The Lostaways and Their Associates

Jack Shephard, surgeon on flight 815, revived both Rose and Charlie, and apparently performed a “miracle” cure on his future wife. Yet he has also been shown to fail, such as in performing difficult surgery on Angelo Busoni, perhaps for the wrong reasons. It's interesting to note that Italian composer Ferruccio Busoni wrote a version of "Doktor Faust," the story of a doctor who sold his soul to the devil. Desmond noted that Jack seemed to be running like the devil was chasing him when he met him in the stadium. Perhaps Jack was trying to outrun Zeus. When Jack donated blood from his left arm to Boone, he could not save him. Jack even says that his blood might kill Boone, because the blood types are not a perfect match. Jack is always trying to fix things, and has trouble letting go. He is uber-committed. His character was supposed to be killed in the pilot episode, but the show’s creators decided to let him live. They sacrificed faux doctor Leslie Artz instead. Consider it a gift from the scriptwriting gods.

Jack also represents Jason, the leader of the Argonauts. It was difficult to see this, because Jack is such a reluctant leader. But he is the leader of the Losties nonetheless. The reason that Jason went on his quest with the Argonauts was to take the rule of Iolcus away from the usurper, his uncle Pelias. The story goes that the Delphic oracle told Pelias to beware a man with one shoe. When Jason arrived in Iolcus, an old woman asked him to help her across a river. In doing so, Jason lost one shoe. The woman was actually Hera in disguise. So, when Jason arrived to speak with Pelias, he was wearing only one shoe, and Pelias was wary. He said that Jason could have the throne if he brought back both the Golden Fleece and the ghost of Phrixus, who had never received a proper burial. Pelias assumed these tasks were impossible, and that Jason would die.

In the first episode of “Lost,” when Jack wakes up in the jungle, and runs toward the beach, we see one white sneaker hanging in a tree. This is meant to be a reference to Jason's arrival in Iolcus. The shoe motif is repeated throughout the series: Hurley owns a sneaker company. Kate removes shoes from a dead body. Locke takes off his shoes when he first enters the hatch. Claire only has time to knit one bootie for Aaron. These are all references to Jason.

It’s two! Two! Two clues in one:

In a deleted scene from season 1, Jack says to Claire, “Well, it’s nice to meet you, weird amnesia chick. I’m the heroic doctor.”

Best ExtraTerrestrial reference: In "SOS," Jack shouts, "I'll be right here."

The name Sarah means "princess." Jack meets his future wife when she is brought into the emergency room after a car accident. Her pericardial, the sac around the heart, has been pierced by the steering column. This is a reference to Medea's heartlessness (her heart is pierced) and the fact that she steered Jason in the right direction and then sailed away with him on the Argo. Jack makes the decision to save Sarah instead of working on Adam Rutherford, and Mr. Rutherford dies. Sarah makes several references to dancing at her wedding, and her fiance says that she was on the way to a dress fitting. Composer Samuel Barber wrote the concert suite "Medea's Meditation and Dance of Vengeance." The dress fitting was a reference to Medea's murder of Jason's new bride Glauce, and Sarah's hope to dance at her wedding refers to this "dance of vengeance" that Medea performed out of her extreme jealousy. Sarah even says to Jack before her operation. "I can't feel anything."

Jack describes the extensive damage to Sarah's body, and does not hold out hope that she can be fixed. Yet, miraculously, she is fixed. Perhaps this was due more to Medea's magic than to Jack's skill. Certainly the impossible seems to have happened.

In "Do No Harm," Sarah comes downstairs to Jack at night, in her pajamas, and obtains his assurance that he will write his wedding vows. This echoes Medea's visit to Jason the night before he must sow the dragon's teeth, when he promises to marry her in exchange for her assistance. Sarah notes that a couple of other women are checking Jack out. It's Medea's jealous nature that is being revealed. Sarah and Jack play "Heart and Soul" on the piano, and Sarah takes "the easy part." We find out that Sarah's wedding vows include the line "Where you go, I will go," just as Medea did with Jason. Sarah also says, "I risk it all because I love you," which is exactly what Medea did. Jack ironically says, "I didn't fix you. You fixed me." She sure did, buddy.

In "The Hunting Party," Sarah says she thought she might be pregnant, but took a test and it was negative. In a sense, she took a child away from Jack with this line. She says she's seeing someone else, and is leaving Jack. Apparently, Sarah found her Aegeus.

Marc Silverman is a childhood friend of Jack Shephard. The name "silver man" is a reference to Talos, the bronze man. When Jack and Marc were kids, some bullies attacked Marc, and Jack stepped in to help. When Christian shephard questions Jack about the incident, he says, "A couple of guys jumped Mark Silverman. But they didn't jump you?" This line is probably a reference to the armed men that sprang from the ground when Jason sowed the dragon's teeth. Using Medea's trick, Jason threw a rock and got the armed men to beat up each other instead of attacking him. Talos also was known for throwing rocks. Before Jack's wedding, Jack notes that giving a speech is a big responsibility. Marc says he can handle the responsibility, but he'll need eight beers to get the courage to do it. Jack says, "She'll bust you, man," referring to Sarah noticing Marc's drinking. Marc then says he'll brush his teeth, so we have another reference to the dragon's teeth. Sarah does in fact bust Marc, because when she gets up to make a speech at the reception, after Marc has used the microphone, she says that she thinks the microphone is drunk. Marc was "drugged" and Sarah busted him, just as Talos was drugged and killed by Medea.

