Michael was, at one time, an artist, though he later worked in construction. He tells Walt that, as a child, he was inspired by the Flatiron Building in New York City. He drew designs for a bamboo aqueduct on the island. He built the raft, which was burned by Walt. Having learned from his design mistakes on the first raft, he used the opportunity of the fire to build a better one, thus making the new raft “born of fire.” So he was, in a sense, the god of (c)rafts on the island. Michael was hit by a car and required extensive therapy on his leg, so he was lame like Hephaestus. At the beginning of the series, a triangle developed between Michael, Sun, and Jin. This makes sense when you substitute Hephaestus, Aphrodite, and Hermes for those names. Michael was the first to know that Sun spoke English, even before Jin. He also accidentally saw Sun topless. Jin was jealous of Michael, and thought there was something going on between him and Sun, but she tells Jin that is ridiculous.

Michael had a child, Walt, with Susan Lloyd, but they were never married. She later married Brian Porter. Walt was named for Michael’s father. Note that Walter means “powerful warrior, rule army, rules the people.”

The name Michael means "Who is like God," an apt moniker for the god Hephaestus. I believe the last name Dawson refers to a black, crow-like bird called the jackdaw, or simply, daw. These birds are known as notorious thieves, as they are attracted to, and steal, shiny objects. An example of this trait is found in the poem "The Jackdaw of Rheims," in which a jackdaw steals a Cardinal's ring. Later, after being cursed by the Cardinal, the daw returns, bedraggled and with a limp, and leads men to the ring in his nest. On "Lost," Michael finds the watch that Jin is supposed to deliver for Mr. Paik, and Jin accuses him of being a thief. In various mythologies, the story of the blacksmith centers on the theft of fire. In Greek mythology, Prometheus steals fire from the forge of Hephaestus. In Dogon mythology, the blacksmith character is associated with the jackal (Ogo), who steals fire from the sun. So, the jackdaw is a black bird, representative of the blacksmith, whose call of "Jack!" reminds us of the jackal, and gives us the "daw" in Dawson.

Walt was essentially raised by his mother, attorney Susan Lloyd, who moved out of the country with the baby, separating him from his father. Walt is said to be “special,” and scared the hell out of his adoptive father, Brian. After Susan’s death, Brian gave Walt back to his biological father, Michael. When Michael picked Walt up at Brian’s house, the nanny gave him a box containing all the cards and letters that Michael had sent Walt. Susan had never given them to Walt, but she did keep them in the box, just as Athena kept Erichthonius in a chest. When Walt discovers (through ESP, apparently) that Locke is planning on opening the hatch, he tells him not to do it, and is eager to leave the island and get far away from the hatch. This all ties in with the priestesses opening the chest and being horrified by what they saw, and the fact that Hephaestus was the one who created Pandora, famous for opening another box that released plagues and sorrows upon the world.

When Walt is telling Susan and Brian about his school assignment to study birds of Australia, he says it would be better to study the birds of another country, like Egypt. A red and black bird then crashes into the window and is killed. The Egyptian flag is red, black, and white. See Alex for more on this subject.

Athena was the goddess of wisdom, and Zeus' daughter. But she had no mother, because she sprang from Zeus' head. She was also the foster mother of Erichthonius, who was fathered by Hephaestus. She raised the child away from the other gods. One of the things Athena is credited with is giving two vials of Medusa's blood to Asclepius (see Jack Shephard). The vial that had come from the Gorgon's right side could bring people back to life; the blood from the left side of Medusa would cause death.

Susan Lloyd is a bright, successful attorney and the mother of Walt Lloyd (Erichthonius), whose father is Michael Dawson (Hephaestus). She raised Walt away from his father, moving from New York to Amsterdam to Rome to Sydney. It's notable that, in the scene where Susan is telling Michael that she accepted a job in Europe, and is taking Walt with her, there is a very large contemporary painting on the wall of her apartment, depicting a gigantic head. This is a hint about her identity. Susan also chooses not to give Walt his father's last name; she seems to want Walt separated from his father, just as Athena raised Erichthonius. She keeps Michael's letters to Walt in a box, just as Athena kept Erichthonius in a chest. Susan apparently died of a blood disease, which is reminiscent of the vials of Medusa's blood.

