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(Mirror, Mirror: Cultural Themes in LOST 6.05 can be read here).

His reality is controlled by dark forces.  A man of science, he must learn to stretch his mind beyond the constraints of logic.  His followers are many, and they know he is a natural leader, like his father before him.  He is tempted to assume command, but his people’s true leader is caught in a parallel dimension, a mirror universe.  He must apply every available resource to a single end:  bring the commander back from the mirror world.  First Officer Spock?  No, his name is Dr. Jack Shephard.  The leader he has been dispatched to transport across spacetime is not Captain James Tiberius Kirk, but the only man who can vanquish the dark forces of  the Island.

Claire of the Island

Claire Littleton poses the most difficult obstacle to my understanding of LOST.  In my mind I have placed Christian Shephard under full control of Cerberus (the Smoke Monster for those not familiar with my nomenclature).  The Man in Black seems so far to have only evil intent.  However, I cannot deny that every one of his actions might be interpreted as being consistent with what the Dharma Initiative called a “security system”.  The MIB may be not much more than the Island’s chief law enforcement officer.  He did say, after noting that Jacob was dead, that Bram and his team were free to go, and his statement seemed genuine.  It was only after Bram’s people started shooting at Cerberus that he rolled up his sleeves as it were (changed into his smoke form) and exacted Island-style retribution.  He seems to consider himself somehow in charge of everyone on the Island (“I’m very disappointed… in all of you!”).  He does not appear to be capricious, but his justice is swift and complete.

The MIB is not human.  At the very least, he is not human in any sense we are familiar with.  He has lived for centuries and may be considerably older–in fact, he may not have any beginning as such.  He is not harmed by bullets, and he may not be subject to death by any ordinary means.  At least in some ways, he is godlike.

The Deity has attributes we associate with kindness and love, and I suppose these are the aspects of the Divine that we would like to believe fully characterise the Creator.  Jesus, smiling and sitting in a field surrounded by lambs or children is a most popular image.  Probably a battlefield covered with tens of thousands of bloodied, mangled, dismembered corpses is not what most of us would like to think of as the handiwork of a loving Creator, but every religion in the world gives us precisely this image as an object of our contemplation of the true nature of the Deity.

I am a sceptical and hesitant member of the camp that believes the Smoke Monster may be a force having good intentions for the Island and its inhabitants.  He has surrounded himself with people of apparently good will.  Claire is named after St. Claire of Assisi, the first disciple of St. Francis of Assisi.  Christian Shephard bears a name requiring no interpretation or understanding of religious history.  His name means religious leader or pastor.  If in the end he turns out to have been following a purely evil entity, some fans of the series and certainly many conservative commentators will take offence.

And then we have Claire.

Claire, she of the nausea-inducing “baby” in the crib-shrine.  Claire, whose “justice” is even more cruel than that of the Smoke Monster.  Claire, several bullets short of a full magazine, apparently having lost most of her marbles a long time ago.

Her no-questions-asked execution of Justin seemed to confirm her status as crazed woman of the jungle, psychological heir to Rousseau’s title, with rights to every form of weird and twisted and violent behaviour imaginable.

Yet her logic was impeccable.  Justin said it with his own lips:  I’ll snap her neck.  Any of the Others would have done the same.  When Claire thrust the axe into Justin’s chest and said without emotion, “He would have killed me,” she was merely repeating what Justin had said.  She made an unbiased, true statement, acknowledged by both sides in the dispute and by independent observers.

What is her motivation?  Is she the pawn of Cerberus?  We know she considers him her “friend”.  We know she takes her father’s counsel, and he appears to be either a disciple or at least physical form of the Smoke Monster.  But we also know she was taken into the Temple, tied up, tortured, and marked (“branded”, as Claire said).  Is her apparent lunacy the result of losing Aaron?  Did the MIB cause her to lose her mind?  Did Dogen’s tortures take away her sanity?  Was she healed in the Temple spring, as Mr. James speculated this week?  Who is to blame for the creation of this gun-toting, wacked-out version of Tarzan?

I get the feeling that any of us who wish to gain a complete understanding of the Island will have to come to grips with Claire and her weird behaviour.

And Then There Were Seven

She’s number 51, and her name is not crossed out.  Kate Austen’s status as Candidate accomplishes many things.  It means first of all that there were at least seven candidates at the time of the crash of Oceanic Flight 815:

04   Locke
08   Reyes
15   Ford
16   Jarrah
23   Shephard
42   Kwon
51   Austen

The numbers add up to at least 159, not the magical 108.  We have not seen the entire cave ceiling, nor have we seen the complete lighthouse wheel, so we don’t know if other candidates remain.  Kwon and Shephard appear with the same number association on both the cave ceiling and the lighthouse wheel, and it seems reasonable to conclude that all seven names are present and uncrossed on both lists.

