton more other questions you didn’t bring up, but truth be told, I don’t think anyone expected Lost to be this answer-less when it was all said and done. It certainly doesn’t give the writers much credit when they say they have known all along what they’ve been doing. If by that they mean they always knew the show would end the same way it started, then that’s not the same as giving the impression that you have all the details worked out. The details are what drew me originally, I loved the mystery, but the great thing about mysteries, usually, is the payoff, and in that regard, Lost bombed. Still, no other show has captivated my interest as much as this one has, and I doubt anything ever will.
June 7, 2010 at 8:02 pm
Hey Matt, thanks for filling in the blanks, on a few of the questions anyway. I’ve updated the post with this information.
As far as Richard being Locke’s father, in one of the episodes, it flashes back to a young girl in a poodle skirt arguing with her mother about being pregnant. Her mom yells at here that the man is twice her age. This same episode end with Richard looking at a new born Locke through a nursery window. What does this mean?
June 3, 2010 at 9:02 pm
One last thing I forgot to note. Apparently a 12-14 minute epilogue will be included with the complete DVD series, chronicling Hurley and Ben running the island and delving more into the mythology of the show. We may yet get answers to some of the grander mysteries. Also, a Lost encyclopedia will be published in a few months that, I believe, will also include answers that were never addressed on the show.
Responding to frustrated viewers on Twitter, Damon Lindelof said, verbatim, that there was still plenty of time left for answers (roughly half way through the season). Later, in interviews and such, he and Carlton Cuse would mention not having enough time to really get into the mysteries, but any rational person can see that’s poppycock. Roughly four or five episodes were spent in the temple with really not much going on, and then a great deal of time (about half), was spent exploring the flash sideways. I think less time could have been spent on that part and we still would have had a great conclusion, but that’s just me. I can’t help but think that some critics were right, that they were making stuff up as they went along to further push the mysterious nature of the show because it was never fully, or even heavily, explored.
June 7, 2010 at 8:02 pm
That is great news about the Epilogue… if it’s done right. The last things I want to see it turn into is a pitch for a new sitcom about the unlikely pairing of Hugo and Ben running the island. This is not the The Odd Couple in the Jungle.
I would agree with you about the last season. There did seem to be a lot of filler. I could understand if they didn’t feel they had enough time to fully explore some of the avenues they set up, but something would have been better than nothing — maybe even some Flashbacks from Jacobs perspective on the island itself?
I really don’t want to believe this, as it would be a huge let down, but I don’t know if they’ve left me enough evidence to the contrary.
June 7, 2010 at 8:34 pm
When the island was moving through time, Locke visited Richard before Locke was born. Locke told Richard when and where he would be born and Richard went there to confirm Locke was telling the truth.
Anthony Cooper is definitely Locke’s father, which is why he is conned into giving his kidney to him. Anthony Cooper knew that his son would be a match to donate a kidney.
June 9, 2010 at 8:30 pm
Thanks Dan, I had completely forgotten about that. Of course know I remember a hand full of questions I had about Anthony Cooper…
June 7, 2010 at 8:56 pm
Ah, that’s what you’re referring to. Here’s are a few snippets to help clear the air:
From season 5, episode 1 (Because You Left):
From season 5, episode 3 (Jughead):
We see Richard visit Locke when he’s born, five (to test him and see if he’s ready to join him on the island) and later trying to recruit him through a science camp when he’s 17. This occurs in season 4 (Cabin Fever) before we see the events that setup the meetings in the first place. Hope that clears it up
As for Widmore, we have to believe that he talk with Jacob; I don’t see a reason to think otherwise, especially since nothing else was shown contrary to that. Jacob sent him there to use Desmond for the exact reason we saw in the finale, to remove the plug in the heart of the island, which simultaneously started the island’s destruction and stripped the man in black of his powers (making him mortal). Pulling the plug released electromagnetism, hence the test to verify Desmond could survive the exposure and likely one of the factors to Jack’s death.
Oh, and word has it that the man in black’s name is really Samuel. Would it have killed them to have included this ultimately moot detail and not go on thinking that everyone called him Brother for 40 years? Bah.
June 9, 2010 at 8:30 pm
Thanks Matt. That clears up quite a bit. This is partially why I’m going through watching each episode back to back. I know that there are some answers to questions that I’ve overlooked the past six years. Unfortunately, in doing this, I’m also in covering more questions that need answers. I can’t help but start to think if this was the writers intent all along?
I am still confused about the whole compass thing. Isn’t that one of the items, along side a knife and a few other things, that Richard brought to Locke when he was just a boy and asked him if any of them were his?
June 11, 2010 at 1:25 am
The compass was what Richard hoped Locke would pick up when he tested him (as Richard got it from who this boy would grow up to be), but since he picked up the knife, Richard said he wasn’t ready yet. The great thing, or not so great thing, is that the compass is stuck in a paradox as it has no true origin. Richard got it from Locke in 1952, who got it from Richard in the present, who got it from Locke in 1952… an infinite loop.