The name Susan means "lotus flower." In Hindu mythology, the goddess "Lakshmi emerged from a lotus which grew from the forehead of Lord Vishnu, and a garland of 108 lotus seeds is today used for the worship of Lakshmi." This method of birth is very similar to that of Athena, who sprang from Zeus' head. The number 108, of course, also has significance to "Lost." The name Lloyd "is of Welsh origin, and its meaning is 'gray-haired; sacred'....The name may originally allude to experience and wisdom, and probably denoted a person entitled to respect." Athena is the goddess of wisdom, and her most famous physical feature is her gray eyes. Homer called her Athena glaukopis, or "gray-eyed Athena."

Ana Lucia also represents an Argonaut by the name of Caeneus. He had once been a woman named Caenis (pronounced SEE-nis, with a soft “c” as in Lucia), a nymph who was seduced by Poseidon. He offered her anything in exchange for her love, and Caenis unexpectedly asked to be turned into a man who was invincible to weapons. Poseidon obliged. According to http://www.mythweb.com/encyc/entries/caenis.html, “Caeneus became a great warrior and got so carried away with his prowess that he walked into the middle of town one day and propped up his spear in the marketplace. ‘From now on, everybody,’ said Caeneus, ‘you will worship my spear as a god.’” That’s Ana Lucia for you. Of course, the real god, Zeus, took retribution and managed to get Caeneus killed off by having Centaurs pound him into the ground, where he suffocated and turned back into a woman. Note that Ana Lucia was invulnerable to her assailant’s gunshots, because she had some protection from her bulletproof vest, but her unborn baby was killed. She told Sayid later that she felt dead. The woman had died; the warrior had been born.

I believe “Lost”’s creators combined “An” with “Cae” and came up with Ana Lucia. The duality of her nature is expressed by the fact that she has a double first name.

Best dialogue clue to Ana Lucia's identity: In "The Whole Truth," Ana Lucia tells Sayid, "I am what I am." These exact words are in the lyrics of a song from "La Cage Aux Folles," the musical about drag queens.

UPDATE 5/3/06: So long, Ana LuCaeneus. Once you had sex with Sawyer, your man-days were over, and so was your protection from weapons. You gave up the warrior role, handed the gun over to Michael, and took a bullet to the gut. Henry nearly did you in by suffocation when you were still a spear-carrying warrior, but Locke delayed your demise just a bit.

On the show, Scott and Steve are constantly being mistaken for one another, even by Ana Lucia, who never met Scott! Since Scott is the one who died, he represents Castor. Steve is Pollux, and is still alive.

Castor and Pollux are considered the protectors of sailors, and are associated with an electrical phenomenon known as St. Elmo’s Fire. This is ionized gas that collects around pointed objects, such as the mast of a ship, or airplane wings, during thunderstorms. It is usually described as being blue or white. However, the creators of the show may be relating the flash of St. Elmo’s Fire to another phenomenon called the green flash, which happens during sunrise or sunset. In any case, Hurley’s Green Lantern/The Flash comic book is obviously meant as a reference to this green flash, which has been associated with UFO sightings. The subject of the comic book is a peaceful alien who is thought to be evil. The fact that the comic is in Spanish reinforces the idea of the difficulty in communication between our species and alien life, and this plays a part in the next level of the show. But for now, it may be significant that Michael burns the comic book in the episode “Special,” just before “Homecoming,” in which Scott is killed.

According to the creators of “Lost,” the character of Dr. Jack Shephard was originally going to be killed off in the pilot episode. Since Jack represents Asclepius, this would make sense. Aesclepius was killed by a thunderbolt from Zeus after bringing Orion back from the dead. Hades complained to his brother that there would be no need for the Underworld if this doctor kept reviving people who were supposed to die, and Zeus obliged him by eliminating Asclepius.