Much speculation since last Tuesday has centered around the identity of Wallace, number 108 on the lighthouse wheel.  Several analysts have expressed the opinion that Wallace may be a code name for the only Scotsman known to be important to the Island, Desmond Hume.

While Desmond will certainly have an important role to play, I don’t believe he will be found to fulfill the role of Wallace, and I don’t think Jack was dispatched to make a way in the wilderness for Desmond.

I have several reasons for believing this.

First, number 108 is the sum of only six numbers, not the full seven, eight, or nine integers.  It is certainly true that Jacob instructed Hurley to turn the wheel to 108 degrees, but it also seems to be true, based on Hurley’s conversation with Jacob at the end of 6.05, that Jacob knew Jack would destroy the lighthouse mirrors.  Thus, it seems likely 108 was a red herring.  Jacob probably chose 108 since it is a number both Jack and Hurley knew well from several weeks of pushing the button at the Swan Station computer.  The number would have had great significance in their minds.

Second, Wallace’s name was crossed out on the lighthouse wheel.  Whoever Wallace was, he is no longer a Candidate.  I am quite open to the idea that the fact that a name is crossed out does not in all cases mean the Candidate cannot reappear in some important capacity.  In fact, those who have read all of my analyses know that I believe one person in particular whose name has been crossed out will be returning to the Island, in the most important role of all.  But Wallace is unknown, and I don’t get the feeling that he is another Jeremy Bentham.  As all the promos for Season Six have been saying, “The time for questions is over.”  This doesn’t mean that we won’t see twists and turns that evade our understanding, but I think it  must mean that the storytelling is going to become a bit less complicated.  If there are major new questions, they will be addressed almost immediately.  Minor and unnecessary complications, like creating a new alias for Desmond Hume or Charles Widmore (another popular candidate for #108), seem unlikely at this point.

Finally, I think the most compelling argument against tying undue significance to number 108 focusses on what I understand to be the important task Jacob has assigned to Jack Shephard.

Jack remains the only Candidate to bear a prime number (23, divisible only by 1 and itself, therefore prime) as his identifier.  His was the only name on the lighthouse wheel to be written in bold black; the other names were recorded in grey pencil.

Of everyone in the sideways reality, Jack seems most uncomfortable.  In sideways Jack’s world, a fugitive fleeing justice can stop to help a pregnant woman, and a man confined to a wheelchair can come to accept his lot in life, and become a productive and happy person.  In this Brady-Bunch world, even Jack can overcome his limitations and bond with his son, and accomplish all of it in less than forty-three minutes.  But Jack cannot overcome a deep sense of discomfort, a feeling that even mundane things–like a surgery scar or the man sitting next to him on an airplane–are somehow out of place.

Jack has been singled out for a most important task.  His task is of greater moment than any other to be set in motion during these final, critical days.  In sending Jack to the lighthouse, Jacob was merely preparing Jack for the task, revealing his importance, giving him a few precious hours to stare out into the ocean and think about the ramifications.

He has his orders from Jacob:  Deliver someone safely to the Island.  Because Jack has great importance, the person he is charged to deliver must also be important.  Desmond is important.  Michael and Walt are important.  But they do not rise to Jack’s level.

I see three possibilities.

Aaron

Aaron Littleton (aka Aaron Austen) is Jack’s nephew and the first baby since Ethan Rom (aka Dr. Ethan Goodspeed) born on the Island.  Richard Malkin, the Australian psychic, told Claire that she and no one else had to raise the child.  He urged her onto Flight 815, possibly because he knew the plane was destined to crash on the Island.  Aaron, like Jacob, has blond hair.  He may be a kind of Lama-like reincarnation of Jacob, destined to become Protector of the Island.  Kate came back to the Island specifically to locate Claire and reunite her with her son.  If Aaron has enough importance to merit the singular attention of LOST’s foremost heroine, he could certainly be the important person Jack is charged to deliver safely to the Island.

Charles Widmore

I believe Charles Widmore is the true antagonist in LOST.  I believe it is Widmore who will lead the final assault on the Island.  Many believe Cerberus lays claim to the title of antagonist, and the evidence at this point almost overwhelmingly supports that conclusion.  However, several hours remain, and I believe during the course of those hours we will come to understand enough about the Smoke Monster to determine that his motivations are not entirely evil, and may not be evil at all.