Atalanta was the lone female Argonaut. She was famous for her swiftness, and could wrestle men and beat them. She was a headstrong huntress and adventurer, who was the first to shoot the Calydonian boar with her arrow, besting the male hunters. A man named Meleager, who was in love with Atalanta, finished off the boar and awarded the prize to Atalanta. The male hunters protested that the prize should not go to a woman. In the ensuing argument, Meleager killed his own uncles, and in response his mother brought about Meleager's own death. Atalanta killed two centaurs who attempted to rape her. Her father’s identity is unclear, but he wanted a boy and abandoned her in Arcadia. She was suckled by a she-bear before being adopted by hunters. Atalanta wanted to remain a Virgin, but ultimately a race was held in which her suitors had to run against her, unarmed. If she overtook them, she would kill them. Only the man who could beat her in the race could become her husband. Many suitors lost their lives in the race, but a young, non-athletic man named Hippomenes won the race when he intentionally dropped three golden apples and Atalanta stopped to pick them up. The newlywed couple made love in a temple, dishonoring the gods, and were turned into a lion and lioness by either Zeus or Cybele, and placed in the sky as a constellation.

Kate fits all of the characteristics of Atalanta. She is swift, adventurous, headstrong, and often shown on top of men. (This camera angle is even remarked upon in commentary on the first season DVD.) Her father’s identity is in doubt. She believed that her stepfather (Sam Austen) was her biological father, but discovered that her father was apparently the abusive Wayne, whom she had assumed was her stepfather. Her mother, Diane, represents Cybele, the Mistress of the Animals, and Kate tracked deer with Sam Austen. She said of Sam that “Being in the woods, it was like his religion.” Kate is frequently shown gathering fruit and running. She loved Tom but was responsible for his death. She shot her three male accomplices in the bank robbery she set up to retrieve Tom’s toy plane. She was being pursued by the Marshal, Edward Mars, for the murder of Wayne. She admits to having been briefly married.

Best dialogue clue for Kate/Atalanta so far: In “Outlaws,” Sawyer says to Kate, “Thank you, boar expert.”

Diane Jansen is the mother of Kate Austen. She was married to Sam Austen, who represents Attis. Diane had an affair with Wayne and apparently Wayne is the biological father of Kate. By this act of infidelity, Diane symbolically "castrated" Sam. It remains to be seen whether Diane played some part in separating the young lovers, Kate and Tom. We do know that Diane was the one who turned Kate in after Wayne's death. This act probably symbolizes Cybele's punishment of Atalanta and Hippomenes. Since Kate represents Atalanta, who was raised by hunters, it makes sense that Cybele, the Mistress of the Animals, is Kate's mother. When Gordy orders his chicken salad from Diane with white meat only, and she tells him, "That's how we make it here, darlin'," it may have been a humorous reference to pork being "the other white meat."

Best clues to Diane's identity: In "The Long Con," Gordy calls Diane "sweetheart" and she calls him "darlin'."

Sam Austen was married to Diane Jansen, the mother of Kate. Apparently, while Sam was away in Korea with the U.S. Army, Diane had an affair with Wayne and conceived Kate, symbolically "castrating" Sam.

Best dialogue clues to Sam's identity:
In "One of Them," Tariq says to Sayid about Sam, "Tell him his mother is a goat."
In "All the Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues," Kate says of Sam, “Being in the woods, it was like his religion.”

The name Brennan is of English origin, and means "to brand." Tom Brennan and Kate were obviously old flames, but in "Born to Run," we learn that Tom is married to a woman named Rachel. Kate and Tom dig up a time capsule that they buried when they were kids. One of the items in the box is a baseball cap that reads: Westhills. The memories evoked by the contents of the time capsule (actually a lunchbox) ignite their true feelings, and they kiss. Later, Tom is accidentally shot and killed by the police when he stays with Kate and tries to convince her to turn herself in. As in the mythological story of Meleager, we have a box being opened and flames being ignited, resulting in tragedy. Tom's love and support for Kate ended in his death.

In "Born to Run," Kate sees photos of Tom's son Connor on the refrigerator, and says, "He's beautiful." Tom replies, "Yeah, well, it's... it's Rachel... it's not me." This is an indication that Connor is not Tom's biological son, as Ganymede was not the son of Meleager. The name Rachel means "sheep," and Ganymede was shepherding a flock of sheep when he was abducted. The refrigerator magnets and photos are clues. In one photo, Tom is shown holding Connor, who appears to be looking directly at an eagle magnet, which looks back at him. Another photo shows Rachel and Connor by a pool, and still another has Rachel and Connor on a boat. Both of these settings are water-related, and Ganymede became the water bearer. One of the photos is cut into an octagon, like the DHARMA logo. We see an accordion magnet, which references "Farmer in the Sky." In another photo, we see Rachel, Connor, and another boy, and there is a glass on the table in front of them. Ganymede was a cupbearer.

In “Born to Run,” after Tom Brennan has been shot, Kate turns around to look in the back seat of the car. We see a baseball, the toy plane, a Minnie Mouse figurine, Kate and Tom’s tape from 1989, and the New Kids on the Block lunchbox lid. On the baseball, there are several signatures visible. Toward the top, upside down, it reads: John L — and the last name is illegible. However, we know there is a John Locke on the island, and he represents Orion. On the left side of the ball, it may read: RIP815. But upside-down,the name looks like SIR— . The lettering is very faint, but could spell “SIRIUS.” On the right bottom of the ball, there is a name that looks like Mandy YenS— . A woman named Mandy Stanley is the author of a book titled “Lettice, the Flying Rabbit.” I believe the letters of her last name have been scrambled, to indicate that her signature stands for the constellation Lepus (the Rabbit).

Here is a screencap.

If you look at this illustration of the constellations, you will see that the position of these signatures coincides with the positions of Orion, Canis Major (where Sirius is located), and Lepus.

According to Wikipedia, "In Greek mythology, Actaeon, son of Aristaeus and Autonoe in Boeotia, was a famous Theban hero, trained by the centaur Chiron, who suffered the fatal wrath of Atemis....Artemis was bathing in the woods near Boeotian Orchomenos when the hunter Actaeon stumbled across her, thus seeing her naked. He stopped and stared, amazed at her ravishing beauty. Once seen, Actaeon was punished by Artemis: she forbade him speech — if he tried to speak, he would be changed into a stag — for the unlucky profanation of her virginity's mystery. Upon hearing the call of his hunting party, he cried out to them and immediately was changed into a stag. His own hounds then turned upon him and tore him to pieces....Diodorus Siculus has it that Actaeon wanted to marry Artemis. Other authors say the hounds were Artemis' own. According to the Latin version of the story told by the Roman Ovid...having accidentally seen Diana (Artemis) on Mount Cithaeron while she was bathing, he was changed by her into a stag, and pursued and killed by his fifty hounds....His statue was often set up on rocks and mountains as a protection against excessive heat. The myth itself probably represents the destruction of vegetation during the fifty Dog Days."