The word “arzt” means “doctor” in German, and the character Arzt described himself as a doctor, although Sawyer knocked him down a peg by noting that he was a high school science teacher. In any event, know-it-all “Doctor” Arzt gets blown to bits by a stick of dynamite from the Black Rock in the second part of “Exodus.” The notable thing about the timing of his death is that it comes shortly before Jack holds on to Locke and prevents him from being pulled into a hole (the Underworld) by the monster. This was accompanied by the detonation of a stick of dynamite (the thunderbolt) that Jack ordered Kate to throw into the hole. So Aesclepius pulled Orion back from the dead. Since Arzt was offered to the gods as a substitute, Jack is allowed to live.

Daedalus was a great architect and inventor. Legend has it that he was the first to invent images. He built a dance floor for Ariadne and the famous labyrinth for her father, King Minos. This was the labyrinth from which Theseus escaped with Ariadne's assistance, after he had killed the Minotaur. But his most famous invention was the wax-and-feather wings that Daedalus created for himself and his son, Icarus, to enable them to escape from the tower in which Minos had imprisoned them. Daedalus warned Icarus to fly neither too high, because the sun would melt the wax, nor too low, because the sea water would wet the wings and prevent them from working. But Icarus got carried away with the thrill of flight and flew too high. The wax melted, the feathers fell off the wings, and he plunged into the ocean and drowned. The heartbroken Daedalus named a nearby island Icaria in memory of his son.

The name Marvin means "lover of the sea," and candles are made of wax. Apparently, a call sheet for an upcoming episode of "Lost" refers to the character as Dr. Waxman/Candle. It's appropriate that our first exposure to Dr. Candle was on a film strip, since Daedalus invented images. It's also perfectly in keeping with the story of Daedalus that Dr. Candle warns those manning the Swan station not to try to communicate with the outside world, although they will feel isolated. Warnings never seem to be heeded in mythological stories.

According to Wikipedia, "In Greek mythology, Phaëton or Phaethon (Greek 'shining'), was the son of Helios (Phoebus, the 'shining one', an epithet later assumed by Apollo), or of Clymenus by Merope or Clymene.... The myth stated that Phaeton bragged to his friends that his father was the sun-god. His friends efused to believe him and so Phaeton went to his father Helios, who swore by the river Styx to give him anything he should ask for. Phaeton wanted to drive his chariot (the sun) for a day. Though Helios tried to talk him out of it, Phaeton was adamant. When the day came, Phaeton panicked and lost control of the white horses that drew the chariot. First it veered too high, so that the earth grew chill. Then it dipped too close, and the vegetation dried and burned. He accidentally turned most of Africa into desert; burning the skin of the Ethiopians black. Eventually, Zeus was forced to intervene by striking the runaway chariot with a lightning bolt to stop it, and Phaëthon plunged into the river Eridanus (the Po). His friend, Cycnus, grieved so, that the gods turned him into a swan. His sisters, the Heliades, also grieved and were turned into alder trees, or poplars according to Virgil; their tears became amber."

Phaeton is connected with falling star imagery. In Ovid's "Metamorphoses," we read:

The breathless Phaeton, with flaming hair,
Shot from the chariot, like a falling star,
That in a summer's ev'ning from the top
Of Heav'n drops down, or seems at least to drop;
'Till on the Po his blasted corps was hurl'd,
Far from his country, in the western world.

Note that Paulo is seen driving (as in golf) into the water. Desmond borrows one of the golf clubs from him, and it's later struck by lightning. Paulo has stars on his polo shirt, a reference to the falling star imagery. Phaeton plunged into the River Po in Italy. The crest on Paulo's shirt reads: "Milano," and includes the word "Italia." Milan is in the middle of the Po Valley in Italy. The Po River is connected to Milan by a series of channels. Milan is the home of Alfa Romeo (Will Paulo be a Romeo?) and a famous car racing circuit. Perhaps Paulo will be a racer. A phaeton is also a car body style, and the name of a horse-drawn carriage. The Swan bunker has just imploded, and Phaeton has connections to a swan. It's significant that Desmond (having recently turned the failsafe key) interacts with Paulo. The name PaulO begins with P and ends with O, as in PO. Epaphus was the one who criticized Phaeton's heraldry, causing him to race his father's chariot. I've connected Sawyer to Epaphus. Look for a possible conflict between the two.