Charles Widmore, on the other hand, broke the rules.  He fathered a child off-Island, not only as an Other, but as leader of the Others.  He engaged in illegal sexual relations, and he almost certainly did this at the same time he was co-habiting with Eloise Hawking, and without her knowledge, making his transgression immoral by almost any cultural standard.

Charles Widmore as Jacob’s visiting VIP would bring a most delicious twist to the final hours of the programme.  It would call into question Jacob’s motivations.  It would cause many of us to re-evaluate several of the fundamental assumptions we have made about the series.  It would be a radical storytelling move, and one I think the writers would cherish, if they could pull it off.  For that reason alone, I see the revelation of Charles Widmore in the role of Jacob’s greatest knight as being a strong possibility.

Most Likely Trans-Reality Traveler

If I give Aaron a ten percent chance of being Jack’s mystery traveler and assign Charles Widmore a thirty percent chance, I give a full sixty percent chance to the person I feel most likely to answer Jacob’s call and cross the trans-spacetime vortex from the sideways reality to the mainline reality on the Island.

I believe this person has even greater importance than Jack in the Island hierarchy, but that this person will be unable to take and maintain leadership without constant help from Jack (or his replacement), Hurley, and Sayid (or his replacement), and at least three other individuals.  I will try to support this position with the help of a Japanese samurai and a Starfleet science officer.

Seven Samurai

Kambei Shimada, fifth samurai from the left, recruited six other ronins to work with him to protect a farming village from bandits intent on stealing their money and their barley harvest.  This may not sound like the most engaging premise for a movie, but the Seven Samurai is held by many film experts as the finest motion picture ever produced.

An analysis of this movie and several close comparisons with LOST formed the basis for my article titled “Magnificence:  The Cultural Mythology of LOST 1.01 to 6.18″.  In the article I pointed out the importance of the number seven in Japanese, Hebrew, and Western cultures.  I argued, with little direct evidence from LOST itself (as of Episode 6.02), that later episodes would reveal the presence of a seventh Candidate.  With Episode 6.05, this prediction has been proven true.

While it is possible we will learn of an eighth or even a ninth Candidate, I doubt we will learn of any more than nine candidates.  I have four reasons for believing this.  First of all, we have the evidence from Jacob’s tapestry.

Jacob depicted nine individuals connected to (or possibly worshiping or pledging obedience to) the Eye of Horus, flanked by two rulers on thrones.  Below the Nine, he depicted seven individuals, dancing to a harpist’s tune.  If Jacob recorded the names and numbers on the lighthouse wheel, as I believe he did (though not on the cave ceiling; see my analysis of Lost 6.04, “Lighthouse”, here) I believe it is most likely he would have recorded either seven or nine names, in accordance with the important numbers he depicted on the tapestry.

Second, Jacob is clearly a proponent of ancient Greek and ancient Egyptian cultures.  His tapestry used both Egyptian (Eye of Horus) and Greek symbols.  He quoted twice from The Odyssey in the tapestry.

Third, great cultural significance attaches to both nine and seven.

Finally, Darlton are steeped not only in literary tradition, but they are also keenly aware of cinematic convention, and they have already demonstrated their interest in building upon important cinematic precedent.

For all of the above reasons, and for others I will bring to bear in the discussion to follow, I feel it is much more likely that seven Candidates or seven primary players will become key to the final conflict of the series.

As explained in “Magnificence”, seven is considered a special number in more cultures than the number nine.  It is also a more important number in the history of cinema (Seven Samurai, The Magnificent Seven, and so on), and it has greater mathematical significance in its capacity as a prime number.  Darlton have already indicated the importance of prime numbers in assigning Jack Shephard the only prime number of the seven so far revealed.  Jack’s task is more important than any other so far revealed, and Darlton indicated this in making Jack the Prime Candidate (see my analysis of Lost 6.04, “Prime Candidate”).

There are even greater reasons for believing seven will turn out to be the final and most important number of the series.  The rationale will be found in First Officer Spock’s katra.

Live Long And Prosper–In Your Proper Place

Spock grew a goatee only in the mirror universe depicted in the TOS episode “Mirror, Mirror”.  But the mirror Spock was not alone in ceding command of the Enterprise to Captain James T. Kirk.  The mirror Spock wished never to occupy the captain’s chair; if he rose to the rank of Captain, he would become the object of nearly constant assassination attempts.

The mirror Spock’s rationale appears to be based entirely on logic.  However, a deeper appreciation of Spock’s choice is gleaned from understanding his motivations in our (non-mirrored) universe.  In the most recent reincarnation of Star Trek, Spock is an “enterprising young man” keen on starship command.  His most heartfelt wish becomes reality much sooner than he could have imagined, but within short hours he relinquishes command to his then-nemesis, First Officer James T. Kirk.  He is compromised in command by the death of his mother and the destruction of Vulcan, and he must logically give up command.

