Mythology of Lost

The television series Lost includes a number of mysterious elements that have been ascribed to science fiction or supernatural phenomena, usually concerning coincidences, synchronicity, déjà vu, temporal and spatial anomalies, paradoxes, and other puzzling phenomena. The creators of the series refer to these as part of the mythology of the series.^[1]

who was the central character in "Through the Looking Glass", and appeared in two flashforwards in "The Beginning of the End"

Jack Shephard

who appeared in the final flashforward of "Through the Looking Glass"

Kate Austen

who was the main character in "The Beginning of the End"

Hugo "Hurley" Reyes

who was the central character in "The Economist"

Sayid Jarrah

Aaron Littleton, 's son, born on the island, and raised by Kate as her own son ("Eggtown")

Claire Littleton

featured in "Ji Yeon" as giving birth to a girl

Sun-Hwa Kwon

Sensory phenomena[edit]

Whispers[edit]

Whispers can be heard on the Island. They first appear at the end of the episode "Solitary",^[22] and were originally intended to be the sound of the Others in the jungle.^[8] This idea was changed, and, by the end of season six, it was established that they were the whispers of spirits of deceased people who had not yet "moved on" (or existed in a state of purgatory). Boone's whispers are heard on the Island after his death, talking about Shannon. Some characters to hear the Whispers were Juliet, Jack, Rousseau, Sawyer, Sayid, Hurley, Shannon and Michael on the freighter before he dies.

Visions[edit]

While at first it seems like there are numerous "visions" on Lost, most of those involving a person who is supposed to be dead are in fact not visions, but are either the spirit of a dead person, or the Man in Black taking on the physical form and memories of a dead person. Some visions are left unexplained, for instance the horse which appears to both Kate and Sawyer. Visions have helped several characters achieve certain tasks. Many spirits have appeared on and off the Island, such as Michael Dawson, Jacob, Emily Linus, Claudia, Ana Lucia, Charlie Pace. Some spirits communicate with the living in their dreams, such as Horace Goodspeed and Boone Carlyle, who each appear to John Locke on separate occasions.

Walt has made appearances on the Island in places he could not have been (most notably to Shannon Rutherford in early episodes of season 2 and to John Locke in season 3); since Jacob's brother is unable to take on the form of the living, and since Walt isn't dead, the origin of this vision is unclear, although it may be related to Walt's special powers, which have been hinted at but never fully explained. Also, while Jacob's spirit was on the Island, Jacob as a child appeared before Hurley and physically took a bag from Hurley's hand, thus showing that he was actually physically present, and not just a spirit.