In "The Cost of Living," We see Paulo wearing an orange t-shirt bearing the words "Cielo Agua," which means "Sky Water." This is a reference to Phaeton falling out of the sky and into the water.

The name Cindy is short for either Cynthia or Lucinda. Cynthia is another name for the moon goddess, and Lucinda (Lucy) means "bringer of light." A chandler is a person who makes or sells candles. So, we have all these connections to Cindy Chandler being someone connected with light, and we know that Hero lit a torch to guide Leander across the strait. Sir Walter Raleigh makes reference to the story of Hero and Leander in his poem, The Ocean's Love to Cynthia, in which he is the ocean and Queen Elizabeth I is Cynthia, the moon goddess, bringer of light in the night sky. In the brief biography of Gary Troup, we learn that he had fallen in love with Cindy, one of the flight attendants on flight 815, and that he made frequent trans-Pacific travels to see her, because they lived on different continents. This echoes the story of Hero and Leander, who lived on different continents across the narrow Dardanelles Strait. The bio reads: "Somewhere in the skies above the ocean, he seemed to have found a great romance..." Indeed, it was in the skies above the ocean that Leander would see Hero's torch. According to the bio, "If death can ever be kind, perhaps it was a kindness that the new lovers were lost in the same catastrophe, neither having to mourn the other." Again we see a reference to the Greek myth, in which both lovers die. The bio states that Gary loved the land Down Under, and it loved him back. This could be considered a reference to the sea pulling him under, or to the Underworld taking Leander.

(Janelle is the unseen author of the online "Lost" diary.)

Artemis (aka Diana, aka Phoebe-Artemis) is the Virgin Goddess of the Moon, and also the goddess of hunting, wild animals, children, childbirth, sudden death and disease. She is the twin sister of Apollo (Pheobus), and the daughter of Zeus and Leto. Hera, Zeus' perpetually jealous wife, banished the pregnant Leto from Mt. Olympus, forcing her to seek a place to deliver her babies without benefit of a midwife. One version of the story goes that Leto delivered Artemis on the island of Ortygia, and the next day, Artemis helped Leto get to the island of Delos, where she acted as midwife for her mother and helped her deliver Apollo. In another version of the story, both twins were delivered on Delos, as Leto wrapped her arms around a palm tree. The palm tree would become sacred to both Apollo and Artemis.

Janelle makes her shelter up against a palm tree on "Lost" island, calling it her temporary "home." She can't seem to shake a guy named Larry, who seems very interested in her. She says he wants to "ask me out," and wonders if he thinks she was born yesterday. These are both references to the birth of Artemis and Apollo. Artemis came out of the womb first, and one day later assisted Leto in delivering Apollo.

The people on the island that Janelle likes and trusts are those for whom Artemis is goddess: Walt (the "good kid"), Claire (the "poor preggo lady"), Kate (who will serve as midwife to Claire), Charlie (who protects Claire), and Locke (the "nice man in a checkered shirt" who offers her an orange, and the hunter who brings back boar). Janelle initially bums a cigarette from Sawyer, but later comes to dislike him when he won't give her anymore cigarettes - at least not without getting something in return. For this, she calls Sawyer a "pig." She writes, "I'd love to see someone beat the hell out of Sawyer." It is also Janelle who finds the broken body of Scott, whose *sudden* violent *death* shocks the camp.

In mythology, it was Artemis who necessitated the Calydonian boar hunt. Oeneus, the King of Calydon, forgot to sacrifice the first crops of his harvest to the goddess, so she sent a fierce boar to ravage his country. In the "Lost" diary, as Janelle gets angry with Sawyer, the wild boar ("Pig") singles Sawyer out, pulling down his shelter and charging him. One of the mythological figures who took part in the Calydonian boar hunt was Atalanta, represented on the show by Kate. In fact, it was Artemis who rescued Atalanta when, as an infant, Atalanta's father abandoned her in Arcadia. Artemis sent a she-bear to suckle the baby until two hunters found her and adopted her.