The Greek Mythology Link notes: "For not knowing anything about the secret cave of Artemis in the vale of Gargaphia, Actaeon came wandering with his dogs after a day of hunt, and entered the cave when the goddess of the wild woods was preparing to bathe in the waters of the spring Parthenius together with the nymphs that attended her. When Actaeon came into the cave, the girls, with loud cries, thronged around Artemis trying to hide her body with their own. But Artemis, standing head and shoulders over the rest, took up the water and flung it into Actaeon's face saying: 'Now you are free to tell that you have seen me all unrobed—if you can tell.'"

Note that Actaeon's mother, Autonoe, was the daughter of Cadmus and Harmonia. On their wedding day, Harmonia was given a robe and a necklace that were cursed, and were fated to bring disaster to several generations of their family.

Kevin is a Miami police officer who is briefly married to Kate. In the episode "I Do," Kevin sleeps with Kate hours before their wedding. She notes, "Seriously. It's bad luck to see the bride before the wedding." Kevin replies, "It's bad luck to see the bride in her dress before the wedding. You, my friend, are naked." This echoes Actaeon seeing Artemis naked. Before the wedding ceremony, Kevin's mother gives Kate a necklace that was passed down to her by her own mother. This represents the necklace of Harmonia, and Kevin is certainly doomed to bad luck in this marriage. Kate decides that she must run, and she brings Kevin a drugged drink served over ice. In the Actaeon myth, Artemis splashes water on him to perform her magic; the ice in the drinks serves as the water in this case. Kate reveals to Kevin that she is a fugitive, knowing very well that he, as a police officer, will have to stag, or snitch, on her, and turn her over to the authorities. By drugging his drink, Kate renders Kevin temporarily speechless, so he is unable to call on his hunting party (his fellow police officers) for assistance, giving Kate time to escape. Kevin collapses, wearing a Miami Heat shirt. This represents the heat of the Dog Days, which in turn were named after Sirius, the Dog Star. Note that Kate uses the word "seriously" (Siriusly?) when warning Kevin about bad luck.

Kate uses the alias Monica in this episode, which is probably derived from the similarity between the words Harmonia and harmonica. Interestingly, the name Kevin Callis is an anagram of KILLS IN CAVE or CAVE SIN KILL. The surname Callis may also be a reference to Callisto, a nymph whom Artemis turned into a bear for having relations with Zeus. Artemis was a stickler about chastity, not only for herself, but for the nymphs who served her. No wonder Kate is so horrified that she might be pregnant in "I Do." It would be fitting for Kevin-as-Actaeon to reference Callisto, since both were victims of Artemis' rage, and both were turned into animals for their transgressions.

Epaphus is best known for founding the city of Memphis, Egypt. His mother was a woman named Io. When Zeus fell in love with her, he feared the wrath of his wife, Hera, and created a cloud around Io and himself to make love to her. But Hera came down to Earth and made the cloud disappear. Zeus had just enough time to turn Io into a beautiful white cow, to hide his infidelity, but Hera saw right through him. She asked for the cow as a gift, and then she had Io guarded by Argus, a creature with one hundred eyes. Zeus then asked Hermes to trick Argus into falling asleep and closing all of his eyes. Hermes was known as a con man and he succeeded in fooling Argus with a boring story. As soon as he dozed off, Hermes killed him. Hera, still angry at Io, tormented her by sending a gadfly to continually pester her, while Io wandered the Earth. Eventually, Io came upon Prometheus, who was chained to a rock as punishment for giving fire to man, and other stuff that angered Zeus. Prometheus was something of a con man himself, having tricked Zeus into accepting fat and bones as sacrifices instead of the fine meat of animals. Prometheus did this by dressing the fat and bones to look good, and hiding the meat under entrails, then asking Zeus which one he wanted. The rest of Io’s story comes from http://www.the-pantheon.com/prometheus_and_io.htm :

“Prometheus tried to comfort her, but he could only point her into the distant future. What lay immediately before her was still more wandering and in fearsome lands. To be sure, the part of the sea she first ran along in her frenzy would be called the Ionian, after her, and the Bosphorus, which means the Ford of the Cow, would preserve her memory of when she went through it, but her real consolation must be that at long last she would reach the Nile, where Zeus would restore her to her human form. She would bear him a son named Epaphus, and live happily ever after, honoured.”

We know that Sawyer has taken on the personality of the con man he thinks destroyed his family. But maybe Sawyer is angry at the wrong guy. In mythology, Prometheus had contact with Sawyer’s mother, but was not the cause of her tragedy. On "Lost," Sawyer has built up animosity toward Mr. Friendly (Prometheus). Sawyer has even taken on some characteristics of Prometheus. He needs glasses because he is "farsighted." (Prometheus means “forethought.”) He is able to plan out elaborate cons, like the one Prometheus pulled on Zeus. We have even seen Sawyer tied up and tortured as Prometheus was. But Sawyer could be emulating the wrong guy. It was Zeus who was really behind Io's tragedy. In essence, Sawyer the con man has been conned by Zeus. We can tell who Sawyer represents because his real last name is Ford (he is literally “Ford of the cow”) and because he is from Tennessee (where Memphis is located). Remember that boar who was watching Sawyer, and who took his tarp? That represented Io. The baby boar that Sawyer didn’t have the heart to kill represented Sawyer himself. And that annoying tree frog that drove Sawyer crazy represented the gadfly that tormented his mother. Also recall the story that Locke told Sawyer about how his mother thought a dog was Locke’s dead sister, who came back to comfort her. One of the themes of that episode was the personification of animals.