But Star Trek is not based on logic.  It is based on the full range of our humanity.

Spock represents human logic, Dr. Leonard McCoy represents human compassion and emotion.  Neither is suited for command.  Even the two of them working together, or merged into a single person, would not possess the skills necessary for starship command.  But logic, compassion, and leadership are personified in one character:  Captain James Kirk.  Kirk represents the very best in the human tradition.

A leader must bring science, faith (compassion), and decisive action to bear in every situation.  Neither the man of faith nor the man of science has what is required for true leadership.

Collaboration

Jack Shephard will not work alone in conveying the most important traveler to the Island.

He will be aided by at least five others:  Kate, Hurley, and possibly Sayid, Sun, and a fifth person.  Sawyer might help in some way, but he may have another, more important role, as well.

The Candidates currently lack the one element that was most abundant on the Starship Enterprise.  This week’s episode hinted at the identity of that element, in the relationship between Jack and his son, David.  In Episode 6.03 we saw another facet of it in the relationship between Jack and Sayid, and to a lesser degree in the friendship of Claire and Kate.

Jack and David lacked love.  Sayid and Jack lacked trust.  These relationships were exemplars of the type of relationship we have seen throughout the past six years.  What these relationships most share in common is this:  Lack of cohesion.  Lack of collaboration.  The most noteworthy aspect of the on-Island relationships has been their lack of relationship.  These people haven’t been connecting with each other.

Now, with the darkest forces of evil closing in around them, they will have to discovery trust in and love for each other, or they will all perish.  They will have to do more than collaborate toward a common goal.  They will have to see in the survival of the group something greater than themselves, something worth fighting for, and for some of them, something worth dying for.

Ille Qui Nos Omnes Servabit

I believe Jack will come to understand that the person he must convey to the Island is John Locke.  I believe this is true regardless of what Jacob may instruct him to do.  Jack may follow Jacob’s instructions to bring Aaron or Charles Widmore back to the Island, or he may refuse.  Jacob may reveal that Locke is the one he is to bring to the Island, in which case Jack will eventually obey.  Regardless of the route taken, however, I believe this is Jack’s final goal, and I believe he will be willing to sacrifice his own life to achieve the objective.  Locke is dead and buried on the Island, probably long past any possibility of resurrection.  But Locke lives off-Island, in the sideways spacetime.

Locke alone, I think, has the force of personality necessary to achieve the cohesive action–the trust–that will be required to win the final conflict over evil.  That he failed in his first attempt to bring everyone together on the Island only contributes to the strength of the argument.  Kambei Shimada (main hero in the Seven Samurai) and Chris Adams (main hero in The Magificent Seven) also failed in their first attempts to put together a team of seven.  But they were victorious in the end.

We have seen several indications of the tenuous and unstable nature of the two spacetime streams created by Faraday’s Boulder.  Jack, in particular, seems to be aware of himself as being somehow misplaced in space and time.  I imagine he will gain full enlightenment through Desmond, perhaps aided by Desmond’s mother.  A collaboration between the two Jacks, with Desmond acting as intermediary between the two worlds, would be an interesting way of bringing about Locke’s voyage to the Island.  Or perhaps one or the other of the two Jacks will give up his life so that Locke can make it across the boundary between the two realities.

LOST is not Through the Looking Glass, and it is not Star Trek.  I don’t see anyone like James T. Kirk coming to the Island.  I believe the person who unites the Seven will bear fundamental flaws of character.  In particular, if the leader does turn out to be Locke, it seems likely he will turn out to carry an over-abundance of trust; his lieutenants, most likely Hurley and Sayid, will have to reign him in, providing moral counterpoints to his over-exuberant trust in others.  His compassionate backbone will be reinforced, first by Jack and Kate, and possibly later (should Jack and Kate die) by Sawyer and Juliet.  One of the unique attributes of LOST’s thesis, I think, will be the assertion that collaborative leadership is possible, even when each member of the group of leaders bears fundamental flaws of character.

In two days we will know much more.  I look forward to the voyage!

Pearson Moore
St. Louis, MO

Related posts:

1. Mirror, Mirror: Cultural Themes in LOST 6.05 by Pearson Moore
2. Risk: A Cultural Thesis for LOST 6.03 “What Kate Does” by Pearson Moore
3. Prime Candidate: Cultural Thoughts on LOST 6.04 “The Substitute”

Tags: Episode 6.05, LOST Theories, Pearson Moore, recaps&reviews, Season 6