There is yet another connection between Artemis and Arcadia. A character named Buphagus tried to rape the virgin goddess in Arcadia, and Artemis killed him with her arrows. We know from Janelle's diary that she was the victim of some kind of attack in Louisiana, and apparently killed her attacker, then went through a trial. Louisiana was settled by the Acadians (aka Arcadians), who were French-Canadians. We know them now as Cajuns. In another crazy twist, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote a poem called "Evangeline" about the deportation by the English of some of the Acadians from Canada in 1755. The French king encouraged them to settle in Louisiana. The fact that Evangeline Lilly plays Kate, who represents Atalanta, who was abandoned in Arcadia, is remarkable.

In some versions of mythology, Orion tries to rape Artemis, and is killed by her arrows. But some other versions hold that Artemis and Orion were great friends (possibly even an engaged couple) who enjoyed sitting around the campfire together in the great outdoors. They were definitely kindred spirits in that they were both associated with hunting, and both had hunting dogs. (Note that Janelle misses her dog.) Apollo apparently got angry with Orion for winning the love of his virgin sister, and tricked Artemis into killing Orion. He told Artemis that one of her female attendants had been raped, and that the attacker was out in the ocean. Artemis immediately ran off to avenge the rape (this was a particular "cause" of hers). The alleged attacker was too far away to see clearly, but Artemis managed to shoot him and kill him. When she found out that it was actually Orion, and that her attendant had never been attacked at all, she placed Orion in the sky as a constellation. Note that Janelle writes of knowing about "accidents" in connection with the Louisiana incident.

Janelle is wary of the dangers all around her, including the possibility that Larry is a rapist. She keeps some kind of kit in her dive bag, and is comforted by the feel of the cold, hard steel. This is a reference to the arrows of Artemis. Janelle follows Locke and Boone and sees the hatch. She witnesses the moment when Locke sees the light coming from inside that hatch. This connection between Janelle and Locke parallels the connection between Artemis and Orion.

Janelle mentions that she has a mirror that she intends to use as a signalling device to help the Losties get rescued. In Italy, Lake Nemi is known as Diana's Mirror, and was the location of her temple. It was said that the reflection of the moon (Artemis, the Moon Goddess) could be viewed perfectly from the temple. Janelle writes of the "glassy" water of the ocean.

Janelle says that she is very familiar with tides, and remarks on the sudden high tides that wash away the wreckage. The moon, of course, is connected to the tides, so it's no surprise that Janelle should have this kind of knowledge. She writes about betting on Jack making his putt on the island golf course. It was *Alan* Shepard who hit a golf ball on the moon, and here we have *Jack* Shephard hitting the golf ball while the Moon Goddess watches.

Janelle says she has a $6,000 credit card bill back home, and good luck trying to track her down. In mythology, a woman named Niobe boasted about her six sons and six daughters, insulting Leto for only having two children. So Artemis killed the six daughters and Apollo killed the six sons of Niobe. (In some versions of the story, it's seven daughters and seven sons, but the "Lost" writers are using the version with six.)

Finally, there is Janelle's name. Janelle means "God is gracious." A Granger is a farmer, and since ancient times, farmers have planted crops by the phases of the moon.

Supposedly, something happened to Janelle on Night 43 on the island, and the diary is now being written by someone else. However, the "new" writer makes extensive use of the double dash (--) and the ellipsis (...), both of which were hallmarks of Janelle's writing style. I believe that something very significant did happen to Janelle that night. Her consciousness was raised, and she now realizes that she is a Nommo. She has forgotten her human identity. If Janelle had died, we would certainly have heard about it on the show. If she is not dead, and someone else has the diary, why has she not come looking for it, and why can't the "new" diarist figure out who Janelle is?