Also see Janelle Granger's listing, which demonstrates that Sawyer represents Oeneus of Calydon, whose failure to honor Artemis resulted in the Calydonian boar hunt.

The name James "Sawyer" Ford is a brilliant combination of at least three different sources, combining mythology and science fiction. First, Ford is derived from "Ford of the cow." But we also know that the creators of "Lost" have compared Sawyer to the "Star Wars" character Han Solo, who was played by Harrison Ford. He would have been a carpenter if his acting career had not taken off. The word "sawyer" means "one who saws wood," so it's related to the word "carpenter." Finally, there is a Canadian sci-fi writer named Robert James Sawyer, who is fond of using pop culture references in his work, and who wrote a book called Golden Fleece. We've gone from mythology to sci-fi and back to mythology again. It has all come back around, as Frank Duckett suggested to Sawyer before he died.

The writers may also be having some fun by relating Sawyer to two other mythological characters who were both named Argus: the one hundred-eyed creature who guarded Io, and the builder of the Argo. Sawyer has had at least two pairs of glasses, and one of those was made from two separate pairs, so he's had a lot of "eyes." And we've seen Sawyer use his sawing/carpentry skills when he expertly measured and cut a mast for the raft.

Best ironic line from Sawyer / Epaphus: “You and me ain’t done, Zeke.”

Gordius was a King of Phrygia, and the father of King Midas (See Frederick Deeds). The people of Phrygia were without a king, and there was a prophecy that the next man to drive into town in an ox-cart would be the new king. So who should come along at the most opportune moment but Gordius, his wife, and his son Midas. Some years before, an eagle had landed on the ox-cart, which was considered a sign from the gods. The woman who told Gordius that it was a sign turned out to be the goddess Cybele (See Diane Jansen). Gordius married her, and she was the mother of Midas. As a reminder of his humble origins, and to show respect for the gods, Gordius tied the cart in front of the palace with an intricate knot. This became known as the Gordian knot, and an oracle said that whoever untied the knot would become king of Asia. Years later, who should come along but Alexander the Great. He couldn't untie the knot, so he simply sliced through it with his sword. He would go on to fulfill the prophecy. To this day, "cutting the Gordian knot" means taking bold, decisive action to solve a seemingly unsolvable problem.

Gordy is a con man who has set up an elaborate and lengthy con with Sawyer to get money from a woman named Cassidy. Sawyer has fallen for Cassidy, and no longer wants to complete the con, but Gordy threatens to kill both Sawyer and Cassidy if he backs out of their deal. Sawyer is caught in a kind of Gordian knot, and ends up taking bold action to prevent Cassidy's death and possibly stiff Gordy at the same time. When Gordy and Sawyer meet in a diner where Diane Jansen works, Gordy calls her "sweetheart" and she refers to him as "darlin'," which are clues to their mythological marriage.

Best clue to Gordy's identity: In "The Long Con," he orders chicken salad from Diane, and specifies, "...and please, God, no celery, okay, sweetheart?"

(Note: Alexander is a European herb somewhat resembling celery, and Alexander the Great was the only one to break the Gordian knot.)

Another similarity is that Hurley has a penchant for accidentally stepping on things that he shouldn't (a sea urchin, a pressure trigger, Libby’s foot, the deck). Hercules, while fighting the Hydra, was bitten on the foot by a crab (Cancer), and crushed the crab by stepping on it. The nickname “Hurley” sounds similar to “Hercules,” and Hurley stated, “Back home, I’m known as something of a warrior myself.” Hercules’ weapon of choice was a club; on “Lost,” Hurley finds the bag of golf clubs and creates a golf course. Hurley tells Charlie that he’s worth $156 million. 156 divided by the Twelve Labors of Hercules equals unlucky 13. Hercules was one of the Argonauts, and is also a constellation.

Best dialogue puns for Hurley and the Twelve Labors so far:

Labor #2, the Hydra: “I’m a big guy; I get dehydrated easily.”

Labor #12, the capture of Cerberus: "Dude, dogs will eat anything."

In another unexpected twist, Hurley represents Cupid (also called Eros), the son of Venus (Aphrodite). His mother was jealous of the beauty of Psyche, and told Cupid to arrange it so that only a horrible monster would fall in love with the girl. But when Cupid saw Psyche, he fell in love with her himself. He gave her a palace in which to live, and became her husband, but he only came to her in the dark of night. She never saw what he looked like. One night, she looked at him by lamp light as he slept, and was relieved to find him a handsome young man, instead of a monster. But she spilled hot oil on him, causing him to wake up and leave her for disobeying his order not to try to look at him. Psyche pursued him to demonstrate her love for him, eventually doing a number of tasks for the jealous Venus, and ultimately winning back Cupid and gaining immortality for herself.

Libby has apparently been pursuing Hurley, and we now know that she was a patient at Santa Rosa Psychiatric Hospital during the time Hurley was there. She has flirted with him, and in "Fire + Water," she notes that she likes a man who keeps things simple. She asks him if she can "pull off" wearing a sexy purple halter top. These are references to Hurley's naivete with women, and the fact that she's hiding her past history in the mental institution. She's probably also lying about Hurley stepping on her foot on the plane, since she was sitting in the tail section. In "Dave," Hurley's imaginary friend calls Libby "the mega cute blonde chick." Libby notes that she's buried a lot of people, which may be a reference to the death of Megara's children.

