Lost...

My answers to the 15 Lost questions not answers by Marcus Leshock from Chicago Now:
"#15: Who were the other people shooting at our time-traveling Losties on the outrigger?
Remember when this happened in season 5's time-traveling blitz? Our peeps were cruising on the outrigger when they suddenly jumped in time, only to be met with another outrigger firing away at them? Who the heck was that? Angry fans?"

It was probably Ilana’s group. They arrived to the island on an outrigger, fully armed. And they saw John Locke who they knew was dead since they had his body with them.


"#14: What's up with the Hanso Foundation?
Again, this was a question you had to know wasn't going to be answered, but with all of the talk about Dharma, the cryptic Hanso Foundation was never fully addressed. How were they in on so much of what was happening? If there weren't so many Hanso-themed Easter eggs, I wouldn't be as interested in finding out what the deal was."

Not sure. Probably a Star Wars reference i.e. Hans Solo. They used several throughout the series. Star Wars was another light vs. dark epic, probably an inspiration to the writers but this is just a guess.


"#13: What exactly were "The Rules" and how did Widmore/Ben know about them?
Ben would consistently say that Widmore "broke the rules" by having his daughter killed. What were these rules and when were they put in place? Were they the island's rules, or something Widmore/Ben agreed to on their own? Not an earth-shattering question, but one we'll never fully know the answer to."

The MIB answered this question when he was playing his game with Jacob. The rules are made by the one who made up the game. One rule holds on the island. Everyone is already dead, so they can’t be killed. Ben and Widmore believed the island to be hell. They both felt they should be there because of the evil in their hearts.


"#12: How does Eloise Hawking know everything about everything?
This wild-eyed lady knows everything that is going to happen before it happens. HOW DOES SHE KNOW ALL OF THIS STUFF? I was expected her to have a bigger hand in the long run, but she was never fully fleshed out in the final episodes. She'll remain one of the show's mysteries."

Eloise also thought she had gone to hell. But like Widmore and Ben, she progressed to the FSW portal to life ever after and probably got there before everyone else considering her age difference from the point she killed her own son to the FSW. One of the rules could very likely be, if a person is “killed” on the island and they are pure of heart, they are elevated to the FSW. But until you are “pure” you can’t die or progress to the next stage.


"#11: What happend to Sayid after he drowned in the temple, and what was the sickness?
Sayid woke up a zombie after being drowned in the temple's murky waters. Why? Was it the "sickness" often talked about on the show? Why would the island turn people into zombies? Is that the same water people drink out of to become the next Jacob? Was there a "Smoke Sayid" created when he was killed in that water, then? HELP!"

Sayid was born again via baptism. The temple people assumed he was consumed by evil but he wasn’t. He proved himself by saving Desmond and trying to save the people on the sub. The “water” was metaphorically “blood”. Many references were made of turning water to wine and then wine to blood, i.e. The Last Supper. I see this whole show based on the Christian belief of dying and being saved to eternal life.


"#10: What's with all of the Egyptian stuff and that creepy statue?
For a while we thought Jacob might be responsible for all of the Egyptian-lore on the island. Nope, sounds like it could have pre-dated him. Who were the people who built the statue, and why were so many ancient markings incorporated in everything on the island?"

The island is once again a metaphor. 1st Man is an island thus the island. 2nd Christianity was born at the end of the Romans and Egyptians great civilizations. I see the references as a transition between the old religion and the new religion.


"#9: Why were people having fertility issues on the island?
Was it the electro-magnetism? And why was Dharma so intent on figuring out the problem?"

Dead women can’t get pregnant. If mothers are already pregnant then the moms must have died pregnant. I see the electro-magnetism as a draw to believe that there is life after death, in some form.


"#8: Why was the island underwater in the sideways timeline?
We got the impression the island was going to sink in the finale, but then Jack stopped it from happening. Did it happen years later under Hurley's watch? How does it sink and who sunk it?"

The timeline of the island no longer exists once a person moves on. Faith brotha!



"#7: Who was the shadowy figure in Jacob's Cabin?
Remember the episode where Ben took Locke to see Jacob in season 3? We caught a glimpse of a shady figure who made items fly through the air, officially turning Locke into a believer. Who was this person? Was it indeed Jacob? MIB? Christian Shephard?"

The smoke monster was jerking Locke and Ben around the whole time on the island. There was no more MIB after jacod killed him. Jacob created the MIB himself. It was the darkness in his own heart towards his brother.


"#6: What was the significance of the numbers?
This season we learned that Jacob assigned numbers to each of his candidates. Fine. But why did they appear EVERYWHERE? In lottery tickets, Dharma computers, on hatch inscriptions, etc. Was it because these people were the keys to saving the island? It's a Lost mystery we'll be talking about forever, but a little more closure would have been nice."

Little significance to the numbers. Jacob assigned a number to a candidate, thus the numbers.


"#5: What was up with the Dharma Initiative?
We learned that Dharma came to the island in the 1970's to study its electro-magnetic properties, but was that the whole truth as to why they were there? How did the Dharma team know about the island? How did they find it? How did they know about its special properties, and why were its member forbidden from leaving the island or communicating with people off of it?"

The lady protector of the island explained this in Across The Sea. I believe the Dharma Initiative was just another group like the castaways. They were actually dead and following a path of redemption and healing.


"#4: Why does the island travel through time?
Don't tell me, "Because you spin its wheel!" I get that the island is a cork blocking some sort of energy from getting out, but why and how does it skip through time? And how did people figure this out to put a wheel in there to start/stop it?"

Time is irrelevant in death.


"#3: What is the light at the heart of the island?We were told late in the game that this is why everybody is here - to protect the heart of the island. The glowing light at the end of the tunnel became "Lost's" glowing orange light inside the briefcase. What is it, and why does it turn certain people into smoke creatures?"

Once again symbolism. The light is not literal light. The island is man, dead but still very much in existence. One of the key sayings throughout the show was Live Together, Die Alone, thus the island, for them to continue to live together. The glowing light is the heart of the island but also the heart of men, or so I’d like to believe. But where there is light, there is also darkness. The smoke monster is the darkness in Jacob’s heart which he let out when he killed his own brother. If the light goes out within us, we lose our humanity.


"#2: Why was Walt so special?
We spent the first two seasons of the show obsessed with Michael's son Walt, who we were shown had special powers. He knew things that were going to happen, telling other characters not to take certain steps. As a small child, he made a bird fly into a window. The Others kidnapped him, seemingly because they knew of his abilities. BUT WHAT THE HECK WAS THE SIGNIFICANCE OF IT ALL?! We never found out, and Walt didn't make an appearance in the glowing church. Maybe he was not "moving on," or had already "moved on." Sadly, we'll never know."

I don’t think there’s an answer to this cause the character who played Walt grew up so the story line didn’t continue.



"#1: What is the Smoke Monster?
In "Across the Sea," we saw how Jacob created the Smoke Monster by throwing his brother down the island's "River Of Dreams." In goes the body, out comes the smoke monster. BUT WAIT, we later find MIB's corpse. So what is the Smoke Monster then? Is it indeed MIB, or is it another entity? And why was it created? And why does it consist of smoke? And why does it make a "chica-chica" sound? And why does it uproot trees all of the time? And why did it kill the bleeding-to-death pilot in the first episdoe? These questions will never get answered, but the root query of "What is the smoke monster" is my all-time worst "leave me hanging" question in "Lost" history."

The Smoke Monster is just the Smoke Monster. Jacob created him from his own darkness. The rest was theatrics to hook you and get you to watch. If you had known this was a show about Christianity, redemption, salvation, and healing, would you have watched?