The words of the "new" diarist are telling:
"These people need to understand that we are not going anywhere, although they seem a primitive people, it won't be easy."
"What a feast! Hurley handed out a bunch of food from the hatch tonight. Some odd items, but tasty nonetheless. I've never been this full. Some of it was so unfamiliar that my stomach is turning now."
"Again, I find myself wondering why human nature leads people to place importance on items? Especially to assign mystical or spiritual value to them. I look at the beauty all around us and that's enough for me..."

Janelle also realizes now that she has a brother (Apollo). She is repeatedly frustrated by the fact that people are denying he is a prisoner in the hatch, and are outright denying his existence. What has happened is that the other Losties think Janelle is going crazy, because suddenly she says she has a brother, and that he's in the hatch. We know from the diary that Janelle had a sister in her human incarnation, but she must have never mentioned a brother, so it would seem to everyone else that Janelle is off her rocker. What has actually happened is that Janelle seems to be the first Lostie to have transcended her identity as a human being, to realize that she's a Nommo. The brother she's looking for is not faux Henry Gale, but is actually Larry Cooper (Apollo).

Apollo was the twin brother of Artemis, and was also the Sun god. In ancient times, the sun was thought to travel across the sky. Thus, we have Larry Cooper being described as a "rugged world traveler" who has seen the "length and breadth of the Earth." Indeed, every point on the Earth is touched by the sun at some point. Apollo never married, so Larry is a bachelor. He did, however, have affairs with both men and women. Apollo fell in love with a nymph named Daphne, who had been shot by Cupid with an arrow that caused her to reject Apollo. When Apollo chased her, she prayed either to her father, a river god, or Mother Earth, and was changed into a laurel tree. Apollo placed a laurel wreath on his head and declared that the laurel would be sacred to him. The name Larry comes from Lawrence, which means "laurel-crowned." Larry's comparison with Ernest Hemingway brings to mind The Sun Also Rises. There are numerous veiled references in Janelle Granger's diary to the fact that she represents the moon and Larry represents the sun. The phrase "traveling light" is exactly what the sun was thought to be: light that traveled across the sky. The "pilgrim" reference is to the sun as traveler, and also to the Apollo space program. Gene Cernan, an Apollo XVII astronuat, is considered "A Slovak Pilgrim to the Universe." There is a novel by Hank Searls called The Pilgrim Project, which is about the Space Race, and was the basis for the movie Countdown. It's quite possible that Larry is related to Anthony Cooper, who represents Poseidon, and was Apollo's uncle. The two gods worked closely together, and were charged with building the wall around Troy after they had angered Zeus. It was Poseidon who helped conceal the island of Delos, where Leto gave birth to Apollo (and in some versions of the story, his twin sister, Artemis).

The word "puckish" brings to mind Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream," in which Hippolyta is a character. The description of Amy as "rebellious" and having "rebel ferocity," as well as the fact that she has been raised by a single mother, and that her first name begins with "Am," suggests that she represents the Amazon queen, Hippolyta. However, the story of the father quest seems to fit Telemachus, the son of Odysseus. He was born on the day that Odysseus was called to fight in the Trojan War, and his father did not return for twenty years. He was raised by his mother, Penelope, and when he was twenty years old, he set off on a quest to locate his father. This is also seen as his quest to become a man, and there seems to be some interpretations that suggest Telemachus was not manly. It would be very interesting if Amy turned out to be the daughter of Helen, who represents Penelope. Even more intriguing is the fact that Jensen means son of Jens, and Jens is a form of John. Since John Locke represents Odysseus, there is a strong possibility that Amy is a gender-bending character who represents the son of Odysseus.

Penelope represents Danae, the daughter of Acrisius. The fact that she wants to start a family is a reference to Acrisius trying to prevent Danae from having any children by locking her away. The revelation that Penelope uses money to get what she wants is interesting in light of the mythological story of Zeus impregnating Danae in the form of a shower of gold.

Back to the Index Page
Go to Page 2
Go to Page 3
Go to Page 5