Libby also fills the role of Psyche. The fact that Libby was a psychiatric patient establishes an obvious connection, but there are others. Psyche was such a beautiful woman that Venus grew jealous of her, and asked her son, Cupid, to arrange it so that only a horrible monster would fall in love with her. But Cupid fell in love with Psyche himself. He gave her a beautiful palace to live in, and became her husband, but he only came to her in the dark of night. She never saw what he looked like, and he told her never to attempt to find out. Her jealous sisters told Psyche that he must be a monster, and advised her to bring a knife and a lamp to her bedroom, and see what her husband looked like after he fell asleep. If he were a monster, Psyche was to kill him with the knife. When Cupid fell asleep, Psyche lit the lamp and was relieved to find him a handsome young man. But she dropped some hot oil on him, and he woke up and left her. She pursued him tirelessly, finally ending up at his mother's house. Venus gave Psyche several impossible tasks to perform, including separating a pile of tiny mixed seeds; collecting golden wool from fierce sheep; and retrieving water from the River Styx. In each case, Psyche received divine help and performed the tasks. Finally, Venus told her to go to the Underworld and get her a beauty treatment from Persephone. Psyche thought the best way to reach the Underworld would be to kill herself, so she climbed a tall tower to jump. But the tower spoke to her and instructed her on getting safely to and from the Underworld. While there, she was not to eat anything, or she could never leave. Psyche successfully retrieved the box from Persephone, but grew curious about the beauty secret inside. When she opened the box, she was overcome with sleep. Cupid found her and things worked out well for the two lovers, with Zeus granting Psyche immortality.

Libby has been pursuing Hurley as Psyche pursued Cupid. She opened up another passenger's suitcase to find the flashy purple top, just as Psyche opened the box that didn't belong to her. In "Dave," Libby and Hurley are at the edge of a tall cliff, reminiscent of Psyche at the top of the tower. Libby convinces Hurley to destroy his stash of food. Psyche knew that one shouldn't eat food in the Underworld. Hurley tells her, "You're just the part of me that's scared. You don't want me to wake up." Since Psyche means "soul," this is like saying that she represents the part of him that is afraid. Saying that Libby doesn't want him to wake up mimics the secret mission of Psyche to see what Cupid looked like while he slept.

John Locke is the biological son of Anthony Cooper. He is the island's Great White Hunter, bringing back boar and calling Vincent with a homemade whistle. He also seems knowledgeable about bees, as we saw when Charlie stepped on the beehive. Prior to his arrival on the island, he was paralyzed. We don't yet know the reason for this, but it seems that Locke's paralysis is a substitute for Orion's blindness. The island seems to have cured Locke's paralysis, as the all-seeing sun god cured Orion's blindness. Locke appears to have some kind of inner sight, and a connection with the island. When he pounds on the hatch in frustration, rays of light appear from inside, like the rays of the sun. He takes on a young companion, Boone, who assists him, as Cedalion assisted Orion. After Boone is injured, Locke carries him on his shoulders, as Orion carried Cedalion. Locke donated a kidney to Anthony Cooper, and has a surgical scar that runs in a line similar to Orion's Belt.

Best dialogue pun for Locke / Orion so far, from “All the Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues.” Locke and Boone have lost Claire and Charlie’s trail:

Boone: What are we following?

Locke: My gut.

(Hint: To find Sirius in the night sky, follow Orion’s Belt downward.)

Bellerophon was raised by Eurynome and her husband Glaucus, but was rumored to be the son of Poseidon. Since Locke is the son of Anthony Cooper, he is a son of Poseidon. Bellerophon’s dearest wish was to own the winged horse, Pegasus. He was advised by a seer to sleep in Athena’s temple, where he had a prophetic dream. Athena came to him and gave him a golden bridle with which he could charm Pegasus. He went out and, with the bridle, was able to become master of the flying horse. Later, he fell to the Earth while riding Pegasus, and was crippled.

John Locke, who was crippled until the crash of flight 815, fell asleep in the jungle while trying to figure out how to open the hatch. He had a dream in which he saw the Nigerian Beechcraft crash on the island. He also saw his mother, Emily Locke, pointing up to the sky, and he saw Boone covered in blood. When he awoke, he followed the direction of the Beechcraft and found it in the jungle.

In the episode "Lockdown," John Locke plays the role of Odysseus, the son of Sisyphus. Odysseus went off to fight in the Trojan War, and got sidetracked continuously on his journey back. He finally arrived home twenty years after he had left. His wife, Penelope, waited patiently all that time, while being pestered by suitors who wanted to marry her.

John Locke operates a home inspection service called "Welcome Home," as a nod to Odysseus. He inspects the home of Nadia, who represents Helen of Troy. Helen was "the face that launched a thousand ships," and started the Trojan War, so showing Locke with Nadia was a way of conveying that he was off fighting in the Trojan War. It's also interesting to note that one can look up the genealogy of mythological characters by looking at their "houses" (The House of Sparta, the House of Troy, the House of Hades, etc.). Remember that Locke's girlfriend Helen told him when they first met that she liked bald men, and Locke said he wasn't bald. Helen replied, "I can wait." She also said she'd wasted twenty years of her life being angry about something. These clues point to the fact that Helen represents Penelope in "Lockdown." At the same time, she represents Merope, who was initially the love of Orion, and later married Sisyphus, the father of Odysseus.

When Boone climbed inside the Nigerian plane, he discovered that it was filled with heroin hidden inside Virgin Mary statues. A nickname for heroin is “horse.” Since the “horse” was on a plane, it was a “flying horse” or “winged horse.” Locke was recreating for us Bellerophon’s dream.

We have seen that John Locke represents both Orion and Odysseus on the show. Orion fell in love with one of the Pleiades, whose name was Merope. Her name means "honey-faced" or "eloquent," but initially meant "bee mask." We know that this relationship ended with the rape of Merope, and Orion being blinded by her guardian. She would later marry Sisyphus. In "Lockdown," we get a reference to the "bee mask" when Locke enters the house and calls Helen "Honey."

Helen's other role on the show is that of Penelope, the long-suffering wife of Odysseus, who waited twenty years for him to return from the Trojan War. When Helen first meets Locke, she says she likes bald men, and Locke says he's not bald. Helen replies, "I can wait." She goes on to say that she has wasted twenty years of her life being angry about something. These are both references to Penelope.

Locke's mother, Emily, is a composite character, representing all three of these women:
Mother of Orion, Poseidon's son: EURYALE
Mother of Bellerophon, Poseidon's son: EURYNOME
Mother of Odysseus, Sisyphus' son: ANTIKLEIA (or ANTICLEIA)

Boone was a young, handsome lifeguard. Lifeguards are supposed to watch the water to keep swimmers safe. When Boone climbed up to the Beechcraft and spoke into the radio, saying, “We’re the survivors of the crash of Oceanic flight 815,” he was met with an echo (Bernard’s voice), saying, “We’re the survivors of Oceanic flight 815.” Boone was also in love with Shannon (his stepsister). It wasn’t until Boone “knew himself,” after having the hallucination about Shannon’s death, and feeling relief, that he died. Locke said, “Is that what it made you see?” Note that, in his hallucination, Boone holds Shannon’s dead body at the edge of a stream, while her blood runs in the water. Once he had seen his own features in a psychological sense, he overcame his unhealthy obsession with her, and the prophecy of his death was fulfilled. When Jack was treating Boone’s wounds, he noted that blood was pooling in his leg. The idea of self-absorption, or being in love with his own male reflection, is picked up when Shannon asks Boone if Locke is his new boyfriend. Perhaps Boone had had homosexual relationships in the past. Boone’s mother’s name is Sabrina, and she is supposedly the Martha Stewart of weddings. Her name sounds like Selene, and her career is probably a pun on “moon goddess” and “honeymoon.” The fact that John Locke's legs became numb when he was with Boone may be a reference to the source of the name Narcissus.

Locke has a vision of a bloodied Boone saying, "Theresa falls up the stairs, Theresa falls down the stairs." Boone later says that Theresa was his nanny, who died in a fall down the stairs. This was probably a reference to Teiresias, who had actually lived part of his life as a woman. (He was turned into a woman for a number of years, then transformed back into a man.) The "stairs" are most likely oracle octaves, which I won't describe here. However, you can Google the term to learn more about it.

Boone also fills the role of Cedalion, the young guide of Orion (See John Locke). When Locke's legs fail him on the search for the Beechcraft, Boone helps him. Later, after Boone is injured, Locke carries him over his shoulders, as Orion carried Cedalion.

Best dialogue pun for Boone/Narcissus so far: Boone finds that the radio in the Beechcraft is working, and tries to send out a distress call: He says, “We’re the survivors of the crash of Oceanic flight 815. Please copy.”

Some of the Losties play more than one mythological role on “Lost.” Shannon serves to complete Boone’s story by representing his twin sister. But she has a myth in her own right, as Ariadne. Ariadne was the daughter of King Minos of Crete. The King had Daedalus build him a labyrinth to house the Minotaur (half-man, half-bull), and every nine years, seven young men and seven maidens from Athens had to enter the labyrinth as a sacrifice. Naturally, they were always killed. When Theseus came to Crete for this terrible ritual, Ariadne fell in love with him. She provided him with a string to tie to the door and carry into the labyrinth and unravel, so he could find his way out again after killing the Minotaur, by following the string. In return, he was to marry her. Theseus succeeded, and sailed away with Ariadne, but later abandoned her (either accidentally or purposefully) on the island of Naxos.

Shannon is the daughter of a wealthy man, who knows her way around string. In “...In Translation,” we get the following exchange:

Sayid: How does a woman like you learn to tie a perfect bowline knot?

Shannon: By dating guys with sailboats?

Sayid: Since you bring it up, I've been worried since I first met you that you might end up being a spinster.

Shannon: Spending my Saturday nights alone at home, tying knots?

Sayid: Perhaps with an overweight aunt? It's a very sad image.

Shannon: Maybe we should get some rope, spend a Saturday night alone together, and see what happens.

Note that Shannon’s final episode, in which she is accidentally shot by Ana Lucia, is titled “Abandoned.” Daedalus also built a dance floor for Ariadne, and Shannon was shown in her backstory as a ballet teacher.

The cable that Sayid finds on the beach and follows into Danielle's trap represents Ariadne's sting. The string led into the labyrinth, which was every bit as much of a trap as Danielle's device.

We have seen Sayid's concern for proper burial several times on the show: when Jack decided to burn the bodies in the fuselage; when Sayid's friend Essam killed himself in Australia; and when Sayid spoke about Boone at Boone's funeral, while everyone else was silent. We have also seen that Sayid became a torturer, after being coerced into torturing his commanding officer in the first Gulf War. He beat Henry Gale with his bare hands, and seemed to obsess over the fact that Henry should remember every detail about burying his wife. Sayid followed the cable on the beach right into Danielle's trap, which was a nod to Theseus following Ariadne's string into the labyrinth. Sayid also was romantically involved with Shannon, and once helped her tie a large white fabric, reminiscent of a sail, to her shelter. We have heard Sayid speak to Charlie about not forgetting the wrongs that have been done to the Losties. He seems extremely concerned that they should not forget, as Theseus did, with tragic results.

Helen of Troy was the most beautiful woman in the world. She was married to Menelaus, the King of Sparta, but fell in love with Paris. When he brought her back with him to Troy, it was the start of the Trojan War. Helen is known as "the face that launched a thousand ships." When Helen was a child, she was kidnapped by Theseus, who intended to marry her when she grew up. However, while Theseus was away in the Underworld, Helen was rescued by her brothers, Castor and Pollux.

We are introduced to Nadia on the show as a face in a photograph. Sayid treasures his photos of Nadia, whom he has known since childhood. They are now parted, and he is on his way to find her when flight 815 crashes. When he is held and tortured by Danielle, she keeps the photos, and when her bunker is later destroyed, Sayid finds a partial photo that still shows Nadia's face. Her beauty endures. In "Lockdown," John Locke, representing Odysseus, inspects Nadia's house. This is a way of indicating that he fought in the Trojan War. Nadia says she does not have a husband. This may be a reference to the time period after Helen had left Menelaus and was living in Troy with Paris.

The Marathonian Bull was a creature that was laying waste to the city of Marathon, killing people and destroying crops. In an effort to kill off Theseus, his wicked stepmother, Medea, suggested that he capture this bull. Theseus was able to successfully capture the bull, and he brought it back to Athens and sacrificed it.

Tariq was Sayid's commanding officer in the first Gulf War. His name sounds rather like Taurus. It was revealed that Tariq had been involved in killing people with nerve gas in a village where Sayid had relatives. Sayid is eventually persuaded to torture Tariq to obtain information on the whereabouts of an American helicopter pilot. The device he uses to torture him is a pair of bull nose pliers, which are shaped like a bull lead, a device used to guide the animal by its nose. Sayid sacrifices his commanding officer, just as Theseus sacrificed the Marathonian Bull. Symbolically, Sayid's hands are bloodied when he returns the box of torture devices to Kelvin Inman. Before the torture begins, Tariq taunts Sayid by saying, "Sayid, you are a loyal soldier. The son of a great hero. Do not disgrace your father!" This is a parallel to Theseus bringing honor to his father, Aegeus, the King of Athens.

Charlie Pace is a musician with so much charm, he could convince a hungry pregnant woman that an empty jar contained peanut butter. In Charlie’s story, Claire represents Eurydice. We can now understand Charlie’s irrational fear of bees, and why the bee hive was on the ground. We can also see how Jack was able to bring Charlie back from the dead after he was hanged. Like Orpheus, Charlie descended to the Underworld, and was brought back again.

In “Homecoming,”, we see him meet a girl named Lucy. When he first goes to her house, the door knocker is the face of a classical mythological woman. His encounter with Lucy and her friends at the bar is also enlightening:

Songs we see in close-up on jukebox:
“No More I Love You’s” and “Ladies of the Canyon”by Annie Lennox
“You All Everybody” by DriveShaft
“You Got It” and “Feeling of Falling” by Bonnie Raitt
“No More I Love You’s” refers to Orpheus’ depression over Eurydice’s death.
“Ladies of the Canyon” refers to the Sirens.
“You Got It” refers to Orpheus’ charm.
“Feeling of Falling” refers to Eurydice’s descent into the Underworld, or to Orpheus falling in love.

Tommy: Ready to fall in love, Mr. Charlie Pace of the legendary rock band, Driveshaft?

Charlie: Absolutely.

(Charlie talks to the girls while the jukebox plays)

Charlie: Seriously, ladies, I demand you stop buying me more drinks. I'm a man of high moral standing. Your obvious plans to take me home and ravish me will not work. Saucy sirens. I believe in monogamy. I will not be shared like a common curry.

Lucy: Are we that obvious?

Charlie: Dreadfully. Call yourself ladies? Jane Austen would be ashamed. I personally feel very misunderstood.

In this exchange, we have references to both the Sirens and to a group of women who want to ravish him. More than once, Charlie has been called a “rock god.” Now we know the real meaning behind the term. It’s also interesting that Charlie kicked his heroin habit and seemed to want to settle down with Claire, while Orpheus gave up the wild, drunken aspects of worshiping Dionysus, and swore off other women after Eurydice died. The concept of a drug inside a woman (the heroin inside the statues) is a parallel to the frenzied women who worshiped Dionysus, god of wine. In “Fire and Water,” we saw a dream in which Charlie’s father, a butcher, hacked the heads off dolls. This was probably a reference to the bloody sacrifices practiced by those who honored Dionysus. On the morning that Charlie boarded flight 815, he was attacked by a junkie girl who was desperate for a fix. This was one more reference to Orpheus and the Dionysus-worshiping women.

Since Charlie Pace represents Orpheus, his guitar is Orpheus’ lyre. We’ve seen how important the guitar is to Charlie. But the biggest hint is when Locke tells Charlie to “Look up” to find the guitar. Orpheus’ lyre was placed in the sky as the constellation Lyra.

Claire plays several roles in the “Lost” mythology. In Charlie’s story, she is Eurydice, who was pursued by the Bee-man (Aristeas), bitten by a snake in the grass, and descends to the Underworld. When Ethan abducts Claire, he is acting as a “snake in the grass.” He takes her to a DHARMA bunker with the caduceus symbol on the door. This symbol depicts snakes entwined around a staff. He then “stings” her with a needle in her belly. Although Charlie is brought back from the dead by Jack, Claire is kept underground for two weeks. Unlike Eurydice, she finally emerges again, but this time her role has changed.

In one of the deleted scenes on the first season DVD, Claire refers to herself as “that weird amnesia chick.” Indeed, upon her return to the Losties’ camp, Claire is no longer Eurydice. She even says in that scene, “Certain people seem familiar, like I’ve met them before in another life or something.” When she returns to camp, she represents Lethe, the female personification of forgetfulness. There is a river in the Underworld with the same name. When people died, they had to drink the water from this river so they would forget their previous life. If someone was allowed to return to life, he had to drink the water again, so as to forget the afterlife. When Ethan gives Claire water from his canteen, she says it is sour. This was the water of the River Lethe, and this was the cause of her amnesia.

According to some myths, the naiad Lethe was the mother of Dionysus, who was fathered by Zeus. There are other versions naming different mothers. One version has it that Semele was his mother, but when she saw Zeus in his full splendor, she was instantly incinerated by his thunderbolt. (I have just given you a euphemism for great sex. Thank me later.) Zeus rescued the unborn child and sewed him up in his own thigh until it was time for Dionysus to be born. Thus, Dionysus is known as “twice born.” He was then raised by Semele’s sister Ino and her husband, Athamus. They didn’t exactly have a happy family life, to put things mildly. Anyway, how does this fit in with Claire?

In Emilie de Ravin’s audition tape, on the season 1 DVD, she reads a scene in which it is revealed that Claire is acting as a surrogate mother for her friend Ruth, who can’t carry a child due to medical problems. So the baby is not Claire’s biological child. The embryo was implanted in her, much like Dionysus was sewn into Zeus’ thigh. This would make Aaron “twice born,” like Dionysus. Richard Malkin, the psychic, told Claire that she must raise the baby. The potential adoptive couple on “Lost” represent Ino and Athamus, and the psychic saw that things would turn out badly for them. In the end, the producers of the show must have decided to go with the simpler “Lethe is Dionysus’ mother” storyline, but it’s fitting that there were two different scenarios, since the true identity of Dionysus’ mother is in doubt in mythology. In "Maternity Leave," we saw in Claire's backstory that (according to Alex) the doctors in the medical bunker intended to take Aaron from Claire by Caesarian section, and then kill her. This parallels the death of Semele, and Zeus taking the fetus from her.

Claire plays a third role, this time for Ethan’s story. Besides representing Aristeas the Bee-man, Ethan also represents Epimetheus, the brother of Prometheus. While Prometheus (whose name means “forethought”) had good sense, Epimetheus (“afterthought”) did not. When Zeus wanted to get back at mankind for a deception that Prometheus had pulled on him, he sent the world Pandora. Her name means “the gift of all.” He gave her to Epimetheus, and despite Prometheus’ warning never to accept a gift from Zeus, Epimetheus was charmed by Pandora and accepted her. What happened next is a familiar story. The gods gave Pandora a box that each had filled with something bad, and they told her not to open it. But her curiosity got the better of her, and she opened it. Out flew all kinds of plagues and evils. Pandora shut the box, and all that remained inside was Hope. Now, on “Lost,” Ethan seemed to become smitten with Claire, and he let his guard down enough to take her outside the bunker for a walk. This excursion (and his lack of forethought) enabled her to identify the location of the medical bunker later on. To Claire, the bunker contained the hope of curing Aaron. But after getting into the bunker, and into the refrigerator, she found that the vaccine was gone. Her hope was also gone at that point, but it turned out that not all was lost. Aaron recovered

This underground facility (and probably all of the bunkers) represents the Underworld, where both Eurydice (Claire) and Persephone (Alex) have been taken. See their stories for more information, and also note that the water from this bunker comes from the River Lethe, which induces amnesia.

Since Claire represents Lethe (see story above), Aaron represents Dionysus, who was “twice born.” The fact that Charlie wants to be a father figure for Aaron makes perfect sense, since Orpheus was originally a follower of Dionysus. Charlie's nickname for Aaron, Turnip Head, is a reference to the thyrsus, a sacred implement associated with Dionysus. The thyrsus was composed of a fennel staff topped by a pine cone. The shape of a turnip is similar to the shape of a fennel bulb.

Another reference to Dionysus is heard in "The Greater Good":
Charlie [Singing]: The itsy-bitsy spider climbed up the spout, down came the rain and drowned the spider out...
Hurley: Dude, it's washed... washed the spider out. Unless it's some kind of British version?
Charlie: Oh, okay. [Singing] Down came the rain and washed the spider... [Speaking] oh, bollocks, shhhh, shhh, shhh.
Hurley: What's the matter, man?
Charlie: Well, I can't get the bloody thing to stop crying.
Hurley: Maybe it's hungry?
Charlie: Nope, Claire nursed him five times.

According to the web site Greek Musical Traditions in Southern Italy:
"The tarantella, a popular dance used for curing the bite of a spider, Lycosa tarantula, is typical of the region. Many of the spider's victims were women who would go into a trance, dancing ecstatically until, exhausted, they would slow down, taken as a sign that they were cured....The performers were not only able musicians but akin to shamans who were able to find the appropriate rhythm for the kind of spider that had bit the patient. It is generally accepted that the tarantella is directly related to the ritual of the cult of Dionysus (the patron god of wine) of Ancient Greece."

So, not only is the spider related to Dionysus, but Charlie calling the baby a "bloody thing" is very appropriate for Dionysus. This god was associated with bloody rituals, and, in fact, Orpheus, whom Charlie represents, was torn to pieces by frenzied female followers of Dionysus. The fact that Claire nursed Aaron five times refers to the Bacchanalia, which were wild festivals in honor of Bacchus, the Roman version of Dionysus. They were held five times a month. Charlie's error in using the word "drowned" is a reference to the following myth about Dionysus:

"Once, on one of his travels, when he was resting on a beach, pirates held him as their hostage because they thought that he was a prince. When he told them that they had made a mistake, they just laughed and continued to sail. Suddenly, out of the sea sprang vines laden with grapes. They twined all over the ship. The air filled with the sound of tigers roaring. Horrified, the sailors threw themselves into the water, but instead of letting them drown, Dionysus turned them into dolphins."

Aaron is also playing the role of Achilles, son of a mortal father and an immortal sea nymph mother. Thetis, Achilles' mother, wanted to protect her son. There are two versions of how she attempted to do this. In one version, she anoints the child with ambrosia and places him in the fire to burn away his mortality. Her husband comes upon the scene and cries out, causing Thetis to throw the baby to the ground and storm out, returning to the sea. In another version, she dips the baby in the River Styx, but neglects to wet his heel, by which she holds him, leaving him vulnerable in that one spot. Thetis herself was a shape-shifter, who had attempted to elude her future husband, Peleus, by changing into a number of different things, including both fire and water.

On "Lost," we see the contrasting themes of fire and water played out in the episode "Fire + Water," which deals with baptism. The parallels between baptism by fire, baptism by water and the story of Achilles are clear. We also discover in "Maternity Leave" that Claire managed to knit just one bootie for Aaron while in the DHARMA medical bunker. This means that only one foot can be protected, while the other remains vulnerable. Additionally, when Danielle kidnaps Aaron, she is eventually found with him by a roaring fire on the beach. This is a reference to a myth about Demeter in which she, like Thetis, attempts to make an infant immortal by placing him in fire. When the baby's mother walks in and interrupts this ritual, Demeter also throws the baby to the ground. Note that, in "Fire + Water," Charlie's brother Liam admits that he has dropped his baby daughter, bringing this theme into the show. Claire's concern over Aaron's rash, and her search for the vaccine in "Maternity Leave" reference the attempts of Thetis to protect Achilles by making him invulnerable.

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